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SERMON VI.

PREACHED AT

WHITE-HALL,

On the 20th of MARCH, 168.

LUKE xvi. 31.

-If they hear not Mofes and the Prophets, neither will they be perfuaded, though one rofe from the Dead.

T

HE Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, in the Gofpel, is fo well known, that it is needless to relate the Particulars of it.

Thefe Words are the Conclufion of that Parable, and they are made the Words of Abraham, who being in Paradife, is brought in as fpeaking them to the Rich Man in Hell.

The Occafion was this, This, now, Poor Man, not being able to obtain the leaft Comfort and Refreshment, for himself, under that unfupportable Anguifh he endured; bethinks himself of his Friends and Relations in the World, and cafts about how to prevent their

com

coming to that fad Condition. And for this purpose, he begs of Abraham, that he would be pleased to fend the happy Lazarus into the World again, to teftify to his Brethren what he knew and had feen concerning the State of the other Life; and to exhort them to a timely Repentance, left they should come into that Place of Torment in which he

was.

To this Request Abraham thus Answers, They had Mofes and the Prophets, which, did plainly enough testify against their Sins, and offered fufficient Motives to them to Repent; and therefore there was no need of fuch extraordinary Means as he defired.

But this Answer did not fatisfy the miferable Man. Still he purfues his former Requeft. Nay, Father Abraham, (fays he) but if one went unto them from the Dead, they will repent. There was no refifting fuch an Argument as that. If Lazarus, whom they had all known living, and now knew to be dead, fhould rife again, and Perfonally come to them, and tell them in what a fad Condition he had feen their Friend, and that they must all expect to run the fame Fortune, if they did not change their Course of Living; this would come close to them, and be more convincing than a Hundred Arguments drawn from the Books of Mo

and the Prophets, which were written many Ages before their Time, and fo confequently could not be prefumed to have fo great a Force as an Argument drawn from their own Senfe and Experience.

To

To this Reply of the Rich Man, Abraham peremptorily rejoins in the Words of the Text; If they hear not Mofes and the Prophets, neither will they be perfuaded though one rose from

the Dead.

To 'omit leffer Matters that may be observed from these Words, the Point which primarily, and moft naturally seems to be offered to our Confideration from them, is this; That those who give no Credit to a Settled, Standing Revelation of God once well attefted, or are not thereby prevailed upon to reform their Evil Manners; neither, in all probability, would they be prevailed upon, though a particular Miracle was wrought by God in order to their Converfion; as, for instance, though one should rife from the Dead and appear to them.

Now, to. fatisfy every one of the Truth of this Propofition, it will be abundantly fufficient to make out thefe Two Things:

First, That there is really more Force and Weight in a Publick Standing Revelation of God, fuch as that was by Mofes and the Prophets here mentioned, to convince Men, or to reclaim them; than there can be in a Private Miracle, though I fee it with my Eyes.

And, Secondly, Though God fhould be pleased to work a Miracle, or to fend an Apparition for the Conviction of an obftinate Unbeliever, or vicious Perfon; yet fuch a one would as eafily find out Shifts and Ways to evade the Force of fuch an Argument, and to hinder the Effect it ought to have upon him, as he formerly did, to put off the ordi

nary

nary Standing Motives and Arguments of Religion: And confequently, there is little probability, that he who is not gained by the former, will be wrought upon by the latter.

I begin with the Firft of thefe Things; That there is really more Force and Weight in a Publick Standing Revelation of God, to convince Men, or to reclaim them; than there can be fuppofed to be in a Private fingle Miracle, though a Man fees it with his Eyes: Or, than there can be in an Apparition from the Dead, if God should think fit to vouchsafe fuch a Thing.

In fpeaking to this, I mean not to concern myself or you, with the Revelation of Mofes and the Prophets, though that be the Revelation which the Text here fpeaks of. I think it will be more fuitable and ufeful to us, to confider the Propofition with relation to Christianity, or the Revelation of our Saviour and his Apoftles: That being the Difpenfation we are now under, and in which we are more immediately concerned.

Understanding, therefore, our Propofition of that Efpecial Revelation, which we call the Gofpel, Two Things there are to be offered, which will undeniably make it out.

First, Thofe Persons that lived in the Times of our Saviour, when this Publick Revelation of the Gospel was made and attefted, had greater Evidences and Motives to bring them over to the Belief and Practice of his Religion, than if any particular Miracle had been wrought in order to their Conversion.

Secondly,

Secondly, We at this Day, all Things confidered, have as ftrong Arguments to convince us, as powerful Motives to perfuade us, as those that lived in the Times of our Saviour, and were Witneffes of what he did and taught.

The unavoidable Confequences of which Two Points are thefe: That thofe who lived in the Time of our Saviour, and were not perfuaded by his Gofpel, would not have been perfuaded, though one had been fent to them from the Dead. And thofe that are now alive, and are not perfuaded by the Evidences and Motives of Christianity, which we now have among us, would not have been perfuaded if they had lived in the Times of our Saviour. So that in all Ages of Christianity, the Propofition will hold true, That those who give no Credit to the Standing Revelation of the Gofpel, or are not thereby induced to lead their Lives according to it, would not be prevailed upon, tho' a particular Miracle was wrought for their Converfion.

First then, Our Saviour's Gospel, at the First Publishing of it, was a more effectual Means for the Converfion of any Man then living, than the fending to him one from the Dead.

Let us fuppofe the Parable we are now upon, to be a true Hiftory, and that this Rich Man had Five Brethren living at Jerufalem, at the Time when our Saviour fpoke it; and they were all Wicked, Lewd, Atheistical Perfons; and God Almighty, in

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