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requested that you would lay aside preconceived opinions and prejudices, which may have been imbibed, and suspend your judgment in the premises, until the investigation shall be finished. And may God give us soundness of mind, cause us to be governed in our inquiries, by correct principles, and bring us to the knowledge of the truth, as it is in the gospel of his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

LECTURE II.

LUKE xvi. 31.

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

IN illustrating the account given of the rich man and Lazarus; considering it, as it appears to have been commonly understood, as a literal relation of facts and circumstances concerning two individuals, we proceeded, in a former discourse, to mark the history given of each of them, to the close of their earthly career. The passage tells us they both died. But this is not all. It represents them both as still existing, though in a different state, and in very different circumstances. These we are now to consider.

And first, the disposition that was made of the beggar, at, or subsequently to, his death. "It came to pass, says the account,-that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." It would be difficult, we think, to reconcile the statements here given, with the idea that the whole account is not to be understood as a parabolical representation or allegory, rather than as a statement of facts and actual

occurrences.

What are we to understand by the phrase "Abraham's bosom," into which the beggar is said to have been carried? And what, by his being carried there by

the angels? We know the common opinion of the meaning of this description is, that the beggar died a natural death, and that his immortal soul immediately ascended to heaven-being conveyed, or conducted thither by invisible beings called angels,-one part of whose office is supposed to be, to attend upon the righteous, as ministers and guardians, during their lives upon earth, and at the moment of death, to convey their souls to a place of immortal rest and felicity, in the invisible world. And this opinion is probably founded upon this particular passage as much as upon any other, or as upon all others in the bible.

There are, however, objections to this view of the account, which may well cause us to hesitate as to its correctness. It may be remarked, that it is not said, that when the beggar died, his spirit, or his immortal soul, was carried to Abraham's bosom; but that the beggar was carried there, that is, in his entire person, as the terms fairly and literally import. Now, does any one believe that the beggar was taken to heaven, soul and body? we expect not. But we do not mean to lay much stress upon this circumstance. Nor shall we, in this place, inquire particularly into the meaning of the word angels, here employed, nor what is to be understood by their carrying the beggar, and placing him in the situation described. In another part of the illustration these circumstances will receive due attention. So likewise will the phrase " Abraham's bosom." At present we would briefly remark, that these terms, though evidently figurative, have, by common consent, been supposed to refer to a state of happiness beyond the present life. Cruden, in his concordance of the bible, in explaining the phrase, says, "Lazarus was in

a place of rest, where he had communion with the saints, and enjoyed the same felicity with Abraham, the friend of God; and this place was none other than heaven."

Now, this opinion must have been adopted, from its harmonizing with the generally received import of the account, when taken together, and not from the occurrence of the phrase in other parts of the scripture, nor from its peculiar fitness to describe such a place or state. For, let it be remarked, this is the only place in the bible, in which the most distant intimation is given of any one, at death, going or being conveyed to Abraham's bosom. It is declared that God is the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and that at death, "the spirit shall return unto God that gave it." Our Saviour, on the cross, yielded up the ghost, saying, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." And he told his disciples, before his departure from them, that he would go and prepare a place for them, and would come again and receive them to himself, and that where he was they should be also.

St. Stephen, at his martyrdom, saw the heavens opened, and the divine glory displayed, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God; and he cried, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." St. Paul encourages Christians with the assurance that "if our earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God; a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

But where is the happiness of the future life represented by being in Abraham's bosom? certainly no where in the bible, unless it be in this passage, and we are persuaded it is not so described here. And where, we inquire further, would be the fitness of such a

representation, any more than if it should have been set forth by being in the bosom of Adam, or Enoch, or Moses, or Isaiah, or any of those holy prophets, by whose mouth God hath spoken of the restitution of all things, since the world began?

It should be observed that we are still considering the account, according to the sense in which it has been commonly understood; stating all along our objections to such an interpretation of the passage, and showing why, in our opinion, it is not and cannot be the correct The account of the beggar closes with the notice, that he was "carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom." The fate of the rich man is then described.

one.

It should be remarked, in relation to the death of the beggar, that no account is given of his burial. But of the rich man it is said, he also "died and was buried." Taking the account as a literal statement of facts, preachers and expositors have here indulged in much fancy and conjecture. They have supposed that the beggar, immediately at his death attended by few, if any, friends or acquaintance, was hurried away without ceremony and without regret, to an obscure and lonely grave, where his remains were rudely or carelessly deposited, without a tear, and without a stone to mark the spot.

The funeral of the rich man has been represented as attended by a numerous train, accompanied by an imposing exhibition of pomp and circumstance, with a superb coffin, and a richly garnished sepulchre, as the depositories of his formerly pampered, but now untenanted earthly tabernacle. Dr. Clarke, in his commentary, lends his countenance to such conjectures. He says "although the circumstance (of burial) in

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