living have ample warning and ample space for repentance, and men who will not be persuaded by the warning God has given in this world, would "not repent though one went to them from the dead." And, more than all, the wide gulf that separates the abode of the good from that of the evil forbids escape from hell, or the visitations of mercy from the abode of the happy. The curtain falls, teaching that the doom of the good and bad are irrevocably fixed at death.

This is a history, and not a parable-clear, concise, fearful. I have no doubt that both of the parties named in the narrative were known to those to whom Jesus spake. It has about it none of the marks that attend or distinguish the parables of the Lord. The narrative was told to teach that this life is the only probation of sinners-that their doom is fixed at death-that there is no change of moral character after death-that repentance in one's lifetime, alone, can save from hell-that sinners have memory, consciousness, feeling, and reason, beyond the grave. Our Lord, in whose lips deceit and guile were never found, states that "there was a certain rich man "—that "there was a certain beggar”—that the rich man died and went to hell-that he was in torment-wanted relief-wanted to escape, and could not. And who shall contradict him, and say that his words were not true?

It is a small matter to attempt to show that the primitive meaning of the word translated hell does not mean a world of torment. We have to do with it as it was used in the time of the Saviour, and so it

was used. Our word heaven meant the atmosphere ---is there no abode of the blessed? Paradise meant a garden-was it to some inclosure on earth the Lord promised to take the penitent thief? Imagery does not change the great truth that runs along the narrative. Heaven has no golden gates, literal stones of diamond and pearl, pavements of real sapphire and gold, walls, rivers, trees, monthly fruits, flowing founts, and harps of gold. But does the imagery of the Bible destroy the home of the saints?

"If one went

"In thy lifetime The punishment "Have mercy on

There are two conditions after death--joy and woe, peace and torment. To those conditions went the rich man and the beggar at death. from the dead they would repent." thou receivedst thy good things." of the lost is admitted to be just. me." None but a guilty soul can have mercy shown to it. Punishment to the soul is what flame is to the body. All that we do for man must be done in this life, as there is no passing from the one world to the other, and no messenger comes back from the dead to do the living good.

Around the blessed, clusters in heaven all that is lovely-around the lost, all that is fearful and repulsive. Heaven is the home of the saved, the abode of God, of Jesus, of angels, of the noble men and women of the earth-holy, happy. Hell is the home of lost souls, and is full of rebels; there is found the congregated guilt of the universe, demons, blasphemers, the abominable, and all liars.

Heaven is full of light and joy, glory and song. Hell is full of sadness, woe, and despair. It holds

the crime of the world. There the waves of the river of death roll their fearful surges through the dark caverns of despair. There hope comes not, that comes to all, and there sin has no restraint. From that world no voice comes but that of warning"lest they come to this place of torment"-"send and warn my brethren." It is a call to repentance from hell. It is a warning not to waste the lifetime of probation. It dissipates all hope of relief from future woe. It annihilates the dream of annihilation, for men are tormented in the abode of the lost.

We have Moses and the Prophets, and the added testimony of Jesus, the Sabbath, the Gospel, and the ordinances. We have Sinai and Calvary; Horeb and Bethlehem; the cross and the sepulcher; the pillar of fire and the advent of the Holy Ghost. How much deeper our guilt than that of the rich man, if we repent not in our lifetime, but take up our abode, at the last, in the world of lost spirits!

In this narrative God shows us what estimate he puts on the pomp and circumstance of life. The rich man lay on his stately couch, covered with fine linen, under a canopy of purple, attended by servants impatient to do his bidding. Near his gate, on the hard pavement, festering corruption covering his body— a deformity and a reproach—lay one of God's noble ones. Neglected of men, ragged, hungry, outcast, denied crumbs to which the dogs were welcome, he was known in heaven and honored of God, and an angel sent to bear his soul to Abraham's bosom.

This narrative identifies itself with Gethsemane and Calvary, teaching what it is to be saved, and

what it is to be lost-teaches why Jesus made his "soul an offering for sin," and what that agony was in the garden that wrung out the life-blood of the Saviour, and why he was deserted of God on the cross. It was to save men from hell that "he drank the wine of the wrath of God without mixture."

Count not the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. Do not despite to the spirit of grace.

XL.-THE MOUNT OF TEMPTATION; OR, WARNINGS TO YOUTH.

"Here I live in sore distress,

Careful, timid, every hour;
For my foes around me press,

Hem me in with craft and power.

Not one moment safe can be,

Lord, thy Lamb away from thee."

THE Mount of Temptation is unknown. For wise purposes it has been kept secret from man, with the times and seasons that the Father hath in his own power. General tradition points to the high summit near the preaching ground of John the Baptist as the scene of the temptation. Our Lord did not throw himself in the way of the tempter. The tempter sought him. He was tempted of the devil, tempted in all points as we are. He had no evil thoughts that could lead him into the wilderness. He had no bad passions to tempt from God. He had no wrong impulses. His bosom never heaved with sinful emotions. The tempest and tornado of temper never coursed through his soul. Crime and secret sins never con

sumed his spirit. They cast no shade on his holy features. Had our Lord been tempted with evil thoughts, bad passions, or wrong impulses, he would not have fasted forty days to prepare for a conflict he had endured thirty years of his life, which would end only when his natural life should cease. He need not