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Our redemption by Christ affords us the strong+ est motive for fulfilling the precept which concludes our text. We are to remember, that we have been redeemed from original, not from personal sin: that, therefore, the atonement only secures salvation to those who come to that fountain of healing, which the Redeemer has opened on Mount Calvary, for the purgation of sinners. It is only by "glorifying God in our bodies and in our spirits," that we can secure our interest in that expiatory sacrifice, to which we owe our rescue from the slavery of him who first "brought us into captivity to the law of sin." What more sufficient motives then shall we require for thus acting in obedience to the dictates of the gospel, in accordance with the principles of natural right, and in conformity to the suggestions of gratitude and love? The prospects which Christ's death has opened, afford us every incitement that we can desire, for offering him a willing and anxious obedience, since we can only realize them by so doing. "If, by one man's offence," says the Apostle, “death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men to justification of life."

Let us remember, it is to obtain this "abundance

of grace and gift of righteousness," that we are required to "glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are his." And if, without doing this, we cannot obtain them; if, moreover, without obtaining them, we cannot become "inheritors of the kingdom of Heaven," we can want no further inducement to begin immediately to offer him that acceptable service, which the text prescribes, if we have hitherto neglected it, and "to continue in the same unto our lives' end.”

"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day; 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."

In order to account for the severe application of this parable to the rich, it may be worth while, before we proceed to discuss it, to consider to whom it was addressed, and more particularly to whom it was applied. I need scarcely remind you, that the Pharisees and Sadducees, were the two principal sects among the Jews, at the period of our Saviour's preaching; but wherever these sects are mentioned in the gospel, it is with reference merely to the men of influence among them, who were chiefly persons of wealth as well as of power. For although the commonalty embraced the tenets both of the Pharisees and Sadducees, but of the former much more generally, still they were never honoured with that distinguishing title, of which

their superiors were so vain. They were simply styled the people, the multitude, and the like; and, therefore, when Christ is represented as di rectly addressing the Jewish sectaries, we are to consider him as pointing his observations to persons possessing that authority among the Jews, which wealth, joined to great strictness in observing the austerities of their religion, could not fail to confer

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These persons, then, who, almost universally, enjoyed great opossessions," were, for the most part, uncharitable in their feelings, and dissolute in their lives. The doctrines by which they professed to be guided, allowed them a boundless latitude of indulgence, of which they did not fail fully to avail themselves. The observance of a ceremonial worship was considered by the presumptuous Pharisee as absolving him from every moral restraint; and the blood of animal sacrifices, he held to be a sufficient atonement for the blackest sins. The Sadducee, who believed notinda future state of rewards and punishments, lived according to the dictates of such a belief. In fact, the pleasures of the world were the only objects of his solicitude."Whilst they promise their disciples liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption."dz a youta ut en nit la bir an

Such, then, was the general character of the rich among the Jews, at the time when our blessed Lord began to preach the doctrine of salvation, through

a more effectual atonement than that which was offered in their temple sacrifices. It was to these rich but depraved men, that the parable of our text was applied. And, indeed, when we look at the moral depravity of the wealthy Jews generally, during the life of Christ, it will sufficiently account for many of those severe passages against the rich, to be found in the evangelical Scriptures.

If we have any faith in the perfection of Christ, it would be an evident impiety to contend, that he could possibly contradict his own precepts, or lead to an inference unfavourable to his justice, his dignity, or his truth. We might as well infer from some passages in his gospel, that the poor man shall be saved, merely because he is poor, as that the rich man shall be condemned, simply because he is rich: which would be, on the one hand, to reduce all sin to the casual possession of wealth, and, on the other, to confine all virtue to the accidental condition of poverty;-a position manifestly absurd, and contradicted by the whole tenour of Scripture doctrine. The Apostle, however, understood his master better, when he bade his fellowlabourer Timothy" charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they be rich in good works; ready to distribute; willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that