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him, and called my Son out of Egypt." And hence again, Moses says, "For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields;-butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs," &c.

These, with many other instances that might be cited, show that the Israelites,-the posterity of the patriarchs are set forth in the scriptures, in the char acter of an individual. This nation of the Jews, then, we understand to be intended, and in the parable designated by the rich man.

It should also be observed that the Jews were not only rich in temporal good things, but also in religious distinctions and immunities. They had, as the apostle shows, "much the advantage every way: chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God; "a divine revelation of his will, which was a favor beyond what had been conferred on any other people. Moses alludes to this where he says, "Behold I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me.-Keep, therefore, and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?""The eternal God is thy

refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, a people saved by the Lord; the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency."

St. Paul sums up their religious advantages in the following statement :-" Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed, (or God be blessed,) forever, Amen."

Here, my brethren, is the rich man,-the Israel of God,-His chosen, peculiar, and highly favored people.

But this rich man is said to have been “clothed in purple, and fine linen."-And is not this also a fit representation of Israel of old? Is not the description indeed very exact, and the figure remarkably true to the original? Let me give you a few scripture extracts relative to this particular. Hear the prophet Ezekiel, speaking in the name of the Lord, in reference to Israel. "I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badger's skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk,-thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom."

Hear also the description of Moses :-" And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made clothes of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord commanded Moses."-The curtains of the tabernacle also were directed to be made of "fine twined linen, and blue and purple."

Here then, again, we see the rich man in the parable, clothed in purple and fine linen. And, moreover, it is added, that he "fared sumptuously every day."

This also was eminently true of Israel, the ancient people of God. They had given to them, a land flowing with milk and honey. Neither did they live by bread alone or bodily food; but they were privileged to feed upon the word of God, and upon the divine promises of good things to come, made unto the fathers, and "spoken by the mouth of all God's holy prophets, since the world began : so that well might they be represented as "faring sumptuously every day."

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But I must close this Lecture. And, my hearers, 1 cannot but think you must see a fitness and consistency in this view of the parable, thus far presented. You must be satisfied, we believe, that the rich man means the house of Israel.

The illustration of the subsequent parts, will, we trust, greatly strengthen this conviction, and we hope and believe, will not be less interesting than the preceding part of the investigation. You will perceive that, according to the order of the parable, our next inquiry will be, who was the beggar?-or whom was he intended to designate? And may this already protracted exainination lead us, in the issue, to the correct understanding of this very important portion of the divine instructions and predictions, delivered by the prophet of Nazareth, the appointed Redeemer of men, and the Saviour of the world. Amen.

LECTURE VIII.

LUKE xvi. 31.

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

I TRUST it was satisfactorily shown, in the last Lecture, that the rich man in the parable designated the house of Israel, or nation of the Jews. He is represented as being wealthy, richly clothed, and sumptuously fed: a description remarkably adapted to the condition of that highly favored and flourishing people, whilst under the peculiar protection of the Almighty, with his glory in the midst of them. We come now to consider the account of a very different character, set forth in the parable under the degrading appellation of a beggar. "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." Such is the description of the deplorable condition of the beggar. Our present inquiry is, Who was this beggar?

It has, we think, been clearly shown that this account is not to be taken literally, as a historical statement of facts and circumstances; but that it is a parable, and, like many other of the parables of our Saviour, it is highly prophetic.

The rich man, we have seen, very fitly represents

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the Jews. Can there be any doubt that the beggar denotes the Gentile nations? We think not. moral view, especially, they were poor indeed, and miserably degraded. They are described as "sitting in darkness, and in the region and shadow of death," -as being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world."

In this view of the parable before us, it corresponds with many other of our Saviour's parables; which, as we have before noticed, were evidently intended to exhibit in contrast, the different condition of the Jews and Gentiles, and prophetically to set forth the future divine dispensations towards them respectively. One parable, in particular, occurs to me, which is so full to this point, and the application so direct, that I cannot forbear citing it. It is the parable of the householder, and his vineyard. "There was, (says our Saviour,) a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine-press in it. and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. But last of all, he sent unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the

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