may not wander into regions of unauthorized fancy and conjecture, and thereby detract from that weight which truth and certainty alone can give to every reprefentation that is made, and every doctrine that is delivered from this place, I shall derive the whole of that interefling view which I am about to take directly from the facred

text.

"It came to pass that the poor man died and was carried by angels into Abraham's bofom. The rich man alfo died, and was buried—and, in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and feeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bofom. And he cried and faid, Father Abraham! have mercy on me, and fend Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame! But Abraham faid, Son! remember that thou, in thy life time, receivedft thy good things, and likewife Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And befides all this, between us and you there is a great gulph fixed, fo that they who would pass from

hence to you cannot, neither can they pafs to us who would come from thence."

In this reprefentation we may remark four fources of mifery to this wretched foul—the remote, and hopeless view of the felicities of heaven, which he hath forfeited by his fins-the recollection of past pleafures which now ferve only to increase his fufferings-the direct pains of an avenging fire-and, finally, the defpair that must fpring from the dreadful conviction that his miferies fhall have no end.

"He feeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bofom."

In fome way which we cannot at prefent comprehend, it is probable that the glory of the heavenly state will be revealed to the unhappy fpirits in prifon, only to heighten the severity of their fufferings by a knowledge of the felicity which they have loft by their crimes. Thofe clear difcoveries of God, of which the foul in its unembodied. ftate will be capable, may become a fource of mifery to the reprobate in hell, proportioned to the ineffable happiness that flows

from them to the redeemed in heaven. The prefence of virtue even among men commonly confounds vice, and affects it with fhame and remorfe. And fometimes we have seen the apprehenfions of divine justice feizing upon the mind, and concurring with the sense of guilt, overwhelm it in defpair. If the imperfect virtue of a worm of the duft can often cover an offender with confufion-if a fingle ray of the eternal juftice of heaven let in upon the guilty conscience can fo agitate and convulfe the foul, what will be its terror and difmay when all the dreadful fplendors of infinite purity, fhall be forever present to her view?

From another principle, the difcovery of the divine perfection may increase the unhappiness of the guilty who are excluded from it, and are rendered incapable of enjoying it. God is the natural centre of the foul. Towards him fhe will propably tend, when difencumbered of the body, by a ftrong and phifical attraction as the only fource of her happinefs, even while a moral difcordancy may feparate her from him, and an infupportable weight of guilt fink her down to the abyss of impure fouls.

Painful and dreadful will be the conflict between thefe phifical and moral tendencies. Often carried out in fervent and inextinguifhable afpirations, in fighs and groans to

be re-united to the infinite centre and the fource of good, fhe will feel herfelf repelled from it by the impurity of her nature, and the unchangeablenefs of her defliny. If, for a moment fhe feems to rife towards heaven in paffionate and diflracted wishes, it is only to plunge her, the next moment, deeper in the hopeless horrors of her prifon.

The punishment of this miferable fufferer feems also, to have been increased by the moft aflicting and involuntary comparifons.-Afar off he fees Lazarus enjoying eternal reft. The wretch who once lay forgotten at his gate, when a profperous fortune, and continual pleasures made him forget that he was a man, is now clothed with glory and immortality, while he himfelf lies wrapt in unquenchable fires. Miferable foul! A merciful heaven, and an avenging hell feem equally to concur in his perdition. Imagine what will then be his fecret fentiments, or his despairing cries. -Oh! to refemble that man whom once I

would not have fet with the dogs of my flock! What a falfe eftimate have I made of true honor, and of true happiness! Infinite, folly! to throw away the immortal prize that was in my offer! that felicity I might have poffeffed.—But ah! I have facrificed it for frivolous joys that leave nothing real behind them but the diftracting fting of their remembrance!

This is the fecond fource of his mifery, the recollection of the past.

"Son! faid Abraham, remember that thou, in thy life time receivedft thy good things." And it is reasonable to believe that he would forever torment himself by an inceffant vibration of mind between the paft and the present. In a moment all his former happinefs, and the whole prosperity of his first fortune, rushes on his recollection-its lofs fhews it with increafe-and again, in a moment, all the horrors of his present state surround him.-Dreadful comparison of what he was, with what he is !— Fortune seemed at my command-my days paffed in feftivity, my nights in pleafure-perpetual gaieties made up the fcene