names the most renowned; all unite to assure, that if man is to be enlightened, to be exalted, to be safe, and to be happy, there are positively essential the permanent light and guidance of a revelation from the living God. And, as to the claims of this particular record to be that revelation, there is a body of evidence, which fixes upon it the most decisive stamp of divinity, and which can be resisted only by an obstinate perversion and depravity of heart. History, alike natural and civil, sacred and profane, renders an uniform and a costly tribute to its truth. Not only is there nothing within the sphere of existence, to contradict, to vary, or to impugn,--there is one vast combination to illustrate, to corroborate, and to confirm. We can appeal to the attestation of miracles, and to the fulfilment of prophecies; and when we scrutinize the contents of the religion itself, before the sublimity of its doctrines, the purity of its precepts, and the exactness of its adaptation, we are constrained to bow in the full devotion of the soul. Inquiry and examination, the most acute and penetrating, into the various departments of testimony, must always serve but to enforce the claim and strengthen the belief, and thoroughly to satisfy that the object to which they refer, is indeed the word of the Eternal. Ignorance and prejudice are the parents of infidelity: right investigation produces implicit faith. The affirmation made by the volume on whose authority we repose, is established and correct, and gladly do we repeat

it-"The prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost"—“ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness"-" God spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, and hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son."*

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The revelation imparted in the good pleasure of God, is mentioned in the text as designed to afford guidance to men in their moral course, to regulate their affections and conduct in the present state, and to preserve them from final suffering in the eternal world. The five brethren of the rich man possessed it; and an obligation was upon them to believe and to obey the truths it contained. They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” It need scarcely be remarked, that the mind of God, as made known in the completed canon of inspiration, ought to receive from you, and from all to whom it is brought, a similar attention, in order that the end of its communication may be attained. To the writings that compose it, men are now referred-" let them hear them." They offer in sublime benevolence to conduct you from the horrors of the second death, to the glories of a changeless immortality; for this they were originally dictated, and for this they have been preserved to you amidst the

* 2 Peter i. 21. 2 Tim. iii. 16. Hebrews i. 1, 2.

revolutions of successive ages; and knowing as we do, that on your conduct regarding them, are suspended issues momentous beyond expression, we conjure you, that you" refuse not him that speaketh"- "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."

II. THIS REVELATION IS FULLY QUALIFIED TO ACCOMPLISH THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH IT WAS

GIVEN.

-Such is the evident principle of the reply made by the patriarch to the pleading criminal, as to the manner in which his five brethren were to be preserved from coming into his place of torment. There is a sufficiency in the revealed word of God, without any further attestation or announcement, to convince and to save.

This attribute of sufficiency was possessed by the first dispensation, comprised in the works of "Moses and the prophets." No one who lived during the period when its ordinances were practised, could have the least right to complain that there was in it such an inadequacy or ambiguity, as could form a just apology for his disbelief and rejection of it. It had enough to silence any such plea, and to throw an unalleviated guilt upon the head of the impenitent. The evidence connected with that early revelation, was sufficient to produce a conviction, that by "Moses and the prophets" God had indeed spoken, and that, there

fore, their right to a supreme authority over the mind was unquestionable; nor could a correct and unprejudiced understanding refer to the numerous and striking attestations given to the institutes of the Jewish economy, without perceiving a plain and an imperative obligation to the full reception of its truth. Its directions, also, were sufficient to explain and to commend the method by which the rectitude and welfare of its votaries were to be secured. Although not so plain and circumstantial as "the dispensation of the fulness of times," and, from the nature and design of its construction, having much that was mystic and obscure, the essential principles of religion were all adequately discovered. The unity of God, his greatness and majesty, both in his nature and his works,—his will, by which he would have his creatures to regulate their being and secure their welfare,—the entire duty of man both towards his Maker, his neighbour, and himself,—were placed in emphatic exhibition; penalties were threatened, and rewards were promised; and there was a distinct demarcation of the path, which would conduct to the true goal of existence-a consummation of final happiness. If men would receive, and abide by the testimony they possessed, they would be safe. The lamp which the prophets carried, illumined the way of peace, and led onward to heaven. It was therefore a proper reference for the living-" They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them."

The economy of "Moses and the prophets" has been made to constitute a part of a greater; and now that the law is blended with the gospel, and the system of revelation is perfected, there is an accumulation of excellency, which ought to command universal acknowledgment, and to excite universal admiration. The spiritual light of the world is at its meridian. To the force and majesty of the truth, nothing can be added. Its evidences, to which we have already referred, we repeat, are clear, splendid, and incontrovertible, inviting the soul to implicit and confident repose; and its discoveries of spiritual principles and eternal realities are so clear, that in the present state they are incapable of being extended or improved. There is not now, as was the case under the Levitical institutions, the envelopment and obscuration of important verities in allegories and shadows; the symbols and the patterns are removed by the appearance of “ the heavenly things" themselves; the veil is takeı away; and all things which it is useful for man to know, are presented in the plenitude of light and glory. The character of the Almighty Lord of heaven and earth,—the constitution and laws of his government,—the moral attributes and position of the human race,--the gracious method of obtaining pardon and eternal salvation by an atoning sacrifice,—the extent of the rewards and punishments reserved in another world for the just and the unjust,-these are all so revealed and impressed, that at once, every right inquiry can