chains, which bind them more strongly, and for a longer time, to the love of a life which serves only to multiply their sins. (2.) That they leave it with regret. (3.) That they fall from one death into another. What joy must it be to a man, at the end of a miserable but short life, to find the bosom of God open to receive him, in order to his being eternally happy there! But how great the despair when, at the conclusion of a life which pleasures and the fear of death make appear even shorter than it is, a man finds the abyss of hell open to swallow him up, and confine him there to all eternity! Can we sufficiently reflect upon the difference of these two states?

23. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Hell is to the damned not only a prison and a place of death, but likewise a place of torments, which make them feel that there is a God. His justice forces them to open and lift up their eyes toward him, which they had always kept shut against his law, or turned down toward the earth. That small glimmering of light which is left them, whereby they perceive the happiness of the elect, serves only to augment their rage and despair. Lord, open now the eyes of the rich, that they may see the deceitfulness of their riches, and lift up their eyes toward the treasures which are invisible.

24. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

After death there is no longer any time for fatherly kindness and mercy: it is in vain to cry out and call upon it in hell. In vain would any one there implore the assistance of the poor whom he has despised: they are deaf and insensible to the entreaties of those who have been deaf to their groans, and unmoved by their tears. It is very just that he, who has refused to give the crumbs which fell from his table to a poor wretch who desired them, should eternally desire a drop of water, and not receive it. "Blessed is he who considereth the poor and needy: the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble," Ps. xli. 1.

25. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

The quality of being the [professed] children of God, which wicked Christians received in baptism, shall be remembered even in hell-but it will be to their greater damnation. This word "son," which is a word of tenderness, is here used to show us that God does not punish out of any transport of anger or passion, but out of a calm and sedate love of his own justice. Riches are the good things of reprobates, because they love them passionately, and place all their happiness in them; and because God either seldom permits his elect to enjoy them, or weans their affections from them. It is then a very miserable state and condition, for a man to have every thing according to his desire in this world, and quietly to enjoy the pleasures and satisfactions of life; since there needs no more to expose him to an eternal misery. The cross of Christ is the portion of Christians: he who bears it not, has no part in him. Let those tremble with fear who are unwilling to suffer any thing, and abhor the very name of mortification and the cross. Happy is that person who makes it his comfort and consolation during the short moment of this present life!

26. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

How great is the gulf and separation between the saints in heaven and the damned in hell! and yet we do not reflect upon it. There is no communication between heaven and hell; no more society between the righteous and the wicked; no more mixture of the elect with the reprobate, as in the church on earth. As eternal happiness consists in the perfect communion of God and his elect, of Christ and his members; so eternal damnation consists in being excommunicated by a general and irrevocable excommunication, deprived forever of God, of Christ, and of their Spirit, and condemned to the society of devils and their torments to all eternity. The latter have not the least hope of ever leaving that place

of punishment, nor the former any fear of falling from their blessed state.

27. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house: 28. For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

The false and selfish compassion of the damned who suffer for others, being an irregular affection, can serve only to increase their sufferings. No prayers nor desires are heard in hell; because there is no charity to form them. A rich man, who, by leaving his relations an example of a soft and voluptuous life, and likewise riches to enable them to imitate his example, leaves them two means of damning themselves, is punished in hell for so doing; and it is this punishment which the rich man before us would willingly avoid. One part of damnation consists in being exposed to the reproaches of those whom we have loved in a wrong manner, and thereby made companions in our misery. A rich man, in the torments of hell, will wish that he could, by means of the poor themselves, make satisfaction for the thefts of which he has been guilty, with regard to them, by his criminal expenses and hard-heartedness; but it will be then too late.

29. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

We have Moses and the prophets as well as they; and we have, moreover, Christ and the apostles, the gospel and the apostolical writings, and yet we neglect them. It is a very great instance of negligence for a man not to inform himself of his duty, by reading the word of God while he has opportunity to do it; and it is to expose himself to this reproach, when there is no longer any time to receive the least advantage from it. What is it to hear the word of God as we ought, but to read it with faith, respect, and obedience; to make it the rule of our opinions, our conduct, and our life; and to have recourse to it in all our doubts, afflictions, and infirmities, as our only light, consolation, and strength?

30. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

That man is under a great delusion who waits for some

what extraordinary to convert him, and engage him to set about the work of his salvation. The wicked foolishly flatter themselves that proofs are wanting to their faith; whereas faith is the only thing which is wanting in the midst of the most plain and evident proofs. The Son of God, who came down from heaven to preach repentance to us, and who returned from hell [or the place of departed spirits] to confirm his preaching, has not been able to persuade us to repent: and yet we imagine, that we should perform this duty if either an angel come from heaven, or a dead man from the grave, to declare to us the absolute necessity thereof.

31. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

He who gives no credit to the Scripture, gives none to miracles, since it is filled with those of Christ and his apostles. Passion has no other design, but to gain time, and to get rid of those proofs which press too hard upon and incommode it, under pretence of desiring better; and when such are produced, they serve only to provoke and harden it the more. Christ did raise another Lazarus, and the Jews would fain have sent him back to the grave, and from that very time resolved upon the death of Christ himself. This Saviour rose from the dead, and it was this very resurrection which hardened that perfidious people, and served to fill up the measure of their sins. In vain does the sun of truth shine upon him who is blinded by passion. Let this but cease, and every thing will appear plain. Faith is satisfied with such proofs as God vouchsafes to afford it; incredulity never has enough.

CHAPTER XVII.

SECT. I.-OFFENCE OR SCANDAL.-FORGIVENESS OF INJURIES.-INCREASE OF FAITH.

1. THEN said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

God, to whom nothing is impossible, could prevent all offences or scandals; but he chooses rather to reduce them by

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his wisdom within the order of his providence, and to make them instrumental to the sanctification of the elect, to the manifestation of his justice, and to his other designs. Whatever good God brings out of evil, can by no means excuse the sinner; because he has no manner of share in that good. A public sin does not always escape a public punishment; because the honour of God's justice is often, as it were, engaged to inflict it.

2. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

Miserable is that person who, being already oppressed with the burden of his own sins, draws upon himself the guilt of other men's, by being to them an occasion of offence. It is a terrible judgment upon this sort of sinners, that God does. not by an early death prevent the first causes of offence or scandal which they give to souls. Who is there who thoroughly comprehends how great a sin it is to cause one single soul to lose its innocency, by being thereto an occasion of sin? This is sufficient to draw upon any person the curse of God. But how much more, when the scandal or offence becomes the source of an infinity of others, and causes the loss of a world of souls; as an heresiarch, or an impious person does, who keeps, as it were, a school of libertinism, who justifies and authorizes sin, etc.

3. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

In

It is not sufficient for the charity of a true Christian not to give any occasion of sin to others: it must likewise assist them in reforming their lives, and even forgive the trespasses committed against it. Let us seriously consider these words of our blessed Lord; for it is not without reason that he admonishes us to take heed to ourselves on these occasions. stead of mildly rebuking our brother, we are apt to brood upon our displeasure at the bottom of our heart, where enmity, bitterness, disgust, contempt, and aversion are nourished by a thousand disadvantageous thoughts and malicious reflections, and take deep root therein. All that is gained by rebuking him in a harsh manner, is only to inflame the wound