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shall be succeeded by everlasting peace; where their souls shall flourish in eternal vigour, and their bodies be never again exposed to the accidents of time, after they have once risen to the glories of eternity. Poverty also is not without its spiritual advantages, although its aspect be so stern and repulsive. It tends to subdue the passions, to chasten the heart, and reconcile the mind to "the changes and chances of this mortal life." It removes us from many temptations; it weans us from a love of this world, because it allows us to participate in few of its seductions; and thus renders us less loth to quit it when the days of our pilgrimage shall have reached their term. The poor man will naturally be less anxious to continue in a scene, where privation has chiefly been his portion, when the warrant of death is served upon him, than he most probably would be, if life had been attended with more general or more permanent blessings. Still, whatever advantages may be derived to the rich or the poor, relatively, from the merciful dispensations of Providence, their chance of salvation must depend equally upon the manner in which they perform those duties allotted" to all sorts and conditions of men." Neither poverty nor wealth can give us a dispensation from them, since, in the next world, "the rich and the poor meet together" upon an equal footing, to be judged according to their works, "for the Lord is the Maker of them all.”

Sins of omission, to which the parable of our text so expressively points, are equally attributable to all classes of every christian community. The poor, indeed, from an idea that their comparatively destitute state excludes the necessity or possibility of practical benevolence, too often neglect to do good, when they have it in their power; as if their homeliness of condition could furnish them with an available pretext for neglecting to extend to their neighbours whatever assistance they may be able to bestow. It is a most cruel delusion, to hold up to the poor the expectation of eternal glory in another life, as a remuneration for their privations in this. Why should the Almighty expect greater righteousness in one class of his creatures than in another, when all are equal in his sight, all equally included in the privileges of redemption, all equally the objects of his propitiatory mercy? According to the means given to us, we are expected to employ them. To do as we would be done by, is alike incumbent upon all. Poverty can prevent no one from benefiting his neighbour, at least, to the best of his power. Lazarus was not "carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom," merely because he "lay at the rich man's gate full of sores," and solicited the crumbs that "fell from his table." He must have been a good man although poor, or he could have no "inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ."

From what the parable has led us to consider, we shall feel the necessity of improving our time in preparation for eternity. Whether the smiles or frowns of fortune be upon us, it should be remembered that death will soon terminate our present joys or sorrows, and that our condition in a future world will be decided by our conduct in this. When the shoreless ocean of eternity shall expand before us, it is certain that we shall then be, either members of the heavenly banquet, or outcasts with the wretched. Let us endeavour to prevent this latter terrible evil, by establishing our faith on the gospel of Christ, and by acting, in every state of our probation, suitably to such belief. Wherefore, "giving thanks always for all things unto God," let us "receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save our souls."

SERMON VIII.

SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

ST. LUKE, XVI. 23.

"And in Hell he lift his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom."

I have already addressed you upon the subject of this parable, but as the limits of a single discourse did not admit of those explanations which the subject seems to demand, I shall avail myself of the present opportunity, to point out and clear the few difficulties in which it has been thought by some to be involved.

It will be observed, then, that the rich man is represented as suffering penal torments in Hell, and the poor man as enjoying perfect blessedness in Heaven, before the final resurrection to judgment. The Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory may appear, without a due consideration of the subject, to be countenanced by this parable of our blessed Lord; and the rather, too, as some of

the early Christian fathers imagined it to be, not a fable, but a real history. In order to clear both these points, and to remove those difficulties which appear to lie in the way of a right understanding of this parable, I shall beg your attention to the following considerations.

After the conquest of Syria, by Alexander of Macedon, who very greatly favoured the Jews, the intercourse of these latter with the Greeks was considerably increased; and this, indeed, continued when Syria became a kingdom under Alexander's successor in that country; nor ceased altogether until the Jews were finally ejected from Palestine, and were doomed, as before, in their captivity, "to sing the Lord's song in a strange land." Accomplished as the Greeks were, in all the captivating graces of poetry and eloquence, to which their language, at once energetic, copious, and expressive, very greatly contributed; and having embellished with the splendours of poetry a system of mythology, though complex and confused, still sufficiently specious and alluring, it is no wonder that, during a lengthened intercourse, the Jews, who were certainly much inferior to their heathen neighbours in intellectual acuteness, should have imbibed some of their notions respecting the condition of eternity; especially where these notions nearly assimilated with their own.

That the Jews differed even among themselves in their opinions, respecting the state of the soul

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