A.

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 wouldst 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. braham 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."

THAT the letter of this passage is familiar to the mind of the hearer, no doubt is entertained, but that the right sense and true meaning of the text are as generally understood, is very much to be doubted.

In treating on this subject, the following method will serve to direct our researches:

I. The current opinion and common use of this portion of our Saviour's words, will be laid before the hearer.

II. This current opinion and common use of the text will be disproved by the divine testin.ony. And, III. The true sense of the text will be sought and illustrated, in as plain a manner as our ability and opportunity will permit.

On our first proposition little needs to be said, as the current opinion and common use of our text is familiar to the hearer.

The current opinion may be said to embrace the following particulars. 1st. That our Saviour, in this text, spake no parable, but gave a plain, literal account of the different situations and circumstances of a rich man and a beggar, first in this world, and secondly in a future state of existence. 2d. That the beggar literally died, and was carried by angels into a state of eternal blessedness, called in the text, Abraham's bosom. 3d. That the rich man also died a natural death, and went into a state of endless torment. In this situation he sees Abra

ham afar off in heaven, with Lazarus in his bosom, and makes his request for a drop of water, and is denied. 4th. That the gulf between Abraham and the rich man, is the distance which heaven and hell are from each other, which will eternally remain, and never be passed.

The common use which is made of this portion of scripture, is to support and confirm the opinion of endless punishment in a future state, for sins committed in this natural life, and particularly for the sins of luxurious living, and the neglect of the poor.

Believers in the doctrine of endless punishment resort to this passage as to a place of security, and as an impregnable bulwark. Here they maintain that God, who is good and kind to sinners in this world, will be utterly unmerciful to them in the world to come. That Jesus, the friend and redeemer of sinners, will have, in the next state of existence, no compassion. And saints, who in this world pray most sincerely for the conversion and salvation of sinners, will then feel no desires in their favor. As Abraham acknowledged the rich man in hell to be his son, yet would grant him no favor, nor even express a desire so to do, it is maintained that parents hereafter in heaven, will see their own natural offspring in hell, without having it in their power to grant them the least favor, or of feeling the least desire thus to do.

In this description of the current opinion and common use of our text, simplicity has been duly regarded, and care taken to avoid giving a false color to any part of the representation. Much more might be said, but it is believed that the general subject, as commonly understood, has been comprehended.

Secondly. In disproving the foregoing opinion and use of our text, arguments will be brought from the scriptures to show that they are contrary to the scheme of the gospel. It will likewise be shown that the connection in which our text is found, gives no support to the current opinion and common use of the passage. And finally, in the text itself, evidence will be found sufficient to refute the common application of these words.

1st. The gospel is the doctrine of repentance and salvation from sin. Mat. 1; 21. "And thou shall call his name JESUS; for he shall save his people from their sins." Acts 5; 31. "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Nothing is more evident, than that the scheme of the gospel designs the repentance and salvation of sinners. But the endless punishment of sinners is totally inconsistent with

such a scheme.

The gospel teaches us that God is possessed of GREAT LOVE to sinners. Eph. 2; 4, 5. "But God, who is rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened us to gether with Christ." 1st John; 4; 10. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins." To represent the Divine being as inflicting an unmerciful punishment on sinners, whom he loves with a GREAT LOVE, and for whom he sent his son to be the propitiation for their sins, is, most surely, a very unscriptural and unreasonable representation.

The gospel assures us that God "will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1st Tim. 2; 4. If this be the will of God, it must be a mistake to suppose that our Saviour taught the doctrine of endless punishment. For it must be supposed that he knew the will of him who sent him, for the accomplishment of which will he came down from heaven. John, 6; 38.

Our blessed redeemer teaches us to love mankind with the same manner of love with which sinners are loved of God. Mat. 5; 44. 45. If this be the spirit of the Gospel, which cannot be denied, the notion that saints in bliss will be spectators of the endless torments of their fellow creatures, and even of their own offspring, without feeling one friendly desire towards them, must be absurd in the extreme.

2d. That the connection in which our text is found,

gives no support to the current opinion and common use of the passage, may be seen by a little attention.

Our text is found in connection with a number of beautifully instructive parables occupying the 15th and 16th chapters of St. Luke.

We are informed in the beginning of the 15th chapter as follows: "Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." In reply to this, the Saviour spake the three parables which occupy the whole of the remaining part of the chapter. By the parables of the lost sheep, the lost piece of money, and the prodigal son, in which was represented the recovery of all that was lost, and the joys of heaven in consequence of the repentance of sinners, he vindicated his conduct in receive ing sinners and eating with them.

The 16th chapter, in which our text is recorded, begins with the parable of the unjust steward, by which is represented the folly of the Pharisees and scribes in not improving the law dispensation in a way to introduce them into the everlasting habitations of the gospel. Directly following this parable, Jesus speaks of the continuance of the law and the prophets until John, and of the kingdom of heaven which succeeded them.

He says, verse 17. "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." The propriety of this he shows by the following parable, verse 18. "Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery." The next words are those of our text.

Now what is there in all, or in any part of the sayings of Jesus, which go before our text, that gives the least intimation of a subject like the one to which our text is usually applied? Or what is there in all this connection, properly calculated to introduce such a sentiment as we are endeavoring to disprove ?

To suppose that he who spake as never man spake, abruptly dropped the subject of the end of the law dis

pensation, and the introduction of the gospel, or kingdom of heaven, and having no further allusion to this subject, proceeded to give an account of the sin of adultery, which account occupies but one verse, and then again flies directly from this subject, to give a literal account about a rich man and a beggar, in this world and in an eternal state, is so unwarrantable, and so derogatory to the character of the divine orator, that it is a matter of wonder that such an opinion should ever have been honored with the consent of learned commentators.

Sd. Let us now look and see if there be not sufficient evidence in the text itself, to refute the common applica tion of it.

Does not the account of the conversation which took place between the rich man and Abraham, naturally suggest the idea of a parable, and disprove the notion of a literal account? If, according to the common opinion, the rich man was in a state of torment, from which no hopes are ever entertained of an escape, why should he have asked of Abraham any assistance? And if infolded in those awful flames which are generally supposed to prey on the miserable hereafter, could the rich man believe that a drop of water on the tip of Lazarus' finger, could be of any use to him?

In Abraham's reply, two particulars are worthy of special notice. 1st. "Son, remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." In this' part of the reply, the idea of equal favor is suggested. As in their former condition, the rich man was favored more than the beggar, it seems no more than equal that there should be an exchange, and he who was first a beggar, should now be rich, and he who was first rich, should now be the beggar. But according to the common opinion, there is no equality of favors enjoyed by these two persons. There is no proportion between the momentary enjoyments of riches in this world, and the everlasting enjoyments of heaven. Nor is there any proportion between the momentary evils of poverty in