could be placed, and contrast them with the most abject poverty of a true Christian.

"And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table moreover the dogs came and licked his sores." Probably Lazarus had in his own past experience found that it was well for him to seek charitable assistance at this rich man's door, and therefore desired again to be laid there. There is no proof that the rich man was hard hearted, and refused him the pittance which would relieve his wants. Even the dogs of this establishment were friendly to the beggar, who must have been countenanced by the family, or instead of licking his sores, they would probably have torn him to pieces.

Mark the contrast between these two individuals in this life one was rich, the other poor; one was well, the other sick; one was clothed in purple and fine linen, and the other in the rags of a beggar; one fared sumptuously, and the other presumed to ask for nothing but the crumbs; one was sound in body and lovely in his appearance, while the other was loathsome from his sores.

Now follow these same individuals out of this present world. "And it came to pass that the beggar died." "The rich man also died, and was buried," probably with pomp and solemnity; but whether the beggar was buried or not, has been left untold. His body was probably carried without ceremony, to some place of deposit. Each of these individuals was removed from the face of the earth.

But what became of their souls? For "there is a spirit in man ;" and when "the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain"-" then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." The Saviour proceeds to inform us what became of their spirits or souls; of that part in these human beings which we call themselves. They both had a conscious existence immediately after death. That in them which thought, remembered, rea

soned, desired, and felt either pleasure or pain, had a continuous duration; but leaving their bodies, they found themselves in widely different circumstances in the world of departed spirits. Both were in the state of the dead; both knew whence they had come, and whom they had left behind them on earth. One of them was in a state of misery, in which he was surprised to find himself; in which he experienced fruitless desire, disappointment and despair. "The beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom;" into a holy, happy society, in which he enjoyed the friendship, confidence, and love of Abraham, the father of the faithful: for Abraham's bosom is but an emblem of all these social benefits.

"The rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell," in the state of the dead, or world of departed spirits," he lifted up his eyes," just as a man in his dreams may be said to do, thereby denoting his surprise, "being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." They were both so situated in the state of departed spirits, that they could recognise each other still, as well as they once did on earth: and the rich man knew that Lazarus was a companion of his patriarchial ancestor Abraham. In this state the rich man, surprised to find himself lost, had not ceased to experience natural affection for himself and his kindred. He desired deliverance from his misery, and as some religionists do on earth, instead of immediately calling on God, he began to pray to one of the saints. "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."

It was necessary for the Saviour, if he described the torments of the lost spirit at all, so that men could understand him, to use similitudes. He symbolizes, therefore, the torments of the damned, by comparing them to pains produced by intense and unquenchable fires. He presents the rich man as desiring the least relief of which we can conceive under the parching thirst which he experienced. He asked but the cooling of his tongue by

means of the moistened finger of one of his former acquaintances. To show that the lost sinner is without any prospect of relief, the Saviour proceeds in his narrative to say, "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." Here Christ presents a contrast between the rich man in this life, and after this life. He tells us how different were the portions allotted to these persons after they were dead, from the portions which they experienced while they were alive on earth. In his lifetime on earth the rich man had good, and Lazarus evil things but now, beyond the present life, Lazarus was comforted, and the rich man was tormented.

To show that none who die unprepared to pass to the society of Abraham, can after death exchange their miserable for an improved state, it is added, "besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from us to you cannot: neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." Here the purpose of God in the future condition of the righteous and the wicked, of those who go to Abraham's bosom and of those who awake in torments, is denoted by an impassable gulf situated between two places. As men on one location would for ever be separated from men on an opposite location by an impassable, bottomless abyss, so they who pass from earth to the torments of the world of spirits are for ever separated from the state and happiness of the blessed. I know not how the Saviour could have taught the future, endless punishment of some, who will die without true piety, in clearer, plainer, stronger terms.

To represent the lost in a state of future misery, as being still possessed of human nature, memory and sympathy, whose natural affections, lawful as they are, and even commendable, will still afford no relief to their misery, we have a further dialogue between Abraham and the rich man.

"Then he said, I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou

wouldst send him to my father's house: for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment." Here we learn that there is a place of torment for some human beings after they have died. This place of punishment, and the state of endless misery, we call hell; using the word to denote not merely "the hell," or state of the dead to which Christ's spirit departed, when he expired on the cross, but that hell or tophet, or tartarus, or prison of despair, for which Christ selected the names of the valley of Gehinnom, gehenna, and hell fire, as suitable emblems.

"And Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them."

Deceiving himself, as sinners on earth have always done, the lost rich man replied, "Nay, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent."

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

In this representation of the world of saved and of lost spirits there is nothing unreasonable; and in our interpretation of it nothing strained. We think every candid reader would naturally come to the same conclusions that all orthodox Christians have ever done.

To make the passage appear to teach any other doctrine has ever required all the ingenuity of the Universalists, and will doubtless engage one of the most active and bold of their society in the present day. I refer to my correspondent, whose talents I respect, and who in perverting Scripture by Scripture, seems to me to have no superior on earth.

EZRA STILES ELY.

TO MR. EZRA STILES ELY.

Philadelphia, Jan. 3, 1835. Dear Sir-The perusal of your exposition of Luke xvi. 19-31, has afforded me not a little pleasure. Heretofore you have frequently simply cited a passage of Scripture, depending on the prepossessions of our readers for the acknowledgment of its relevancy to the point in debate; but in reference to the account of the rich man and Lazarus, you have, in the main, pursued a different (and I will add, a commendable) course. You have attempted to show that said account is properly considered descriptive of the condition of men in a future state; and in endeavouring to establish this position, you have taken a tolerably comprehensive survey of the whole subject. This is right. It is precisely what I have repeatedly desired you to do with many passages by you introduced into this discussion; and I hope that you will continue practically to acknowledge the propriety of the course adverted to.

The conclusions to which you have arrived bear the semblance of just deduction. It is generally true, that "he who is first in his own cause seemeth just;" yet it is equally true, that when "his neighbour cometh after and searcheth him," a different aspect may be given to the whole matter. In attending to this subject I shall have occasion to search many of your statements, with special reference to the general issue; and also to bring to light a number of important considerations which you have entirely overlooked.

First of all, I will mention a few particulars, which I desire you to consider as so many preliminary objections to your exposition.

Ist. You cite the testimony of Solomon, that when a man dies, "the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." This is pure Universalism. Allow me to inquire, whether the spirit of the rich man returned unto God who gave it, when it was sent into an endless hell?