A SERMON PREACHED Before the QUEEN, AT WHITEHALL, On Sunday, Jan. 25. 1690/ 1.  
By GEORGE HOOPER, D.D. Chaplain in Ordinary to Their MAJESTY'S.  
Published by Her Majesty's Special Command.  
LONDON, Printed for Walter Kettilby, at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1691.   

A SERMON Preached before the QUEEN.  St. LUKE xuj. the last Verse. 
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one risen from the Dead.  
THE Tormented Person in the Parable, after he had in vain requested the least degree of refreshment for himself, and had understood from Abraham, that the Gulf was fixed, and the condition of those beyond it without remedy; gins then in the next place to interceded for his nearest, and yet surviving Relations, his Brethren on the Earth; the successors to his large Possessions, and Inheritors, as he feared of his Vices; those who filled his room in the other World, and might too follow his steps hither, and come into the same place; but whose case was not yet desperate, and for whom a Petition might be granted. He desires that Lazarus might at least be sent to them, those to whom he might pass, and they warned not to come into this place of torment.  
This Request, capable of several interpretations, appears to some, to be made out of the remains of that kindness and tenderness, which he might have had for his House and Family, though wanting to Strangers and this Lazarus. Others suppose him to consider himself and his own Torments, that those already intolerable, might not be yet increased, by the growing Gild his ill Example might be still contracting on the Earth. But it may rather be imagined, that under this warning for the future, he couches an excuse for the past; and would insinuate, that what he desires for his Brethren, he once wanted himself: That he fell into that horrible Misery for lack of Information; and that his Lamentable Condition deserved therefore much more Compassion, than he had besought.  
So Abraham seems to understand this Petition of the Rich Man, and to such an Intention the Reply of the Patriarch is appositely suited. He tells him first, that his Brethren had those already, whom they may and aught to hear, however they may have been neglected; Great and known, and constant Monitors, Moses and the Prophets. And then, when the same demand is still urged, and an extraordinary Admonition insisted on, to be brought from the Dead, as that which in all probability must succeed: He again answers, that such a Method may be as Vain and Fruitless, as it is unnecessary; and peremptorily puts an end to all further Discourse and Expectation with the Words of the Text, If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one risen from the Dead.  
There is another more positive meaning, which the words may seem to bear at the first sight; That all possible Conviction had been already given by Moses and the Prophets, and that one Rising from the Dead, and particularly addressed, would have no more to say, nor make any greater Impression. But this cannot be well admitted: for who can doubt but that such a Personal Message would have been a great addition of Evidence and Information; would have described the Torments and Joys, the Punishment and Rewards of the other World, not only more lively, but much more plainly, than they had been delivered by Moses and the Prophets? The other sense therefore I now intimated, is rather to take place; being of itself forcible enough to silence the Petition, or the Complaint, of the Person in the Parable: and which you may please to consider as it consists of these three Particulars; The First Absolute, and that heightened by the Two following Reflections.  
First, That the Notice already given was sufficient to keep his Brethren from those Torments; and that new and greater were unnecessary, and not to be demanded.  
Secondly, That it was not impossible, that the desired Warning, if granted, might be neglected as the other had been.  
And thirdly, Not only possibly, but very probably, especially as his Brethren might be disposed, it would be actually successless.  
These three Particulars, I shall suppose to make up the entire meaning of the Text.  
The first, That the Notice already given was sufficient, is the employed sense of that part of Abraham's Answer, which sends them to Moses and the Prophets; and is, as we suppose, the foundation of this.  
For as the Rich Man, from the state and course of his former Life, might be apt to think, that his Family deserved the honour to be certified by an Express, and was not to be concluded by common notice: so, used to superfluities, he might demand a larger proportion of Instruction for his Brethren, than that which was to serve others, the vulgar sort: an abundance of warning and Evidence, without which they could no more be informed, than they knew how to live without that excess of wealth in which they had been bred. But here the extravagance of this his Request is restrained, and reduced to its true bounds: He is told, That there is a Competence of Knowledge, as well as of Fortune; That God's Providence had already afforded them a liberal share of Instruction, enough for their occasions, and with which they ought to be contented, employing it to its true use; That such idle demands were infinite and impertinent; That this sort of Covetousness was not to be satisfied neither; and that none more usually called for more, than those who had before too much.  
It is indeed true, and the instance is before us: The unequal distribution of Worldly Goods, that sets some in redundant Plenty, may reduce others, and those not the least deserving, to want of necessaries in this Life. And this disproportion, we know, can no way better be reconciled to Divine Justice, than by a future Discrimination, the Judgement of the World to come: which Judgement therefore, this Person and his Brethren might have collected, if only from a view of themselves and that Lazarus. But that just Discrimination, we likewise presume will be so ordered, that none shall suffer in that day, by the unequal distribution of knowledge now; nor be accountable for more, than had been before committed. It shall appear in the scantiest dispensation of those Talents, that our Master is not hard, expecting to reap where he has not sown, or to gather where he has not strawed; that he that had received least, enjoyed however enough to have kept him from that dreadful place.  
That Man therefore lay now Tormented, not for lack of Advertisement, but Attention: nor for any failure of God, but for his own. Neither does he here beg, as Lazarus did heretofore, for the supply of any real want; he cannot pretend that his Brethren are under necessity, or so much as that they had been narrowly and sparingly dealt with; to whom Providence had been so bountiful, even in that kind, in those signal and multiplied Notices, wherewith his Family and whole Nation were enriched above the rest of Men.  
Had he and his Brethren been strangers to this Abraham, and never heard of Moses and the Prophets; yet they had not remained uninformed of the great Duties of Life, and those for the transgression of which he now suffers. The Being to be acknowledged and worshipped, had not left himself without a Witness, if these had never testified: the invisible things of him, his Power and Godhead, being to be understood, not from the Words of a Message, but from the things that were made. The Obligations too of Temperance Justice, and Charity, had been sufficiently discovered, from the Light of Reason, and Dictates of Humane Nature. The Dictates I say of Nature, or the innate Notions of the Mind; taking leave to use these words in the common way of Speech, and as they serve to express, that moral sense, that distinctive faculty of Good and Ill, to which, actions of Justice, and Beneficence, and Gratitude, are Natural and Delightful, and the contrary Distasteful and Disagreeable, by the frame and make of our spiritual Part. As Tastes, or Colours, or Sounds, are to the Palate, the Eye, or the Ear, by the Providence of God in the Fabric of the Body: So is it that the work of the Law is written in men's hearts, as the Apostle phrases it. Hence the Consciences of the Heathen are instructed to accuse or excuse: And so would these men have been without excuse, had they been without those Notices from their Lawgiver. The Commandment, of whose violation they stand guilty, needs no new Declaration now; it was not necessary, it should have been proclaimed from Mount Sinai. Before that day it was not hidden from man, nor afar off: It was not in Heaven, that he should say, who shall go up for him to Heaven, and bring it unto him, that he may hear it, and do it? neither was it beyond the Sea; (to use Moses' words, even concerning the unwritten Law:) It was not to be sent from beyond this Gulf; nor was it one of the secrets of Hell, or Heaven. The Word was very nigh unto him, in his Mouth, and in his Heart, that he should do it: It was what his own Heart conceived to be right and just, and what his Mouth was ready to pronounce, at least in the case of others.  
But beyond this, these were the Sons of Abraham: He is called upon as their Father in this Distress, and was heretofore their boast. His Faith, and his Hospitality, were their Glory; and should have been their example: From him they made themselves a Title to the Blessings and Friendship of Heaven; and if they followed not his steps, what could they expect but its Enmity and Indignation? that Injustice, Uncharitableness, and Luxury, should be attended by the Fate of Sodom, and punished by such Fire? should no more be relieved now, than they were spared of old, at Abraham's importunate Intercession?  
And yet further, to pass over the several Revelations made to the Patriarches, and which were to descend to their Offspring, as their best Inheritance; at last, from the Mount, a general and wonderful Declaration was made, to which the Miracles of Egypt had prepared, as those of the Wilderness did attest. Then the Natural Law of men's Breasts was transcribed, and exemplified by the hand of God, to be read in the Tables of Stone, and Books of Moses; no longer whispered from within, in silent, gentle Commands, but loudly and terribly proclaimed, in a Voice of Thunder, too audible not to be heard; and at which they could not but tremble, had the Earth stood unmoved; the delivery of their Duty accompanied with horror, and speaking the dismal consequences of its neglect.  
So did God himself continue to testify to that Generation, by his Servant Moses; nor did he cease to admonish their Posterity by his Prophets: all whose Writings were transmitted down, received by the Jews, and read every day in their Synagogues; still denouncing Divine Wrath against Excess, Rapine, Oppression and Unmercifulness, as the Rich Man may now too late remember.  
This Moses and those Prophets he had heard in the Synagogue; his quality, no doubt, had preferred him to read them there. Well skilled in the Law, it may be, he was, and the Oracle of his Country; a Zealot possibly for his Religion, against the Samaritan, or the Heathen: But still he was to learn to bear; he had not heard them to the purpose they spoke, and with that attention which the importance and weight of the Message required: he had lent them the Ear, in manner, or for show, but he had harkened to the temptation of Pleasure, or Propositions of Honour and Gain.  
It may be he had heard them wantonly or maliciously; to make mirth and deride, or to cavil and object: Happy for ever, in his Jest; and secure, if he could but doubt. The Report of so many Miracles might have only taught him to demand one; that he should be as much considered as his Forefathers, and have a wonder bestowed upon him; resolved not to believe without Evidence of the first hand, as great as he should fancy, or God could give.  
And it was true, that greater Evidence might have been given. If God had so pleased, Faith no doubt might have lost its name, and become Science: The Godhead might have shined out like the Sun, and his Pleasure as clear as the Noonday. And so the Body of Man might have been winged, been clothed, and armed by Nature; endowed with other Senses, as much surpassing our sight, as that does the dullest of the five; and made obnoxious neither to Pain nor Death: and, as our Mind, might have been created incapable of Error, or of Sin.  
But God is he that made us, and not we ourselves. He is to prescribe to us, not we to him: He not being accountable, for what he withholds; but we, for what we have received. We are thankfully to be content with the day he has dispensed, with so much light as he holds out, and at the distance he has placed it: enjoying the direction, and not quarrelling at the Spots of his Sun. The provisions for this Life, and for the other, are left to our Care, and recommended to our industry: and Reason is given us to work out of that stock which is afforded us, whether Material or Intellectual, not only our Preservation in this World, but our Salvation in the Next. That Reason we are to make use of, as we do of our sight, though it be limited and obscure, and subject to deception: not therefore becoming Brutes, because we are not made Intelligent as Angels. And the Knowledge that God imparts of Himself and his Will, though not the Brightest, nor most Perfect, we are to lay hold on, and to cultivate, as proportioned to our Capacity, and sufficient for the End; not standing upon Terms, and refusing to perceive, because he is not pleased Mathematically to demonstrate. God is not obliged, to act for us to the Extent of his Omnipotence; but it is we who are bound in Duty to Him, to the utmost of our Endeavours.  
To complain of our Bountiful Maker, is unjust, and highly ungrateful: but to recriminate upon him, and to charge him with our Faults, will be a very bold and a fatal Defence; a Plea more guilty, than all our former Presumptions; and which will not prevent, but finish our Condemnation. Such an imputation as this, though covertly offered, Abraham in the Parable cut short: a Reflection not to be born by the Servants of God, by Moses and the Prophets. They had not failed to testify, and had discharged their Office: but these Brethren (may they say,) these for whom more Revelation is asked, what of their known duty have they done? Do they act in proportion to what they have already from us? Or do they live as Men, and such as were endued with Reason? Do they indeed desire a clearer Evidence? Or, for the sake of their belov'd Vices, do they not rather dread a convincing Discovery? Those who have neglected so much warning, how little do they deserve more? or to what purpose should it be given? That Rich Man must confess, that all the Insupportable Torment he labours under, he endures not for any Transgression Involuntary, and of which he was not abundantly premonished: He had too much warning given him, and therefore those Coals of Fire are so heaped. He does therefore in truth make a very dangerous request for his Brethren, and out of favour to them it may be denied by Abraham: More knowledge perhaps may only help to condemn them more; and put them into a worse place, than that in which he himself lies. If Lazarus, added to Moses and the Prophets, cannot Persuade them; he will be joined then only to Testify against them. And this is the Possibility the Text imports in the second place, and which we are now going to consider.  
II. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither [Possibly] will they be persuaded, though one rose, etc.  
Should God be pleased to change his Decreed Methods, the Sacred Order of his Alwise Providence, for the sake of this Family; to expose more of his Mercy and Goodness to such unworthy Affronts; should Lazarus be content to leave the Bosom of Abraham, and the Happiness of Heaven, to go once more upon the miserable Earth, and to those inhospitable Doors: What assurance has this Person to give, that the Messenger shall be heard, or that the Divine Endeavours shall not be again frustrated, and meet with another Repulse? Will he tie caution for the success, and answer for the expense of the Miracle? Be contented that this Trial should be made, and God tempted and wearied, at his further Peril?  
No doubt but those of the Gentiles too that are in Hell, those from Tyre or Sidon, who are guilty of the same Crimes, are condemned, in proportion to their knowledge, to the like Torment; no doubt, I say, but those, full of the sense of their present Misery, and forgetting the powerful influence of past Pleasures, may likewise lament their own unhappy Lot, and vainly wish, that they had been blessed with the opportunity of some more express Information; that some single Prophet had been addressed to their Fathers, with the least verbal Intimation from their Maker; had such Revelations descended to them, their Duty so clearly explained, and so movingly enforced, how Attentive and Obedient should they have been, never certainly have come into this Place. Amazed they may be at the Negligence or Infidelity of this Jew; and subscribe to the Divine Sentence, that His Damnation is just.  
But this Son of Abraham sensibly knows, how much mistaken such conceits are, and how little Extraordinary Advertisements and plain Declarations may be able to effect. He can tell them, that not only the Light of Reason may be esteemed an Ignis Fatuus, and its dictates nothing but Education and Prepossession, at least be easily obscured and overruled: but that other supernatural and clearer informations may be entertained with the same Prejudices, stirred up at the solicitation of men's Lusts or Interests; may be alike neglected and thrown by, or cavilled at, slighted and condemned: that the past Revelations may be turned into Fables, and the Present into Dreams. This Person therefore may easily reflect, from the Practice of his Nation, and his own Life, that new Obedience is not always inferred from new Notice; and may himself best conceive, what sort of reception Lazarus may find. Whatever wonder on the Earth his Appearance may be, it will be none there; should the Message he brings miscarry, much Discourse and Dispute may be raised upon it; but no Reformation follow.  
And so might this Apparition be looked on by the Friends of his House, as a Phantom only and Illusion, the sickness of some Melancholic and distempered Imagination. How can a Man return again from the Grave? And how came that Beggar to be sent? Had Abraham no other to take into his Bosom, and to employ to his chiefest Sons? Let them not disgrace their Family by such an Ignominious report concerning their Brother, and brought by such a Messenger. For if Angels and Spirits, in the Philosophy of those times, had the favour to be allowed a Being; yet what should this be, but some wand'ring one of the Air, falsely pretending to a higher Sphere: The old Vagabond, that has no certain place of Residence now; and comes out of Envy or Malice, to haunt and disturb the Happy. Some Banquet therefore, or other divertive Entertainment was to be provided, to cheer up this Melancholy; some more real and better Company than a Ghost; and part of the illgot Riches to be spent in the defence of the rest. So very possibly might this returning Lazarus be no more hearkened to now when Testifying, than before when Begging.  
But little might this Vision be minded afterwards, however regarded at first; the thoughts and apprehensions of it, vanishing in some time, and following the shadow: so that if it was not reputed a Dream, yet it might pass away like one; and the Image of it by degrees grow faint, and disappear, effaced by the constant force of other sensible impressions, from more agreeable and still present objects. Scared his Brethren might be at first, and disordered; but at length recover, return to themselves, and their old Course; brought first to neglect, then to forget, and may be at last to disbelieve, even what had appeared unto themselves.  
Such effects as these, though strange in speculation, yet are frequent in Practice; commonly wrought, by our stupid addiction to the Present, by the charms of Pleasure, the carelessness of the Mind, and the wilfulness of our Passions. And so we know, that repeated Admonitions from Friends or Magistrates, and miserable or terrible Examples, are not of force to dissuade some Men, from falling under the same Calamities, and incurring the like Condemnation. Notwithstanding all that can be advised or proclaimed, there are those who will continue the same ruinous Prodigality and Excess, and venture upon the same rash and criminal attempts; going on gaily and unconcernedly, to lose their Health, their Estate, or Life; till they become at last Examples and Warnings themselves, as little to be regarded by others, and as certainly neglected in their turns.  
The ghastly sight of a dying Friend, may i'll our blood, and strike us with serious Reflections; make some change upon our Countenance, and on our Minds; but when we go back among the living World, we are soon engaged in the Fashion of it; quickly forget the Deceased, and our own Mortality; again contrive and design, as if we were left behind to continue here for ever. All Monuments and Memento's are ineffectual to the purpose they speak: and so many going to the dead, can not well persuade us that we shall follow.  
Nay some there are, that have been themselves among the Dead; that in some dangerous Sickness have been so near this place, as to have had a lively view of it; and, in the bitterness of their Soul, almost to have felt its torments: and what firm Resolutions do they then make? What solemn Promises to God, and to themselves? which yet give place, when health and vigour returns; the forgetful Creature relapsing in a little time into his old sins, and not having been persuaded, no not by his own Convictions.  
Insomuch that if we should suppose Abraham to procure a greater favour for this Person, than he knew how to desire; to take him out of that Flame, and set him again on the Earth; not for some temporary care, while he is upon a short Errand; but for another Trial of his Obedience, and a new opportunity of delivering himself out of that intolerable State: Upon this supposition, impracticable indeed as he is told by Abraham, it would not however be impracticable to imagine, that this very person might by degrees fall into his former Errors, and slide into the Way that will bring him back into the same Place; like some pardoned Criminals, that are still under Bonds to their old Vice, and soon deserve a second Sentence. So little therefore can this Man be confident of the success of a Report upon his Brethren, that perchance his own Experience might not prove Warning enough unto Himself.  
Were not the Instances of these difficult and unperswasible tempers so frequent in humane Life, innumerable might be brought from sacred story: Pharaoh not persuaded by ten Miracles, and to be drowned by another: The Children of Israel, whose hardness of heart as much exceeded his, as the power of Moses did that of his Magicians; those the peculiar People of God, informed from his Mouth, led and fed by daily Miracles, and yet giving no Credence to his Word; a froward Generation, Children in whom there was no Faith; as their Lawgiver describes them. To conclude, the Holy Books are full of Admonition, from God, and of the Disobedience of Men: Warning us from our Sins, and from any great hopes of growing better by new warnings; for this too is a Lesson that may be learned from Moses and the Prophets.  
And thus we have seen the assertion of the Text to be so possible, that there is great reason to proceed higher, and to understand it more positively; as that which would generally happen in the World, and may very Probably be verified on those Brethren: the last and the full sense of the Words.  
III. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, etc.  
This Intractableness in many, and Infidelity to Moses and the Prophets, is not opposed particularly to their Persons, nor only able to overbalance their Testimony: it is generally ready to encounter the same grievous Commands, whoever brings them; and strong enough to repulse another Messenger. It has learned from overruling greater and more illustrious Evidence, easily to defeat this: and Lazarus must yield, where Moses and the Prophets could not prevail.  
The Miracles indeed of those days are long passed, and Moses and the Prophets were Men of old; (and let us suppose them to be Antiquated, and to need this Reinforcement:) but the Unbelief of that time was Humane, and Natural, and has been propagated to the present Age; The Israelite, the crooked and perverse Generation, still continues; the wantonness and frowardness of such, as will not have God for their King. The Rich Man, if he inquires wisely, will not say, that the former days were worse than these. There are the same Dispositions now, of whom the like may be presumed, and where Miracles would be bestowed in vain: Men whose understandings are darkened, and Consciences seared; who have already done that violence to their inward better part, that they are grown Insensible of any thing that comes against their present Interest, and from another World: The advice to the Sceptic would be false and visionary, dull and nauseous, to the Man of Pleasure; and to the Man of Business, trifling and impertinent; the Ghostly Friend an Enemy to them and to their Designs, as unwelcome as Satan, and to be Exorcised. For still it is, that those who have devoted themselves to the Idols of this World, Pleasures, Riches, or Honour, look upon all discourse offered against their Deities as Blasphemy: accordingly they throw dust in the air, to blind their Eyes; they stop their Ears, and cry away with it, running on with one accord. These are properly said to be dead in sin, not to be restored by any Remedy, however powerful and extraordinary, that works by moral force; whom God indeed may make sensible, and raise by his Omnipotence, as he may now return Lazarus: but upon whom this Lazarus, so remanded by Miracle, will not operate, except he brings with him the power of Miracles, and can confer Grace, such as shall not be resisted.  
And thus there might be Sons of Abraham, of whom this Sentence might be true in its severest meaning: and of those, this Rich Man might be one; and he by it given to understand, that he himself would not have been persuaded by the wonder he desires; and neither will his Brethren be, those of the same Family and Mind.  
And so might the miserable Jew be well silenced by this reasonable and righteous Answer, and he and his Brethren left without excuse: such as they should allege in earnest, and at the Day of Account; not indeed without such excuses as better deserve that name, frivolous and false pretences, raised by the lazy or the obstinate; childish pleas of affected Ignorance, and counterfeit Disability, such as God in his Government of the World will not consider, nor does any humane Magistracy admit. Justified will our Creator be in his saying and Sentence; and clear when he is judged, and when he judges.  
This Answer of Abraham, grounded upon Observation of common Life, and the practice of the Jews, has been since eminently confirmed by the experiment of Christianity. Our Saviour, the Brightness of God's Glory, and the express Image of his Person, has himself brought down Information to us, infinitely surpassing what was spoke to the Fathers by Moses and the Prophets: has laid open to us the World to come, and given the free prospect of Heaven and Hell; declared more of the Future State in this single Parable, than was to be read in all those Writings to which Abraham refers. What too is said here to be denied, he did effect; and raised one Lazarus from the Grave. And when by that rescue of another from Death, he had only hastened his own; (His very Disciples not so well persuaded by that, and so many other Miracles, as not to forsake; nay to deny him:) he was pleased himself to rise from the Dead, finally to instruct and to warn Men. This Gospel he Commissioned chosen Men to publish, and impower'd them to confirm it with Signs and Wonders: Multitudes of his Servants continually declaring, by the zeal of the Lives and the constancy of their Death, the truth of their Master's Resurrection, and their assurance of their own. By such evident Testimonies, the World found itself obliged to admit and to confess his Doctrine: but neither is it so persuaded. It hears, and pretends to believe; but goes on still in its old course, and lives after the Unchristian manner: sometimes it wants a sign, or an infallible Proponent, or a scientifick demonstration; glad to know how to except and object, and resolved not to obey: not to be fully persuaded, it seems, should all the Dead arise, or the whole Host of Heaven come down.  
So true has this Affirmation of Abraham's since proved; and so little Faith has our Saviour found: At his Death he left not much, and he makes it a question after, whether at his return he shall find any; any proportionable to the clearness of the Message, and to the Greatness and Dignity of the Reporter. The Event, he has not only intimated in the Parable, but foretold expressly: neither is the Revelation he has made, disparaged, but verified by it. We are not surprised to find, that there are such who neglect or contradict. These are those of whom we have been warned, those that will not be persuaded; neither should any give themselves the vain pleasure, to think that they can disgrace the Gospel, or disappoint its Author: His word will certainly serve, to the purpose to which it was ordained; and his honour is as secure as his Happiness: It is the Unbeliever only who will suffer.  
The Notice we have is so plain and evident, that reasonably and in duty we cannot demand more: however more will not be granted. If the sign of Ionas has not had any effect, no other shall be given: nor any more rise from the Dead, till we ourselves do to Judgement. The Book is sealed, as the Gulf below is fixed: and those that will not be prevailed with by this method, they will not, they shall not, by any other. If they will not hear Moses and the Prophets, the Son of God and his Apostles; there will be no further endeavour to persuade them: If the Gospel be hid, it is hid to those that are lost.  
Make we use therefore of the last and only Help; a greater than which we cannot, we must not, hope for. Take we heed how we despise the Admonition of him that is Risen from the Dead, and now speaks from Heaven; who will once more shake not the Earth only; our Maker, our Redeemer, and our Judge.  
This Life is the time to hear the Directions of God, and to comply with his design for our Salvation: hereafter we shall be only called to hear his Sentence, and to confess its Justice. And then a knowing Age, will be the most improper to plead Ignorance: nor will a Christian of this Country, dare to say, that he wanted Notice.  
The Assertion of the Parable concerning the Unbelief of Men, we see how true and exact it is: as really fulfilled will the Narrative part be concerning its Consequence and Issue. The persuaded, and the unperswaded, will then have their different Portions, and be set at a wide distance: And we shall all hereafter be, in the condition of this Unhappy Person, or of that Lazarus; either Comforted, or Tormented.  
God grant that, according to that other Parable, our Improvement may be, in proportion to the number of our multiplied Talents: and that we may so hear all our other warnings, and this present Admonition, that we may be found with Faithful Abraham in the Joy of our Master: To whom with the Holy Ghost, be all Honour and Glory, now and for Ever.  
FINIS.