where their Brother lay. They have Mofes and the Prophets let them hear Them. If thefe were not fufficient for their Converfion no other means would be available. If they bear not Mofes and the Prophets,neither will they be perfmaded tho' One rofe from the Dead. It was to thefe Scriptures, as to a fufficient Rule, exclufive of all Others, the Prophet Jaiah commands to have recourfe in all Cafes, for Infallible Counsel and Direction, To the Law and to the Teftimony. Ifai. 8. 20. weNow if in the Firft Covenant, and in the Old Law, there was fuch Perfection, can we imagine, that in the more full discovery which God has made of his Will, when in thefe laft Days he has spoke to us by his Son, there fhould be any thing wanting; any thing neceffary to Everlasting Life omitted, any defect left to be made up by Human Additions and Devices? No certainly, but as our Saviour fully inftructed his Apoftles in every particular that was neceffary to be Known, Believ'd, Hop'd, or Practis'd, in order to the Salvation of his Church, as he himself Teftifies fpeaking to the Father, I have manifefted thy Name unto the Men which thou gavest me out of the World, I have given unto Them the Words which thou gavest. me, and they have received them, and have known furely, that I have come out from thee. John 17. 6, 8. and fpeaking to those Apostles them

felves,

felves, All things that I have heard from my Father I have made known unto Tou, John 15.15. So they as faithfully deliver'd what they had been taught by their Great Matter, keeping nothing back that was neceffary, nor adding any thing of their own; but difpenfing entirely, as faithful Stewards, all that Truth, and nothing but that Truth, which they had receiv'd from Chrift. And This they did, both by their Preaching to thofe, with whom they were here converfant upon Earth; and alfo by Writing to all fucceeding Ages of the Faithful. For fince the extraordinary Gifts, with which they were endu❜d from above, were to cease and dye with them, it was neceffary that they fhould leave behind them a full and compleat Summary of all the Doctrine they had receiv'd, and in Their Writings preach to the end of the World, and being Dead yet speak. To this End they were mov'd by the Holy Ghost, to Compose those Books which make

up

a

the Canon of the New Teftament: and that nothing material might, thro' Human frailty, out of Ignorance or Forgetfulness, Negligence or Inadvertency, be omitted, Our Saviour gives 'em this Promise, The Comforter,which is the Holy Ghoft, whom the Father will send in my Name, He shall teach you' All things, and bring All things to your remembrance, whatfoever I have faid unto You. John

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John 14, 26. and again, John 16. 13. When the Spirit of Truth is come, He fball guide Tou into all Truth. Now this Promise our Saviour did most affuredly make good, and thefe Holy Men, Writing by this Divine Affiftance, to this very end and purpose, to reveal the whole Mind of God; how can it be fuppos'd, without Blafphemy against the Holy Ghoft, that they fell short of what by His Inspiration they undertook; that they left a lame and imperfect Rule of Faith and Manners, to be supply'd and patch'd up with Human, Uncertain, Unwritten Traditions? If all the Gospel of Chrift the whole Covenant betweenGod and Man, were not written, God would have certainly ordered to whom we fhould have recourfe for that part of it, which was not written; which feeing he has not done, it is reasonable to conclude, that he has left no part of it Unwritten. Why does every One of the Four Evangelifts, entitle His Book the Gospel, if any neceffary or Ef fential Part of the Gofpel were left out of it? Did the Holy Penmen Omit any thing out of Ignorance, as not knowing it to be neceffary? Or did they, knowing it to be fo, wilfully and enviously detain it from us? Or did they negligently or carelessly content themselves with doing fo great a Work, as they had taken in hand, by halves?

Did they Purpofely or Unwittingly, by Defign or by Accident, drop and fpill, by the way, part of their Commiffion? If none of these things can be objected against them, without manifeftly Blafpheming, as I faid before, the Holy Ghoft, by whofe Motion and Affiftance they Wrote; it must be concluded, that in their Writings is fully comprehended all, and every thing Neceffary to Salvation. These things, fays St. John of his own Gospel, are written that ye might Believe, that Jefus is the Chrift; and that Believing, ye might have Life through His Name. And fince all Scripture is given by InSpiration from God, and is profitable for Doitrine, for Reproof, for Correction, for InftruEtion in Righteoufnefs, that the Man of God may be Perfect, throughly furnish'd unto all good Works; St. Paul fays no more than the undoubted Truth, when he tells Timothy, that the Scriptures are able to make him Wife to Salvation. 2 Tim. 3. 15, 16, 17.

The Holy Scripture being thus abundantly Sufficient, We are from them alone to receive all Rules of Life, and by them alone to examine all Points of Doctrine. Neither can Any thing whatsoever, which is not exprefsly in these Books contain'd, or by direct Confequence naturally from them deduc'd, be impos'd by any Man, or Company of Men, as an Article of Faith, or Law of Manners,

Manners, without the greatest, most unwarrantable, and most intolerable Ufurpation over the Confciences of their FellowChristians; as well as the highest Indignity to, and Derogation from, the Gofpel of Christ. What therefore must be said of that Church, that has not only apparently done fo, but that in a General Council, as they are pleas'd to call it, has determin'd Unwritten Traditions to be of equal Authority, and to be receiv'd with like Veneration as the Written Word of God? Is not that of Solomon worth their Confideration? Add thou not unto HisWords, left be reprove thee, and thou be found a Liar; thy Forgeries and Impostures being laid open and expos'd to all the World. Should not that Curfe of the Apoftle affright their Souls ? (Gal. 1. 8.) Tho' We, or an Angel from Heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you, than that which we have preach'd unto you, let him be Accursed. Or ought not that dreadful Denunciation, with which St. John concludes his Revelation terrify 'em from this facrilegious Boldness? If Any Man fball add unto the Words of this Book, God fball add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book, (Rev. 22. 18.)

II. I come now to the other Character of Holy Scripture; namely its Clearness and Perfpicuity, plainly taught in my Text, and

vifible