sores. And it came
to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into
Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;[2] and in
hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar
off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham,
have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his
finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst
thy good things; and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is
comforted and thou art tormented."[3] What more just? Afterward this
parable was called that of the "wicked rich man." But it is purely and
simply the parable of the "rich man." He is in hell because he is
rich, because he does not give his wealth to the poor, because he
dines well, while others at his door dine badly. Lastly, in a less
extravagant moment, Jesus does not make it obligatory to sell one's
goods and give them to the poor except as a suggestion toward greater
perfection. But he still makes this terrible declaration: "It is
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter into the kingdom of God."[4]

[Footnote 1: Luke xvi. 1-14.]

[Footnote 2: See the Greek text.]

[Footnote 3: Luke xvi. 19-25. Luke, I am aware, has a very decided
communistic tendency (comp. vi. 20, 21, 25, 26), and I think he has
exaggerated this shade of the teaching of Jesus. But the features of
the [Greek: Logia] of Matthew are sufficiently significant.]

[Footnote 4: Matt. xix. 24; Mark x. 25; Luke xviii. 25. This
proverbial phrase is found in the Talmud (Bab., _Berakoth_, 55 _b_,
_Baba metsia_, 38 _b_) and in the Koran (Sur., vii. 38.) Origen and
the Greek interpreters, ignorant of the Semitic proverb, thought that
it meant a cable ([Greek: kamilos]).]

An admirable idea governed Jesus in all this, as well as the band of
joyous children who accompanied him and made him for eternity the true
creator of the peace of the soul, the great consoler of life. In
disengaging man from what he called "the cares of the world," Jesus
might go to excess and injure the essential conditions of human
society; but he founded that high spiritualism which for centuries
has filled souls with joy in the midst of this vale of tears. He saw
with perfect clearness that man's inattention, his want of philosophy
and morality, come mostly from the distractions which he pe