addressed to them a personal and severe reproof, and added another parable, that should enforce, with ten- fold energy, his preceding admonitions. He repre- sented a rich man, after a short enjoyment of his carnal pleasures, doomed to eternal misery in hell ; and a poor man, after a transient scene of sufferings on earth, exalted to a state of everlasting felicity in heaven.
In opening this parable we shall present to your view,
I. Their different conditions in this world —
The Rich Man enjoyed all that could gratify an
earthly mind —
[High titles, stately mansions, superb clothing, pompous equipage, numerous attendants, sumptuous entertainments, courtly friends, and flattering sycophants, were his distin- guished portion, his daily enjoyment These were the
things in which he took delight ; nor had his vain earthly heart a thought or wish beyond them b, Doubtless he was to many in his day an object of admiration and envy. And many amongst ourselves are ready to say, Give me but such a portion as his, and I desire no more.]
The Poor Man was as destitute as a human being could be —
[He wanted even the most common necessaries of life. In addition to this, he was " full of sores" from head to foot; without medical aid to cure them, or even a friendly hand to bind them up; so that " the very dogs came and licked them." Unable to walk, he was carried, and, as if no man cared what became of him, was castc at the Rich Man's gate, to gather a scanty and precarious subsistence from the crumbs which fell from his table. Thus destitute of food, of health, of friends, a very outcast from society, he protracted a wretched existence, till death relieved him of his sorrows.
Who would have thought that these two men were of the same species, or that, if they were, a just and merciful God should put such a difference between them?]
But our minds will be reconciled to this seeming inequality of state, if we survey,
II. Their still more different conditions in the in-
visible world — The Rich Man was reduced to a state of deserved
misery —
[We read not of any enormous crimes that he committed;
b " Thy good things." c 'Efi£ft\r}TO.