their Pretences 2. They differ likewise in their Nature or Kind For immediate divine prophetical Revelation consisted in an immediate Inspiration or Afflatus or in Visions and Voices from Heaven with a Power of the Holy Ghost transiently affecting their Minds guiding their Tongues and Hands to whom they were granted whereby they received and represented divine Impressions as an Instrument of Musick doth the Skill of the Hand whereby it is moved the Nature of which Revelation I have more fully discoursed elsewhere But this Revelation of the Spirit consists in his effectual Operation freeing our Minds from Darkness Ignorance and Prejudice enabling them to discern spiritual Things in a due manner And such a Spirit of Revelation is necessary unto them who would believe aright the Scripture or any thing else that is divine and supernatural contained therein And if men who through the Power of Temptations and Prejudices are in the dark or at a loss as to the great and fundamental Principle of all Religion namely the Divine Original and Authority of the Scripture will absolutely lean unto their own understandings and have the whole Difference determined by the natural Power and Faculties of their own Souls without seeking after divine Aid and Assistance or earnest Prayer for the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to open the eyes of their understandings they must be content to abide in their Uncertainties or to come off from them without any Advantage to their Souls Not that I would deny unto men or take them off from the Use of their Reason in this matter for what is their Reason given unto them for unless it be to use it in those things which are of the greatest importance unto them Only I must crave leave to say that it is not sufficient of it self to enable us to the performance of this Duty without the immediate Aid and Assistance of the Holy Spirit of God If any one upon these Principles shall now ask us Wherefore we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God We do not answer It is because the Holy Ghost hath enlightned our minds wrought Faith in us and enabled us to believe it Without this we say indeed did not the Spirit of God so work in us and upon us we neither should nor could believe with Faith divine and supernatural If God had not opened the Heart of Lydia she would not have attended unto the things preached by Paul so as to have received them and without it the Light oftentimes shines into Darkness but the Darkness comprehends it not But this neither is nor can be the formal Object of our Faith or the Reason why we believe the Scripture to be of God or any thing else neither do we nor can we rationally answer by it unto this Question why we do believe This Reason must be something external and evidently proposed unto us For whatever Ability of spiritual Assent there be in the Understanding which is thus wrought in it by the Holy Ghost yet the Understanding cannot assent unto any thing with any Kind of Assent natural or supernatural but what is outwardly proposed unto it as true and that with sufficient Evidence that it is so That therefore which proposeth any thing unto us as true with Evidence of that Truth is the formal Object of our Faith or the Reason why we do believe And what is so proposed must be true and must be evidenced to be true or we cannot believe it and according to the Nature of that Evidence such is our Faith Humane if that be Humane and Divine if that be so Now nothing of this is done by that saving Light which is infused into our minds and is therefore not the Reason why we believe what we do so Whereas therefore some who seem to conceive that the only general Ground of believing the Scripture to be the Word of God doth consist in rational Arguments and Motives of Credibility do grant that private Persons may have their Assurance hereof from the Illumination of the Holy Ghost though it be not pleadable to others they grant what is not that I know of desired by any and which in it self is not true For this Work consisting solely in enabling the mind unto that Kind of Assent which is Faith divine and supernatural on supposition of an external formal Reason of it duely proposed is not the Reason why any do believe nor the Ground whereunto their Faith is resolved It remains only that we enquire whether our Faith in this matter be not resolved into an immediate internal Testimony of the Holy Ghost assuring us of the divine Original and Authority of the Scripture distinct from the Work of spiritual Illumination before described For it is the common Opinion of Protestant Divines that the Testimony of the Holy Ghost is the Ground whereon we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God and in what sense it is so shall be immediately declared But hereon are they generally charged by those of the Church of Rome and others that they resolve all the Ground and Assurance of Faith into their own particular Spirits or the Spirit of every one that will pretend thereunto And this is looked upon as a sufficient Warranty to reproach them with giving countenance unto Enthusiasms and exposing the minds of men to endless delusions Wherefore this matter must be a little further enquired into And By an internal Testimony of the Spirit an extraordinary Afflatus or new immediate Revelation may be intended Men may suppose they have or ought to have an internal particular Testimony that the Scripture is the Word of God whereby and whereby alone they may be infallibly assured that so it is And this is supposed to be of the same nature with the Revelation made unto the Prophets and Penmen of the Scripture for it is neither an external Proposition of Truth nor an internal Ability to assent unto such a Proposition And besides these there is no divine Operation in this kind but an immediate Prophetical Inspiration or Revelation Wherefore as such a Revelation or immediate Testimony of the Spirit is the only Reason why we do believe so it is that alone which our Faith rests on and is resolved into This is that which is commonly imputed unto those who deny either the Authority of the Church or any other external Arguments or Motives of Credibility to be the formal Reason of our Faith Howbeit there is no one of them that I know of who ever asserted any such thing And I do therefore deny that our Faith is resolved into any such private Testimony immediate Revelation or Inspiration of the Holy Ghost And that for the ensuing Reasons 1. Since the finishing of the Canon of the Scripture the Church is not under that Conduct as to stand in need of such new extraordinary Revelations It doth indeed live upon the internal gracious Operations of the Spirit enabling us to understand believe and obey the perfect
insisted on Especially ought they to be pleaded when the Scripture is attacked by an Atheism arising from the Love and Practice of those Lusts and Sins which are severely condemned therein and threatned with the utmost Vengeance With others they may be considered as previous inducements unto believing or concomitant means of strengthning Faith in them that do believe In the first way I confess to the best of my Observation of things past and present their Use is not great nor ever hath been in the Church of God For assuredly the most that do sincerely believe the divine Original and Authority of the Scripture do it without any great Consideration of them or being much influenced by them And there are many who as Austin speaks are saved simplicitate credendi and not subtilitate disputandi that are not able to enquire much into them nor yet to apprehend much of their Force and Efficacy when they are proposed unto them Most Persons therefore are effectually converted to God and have saving Faith whereby they believe the Scripture and virtually all that is contained in it before they have ever once considered them And God forbid we should think that none believe the Scripture aright but those who are able to apprehend and manage the subtil Arguments of learned men produced in their Confirmation Yea we affirm on the contrary that those who believe them on no other Grounds have indeed no true Divine Faith at all Hence they were not of old insisted on for the ingenerating of Faith in them to whom the Word was preached nor ordinarily are so to this day by any who understand what is their Work and Duty But in the second way wherever there is occasion from Objections Oppositions or Temptations they may be pleaded to good use and purpose And they may do well to be furnished with them who are unavoidably exposed unto trials of that Nature For as for that Course which some take in all places and at all times to be disputing about the Scriptures and their Authority it is a Practice giving countenance unto Atheism and is to be abhorred of all that fear God and the Consequents of it are sufficiently manifest 2. The Ministry of the Church as it is the Ground and Pillar of Truth holding it up and declaring it is in an ordinary way previously necessary unto Believing For Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God We believe the Scripture to be the Word of God for it self alone but not by it self alone The Ministry of the Word is the means which God hath appointed for the Declaration and making known the Testimony which the Holy Spirit gives in the Scripture unto its Divine Original And this is the ordinary way whereby men are brought to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God The Church in its Ministry owning witnessing and avowing it so to be instructing all sorts of Persons out of it there is together with a sense and apprehension of the Truth and Power of the things taught and revealed in it Faith in it self as the Word of God ingenerated in them 3. We do also here suppose the internal effectual Work of the Spirit begetting Faith in us as was before declared without which we can believe neither the Scripture nor any Thing else with Faith divine not for want of Evidence in them but of Faith in our selves These things being supposed we do affirm that it is the Authority and Truth of God as manifesting themselves in the supernatural Revelation made in the Scripture that our Faith ariseth from and is resolved into And herein consists that Testimony which the Spirit gives unto the Word of God that it is so for it is the Spirit that beareth witness because the Spirit is Truth The Holy Ghost being the immediate Author of the whole Scripture doth therein and thereby give Testimony unto the Divine Truth and Original of it by the Characters of Divine Authority and Veracity impressed on it and evidencing themselves in its Power and Efficacy And let it be observed that what we assert respects the Revelation it self the Scripture the Writing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and not meerly the things written or contained in it The Arguments produced by some to prove the Truth of the Doctrines of the Scripture reach not the Cause in hand For our Enquiry is not about believing the Truths revealed but about believing the Revelation it self the Scripture it self to be Divine And this we do only because of the Authority and Veracity of the Revealer that is of God himself manifesting themselves therein To manifest this fully I shall do these things 1. Prove that our Faith is so resolved into the Scripture as a Divine Revelation and not into any thing else that is we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God for its own sake and not for the sake of any thing else either external Arguments or authoritative Testimony of men whatever 2. Shew how or by what means the Scripture doth evidence its own divine Original or the Authority of God is so evidenced in it and by it as that we need no other formal Cause or Reason of our Faith whatever Motives or Means of Believing we may make use of And as to the first of these 1. That is the formal Reason whereon we do believe which the Scripture proposeth as the only Reason why we should so do why it is our Duty to do so and whereunto it requireth our Assent Now this is to it self as it is the Word of God and because it is so Or it proposeth the Authority of God in it self and that alone which we are to acquiesce in and the Truth of God and that alone which our Faith is to rest on and is resolved into It doth not require us to believe it upon the Testimony of any Church or on any other Arguments that it gives us to prove that it is from God but speaks unto us immediately in his name and thereon requires Faith and Obedience Some it may be will ask Whether this prove the Scripture to be the Word of God because it says so of it self when any other Writing may say the same But we are not now giving Arguments to prove unto others the Scripture to be the Word of God but only proving and shewing what our own Faith resteth on and is resolved into or at least ought so to be How it evidenceth it self unto our Faith to be the Word of God we shall afterwards declare It is sufficient unto our present purpose that God requires us to believe the Scripture for no other Reason but because it is his Word or a Divine Revelation from him and if so his Authority and Truth are the formal Reason why we believe the Scripture or any thing contained in it To this purpose do Testimonies abound in particular besides that general Attestation which is given unto it in that sole Preface of divine Revelations Thus saith the
condemned them and their Ministry as is plain and the Case of Jeremiah Now it is impious to imagine that those to whom they spake in the Name of God were not obliged to believe them and it tends to the overthrow of all Religion If we shall say that they were obliged to believe them and that under the Penalty of divine Displeasure and so to receive the Revelation made by them or their Declaration of it as the Word of God then it must contain in it the formal Reason of believing or the full and entire Cause Reason and Ground why they ought to believe with Faith divine and supernatural Or let another Ground of Faith in this Case be assigned Suppose the Proposal be made in the ordinary Ministry of the Church Hereby the Scripture is declared unto Men to be the Word of God they are acquainted with it and what God requires of them therein and they are charged in the Name of God to receive and believe it Doth any Obligation unto believing hence arise It may be some will say that immediately there is not only they will grant that men are bound hereon to enquire into such Reasons and Motives as are proposed unto them for its Reception and Admission I say there is no doubt but that Men are obliged to consider all things of that Nature which are proposed unto them and not to receive it with brutish implicit Belief For the receiving of it is to be an Act of Mens own Minds or Understandings on the best Grounds and Evidences which the Nature of the thing proposed is capable of But supposing Men to do their Duty in their diligent Enquiries into the whole Matter I desire to know whether by the Proposal mentioned there come upon Men an Obligation to believe If there do not then are all Men perfectly innocent who refuse to receive the Gospel in the preaching of it as to any respect unto that preaching which to say is to overthrow the whole Dispensation of the Ministry If they are obliged to believe upon the preaching of it then hath the Word in it self those Evidences of its Divine Original and Authority which are a sufficient Ground of Faith or Reason of Believing For what God requires us to believe upon hath so always As the Issue of this whole Discourse it is affirmed that our Faith is built on and resolved into the Scripture it self which carries with it its own Evidence of being a Divine Revelation And therefore doth that Faith ultimately rest in the Truth and Authority of God alone and not in any Human Testimony such as is that of the Churh nor in any rational Arguments or Motives that are absolutely fallible It may be said that if the Scripture thus evidence it self to be the Word of God as the Sun manifesteth it self by Light and Fire by Heat or as the first Principles of Reason are evident in themselves without further Proof or Testimony then every one and all men upon the Proposal of the Scripture unto them and its own bare Assertion that it is the Word of God would necessarily on that Evidence alone assent thereunto and believe it so to be But this is not so all Experience lyeth against it nor is there any pleadable Ground of Reason that so it is or that so it ought to be In Answer unto this Objection I shall do these two things 1. I shall shew what it is what Power what Faculty in the Minds of Men whereunto this Revelation is proposed and whereby we assent unto the Truth of it wherein the Mistakes whereon this Objection proceedeth will be discovered 2. I shall mention some of those things whereby the Holy Ghost testifieth and giveth Evidence unto the Scripture in and by it self so as that our Faith may be immediately resolved into the Veracity of God alone 1. And in the first place we may consider that there are three Ways whereby we assent unto any thing that is proposed unto us as true and receive it as such 1. By inbred Principles of natural Light and the first rational Actings of our Minds This in Reason answers Instinct in irrational Creatures Hence God complains that his People did neglect and sin against their own natural Light and first Dictates of Reason whereas brute Creatures would not forsake the Conduct of the Instinct of their Natures Isa. 1. 3. In general the Mind is necessarily determined to an Assent unto the proper Objects of these Principles it cannot do otherwise It cannot but assent unto the prime Dictates of the Light of Nature yea those Dictates are nothing but its Assent Its first Apprehension of the things which the Light of Nature embraceth without either express Reasonings or further Consideration are this Assent Thus doth the Mind embrace in it self the general Notions of moral Good and Evil with the Difference between them however it practically complies notwith what they guide unto Jude v. 10. And so doth it assent unto many Principles of Reason as that the whole is greater than the part without admitting any debate about them 2. By rational Considerations of things externally proposed unto us Herein the Mind exerciseth its discursive Faculty gathering one thing out of another and concluding one thing from another And hereon is it able to assent unto what is proposed unto it in various Degrees of Certainty according unto the nature and degree of the Evidence it proceeds upon Hence it hath a certain Knowledg of some things of others an Opinion or Perswasion prevalent against the Objections to the contrary which it knows and whose Force it understands which may be true or false 3. By Faith This respects that Power of our Minds whereby we are able to assent unto any thing as true which we have no first Principles concerning no inbred Notions of nor can from more known Principles make unto our selves any certain rational Conclusions concerning them This is our Assent upon Testimony whereon we believe many Things which no Sense inbred Principles nor Reasonings of our own could either give us an Acquaintance with or an Assurance of And this Assent also hath not only various Degrees but is also of divers Kinds according as the Testimony is which it ariseth from and resteth on as being Humane if that be Humane and Divine if that be so also According to these distinct Faculties and Powers of our Souls God is pleased to reveal or make known himself his Mind or Will three ways unto us For he hath implanted no Power on our Minds but the principal Use and Exercise of it are to be with respect unto himself and our living unto him which is the end of them all And a neglect of the improvement of them unto this end is the highest Aggravation of Sin It is an Aggravation of Sin when men abuse the Creatures of God otherwise than he hath appointed or in not using them to his Glory when they take his Corn and Wine and Oil and spend
Minds and Consciences of Men with its Operation of Divine Effects thereon This the Apostle expresly affirms to be the Reason and Cause of Faith 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. If all prophesy and there comes in one that believeth not or one unlearned he is convinced of all he is judged of all And thus are the Secrets of his Heart made manifest and so falling down on his Face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a Truth The Acknowledgment and Confession of God to be in them or among them is a Profession of Faith in the Word administred by them Such Persons assent unto its Divine Authority or believe it to be the Word of God And on what Evidence or Ground of Credibility they did so is expresly declared It was not upon the Force of any external Arguments produced and pleaded unto that Purpose It was not upon the Testimony of this or that or any Church whatever nor was it upon a Conviction of any Miracles which they saw wrought in its Confirmation Yea the Ground of the Faith and Confession declared is opposed unto the Efficacy and Use of the Miraculous Gift of Tongues v. 23 24. Wherefore the only Evidence whereon they received the Word and acknowledged it to be of God was that Divine Power and Efficacy whereof they found and felt the Experience in themselves He is convinced of all judged of all and thus are the Secrets of his Heart made manifest whereon he falls down before it with an Acknowledgment of its Divine Authority finding the VVord to come upon his Conscience with an irresistible Power of Conviction and Judgment thereon He is convinced of all judged of all He cannot but grant that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Efficacy in it or accompanying of it Especially his Mind is influenced by this that the Secrets of his Heart are made manifest by it For all Men must acknowledge this to be an Effect of Divine Power seeing God alone is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he who searcheth knoweth and judgeth the Heart And if the VVoman of Samaria believed that Jesus was the Christ because he told her all things that ever she did John 4. 29. there is Reason to believe that VVord to be from God which makes manifest even the Secrets of our Hearts And although I do conceive that by the Word of God Heb. 4. 12. the Living and Eternal Word is principally intended yet the Power and Efficacy there ascribed to him is that which he puts forth by the VVord of the Gospel And so that VVord also in its Place and use pierceth to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit of the Joynts and Marrew and is a Discerner or passeth a critical Judgment on the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart or makes manifest the Secrets of mens Hearts as it is here expressed Hereby then doth the Holy Ghost so evidence the Divine Authority of the Word namely by that Divine Power which it hath upon our Souls and Consciences that we do assuredly acquiesce in it to be from God So the Thessalonians are commended that they received the Word not as the Word of Men but as it is in truth the Word of God which effectually works in them that believe 1 Thess. 2. 15. It distinguisheth it self from the Word of Men and evidences it self to be indeed the Word of God by its effectual Operation in them that believe And he who hath this Testimony in himself hath a higher and more firm Assurance of the Truth than what can be attained by the Force of external Arguments or the Credit of Humane Testimony VVherefore I say in general that the Holy Spirit giveth Testimony unto and evinceth the Divine Authority of the Word by its Powerful Operations and Divine Effects on the Souls of them that do believe So that although it be weakness and foolishness unto others yet as is Christ himself unto them that are called it is the Power of God and the VVisdom of God And I must say that although a Man be furnished with external Arguments of all Sorts concerning the Divine Original and Authority of the Scriptures although he esteem his Motives of Credibility to be effectually perswasive and have the Authority of any or all the Churches in the VVorld to confirm his Perswasion yet if he have no Experience in himself of its Divine Power Authority and Efficacy he neither doth nor can believe it to be the Word of God in a due manner with Faith Divine and Supernatural But he that hath this Experience hath that Testimony in himself which will never fail This will be the more manifest if we consider some few of those many Instances wherein it exerts its Power or the Effects which are produced thereby The Principal Divine Effect of the Word of God is in the Conversion of the Souls of Sinners unto God The Greatness and Glory of this Work we have elsewhere declared at large And all those who are acquainted with it as it is declared in the Scripture and have any Experience of it in their own Hearts do constantly give it as an Instance of the exceeding Greatness of the Power of God It may be they speak not improperly who prefer the Work of the New Creation before the Work of the Old for the express Evidences of Almighty Power contained in it as some of the Ancients do Now of this Great and Glorious Effect the Word is the only Instrumental Cause whereby the Divine Power operates and is expressive of it self For we are born again born of God not of Corruptible Seed but of Incorruptible by the Word of God which abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 21. For of his own Will doth God beget us with the Word of Truth Jam. 1. 18. The Word is the Seed of the New Creature in us that whereby our whole Natures our Souls and all their Faculties are changed and renewed into the Image and Likeness of God And by the same Word is this new Nature kept and preserved 1 Pet. 2. 2. and the whole Soul carried on unto the Enjoyment of God It is unto Believers an Ingrafted Word which is able to save their Souls James 1. 21. The Word of God's Grace which is able to build us up and give us an Inheritance among them that are sanctified Acts 20. 32. And that because it is the Power of God unto Salvation unto them that do believe Rom. 1. 16. All the Power which God puts forth and exerts in the Communication of that Grace and Mercy unto Believers whereby they are gradually carried on and prepared unto Salvation he doth it by the Word Therein in an especial manner is the Divine Authority of the Word evidenced by the Divine Power and Efficacy given unto it by the Holy Ghost The VVork which is effected by it in the Regeneration Conversion and Sanctification of the Souls of Believers doth evidence it infallibly unto their Consciences that it is not the VVord
Place that the Plea hitherto insisted on cannot be managed without great Disadvantage to Christian Religion For if we take away the Rational Grounds on which we believe the Doctrine of Christ to be True and Divine and the whole Evidence of the Truth of it be laid on things not only derided by Men of Atheistical Spirits but in themselves such as cannot be discerned by any but such as do believe on what Grounds can we proceed to convince an Unbeliever Answer 1. By the way it is one thing to prove and believe the Doctrine of Christ to be True and Divine another to prove and believe the Scripture to be given by Inspiration of God or the Divine Authority of the Scripture which alone was proposed unto Consideration A Doctrine True and Divine may be written in and proposed unto us by Writings that were not divinely and infallibly inspired and so might the Doctrine of Christ have been but not without the unspeakable Disadvantage of the Church And there are sundry Arguments which forcibly and effectually prove the Doctrine of Christ to have been True and Divine which are not of any Efficacy to prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures though on the other hand whatever doth prove the Divine Authority of the Scriptures doth equally prove the Divine Truth of the Doctrine of Christ. 2. There are two Ways of convincing Vnbelievers the one insisted on by the Apostles and their Followers the other by some learned Men since their Days The Way principally insisted on by the Apostles was by preaching the Word it self unto them in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit by the Power whereof manifesting the Authority of God in it they were convinced and falling down acknowledged God to be in it of a Truth 1 Cor. 2. 4 5. ch 14. 25 26. It is likely that in this their Proposal of the Gospel the Doctrine and Truths contained in it unto Unbelievers that those of Atheistical Spirits would both deride them and it and so indeed it came to pass many esteeming themselves to be Bablers and their Doctrine to be errant Folly But yet they desisted not from pursuing their Work in the same way whereunto God gave success The other VVay is to prove unto Vnbelievers that the Scripture is True and Divine by rational Arguments wherein some learned Persons have laboured especially in these last Ages to very good purpose And certainly their Labours are greatly to be commended whilst they attend unto these Rules 1. That they produce no Arguments but such as are cogent and not liable unto just Exceptions For if to manifest their own Skill or Learning they plead such Reasons as are capable of an Answer and Solution they exceedingly prejudice the Truth by subjecting it unto dubious Disputations whereas in it self it is Clear Firm and Sacred 2. That they do not pretend their rational Grounds and Arguments to be the Sole Foundation that Faith hath to rest upon or which it is resolved into For this were the ready way to set up an Opinion instead of Faith Supernatural and Divine Accept but of these two Limitations and it is acknowledged that the rational Grounds and Arguments intended may be rationally pleaded and ought so to be unto the Conviction of Gainsayers For no Man doth so plead the self-evidencing Power of the Scripture as to deny that the Use of other external Motives and Arguments is necessary to stop the Mouths of Atheists as also unto the further Establishment of them who do believe These Things are subordinate and no way inconsistent The Truth is if we will attend unto our own and the Experience of the whole Church of God the way whereby we come to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God ordinarily is this and no other God having first given his Word as the Foundation of our Faith and Obedience hath appointed the Ministry of Men at first extraordinary afterwards ordinary to propose unto us the Doctrines Truths Precepts Promises and Threatnings contained therein Together with this Proposition of them they are appointed to declare that these things are not from themselves nor of their own Invention 2 Tim. 3. 14 15 16 17. And this is done variously Unto some the VVord of God in this Ministry thus comes or is thus proposed preached or declared whilst they are in a Condition not only utterly unacquainted with the Mysteries of it but filled with contrary Apprehensions and consequently Prejudices against it Thus it came of old unto the Pagan World and must do so unto such Persons and Nations as are yet in the same state with them Unto these the first Preachers of the Gospel did not produce the Book of the Scriptures and tell them that it was the Word of God and that it would evidence it self unto them so to be For this had been to despise the Wisdom and Authority of God in their own Ministry But they preached the Doctrines of it unto them grounding themselves on the Divine Revelation contained therein And this Proposition of the Truth or Preaching of the Gospel was not left of God to work it self into the Reasons of Men by the Suitableness of it thereunto but being his own Institution for their Illumination and Conversion he accompanied it with Divine Power and made it effectual unto the Ends designed Rom. 1. 16. And the Event hereof among Mankind was that by some this new Doctrine was derided and scorned by others whose Hearts God opened to attend unto it it was embraced and submitted unto Among those who after the Propagation of the Gospel are born as they say within the Pale of the Church the same Doctrine is variously instilled into Persons according unto the several Duties and Concerns of others to instruct them Principally the Ministry of the Word is ordained of God unto that End wheron the Church is the Ground and Pillar of Truth Those of both Sorts unto whom the Doctrine mentioned is preached or proposed are directed unto the Scriptures as the Sacred Repository thereof For they are told that these things come by Revelation from God and that Revelation is contained in the Bible which is his Word Upon this Proposal with Enquiry into it and Consideration of it God co-operating by his Spirit there is that Evidence of its Divine Original communicated unto their Minds through its Power and Efficacy with the Characters of Divine Wisdom and Holiness implanted on it which they are now enabled to discern that they believe it and rest in it as the immediate Word of God Thus was it in the Case of the Woman of Samaria and the Inhabitants of Sychar with respect unto their Faith in Christ Jesus John 4. 42. This is the way whereby Men ordinarily are brought to believe the Word of God Rom. 10. 14 15. and that neither by external Arguments or Motives which no one Soul was ever converted unto God by nor by any meer naked Proposal and Offer of the Book unto them
THE Reason of Faith OR AN Answer unto that Enquiry Wherefore we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God WITH The Causes and Nature of that Faith wherewith we do so WHEREIN The Grounds whereon the Holy Scripture is believed to be the Word of God with Faith Divine and Supernatural are declared and vindicated By JOHN OWEN D. D. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead Luk. 16. 51. LONDON Printed for Nathaniel Ponder at the Peacock in the Poultry near Cornhill 1677. TO THE READER HAving added a brief Account of the Design Order and Method of the ensuing Discourse in an Appendix at the Close of it I shall not here detain the Reader with the Proposal of them Yet some few things remain which I judge it necessary to mind him of Be he who he will I am sure we shall not differ about the weight of the Argument in hand for whether it be the Truth we contend for or otherwise yet it will not be denied but that the Determination of it and the setling of the minds of Men about it are of the highest concernment unto them But whereas so much hath been written of late by others on this Subject any further Debate of it may seem either needless or unseasonable Something therefore may be spoken to evidence that the Reader is not imposed on by that which may absolutely fall under either of those Characters Had the End in and by these Discourses been effectually accomplished it had been altogether useless to renew an indeavour unto the same purpose But whereas an Opposition unto the Scripture and the Grounds whereon we believe it to be a Divine Revelation is still openly continued amongst us a continuation of the Defence of the one and the other cannot reasonably be judged either needless or unseasonable Besides most of the Discourses published of late on this Subject have had their peculiar Designs wherein that here tendred is not expresly ingaged For some of them do principally aim to prove that we have sufficient Grounds to believe the Scripture without any recourse unto or reliance upon the Authoritative Proposal of the Church of Rome which they have sufficiently evinced beyond any possibility of rational Contradiction from their Adversaries Others have pleaded vindicated those rational Considerations whereby our Assent unto the Divine Original of it is fortified and confirmed against the Exceptions and Objections of such whose Love of Sin and Resolutions to live therein tempts them to seek for shelter in an Atheistical Contempt of the Authority of God evidencing it self therein But as neither of these are utterly neglected in the ensuing Discourse so the peculiar Design of it is of another nature For the Inquiries managed therein namely what is the Obligation upon us to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God what are the Causes and what is the Nature of that Faith whereby we do so what it rests on and is resolved into so as to become a Divine and Acceptable Duty do respect the Consciences of Men immediately and the Way whereby they may come to Rest and Assurance in Believing Whereas therefore it is evident that may are often shaken in their Minds with-those Atheistical Objections against the Divine Original and Authority of the Scripture which they frequently meet 〈◊〉 that many know not how to extricate themselves from the ensnaring Questions that they are often attaqued withal about them not for want of a due Assent unto them but of a right Understanding what is the true and formal Reason of that Assent what is the firm Basis and Foundation that it rests upon what Answer they may directly and peremptotily give unto that Enquiry Wherefore do you believe the Scripture to be the Word of God I have endeavoured to give them those Directions herein that upon a due Examination they will find compliant with the Scripture it self right Reason and their own Experience I am not therefore altogether without hopes that this small Discourse may have its use and be given out in its proper season Moreover I think it necessary to acquaint the Reader that as I have allowed all the Arguments pleaded by others to prove the Divine Authority of the Scripture their proper place and force so where I differ in the Explication of any thing belonging unto this Subject from the Conceptions of other Men I have candidly examined such Opinions and the Arguments wherewith they are confirmed without straining the Words cavilling at the Expressions or reflections on the Persons of any of the Authors of them And whereas I have my self been otherwise dealt withal by many and know not how soon I may be so again I do hereby free the Persons of such Humours and Inclinations from all fear of any Reply from me or the least notice of what they shall be pleased to write or say Such kind of Writings are of the same consideration with me as those multiplied false Reports which some have raised concerning me the most of them so ridiculous and foolish so alien from my Principles Practice and Course of life as I can not but wonder how any Persons pretending to Gravity and Sobriety are not sensible how their Credulity and Inclinations are abused in the hearing and repetition of them The Occasion of this Discourse is that which in the last Place I shall acquaint the Reader withal About three years since I published a Book about the Dispensation and Operations of the Spirit of God That Book was one Part only of what I designed on that Subject The Consideration of the Work of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Illumination of Supplication of Consolation and as the Immediate Author of all Spiritual Offices and Gifts extraordinary and ordinary is designed unto the second Part of it Hereof this insuing Discourse is concerning one Part of his Work as a Spirit of Illumination which upon the earnest Requests of some acquainted with the Nature and Substance of it I have suffered to come out by it self that it might be of the more common use and more easily obtained May 11th 1677. The Reason of Faith OR The Grounds whereon the Scripture is believed to be the Word of God with Faith Divine and Supernatural THe principal design of that Discourse whereof the ensuing Treatise is a part is to declare the Work of the Holy Ghost in the Illumination of the minds of Men. For this Work is particularly and eminently ascribed unto him or the Efficacy of the Grace of God by him dispensed Ephes. 1. 17 18. Heb. 6. 4. Luke 2. 32. Acts 13. 47. Chap. 24. 45. Chap. 26. 18. 2 Cor. 4. 4. 1 Pet. 2. 9. The objective Cause and outward Means of it are the Subjects at present designed unto Consideration And it will issue in these two Enquiries 1. On what Grounds or for what Reason we do believe the Scripture to be the Word of God with Faith
the Scripture to be the Word of God and that we understand savingly the mind of God therein both which belong unto our Illumination That which I shall first enquire into is the way how and the ground whereon we come to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God in a due manner For that this is required of us in a way of duty namely that we should believe the Scripture to be the Word of God with Faith Divine and Supernatural I suppose will not be denyed and it shall be afterwards proved And what is the work of the Spirit of God herein will be our first enquiry Secondly Whereas we see by experience that all who have or enjoy the Scripture do not yet understand it or come to an useful saving Knowledg of the Mind and Will of God therein revealed our other enquiry shall be how we may come to understand the Word of God aright and what is the work of the Spirit of God in the assistance which he affordeth us unto that purpose With respect unto the first of these Enquiries whereunto the present discourse is singly designed I affirm that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to enable us to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God or the supernatural immediate Revelation of his mind unto us and infallibly to evidence it unto our minds so as that we may spiritually and savingly acquiesce therein Some upon a mistake of this Proposition do seem to suppose that we resolve all Faith into private suggestions of the Spirit or deluding pretences thereof and some it may be will be ready to apprehend that we confound the efficient Cause and formal Reason of Faith or believing rendring all rational Arguments and external Testimonies useless But indeed there neither is nor shall be any occasion administred unto these fears or imaginations For we shall plead nothing in this matter but what is consonant to the Faith and Judgment of the Ancient and present Church of God as shall be fully evidenced in our progress I know some have found out other ways whereby the minds of men as they suppose may be sufficiently satisfied in the Divine Authority of the Scripture But I have tasted of their new Wine and desire it not because I know the Old to be better though what they plead is of use in its proper place My Design requires that I should confine my discourse unto as narrow bounds as possible and I shall so do shewing 1. What it is in general infallibly to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God and what is the Ground and Reason of our so doing Or what it is to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God as we are required to believe it so to be in a way of Duty 2. That there are external Arguments of the divine Original of the Scripture which are effectual Motives to perswade us to give an unfeigned assent thereunto 3. That yet moreover God requires of us that we believe them to be his Word with Faith divine supernatural and infallible 4. Evidence the Grounds and Reasons whereon we do so believe and ought so to do Unto these Heads most of what ensues in the first part of this Discourse may be reduced It is meet that we should clear the Foundation whereon we build and the Principles whereon we do proceed that what we design to prove may be the better understood by all sorts of Persons whose edification we intend For these things are the equal concernment of the learned and unlearned Wherefore some things must be insisted on which are generally known and granted And our first Enquiry is What it is to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God with Faith divine and supernatural according as it is our duty so to do And in our Believing or our Faith two things are to be considered 1. What it is that we do believe And 2. Wherefore we do so believe it The first is the material Object of our Faith namely the things which we do believe the latter the formal Object of it or the Cause and Reason why we do believe them and these things are distinct The Material Object of our Faith is the things revealed in the Scripture declared unto us in propositions of Truth For things must be so proposed unto us or we cannot believe them That God is one in three Persons that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the like propositions of Truth are the material Object of our Faith or the things that we do believe And the Reason why we do believe them is because they are proposed in the Scripture Thus the Apostle expresseth the whole of what we intend 1 Cor. 15. 3 4. I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures Christs Death and Burial and Resurrection are the things proposed unto us to be believed and so the Object of our Faith But the Reason why we believe them is because they are declared in the Scriptures see Acts 8. 28 29 30. Sometimes indeed this Expression of believing the Scriptures by a Metonymy denotes both the formal and material Objects of our Faith the Scriptures themselves as such and the things contained in them so John 2. 22. They believed the Scripture and the Word that Jesus said or the things delivered in the Scripture and further declared by Christ which before they understood not And they did so believe what was declared in the Scriptures because it was so declared in them both are intended in the same Expression they believed the Scripture under various considerations so Acts 26. 27. The material Object of our Faith therefore are the Articles of our Creed by whose Enumeration we answer unto that question what we believe giving an account of the hope that is in us as the Apostle doth Acts 26. 22 23. But if moreover we are asked a Reason of our Faith or Hope or why we believe the things we do profess as God to be One in three Persons Jesus Christ to be the Son of God we do not answer because so it is for this is that which we believe which were senseless But we must give some other Answer unto that Enquiry whether it be made by others or our selves The proper Answer unto this Question contains the formal Reason and Object of our Faith that which it rests upon and is resolved into And this is that which we look after 2. We do not in this Enquiry intend any kind of Perswasion or Faith but that which is divine and infallible both which it is from its formal Reason or objective Cause Men may be able to give some kind of Reasons why they believe what they profess so to do that will not suffice or abide the trial in this case although they themselves may rest in
them Some it may be can give no other Account hereof but that they have been so instructed by them whom they have sufficient reason to give credit unto or that they have so received them by Tradition from their Fathers Now whatever Perswasion these Reasons may beget in the minds of men that the things which they profess to believe are true yet if they are alone it is not divine Faith whereby they do believe but that which is meerly humane as being resolved into humane Testimony only or an Opinion on probable Arguments for no Faith can be of any other kind than is the Evidence it reflects on or ariseth from I say it is so where they are alone for I doubt not but that some who have never further considered the reason of their believing than the teaching of their Instructors have yet that Evidence in their own souls of the Truth and Authority of God in what they believe that with respect thereunto their Faith is divine and supernatural The Faith of most hath a beginning and progress not unlike that of the Samaritans John 4. 40 41 42. as shall be afterwards declared 3. When we enquire after Faith that is infallible or believing infallibly which as we shall shew hereafter is necessary in this case we do not intend an inherent quality in the Subject as though he that believes with Faith infallible must himself also be infallible much less do we speak of Infallibility absolutely which is a property of God who alone from the perfection of his Nature can neither deceive nor be deceived But it is that Property or Adjunct of the Assent of our Minds unto divine Truths or supernatural Revelations whereby it is differenced from all other kinds of Assent whatever And this it hath from its formal Object or the Evidence whereon we give this Assent For the nature of every Assent is given unto it by the nature of the Evidence which it proceedeth from or relyeth on This in divine Faith is divine Revelation which being infallible renders the Faith that rests on it and is resolved into it infallible also No man can believe that which is false or which may be false with divine Faith for that which renders it divine is the divine Truth and Infallibility of the Ground and Evidence which it is built upon But a man may believe that which is true infallibly so and yet his Faith not be infallible That the Scripture is the Word of God is infallibly true yet the Faith whereby a man believes it so to be may be fallible for it is such as his Evidence is and no other He may believe it to be so on Tradition or the Testimony of the Church of Rome only or on outward Arguments all which being fallible his Faith is so also although the things he assents unto be infallibly true Wherefore unto this Faith divine and infallible it is not required that the Person in whom it is be infallible nor is it enough that the thing it self believed be infallibly true but moreover that the Evidence whereon he doth believe it be infallible also So it was with them who received divine Revelations immediately from God It was not enough that the things revealed unto them were infallibly true but they were to have infallible Evidence of the Revelation it self then was their Faith infallible though their persons were fallible With this Faith then a man can believe nothing but what is divinely true and therefore it is infallible and the reason is because Gods Veracity who is the God of Truth is the only Object of it Hence saith the Prophet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Chron. 20. 20. Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established or that Faith which is in God and his Word is fixed on Truth or is infallible Hence the Enquiry in this case is what is the Reason why we believe any thing with this faith divine or supernatural or what it is the believing whereof makes our Faith divine infallible and supernatural Wherefore 4. The Authority and Veracity of God revealing the material Objects of our Faith or what it is our Duty to believe is the formal Object and Reason of our Faith from whence it ariseth and whereinto it is ultimately resolved That is the only Reason why we do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God that God is one single Essence subsisting in three Persons is because that God who is Truth the God of Truth Deut. 32. 4. who cannot lye Tit. 1. 2. and whose Word is Truth John 17. 17. and the Spirit which gave it out is Truth 1 John 5 6. hath revealed these things to be so and our believing these things on that ground renders our Faith divine and supernatural Supposing also a Respect unto the subjective Efficiency of the Holy Ghost inspiring it into our minds whereof afterwards For to speak distinctly our Faith is supernatural with respect unto the production of it in our minds by the Holy Ghost and infallible with respect unto the formal Reason of it which is divine Revelation and is divine in opposition unto what is meerly humane on both accounts As things are proposed unto us to be believed as true Faith in its Assent respects only the Truth or Veracity of God but whereas this Faith is required of us in a way of Obedience and is considered not only physically in its nature but morally also as our Duty it respects also the Authority of God which I therefore joyn with the Truth of God as the formal Reason of our Faith see 2 Sam. 7. 28. And these things the Scripture pleads and and argues when Faith is required of us in the way of Obedience Thus saith the Lord is that which is proposed unto us as the Reason why we should believe what is spoken whereunto often times other divine Names and Titles are added signifying his Authority who requires us to believe Thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel Isa. 30. 15. Thus saith the High and Lofty One who inhabiteth Eternity whose Name is Holy Isa. 57. 15. Believe the Lord your God 2 Chron. 20. 20. The Word of the Lord precedeth most Revelations in the Prophets and other Reason why we should believe the Scripture proposeth none Heb. 1. 1 2. yea the Interposition of any other Authority between the things to be believed and our Souls and Consciences besides the Authority of God overthrows the nature of divine Faith I do not say the Interposition of any other means whereby we should believe of which sort God hath appointed many but the interposition of anyother Authority upon which we should believe as that pretended in and by the Church of Rome No men can be Lords of our Faith though they may be helpers of our Joy 5. The Authority and Truth of God considered in themselves absolutely are not the immediate formal Object of our Faith though they are the ultimate whereinto it is resolved
For we can believe nothing on their Account unless it be evidenced unto us and this Evidence of them is in that Revelation which God is pleased to make of himself for that is the only means whereby our Consciences and Minds are affected with his Truth and Authority We do therefore no otherwise rest on the Truth and Veracity of God in any thing than we rest on the Revelation which he makes unto us for that is the only way whereby we are affected with them Not the Lord is true absolutely but Thus saith the Lord and the Lord hath spoken is that which we have immediate regard unto Hereby alone are our minds affected with the Authority and Veracity of God and by what way soever it is made unto us it is sufficient and able so to affect us At first as hath been shewed it was given immediately to some Persons and preserved for the use of others in an oral Ministry but now all Revelation as hath also been declared is contained in the Scriptures only 6. It follows that our Faith whereby we believe any divine supernatural Truth is resolved into the Scripture as the only means of divine Revelation affecting our Minds and Consciences with the Authority and Truth of God or the Scripture as the only immediate divine infallible Revelation of the Mind and Will of God is the first immediate formal Object of our Faith the sole Reason why and ground whereon we do believe the things that are revealed with Faith Divine Supernatural and Infallible We do believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God Why do we so do on what ground or reason It is because of the Authority of God commanding us so to do and the Truth of God testifying thereunto But how or by what means are our Minds and Consciences affected with the Authority and Truth of God so as to believe with respect unto them which makes our Faith Divine and Supernatural It is alone the Divine Supernatural Infallible Revelation that he hath made of this sacred Truth and of his Will that we should believe it But what is this Revelation or where is it to be found It is the Scripture alone which contains the entire Revelation that God hath made of himself in all things which he will have us to believe or do Hence 7. The last Enquiry ariseth how or on what ground for what Reasons do we believe the Scripture to be a divine Revelation proceeding immediately from God or to be that Word of God which is Truth divine and infallible Whereunto we answer it is solely on the Evidence that the Spirit of God in and by the Scripture it self gives unto us that it was given by immediate Inspiration from God Or the Ground and Reason whereon we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God are the Authority and Truth of God evidencing themselves in and by it unto the Minds and Consciences of Men. Hereon as whatever we assent unto as proposed in the Scripture our Faith rests on and is resolved into the Veracity and Faithfulness of God so is it also in this of believing the Scripture it self to be the infallible Word of God seeing we do it on no other Grounds but its own Evidence that so it is This is that which is principally to be proved and therefore to prepare for it and to remove prejudices something is to be spoken to prepare the way thereunto 1. There are sundry cogent Arguments which are taken from External considerations of the Scripture that evince it on rational Grounds to be from God All these are motives of credibility or effectual perswasives to account and esteem it to be the Word of God And although they neither are nor is it possible they ever should be the Ground and Reason whereon we believe it so to be with Faith Divine and Supernatural yet are they necessary unto the confirmation of our Faith herein against Temptations Oppositions and Objections These Arguments have been pleaded by many and that usefully and therefore it is not needful for me to insist upon them And they are the same for the substance of them in antient and modern Writers however managed by some with more Learning Dexterity and force of Reasoning than by others It may not be expected therefore that in this short discourse designed unto another purpose I should give them much improvement However I shall a little touch on those which seem to be most cogent and that in them wherein in my Apprehention their strength doth lye And I shall do this to manifest that although we plead that no Man can believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God with Faith Divine Supernatural and Infallible but upon its own internal Divine Evidence and Efficacy yet we allow and make use of all those external Arguments of its sacred Truth and divine Original which are pleaded by others ascribing unto them as much weight and cogency as they can do acknowledging the perswasion which they beget and effect to be as firm as they can pretend it to be Only we do not judg them to contain the whole of the Evidence which we have for Faith to rest in or to be resolved into yea not that at all which renders it Divine Supernatural and Infallible The Rational Arguments we say which are or may be used in this matter with the humane Testimonies whereby they are corroborated may and ought to be made use of and insisted on And it is but vainly pretended that their use is superseded by our other Assertions as though where Faith is required all the subservient use of Reason were absolutely discarded and our Faith thereby rendred irrational And the assent unto the divine Original and Authority of the Scriptures which the mind ought to give upon them we grant to be of as high a nature as is pretended to be namely a moral certainty Moreover the Conclusion which unprejudiced Reason will make upon these Arguments is more firm better grounded and more pleadable than that which is built meerly on the sole Authority of any Church whatever But this we assert that there is an assent of another kind unto the divine Original and Authority of the Scriptures required of us namely that of Faith divine and supernatural Of this none will say that it can be effected by or resolved into the best and most cogent of rational Arguments and external Testimonies which are absolutely humane and fallible For it doth imply a contradiction to believe infallibly upon fallible evidence Wherefore I shall prove that beyond all these Arguments and their effect upon our minds there is an Assent unto the Scripture as the Word of God required of us with Faith divine Supernatural and Infallible and therefore there must be a divine Evidence which is the Formal Object and Reason of it which alone it rests on and is resolved into which shall also be declared and proved But yet as was said in the first place because their
believe it so to be and then to believe the things contained in it For this Proposition that the Scripture is the Word of God is a divine Revelation and so to be believed But God no where requires nor ever did that we should believe any divine Revelation upon such Grounds much less on such Grounds and Motives only They are left unto us as consequential unto our Believing to plead with others in behalf of what we profess and for the Justification of it unto the World But that which requires our Faith and Obedience unto in the receiving of divine Revelations whether immediately given and declared or as recorded in the Scripture is his own Authority and Veracity I am the Lord the High and Lofty One. Thus saith the Lord. To the Law and to the Testimony This is my Son hear him All Scripture is given by Inspiration from God Believe the Lord and his Prophets This alone is that which he requires us to resolve our Faith into So when he gave unto us the Law of our Lives the eternal and unchangeable Rule of our Obedience unto him in the ten Commandments he gives no other Reason to oblige us thereunto but this only I am the Lord thy God The sole formal Reason of all our Obedience is taken from his own Nature and our Relation unto him Nor doth he propose any other Reason why we should believe him or the Revelation which he makes of his Mind and Will And our Faith is part of our Obedience the Root and principal Part of it therefore the Reason of both is the same Neither did our Lord Jesus Christ nor his Apostles ever make use of such Arguments or Motives for the ingenerating of Faith in the minds of men nor have they given Directions for the use of any such Arguments to this End and Purpose But when they were accused to have followed cunningly devised Fables they appealed unto Moses and the Prophets to the Revelations they had themselves received and those that were before recorded It is true they wrought Miracles in confirmation of their own divine Mission and of the Doctrine which they taught But the Miracles of our Saviour were all of them wrought amongst those who believed the whole Scripture then given to be the Word of God and those of the Apostles were before the Writings of the Books of the New Testament Their Doctrine therefore materially considered and their Warranty to teach it was sufficiently yea abundantly confirmed by them But Divine Revelation formally considered and as written was left upon the old Foundation of the Authority of God who gave it No such Method is prescribed no such Example is proposed unto us in the Scripture to make use of these Arguments and Motives for the Conversion of the Souls of men unto God and the ingenerating of Faith in them Yea in some Cases the use of such means is decryed as unprofitable and the Sole Authority of God putting forth his Power in and by his Word is appealed unto 1 Cor. 2. 4 5 13. chap. 14. 26 27. 2 Cor. 4. 7. But yet in a way of Preparation subservient unto the receiving the Scripture as the Word of God and for the Defence of it against Gainsayers and their Objections their use hath been granted and proved But from first to last in the Old and New Testament the Authority and Truth of God are constantly and uniformly proposed as the immediate Ground and Reason of Believing his Revelations nor can it be proved that he doth accept or approve of any kind of Faith or Assent but what is built thereon and resolved thereinto The Sum is We are obliged in a way of Duty to believe the Scriptures to be a Divine Revelation when they are ministerially or providentially proposed unto us whereof afterwards The Ground whereon we are to receive them is the Authority and Veracity of God speaking in them we believe them because they are the Word of God Now this Faith whereby we so believe is Divine and Supernatural because the mal Reason of it is so namely Gods Truth and Authority Wherefore we do not nor ought to believe the Scripture as highly probable or with a moral Perswasion and Assurance built upon Arguments absolutely fallible and humane only For if this be the formal Reason of Faith namely the Veracity and Authority of God if we believe not with Faith divine and supernatural we believe not at all 2. The moral Certainty treated of is a meer Effect of Reason There is no more required unto it but that the Reasons proposed for the Assent required be such as the mind judgeth to be convincing and prevalent whence an inferiour Kind of Knowledge or a firm Opinion or some kind of Perswasion which hath not yet gotten an intelligible Name doth necessarily ensue There is therefore on this Supposition no need of any Work of the Holy Ghost to enable us to believe or to work Faith in us for no more is required herein but what necessarily ariseth from a naked Exercise of Reason If it be said that the Enquiry is not about what is the Work of the Spirit of God in us but concerning the Reasons and Motives to Believing that are proposed unto us I answer it is granted but that we urge herein is that the Act which is exerted on such Motives or the Perswasion which is begotten in our minds by them is purely natural and such as requires no especial Work of the Holy Ghost in us for the effecting of it Now this is not Faith nor can we be said in the Scripture sense to believe thereby and so in particular not the Scriptures to be the Word of God For Faith is the Gift of God and is not of our selves Ephes 2. 8. It is given unto some on the behalf of Christ Phil. 1. 29. and not unto others Mat. 11. 29. chap. 13. 11. But this Assent on external Arguments and Motives is of our selves equally common and exposed unto all No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 3. But he who believeth the Scripture truly aright and according to his Duty doth say so No man cometh to Christ but he that hath heard and learned of the Father John 6. 45. And as this is contrary to the Scripture so it is expresly condemned by the ancient Church particularly by the second Arausican Council Can. 5. 7. Si quis sicut augmentum ita etià m initium Fidei ipsumque credulitatis affectum non per gratiae donum id est per inspirationem Spiritus Sancti corrigentem voluntatem nostram ab infidelitate ad fidem ab impietate ad pietatem sed naturalitèr nobis inesse dicit Apostolicis Dogmatibus adversarius approbatur And plainly Can. 7. Si quis per naturae vigorem bonum aliquod quod ad Salutem pertinet vitae eternae cogitare ut expedit aut eligere sive salutari id est evangelicae Praedicaiioni consentire
and supernatural rests upon that is it is to be believed for its own sake But saith our Lord Jesus Christ himself if men will not hear that is believe Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead and come and preach unto them a greater Miracle than which they could not desire Now this could not be spoken if the Scripture did not contain in it self the whole entire formal Reason of Believing for if it have not this something necessary unto believing would be wanting though that were enjoyed And this is directly affirmed John 20. 30 31. And many other Signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his Disciples which are not written in this Book But these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you might have life through his Name The Signs which Christ wrought did evidence him to be the Son of God But how come we to know and believe these Signs what is the way and means thereof Saith the blessed Apostle these things are written that you may believe this writing of them by Divine Inspiration is so far sufficient to beget and assure Faith in you as that thereby you may have eternal life through Jesus Christ. For if the writing of Divine Things and Revelations be the means appointed of God to cause men to believe unto eternal life then it must as such carry along with it sufficient Reason why we should believe and Grounds whereon we should do so And in like manner is this matter determined by the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18 19 20 21. For we have not followed cunningly devised Fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye-witnesses of his Majesty For he received from God the Father honour and glory when there came such a Voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And this Voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy Mount We have also a more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a Light shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts Knowing this first that no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation For 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 The Question is about the Gospel or the Declaration of the powerful Coming of Jesus Christ whether it were to be believed or no and if it were upon what Grounds Some said it was a cunningly devised Fable others that it was a fanatical Story of mad men as Festus thought of it when preached by Paul Acts 26. 24. and very many are of the same mind still The Apostles on the contrary averred that what was spoken concerning him were Words of truth and soberness yea faithful Sayings and worthy of all acceptation 1 Tim. 1. 15. that is to be believed for its Worth and Truth The Grounds and Reasons hereof are two 1. The Testimony of the Apostles who not only conversed with Jesus Christ and were eye Witnesses of his Majesty beholding his Glory the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of Grace and Truth John 1. 14. which they gave in Evidence of the Truth of the Gospel 1 John 1. 1. But also heard a miraculous Testimony given unto him immediately from God in Heaven ver 17. 18. This gave them indeed sufficient Assurance but whereinto shall they resolve their Faith who heard not this Testimony Why they have a more sure that is a most sure Word of Prophecy that is the written Word of God that is sufficient of it self to secure their Faith in this matter especially as confirmed by the Testimony of the Apostles whereby the Church comes to be built in its Faith on the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Ephes. 2. 20. But why should we believe this Word of Prophecy may not that also be a cunningly devised Fable and the whole Scripture be but the Suggestions of mens private Spirits as is objected Ver. 20. All is finally resolved into this that the Writers of it were immediately moved and acted by the Holy Ghost from which Divine Original it carrieth along its own Evidence with it Plainly that which the Apostle teacheth us is that we believe all other Divine Truths for the Scriptures sake or because they are declared therein but the Scripture we believe for its own sake or because holy men of God wrote it as they were moved by the Holy Ghost So is the whole Object of Faith proposed by the same Apostle 2 Pet. 3. 2. The Words that were spoken before by the holy Prophets and the Commandments of the Apostles of the Lord and Saviour And because our Faith is resolved into them we are said to be built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles as was said Eph. 2. 20. that is our Faith rests solely as on its proper Foundation which bears the weight of it on the Authority and Truth of God in their Writings Hereunto we may add that of Paul Rom. 16. 25 26. According to the Revelation of the Mystery which was kept secret since the World began but now is made manifest and by the Scriptures of the Prophets according to the Commandment of the everlasting God made known unto all Nations for the Obedience of Faith The matter to be beleived is the Mystery of the Gospel which was kept secret since the World began or from the giving of the first Promise not absolutely but with respect unto that full manifestation which it hath now received This God commands to be believed the everlasting God he who hath sovereign Authority over all requires Faith in a way of Obedience hereunto But what Ground or Reason have we to believe it This alone is proposed namely the Divine Revelation made in the Preaching of the Apostles and Writings of the Prophets for Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Rom. 10. 17. This Course and no other did our Saviour even after his Resurrection take to beget and confirm Faith in the Disciples Luk. 24. 25 26 27. That great Testimony to this purpose 2 Tim. 3. 14 15 16 17. I do not plead in particular because I have so fully insisted on it in another Discourse From these and many other Testimonies to the same purpose which might be produced it is evident 1. That it is the Scripture it self the Word or Will of God as revealed or written which is proposed unto us as the Object of our Faith and Obedience which we are to receive and believe with Faith divine and supernatural 2. That no other Reason is proposed unto us either as a Motive to encourage us or as an Argument to assure us that we shall not
the Word of God with no less Firmness Certainty and Assurance of Mind than do the wisest and most Learned of them Yea ofttimes the Faith of the former Sort herein is of the best Growth and firmest Consistency against Oppositions and Temptations Now no Assent of the Mind can be accompanied with any more Assurance than the Evidence whose Effect it is and which it is resolved into will afford Nor doth any Evidence of Truth beget an Assent unto it in the Mind but as it is apprehended and understood Wherefore the Evidence of this Truth wherein soever it consists must be that which is perceived apprehended and understood by the meanest and most unlearned Sort of true Believers For as was said they do no less firmly assent and adhere unto it than the Wisest and most Learned of them It cannot therefore consist in such subtil and learned Arguments whose Sense they cannot understand or comprehend But the Things we have pleaded are of another Nature For those Characters of Divine Wisdom Goodness Holiness Grace and Sovereign Authority which are implanted on the Scripture by the Holy Ghost are as legible unto the Faith of the Meanest as of the most Learned Believer And they also are no less capable of an Experimental Vnderstanding of the Divine Power and Efficacy of the Scriptures in all its Spiritual Operations than those who are more Wise and Skillful in discerning the Force of External Arguments and Motives of Credibility It must therefore of necessity be granted that the formal Reason of Faith consists in those Things whereof the Evidence is equally obvious unto all Sorts of Believers 2. Whence it is that the Assent of Faith whereby we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God is usually affirmed to be accompanied with more Assurance than any Assent which is the Effect of Science upon the most demonstrative Principles They who affirm this do not consider Faith as it is in this or that Individual Person or in all that do sincerely believe but in its own Nature and Essence and what it is meet and able to produce And the Schoolmen do distinguish between a Certainty or Assurance of Evidence and an Assurance of Adherence In the latter they say the Certainty of Faith doth exceed that of Science but it is less in respect of the former But it is not easily to be conceived how the Certainty of Adherence should exceed the Certainty of Evidence with respect unto any Object whatsoever That which seems to render a Difference in this Case is that the Evidence which we have in Things scientifical is Speculative and affects the Mind only but the Evidence which we have by Faith effectually worketh on the Will also because of the Goodness and Excellency of the Things that are believed And hence it is that the whole Soul doth more firmly adhere unto the Objects of Faith upon that Evidence which it hath of them than unto other Things whereof it hath clearer Evidence wherein the Will and the Affections are little or not at all concerned And Bonaventure giveth a Reason of no small weight why Faith is more certain than Science not with the Certainty of Speculation but of Adherence Quoniam fideles Christiani nec Argumentis nec Tormentis nec Blandimentis adduci possunt vel inclinari ut Veritatem quam credunt vel ore tenus negent quod nemo peritus alicujus scientiae faceret si acerrimis Tormentis cogeretur scientiam suam de conclusione aliqua Geometrica vel Arithmetica retractare Stultus enim ridiculus esset Geometra qui pro sua scientia in Controversiis Geometricis mortem anderet subire nisi in quantum dictat Fides non esse mentiendum And whatever may be said of this Distinction I think it cannot modestly be denied that there is a greater Assurance in Faith than any is in scientifical Conclusions until as many good and wise Men will part with all their worldly Concernments and their Lives by the most exquisite Tortures in the Confirmation of any Truth which they have received meerly on the Ground of Reason acting in Humane Sciences as have so done on the Certainty which they had by Faith that the Scripture is a Divine Revelation For in bearing Testimony hereunto have innumerable Multitudes of the Best the Holiest and the VVisest Men that ever were in the VVorld chearfully and joyfully sacrificed all their Temporal and adventured all their Eternal Concernments For they did it under a full Satisfaction that in parting with all temporary things they should be eternally Blessed or eternally Miserable according as their Perswasion in Faith proved true or false VVherefore unto the Firmitude and Constancy which we have in the Assurance of Faith three Things do concur 1. That this Ability of Assent upon Testimony is the highest and most noble Power or Faculty of our rational Souls and therefore where it hath the highest Evidence whereof it is capable which it hath in the Testimony of God it giveth us the highest Certainty or Assurance whereof in this VVorld we are capable 2. Unto the Assent of Divine Faith there is required an especial internal Operation of the Holy Ghost This rendreth it of another Nature than any meer natural Act and Operation of our Minds And therefore if the Assurance of it may not properly be said to exceed the Assurance of Science in Degree it is only because it is of a more excellent kind and so is not capable of Comparison unto it as to Degrees 3. That the Revelation which God makes of Himself his Mind and Will by his Word is more excellent and accompanied with greater Evidence of his infinitely Glorious Properties wherein alone the Mind can find absolute Rest and Satisfaction which is its Assurance than any other Discovery of Truth of what sort soever is capable of Neither is the Assurance of the Mind absolutely perfect in any thing beneath the Enjoyment of God Wherefore the Soul by Faith making the nearest Approaches whereof in this Life it is capable unto the Eternal Spring of Being Truth and Goodness it hath the highest Rest Satisfaction and Assurance therein that in this Life it can attain unto 3. It followeth from hence that those that would deny either of those two Things or would so separate between them as to exclude the Necessity of either unto the Duty of Believing namely the internal Work of the Holy Spirit on the Minds of Men enabling them to believe and the external Work of the same Holy Spirit giving Evidence in and by the Scripture unto its own Divine Original do endeavour to expell all True Divine Faith out of the World and to substitute a probable Perswasion in the room thereof For a Close unto this Discourse which hath now been drawn forth unto a greater Length than was at first intended I shall consider some Objections that are usually pleaded in Opposition unto the Truth asserted and vindicated It is therefore objected in the first
Scripture to be the VVord of God in a way of Duty For it is not to be meerly Human how firm soever the Perswasions in it may be but Divine and Supernatural of the same kind with that whereby we believe the things themselves contained in the Scripture 7. VVe cannot thus believe the Scripture to be the VVord of God nor any Divine Truth therein contained without the effectual Illumination of our Minds by the Holy Ghost And to exclude the Consideration of his VVork herein is to cast the whole Enquiry out of the Limits of Christian Religion 8. Yet is not this VVork of the Holy Spirit in the Illumination of our Minds whereby we are enabled to believe in a way of Duty with Faith Supernatural and Divine the Ground and Reason why we do believe or the Evidence whereon we do so nor is our Faith resolved thereinto 9. VVhereas also there are sundry other Acts of the Holy Spirit in and upon our minds establishing this Faith against Temptations unto the contrary and further ascertaining us of the Divine Original of the Scripture or testifying it unto us yet are they none of them severally nor all of them joyntly the formal Reason of our Faith nor the Ground which we believe upon Yet are they such as that as without the first VVork of Divine Illumination we cannot believe at all in a due manner so without his other consequent Operations we cannot believe stedfastly against Temptations and Oppositions VVherefore 10. Those only can believe the Scripture aright to be the VVord of God in a way of Duty whose minds are enlightned and who are enabled to believe by the Holy Ghost 11. Those who believe not are of two Sorts for they are either such as oppose and gainsay the VVord as a cunningly devised Fable or such as are willing without prejudice to attend unto the consideration of it The former Sort may be resisted opposed and rebuked by external Arguments and such moral Considerations as vehemently perswade the Divine Original of the Scripture and from the same Principles may their mouths be stopped as to their Cavils and Exceptions against it The other Sort are to be led on unto believing by the Ministry of the Church in the dispensation of the VVord it self which is the Ordinance of God unto that purpose But 12. Neither sort do ever come truly to believe either meerly induced thereunto by force of moral Arguments only or upon the Authority of that Church by whose Ministry the Scripture is proposed unto them to be believed VVherefore 13. The formal Reason of Faith Divine and Supernatural whereby we believe the Scripture to be the VVord of God in the way of Duty and as it is required of us is the Authority and Veracity of God alone evidencing themselves unto our Minds and Consciences in and by the Scripture it self And herein consisteth that Divine Testimony of the Holy Ghost which as it is a Testimony gives our Assent unto the Scriptures the general nature of Faith and as it is a Divine Testimony gives it the especial nature of Faith Divine and Supernatural 14. This Divine Testimony given unto the Divine Original of the Scripture in and by it self whereinto our Faith is ultimately resolved is evidenced and made known as by the Characters of the infinite Perfections of the Divine Nature that are in it and upon it so by the Authority Power and Efficacy over and upon the Souls and Consciences of Men and the Satisfactory Excellency of the Truths contained therein wherewith it is accompanied 15. Wherefore although there be many cogent external Arguments whereby a moral stedfast Perwasion of the Divine Authority of the Scriptures may be attained and it be the principal Duty of the true Church in all Ages to give Testimony thereunto which it hath done successively at all all times since first it was intrusted with it and so although there be many other Means whereby we are induced perswaded and enabled to believe it yet is it for its own sake only efficaciously manifesting it self to be the Word of God or upon the Divine Testimony that is given in it and by it thereunto that we believe it to be so with Faith Divine and Supernatural Corel Those who either deny the necessity of an internal subjective Work of the Holy Ghost enabling us to believe or the objective Testimony of the Holy Spirit given unto the Scripture in and by it self or do deny their joynt concurrence in and unto our Believing do deny all Faith properly Divine and Supernatural This being the Substance of what is declared and pleaded for in the preceding Treatise to prevent the Obloquy of some and confirm the Judgment of others I shall add the Suffrage of Antient and Modern Writers given unto the principal Parts of it and whereon all other things asserted in it do depend Clemens Alexandrinus discourseth at large unto this purpose Stromat 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We have the Lord himself for the Principle or Beginning of Doctrine who by the Prophets the Gospel and blessed Apostles in various manners and by divers degrees goeth before us or leads us unto knowledg This is that which we lay down as the Reason and Ground of Faith namely the Authority of the Lord himself instructing us by the Scriptures So he adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if any one suppose that he needeth any oâ—her Principle the Principle will not be kept that is if we need any other Principle whereinto to resolve our Faith the Word of God is no more a Principle unto us But he who is faithful from himself is worthy to be believed in his Sovereign Writing and Voice which as it appeareth is administred by the Lord for the benefit of men And certainly we use it as a Rule of judging for the invention of things But whatever is judged is not credible or to be believed until it is judged and that is no Principle which stands in need to be judged The Intention of his Words is that God who alone is to believed for himself hath given us his Word as the Rule whereby we are to judg of all things And this Word is so to be believed as not to be subject unto any other Judgment because if it be so it cannot be either a Principle or a Rule And so he proceeds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore it is meet that embracing by Faith the most sufficient indemonstrable Principle and taking the Demonstrations of the Principle from the Principle it self we are instructed by the Voice of the Lord himself unto the acknowledgment of the Truth In few Words he declares the Substance of what we have pleaded for No more do we maintain in this Cause but what Clemens doth here assert namely that we believe the Scripture for it self as that which needeth no antecedent or external Demonstration but all the Evidence and Demonstration of its Divine Original is to be taken from it self alone which yet
so many uncertain and fierce Digladiations wherein not any one Truth is asserted nor any one Duty prescribed that is not spoiled and vitiated by its Circumstances and Ends besides they never rose up so much as to a Surmise of or about the most important matters of Religion without which it is demonstrable by reason that it is impossible we should ever attain the End for which we are made nor the Blessedness whereof we are capable No account could they ever give of our Apostacy from God of the Depravation of our Nature of the Cause or necessary Cure of it In this lost and wandring Condition of Mankind the Scripture presenteth it self as a Light Rule and Guide unto all to direct them in their whole Course unto their end and to bring them unto the enjoyment of God and this it doth with that clearness and evidence as to dispel all the Darkness and put an end unto all the Confusions of the minds of Men as the Sun with rising doth the shades of the Night unless they wilfully shut their eyes against it loving Darkness rather than Light because their deeds are evil For all the Confusion of the minds of men to extricate themselves from whence they found out and immixed themselves in endless Questions to no purpose arose from their Ignorance of what we were originally of what we now are and how we came so to be by what way or means we may be delivered or relieved what are the Duties of Life or what is required of us in order to our living to God as our chiefest end and wherein the Blessedness of our Nature doth consist All the World was never able to give an Answer tolerably satisfactory unto any one of these Enquiries yet unless they are all infallibly determined we are not capable of the least Rest or Happiness above the Beasts that perish But now all these things are so clearly declared and stated in the Scripture that it comes with an Evidence like a Light from Heaven on the Minds and Consciences of unprejudiced Persons What was the Condition of our Nature in its first Creation and Constitution with the Blessedness and Advantage of that Condition how we fell from it and what was the Cause what is the Nature and what the Consequents and Effects of our present Depravation and Apostacy from God how Help and Relief is provided for us herein by infinite Wisdom Grace and Bounty what that Help is how we may be interested in it and made partakers of it what is that System of Duties or Course of Obedience unto God which is required of us and wherein our eternal Felicity doth consist are all of them so plainly and clearly revealed in the Scripture as in general to leave Mankind no ground for Doubt Enquiry or Conjecture set aside inveterate Prejudices from Tradition Education false Notions into the Mould whereof the mind is cast the Love of Sin and the Conduct of Lust which things have an inconceivable power over the Minds Souls and Affections of Men and the Light of the Scripture in these things is like that of the Sun at Noon-day which shuts up the way unto all further Enquiry and efficaciously necessitates unto an Acquiescency in it And in particular in that Direction which it gives unto the Lives of Men in order unto that Obedience which they ow to God and that Reward which they expect from him there is no instance conceivable of any thing conducing thereunto which is not prescribed therein nor of any thing which is contrary unto it that falls not under its Prohibition Those therefore whose Desire or Interest it is that the Bounds and Differences of Good and Evil should be unfixed and confounded who are afraid to know what they were what they are or what they shall come unto who care to know neither God nor themselves their Duty nor their Reward may despise this Book and deny its divine Original others will retain a sacred Veneration of it as of the Off-spring of God 4. The Testimony of the Church may in like manner be pleaded unto the same purpose and I shall also insist upon it partly to manifest wherein its true Nature and Efficacy doth consist and partly to evince the vanity of the old Pretence that even we also who are departed from the Church of Rome do receive the Scripture upon the Authority thereof whence it is further pretended that on the same Ground and Reason we ought to receive whatever else it proposeth unto us 1. The Church is said to be the Ground and Pillar of Truth 1 Tim. 3. 15. Which is the only Text pleaded with any Sobriety to give countenance unto the Assertion of the Authority of the Scripture with respect unto us to depend on the Authority of the Church But the Weakness of a Plea to that purpose from hence hath been so fully manifested by many already that it needs no more to be insisted on In short it cannot be so the Ground and Pillar of Truth that the Truth should be as it were built and rest upon it as its Foundation for this is directly contrary to the same Apostle who teacheth us that the Church it self is built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner Stone Eph. 2. 20. The Church cannot be the Ground of Truth and Truth the Ground of the Church in the same sense or kind Wherefore the Church is the Ground and Pillar of Truth in that it holds up and declares the Scriptures and the things contained therein so to be 2. In receiving any thing from a Church we may consider the Authority of it or its Ministry By the Authority of the Church in this matter we intend no more but the weight and importance that is in its Testimony as Testimonies do vary according to the Worth Gravity Honesty Honour and Reputation of them by whom they are given For to suppose an Authority properly so called in any Church or all the Churches of the World whereon our Reception of the Scripture should depend as that which gives its Authority towards us and a sufficient Warranty to our Faith is a nice Imagination For the Authority and Truth of God stand not in need nor are capable of any such Attestation from Men all they will admit of from the children of Men is that they do humbly submit unto them and testify their so doing with the Reasons of it The Ministry of the Church in this matter is that Duty of the Church whereby it proposeth and declareth the Scripture to be the Word of God and that as it hath occasion to all the World And this Ministry also may be considered either formally as 't is appointed of God unto this End and blessed by him or materially only as the thing is done though the Grounds whereon it is done and the manner of doing it be not divinely approved We wholly deny that we receive the Scripture or ever
the divine Witness whereunto our Faith is ultimately resolved doth not consist herein yet it is the greatest corroborating Testimony whereof we are capable This is that which brings us unto the Riches of the full Assurance of Vnderstanding Col. 2. 2. as also 1 Thes. 1. 5. And on the Account of this Spiritual Experience is our perception of Spiritual Things so often expressed by Acts of Sense as tasting seeing feeling and the like means of Assurance in things natural And when Believers have attained hereunto they do find the divine Wisdom Goodness and Authority of God so present unto them as that they need neither Argument nor Motive nor any thing else to perswade them unto or confirm them in believing And whereas this spiritual Experience which Believers obtain through the Holy Ghost is such as cannot rationally be contended about seeing those who have received it cannot fully express it and those who have not cannot understand it nor the Efficacy which it hath to secure and establish the mind it is left to be determined on by them alone who have their Senses exercised to discern Good aad Evil. And this belongs unto the internal subjective Testimony of the Holy Ghost 2. He assists helps and relieves us against Temptations to the contrary so as that they shall not be prevalent Our first prime Assent unto the divine Authority of the Scripture upon its proper Grounds and Reasons will not secure us against future Objections and Temptations unto the contrary from all manner of Causes and Occasions David's Faith was so assaulted by them as that he said in his hast that all men were liars And Abraham himself after he had received the Promise that in his Seed all Nations should be blessed was reduced unto that anxious Enquiry Lord God what wilt thou give me seeing I go childless Gen 15. 2. And Peter was so winnowed by Satan that although his Faith failed not yet he greatly failed and fainted in its Exercise And we all know what fears from within what fightings from without we are exposed unto in this matter And of this sort are all those Atheistical Objections against the Scripture which these Days abound withal which the Devil useth as fiery Darts to enflame the Souls of men and to destroy their Faith and indeed this is that Work which the Powers of Hell are principally ingaged in at this day Having lopt off many Branches they now lay their Ax to the Root of Faith and thence in the midst of the Profession of Christian Religion there is no greater Controversy than whether the Scriptures are the Word of God or not Against all these Temptations doth the Holy Ghost give in such a continual supply of spiritual Strength and Assistance unto Believers as that they shall at no time prevail nor their Faith totally fail In such cases the Lord Christ intercedes for us that our Faith fail not and Gods Grace is sufficient against the buffetings of these Temptations And herein the Truth of Christs Intercession with the Grace of God and its Efficacy are communicated unto us by the Holy Ghost What are those internal Aids whereby he establisheth and assureth our Minds against the Force and Prevalency of Objections and Temptations against the Divine Authority of the Scripture how they are communicated unto us and received by us this is no place to declare in particular It is in vain for any to pretend unto the name of Christians by whom they are denied And these also have the nature of an internal real Testimony whereby Faith is established And because it is somewhat strange that after a long quiet Possession of the professed Faith and Assent of the Generality of the Minds of Men thereunto there should now arise among us such an open Opposition unto the divine Authority of the Scriptures as we find there is by Experience it may not be amiss in our passage to name the principal Causes or Occasions thereof For if we should bring them all into one Reckoning as justly we may who either openly oppose it and reject it or who use it or neglect it at their pleasure or who set up other Guides in Competition with it or above it or otherwise declare that they have no sense of the immediate Authority of God therein we shall find them to be like the Moors or Slaves in some Countries or Plantations they are so great in number and force above their Rulers and other Inhabitants that it is only want of Communication with Confidence and some distinct Interests that keep them from casting off their Yoak and Restraint I shall name three Causes only of this surprizing and perillous Event 1. A long continued outward Profession of the Truth of the Scripture without an inward Experience of its Power betrays men at length to question the Truth it self at least not to regard it as divine The Owning of the Scriptures to be the Word of God bespeaks a divine Majesty Authority and Power to be present in it and with it Wherefore after men who have for a long time so professed do find that they never had any real Experience of such a divine Presence in it by any Effects upon their own Minds they grow insensibly regardless of it or to allow it a very common place in their thoughts When they have worn off the Impressions that were on their mind from Tradition Education and Custom they do for the future rather not oppose it than in any way believe it And when once a Reverence unto the Word of God on the Account of its Authority is lost an Assent unto it on the Account of Truth will not long abide And all such Persons under a Concurrence of Temptations and outward Occasions will either reject it or prefer other Gnides before it 2. The Power of Lust rising up unto a Resolution of living in those Sins whereunto the Scripture doth unavoidably annex eternal Ruine hath prevailed with many to cast off its Authority For whilst they are resolved to live in an Outrage of Sin to allow a divine Truth and Power in the Scripture is to cast themselves under a present Torment as well as to ascertain their future Misery for no other can be his Condition who is perpetually sensible that God always condemns him in all that he doth and will assuredly take vengeance of him which is the constant language of the Scripture concerning such Persons Wherefore although they will not immediately fall into an open Atheistical Opposition unto it as that which it may be is not consistent with their Interest and Reputation in the World yet looking upon it as the Devils did on Jesus Christ as that which comes to torment them before their time they keep it at the greatest distance from their thoughts and minds until they have habituated themselves unto a Contempt of it There being therefore an utter impossibility of giving any pretence of Reconciliation between the Owning of the Scriptures to be the Word of God
and a Resolution to live in an excess of known Sin Multitudes suffer their Minds to be bribed by their corrupt Affections to a Relinquishment of any Regard unto it 3. The scandalous Quarrels and Disputations of those of the Church of Rome against the Scripture and its Authority have contributed much unto the ruine of the Faith of many Their great Design is by all means to secure the Power Authority and Infallibility of their Church Of these they say continually as the Apostle in another case of the Mariners unless these stay in the Ship we cannot be saved Without an Acknowledgment of these things they would have it that men can neither at present believe nor be saved hereafter To secure this Interest the Authority of the Scripture must be by all means questioned and impaired A divine Authority in it self they will allow it but with respect unto us it hath none but what it obtains by the Suffrage and Testimony of their Church But whereas Authority is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and consists essentially in the Relation and Respect which it hath unto others or those that are to be subject unto it to say that it hath an Authority in it self but none towards us is not only to deny that it hath any Authority at all but also to reproach it with an empty name They deal with it as the Souldiers did with Christ they put a Crown on his Head and cloathed him with a purple Robe and bowing the Knee before him mocked him saying Hail King of the Jews The ascribe unto it the Crown and Robe of Divine Authority in it self but not towards any one Person in the World So if they please God shall be God and his Word be of some Credit among men Herein they seek continually to entangle those of the weaker Sort by urging them vehemently with this Question How do you know the Scripture to be the Word of God and have in continual readyness a number of sophistical Artifices to weaken all Evidences that shall be pleaded in its behalf Nor is that all but on all Occasions they insinuate such Objections against it from its Obscurity Imperfection want of Order Difficulties and seeming Contradictions in it as are suited to take off the minds of men from a firm Assent unto it or Reliance on it As if a Company of men should conspire by crafty multiplied Insinuations divulged on all advantages to weaken the Reputation of a chast and sober Matron although they cannot deprive her of her Vertue yet unless the World were wiser than for the most part it appears to be they will insensibly take off from her due esteem And this is as bold an Attempt as can well be made in any Case For the first Tendency of these Courses is to make men Atheists after which success it is left at uncertain hazard whether they will be Papists or no. Wherefore as there can be no greater nor more dishonourable Reflection made on Christian Religion than that it hath no other Evidence or Testimony of its Truth but the Authority and Witness of those by whom it is at present professed and who have notable worldly advantages thereby so the minds of multitudes are secretly influenced by the Poison of these Disputes to think it no way necessary to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God or at least are shaken off from the Grounds whereon they have professed it so to be And the like Dis-service is done unto Faith and the Souls of Men by such as advance a Light within or immediate Inspiration into Competition with it or the Room of it For as such Imaginations take place and prevail in the minds of men so their Respect unto the Scripture and all Sense of its divine Authority doth decay as Experience doth openly manifest It is I say from an unusual Concurrence of these and the like Causes and Occasions that there is at present among us such a Decay in Relinquishment of and Opposition unto the Belief of the Scripture as it may be former Ages could not parallel But against all these Objections and Temptations the Minds of true Believers are secured by Supplies of spiritual Light Wisdom and Grace from the Holy Ghost There are several other especial gracious Actings of the Holy Spirit on the minds of Believers which belong also unto this internal real Testimony whereby their Faith is established Such are his anointing and sealing of them his witnessing with them and his being an Earnest in them all which must be elsewhere spoken unto Hereby is our Faith every day more and more increased and established Wherefore although no internal Work of the Spirit can be the formal Reason of our Faith or that which it is resolved into yet is it such as without it we can never sincerely believe as we ought nor be established in believing against Temptations and Objections And with respect unto this Work of the Holy Ghost it is that Divines at the first Reformation did generally resolve our Faith of the divine Authority of the Scripture into the Testimony of the Holy Spirit But this they did not do exclusively unto the proper use of external Arguments and Motives of Credibility whose Store indeed is great and whose Fountain is inexhaustible For they arise from all the indubitable Notions that we have of God or our selves in reference unto our present Duty or future Happiness Much less did they exclude that Evidence thereof which the Holy Ghost gives unto it in and by it self Their Judgment is well expressed in the excellent Words of one of them Maneat ergo saith he hoc fixum quos Spiritus intus docuit solidè acquiescere in Scripturâ hanc quidem esse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neque demonstrationi rationibus subjici eam fas esse quam tamen meretur apud nos certitudinem Spiritus testimonio consequi eisi enim Reverentiam sua sibi ultro Majestate conciliat tunc tamen demum serio nos afficit quum per Spiritum obsignata est cordibus nostris Istius ergo veritate illuminati jam non aut nostro aut aliorum judicio credimus a Deo esse Scripturam sed supra humanum judicium certo certius constituimus non secus ac si ipsius Dei numen illic intueremur hominum ministerio ab ipsissimo Dei ore ad nos fluxisse Non Argumenta non veri Similitudines quaerimus quibus judicium nostrum incumbat sed ut rei extra estimandi aleam positae judicium ingeniumque nostrum subjicimus Non qualiter superstitionibus solent miseri homines captivam mentem addicere sed quia non dubiam vim Numinis illic sentimus vigere spirare quam ad parendum scientes ac volentes vividius tamen efficacius quam pro humana aut voluntate aut scientia trahimur accendimur Talis ergo est Persuasio quae rationes non requirat talis notitia cui optima ratio cosnstet
them on their Lusts Hos. 2. 8. It is an higher Aggravation when men in sinning abuse and dishonour their own Bodies for these are the principal external Workmanship of God being made for Eternity and whose Preservation unto his Glory is committed unto us in an especial manner This the Apostle declareth to be the peculiar Aggravation of the Sin of Fornication and Uncleanness in any kind 1 Cor. 6. 18 19. But the Height of Impiety consists in the Abuse of the Faculties aud Powers of the Soul wherewith we are endowed purposely and immediately for the glorifying of God Hence proceed Unbelief Prophaness Blasphemy Atheism and the like Pollutions of the Spirit of Mind And these are Sins of the highest Provocation For the Powers and Faculties of our Minds being given us only to enable us to live unto God the diverting of their principal Exercise unto other Ends is an Act of Enmity against him and Affront unto him 1. He makes himself known unto us by the innate Principles of our Nature unto which he hath communicated as a Power of apprehending so an indelible Sense of his Being his Authority and his Will so far as our natural Dependance on him and moral Subjection unto him do require For whereas there are two things in this natural Light and first Dictates of Reason first a Power of Conceiving Discerning and Assenting and secondly a Power of Judging and Determining upon the things so discerned and assented unto by the one God makes known his Being and Essential Properties by the other his Sovereign Authority over all As to the first the Apostle affirms that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 1. 19. That which may be known of God his Essence Being Subsistence his natural necessary essential Properties is manifest in them that is it hath a self evidencing Power acting it self in the Minds of all Men indued with natural Light and Reason And as unto his Sovereign Authority he doth evidence it in and by the Consciences of men which are the Judgment that they make and cannot but make of themselves and their Actions with respect unto the Authority and Judgment of God Rom. 2. 14 15. And thus the Mind doth assent unto the Principles of God's Being and Authority antecedently unto any actual Exercise of the discursive Faculty of Reason or other Testimony whatever 2. He doth it unto our Reason in its Exercise by proposing such things unto its Consideration as from whence it may and cannot but conclude in an Assent unto the Truth of what God intends to reveal unto us that way This he doth by the Works of Creation and Providence which present themselves unavoidably unto Reason in its Exercise to instruct us in the Nature Being and Properties of God Thus the Heavens declare the Glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-Work Day unto Day uttereth Speech and Night unto Night sheweth Knowledge There is no Speech nor Language where their Voice is not heard Psal. 19. 1 2 3. But yet they do not thus declare evidence and reveal the Glory of God unto the first Principles and Notions of natural Light without the actual Exercise of Reason Only they do so when we consider his Heavens the Work of his Fingers the Moon and the Stars which he hath ordained as the same Psalmist speaks Psal. 8. 3. A rational Consideration of them their Greatness Order Beauty and Use is required unto that Testimony and Evidence which God gives in them and by them unto Himself his glorious Being Power To this purpose the Apostle discourseth at large concerning the Works of Creation Rom. 1. 20 21 22. as also of those of Providence Acts 14. 15 16 17. chap. 17. 24 25 26 27 28. and the rational Use we are to make of them verse 29. So God calls unto Men for the Exercise of their Reason about these Things reproaching them with Stupidity and Brutishness where they are wanting therein Isa 46. 7 8 9. chap. 44. 18 19. 20. 3. God reveals himself unto our Faith or that Power of our Souls whereby we are able to assâ—nt unto the Truth of what is proposed unto us upon Testimony And this he doth by his Word or the Scriptures proposed unto us in the manner and way before expressed He doth not reveal himself by his Word unto the Principles of natural Light nor unto Reason in its Exercise But yet these Principles and Reason it self with all the Faculties of our Minds are consequentially affected with that Revelation and are drawn forth into their proper Exercise by it But in the Gospel the Righteousness of God is revealed from Faith to Faith Rom. 1. 17. not to natural Light Sense or Reason in the first place And it is Faith that is the Evidence of things not seen as revealed in the Word Heb. 11. 1. Unto this kind of Revelation Thus saith the Lord is the only Ground and Reason of our Assent and that Assent is the Assent of Faith because it is resolved into Testimony alone And concerning these several ways of the Communication or Revelation of the Knowledge of God it must be always observed that there is a perfect consonancy in the things revealed by them all If any thing pretends from the one what is absolutely contradictory unto the other or our Senses as the means of them it is not to be received The Foundation of the whole as of all the actings of our Souls is in the inbred Principles of natural Light or first necessary Dictates of our intellectual rational Nature This so far as it extends is a Rule unto our Apprehension in all that follows Wherefore if any pretend in the Exercise of Reason to conclude unto any thing concerning the Nature Being or Will of God that is directly contradictory unto those Principles and Dictates it is no Divine Revelation unto our Reason but a Paralogism from the defect of Reason in its Exercise This is that which the Apostle chargeth on and vehemently urgeth against the Heathen Philosophers Inbred Notions they had in themselves of the Being and Eternal Power of God and these were so manifest in them thereby that they could not but own them Hereon they set their rational discursive Faculty at work in the Consideration of God and his Being But herein were they so vain and foolish as to draw Conclusions directly contrary unto the first Principles of natural Light and the unavoidable Notions which they had of the Eternal Being of God Rom. 1. 21 22 23 24. And many upon their pretended rational Consideration of the promiscuous Event of things in the World have foolishly concluded that all things had a fortuitous Beginning and have fortuitous Events or such as from a Concatenation of antecedent Causes are fatally necessarily and are not disposed by an infinitely Wise Unerring Holy Providence And this also is directly contradictory unto the first Principles and Notions of natural Light whereby it openly proclaims it self not to be an Effect of Reason in its due
Exercise but a meer Delusion So if any pretend unto Revelations by Faith which are contradictory unto the first Principles of natural Light or Reason in its proper Exercise about its proper Objects it is a Delusion On this Ground the Roman Doctrine of Transubstantiation is justly rejected for it proposeth that as a Revelation by Faith which is expresly contradictory unto our Sense and Reason in their proper Exercise about their proper Objects And a supposition of the possibility of any such thing would make the ways whereby God reveals and makes known himself to cross and enterfere one with another which would leave us no certainty in any thing Divine or Humane But yet as these means of Divine Revelation do harmonize and perfectly agree one with the other so they are not objectively equal or equally extensive nor are they coordinate but subordinate unto one another Wherefore there are many things discernable by Reason in its Exercise which do not appear unto the first Principles of natural Light So the Sober Philosophers of old attained unto many true and great Conceptions of God and the Excellencies of his Nature above what they arrived unto who either did not or could not cultivate and improve the Principles of natural Light in the same manner as they did It is therefore Folly to pretend that things so made known of God are not infallibly true and certain because they are not obvious unto the first Conceptions of natural Light without the due Exercise of Reason provided they are not contradictory thereunto And there are many Things revealed unto Faith that are above and beyond the Comprehension of Reason in the best and utmost of its most proper Exercise Such are all the principal Mysteries of Christian Religion And it is the height of Folly to reject them as some do because they are not discernable and comprehensible by Reason seeing they are not contradictory thereunto Wherefore these Ways of Gods Revelation of Himself are not equally extensive or commensurate but are so subordinate one unto another that what is wanting unto the one is supplied by the other unto the Accomplishment of the whole and entire end of Divine Revelation and the Truth of God is the same in them all The Revelation which God makes of Himself in the first way by the inbred Principles of natural Light doth sufficiently and infallibly evidence it self to be from Him it doth it in unto and by those Principles themselves This Revelation of God is infallible the Assent unto it is infallible which the infallible Evidence it gives of it self makes to be so We dispute not now what a few Atheistical Scepticks pretend unto whose Folly hath been sufficiently detected by others All the Sobriety that is in the World consents in this that the Light of the Knowledge of God in and by the inbred Principles of our Minds and Consciences doth sufficiently uncontroulably and infallibly manifest it self to be from him and that the Mind neither is nor can be possibly imposed on in its Apprehensions of that Nature And if the first Dictates of Reason concerning God do not evidence themselves to be from God they are neither of any Use nor Force for they are not capable of being confirmed by external Arguments and what is written about them is to shew their Force and Evidence not to give them any Wherefore this first Way of Gods Revelation of himself unto us is infallible and infallibly evidenceth it self in our Minds according to the Capacity of our Natures 2. The Revelation that God maketh of Himself by the Works of Creation and Providence unto our Reason in Exercise or the Faculties of our Souls as discursive concluding rationally one thing from another doth sufficiently yea infallibly evidence and demonstrate it self to be from him so that it is impossible we should be deceived therein It doth not do so unto the inbred Principles of natural Light unless they are engaged in a rational exercise about the means of the Revelation made that is we must rationally consider the Works of God both of Creation and Providence or we cannot learn by them what God intends to reveal of himself and in our doing so we cannot be deceived For the invisible things of God from the Creation of the World are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal Power and Godhead Rom. 1. 20. They are clearly seen and therefore may be perfectly understood as to what they teach of God without any possibility of Mistake And wherever men do not receive the Revelation intended in the Way intended that is do not certainly conclude that what God teaches by his Works of Creation and Providence namely his Eternal Power and Godhead with the essential Properties thereof Infinite Wisdom Goodness Righteousness and the like is certainly and infallibly so believing it accordingly it is not from any defect in the Revelation or its self-evidencing Efficacy but only from the depraved vitious Habits of their Minds their Enmity against God and Dislike of him And so the Apostle saith that they who rejected or improved not the Revelation of God did it because they did not like to retain God in their Knowledg Rom. 1. 28. For which Cause God did so severely revenge their natural Unbelief as is there expressed See Isa. 46. 8. chap 44. 15 19 20. That which I principally insist on from hence is that the Revelation which God makes of himself by the Works of Creation and Providence doth not evidence it self unto the first Principles of natural Light so as that an Assent should be given thereunto without the Actual Exercise of Reason or the discursive Faculty of our Minds about them but thereunto it doth infallibly evidence it self So may the Scripture have and hath a self evidencing Efficacy though this appear not unto the Light of first natural Principles no nor to bare Reason in its Exercise For 3. Unto our Faith God reveals himself by the Scripture or his Word which he hath magnified above all his Name Psal. 138. 2. that is implanted on it more Characters of Himself and his Properties than on any other Way whereby he revealeth or maketh himself known unto us And this Revelation of God by his Word we confess is not sufficient nor suited to evidence it self unto the Light of Nature or the first Principles of our Understanding so that by bare Proposal of it to be from God we should by virtue of them immediately assent unto it as men assent unto self-evident natural Principles as that the part is lesser than the whole or the like Nor doth it evidence it self unto our Reason in its meer natural Exercise as that by virtue thereof we can demonstratively conclude that it is from God and that what is declared therein is certainly and infallibly true It hath indeed such external Evidences accompanying it as makes a great Impression on Reason it self But the Power of our Souls whereunto it is proposed
the help of other means 4. On these Suppositions I fear not to affirm that there are on every Individual Book of the Scripture particularly those named those Divine Characters and Criteria which are sufficient to difference them from all other VVritings whatever and to testify their Divine Authority unto the Minds and Consciences of Believers I say of Believers for we enquire not on what Ground unbelievers or those who do not believe do believe the VVord of God nor yet directly on what outward Motives such Persons may be induced so to do But our sole Enquiry at present is what the Faith of them who do believe is resolved into It is not therefore said that when our Lord Jesus Christ for we acknowledg that there is the same Reason of the first giving out of Divine Revelations as is of the Scripture came and preached unto the Jews that those meer VVords I am the Light of the World or the like had all this Evidence in them or with them for nothing he said of that kind may be separated from its Circumstances but supposing the Testimonies given in the Scripture before hand to his Person Work Time and Manner of Coming with the Evidence of the Presence of God with him in the declaration that he made of his Doctrine and himself to be the Messiah the Jews were bound to believe what he taught and himself to be the Son of God the Saviour of the World and so did many of them upon his Preaching only John 4. 42. And in like manner they were bound to believe the Doctrine of John Baptist and to submit unto his Institutions although he wrought no Miracle and those who did not rejected the Counsel of God for their Good and perished in their unbelief But although our Lord Jesus Christ wrought no Miracles to prove the Scripture then extant to be the VVord of God seeing he wrought them among such only as by whom that was firmly believed yet the VVisdom of God saw it necessary to confirm his Personal Ministry by them And without a Sense of the Power and Efficacy of the Divine Truth of the Doctrine proposed Miracles themselves will be despised so they were by some who were afterwards converted by the Preaching of the VVord Acts 2. 13. chap. 3. 7 8. or they will produce only a false Faith or a ravished Assent upon an Amazement that will not abide Acts 8. 13 21. APPENDIX A Summary Representation of the Nature and Reason of that Faith wherewith we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God with some Attestations given unto the Substance of what hath been delivered concerning it shall give a Close to this Discourse As to the first Part of this Design the Things that follow are proposed I. Unto the Enquiry on what Grounds or for what Reason we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God many Things are supposed as on all hands agreed upon whose Demonstration or Proof belongs not unto our present Work Such are 1. The Being of God and his Self-subsistence with all the Essential Properties of his Nature 2. Our Relation unto him and Dependance on him as our Creator Benefactor Preserver Judge and Rewarder both as unto Things Temporal and Eternal Wherefore 3. The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whatever may be known of God by the Light of Nature whatever is manifest in or from the Works of Creation or Providence and necessary Actings of Conscience as to the Being Rule and Authority of God is supposed as acknowledged in this Enquiry 4. That beyond the Conduct and Guidance of the Light of Nature that Men may live unto God believe and put their Trust in him according to their Duty in that Obedience which he requireth of them so as to come unto the Enjoyment of Him a Supernatural Revelation of his Mind and Will unto them especially in that Condition wherein all Mankind are since the Entrance of Sin is necessary 5. That all those unto whom God hath granted Divine Revelations immediately from Himself for their own use and that of all other Men unto whom they were to be communicated were infallibly assured that they came from God and that their Minds were no way imposed on in them 6. That all these Divine Revelations so far as they are any way necessary to guide and instruct Men in the true Knowledg of God and that Obedience which is acceptable unto him are now contained in the Scriptures or those Books of the Old and New Testament which are commonly received and owned among all Sorts of Christians These Things I say are supposed unto our present Enquiry and taken for granted so as that the Reader is not to look for any direct Proof of them in the preceding Discourse But on these Suppositions it is alledged and proved 1. That all Men unto whom it is duly proposed as such are bound to believe this Scripture these Books of the Old and New Testament to be the Word of God that is to contain and exhibit an Immediate Divine Supernatural Revelation of his Mind and Will so far as is any way needful that they may live unto him and that nothing is contained in them but what is of the same Divine Original 2. The Obligation of this Duty of thus Believing the Scripture to be the Word of God ariseth partly from the Nature of the Thing it self and partly from the especial Command of God For it being that Revelation of the Will of God without the Knowledg whereof and Assent whereunto we cannot live unto God as we ought nor come unto the enjoyment of him it is necessary that we should believe it unto those Ends and God requireth it of us that so we should do 3. We cannot thus believe it in a way of Duty but upon a sufficient Evidence and prevalent Testimony that so it is 4. There are many cogent Arguments Testimonies and Motives to perswade convince and satisfy unprejudiced Persons that the Scripture is the Word of God or a Divine Revelation and every way sufficient to stop the Mouths of Gain-sayers proceeding on such Principles of Reason as are owned and approved by the Generality of Mankind And Arguments of this Nature may be taken from almost all Considerations of the Properties of God and his Government of the World of our Relation unto him of what belongs unto our present Peace and future Happiness 5. From the Arguments and Testimonies of this Nature a firm Perswasion of Mind defensible against all Objections that the Scripture is the Word of God may be attained and that such as that those who live not in Contradiction unto their own Light and Reason through the Power of their Lusts cannot but judg it their Wisdom Duty and Interest to yield Obedience unto his VVill as revealed therein 6. But yet that Perswasion of Mind which may be thus attained and which resteth wholly upon these Arguments and Testimonies is not entirely that Faith wherewith we are obliged to believe the
Divine and Supernatural as it is required of us in a way of Duty 2. How or by what means we may come to understand aright the Mind of God in the Scripture or the Revelations that are made unto us of his Mind and Will therein For by Illumination in general as it denotes an Effect wrought in the minds of Men I understand that Supernatural Knowledg that any Man hath or may have of the Mind and Will of God as revealed unto him by Supernatural Means for the Law of his Faith Life and Obedience And this so far as it is comprised in the first of these Inquiries is that whose Declaration we at present design reserving the latter unto a distinct Discourse by it self also Unto the former some things may be premised First Supernatural Revelation is the only Objective cause and means of Supernatural Illumination These things are commensurate There is a natural knowledg of Supernatural things and that both Theoretical and Practical Rom. 1. 19. Chap. 2. 14 15. And there may be a Supernatural knowledg of Natural things 1 Kings 4. 31 32 33 34. Exod. 31. 3 4 5 6. But unto this supernatural Illumination it is required both that its Object be things only supernaturally revealed or as supernaturally revealed 1 Cor. 2. 9 10. and that it be wrought in us by a supernatural Efficiency or the immediate Efficacy of the Spirit of God Ephes. 1. 17 18 19. 2 Cor. 4. 6. This David prays for Psal. 119. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Reveal or Vncover mine eyes bring light and spiritual understanding into my mind that I may behold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with open face or as in the Syriack 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a revealed or uncovered face the vail being taken away 2 Cor. 3. 18. Wondrous things out of thy Law The Light he prayed for within did meerly respect the Doctrine of the Law without This the Apostle fully declares Heb. 1. 1 2. The various Supernatural Revelations that God hath made of himself his Mind and Will from first to last are the sole and adequate Object of Supernatural Illumination Secondly This Divine external Revelation was originally by various ways which we have elsewhere declared given unto sundry persons immediately partly for their own Instruction and Guidance in the Knowledg of God and his Will and partly by their Ministry to be communicated unto the Church So was it granted unto Enoch the seventh from Adam who thereon prophesied to the warning and instruction of others Jude 14 15. And to Noah who became thereby a Preacher of Righteousness 2 Pet. 2. 5. And to Abraham who thereon commanded his Children and Houshold to keep the way of the Lord Gen. 18. 19. And other instances of the like kind may be given Gen. 4. 26. Chap. 5. 28. And this course did God continue a long time even from the first promise to the giving of the Law before any Revelations were committed to writing for the space of 2460 years For so long a season did God enlighten the minds of Men by Supernatural external immediate occasional Revelations Sundry things may be observed of this divine dispensation As 1. That it did sufficiently evidence its self to be from God unto the minds of those unto whom it was granted and theirs also unto whom these Revelations were by them communicated For during this season Satan used his utmost endeavours to possess the minds of men with his delusions under the pretence of divine Supernatural Inspirations For hereunto belongs the Original of all his Oracles and Enthusisasmes among the Nations of the World There was therefore a divine Power and Efficacy attending all Divine Revelations ascertaining and infallably assuring the minds of men of their being from God For if it had not been so men had never been able to secure themselves that they were not imposed on by the crafty deceits of Satan especially in such Revelations as seemed to contain things contrary to their Reason as in the command given to Abraham for the sacrificing his Son Gen. 22. 2. Wherefore these immediate Revelations had not been a sufficient means to secure the Faith and Obedience of the Church if they had not carried along with them their own evidence that they were from God Of what nature that Evidence was we shall afterwards enquire For the present I shall only say that it was an Evidence unto Faith and not to Sense as is that also which we have now by the Scripture It is not like that which the Sun gives of it self by its Light which there needs no exercise of Reason to assure us of for Sense is irresistibly affected with it But it is like the Evidence which the Heavens and the Earth give of their being made and created of God and thereby of his Being and Power This they do undeniably and infallibly Psal. 19. 1 2. Rom. 1. 19 20 21. Yet is it required hereunto that men do use and exercise the best of their rational Abilities in the consideration and contemplation of them Where this is neglected notwithstanding their open and visible Evidence unto the contrary men degenerate into Atheism God so gave out these Revelations of himself as to require the exercise of the Faith Conscience Obedience and Reason of them unto whom they were made and therein they gave full Assurance of their proceeding from him So he tells us that his Word differeth from all other pretended Revelations as the Wheat doth from the Chaff Jer. 23. 28. But yet it is our duty to try and sift the Wheat from the Chaff or we may not evidently discern the one from the other 2. The things so revealed were sufficient to guide and direct all persons in the Knowledg of their duty to God in all that was required of them in a way of Faith or Obedience God from the beginning gave out the knowledg of his Will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by sundry parts and degrees yet so that every Age and Season had Light enough to guide them in the whole Obedience required of them and unto their Edification therein They had knowledg enough to enable them to offer Sacrifices in Faith as did Abel to walk with God as did Enoch and to teach their Families the fear of the Lord as did Abraham The World perished not for want of sufficient Revelation of the mind of God at any time Indeed when we go to consider those divine Instructions which are upon Record that God granted unto them we are scarce able to discern how they were sufficiently enlightned in all that was necessary for them to believe and do But they were unto them as a Light shining in a dark place Set up but a Candle in a dark room and it will sufficiently enlighten it for men to attend their necessary occasions therein But when the Sun is risen and shineth in at all the Windows the light of the Candle grows so dim and useless that it seems strange that any could
upon them that they cannot see nor discern Spiritual Things no not when they are externally proposed unto them as I have at large evinced elsewhere And no Man can give a greater Evidence that it is so than he who denies it so to be With Respect unto both these Kinds of Darkness the Scripture is a Light and accompanied with a Spiritual Illuminating Efficacy thereby evidencing it self to be a Divine Revelation For what but Divine Truth could recall the Minds of Men from all their wandrings in Error Superstition and other Effects of Darkness which of themselves they love more than Truth All Things being filled with Vanity Error Confusion Misapprehensions about God and our selves our Duty and End our Misery and Blessedness the Scripture where it is communicated by the Providence of God comes in as a Light into a Dark Place discovering all Things clearly and steadily that concern either God or our selves our present or future Condition causing all the Ghosts and false Images of Things which Men had framed and fancied unto themselves in the Dark to vanish and disappear Digitus Dei this is none other but the Power of God But principally it evidenceth this its Divine Efficacy by that Spiritual Saving Light which it conveighs into and implants on the Minds of Believers Hence there is none of them who have gained any Experience by the Observation of God's Dealings with them but shall although they know not the Ways and Methods of the Spirits Operations by the Word yea can say with the Man unto whom the Lord Jesus restored his Sight One thing I know that whereas I was born blind now I see This Power of the Word as the Instrument of the Spirit of God for the Communication of Saving Light and Knowledge unto the Minds of Men the Apostle declares 2 Cor. 3. 18. chap. 4. 4 6. By the Efficacy of this Power doth he evidence the Scripture to be the Word of God Those who believe find by it a Glorious Supernatural Light introduced into their Minds whereby they who before saw nothing in a distinct affecting manner in Spirituals do now clearly discern the Truth the Glory the Beauty and Excellency of Heavenly Mysteries and have their Minds transformed into their Image and LikeLineness And there is no Person who hath the Witness in himself of the kindling of this Heavenly Light in his Mind by the Word but hath also the Evidence in himself of its Divine Original 3. It doth in like manner evidence its Divine Authority by the Awe which it puts on the Minds of the Generality of Mankind unto whom it is made known that they dare not absolutely reject it Multitudes there are unto whom the Word is declared who hate all its Precepts despise all its Promises abhor all its Threatnings like nothing approve of nothing of what it declares or proposes and yet dare not absolutely refuse or reject it They deal with it as they do with God Himself whom they hate also according to the Revelation which he hath made of Himself in his Word They wish he were not sometimes they hope he is not would be glad to be free of his Rule but yet dare not cannot absolutely deny and disown Him because of that Testimony for Himself which he keeps alive in them whether they will or no. The same is the Frame of their Hearts and Minds towards the Scripture and that for no other Reason but because it is the Word of God and manifesteth it selfsso to be They hate it wish it were not hope it is not true but are not by any Means able to shake off a Disquiet in the Sense of its Divine Authority This Testimony it hath fixed in the Hearts of Multitudes of its Enemies Psal. 45. 5. 4. It evidences its Divine Power in administring strong Consolations in the deepest and most unrelievable Distresses Some such there are and such many Men fall into wherein all Means and Hopes of Relief may be utterly removed and taken away So is it when the Miseries of Men are not known unto any that will so much as pity them or wish them Relief or if they have been known and there hath been an Eye to pity them yet there hath been no Hand to help them Such hath been the Condition of innumerable Souls as on other Accounts so in particular under the power of Persecutors when they have been shut up in filthy and nasty Dungeons not to be brought out but unto Death by the most exquisite Tortures that the Malice of Hell could invent or the bloody Cruelty of Man inflict Yet in these and the like Distresses doth the Word of God by its Divine Power and Efficacy break through all interposing Difficulties all dark and discouraging Circumstances supporting refreshing and comforting such poor distressed Sufferers yea commonly filling them under overwhelming Calamities with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Though they are in Bonds yet is the Word of God not bound neither can all the Power of Hell nor all the Diligence or Fury of Men keep out the Word from entring into Prisons Dungeons Flames and to administer strong Consolations against all Fears Pains Wants Dangers Deaths or whatever we may in this mortal Life be exposed unto And sundry other Instances of the like Nature might be pleaded wherein the Word gives evident Demonstrations unto the Minds and Consciences of Men of its own Divine Power and Authority which is the second Way whereby the Holy Ghost its Author gives Testimony unto its Original But it is not meerly the Grounds and Reasons whereon we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God which we designed to declare The whole Work of the Holy Spirit enabling us to believe them so to be was proposed unto Consideration And beyond what we have insisted on there is yet a further peculiar Work of his whereby he effectually ascertains our minds of the Scriptures being the Word of God whereby we are ultimately established in the Faith thereof And I cannot but both admire and bewail that this should be denied by any that would be esteemed Christians Wherefore if there be any Necessity thereof I shall take Occasion in the Second Part of this Discourse further to confirm this Part of the Truth thus far debated namely that God by his Holy Spirit doth secretly and effectually perswade and satisfy the Minds and Souls of Believers in the Divine Truth and Authority of the Scriptures whereby he infallibly secures their Faith against all Objections and Temptations whatsoever so that they can safely and comfortably dispose of their Souls in all their Concernments with respect unto this Life and Eternity according unto the undeceivable Truth and Guidance of it But I shall no further insist on these Things at present Three Things do offer themselves unto Consideration from what hath been discoursed 1. What is the Ground and Reason why the meanest and most unlearned Sort of Believers do assent unto this Truth that the Scriptures are