angels fent down to transport him to the regions of the bleffed, to the bofom of Abraham, where all his forrows had an end, and the tears were for ever wiped from his eyes. Let the needy and the oppreff. ed take confolation from this falutary doctrine. With God there is no refpect of perfons. Let it be the great business of your lives to be rich in faith and in good works, and to lay up treasures in heaven, and then you may rejoice in hope, that though you have nothing here, yet yours is the kingdom of God.

VERSES 23. to 26. inclufive. Before our Saviour's incarnation, the Greek language had made its way into Judea. Along with the language of the Greeks, their opinions in philosophy, and the fictions of their poetry, had been introduced, and made part of the popular belief. This part of the parable which we have now read, is evidently founded upon the fictions of the Grecian poets concerning the state of departed fouls. They, as well as our Lord in this parable, represent the abodes of the bleffed as lying contiguous to the regions of the damned, and separated only by a great impaffable river, or deep gulf, in fuch a manner, that the ghosts could talk with one another from its oppofite banks. In the parable, fouls, whose bodies were buried, know each other, and converse together, as if they had been embodied. In like manner, the heathens introduce departed fouls as talking together, and represent them as having pains and pleasures analogous to what we feel in this life; and they thought that the fhades of the dead had an exact resemblance to their bodies. The parable says, that the fouls of wicked men are tormented in flames; the Grecian poets tell us, that they

lie in a river of fire, where they fuffer the fame torments they would have fuffered while alive, had their bodies been burnt. From this account, therefore, we are to draw no inferences concerning the real nature of heaven or of hell. A parable is no more than an instructive fable or tale, and the only thing to be regarded in it is the moral that it conveys. We cannot therefore conclude from this parable, that there is material fire in hell, or that the abodes of the bleffed and the regions of the damned are contiguous to one another. The word of God gives us no materials wherein we can make a defcription either of hell or heaven. It was never the intention of fcripture to fatisfy our curiofity, but to influence our practice, and for that purpose to awake our hopes and our fears, by representing the one as being the region of the greatest torment, and the other as the fcene of unmingled and everlasting joy.

The rich man died, and was buried. We read not of the burial of the poor man. He would be thrown into a common grave, and mingled with vulgar and obfcure duft. But the rich man was buried with pomp and with splendour. Crowds of mercenary mourners would attend his funeral, and venal tears be shed upon his tomb. Every amiable and every refpectable quality would be ascribed to him by those ready flatterers, who have always a character at hand for the deceased of quality. But, infenfible to this incenfe, in hell he lift up his eyes. How astonishing and how awful must it be, my brethren, for a person who believes not in a future ftate, to receive his first, conviction from the flames of the lake which burneth for ever, and from the gnawings of the worm that

never dies. The request of the rich man is very remarkable. He does not acknowledge the juftnefs of his punishment, nor confefs the greatness of his fins. He does not show any remorfe of mind for the offences he had committed against God, for the injuries he had done to fociety, or brought upon his own foul. his own foul.

for the ruin he had He had no forrow for

fin, he had only a feeling of pain. He did not want to be delivered from his guilt, but only from punishment. But fuch had been his character in this world. The fact is, my brethren, we retain the fame difpofitions hereafter, that we cultivate here. It is utterly impoffible, that the mere feparation of the foul from matter, can make any alteration upon the effential qualities of the foul. We carry to the other world the fame qualities, the fame temper of mind, and the fame character, that we have on earth. What manner of perfons doth it become us then to be. As we now fow, hereafter we reap. Our heaven or our hell is already begun within us. The worm that never dies hath already begun to gnaw the heart of the wicked; and the good man hath already begun thofe hymns and hofannas of praise which shall employ him through eternity.

Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received thy good things. This anfwer of the Patriarch is remarkable for mildness. When a perfon by his imprudence and folly hath involved himself in a scene of distress, there is nothing more common than for those who vifit him at such a time, to upbraid him with his bypast conduct in the feverest manner, and to administer rebukes with acrimony and bitterness. Instead of giving their affistance to extricate him from his diftreffes, those

miferable comforters push them deeper into the pit, and take a cruel pleasure in adding affliction to the afflicted, conscious that whilst they are infulting over their unfortunate brother, they are paying encomiums to their own fuperior prudence and difcretion. This rich man had brought himself into the laft of evils, into an evil that admitted of no remedy, by his own wickednefs. Yet Abraham did not addrefs him in this fevere and insulting language. He calls him fon, his defcendant according to the flesh. triarch wanted not to add to the The spirit of rage and rancour never gains admittance into the bofoms of the bleffed. This fhows us how different the meek, the gentle, and the benevolent temper is from that cruel and mercilefs zeal which often paffeth for it upon earth.

The good Pahorrors of hell.

His own petition being refused, the rich man now applies for his relations. VERSE 27. Then he faid, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldst fend him to my father's honfe. Let no wicked man boast himfelf of poffeffing fome virtues amid the number of his crimes. You fee there is even fome goodness in hell. The rich man retained ftill fome affection for his brethren, and had a defire for their converfion. Though they had been partakers with him in his fins, he did not want them to be partakers of his punishment. The repetition of the request shows he was in earnest.

VERSE 31. Neither will they be perfuaded, though one rofe from the dead. As this is a point of great confequence, it requires to be illuftrated at fome length. Let us fuppofe, that in order to convince a perfon of the immortality of his foul, Almighty God fent

one of his deceased friends, either in his unembodied state, or with the fame body he had in life. As no perfon would require fuch a proof, but one who was very much addicted to scepticism, it is very probable, that even then his doubts would not be removed. He might fay, this may be an impoftor, perhaps this may be fome evil spirit who has affumed the shape of my deceased friend.

But let us suppose, that these doubts are removed, that he is convinced of the reality of the apparition, and the truth of a future ftate. Let us then fee what effect it would have upon his life. He goes into company. He tells the ftory of the apparition to his companions. They hear it with derifion and ridicule, and confider him as a visionary enthusiast, disturbed in his imagination. As the experience of all mankind is against him, and the laws appear to be fixed for ever, of no intercourse between this world and the next, in whatever companies he tells it, it meets with the fame treatment, and all the effect of the apparition is, that it makes every one to conclude him to be befide himself. You all know how difficult it is to remain fingle in opinion against the whole world. It is ftill harder to become the object of laughter and ridicule; fo that with these difficulties in his way, it is ten to one but he falls in with the opinion of the world, and believes the apparition to have been the phantom of his own fancy. That this is not a mere conjecture, but what would really happen, appears from undoubted matter of fact, that did really happen. You remember the history of Saul. When the Lord would not anfwer him by his prophets, he went in queft of a woman who had a familiar fpirit.