The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 81

III. 01'.: MITIGATING FEATURE. This juxtaposition of poverty and wealth provides an 01,portunity for the exercise of sincere benevolence and of the hicrhest Christian wisdom. 'l'o the Christian heart there is a plaintive plea which cannot be unhe~rd or disregarded, even though Lazarus be kept out of sight and hearing by judicious arr~ngement.s. And to the honest :patriot ther_e is ~n inviting and urgent problem to which, far more than to the questions of fortifications and armaments, he will give earnest heed, viz. how to bring about an approachment, an intermingling of all classes and conditions of men, a better distribution of the great resources of the l~nd. IV. THE TRUE HOPE OF ADJUSTMENT. Whither shall we look for a better distri- bution of the riches of the land? 1. Almsgiving cau only touch the frincre of the difficulty. 2. Economic changes may have a valuable part to play in the matter; but we are not yet agreed as to the best course to take. 3. Beneficent legislation will certainly bring its large contribution; it can do two things: it can (1) educate the whole nation, and so provide every citizen with necessary weapons for the battle of life; and it can (2) do much to remove temptation from the path of the weak. But it is: 4. Spiritual renewal which must prove the main source of social reconstruction. Change the character, and you will change the condition of men. And the one force which will effect this is the redeeming and regenerating truth of God, made known by the holy lives and in the loving words of the disciples of Jesus Christ.-C. Vers. 27-31.-.A dangerous delusion. The rich man found himself undergoing the penalty of a selfish and worldly life, and, bethinking himself of his five brethren, he desired for them the advantage which he himself had not possessed; he prayed that a visitant from the unseen world might appear to them and warn them of the danger in which they stood. He thoaght this extraordinary privilege would accomplish for them what the ordinary influences around them had not wrought. He was assured that in this notion he was mistaken ; if they were not hearing " Moses and the prophets, neither would they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." I. THE o:sE HOPE FOB ERRING AND SINFUL MEN-that they may be persuaded. They are living in sin ; for selfishness and worldliness are such in the sight of God that they may be said to be sin itself; they are the soul turning from the living God to :find its centre, its sphere, its satisfaction, in its own poor self, in the material and transitory good of this present world. .And living in sin, men are living under God's high displeasure, under his solemn and awful condemnation, in peril of :final banishment and penalty in the future. 'l'he one hope for them is that they will be persuaded: 1. To consider. To consider whence they came, whose they are, unto whom they owe their powers and their possessions, what is the true end and aim of human life, their accountableness to the God whom they have neglected and displeased, the nearness of death, the greatness of eternity. 2. To repent. 'l'hat is, not to be convulsed with a strong and passing agony of soul, nor to use the cnrrent and approved language of contrition, but to change their minds, their views, their feelings; to have in their hearts a deep sense of shame and of regret that they should have so sadly misspent their powers and lost their opportunities. 3. To resolve. To come to a deliberate and :fixed resolution to live henceforth unto God their Saviour. IL THE REFUGE OF THE DISOBEDIENT. There are many who, when they thus recog- nize their duty, are" not disobedient to the heavenly vision;" they say," Lord, what wilt thou have me to do P" and proceed without delay to do his holy will. But there are others who weakly and wrongly postpone the hour of decision and of return. They think that the time will come for them to enter the kingdom of God, but it has not yet arrived. 'l'here has not happened to them any• great visitation. God bas not appeared in any striking and overwhelming form. There will come an hour when it will be made manifest to them that they must no longer delay; when they will be mightily constrained to yield themselves to the service of the Supreme; then they will freely and gladly respond; meantime they will pursue the old path of selfishness and worldly pleasure. Ill. 'l'HE VANITY AND THE FOLLY OF THIS BESOBT. 1. The 'Uanity of it. Jesus Christ taught that men, if they were unmoved by the sacred truths they learned in Deuteronomy ar,d I.,aiah, would not be stirred to newness of life even by an apparition from the Wlseen wurld; that it was not by the cxtraoruinary and the startling, but by ou, xvI. 1-31.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'fO ST. LUKE. 83