was lost for ever, and has been for centuries suffering unspeakable torments.
Limbo. Lazarus joined in Limbo the just souls departed. In their company he rejoiced in unspeakable consolation, and waited in the sure expectation of eternal happiness in heaven. When our Lord ascended into heaven, He took Lazarus with Him into everlasting glory.
Why Lazarus was eternally rewarded. When he was in this world, he was faithful, pious and resigned. He had for many years lived a life of misery, but he bore all his sufferings, poverty, contempt, and pain with the utmost patience and resignation to God’s will, making use of them to sanctify his soul. He did not murmur nor complain, but hoped in the Redeemer and the everlasting life to come, and united himself closely to God by a holy love.
Hell. The parable gives us a description of hell. It is a place of torment in which the soul is completely buried. The torment is caused by the flames of a supernatural fire, kindled by the anger of God. There is, therefore, no relief, no hope for the lost soul. It is separated from the abode of the just by a great chaos; it can never get to them, but must remain for ever and without hope in the torment of hell. An unbearable thirst was the principal torment of the lost glutton: his throat and tongue were burnt up with it. He thought that one little drop of water, such as could hang from the tip of a man’s finger, would be an alleviation; but he could not get even that. He who had so sinned by gluttony was now consumed by an everlasting thirst. He who had refused to Lazarus even the crumbs which fell from his table, now vainly implored for one little drop of water to cool his burning tongue.
Why Dives was eternally punished. We are not told that he committed any sins which the world would consider to be great ones. On the contrary, he was esteemed as an honourable and generous man. He might quite truly have said to himself: “I have deceived no man, I have never taken any one’s life, nor have I sworn falsely. I am no miser; for I circulate my money freely, enjoy the use of it, and am praised by all my friends for my liberality.” True! and yet he was damned! Why? Because he was a sensual man, an epicurean, and religion was a matter of no consideration with him. His only thought was how to lead a pleasant life, and he neither troubled himself about the future, nor believed in a coming Redeemer. He led a life without prayer, without fear of hell or desire for heaven, a life without grace and without God. Could such a life as this be rewarded by the everlasting Vision of God? No; its obvious and inevitable sequel could only be found in hell, or in eternal separation from God! He lived his life away from God. He sinned, firstly, by unbelief. Neither he nor his brothers believed much, if at all, in the immortality of the soul, or in what God had revealed to man by Moses and the prophets, namely,
