The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-17
THE ETERNAL LIFE
SUBJECT OF SERMON BY REV
 STEWART MCQUEEN.
Mir. nEcoueen Spoke of the Neees- sary, InexornbIe Coneequences of seIashneas--The Rieh man
 and Lazarus.


 And he said unto him: If tAes hear not Moses and the prophets, neither win they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. St. Luke xvt;Sl.
 with this. as his text Rev. Stewart MeQueen preached the following ser- mon:
 The text Is taken from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus " teaches several truths. One is, that the future life is the outcome of this. ia It's continuation. Knowing the life that the rich man lived here, we are not surprised to find him where he Is hereafter. Ind him in the kind Of eternal home which he had himself prepared by the daily life he lived on earth. Such was inevitaole. as We cannot possibly fall to see. It accords with our own sense of justice. It is inconceivable that death can change character. When we go hence and are no more seen, we take with us the same character we had in life. The life we live In eternity IS the direct outcome, the continuation of the lire we live in time, just as sureiy as tne oak ia the outcome, the continuation of the acorn. Even the heather Elm peror and philosopher. Marcus Ans +anius Aurelius of the second century could see this truth, for he wrote, you remember: Though thou snouldst be going to live three thousand years and as many times ten thousand years, remember that no man loses any other tIfe than that which he now lives, nor lives any other life than that which ha now loses" This is perhaps the most remarkable testimony In all hoathen literature to the great prin- cinle taught so clearly and forcibly in Holy Scripture of the continuity in all it's essentials or the present
 
 Another vital truth found in the parable is the necessary. inexoraole' inescapable consequences of selfish- ness. This is seen at once. through study of the rich mans character. For ohserve. no awful crimes. no degrad" ing vices, are attributed to him. We are not told of single bad thing ne did, He is not accused of cruelty to Lazarus. He was rich, to be sure, but it is not a vice to be rich, any more than it is virtue to be poor. It IS easv to see where his sin lay--he was givsn nyer to a fife of hearticss Sel~ fshness. Most people. fear. fail en. tirely to appreciate the teaching of inc parable just at this point ana lall therefore. to appreciate it's application ta Themselves. They are wont to think of the rich man as an example of a specially vicious and degraded S,.r ana miss altogether the force ot nnr savior's teaching, which Is that be was a type of a large number or nso,la Yn every congregation and com psnnity' people selfshly absorbed in their own affairs, their energies taKen m win pett cares, leading eminently rasnectable lives. 1t may be. guilty or no shocking sins. but essentially selr centred and self worshipptng. ana talk ing no kindly. helpful interest In their neighbors, having no real synpatn,y .,l with others; in a word, eNactiy as @ tna rich man indisposition, in character. and it was that (not his rlcnes as many seem to think) which brought him where he was. ....
 Now let Us briefly study the text, The rich man begs Abraham to send T.azarus that he might testify unto his five brethren lest they also come into inc place of torment. Abraham re- niles: dIf they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be per. suaded though one rose from the dead. The rich man Is silenced. For he can not deny his brethren had all they needed in the way of knowledge and nrecept. In a word by his silence he admits the force of Abraham's claim, which is this: If his brethren failed t' use the light they already had the possession of more light would not in- duce them to use 1t more. The trouble was. not with the light but with them Moreover. a return from the grave