It is a fixed principle in the Divine administration, that the scales of justice shall in the end be made equal.  If, therefore, sin enjoys in this world, it must sorrow in the next; and if righteousness sorrows in this world, it must enjoy in the next.  The experience shall be reversed, in order to bring everything to a right position and adjustment.  This is everywhere taught in the Bible.  “Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.  Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger.  Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.  Blessed are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled.  Blessed are ye that weep now; for ye shall laugh” (Luke vi. 21, 24, 25).  These are the explicit declarations of the Founder of Christianity, and they ought not to surprise us, coming as they do from Him who expressly declares that His kingdom is not of this world; that in this world His disciples must have tribulation, as He had; that through much tribulation they must enter into the kingdom of God; that whosoever doth not take up the cross daily, and follow Him, cannot be His disciple.

Let us notice some particulars, in which we see the operation of this principle.  What are the “good things” which Dives receives here, for which he must be “tormented” hereafter? and what are the “evil things” which Lazarus receives in this world, for which he will be “comforted” in the world to come?

I. In the first place, the worldly man derives a more intense physical enjoyment from this world’s goods, than does the child of God.  He possesses more of them, and gives himself up to them with less self-restraint.  The majority of those who have been most prospered by Divine Providence in the accumulation of wealth have been outside of the kingdom and the ark of God.  Not many rich and not many noble are called.  In the past history of mankind, the great possessions and the great incomes, as a general rule, have not been in the hands of humble and penitent men.  In the great centres of trade and commerce,—­in Venice, Amsterdam, Paris, London,—­it is the world and not the people of God who have had the purse, and have borne what is put therein.  Satan is described in Scripture, as the “prince of this world” (John xiv. 30); and his words addressed to the Son of God are true:  “All this power and glory is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it.”  In the parable from which we are discoursing, the sinful man was the rich man, and the child of God was the beggar.  And how often do we see, in every-day life, a faithful, prayerful, upright, and pure-minded man, toiling in poverty, and so far as earthly comforts are concerned enjoying little or nothing, while a selfish, pleasure-seeking, and profligate man is immersed in physical comforts and luxuries.  The former is receiving evil things, and the latter is receiving good things, in this life.