VII.

"with those self-evident Notions, which are S ERM. "the Foundation of our Reasoning amongst "ourselves; that the Holy Ghost cannot "deal with us as rational, but by propofing Arguments, to convince our Understand"ings, and influence our Wills in the fame

Manner, as if propofed by other Agents *.* Monftrous Affertions! provided Men can but blafpheme; what Abfurdities and Nonsense will not their Malice put them upon uttering! And yet the Author of thefe Affertions fets himself up for a Master of Reafoning! And, what is as ftrange, finds Acceptance with fome, who would take it amiss to have their Understandings called in Question.

And yet what Judgment can we form of Men, who can perfuade themselves, or be perfuaded by others, that he, who made our very Beings, can have no independent Influence over them! that he, who created and formed our Minds, can reveal or discover nothing to them, but of what we must know the Grounds and Reasons! that he cannot manifeft his Will to us by any exprefs Declaration; nor otherwise than by making our reasonable Faculties fee and apprehend its Agreeableness

*See Dr. Conybear's Defence of Revelation, p. 287-9. and Leland against the Moral Philofopher, p. 12. K 3

and

SER M. and Connection with fome felf-evident Principles !

VII.

But if all this Pretence to fuperior Senfe, be Rhapsody and Nonfenfe; then furely we may be allowed to liften to common Sense again: and that will convince us that he, who formed and made our Souls, must needs have a vaft Power and Influence over them; and confequently that if he please to reveal himself to any Man; he can give him as clear and convincing an Evidence, that it is He who youchfafes the Revelation, as the Man can have of his own Existence. He can make him as conscious that the Impreffions he receives are made on him by God; as that any Impreffions are made upon him at all: fo that the Perfon himself who receives an Inspiration, fhall have no Room left to doubt of the Author of it.

This being allowed, common Reason will further convince us, that if such a Revelation made to one Man, may by him be communicated to others, and confirmed to be the Word and Revelation of God, by undoubted Proofs of Divine Authority; and if there be good Evidence, that fuch a Revelation has been conveyed down, and in fufficient Purity; and if the Senfe and Meaning of it may be alfo

VII.

fufficiently understood and explained; then SER M. may we have an Evidence fufficient to convince us that fuch traditionary Revelation is the true and genuine Will of God; and fuch as it concerns all, to whom it is made known, heartily to embrace.

ye

And of this Nature are thofe Revelations which the Scriptures contain; and amongst them this, in which Mofes, the great Prophet and Legislator of the Jews, foretels a much greater, who, when the appointed Time approached, should arife in his Stead. By this Teft therefore we are to try whether Jefus, who claimed, we know, to be this Prophet, was be or not; which is the very Method to which he himself fubmits to refer us. Search the Scriptures, (faith he) for in them think ye have eternal Life, and they are they which testify of me, John v. 39. And those that will not take this Method, there is no Hope of convincing; as he himself foon after obferves:-Had believed Mofes, (faith he) ye would have believed me: but if ye believe not bis Writings, how shall ye believe my Words? ver. 46, 47. Agreeably to what he fays upon another Occafion,-If they hear not Mofes and the Prophets; neither will they be perfuaded, though one rofe from the Dead, Luke xvi. 3 1.

ye

SERM.
VIII.

SERMON VIII.

The Character of the Prophet that was to be like unto Mofes.

ACTs iii. 22, 23.

Mofes truly faid unto the Fathers, A Prophet Shall the Lord your God raife up unto you, of your Brethren, like unto me; him shall ye bear, in all Things whatsoever he shall fay

unto you.

And it shall come to pass, that every Soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the People.

HA

AVING undertaken to discourse of the three Offices of our Bleffed Saviour, which he was to perform as the promised Meffiab or Chrift; I entered in my laft upon his Prophetic Office, which was the first on which he entered, as ftanding first in the Divine Oeconomy. To make Way for this, I thought it needful in the first Place to pre

VIII.

mife what the Office of a Prophet was; and SER M. then fecondly, to fhew that Mofes, in that famous and celebrated Prediction referred to in my Text, fpake of the Chrift; and confequently foretold that the Chrift should be a Prophet. I come now in the

III. THIRD Place to prove that our Jefus was that very Prophet which Mofes means; that He did every Thing which that Prophet was to do, and fo far answered the Character of the Chrift. And,

First, Was the Prophet to be raised up unto the Jews to be one of their Brethren? i. e. Was he to fpring out of one of their twelve Tribes? That Jefus was fo, the Jews themselves do not deny: And if there was any Tribe out of which a greater Prophet than ordinary might be expected, Jefus was born of that Tribe alfo, being of the Royal Tribe of Judah.

Secondly, Was this Prophet, who was to be raised up from among their Brethren to be like unto Moses ?—One distinguishing Character of Moses, we know, was-that he was very meek above all the Men that were upon the Face of the Earth, Numb. xii. 3.

One

that