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
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
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
have advantage thereby The Sun of Righteousness is now risen upon us and Immortality is brought to light by the Gospel If we look now on the Revelations granted unto them of old we may yet see there was light in them which yields us little more advantage than the light of a Candle in the Sun But unto them who lived before this Sun arose they were a sufficient Guide unto all Duties of Faith and Obedience For 3. There was during this season a sufficient Ministry for the declaration of the Revelations which God made of Himself and his Will There was the natural Ministry of Parents who were obliged to instruct their Children and Families in the knowledge of the Truth which they had received And whereas this began in Adam who first received the Promise and therewithal whatsoever was necessary unto Faith and Obedience the knowledg of it could not be lost without the wilful neglect of Parents in teaching or of Children and Families in learning And they had the extraordinary Ministry of such as God entrusted new Revelations withal for the confirmation and inlargment of those before received who were all of them Preachers of Righteousness unto the rest of Mankind And it may be manifested that from the giving of the first Promise when divine external Revelations began to be the Rule of Faith and Life unto the Church to the writing of the Law there was always alive one or other who receiving divine Revelations immediatly were a kind of infallible Guides unto others If it was otherwise at any time it was after the death of the Patriarks before the Call of Moses during which time all things went into Darkness and Confusion For oral Tradition alone would not preserve the Truth of former Revelations But by whom these Instructions were received they had a sufficient outward means for their Illumination before any divine Revelations were recorded by Writing Yet 4. This way of Instruction as it was in it self imperfect and liable to many disadvantages so through the weakness negligence and wickedness of men it proved insufficient to retain the knowledg of God in the World For under this Dispensation the Generality of Mankind fell into their great Apostacy from God and betook themselves unto the conduct and service of the Devil of the ways means and degrees whereof I have discoursed* elsewhere Hereon God also regarded them not but suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways Acts 14. 16. giving them up to their own hearts lusts to walk in their own Counsels as it is expressed Psal. 81. 12. And although this fell not out without the horrible wickedness and ingratitude of the World yet there being then no certain Standard of divine Truth whereunto they might repair they brake off the easier from God through the imperfection of this Dispensation If it shall be said that since the Revelation of the Will of God hath been committed unto Writing men have Apostatized from the Knowledge of God as is evident in many Nations of the World which sometimes professed the Gospel but are now over-run with Heathenism Mahometism and Idolatry I say this hath not come to pass through any defect in the way and means of Illumination or the Communication of the Truth unto them but God hath given them up to be destroyed for their wickedness and ingratitude and unless we repent we shall all likewise perish Rom. 1. 18. 2 Thes. 2. 11 12. Otherwise where the Standard of the Word is once fixed there is a constant means of preserving divine Revelations Wherefore Thirdly God hath gathered up into the Scripture all divine Revelations given out by himself from the beginning of the World and all that ever shall be so to the end thereof which are of general use unto the Church that it may be throughly instructed in the whole mind and will of God and directed in all that Worship of Him and Obedience unto Him which is necessary to give us acceptance with Him here and to bring us unto the eternal enjoyment of him hereafter For 1. When God first committed the Law to writing with all those things which accompanied it he obliged the Church unto the use of it alone without Additions of any kind Now this he would not have done had he not expressed therein that is the Books of Moses all that was any way needful unto the Faith and Obedience of the Church For he did not only command them to attend with all diligence unto his Word as it was then written for their instruction and direction in Faith and Obedience annexing all sorts of Promises unto their so doing Deut. 6. 6 7. but also expresly forbids them as was said to add any thing thereunto or to conjoyn any thing therewith Deut. 4. 2. chap. 12 32. which he would not have done had he omitted other divine Revelations before given that were any way necessary unto the use of the Church As he added many new Ones so he gathered in all the old from the unfaithful Repository of Tradition and fixed them in a Writing given by divine Inspiration 2. For all other divine Revelations which were given out to the Church for its use in general under the Old Testament they are all comprised in the following Books thereof Nor was this that I know of ever questioned by any Person pretending to Sobriety though some who would be glad of any pretence against the Integrity and Perfection of the Scripture have fruitlesly wrangled about the loss of some Books which they can never prove concerning any one that was certainly of a divine Original 3. The full Revelation of the whole mind of God whereunto nothing pretending thereunto is ever to be added was committed unto and perfected by Jesus Christ Heb. 1. 1 2. That the Revelations of God made by him whether in his own Person or by his Spirit unto his Apostles were also by divine Inspiration committed to Writing is expressly affirmed concerning what he delivered in his own personal Ministry Luk. 1. 4. Acts 1. 1. John 20. 31. and may be proved by uncontroulable Arguments concerning the rest of them Hence as the Scriptures of the old Testament were shut up with a Caution and Admonition unto the Church to adhere unto the Law and Testimony with threatning of a Curse unto the contrary Mal. 4. 4 5 6. So the Writings of the New Testament are closed with a Curse on any that shall presume to add any thing more thereunto Rev. 22. 18. Wherefore Fourthly The Scripture is now become the only external means of divine supernatural Illumination because 't is the only Repository of all divine supernatural Revelation Psal. 19. 7 8. Isa. 8. 20. 2 Tim. 3. 15 16 17. The Pretences of Tradition as a collateral means of preserving and communicating supernatural Revelation have been so often evicted of falsity that I shall not further press their impeachment Besides I intend those in this Discourse by whom it is acknowledged that the Bible is
Declaration of him in his Nature Being and Subsistence with the necessary Properties and Acts thereof his Will with all his voluntary Actings or Works wherein we may be or are concerned so as that we may know him aright and entertain true Notions and Apprehensions of him according to the utmost capacity of our finite limited Understanding Neither do we urge his Authority in this case but here and elsewhere resort unto the Evidence of his Reasonings compared with the Event or Matter of Fact What horrible Darkness Ignorance and Blindness was upon the whole World with respect unto the Knowledge of God what confusion and debasement of our Nature ensued thereon whilst God suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways and winked at the times of their Ignorance the Apostle declares at large Rom. 1. from the 19th verse to the end of the Chapter The Sum is That the only true God being become unknown to them as the wisest of them acknowledged Acts 17. 21. and as our Apostle proved against them the Devil that Murderer from the Beginning and Enemy of Mankind had under various pretences substituted himself in his Room and was become the God of this World as he is called 2 Cor. 4. 4. and had appropriated all the religious Devotion and Worship of the Generality of Mankind unto himself For the things which the Gentiles sacrificed they sacrificed unto Devils and not unto God as our Apostle affirms 1 Cor. 10. 20. and as may easily be evinced and I have abundantly manifested it elsewhere It is acknowledged that some few speculative Men among the Heathens did seek after God in that horrid Darkness wherewith they were encompassed and laboured to reduce their Conceptions and Notions of his Being unto what Reason could apprehend of infinite Perfections and what the Works of Creation and Providence could suggest unto them but as they could never come unto any certainty or consistency of Notions in their own minds proceeding but a little beyond Conjecture as is the manner of them who seek after any thing in the dark much less with one another to propose any thing unto the World for the use of Mankind in these things by common consent so they could none of them either ever free themselves from the grossest practical Idolatry in worshipping the Devil the Head of their Apostacy from God nor in the least influence the minds of the Generality of Mankind with any due Apprehensions of the divine Nature This is the Subject and Substance of the Apostles Disputation against them Rom. 1. In this state of things what misery and confusion the World lived in for many Ages what an endless Labyrinth of foolish slavish Superstitions and Idolatries it had cast it self into I have in another Discourse particularly declared With respect hereunto the Scripture is well called by the Apostle Peter a Light shining in a dark place 2 Pet. 11. 9. It gives unto all men at once a perfect clear steady uniform Declaration of God his Being Subsistence Properties Authority Rule and Actings which evidenceth it self unto the Minds and Consciences of all whom the God of this World hath not absolutely blinded by the power of prejudices and lusts confirming them in an Enmity unto and hatred of God himself There is indeed no more required to free Mankind from this horrible darkness and enormous conceptions about the Nature of God and the Worship of Idols but a sedate unprejudiced Consideration of the Revelation of these things in the Book of the Scripture We may say therefore to all the World with our Prophet When they say unto you Seek unto them who have familiar Spirits and unto Wizards that peep and mutter Should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light in them Isa. 8. 19 20. And this also plainly manifests the Scripture to be of a divine Original For if this Declaration of God this Revelation of Himself and his Will is incomparably the greatest and most excellent Benefit that our Nature is capable of in this World more needful for and useful unto Mankind than the Sun in the Firmament as to the proper end of their Lives and Beings and if none of the wisest men in the World neither severally nor joyntly could attain unto themselves or make known unto others this Knowledge of God so that we may say with our Apostle that in the Wisdom of God the World by Wisdom knew not God 1 Cor. 1. 21. And whereas those who attempted any such things yet waxed vain in their Imaginations and Conjectures so that no one person in the World dares own the Regulation of his Mind and Understanding by their Notions and Conceptions absolutely although they had all advantages of Wisdom and the Exercise of Reason above those at the least the most of them who wrote and published the Books of the Scripture it cannot with any pretence of Reason be questioned whether they were not given by Inspiration from God as they pretend and plead There is that done in them which all the World could not do and without the doing whereof all the World must have been eternally miserable and who could do this but God If any one shall judge that that Ignorance of God which was among the Heathens of old or is among the Indians at this day is not so miserable a matter as we make it or that there is any way to free them from it but by an Emanation of Light from the Scripture he dwells out of my present way upon the Confines of Atheism so that I shall not divert unto any Converse with him I shall only add That whatever Notions of Truth concâ—rning God and his Essence there may be found in those Philosophers who lived after the Preaching of the Gospel in the World or are at this day to be found among the Mahumetans or other false Worshippers in the World above those of the more ancient Pagans they all derive from the Fountain of the Scripture and were thence by various means traduced 2. The second End of this Doctrine is to direct Mankind in their proper Course of living unto God and attaining that Rest and Blessedness whereof they are capable and which they cannot but desire These things are necessary to our Nature so that without them it were better not to be for it is better to have no Being in the World than whiles we have it always to wander and never to act towards its proper end seeing all that is really good unto us consists in our Tendency thereunto and our Attainment of it Now as these things were never stated in the minds of the Community of Mankind but that they lived in perpetual confusion so the Enquiries of the Philosophers about the chief end of Man the Nature of Felicity or Blessedness the ways of attaining it are nothing but
always esteemed no less Traytors to Christianity who gave up their Bibles to Persecutors than those who denyed Jesus Christ. 3. The manner wherein this Testimony was given adds to the importance of it For 1. Many of them especially in some seasons gave it in and with sundry miraculous operations This our Apostle pleadeth as a corroboration of the witness given by the first preachers of the Gospel unto the Truths of it Heb. 2. 4. as the same was done by all the Apostles together Act. 5. 32. It must be granted that these Miracles were not wrought immediately to confirm this single Truth that the Scripture was given by inspiration of God But the end of miracles is to be an immediate witness from Heaven or Gods attestation to their Persons and Ministry by whom they were wrought His Presence with them and Approbation of their Doctrine were publickly declared by them But the miracles wrought by the Lord Christ and his Apostles whereby God gave immediate Testimony unto the divine Mission of their Persons and infallible truth of their Doctrine might either not have been written as most of them were not or they might have been written and their doctrine recorded in Books not given by inspiration from God Besides as to the miracles wrought by Christ himself and most of those of the Apostles they were wrought among them by whom the Books of the Old Testament were acknowledged as the oracles of God and before the writing of those of the New So that they could not be wrought in the immediate confirmation of the one or the other Neither have we any infallible Testimony concerning these Miracles but the Scripture it self wherein they are recorded whence it is necessary that we should believe the Scripture to be infallibly true before we can believe on grounds infallible the miracles therein recorded to be so Wherefore I grant that the whole force of this consideration lyeth in this alone that those who gave Testimony to the Scripture to be the Word of God had an Attestation given unto their Ministry by these miraculous operations concerning which we have good collateral security also 2. Many of them confirmed their Testimony with their Sufferings being not only witnesses but Martyrs in the peculiar Church notion of that word grounded on the Scripture Act. 22. 20. Rev. 2. 13. Chap. 17. 7. So far were they from any Worldly advantage by the Profession they made and the Testimony they gave as that in the confirmation of them they willingly and cheerfully underwent whatever is evil dreadful or destructive to humane nature in all its temporary concerns It is therefore unquestionable that they had the highest Assurance of the Truth in these things which the Mind of Man is capable of The management of this Argument is the principal design of the Apostle in the whole 11th Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews For having declared the nature of faith in general namely that it is the subsistence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen ver 1. That is such an â—ssent unto and confidence of invisible things things capable of no demonstration from Sense or Reason as respects divine Revelation only whereinto alone it is resolved for our encouragement thereunto and establishment therein he produceth a long Catalogue of those who did suffered and obtained great things thereby That which he principally insists upon is the Hardships Miseries Cruelties Tortures and several sorts of Deaths which they underwent especially from ver 35. to the end These he calleth a Cloud of Witnesses wherewith we are compassed about Chap. 12. 1. giving Testimony unto what we do believe that is divine Revelation and in an especial manner the promises therein contained unto our encouragement in the same duty as he there declares And certainly what was thus testified unto by so many Great Wise and Holy Persons and that in such a way and manner hath as great an outward evidence of its Truth as any thing of that nature is capable of in this World 3. They gave not their Testimony casually or on some extraordinary Occasion only or by some one solemn act or in some one certain way as other Testimonies are given nor can be given otherwise but they gave their Testimony in this cause in their whole course in all that they thought spake or did in the World and in the whole disposal of their ways lives and actions as every true Believer continueth to do at this day For a man when he is occasionally called out to give a verbal Testimony unto the divine original of the Scripture ordering in the mean time the whole course of his conversation his hopes designs ayms and ends without any eminent respect or regard unto it his Testimony is of no value nor can have any influence on the minds of sober and considerate men But when men do manifest and evince that the Declaration of the mind of God in the Scripture hath a Sovereign divine Authority over their Souls and Consciences absolutely and in all things then is their Witness cogent and efficacious There is to me a thousand times more force and weight in the Testimony to this purpose of some holy persons who universally and in all things with respect unto this World and their future eternal condition in all their thoughts words actions and ways do really experiment in themselves and express to others the power and Authority of this Word of God in their Souls and Consciences living doing suffering and dying in peace assurance of mind and consolation thereon then in the verbal declaration of the most splendid numerous Church in the World who evidence not such an inward sense of its power and Efficacy There is therefore that force in the real Testimony which hath been given in all Ages by all this sort of persons not one excepted unto the divine Authority of the Scripture that it is highly arrogant for any one to question the Truth of it without evident convictions of its imposture which no person of any tolerable Sobriety did ever yet pretend unto I shall add in the last place the consideration of that Success which the doctrine derived solely from the Scripture and resolved thereinto hath had in the World upon the Minds and Lives of Men especially upon the first preaching of the Gospel And two things offer themselves hereon immediately unto our consideration First the Persons by whom this doctrine was successfully carried on in the World and Secondly the Way and Manner of the propagation of it Both which the Scripture takes notice of in particular as evidences of that divine power which the Word was really accompanied withal For the persons unto whom this work was committed I mean the Apostles and first Evangelists were as to their outward condition in the World Poor Low and every way despised and as unto the endowments of their minds destitute of all those Abilities and Advantages which might give them either Reputation or
posse affirmat absque illumi natione et inspiratione Spiritus Sancti qui dat omnibus suavitatem consentiendo et credendo veritati haeretico fallitur Spiritu It is still granted that the Arguments intended that is all of them which ar true indeed and will endure a strict Examination for some are frequently made use of in this Cause which will not endure a Trial are of good use in their place and unto their proper end that is to beget such an Assent unto the Truth as they are capable of effecting For although this be not that which is required of us in a way of Duty but inferior to it yet the mind is prepared and disposed by them unto the receiving of the Truth in its proper Evidence 3. Our Assent can be of no other Nature than the Arguments and Motives whereon it is built or by which it is wrought in us as in Degree it cannot exceed their Evidence Now these Arguments are all humane and fallible exalt them unto the greatest esteem possible yet because they are not Demonstrations nor do necessarily beget a certain Knowledg in us which indeed if they did there were no room left for Faith or our Obedience therein they produce an Opinion only though in the highest kind of Probability and firm against Objections For we will allow the utmost Assurance that can be claimed upon them But this is exclusive of all divine Faith as to any Article Thing Matter or Object to be believed For Instance a man professeth that he believes Jesus Christ to be the Son of God Demand the Reason why he doth so and he will say because God who cannot lie hath revealed and declared him so to be proceed yet further and ask him where or how God hath revealed and declared this so to be and he will answer in the Scripture which is his Word enquire now further of him which is necessary wherefore he believes this Scripture to be the Word of God or an immediate Revelation given out from him for hereunto we must come and have somewhat that we may ultimately rest in excluding in its own Nature all further Enquiries or we can have neither certainty nor stability in our Faith On this Supposition his answer must be that he hath many cogent Arguments that render it highly propable so to be such as have prevailed with him to judg it so to be and whereon he is fully perswaded as having the highest Assurance hereof that the matter will bear and so doth firmly believe them to be the Word of God Yea but it will be replied all these Arguments are in their kind or Nature humane and therefore fallible such as it is possible they may be false for every thing may be so that is not immediately from the first essential Verity This Assent therefore unto the Scriptures as the Word of God is humane fallible and such as wherein we may be deceived And our Assent unto the things revealed can be of no other kind than that we give unto the Revelation it self For thereinto it is resolved and thereunto it must be reduced these waters will rise no higher than their Fountain And thus at length we come to believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God with a Faith humane and fallible and which at last may deceive us which is to receive the Word of God as the Word of Men and not as it is in truth the Word of God contrary to the Apostle 1 Thes. 2. 13. Wherefore 4. If I believe the Scripture to be the Word of God with an humane Faith only I do no otherwise believe whatever is contained in it which overthrows all Faith properly so called And if I believe what is contained in the Scripture with Faith divine and supernatural I cannot but by the same Faith believe the Scripture it self which removes the moral Certainty treated of out of our way And the Reason of this is that we must believe the Revelation and the things revealed with the same kind of Faith or we bring confusion on the whole work of believing No man living can distinguish in his Experience between that Faith wherewith he lieves the Scripture and that wherewith he believes the Doctrine of it or the things contained in it nor is there any such Distinction or Difference intimated in the Scripture it self but all our believing is absolutely resolved into the Authority of God revealing Nor can it be rationally apprehended that our Assent unto the things revealed should be of a kind and nature superior unto that which we yield unto the Revelation it self For let the Arguments which it is resolved into be never so evident and cogent let the Assent it self be as firm and certain as can be imagined yet is it humane still and natural and therein is inferior unto that which is divine and supernatural And yet on this Supposition that which is of a superior kind and nature is wholly resolved into that which is of an inferior and must be take it self on all occasions thereunto for relief and confirmation For the Faith whereby we believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God is on all occasions absolutely melted down into that whereby we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God But none of these things are my present especial Design and therefore I have insisted long enough upon them I am not enquiring what Grounds men may have to build an Opinion or any kind of humane Perswasion upon that the Scriptures are the the Word of God no nor yet how we may prove or maintain them so to be unto Gainsayers but what is required hereunto that we may believe them to be so with Faith divine and supernatural and what is the Work of the Spirit of God therein But it may be further said that these external Arguments and Motives are not of themselves and considered separately from the Doctrine which they testify unto the sole Ground and Reason of our Believing For if it were possible that a thousand Arguments of a like cogency with them were offered to confirm any Truth or Doctrine if it had not a divine Worth and Excellency in it self they could give the mind no Assurance of it Wherefore it is the Truth it self or Doctrine contained in the Scripture which they testify unto that animates them and gives them their Efficacy For there is such a Majesty Holiness and Excellency in the Doctrine of the Gospel and moreover such a Suitableness in them unto unprejudiced Reason and such an Answerableness unto all the rational Desires and Expectations of the Soul as evidence their Procedure from the Fountain of infinite Wisdom and Goodness It cannot but be conceived impossible that such excellent heavenly Mysteries of such use and benefit unto all Mankind should be the Product of any created Industry Let but a man know himself his State and Condition in any measure with a desire of that Blessedness which his nature is capable of
shall be all taught of God John 6. 45. That there is a divine and heavenly Excellency in the Scripture cannot be denied by any who on any Grounds or Motives whatever do own its divine Original For all the Works of God do set forth his Praise and it is impossible that any thing should proceed immediately from Him but that there will be express Characters of divine Excellencies upon it and as to the Communication of these Characters of Himself he hath magnified his Word above all his Name But these we cannot discern be they in themselves never so illustrious without the effectual Communication of the Light mentioned unto our Minds that is without divine supernatural Illumination Herein he who commanded Light to shine out of Darkness shineth into our Hearts the Knowledg of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4. 6. He irradiates the Mind with a spiritual Light whereby it is enabled to discern the Glory of spiritual Things This they cannot do in whom the God of this World hath blinded the eyes of them that believe not lest the Light of the glorious Gospel of Christ who is the Image of God should shine into them v. 6. Those who are under the Power of their natural Darkness and Blindness especially where there are in them also superadded Prejudices begotten and increased by the craft of Satan as there are in the whole World of Unbelievers cannot see nor discern that divine Excellency in the Scripture without an Apprehension whereof no man can believe it a right to be the Word of God Such Persons may assent unto the Truth of the Scripture and its divine Original upon external Arguments and rational Motives but believe it with Faith Divine and Supernatural on those Arguments and Motives only they cannot There are two things which hinder or disenable men from believing with Faith divine and supernatural when any Divine Revelation is objectively proposed unto them First The natural Blindness and Darkness of their Minds which are come upon all by the Fall and the Depravation of our Nature that ensued thereon Secondly The Prejudices that through the Crafts of Satan the God of this World their minds are possessed with by Traditions Educations and Converse in the World This last Obstruction or Hinderance may be so far removed by external Arguments and Motives of Credibility as that men may upon them attain unto a moral Perswasion concerning the Divine Original of the Scripture But these Arguments cannot remove or take away the native Blindness of the mind which is removed by their Renovation and Divine Illumination alone Wherefore none I think will positively affirm that we can believe the Scripture to be the Word of God in the way and manner which God requireth without a supernatural Work of the Holy Spirit upon our minds in the Illumination of them So David prays that God would open his eyes that he might behold wonderous things out of the Law Psal. 119. 10. That he would make him understand the way of his Precepts v. 27. That he would give him understanding and he should keep the Law v. 34. So the Lord Christ also opened the understandings of his Disciples that they might understand the Scriptures Luk. 24. 45. As he had affirmed before that it was given unto some to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God and not unto others Mat. 11. 25. chap. 13. 11. And neither are these things spoken in vain nor is the Grace intended in them needless The Communication of this Light unto us the Scripture calleth Revealing and Revelation Mat. 11. 25. Thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them unto Babes that is giving them to understand the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven when they were preached unto them And no man knoweth the Father but he to whom the Son revealeth him v. 27. So the Apostle prayeth for the Ephesians that God would give them the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledg of Christ that the eyes of their understandings being enlightned they might know c. chap. 1. v. 17 18 19. It is true these Ephesians were already Believers or considered by the Apostle as such but if he judged it necessary to pray for them that they might have the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to enlighten the eyes of their Vnderstanding with respect unto further Degrees of Faith and Knowledge or as he speaks in another place that they might come unto the full Assurance of Vnderstanding to the acknowledgment of the Mystery of God Col. 2. 2. Then it is much more necessary to make them Believers who before were not so but utter strangers unto the Faith But as a Pretence hereof hath been abused as we shall see afterwards so the pleading of it is liable to be mistaken For some are ready to apprehend that this Retreat unto a Spirit of Revelation is but a pretence to discard all rational Arguments and to introduce Enthusiasm into their room Now although the Charge be grievous yet because it is groundless we must not forego what the Scripture plainly affirms and instructs us in thereby to avoid it Scripture Testimonies may be expounded according to the Analogy of Faith but denied or despised seem they never so contrary unto our Apprehension of things they must not be Some I confess seem to disregard both the objective Work of the Holy Spirit in this matter whereof we shall treat afterwards and his subjective Work also in our minds that all things may be reduced unto Sense and Reason But we must grant that a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to open the eyes of our Understanding is needful to enable us to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God in a due manner or forgo the Gospel And our Duty it is to pray continually for that Spirit if we intend to be established in the Faith thereof But yet we plead not for external immediate Revelations such as were granted unto the Prophets Apostles and other Penmen of the Scripture The Revelation we intend differs from them both in its especial Subject and formal Reason or Nature that is in the whole kind For 1. The subject matter of divine Prophetical Revelation by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or immediate divine Inspiration are things not made known before Things they were hid in God or the Counsels of his Will and revealed unto the Apostles and Prophets by the Spirit Ephes. 2. 5 9 10. Whether they were Doctrines or Things they were at least as unto their present Circumstances made known from the Counsels of God by their Revelation But the Matter and Subject of the Revelation we treat of is nothing but what is already revealed It is an internal Revelation of that which is outwardly and antecedent unto it beyond the Bounds thereof it is not to be extended And if any pretend unto immediate Revelations of things not before revealed we have no concernment in
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
be mistaken but only its own Divine Original and Authority making our Duty necessary and securing our Faith infallibly And those Testimonies are with me of more weight a thousand times than the plausible Reasonings of any to the contrary With some indeed it is grown a matter of contempt to quote or cite the Scripture in our Writings such Reverence have they for the Ancient Fathers some of whose Writings are nothing else but a perpetual Contexture of Scripture But for such who pretend to despise those Testimonies in this Case it is because either they do not understand what they are produced to confirm or cannot answer the Proof that is in them For it is not unlikely but that some Persons well conceited of their own Understanding in things wherein they are most ignorant will pride and please themselves in the Ridiculousness of proving the Scripture to be the Word of God by Testimonies taken out of it But as was said we must not forgo the Truth because either they will not or cannot understand what we discourse about 2. Our Assertion is confirmed by the uniform Practice of the Prophets and Apostles and all the Penmen of the Scripture in proposing these Divine Revelations which they received by immediate Inspiration from God For that which was the Reason of their Faith unto whom they first declared those Divine Revelations is the Reason of our Faith now they are recorded in the Scripture For the writing of it being by God's Appointment it comes into the room and supplies the place of their Oral Ministry On what Ground soever men were obliged to receive and believe Divine Revelations when made unto them by the Prophets and Apostles on the same are we obliged to receive and believe them now they are made unto us in the Scripture the VVriting being by divine Inspiration and appointed as the Means and Cause of our Faith It is true God was pleased sometimes to bear witness unto their personal Ministry by Miracles or Signs and Wonders as Heb. 2. 4. God bearing them witness But this was only at some seasons and with some of them That which they universally insisted on whether they wrought any Miracles or no was that the Word which they preached declared wrote was not the Word of man came not by any private Suggestion or from any Invention of their own but was indeed the Word of God 1 Thes. 2. 13. and declared by them as they were acted by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. 21. Under the Old Testament although the Prophets sometimes referred Persons unto the Word already written as that which their Faith was to acquiesce in Isa. 8. 20 Mal. 4. 4. setting out its Power and Excellency for all the ends of Faith and Obedience Psal. 19. 7 8 9. Psal. 119. and not to any thing else nor to any other Motives or Arguments to beget and require Faith but it s own Authority only yet as to their own especial Messages and Revelations they laid the Foundation of all the Faith and Obedience which they required in this alone Thus saith the Lord the God of Truth And under the New Testament the infallible Preachers and Writers thereof do in the first place propose the Writings of the Old Testament to be received for their own sake or on the Account of their Divine Original see John 45. 46 47. Luk. 16. 29 31. Mat. 21. 42. Acts 18. 24 25 28. Acts 24. 14. chap. 26. 22. 2 Pet. 1. 21. Hence are they called the Oracles of God Rom. 3. 2. And Oracles always required an Assent for their own sakes and other Evidence they pleaded none And for the Revelations which they superadded they pleaded that they had them immediately from God by Jesus Christ Gal. 1. 1. And this was accompanied with such an infallible Assurance in them that received it as to be preferred above a Supposition of the highest Miracle to confirm any thing to the contrary Gal. 1. 8. For if an Angel from Heaven should have preached any other Doctrine than what they revealed and proposed in the Name and Authority of God they were to esteem him accursed For this Cause they still insisted on their Apostolical Authority and Mission which included infallible Inspiration and Directions as the Reason of the Faith of them unto whom they preached and wrote And as for those who were not themselves divinely inspired or wherein those that were so did not act by immediate Inspiration they proved the Truth of what they delivered by its consonancy unto the Scriptures already written referring the Minds and Consciences of Men unto them for their ultimate Satisfaction Acts 18. 28. chap. 28. 33. 3. It was before granted that there is required as subservient unto believing as a means of it or the Resolution of our Faith into the Authority of God in the Scriptures the ministerial Proposal of the Scriptures and the Truths contained in them with the Command of God for Obedience unto them Rom. 16. 25. 26. This Ministry of the Church either extraordinary or ordinary God hath appointed unto this End and ordinarily it is indispensible thereunto Rom. 10. 14 15. How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall they preach unless they are sent Without this ordinarily we cannot believe the Scripture to be the Word of God nor the things contained in it to be from him though we do not believe either the one or the other for it I do grant that in extraordinary cases outward Providences may supply the room of this Ministerial Proposal for it is all one as unto our Duty by what means the Scripture is brought unto us But upon a Supposition of this Ministerial Proposal of the Word which ordinarily includes the whole Duty of the Church in its Testimony and Declaration of the Truth I desire to know whether those unto whom it is proposed are obliged without further external Evidence to receive it as the Word of God to rest their Faith in it and submit their Consciences unto it The Rule seems plain that they are obliged so to do Mark 16. 16. We may consider this under the distinct ways of its Proposal extraordinary and ordinary Upon the Preaching of any of the Prophets by immediate Inspiration of the Holy Ghost or on their Declaration of any new Revelation they had from God by preaching or writing suppose Isaiah or Jeremiah I desire to know whether or no all Persons were bound to receive their Doctrine as from God to believe and submit unto the Authority of God in the Revelation made by him without any external Motives or Arguments or the Testimony or Authority of the Church witnessing thereunto If they were not then were they all excused as guiltless who refused to believe the Message they declared in the Name of God and in despising the Warnings and Instructions which they gave them For external Motives they used not and the present Church mostly
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
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