come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou wouldst send him to my Father's House: for I have five Brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of Torment. Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

The plain Instruction that arises from this Parable, appears to me to be this; that our Fate in another Life depends upon our Conduct in this; and that there is no Alteration of the future State, as to the Nature and Kind of it; but be our portion Happiness, or Misery, it is what we must abide by: There is no passing from the one to the other. The rich Man's Requests, in his own behalf, and in behalf of his Brethren, are equally rejected. With regard to the first, he is reminded that he had received his good things already; which was in effect reminding him, (since there could be no Sin in the bare receiving them,) of his Abuse of them. And besides, there was an Obstacle in the very nature of the thing, which render'd his Request impossible to be comply'd with. And as to his other Request, in behalf of his five Brethren; he is given to understand, that they have the proper means of Instruction in their Hands, the Writings of Moses and the Prophets; which they ought to attend to, and obey. And that if they would not; a Messenger from the Dead would, as to the purposes of real Conversion, be equally useless and ineffectual. All this seems to me to imply very

strongly, that our Fortunes are now depending; that this Life is our Probation; is furnish'd with Means sufficient for that Purpose; and that if these be neglected, there is no other Resource which will serve as well, or be of any avail hereafter. This is the Light in which the Parable always appear'd to me; and in which it does still, notwithstanding the Colours with which Mr. W. has endeavour'd to disguise it. The rich Man being only in Hades, not in Gehenna, his Torment, Mr. W. says,1 was only medicinal, and design'd for his Conversion and Salvation. But whence does this Consequence appear? The rich Man himself seems to know nothing of this Design of his Punishment. Nor does the benevolent Patriarch Abraham give him any Intimation of this kind: Though it would probably have been a greater Comfort and Relief to him, than a Drop of Water to cool his Tongue. But the Circumstances of the rich Man, Mr. W. says, agree with his being in Hades, in order to his Amendment. Incorrigible Sinners are always represented as in Prison, in Hades, and close confin'd there till the Day of Fudgment, without any positive Torments inflicted on them there: Whereas, he is represented as out of Prison, and in great Torment. That the rich Man is represented as in Hades, I grant ; but I still see no Proof of the Consequence; that this Punishment was in order to his Amendment. Supposing that incorrigible Sinners are in Prison; is not he in Prison? No; Mr. W. says, he is represented as out of Prison. But where, or what is this Representation? Does his holding a Dialogue with Abraham imply that he is not close confined? He seems to think that he is, and therefore would send Lazarus on his Errands. And he speaks of this Flame, and

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of this Place of Torment, as a Man naturally would do, that was confined to them. But here Mr. W. again takes his advantage: He is represented in great torment, whereas incorrigible Sinners have no positive Torments inflicted on them in Hades. Incorrigible Sinners are represented by him upon other occasions, in a very doleful Condition in Hades; and that is enough for our purpose. For the Parable says nothing about the Torments being positive, or not positive; and there is no manner of necessity to interpret the Flame in which he says he is tormented, of a literal and real Fire. By the same Rule we must take all the rest literally; and then Abraham, in the separate State, must have a Bosom; Lazarus must literally lay his Head in it, and have a Finger too to dip in real Water; and the rich Man himself, have Eyes and a Tongue. But Mr. W. observes farther, that Abraham does not treat him as a damned Wretch that deserved no compassion, or Answer; but calls him Son, &c. Now we know so little of the Manner how separate Spirits, good and evil, treat one another, and can infer with so little Certainty any thing from it; that this Argument, perhaps, might safely enough be left to Mr. W. to make his best of it: Et valeat, quantum valere potest. However, we may recollect, that it was no part of Abraham's Business either to judge or condemn him: And since the very Nature and Design of the Parable required, that he should discourse with him; it is more suitable to Abraham's Character, as well as to our Lord's who spake the Parable, that it should be conducted with Decency and Decorum; than that Abraham should treat him as a damned Wretch, how much soever he might deserve it. As to his having been an Infidel, 1 Page 140.

or Sadducee, in his life-time; I cannot admit that for any great Extenuation of his Guilt, tho' it seems to be suggested to this purpose. In all likelihood, he had disbelieved all that was said by the Pharisees and Essens out of the Old Testament, concerning the Rewards and Punishments of the future World. Any one may see for what purpose the Pharisees and Essens are brought upon the Stage; only to alleviate his Crime, as if it consisted in disbelieving only their Doctrine, or something that they taught, with, or without Reason, out of the Old Testament. Whereas the truth is, if there be any truth at all in the Fact,1 he had disbelieved that prime Article of all Religion, the Rewards and Punishments of another Life; a Doctrine so independent of all Authority of Pharisees and Essens, that no Religion ever did, or ever can, subsist without it; and which being taken away, there is no sufficient Inducement left to come to God, in any religious Act at all. Well, but he shews himself now throughly convinced of that pernicious Error. Which is as small an Argument of his Virtue, as his Infidelity before was an Extenuation of his

1 Which probably there is not. For tho' Mr. W. says that the rich Man in all likelihood had been a Sadducee, it rather appears that he had been a Pharisee. Our Lord had been persuading his Hearers, to pursue and prefer the True Riches, and told them that they could not serve God and Mammon. The Pharisees who were rich and covetous, heard these things, and derided him. Our Saviour severely reproves them, ver. 15. and intimating to them that their Law, and external kind of Religion, which they valued themselves so much upon, was just expiring, and to be succeeded by one of greater Purity and Perfection; he then immediately adds the Parable; in which the rich Man is not accused of Infidelity, (for the Persons against whom it was design'd were all Believers,) but of Luxury and Uncharitableness; and his Brethren are to be persuaded not to believe, but to repent.

Guilt. The Devils also believe, and tremble. And who can persist in an Error, of which his very Existence is a Confutation? But he is also become very compassionate to his own five Brethren; which is so far from a Character of infernal obstinacy, and savage Cruelty, such as that of the incurably wicked may be supposed to be, that it looks liker a Preliminary to true Christian Charity, and to a real Repentance for his Barbarity towards Lazarus before.1 There is nothing in this, that I can see, more than is necessary to answer the Design of the Parable: He must intreat Abraham in behalf of his Brethren; and the more heartily he does this, the more reason have we to

1 Some have imagined that this Compassion to his Brethren, was at bottom only Compassion to himself. He had contributed by his Example and Influence to make them wicked, as they were; and was therefore afraid, that if they came into that Place of Torment, they might possibly prove his Tormentors. But there is no need of any Reason, but the Reason of the Parable. It being evidently our Lord's Design, in this Part of it, to shew, that Men have already sufficient Evidence and Inducements to believe in God, and to obey him, and that therefore unreasonable Expectations in Religion would not be gratified; this, I say, being his Design, it becomes necessary that the rich Man should make this extraordinary Request, and that Abraham should reject it. But his real Compassion to his Brethren is no more an Inference from this Request, than Abraham's Want of Benevolence is, from his Refusal to comply with it. -I have taken no notice of Mr. W's Conjecture, that the most terrible Part of this Description was taken by our Saviour out of the Fourth Book of Esdras. The best Criticks allow, and it is evident to any one that reads it with Attention, that it is later than our Saviour's Time. The learned Dr. Chapman sets it a hundred Years after Christ, at least; (Eusebius, Vol. II. p. 88.) And Du Pin, after he has observ'd that it is full of Visions and Dreams, and several Errors, says 'tis doubtless a Converted Few who penn'd it. History of the Canon of the O. T. p. 26. English Edit.