former companions of his guilty pleasures, from this place of torment :) " but if one went unto them from the dead they would repent." A miracle so extraordinary would convert them; a messenger from the world of spirits, denouncing to them those miseries which he has himself witnessed, will surely rouse them.

"If they hear not Moses and the prophets," was the reply, "neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

The revelation of Moses and the prophets is sufficiently clear and satisfactory; and the same perverse incredulity, the same guilty devotion to sensual enjoyments, which led them to reject the warnings of Moses and the prophets, will induce them to turn a deaf ear also to the remonstrances of one who rose from the dead.

Such is the conclusion of this important parable -for a parable, and not an authentic history, it evidently is. The manner of its introduction, the style and the imagery employed, and the absurdity and inconsistency which would attend a literal interpretation of it, all prove that it is not an authentic record of real, but of fictitious character and events. And as a parable, it is not to be strictly and literally interpreted; it being designed, in its general purport only, to inculcate important truths. To these truths let me now call your attention.

1. And in the first place, we learn that the real condition of men, as to their happiness or misery, is not to be determined by their outward circumstances in the world.

Look at the prosperous sinner; wealth, splendour, and gaiety surround him; the East furnishes VOL. III.

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him with "purple and fine linen," which serve the purposes of splendour and luxurious indulgence; every luscious delicacy which can inflame or gratify his appetites is placed on his table; "the harp and the viol, the tabret and the pipe," banish care and melancholy, and awaken the joys of revelry and mirth. We are ready to pronounce, How supremely happy is this favoured son of fortune! He has no desire which he does not possess the means of gratifying; the world opens to him all her stores of indulgence. But we are deceived in the estimate of his real condition. Occupied solely with sensual pursuits, he possesses not that peace of mind which results only from living agreeably to the dictates of reason and conscience; and he is a stranger to that" peace of God" which results only from a faithful devotion to his service, and which only can confer true and substantial enjoyment. There is no peace to him in this world; and the day is coming, when the band of God is to write against him the fearful sentence-" Thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting." "In hell he lifts up his eyes, being in torments."

Look at the beggar at his gate; he is wasted with hunger-the crumbs which fall from the rich man's table would be a luxury to his soul; he is tortured with disease-there is no eye to pity, no hand to save him; naked, exposed, friendless, "the dogs come and lick his sores." Dark is the cloud that rests on this poor beggar; but the light of God's countenance shines on his soul. He is infi nitely more honoured, infinitely more blessed than the proud voluptuary at whose gate he waits; for Lazarus is the friend of God; he is soon to be "carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.”

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Judge not then, brethren, according to appearance." It is an error to call those happy, whom wealth decorates with worldly distinction, and surrounds with every sensual gratification-it is an error which is most dangerous, because it leads us to seek for happiness only in the riches, the honours, and the pleasures of the world. Those alone are to be accounted truly happy, who possess that peace of God which the world can neither give nor take away, and have laid up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt. And those only are to be accounted really miserable, who have no title to the favour of him whose favour is life, and whose loving-kindness is better than life, and are exposed to the wrath of him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell: the pangs of conscience, the agitations of guilty passions, which here mar their peace, are increased by the fearful apprehensions of that future world, where are laid up for the ungodly, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. The consciousness of his integrity, the firm assurance of God's favour, comforted the afflicted Job. The wrath of the Almighty blasted the pleasures of a prosperous Belteshazzar. The favour of the Most High, refreshing, and consoling, and strengthening the soul, can render the condition of the beggar at the gate infinitely more to be desired than that of the voluptuary who revels in the palace.

2. We may remark how fatal is the termination of a life which, though not stained with gross criminality, is devoted merely to sensual indulgence.

What were the crimes which marked the character, and which occasioned the fearful destiny of the

rich man in the parable? It does not appear that any very glaring vices disgraced his character; no gross sin is laid to his charge. We have no reason to conclude that the rich man in the parable was an abandoned, profligate sinner. He is described as "clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day." He was a voluptuary, devoted only to sensual gratifications. He made the world his idol. He placed his sole happiness in the splendour and ostentation of wealth, in the scenes of revelling, banqueting, and merriment. The care of his soul was forgotten, or neglected; the things that belonged to his eternal peace were put far off. Most probably he boasted of his freedom from the stain of gross vices; perhaps he prided himself on his open, free, and generous temper; and thus soothed himself with the hope that, as he had committed no gross vices, his reckoning would be easy at the bar of God. And, alas! men often sooth their consciences, and lull themselves into security by the same plea :-they do no harm in the world, they commit no gross sins; why should they fear to appear before God? Let them look at the fate of the rich man in the parable. Notwithstanding his freedom from glaring sins, the boasted innocence of his life, and the generous frankness with which he spread his board for the gratification of his companions, "in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments." How fatal was his delusion! and what a lesson does his fate read to those whose hearts are supremely bent on the world and its pleasures; who devote themselves to sensual gratifications, and while they preserve themselves free from glaring transgressions, think that they have nothing to fear! Look at this rich

voluptuary; your Saviour presents him as a warning to you. He deluded himself with the same. hope with which you are flattering yourselves, that God would not punish him for those sensual gratifications which did no harm to others. And where did this hope lead him? "In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments." "Walk then in the sight of your eyes, and in the imagination of your own hearts; but know, that for all these things God will bring you into judgment."

3. There is an important lesson which all who are blessed with wealth may derive from the parable before us.

Wealth, like every other advantage, natural or acquired, which we possess, is a talent intrusted to us by God, whose stewards we are to consider ourselves, and to whom we are to render an account. A liberal portion of the wealth with which he has blessed us, we must give back to him, by devoting it to the purposes of benevolence and piety: the residue we are not prohibited from devoting, in thankful moderation, to the purposes of personal and social gratification. But when, like the rich man in the parable, we devote this wealth to those voluptuous indulgences that corrupt the soul and estrange it from God, then it will prove a curse to its possessor. To such a rich man the declaration of our blessed Lord will apply"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

4. We notice, as strikingly set forth in this parable, the awful destiny of the wicked.