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May each of us fulfil our office, so that, when

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Secondly, the day is near when it will be said to you and me, "Give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward." When a few more summers shall have shone upon us--when a few more birthdays shall have come round-but oh we must not speak of so long a time as this-when a few more weeks perhaps, or even days, shall have passed away, our stewardship will be at an end for ever. There will be no more opportunities then; but we must go before God just as we are. Think of this, and remember that our account will be a very strict one, for to whom much is given, of him will much be required. "Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able."

But there is one more lesson which the Parable teaches. We may call it the great lesson of the Parable. I mean, that we should be just as anxious about our everlasting wel

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fare, as many are about their worldly interests. How eager men are about their gains, and their pleasures, and their earthly advantages! They will even sacrifice their health to obtain them. And yet, when they have got all that they have so eagerly sought for, it perishes in the using. Truly there are many worldly and ungodly men, who fairly put to shame the people of God, by running with more eagerness to death and ruin, than they do to life and happiness. But let us learn a lesson from them. Let them not have all the earnestness on their side. Let us be as eager for eternal life. Let us be as earnest for salvation. us be as wise in "laying up a treasure in the heavens that faileth not." Let us so live in this world, that when death comes, and this poor dwelling of ours crumbles to dust, we may be received into those everlasting mansions, where Christ is gone to prepare a place for us.

Let

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THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.

LUKE XVI. 19-31.

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom : the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou

art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot ; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

THIS is the only Parable which gives us an insight into the state of men in the unseen world.

Let us consider,

1st. The condition in which the Rich Man and Lazarus were placed in this life; and

2dly. The portion allotted to each of them

in the next.

First, then, we have here the earthly history

of two men, very different, both as regards their worldly station, and also their spiritual

condition.

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The one was 'a Rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day." We may picture him to ourselves as inhabiting a lordly mansion, in the enjoyment of all the good things that money could procure for him, living for this world, and for this world only.

The other was a poor Beggar, who was laid at the rich man's gate, glad enough to receive now and then some of the broken bits, which were left from his table. And he was not only poor, but afflicted with sickness and disease. He had no doctor to dress his wounds, and no kind friends to comfort him. But "the dogs came and licked his sores."

Now, if we could have seen these two men, would not some of us have been disposed, at first sight, to envy the rich man's condition, and to pity the miserable state of the other? But if so, we should be forgetting the fact, that perhaps under "the purple and fine linen" of the one, there

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