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inform us, that the rich man in hell, obtaining no relief for himself, nor any encouragement, offers his next petition in behalf of others, his near family relatives. He still prefers his request to father Abraham; and still entreats him to send the now comforted and happy Lazarus, who formerly "was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from his table."

"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."

We have some remarks to make upon the particular circumstances here stated, but they must be deferred until the next lecture.

If you have hitherto found our attempted illustration of this important subject, in some degree interesting, I hope it will not be less so as we further advance in it, until it shall be completed.

I can not more appropriately close the present lecture than in the devout language of one of the excellent collects in the liturgy of the Episcopal Church.

"Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy scriptures to be written for our learning; grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that by patience and comfort of thy holy word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ." Amen.

LECTURE V.

LUKE xvi. 31.

"If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

In our last lecture we noticed the application made by the rich man in hades, or hell, to father Abraham, entreating him to send Lazarus to afford some relief to him in his torment, and also the patriarch's answer. The consideration of these two particulars occupied nearly the whole of the lecture. We just introduced the circumstance of the rich man's second request to the father of the faithful," but had not space then for the remarks we wished to make upon it. We purpose to offer them now; and likewise to notice, carefully, Abraham's second reply.

We shall still consider the subject in the way in which it has been usually explained and applied, stating our objections to such a construction of the passage.

The second earnest supplication of the rich man is expressed as follows: "I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him, (Lazarus) 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."

Preachers and commentators appear to have found considerable difficulty in explaining this part of the

story," so as to make it consistent with the other parts of it, and with what has been thought to be its general scope and intention. The difficulty arises from this circumstance, namely, that the wicked in hell should feel so much compassion and benevolence towards their fellow-beings, especially their family relatives who are still in this world, that they should be so concerned lest they also should come into that place of torment, and so anxious that timely warning should be given them, that they might avoid it.

Such affections and emotions are supposed to be utterly inconsistent with the state of lost souls, in the regions of woe, where sin and guilt, despair and horrid blasphemy prevail forever, without one redeeming quality, or mitigating circumstance. Where the degraded and disgustful wretches are filled only with malignant passions, enmity, spite, and malice; hating God and all goodness, full of rage and revenge towards each other; tormented, and tormenting to all eternity. You are aware, my hearers, that such is the description that has commonly been given of the state and condition of the wretched victims of Almighty wrath and vengeance in the future world.

How is it, then, that the rich man in hell, (supposing it to mean the place of eternal punishment) should be represented as feeling such an intense concern for the safety of his brethren upon earth ?—Why, he absolutely appears to feel as much concern and interest for their salvation from the torments of hell, as our pious missionaries and others do for the salvation of the souls of the heathen, from the like tremendous destiny; and for any thing we can infer, it was from a principle equally benevolent and disinterested. They are very much

afraid the heathen will nearly all go to hell. They represent that their Maker is daily sending them there by thousands; and they are anxious, if possible, to put a stop to it, by sending missionaries to them with the gospel, to tell them that God has a better place to which he wishes to take them when they die. Which is in fact telling them that he has been doing that for ages which he had no wish to do, in sending them to a place of torment, for which he never originally designed them; and that it is the bounden duty of Christians to interfere, and prevent this amazing and continued and everlasting destruction of the souls of their fellowcreatures!

Do not say, my hearers, that I am turning a serious subject into ridicule. If the subject has not been already made ridiculous, I am not making it so. I appeal to yourselves, and to your own knowledge, if the statement above made is not literally correct. Are they not the very ideas that have been, and still are constantly inculcated, and pressed upon your consideration and your sympathies, with all possible energy and eloquence. Are we not constantly told that the heathen are perishing; that they are continually going to hell in great numbers, and of course, that their Maker is sending them there, and that he will continue to do it, until missionaries shall take the gospel to them, to enlighten their minds, and give them better information as to the character of God, his will, and his eternal purpose concerning them?

These remarks can hardly be called a digression from our subject. They are naturally suggested by the circumstance of the rich man in hell desiring that Lazarus should be sent as a messenger or missionary,

to his five brethren, to testify unto them lest they also should come into that place of torment.

But we must still inquire-if according to the common opinion, the hell in which the rich man is said to be tormented, is to be understood as designating the place of future endless punishment-how it should be that he should still possess such a benevolent regard for his relatives in this world? Is it not utterly inconsistent with the common descriptions, and the generally received opinion, of the condition of the wicked in a future state? Is there supposed to be any thing like compassion, affection, or benevolence in hell? Is there any principle of pity, or of kindness, operating there?

This will not be admitted. Why pleads then the wretched Dives with father Abraham, saying, Send him therefore, send Lazarus, to my father's house, that he may testify to my brethren, lest they also come into this place of torment?

Preachers and expositors have endeavored to get over this difficult spot as well as they could; and the most feasible method they have been able to hit upon, appears to be this, namely, that it was not from any affection or good will towards his brethren, that this unhappy man desired they might not come to his miserable abode; but that it was wholly on his own account; knowing, it is said, that their company would only aggravate his own sufferings, and enhance the horrors of his already insupportable doom. The passage, to be sure, gives no countenance to such an idea, but then the manifest affection and benevolence of the rich man in hell must be accounted for in some way; and the ingenuity of the whole body of Christian divines, both

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