This anfwer of Abraham was exemplified when another Lazarus was raised from the dead in the very fight of the Jews, and Chrift burft the bands of death, and gave them inconteftible evidences of his refurrection; and yet after all they were not perfuaded, but perfifted in invincible infidelity.

This parable was fpoken before any part of the New Teftament was written, and added to the facred canon; and if it might be then afferted, that the standing revelation of God's will was fufficient, and that it was needlefs to demand farther, then much more may it be afferted now, when the canon of the fcriptures is completed, and we have received fo much additional light from the New Testament. We have not only Mofes and the prophets, but we have alfo Christ, who is a meffenger from the dead, and his apostles; and therefore, furely "if we do not hear them, neither would we be perfuaded, though one arofe from the dead." The gofpel is the laft effort of the grace of God with a guilty world; and if this has no effect upon us, our difeafe is incurable that refuses to be healed.

I cannot infift upon all the important truths contained in this copious text, but only defign,

I. To fhew the fufficiency of the standing revelation of God's will in the fcriptures, to bring men to repentance: and,

II. To expofe the vanity and unreasonableness of the objections against this revelation, and of demanding another.

I. I am to fhew the fufficiency of the standing revelation in the fcriptures to bring men to repentance.

If the fcriptures give us fufficient instructions in matters of faith, and fufficient directions in matters of practice, if they are attended with fufficient evidences for our faith,-and produce fufficient excitements to influence our practice, then they contain a fufficient revelation; for it is for thefe purposes we need a revelation, and a revelation that anfwers thefe purposes

has

has the directeft tendency to make us truly religious, and bring us to an happy immortality. But that the revelation in the fcriptures (particularly in the New Teftament, which 1 fhall more immediately confider as being the immediate foundation of Chriftianity) is fufficient for all these purposes, will be evident from an induction of particulars.

1. The fcriptures give us fufficient inftructions what we should believe, or are a fufficient rule of faith.

Religion cannot fubfift without right notions of God and divine things; and entire ignorance or miftakes in its fundamental articles, must be destructive of its nature; and therefore a divine revelation must be a collection of rays of light, a fyftem of divine knowledge; and fuch we find the christian revelation to be, as contained in the facred writings.

In the fcriptures we find the faint discoveries of na tural reason illuftrated, its uncertain conjectures determined, and its mistakes corrected; fo that christianity includes natural religion in the greateft perfection. But it does not reft here; it brings to light things which eye hath not feen, nor ear beard, neither the heart of man conceived, i Corinth. ii. 9,-things, which our feeble reafon could never have difcovered without the help of a fupernatural revelation; and which yet are of the utmost importance for us to know.

In the fcriptures we have the clearest and most majeftic account of the nature and perfections of the Deity, and of his being the Creator, Ruler, and Benefactor of the univerfe; to whom therefore all reasonable beings are under infinite obligations.

In the fcriptures we have an account of the prefent state of human nature, as degenerate, and a more rational and eafy account of the manner of its apoftafy, than could ever be given by the light of nature.

In the fcriptures too (which wound but to cure) we have the welcome account of a method of recovery from the ruins of our apostasy, through the mediation of the Son of God; there we have the affurance

which we could find no where elfe, that God is reconcilable, and willing to pardon penitents upon the account of the obedience and fufferings of Chrift. There all our anxious enquiries, Wherewith fhall I come before the Lord? or bow myself before the most high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings? &c. Micah vi. 6, 7, are fatisfactorily anfwered; and there the agonizing confcience can obtain relief, which might have fought it in vain among all the other religions in the world.

In the fcriptures alfo, eternity and the invifible worlds are laid open to our view; and "life and immortality are brought to light by the gofpel;" about which the heathen fages, after all their enquiries, laboured under uneafy fufpicions. There we are affured of the ftate of future rewards and punishments, according to our conduct in this ftate of probation; and the nature, perfection, and duration of the happiness and mifery, are defcribed with as much accuracy as are neceffary to engage us to feek the one and fhun the other.

I particularize thefe doctrines of Christianity as a fpecimen, or as fo many general heads, to which many others may be reduced; not intending a complete enumeration, which would lead me far beyond the bounds of one fermon; and for which my whole life is not fufficient. I therefore proceed to add,

2. The holy fcriptures give us complete directions in matters of practice, or are a fufficient rule of life.

A divine revelation must not be calculated merely to amufe us, and gratify our curiofity with fublime and refined notions and fpeculations, but adapted to direct and regulate our practice, and render us better as well as wifer.

Accordingly, the facred writings give us a complete fyftem of practical religion and morality. There, not only all the duties of natural religion are inculcated, but feveral important duties; as love to our enemies, humility, &c. are clearly discovered; which the feeble

light of reafon in the heathen moralifts did either not perceive at all, or but very faintly. In fhort, there we are informed of our duties towards God, towards our neighbours, and towards ourselves. The fcriptures are full of particular injunctions and directions to particular duties, left we fhould not be fagacious enough to infer them from general rules; and fometimes all these duties are fummed up in fome short maxim, or general rule; which we may eafily remember, and always carry about with us. Such a noble

fummary is that which Chrift has given us of the whole moral law; "Thou fhalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, &c. and thy neighbour as thyfelf." Or that all-comprehending rule of our conduct towards one another, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, do ye the fame unto them."

What recommends thefe doctrinal instructions and practical directions is, that they are plain and obvious to common fenfe. It is as much the concern of the illiterate and vulgar to be religious, as of the few endowed with an exalted and philofophic genius; and confequently, whatever difficulties may be in a revelation to exercise the latter, yet all neceffary matters of faith and practice must be delivered in a plain manner, level to the capacities of the former; otherwise it would be no revelation at all to them who stand in most need of it. Accordingly the religion of Jefus, though it has myfteries equal and infinitely fuperior to the largest capacity, yet in its neceffary articles is intelligible to all ranks who apply themselves with proper diligence to the perufal of them: and I dare affirm, that a man of common fenfe, with the affiftance of the facred fcriptures, can form a better fyftem of religion and morality than the wifeft philofopher, with all his abilities and learning, can form without this help. This I dare affirm, because it has been put to trial, and attefted by matter of fact; for whoever is acquainted with the writings of the ancient heathen philofophers, cannot but be convinced, that, amidst all their learning

learning and ftudy, amidst all their fhining thoughts and refined fpeculations, they had not fuch just notions of God and his perfections, of the moft acceptable way of worshipping him, of the duties of morality, and of a future ftate, as any common chriftian among us has learned from the fcriptures, without any uncommon natural parts, without extenfive learning, and without fuch painful study and close application as the heathen moralifts were forced to ufe to make their lefs perfect discoveries. In this fenfe the least in the kingdom of heaven, i. e. any common chriftian, is greater than all the Socratefes, the Platos, the Ciceros, and the Senecas of antiquity; as one that is of a weak fight can see more clearly by the help of day-light, than the cleareft eye can without it.

And by whom was this vaft treasury of knowledge laid up to enrich the world? by whom were these matchlefs writings compofed, which furnish us with a fyftem of religion and morality fo much more plain, fo much more perfect, than all the famous fages of antiquity could frame? Why, to our aftonishment, they were composed by a company of fishermen, or perfons not much fuperior; by perfons generally without any liberal education; perfons who had not devoted their lives to intellectual improvement; perfons of no extraordinary natural parts, and who had not travelled, like the ancient philofophers, to gather up fragments of knowledge in different countries, but who lived in Judea, a country where learning was but little cultivated, in comparison of Greece and Rome. These were the most accomplished teachers of mankind that ever appeared in the world. And can this be accounted for, without acknowledging their infpiration from heaven? If human reason could have made fuch difcoveries, furely it would have made them by thofe in whom it was improved to the greatest perfection, and not by a company of ignorant mechanics.

The perfons themselves declare that they had not made these discoveries, but were taught them imme

diately