CanTherebeUnity
vividly painted picture. The story, as it goes, carries our senses with it with irresistible power. Instead of readers, we become onlookers. We are witnesses of all the events described. We see. We hear. We believe we could almost touch. The rich man's table—the purple—the fine linen—the gate—the beggar lying by it—the sores—the dogs—the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table—the two deaths—the rich man's burial—the ministering angels—Abraham's side—the rich man's fearful waking up—the fire—the great separation—the hopeless remorse—all, all stand out before our eyes in bold relief, and stamp themselves upon our minds. This is the attainment of the famous Arabian standard of eloquence— "He speaks the best who turns the ear into an eye." But, after all, it is one thing to admire the brilliant composition of this parable, and quite another to understand the spiritual lessons it contains. The eye of the intellect can often see beauties while the heart remains asleep, and sees nothing at all. Hundreds read Pilgrim's Progress with deep interest, to whom the struggle for the celestial city is foolishness. Thousands are familiar with every word of the parable before us today, who never consider how it applies to their own situation. Their conscience is deaf to the cry, which ought to ring in their ears as they read, "You are the man!" Their heart never turns to God with the solemn question, "Lord, is this my picture? Lord, is it me?" I invite you today to consider the leading truths, which this parable is meant to teach us. I purposely avoid discussing any part of it but that, which is the title of this message: "Riches and Poverty." May the Holy Spirit give us a teachable spirit, and an understanding heart, and therefore produce lasting impressions on our souls! 1. Let us observe, first of all, "How different the conditions are which God allots to different persons." The Lord Jesus begins the parable by telling us about a rich man and a beggar. He does not say a word in praise of either poverty or of riches. He describes the circumstances of a wealthy man and the circumstances of a poor man; but He neither condemns the earthy position of one, nor praises that of the other. The contrast between the two men is painfully striking. Look closely at the picture before us. Here is one who possessed an abundance of this world's good things — "A rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day." Here is another who literally has nothing. He is a friendless, diseased, have-starved destitute person. "At the rich man's gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores," and he begs for crumbs. Both are children of Adam. Both came from the same dust, and belonged to one family. Both are living in the same land and subject to the same government. And yet how different is their condition! But we must be careful that we do not draw lessons from the parable, which it was never meant to teach. The rich are not always bad persons, and do not always go to hell. The poor are not always good people, and do not always go to heaven. We must not rush into the extreme of supposing that it is sinful to be rich. We must not run away with the idea that there is anything wicked in the difference of condition here described, and that God intended all men to be equal. There is nothing in our Lord Jesus Christ's words to warrant any such conclusion. He simply describes things as they are often seen in the world, and as we must expect to see them. Universal equality is a very artificial expression and a favorite idea with visionary men.
Many in every age have disturbed society by stirring up the poor against the rich, and by preaching the popular doctrine that all men ought to be equal. But so long as the world is under the present order of things this universal equality cannot be attained. Those who speak against the vast inequality of men's fates will doubtless never lack an audience; but so long as human nature is what it is, this inequality cannot be prevented. So long as some are wise and some are foolish—some strong and some weak—some healthy and some diseased—some lazy and some diligent—some prudent and some careless; so long as children reap the fruit of their parent's bad behavior; so long as sun, and rain, and heat, and cold, and wind, and waves, and drought, and plague, and storms are beyond man's control—so there will always be some rich and some poor. All the political order in the world will never erase the fact that, "There will always be poor people in the land." [Deuteronomy 15:11] Take all the property in our country by force this very day, and divide it equally among the inhabitants. Give every man above the age of twenty an equal portion. Let everyone share and share alike, and begin the world over again. Do this, and see where you would be at the end of fifty years. You would have just come back around to the point where you began. You would find things just as unequal as before. Some would have worked, and some would have been lazy. Some would have always been careless, and some always scheming. Some would have sold, and others would have bought. Some would have wasted, and others would have saved. And the end would be that some would be rich and others poor. Let no one listen to those vain and foolish talkers who say that all men were meant to be equal. They might as well tell you that all men ought to be of the same height, weight, strength, and skill—or that all oak trees ought to be of the same shape and size—or that all blades of grass ought to always be the same length.