a practical lesson from every Sacred Season: secretly, to turn every Festival, as it comes round, to some special use. If a pious practice growing naturally out of Trinity Sunday, is asked for, we would suggest the following: namely, that we henceforth seek to realize more fully the Christian character of the Psalms of David, and of the Old Testament Lessons. Let every prophecy, henceforth, be more closely connected in our minds, with its fulfilment: every history, bring to view its prophetic aspect, as well as its obvious literal interpretation. If every allusion to our SAVIOUr in the Psalms, filled us with secret pleasure; if every reference to His Humiliation or to His Glory, brought before us the History of Passiontide and Easter,-how dear would the lengthiest portions of our Morning and Evening service become! No longer deemed a tedious exercise, they would be found, (what they were designed to be,) a relief and a solace to the weary soul; and the events which we have been celebrating since Advent, would retain unwonted freshness until the last of the many 'Sundays after Trinity' had run out, and Advent again sounded its note of solemn warning.

The First Sunday after Trinity.

THE PARABLE OF LAZARUS.

ST. LUKE xvi. 19.

There was a certain rich man.

THIS is like no other of our LORD's Parables: for it belongs neither to this life, nor to the life to come; but to that mysterious life which lies between the two;-a life concerning which, by the Light of Reason we can discover nothing; while from Revelation itself, we know but very little. It relates to two persons,—the one, rich : the other, a beggar. And concerning these two persons we must take care to notice exactly what is said; and not to invent things concerning them which are not set down in Scripture. For instance, many think that the rich man was a hardhearted wretch, who denied a few crumbs to the beggar who lay suffering at his gate whereas not a syllable of the sort is said in Scripture. Some, again, seem to suppose that the one went into torment because he was rich; while the

other was comforted because he was poor.

But the Gospel says nothing of the kind. It will be well therefore that we should seek to obtain some truer notions on the subject.

All that is stated concerning the rich man, is, that his clothing was of the most luxurious kind; and that every day of his life, he fared sumptuously. The beggar who was laid at his gate full of sores, and who desired to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, may (for aught that appears to the contrary,) have sometimes even been pitied by the rich man as he went out and in. We must not invent a worse character than we find set down. Our safest course is, to reason backwards; and say, -Since the rich man was in a state of torment after his death, it is certain that he had led an evil life and in like manner, the beggar's comfort after death must be regarded as a sign that he had been accepted in his lifetime. And when we have got so far, it seems that we should debate thus with ourselves :-'I perceive then that the parable sets forth a state of abject misery, (utter destitution, hunger, and a loathsome disease,) as favourable conditions to future blessedness: a state of great bodily enjoyment, on the contrary, (fine linen, purple, and sumptuous fare

:

daily partaken of,) as dangerous to the soul's welfare throughout eternity. To which of these two classes, then, do I belong? Am I rich? O then, my soul, let us think well of our danger; and look to it closely that we incur not the rich man's misery, after death. We will not fail at least to be compassionate towards our poorer neighbours. No, nor will we fail to interrupt our luxurious living, now and then, for a single day. The Church recommends those who can feast always, to fast sometimes. We will obey her counsel.-But I am perhaps sick, suffering, and poor. What fruits of holiness then do I bear? What virtue hath sickness wrought? What blessed effect hath suffering had upon me? My misery is somewhat like that of Lazarus. O my soul, what fruit have we therefore to shew ? Let us beware that we shall therefore be required to win a crown! .... This is the true, as well as the wholesome, way to reason: - a method which turns Riches into a warning-note that danger is at hand: Poverty and Sickness, into an incentive to Holy Living and the patient waiting for CHRIST.

For, so far from thinking that the rich man in the Parable was a hard-hearted wretch, we suspect that he was a man with kind family feel

ings. It is observable that in the depth of his own misery, he called to mind the case of his five brothers, who were living as he had done,sumptuously and carelessly. He implored that they might have a timely warning given them. He dreaded lest they should become partakers of his own misery. He was so much in earnest, so bent upon this scheme of saving them from suffering what he himself suffered, that he argued the case; and tried to prove that a witness from the dead would convince their obdurate hearts, and work in them greater seriousness; repentance, and amendment of life. . . . The rich man in the Parable, therefore, seems to have been rather one of Esau's stamp: an amiable kind of person; easy, and full of what the world calls 'good feelings' but wanting in all those more important qualities which GoD requires and approves: such, for example, as strict integrity, purity of speech, earnestness in working out our own Salvation, zeal in our calling, and that living sympathy which not only relieves the beggar lying in sickness and misery, but tries to view the SAVIOUR in that sick and suffering member of CHRIST'S Body.

...

Of Lazarus, very little is said. We are left to conjecture that he not only hungered after meat