Discourses Upon the Rich Man and Lazarus, Collection of sermons · Sermon 4
SERMON IV.
Luke xvi.xxii, xxiii.
22. — The Rich Man also dyed, and was buried.
23. And in Hell he lift up his Eyes, being in Torments, and seeth Abraham afar aff, and Lazarus in his Bosom.
HAving spoken to the Beggar's Death and Translation by the Hands of Angels into Heaven, in the former Part of this 22d, ver. I come now to what is said concerning the Rich Man in these Words; where we have several Particulars offer'd to our Consideration. 1. His Death; [The Rich Man also dyed]; tho he outliv'd the Beggar, yet he follow'd him in a little time; after a short reprive, he fell under the same Sentence, not being able with all the Substance of his House to defend himself against it. As 'tis said, Psalm 49.10. Likewise the Fool and the Bruitish Person perish, and leave their Wealth to others. When their Souls are required, they have no more Power to retain them, than other Men 2. His Funeral; [And was Buried]. There is no such thing mentioned concerning the Beggar, when he Dyed; not that we are therefore to conclude, that he had no Burial, but 'tis passed by in silence, because less honourable. The small and the great do both meet in the Dust, Job 3.19. They both go to their long home, but their Processions are not with equal Pomp; the Poor Man's Funerals are not so splendidly adorn'd, nor gallantly attended; he goes down to the Grave with less Noise and Observation. A decent Interrment is without doubt a due respect to the very ashes of the Dead; and therefore God threatens it as a Punishment to Jehojachin, that he should be Buried with the burial of an Ass, Jerem. 22.19. But the highest respect of this sort (even then beyond all the bounds and measures of Sobriety) which is exprest to the Dead Body, is of no Benefit or Kindness to the departed Soul; that in the mean time very often needs the greatest Compassion, but cannot receive it; The Mourners here walk about the Streets for a little while, when perhaps the Deceased is lain down in endless Sorrow. 3. The wretchedness of his Case in the next World; set forth by being [in Hell] and [in Torments]. (1.) In Hell. The original Word foreign does commonly signifie the state of the Dead in general, and sometimes the Grave, but here 'tis put for Hell, the state of the Damned, that woful Region, which God hath allotted for the Everlasting Residence of fallen Angels and wicked Men. (2.) Being in Torments; they that are in Hell, cannot be otherwise, but spend their Eternity without one Moment of Easte. They are deliver'd to the Tormentors, Mat. 18.34. And never shall be deliver'd from them. There is nothing to be endured upon Earth, which is to be matcht with the Pains of Hell; all the anguish and horror, vexation and disquiet, which any Souls have felt in this World, is tolerable, when compared with what they feel in that World, where can be no hope or possibility of Relief. 4. His Exercise of sight there; [He lift up his Eyes]. Bodily Members and sensible Acts are ascrib'd in Scripture to separate Souls, only by way of Allusion, as they are likewise many times attributed to God himself, (tho he be a pure and perfect Spirit) after the manner of Men. The Apostle speaks of every Knee bowing at the Name of Jesus, of things in Heaven, as well as things in Earth, and under the Earth, Phil. 2.10. Which cannot be meant of such a bowing, as some superstitiously Practise, because the Things in Heaven, and under the Earth, have no Knees to bow in a literal Sense; but 'tis meant of an universal Subjection and Submission to the Power and Authority of Christ. So here, the Rich Man in Hell had no Eyes of Flesh; but the Eye of his Mind, which had been shut, while he liv'd, began to be open'd after Death; his Understanding and Conscience were awaken'd, and he was convinc'd of those things which he did not apprehend, or would not believe before. 5. The Object of this Sight; [And seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his Bosom.] It would be very difficult to conceive, what Prospect the damned in Hell (who are compasst about with blackness of Darkness) could have of the glorified in Heaven, if this were to be understood of a carnal view; but the Perception of the Mind is very frequently in Scripture set forth by Seeing. I see (says Paul) another Law in my Members, &c. Rom. 7.23. i. e. I understand and Experience that there is such a Principle of Corruption struggling within me. So here, the Rich Man saw Abraham and Lazarus, i. e. he knew that they were together in a more Happy State than he was himself; he knew that the Beggar who had lain at his Gate in Extremity of Pain and Want, was now certainly got above all those Evils, and advanc't to a far better Condition, than he or any Person could be in, during their stay in this World.
Obs. The Souls of the Ʋngodly, even while their Bodies lye in the Grave, are in a state of greatest Misery, which is aggravated by a Sense of the Blessedness of Saints at the same time. Here
First, Shew, that there is such a State of Misery for unholy Souls.
Secondly, That they are Actually in it, when their Bodies are lying in the Grave.
Thirdly, How they come to have a Sence of those things, which before they had not.
Fourthly, How a Particular Sence of the Blessedness of Saints, is an Aggravation of their Misery.
Fifthly, The ƲSE.
First, To shew, that there is such a state of Misery for unholy Souls. Hell-Torments are no Melancholly Fancies, nor empty threatnings to keep the World in awe, but sad and dreadful Realities. For
1. The visible impunity of Multitudes of Sinners in this World, is a plain Argument of Wrath treasured up against them in the next. It is this very Consideration which hath chiefly quieted and satisfied the Minds of good Men, with respect to wicked Men's Prosperity; that the Lord knoweth how to reserve the unjust to Future Punishment, when he exempts them from it at the present, 2 Pet. 2.9. They are not plagued like other Men now, Psalm 73.5. Because they are to suffer a great deal worse at last; the Rod of God is not upon them now, Job 21.9. Because it is to rest upon them for ever. Malefactors design'd for the Gallows, escape the lesser Penalties of Whipping, or Burning in the Hand; and their Execution is generally suspended to a longer time, when this kind of Penalties are more speedily inflicted for lighter Offences. So the greatest Criminals being often let alone in this Life, it shews, that there is a sorer Destruction appointed for them in the next.
2. The worst of Evils, which at any time are, or can be suffer'd here, fall vastly short of the due Demerit of Sin. 'Tis not possible for any Sinner to be so miserable within the bounds of this Life only, as he deserves to be on the account of Sin; for tho his Misery may be very great Intensively, yet as to Extension, it can be but small; how extraordinary soever it be as to the Degree, it must needs be inconsiderable, as to the Continuance. Now it is necessary for the Honour for God's Righteousness, that the Punishment should bear a Proportion to the Guilt; whereas there is no Proportion between an infinite Transgression, and a finite Suffering. In every Sin committed against God, the Provocation is boundless, and therefore the Duration of the Punishment must be endless also. This is implyed in every disobedience receiving d just recompence, Heb. 2.2. The Wages of Sin is (and cannot be but Eternal) Death; Rom. 6.23. Such a Wages as answers to the Work, cannot be paid in the compass of this Temporal Life.
3. There are few, if any, Sinners in the World, but what have some Intimations and presages in themselves of such a miserable State hereafter. What else is that which the Apostle calls a fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation? Heb. 10.27. These fears, which they would remove or extinguish, if they were able, are the earnest of what they must expect to feel; their Condemnation by their own Hearts at present, is like the first drops of that horrible Tempest which God hath threaten'd to Rain upon them. The Worm that never dyes, begins to bite them in this World; they are tormented before the time, enough to put it beyond all Dispute, that when the Time comes, of their Passage into Eternity, their Torments will be abundantly increased. How can Sinners pretend to doubt (for their Doubts are meerly pretended for the most Part) whether there be such a Place, as an Everlasting Hell hereafter, when they carry about them such an Initial Hell here?
4. Death hath really no Sting, and if it may be called an Enemy, is a very harmless one, if there be no Hell to follow after it. The Sting of Death is said to be Sin, 1 Cor. 15.56. Because Sin binds over to a Punishment after Death. That which makes Death so formidable, that the Holy Ghost calls it the King of Terrors, (Job 18.14.) is not the Dissolution of our present being so much, but as it is an Introduction to Future Misery. the value of that Life which Death puts an end to, is mightily sunk by the continual Pressures and Grievances which attend it, and taking them all together, they generally weigh down our Comforts and Delights so far, that we might be reasonably willing to quit both at once. 'Tis therefore the second Death which gives the main bitterness to the first.
5. The Glory of God's Justice could not endure for ever, if all the Monuments of it should be defaced, when this World comes to an end. Every Divine Attribute is to shine forth with an Eternal Lustre; and therefore the impenitent Sinner must suffer the Vengeance of Eternal Fire. The Wrath of God which is now reveal'd from Heaven in the Word, Rom. 1.18. is to be manifested without ceasing by its Effects in Hell. Moses cryes out, Who knoweth the Power of thine Anger? Psalm 90.11. If it were all spent and exhausted in this World, that Question might easily be answer'd. A Man's Wrath would then reach as far as God's; for Men can kill the Body, and torture it before they kill it; but when they have so done, they can do no more, all their Revenge is over; whereas the unknown Triumphs of Infinite Justice are perpetual.
6. Jesus Christ came upon a very vain and needless Errand into the World, if there be no such thing as a State of Misery after Death. His Business (worthy of being undertaken by so great a Person) in coming from the highest Heavens, was to deliver Souls from the lowest Hell. Our Lord does not save us from the lesser Consequences of Sin, the Calamities of this Life, for we are still exposed to them, tho he be made Redemption to us; he sanctifies them indeed by his Spirit, but his Providence does not certainly defend us against them. Do we therefore enjoy no Immunity by the Death of Christ? Did he shed his Blood, and leave us as Obnoxious, as we were before? No surely; He hath deliver'd us from the Wrath to come; 1 Thess. 1.10. There is our Priviledge; but if that Wrath be Imaginary, so is our Deliverance.
Secondly, That unholy Souls are actually in such a State of Misery, when the Bodies which Death hath parted them from, are lying in the Grave. As there is a Resurrection of (or to) Damnation, which concerns the Body, John 5.29. So there is a Damnation praevious to the Resurrection, and that treads upon the Heels of Death, which respects the Soul. Now
1. This appears from the whole course and strain of this Parable. Christ does not speak of what the Soul endures, when it is reunited with the Body, but of what it undergoes, while the Body is Buried in the Dust, before it rises again at his second Coming. For 1. As the Beggar, when he dyed, immediately passed into Abraham's Bosom, so the Rich Man here is no sooner Dead, but we presently find him in Hell, and in Torments; as the Blessedness of the one was not deferred, nor put off, so neither the Misery of the other. 2. The Rich Man here must be supposed to be in Hell, while he had five Brethren living upon Earth, under the Ministry of the Word, and not yet come to this Place of Torment, v. 27, 28, 29. Which could not be consistent with Truth, if the Rich Man's Torments here, were to be understood after the Resurrection, for then the state of all Persons and Things, will be universally alter'd and fixed.
2. There is a Judgment which passes upon every Person at the end of this Life, as well as there will be at the end of the World; when he dyes, as well as when he comes to be rais'd again; which is commonly distinguisht into a Particular and General Judgment, and there is the same event as to both. The Particular Judgment determines the Soul to that Happiness or Misery, which the General Judgment will determine Soul and Body to; that final Lot which will be cast upon the whole Person in the great Day of the Lord, will take hold of one part of us at our last Moments. The Scripture seems to hint these two several Seasons of Judgment. We shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ; i. e. all together, making our Joint-appearance, Rom. 14.10. And, Every one of us shall give account of himself to God; i. e. every one singly, and alone, ver. 12.
3. The Time of Life is the Time of Divine Forbearance; whereas if the Souls of the Wicked were not turned into Hell before the Day of Judgment, there would be a much greater Exercise of Patience towards them after Death, than before it. The long suffering of God waits on the Disobedient, while living; 1 Pet. 3.20. But when Death comes, it gives way to provoked Fury. God bears with Sinners on this side the Grave; but not beyond it; he holds his Hand (it may be) as long as they are in this World, but upon their removal, he lets it loose; and Wrath takes place from thence forward for ever.
4. Next to the Frevention of Hell it self, it would be the most acceptable Doctrine to a Sinner, to think that he should be kept, not only while he lives, but while the World stands, from going thither. If the not executing of Judgment speedily in this Life be an encouragement to Sin, Eccl. 8.11. How much more would it be to have the Assurance of such a Suspension after Death? A little short respite makes Men Mad upon their Lusts; but how regardless would they be of all restraint, if Death and Damnation were so far asunder? It is the nearness of them one to another, which gives some check to the wickedness of Man upon the Earth, where otherwise would be none.
Thirdly, How come the damned in Hell to have a Sense of those things there, which they had not here in this World? To lift up their Eyes then, which were always clos'd before? Ans.
1. In Hell, the vail of Judicial Blindness is taken away (so far as it tended to their sinful Quiet) and the Spirit of deep Sleep goes off. Now they are given up to stupid Security, like Jonah in the Sides of the Ship; but they shall feel their Danger when they are irrecoverably in it, like a Man that is tumbled into the midst of the Sea. They are sear'd and harden'd now, so that things to come do not affect them, but when those things become present, Conscience revives, and (as Sampson with the Philistines upon him) shakes it self. God hides the Heart from Ʋnderstanding here, and that very justly after Men have hoodwinkt themselves, and so they go on to Hell Blindfold; but in Hell, they are immediately rows'd, Conviction seizes and fastens upon them. That Light which they withstood and kept out from promoting their Repentance, will break in to their Everlasting Confusion.
2. In Hell, there is a Cessation of all those diverting Charms, wherewith Men are pursued upon Earth. The sound of the Viol, the noises of wild and wanton Companions, the successive hurries from one carnal Pleasure to another, help very much to drown the Cryes of a Guilty Conscience here; the Soul hath so much to do in fulfilling the Desires of the Flesh, that it hath no leisure to attend to any other Matters. But all these things end with this Life; there are no Dalilahs in the next World to Lull Men on their Knees; no sensual Enchantments to bewitch them any more; no Musick, but the Voice of Roaring; no Wine, but that of the Wrath of God. The miserable Sinner leaves all these alluring Vanities behind him, and hath only spectacles of Horror present with him.
Fourthly, How is the Misery of the Damned aggravated by a Sence of the Blessedness of the Glorified? Ans.
1. One contrary in all Cases, and particularly in this, does set off, and heighten another. It makes Hell so much the worse, because there is such a place as Heaven. Outer Darkness is the more Dismal by reason of it's Opposition to an Inheritance in Light. It adds to a Man's Torment to be upon the Rack, when others are at perfect rest in Abraham's Bosom. A state of wretched Confinement is the less tolerable, when there are such as live in the sweet Enjoyment of glorious Liberty. It is an Aggravation of any Evil, to consider how great that good is, which it deprives us of, and excludes us from.
2. Envy, which is rais'd and sharpen'd by the Happiness of others, is a most uneasie, torturing Passion. Tho Wrath be cruel, and Anger outragious, yet Envy exceeds them; the Wise Man says, Who is able to stand before it? Prov. 27.4. So I may say, who is able to subsist with any Degree of Comfort under it? It breeds an Hell within us of it self, and it is indeed one great part of the Misery of Men's Future Hell. Our Lord describes it so; Luke 13.28. There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth, when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God, and you your selves thrust out.
3. This Envy will be increas't by the Consideration of the Quality of the Persons, who are the Objects of it. These blessed ones in Heaven, were formerly during their abode on Earth, of all Men the most despised; they were made a Gazing-stock (many of them) both by Reproaches and other Afflictions, Heb. 10.33. A scorn and a derision to those that were round about them, Psalm 44.13. Now that these Men should be advanc't to so much Glory, must needs be very cutting to those that have vilified and set them at nought; they can never bear that such as they, counted the filth of the World, should be number'd among God's brightest Jewels.
4. It will aggravate the Sinner's Misery, that the same Blessedness which Saints now possess, was once offer'd to him, but rejected by him. Time was, when the Door stood open, and they would not enter, so that they may thank themselves for being shut out. If they had not neglected this great Salvation, they had been partakers of it also. The Proposals of Grace and Life were made to them, as well as others. to the Rich Man here, as well as to the Beggar; but the Beggar accepted what the Rich Man refus'd; and while the one was happy in his Choice, the other therefore might the more bitterly bewail his Folly.
Fifthly, The ƲSE.
1. Information. 1. Obstinate Infidelity will have a desperate Cure at last. As stubborn as Men are now in their resisting of the Truth, and bidding Defiance to all the Reason and Evidence which is laid before them, yet let them know, that these Atheistical Triumphs are but short, for there is not one unconvinced Sinner in Hell. As the Devils believe, so do all that share in the same Punishment with them. All such Persons may read both their Temper and their Doom in that Text, Isa. 26.11. Lord, when thy Hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see, &c. They will not as long as they can avoid it, but they shall, when they can avoid it no longer. 2. If Heaven needed any thing to recommend it, or render it more desirable than it is, it would be so by the Sense which the Glorified have of the Misery of the Damned. This is reasonable to conclude from that apprehension which the Damned have of the Happiness of the Glorified. The Saints above are not ignorant of what they have escap't, and are redeem'd from; tho as to their particular Knowledge of those that suffer what they escape, I should be Cautious of arguing too far from Revel. 14.10. where we read of Antichristians being tormented in the Presence of the Holy Angels. This is certain, that Hell is so far naked before them in Heaven, as to make them eminently grateful for their own Deliverance.
2. Exhortation. 1. Let all Persons be perswaded to know that for their good now, which otherwise they will know to their fruitless Vexation, when it is too late. He who turneth in to the Strange-woman, is said not to know that the Dead are there, and that her Guests are in the Depths of Hell, Prov. 9.18. But the time is hastening, when he shall be made to know it by woful Experience. It is in this Case, as it was with those Benjamites, who knew not that Evil was near them; Judg. 20.34. But quickly after saw that Evil was come upon them, v. 41. Our Wisdom lies in the Exercise of preventive Knowledge; keeping our Eyes so open now, that we may never lift them up in Hell. 2. Let us learn to stand in awe of that God, who is able to shew his Wrath, and make his Power known by such terrible Effects. 'Tis a Lesson which Christ teaches us; Mat. 10.28. Fear him, who is able to destroy both Soul and Body in Hell; first the Soul, and afterwards the Body. The meer fear of Wrath is indeed too slavish a Principle for Children to be acted by; but yet it becomes even a Child of God to tremble at the thoughts of what his Father will inflict on the Devil's Slaves, while he rejoyces in being begotten to better Hopes. We are to save Men with fear, rather than let them perish by foolish Confidence; for they that dare to Sin in the Face of such Destruction, can have no excuse or Cloak for their Sin.