down a rapid river, and involved in one common, but unsuspected, ruin. Thus the different generations of men pass away; and each surviving race, concluding of course that those who went before are happy, follow the same fatal track, till it is too late to remedy their error.
The passage before us will illustrate this. It is part of a parable, wherein our Lord represents a rich man as living in luxurious indolence, till he is sur- prised by death, and made to feel the wrath of an avenging God. He had left his riches among five surviving brethren, who were all walking in his delu- sive steps, without ever once considering in what they would issue. The Rich Man, unable to prevail for even a drop of water to cool his tongue, requests, that if Lazarus may not be sent to him to mitigate his torment, he may be sent to his brethren to warn them of the danger in which they were, and to guard them against a continuance in their fatal security. But neither could this be granted : Abraham tells him, that they had the Scriptures in their hands ; and that, if they would not attend to them, any message from the dead would be of no avail.
From this solemn declaration we shall take occa- sion to shew, I. The use and office of the Holy Scriptures —
This is plainly intimated in our text. The Rich Man had solicited that Lazarus might be sent to warn his brethren, lest they also should come into that place of torment. The reply was, that they had the Scriptures, and should attend to them : whence it appears that,
The use of the Scriptures is to guide men to heaven — [They are intended to shew us the way thither, and to
guard us against every erroneous path This they do
with the utmost plainness and fidelity; insomuch that, if* studied with diligence and prayer, they will assuredly " make us wise
unto salvation through faith that. is in Christ Jesus."
There certainly are passages in them difficult to be understood: but the great and essential truths are stated in so clear a man- ner, that he who runs may read them. Who that searches the