Sermons Delivered, Chiefly, in the Chapel of the East India College (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1828 Excerpt: ... SERMON XXII. The Rich Man and Lazarus. Luke, xvi. 25. Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Our Lord, in this chapter, had spoken the parable of the unjust steward; the object of which was to stigmatise the abuse of wealth. The Pharisees, who were noted for their avarice, and worldliness, heard him with disdain. They derided, or rather, they sneered-f at him, probably as a morose and ignorant visionary, who railed at gains which fortune had placed beyond his reach; and they found in their contempt for his person a convenient refuge from the pressure of his doctrine. Into this retreat, however, their divine instructor instantly pursues them. He drags them forth from their strong hold, and assails them, at once, with the terrors of the Lord. He rushes in upon their conscience with the fictitious narrative from which the text is taken; a parable admirably fitted to enchain the attention, to take hold on the memory, and to awaken the soul to the thought of its everlasting and unchangeable portion. It is most remarkable, that the awful allusions here made, to the unseen world, should have left the minds of men at leisure to raise much unprofitable controversy as to the precise interpretation of some parts of this narrative. The Romish divines have found in it a clear proof of the doctrine of purgatory. By others it has been regarded as decisive of the question, whether the joys of the righteous, or the torments of the wicked, are to commence immediately after the dissolution of the body. I will not dwell in the region of these unfruitful subtleties. Surely, there is enough to occupy our faculties in the broader lineaments, and more awful lights and shadows, of...