So.

of Nineveh will rise in judgment against the men who do Soon-very soon-shall the angel stand with one foot on the sea, and the other on the dry land, and take not the symbol of Babylon, a mighty mill-stone, but Babylon itself, and cast it down into ruin. Where, men of the world, will you be then, if not found in him you now reject and ignore? The Holy Ghost is come to reprove the world of judgment to come, and to testify of him, who is the hiding-place from the storm, the refuge from the heat, and the Saviour for sinners. Though the prince of this world is judged, the sentence is suspended. The longsuffering of God is waiting till the warning testimony has gone its round, until some of the sons and daughters of men are drawn out of the world which lieth in wickedness. But the sentence is only suspended, and the world, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up.

See what is written in Jas. iv. 4: "Whosoever... will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God." The Holy Spirit of the rejected Saviour is here to testify of this. Conscience will tell you of other judgments, the light of nature will tell you of other sentences, but he alone can convince you of this, if God perhaps will give you repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that you may recover yourselves from the snares of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

May my God, for Christ's sake, bless what I have said to you, and give you the spirit to receive it. Do not put it away from you.

BY

THE REV. MARCUS RAINSFORD,

Preached on Sunday Morning, October 30th, 1870.

"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."-LUKE xvi. 19-31.

HAVE read the text at length, though we have had it I already in the service of the day, because I would impress upon you whose words they are. There are few more solemn, few more startling passages, even in the records of the teaching of him who "spake as never man spake." Much idle controversy has been waged as to whether we are to understand the Lord here as speaking in a parable, or stating a narrative of facts. It matters very little. If it be a parable, the Lord intends to teach us the facts set forth in that parable; they are solemn facts, they

SERM. X.

are unexaggerated facts. Our Lord never exaggerated, he told us simple truth,-unvarnished, unadulterated truth. Let us now, seeking the aid and light of the Spirit of God, meditate on this statement uttered by none other lips than his, who left the throne of God and came down, not only to save us, but also to teach us what we otherwise could not know.

We have in the passage before us a wonderful painting, as by a master-hand. Here are three pictures well worth your study.

A poor beggar sitting in poverty and disease, weary and neglected, at a rich man's door, the very dogs taking pity upon him; we are told "the dogs came and licked his sores." That man loved God; perhaps his need was the means in God's hand of drawing him. The beggar sought rest elsewhere, for he found none here; he sought a portion elsewhere, for he had none here. And here we see him rising out of his poverty into everlasting rest, no longer a beggar upon the earth, but a cherished one in paradise-his tears wiped away, his sighings and his groanings gone for evermore; a washed, justified, sanctified, saved one, in the presence of God, in the heaven of heavens, in the bosom of Abraham.

We

Again, here is another picture, a rich man! He seems to have had all that this world could give him. are not told of anything that he did that was criminal,—not a hint that he was an immoral character. The record is a very simple one, and as we would say, a very harmless one, only this, he was "clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day." We are not told of blasphemies he had spoken, or of dishonesty that he perpetrated; perhaps he was guilty of neither the one or the other. He was a very respectable character doubtless, in the world's estimation; he gave great entertainments after this world's

fashion; he had many of the rich and influential of the land to call at his door; "he was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day;" but we find him passing from all his splendour down into hell,-we find him leaving all his luxury behind him, and sinking to` where he could not get a single drop of water to cool his tongue. Brethren, the painter is Christ. Mark! this is no stretch of the human imagination,—no effort of lively thought; these are the words of him who was the Word of God. Let us not try to explain away his words, let us not trifle with them or neglect them. What teaching this divine record supplies! There are people who tell us there is no hell. Christ says there is a hell. "And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments," and there he recognizes the only one he, perhaps, never cared to recognize on earth the beggar that sat "at his gate full of sores, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table." We are not told he never got the crumbs; it is a great mistake to suppose that the rich man never sent the beggar his dinner, this is not hinted; it was not for neglecting the beggar he was in hell, but because he had not Christ, that is why he was in hell. Little did his riches, influence, honours, or his name serve him in the land where only Christ's name is recognized,where only Christ's honour and Christ's righteousness are acknowledged.

Here, too, we have a third picture. It is a very sad one. A respectable family-a family moving, as the whole passage implies, in the highest circles, the wealthy brethren of this rich man, five of them—all on the broad road that leads to destruction. "I have five brethren, send Lazarus to my Father's house that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment." We gather from the passage that this family had every means of grace,

(how privileged some people are in this world!) they had everything in the way of temporal blessing, for they were wealthy; they had everything in the way of influence, they had position! they had every means of grace, they had Moses and the prophets; the word of God was familiar to them, all the ordinances of God were within their reach. Here we have a respectable, influential, time-honoured family, no doubt attending the means of grace, no doubt attending the Jewish worship, no doubt reverencing the Scriptures, they had Moses and the prophets,—yet in fearful danger of going to the place of torment to which their brother had descended. The Lord is the painter and narrator; the picture is not mine.

Observe further concerning this family. The providence of God seems to have dealt specially with them; there are times when God speaks to the consciences and to the hearts of men, and touches them as no being on earth can touch them. It was such a time with this family; they were mourners, death had entered that rich family, the head of it was cut down; a loved and honoured brother, doubtless one round whom their hearts' affections had twined, and whose name, wealth, and influence had shed honour and lustre on the connection, had been taken from them. They only knew that they had committed him to the dust, they did not know where they had committed his soul; the Lord tells us he was in hell. Probably they said, as alas! we almost invariably hear it said, (I would be faithful with you, friends,) when one dies in a family, "He is at rest, it is all well with him; it is all sad for us, but it is a change for the better for him." Doubtless the five brethren said so; but God says, not so, for "in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments." Oh, when shall we get wisdom? when shall we deal with eternal things as eternal things? when shall we regard the solemnity of the circumstances in which we are placed as