THE KING’S BUSINESS
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eternal world to which he is hurrying on. Miserable indeed is the man who by set ting his affections on tjje things o f this world cultivates into ruling power the appe tites and desires for which there is no grati fication in the eternal world to which he is hurrying o n ; what could better picture his state than that o f a man with parched and swollen togue, longing for- one drop of water that would allay his tormenting anguish. The rich man’s desire that warn ing be sent to his five brothers is no indi cation o f real repentance. Careful study shows there is really an attempt at self justification. There is no passing from one place to the other o f those that go out o f this world lost or saved. The issues o f eternity are determined in the life that now is, according to the plain teaching o f our Lord found here. Our Lord gives a won derful endorsement o f the divine origin and authority and power o f the teachings o f the Old Testament, “Moses and the prophets,” when He says, “I f they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rise from the" dead.” The same unwillingness to listen to God is found in the rejection o f Mdses and the prophets as is found in the rejection o f the risen Christ. That they would not believe even if one were risen from the dead was proven later by their not believing when Jesus really The word translated “offenses’’ in the Authorized Version, and “ occasions of stumbling” in the Revised Version, means literally “ snares” or “traps.” “ Snares” or “traps” for believers are inevitable: They are from Satan and his representatives, but God takes them into His plan and makes them work out good for His .people (cf. Ps. 76:10; 2 Cor. 12:7). God’s purpose in permitting these stumbling blocks in our testing and that those who are approved may be made manifest (1 Cor. 11:19). This does not in any wise lessen the guilt o f the one through whom they come, and a solenfn woe is pronounced upon him (cf. Matt. 18:7). W e ought to go to any length to did rise from the dead. Tuesday, January 25 . 1 Luke 1 7 : 1 , 2 .
great privilege for the poor man to die. But to the rich man death brought the end o f all he loved and all his hopes. There is something appalling in the death o f the godless rich. This moment they have everything, the next moment they have nothing. Death brought to the poor man a convoy o f angels to bear him home. T o the rich man it brought a funeral, “he was buried.” (One wonders if there is an intended.irohy in the words). The poor man had decidedly the best o f it. The rich man had all the leading men in town for his pall bearers, the poor man had the angels. As soon as the rich man’s eyes were closed on earth he found himself in that part o f Hades that is given over to torment and anguish. His condition there was a conscious one. What he was prin-~ cipally conscious o f was “anguish” (v. 24 R. V .). On earth he had seen Lazarus at his gate! Now he sees him in “Abraham's bosom.” Many o f the rich in the life to Come will see the poor they despised on earth in glory, while they agonize in hell. In his distress the rich man cried .fo r “mercy,” but his cry did not reveal a real desire for heaven with its holiness, but merely a desire to escape misery. It was not fair for the rich man to ask that Laza rus be sent to minister to him/ for he did not minister to Lazarus when on earth and he might. The rich man had not carried much into the other world with him that he had in this.. He had carried neither his sumptuous living nor his fine apparel, but he had carried one thing, his memory (v. 25). Those who live without God here will not take much to the next world with them, but they will take one thing, their memory, and the accusations o f that mem ory will form a large part o f hell’s suffer ings. The rich man had taken another thing into that world with him; he had taken his appetites, and there was no grati fication for them in that world to which he had gone. Happy is the man who so lives in the present life by setting his affec tions upon things above, that he cultivates into ruling power appetites and desires for '.which there is abundant satisfaction in the
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