of God. When we speak of resting from our labours after death,
and being at peace, we cannot mean, we dare not hope, that we shall be
idle. When a famous man of science died, his friends said one to
another, "how busy he will be!" We are bidden to be workers together
with God, and we may believe that He has new and higher tasks for us
all, when we shall have passed through that door in Heaven which Jesus
has opened for all believers.

SERMON XXXVI.

THE CONTRAST.

(First Sunday after Trinity.)

S. LUKE xvi. 19, 20.

"There was a certain rich man, . . . and there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus."

What was the rich man's sin? We are not told that he had committed any
crime. He is not described as an extortioner or unjust. There is no
word about his having been an adulterer, or a thief, or an unbeliever,
or a Sabbath breaker. Surely there was no sin in his being rich, or
wearing costly clothes if he could afford it. Certainly not: it is not
_money_, but the _love_ of money, which is the root of all evil. The
sin of Dives is the sin of hundreds to-day. He lived for himself
alone, and he lived only for this world. He had sunk all his capital
in his gold and silver, and purple and fine linen. He had no treasure
laid up in Heaven. So when the moth and rust had done their work, and
death had broken through like a thief and stolen all his earthly goods,
he had nothing left. This parable is full of sharp contrasts. First,
there is the contrast in the life of these two men. The one rich, the
other a beggar. The one clothed in purple and fine linen, the other
almost naked, and covered with sores. The one fared sumptuously every
day, the other lay at the gate starving, and longing for the crumbs
which fell from the rich man's table. The one had friends and
acquaintances who ate of his meat and drank of his cup, the other was
"a pauper whom nobody owns," and the dogs were his only earthly
comforters. The rich man had great possessions, yet one thing he
lacked, and that was the one thing needful. He had the good things of
this life, yet he had not chosen the good part which could not be taken
away from him. He had gold and silver, purple and fine linen, but he
was without God in the world. Lazarus, the beggar, was after all the
truly rich man, "as having nothing, and yet possessing all things."
Next, there is a contrast in the death of these two men. One expired
in a luxurious bed. No doub