July 20

19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores.

21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and hezed his sores.

22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

23 And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may die the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received it thy good things, and

likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house:

28 For I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.

30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

31 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 great truth suggested here is that by the allotments of His providence in the present world God does not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. We must look beyond; the difference will be clearly made at the end of the world.

"The one dwelt in magnitude of earthly fame. He touched the springs of material power. His life was full of praise and glory, but they were of a lower kind. And when he died out of his earthly estate he rose into that land where they do not take copper for gold, nor lead for silver. There he is nothing, although he was everything here. And that man whom he disdained to look at; that man whom he despised; that man who thought much, and loved to do good, but who was poor and of no repute, is everything there. There went up heavenward a radiant procession, amidst an outburst of song, heralding the approach of some bold conqueror, crownless and sceptreless. It was the resurrected spirit of this servant of God. He lived at the bottom here, but there he lives in eternal fame."—H. W. Beecher.

Are we bearing His cross? Then Christ waits for us. Are we living in selfishness? Then there is no road between us and God that does not break short on the gulf between earth and heaven.

Closet Promise.—When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Col. iii. 4.

Oh, comforting and exalting thought! that the weakest and most imperfect yet true child of God, who possessed any real faith or real love, is thus at last "glorified together with Christ"—their confessions of sin forever over; their sense of their own emptiness lost in a sense of Christ's fulness; their ardent longings for unsullied holiness gratified as no faith or foretaste here realized, even feebly, in their hours of most pious fervor.—Norman Macleod, D. D.