while the careless liver, and the daring sinner, like the rich man in the parable, riot in the treasures of this world. But the time will come as surely as there is a God in heaven, whose word is truth-the time will come, when "the wicked shall be cast into hell, and all the people that forget God."

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Will they, who, like Lazarus, have been carried into a place of happiness, have no feeling for the miseries of such as are doomed to endless torments? This we are not taught to suppose. Abraham, we see, uses no angry language, speaks in no tone of contempt, to the sufferer who prays for his compassion; he addresses him in terms. of mildness and pity, "Son, remember" the past. But the request now made to him he is compelled to refuse: "Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulph fixed so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence," The righteous may, and doubtless will, feel pity for the sufferings of the

Psalm ix. 17.

sinner, but they can give him no relief, in another life; a gulph is placed between

them, so that they can no longer reach each other; the righteous have nothing therefore left but unavailing wishes, such as the Redeemer uttered over Jerusalem, when he gave her up to the punishment of her guilt: “If thou hadst known, even thou, the things that belong unto thy peace!" O that they had been wise! that they had understood this! that they had considered their latter end!

Driven from all hope of procuring relief for himself, the rich man next turned his attention to his brethren, who, being still upon earth, might even yet, he thought, be led to a change of mind and conduct, if they were informed of his dismal condition. With an anxious wish for their benefit, he says, "I pray thee, father, that thou wouldest send Lazarus to my father's house; for I have five brethren; that he may testify (or give notice) to them, lest they also come into this place of torment." What is Abraham's reply to this re

Luke xix. 42.

quest? Very different from the answer he gave to the former application, though he still refuses his petition: Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets'or, as he would have said in these days, they have Christ and his apostles

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"let them hear them." The means of instruction are open to them. The Bible is before them they have a Redeemer who died to save them, and who will save them, if they will receive him as their master, and serve him as such: they have the promise of the Holy Spirit, to assist their weak endeavours, if they will do their best, and pray earnestly for his aid: and they have ministers, to teach them the 'truths of their religion, to encourage, warn, and rebuke them, with all long-suffering. The rich man, though aware that he had himself possessed many and great advantages, and yet had turned them to no ac count, because he chose to lead a careless life, unmindful of God and man, still persists in his entreaty:Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." An event so striking, he thought, could not fail to rouse them

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from their indifference, and bring them to repentance. But how does Abraham, answer this repeated and earnest application? "If they hear not Moses and the prophets," (or as he would have said in later times; if they hear not) Christ and his apostles, laying open to them the way that leads to heaven,)" neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead."

They who lived under the law of Moses, and still more they who living under the Gospel have been received into the Church of Christ, have every opportunity of learning their duty, and every assistance for the practice of it, if they will make use of the means which God has graciously placed within their reach. They who neglect those means, must expect no other; they must not look for some miracle to be performed upon them. Can they expect, for instance, that a change of heart and mind shall be wrought in them from above, while they take no pains to please God, but live as carelessly and as, thoughtlessly as if they had never heard the name of Christ, or been warned that they must stand before his judgment-seat? If they would reap,

they must first sow if they will sow, God's blessing will be at hand to give an increase. If, in other words, they will enter upon the business of each day as the servants of Jesus Christ, and in their thoughts, words, and actions, be careful, first, that they give no offence, and next, that they do all the good in their power, for the sake of their great Master, the Holy Spirit will bless their endeavours, and give them grace to go on improving> The Jews, we know, were many of them hardened, instead of being brought to repentance, when another Lazarus did actually rise from the dead. And so it is, that, if we wait for impressions to be made upon us by objects which are to strike the senses, and produce an imme diate change of mind and heart, we are likely to wait in vain. This is not the usual course of God's dealings with his creatures; and we have no right to expect that he will go out of his way to serve those who neglect the means of grace already prepared for them. We must "hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly. digest," the saving truths of the Bible,

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