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he fhould contradict it all, what reafon could we have to believe rather the one affirming, than the other denying all? That both fhou'd fo fpeak truth it cannot be; and which to believe, whilft they fay contrary things, we could not tell.

To me it feems very plain, That whosoever is not beforehand, fome way or other reasonably well fatisfied of this main point, That the Souls of Good men are in a comfortable State after Death, and feel fo much the happinefs of being good, that they will never become evil; cannot be convinc'd, that there is any fuch future State of happiness or mifery, by the testimony of a Soul fent unto him from the dead. And if fo, it is a very needlefs and impertinent Errand for fuch a Soul to be fent upon, to do what is already done to convince one of what he was before convinc'd.

If I believe there can be no fuch things as Spirits, how fhall a Spirit's appearing to me convince me of it? He cannot appear vifibly to me but in fome kind of bodily form and fhape; and whilft to me he looks like a body, how fhould his appearance convince me, that he is a Spirit? If I take it for a body, how fhall I be convinc'd, that it is the very body of that dead Man, in whofe likenefs it appears to me, knowing that the body of that Man lies rotting in the Earth? If I believe that there be Spirits, and that this is the Spirit of that good Man, I once knew, or if I believe it is he, whether Soul, or Body, or both; it is not this appearance of him to me, and his testimony, of himself which brought me to this belief, unlefs I was before convinc'd, that good Men continue always good, and will not deceive me by a, lie, or cheat me by a delufion.

We

We must therefore, to give fome credit to the teftimony of one thus fent from the dead, fuppofe Fourthly, That thefe Brethren were before this fatisfied, that good Men continue good Men after Death, and are happy in Goodness, and wish well to all Men upon the Earth, and are ready to do them good as they are permitted by God. And if it were fo, then what muft Lazarus be sent to do? Mofes and the Prophets had taught them this, and the Holy Scripture is enough to keep it fresh in their Memories. And the things then recorded as done to win and confirm their belief, were incomparably many and great, beyond what cou'd be expected from one coming from the Dead. The teftimony of Lazarus is no more, but the teftimony of one Man, and tho' he was fent from the dead to teftify, yet could they have no reason to believe him, if they did not before-hand believe the main point, which he was fent to teftify. Such a teftimony must therefore be needlefs and vain. It was needlefs to convince them, who were before convinc'd; and it was vain to endeavour thus to convince them, who could not thus be convinc'd.

And now fuppofing them before-hand convinc'd of this truth, That there is a twofold future State of Men after Death, fuch as in Holy Scripture we read of, what work was there left for Lazarus to do? A great deal, indeed, and too much for him to do by his testifying unto them. Tho' they believ'd all the things recorded in the Holy Scripture, yet did they not repent, as in the holy Scripture they are commanded to do, and his great work was to perfuade them to repent. Let us then, in the next place fee, if the

thingsrecorded in Holy Scripture, when belieg'd, be not as fufficient to perfuade Men to repentance, as fuch a teftimony of one from the Dead.

1. Neither could Lazarus, nor any other tell us any more to perfuade us by, than hath been told us in the Holy Scripture. All that fuch an one could do more, is to make known to us his own Experience of thofe Things, and to tell us, that he hath felt, what in the Scripture we are told fuch Men fhall feel. Now if we did believe before, that fuch Things fhall be felt after Death, his Teftimony of his own Experience ferveth, at moft, but to confirm us in the belief of what we believed before. And if we did not believe them before, his Teftimony could perfuade us to nothing, till we were well affur'd of his being what he pretended to be, and of his honeft Intentions to inform and not deceive us. The Belief to be procured is the fame, the Things to be believ'd are the fame, they are no new unheard of Things he is to convince us of, and therefore we had before he came the fame motives to repentance, which he now brings with him.

Nay, if we believe the Scripture, we have there far ftronger motives to repentance, than any one's coming from the Dead can offer to us. We have God's own word for it, his Premifes to the Penitent, his Menaces against the Impenitent. We have one greater than Lazarus after his Death testifying from Heaven unto us. The eternal Son of God, who in our Nature bare our Sorrows; who felt in his own human Soul and Body, the heavy burden of our Sins, and of God's fierce Wrath kindled against 'em; who was in the Sense hereof before his Death, in an Agony, fweating as it were

great

great drops of Blood; who was fo forrowful even unto Death, with the dreadful apprehenfion of the fhort Torments, he was to undergo for our Sins, that he used strong Cries and Tears, praying again and again, and the third time more earnestly, that if it was poffible, that Cup might pass from him and at laft cried with a loud Vrice, dying on the Crofs for our Sins. And is not his Teftimony, who fuffer'd all this in his own Perfon for us, of more power to perfuade us to repentance, than the Teftimony of one fuch as Lazarus? He arose again from the dead, and appeared to Hundreds, and went up vifibly into Heaven, and fent thence the Holy Ghoft, and by Him, enabled the Apostles to teftifie unto us in the demonftration of the Spirit and of Power, and to perfuade us to believe and repent, and not to venture on a finful courfe of Life, and thereby on eternal Torments. And is not this Testimony of Christ rifen from the Dead, and of many who came out of their Graves, when hearofe and appeared to many, and of others afterwards reftored to Life again by his Apofties in his Name, of more force to move us to repentance than the Teftimony of one Lazarus? Could Lazarus fay, Repent, for I have shed my Blood on the Cross, and am at my Father's right Hand,by my powerful interceffion, to obtain for you the benefit and grace of Repentance? Repent, for I have fuffer'd in my own Soul a great part of thofe Torments which are due to Sinners, and haveExperience how intollerable they are, on purpose, that you repenting may never fuffer the Torments of Hell? Repent, for I have procured the Holy Ghost to affift you, and to comfort you, and to prepare you for, and guide you to Heaven, where now I am interceding for you?

What

What could any one from the Dead plead with us comparable to this? What need then of one from the Dead to perfuade, or how should fuch an one perfuade us to repent, if all this will not do it?

3. After all, it is to be feared, that fuch a Re-pentance as this Teftimony of one coming from the Dead might perfuade one to, would do us little good, nor indeed deferve the Name of Repentance. It would but too much refemble the late repentance of a dying Man, the Sincerity whereof may well be fufpected, and how it will be accepted of, no Man can tell. The Repentance whereby one may escape the Torments of Hell implies a Love to God and Holiness; and the Holy Scripture, furnisheth us with all forts of Reasons proper to perfuade us unto this. A new frame of Heart, a right Heavenly Temper of Mind, a change of our Affections, and taking them off from Things carnal and Earthly, and fetting them on God, and on both the Service and Promiles of God are implied in true and effectual Repentance. And if the astonishing Love of God, and of our Lord JESUS Chrift, as offered in the Scripture to our Confideration; and if all the precious and glorious Promifes fealed in the Blood of a dear and dying Saviour; and if the beauty of Holiness, and the intrinfick goodness of the Holy and Heavenly Religion taught us, will not all wean our Affections from the World, and the Flesh, Sin and Vanity, and engage them to God and Goodness; how is it poffible to imagine that a Story told us by one whom we fuppofed to come from the Dead fhould do it? Indeed I doubt not, but such a Thing as this would a little disturb us, and make us afraid, and it may be, for a

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