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
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
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
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
nempe in qua securius constantiusque mens qui scat quam in ullis rationibus talis denique sensus qui nisi ex caelesti Revelatione nequeat Non aliud loquor quam quod apud se experitur fidelium unusquisque nisi quod longe infra justam rei explicationem verba subsidunt Calv. Instit. lib. 2. cap. 7 8 9. And we may here briefly call over what we have attained or passed through For 1. We have shewed in general both what is the Nature of divine Revelation and divine Illumination with their mutual Respect unto one another 2. What are the principal external Arguments or Motives of Credibility whereby the Scripture may be proved to bâ— of a divine Original 3. What kind of Perswasion is the Effect of them or what is the Assent which we give unto the Truth of the Scriptures on their Account 4. What objective Evidence there is unto Reason in the Doctrine of the Scriptures to induce the mind to assent unto them 5. What is the Nature of that Faith whereby we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God and how it is wrought in us by the Holy Ghost 6. What is that Internal Testimony which is given unto the divine Authority of the Scriptures by the holy Spirit what is the Force and Use thereof The Principal Part of our Work doth yet remain That which we have thus far made way for and which is now our only remaining Enquiry is What is the Work of the Holy Ghost with respect unto the objective Evidence which we have concerning the Scripture that it is the Word of God which is the formal Reason of our Faith and whereinto it is resolved that is we come to enquire and to give a direct Answer unto that Question Why we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God what it is that our Faith rests upon herein and what it is that makes it the Duty of every man to believe it so to be unto whom it is proposed And the Reason why I shall be the briefer herein is because I have long since in another Discourse cleared this Argument and I shall not here again call over any thing that was delivered therein because what hath been unto this day gainsaid unto it or excepted against it hath been of little Weight or Consideration Unto this great Enquiry therefore I say We believe the Scripture to be the Word of God with divine Faith for its own sake only or our Faith is resolved into the Authority and Truth of God only as revealing himself unto us therein and thereby And this Authority and Veracity of God do infallibly manifest or evince themselves unto our Faith or our Minds in the exercise of it by the Revelation it self in the Scripture and no otherwise Or Thus saith the Lord is the Reason why we ought to believe and why we do so why we believe at all in general and why we believe any thing in particular And this we call the formal Object or Reason of Faith And it is evident that this is not God himself absolutely considered for so he is only the material Object of our Faith He that cometh unto God must believe that he is Heb. 11. 6. Nor is it the Truth of God absolutely for that we believe as we do other essential Properties of his Nature But it is the Truth of God revealing himself his mind and will unto us in the Scripture This is the sole Reason why we believe any thing with Divine Faith It is or may be enquired wherefore we do believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God or that God is one in Nature subsisting in three Persons the Father Son and Holy Spirit I answer it is because God himself the first Truth who cannot lie hath revealed and declared these things so to be and he who is our All requireth us so to believe If it be asked how wherein or whereby God hath revealed and declared these things so to be or what is that Revelation which God hath made hereof I answer It is the Scripture and that only And if it be asked how I know this Scripture to be a Divine Revelation to be the Word of God I answer 1. I do not know it demonstratively upon rational scientifical Principles because such a Divine Revelation is not capable of such a Demonstration 1. Cor. 2. 9. 2. I do not assent unto it or think it to be so upon Arguments and Motives highly probable or morally uncontroulable only as I am assuredly perswaded of many other things whereof I can have no certain Demonstration 1 Thes. 2. 15. But I believe it so to be with Faith divine and supernatural resting on and resolved into the Authority and Veracity of God himself evidencing themselves unto my Mind my Soul and Conscience by this Revelation it self and not otherwise Here we rest and deny that we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God formally for any other Reason but it self which assureth us of its Divine Authority And if we rest not here we must run on the Rock of a moral Certainty only which shakes the Foundation of all Divine Faith or fall into the Gulf and Labyrinth of an endless Circle in proving two things mutually by one another as the Church by the Scripture and the Scripture by the Church in an everlasting Rotation Unless we intend so to wander we must come to something wherein we may rest for its own sake and that not with a strong and firm Opinion but with Divine Faith And nothing can rationally pretend unto this Priviledge but the Truth of God manifesting it self in the Scripture And therefore those who will not allow it hereunto do some of them wisely deny that the Scriptures being the Word of God is the Object of Divine Faith directly but only of a moral Perswasion from eternal Arguments and Considerations And I do believe that they will grant that if the Scripture be so to be believed it must be for its own sake For those who would have us to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God upon the Authority of the Church proposing it unto us and witnessing so to be though they make a fair appearance of a ready and easy way for the exercise of Faith yet when things come to be sifted and tried they do so confound all sorts of things that they know not where to stand or abide But it is not now my Business to examine their Pretences I have done it elsewhere I shall therefore prove and establish the Assertion laid down after I have made way to it by one or two previous Observations 1. We suppose herein all the Motives of Credibity before mentioned that is all the Arguments ab extra which vehemently perswade the Scripture to be the Word of God and wherewith it may be protected against Objections and Temptations to the contrary They have all of them their Use and may in their proper place be
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
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
to consider what is their Condition or what it is like to be it is no wonder if they talk of these things after the manner of these days without any Impression on their Minds and Affections or Influence on the practical Understanding But our Enquiry is after what is a sufficient Evidence for the Conviction of rational and unprejudiced Persons and the Defeating of Objections to the contrary which these and the like Arguments do every way answer Some think fit here to stay that is in these or the like external Arguments or rational Motives of Faith such as render the Scriptures so credible as that it is an unreasonable thing not to assent unto them That Certainty which may be attained on these Arguments and Motives is as they say the highest which our Minds are capable of with respect unto this Object and therefore includes all the Assent which is required of us unto this Proposition that the Scriptures are the Word of God or all the Faith whereby we believe them so to be When I speak of these Arguments I intend not them alone which I have insisted on but all others also of the same kind some whereof have been urged and improved by others with great Diligence for in the Variety of such Arguments as offer themselves in this Cause every one chooseth out what seems to him most cogent some amass all that they can think on Now these Arguments with the Evidence tendred in them are such as nothing but perverse Prejudice can detain men from giving a firm Assent unto And no more is required of us but that according to the Motives that are proposed unto us and the Arguments used to that purpose we come unto a Judgment and Perswasion called a moral Assurance of the Truth of the Scripture and endeavour to yield Obedience unto God accordingly And it were to be wished that there were more than it is feared there are who were really so affected with these Arguments and Motives For the Truth is Tradition and Education practically bear the whole sway in this matter But yet when all this is done it will be said that all this is but a meer natural Work whereunto no more is required but the natural exercise and acting of our own Reason and understanding that the Arguments and Motives used though strong are humane and fallible and therefore the Conclusion we make from them is so also and wherein we may be deceived that an Assent grounded and resolved into such rational Arguments only is not Faith in the sense of the Scripture in brief that it is required that we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God with Faith divine and supernatural which cannot be deceived Two things are replyed hereunto 1. That where the Things believed are divine and supernatural so is the Faith whereby we believe them or give our Assent unto them Let the Motives and Arguments whereon we give our Assent be of what kind they will so that the Assent be true and real and the Things believed be divine and supernatural the Faith whereby we believe them is so also But this is all one as if in things natural a man should say our Sight is green when we see that which is so and blew when we see that which is blew And this would be so in things moral if the Specification of Acts were from their material Objects but it is certain that they are not of the same Nature always with the Things they are conversant about nor are they changed thereby from what their Nature is in themselves be it natural or supernatural humane or divine Now things divine are only the material Object of our Faith as hath been shewed before and by an Enumeration of them do we answer unto the Question What is it that you do believe But it is the formal Object or Reason of all our Acts from whence they are denominated or by which they are specified And the formal Reason of our Faith Assent or Believing is that which prevails with us to believe and on whose Account we do so wherewith we answer unto that Question Why do you believe If this be humane Authority Arguments highly probable but absolutely fallible Motives cogent but only to beget a moral Perswasion whatever we do believe thereon our Faith is humane fallible and a moral Assurance only Wherefore it is said 2. That this Assent is sufficient all that is required of us and contains in it all the Assurance which our minds are capable of in this matter For no further Evidence nor Assurance is in any case to be enquired after than the subject matter will bear And so is it in this Case where the Truth is not exposed to Sense nor capable of a scientifical Demonstration but must be received upon such Reasons and Arguments as carry it above the highest Probability though they leave it beneath Science or Knowledge or infallible Assurance if such a Perswasion of Mind there be But yet I must needs say that although those external Arguments whereby learned and rational Men have proved or may yet further prove the Scripture to be a divine Revelation given of God and the Doctrine contained in it to be a heavenly Truth are of singular Use for the strengthening of the Faith of them that do believe by relieving the mind against Temptations and Objections that will arise to the contrary as also for the Conviction of Gainsayers yet to say that they contain the formal Reason of that Assent which is required of us unto the Scripture as the Word of God that our Faith is the Effect and Product of them which it rests upon and is resolved into is both contrary to the Scripture destructive of the Nature of divine Faith and exclusive of the Work of the Holy Ghost in this whole matter VVherefore I shall do these two things before I proceed to our principal Argument designed 1. I shall give some few Reasons proving that the Faith whereby we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God is not a meer firm moral Perswasion built upon external Arguments and Motives of Credibility but is divine and supernatural because the formal Reason of it is so also 2. I shall shew what is the Nature of that Faith whereby we do or ought to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God what is the work of the holy Spirit about it and what is the proper Object of it In the first I shall be very brief for my design is to strengthen the Faith of all and not to weaken the Opinions of any Divine Revelation is the proper Object of divine Faith With such Faith we can believe nothing but what is so and what is so can be received no otherwise by us If we believe it not with divine Faith we believe it not at all Such is the Scripture as the Word of God every where proposed unto us and we are required to believe that is first to
and which he cannot but design when the Scripture is proposed unto him in the Ministry of the Church attested by the Arguments insisted on there will appear unto him in the Truths and Doctrines of it or in the things contained in it such an Evidence of the Majesty and Authority of God as will prevail with him to believe it to be a divine Revelation And this Perswasion is such that the mind is established in its Assent unto the Truth so as to yield Obedience unto all that is required of us And whereas our Belief of the Scripture is in order only to the right Performance of our Duty or all that Obedience which God expecteth from us our minds being guided by the Precepts and Directions and duly influenced by the Promises and Threatnings of it thereunto there is no other Faith required of us but what is sufficient to oblige us unto that Obedience This being so far as I can apprehend the Substance of what is by some learned men proposed and adhered unto it shall be briefly examined And I say here as on other occasions that I should rejoyce to see more of such a Faith in the World as would effectually oblige men unto Obedience out of a Conviction of the Excellency of the Doctrine the Truth of the Promises and Threatnings of the Word though learned men should never agree about the formal Reason of Faith Such Notions of Truth when most diligently inquired into are but as sacrifice compared with Obedience But the Truth it self is also to be enquired after diligently This Opinion therefore either supposeth what we shall immediatly declare namely the necessity of an internal effectual Work of the Holy Spirit in the Illumination of our minds so enabling us to believe with Faith divine and supernatural or it doth not If it doth it will be found as I suppose for the Substance of it to be co-incident with what we shall afterwards assert and prove to be the formal Reason of Believing However as it is usually proposed I cannot absolutely comply with it for these two Reasons among others 1. It belongs unto the Nature of Faith of what sort soever it be that it be built on and resolved into Testimony This is that which distinguisheth it from any other Conception Knowledge or Assent of our minds on other Reasons and Causes And if this Testimony be divine so is that Faith whereby we give assent unto it on the part of the Object But the Doctrines contained in the Scripture or the subject Matter of the Truth to be believed have not in them the Nature of a Testimony but are the material not formal Objects of Faith which must always differ If it be said that these Truths or Doctrines do so evidence themselves to be from God as that in and by them we have the Witness and Authority of God himself proposed unto us to resolve our Faith into I will not further contend about it but only say that the Authority of God and so his Veracity do manifest themselves primarily in the Revelation it self before they do so in the things revealed which is that we plead for 2. The Excellency of the Doctrine or things revealed in the Scriptures respects not so much the Truth of them in speculation as their Goodness and Suitableness unto the Souls of Men as to their present Condition and eternal End Now things under that Consideration respect not so much Faith as spiritual Sense and Experience Neither can any man have a due Apprehension of such a goodness suitable unto our Constitution and Condition with absolute usefulness in the Truth of the Scripture but on a Supposition of that antecedent Assent of the mind unto them which is Believing which therefore cannot be the Reason why we do believe But if this Opinion proceed not upon the aforesaid Supposition immediately to be proved but requires no more unto our satisfaction in the Truth of the Scripture and Assent thereon but the due Exercise of Reason or the natural Faculties of our Minds about them when proposed unto us then I suppose it to be most remote from the Truth and that amongst many other Reasons for these that ensue 1. On this Supposition the whole Work of Believing would be a Work of Reason Be it so say some nor is it meet it should be otherwise conceived But if so then the Object of it must be things so evident in themselves and their own Nature as that the Mind is as it were compelled by that Evidence unto an Assent and cannot do otherwise If there be such a Light and Evidence in the things themselves with respect unto our Reason in the right use and exercise of it then is the Mind thereby necessitated unto its Assent which both overthrows the Nature of Faith substituting an Assent upon natural Evidence in the room thereof and is absolutely exclusive of the necessity or use of any Work of the Holy Ghost in our Believing which sober Christians will scarce comply withal 2. There are some Doctrines revealed in the Scripture and those of the most Importance that are so revealed which concern and contain things so above our Reason that without some previous supernatural Dispositions of Mind they carry in them no Evidence of Truth unto meer Reason nor of Suitableness unto our Constitution and End There is required unto such an Apprehension both the spiritual Elevation of the Mind by supernatural Illumination and a divine Assent unto the Authority of the Revelation thereon before Reason can be so much as satisfied in the Truth and Excellency of such Doctrines Such are those concerning the Holy Trinity or the Subsistence of one singular Essence in three distinct Persons the Incarnation of the Son of God the Resurrection of the dead and sundry other that are the most proper Subjects of divine Revelation There is an heavenly Glory in some of these things which as Reason can never throughly apprehend because it is finite and limited so as 't is in us by Nature it can neither receive them nor delight in them as doctrinally proposed unto us with all the Aids and Assistance before mentioned Flesh and Blood reveals not these thisgs unto our minds but our Father which is in Heaven Nor doth any man know these Mysteries of the Kingdom of God but he unto whom it is given nor do any learn these things aright but those that are taught of God 3. Take our Reason singly without the Consideration of divine Grace and Illumination and it is not only weak and limited but depraved and corrupted And the carnal mind cannot subject it self unto the Authority of God in any supernatural Revelation whatever Wherefore the Truth is that the Doctrines of the Gospel which are purely and absolutely so are so far from having a convincing Evidence in themselves of their divine Truth Excellency and Goodness unto the Reason of men as unrenewed by the Holy Ghost as that they are foolishness and most undesirable
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
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
nor by Miracles nor by Immediate Revelation or private subjective Testimony of the Spirit nor is their Faith a Perswasion of Mind that they can give no Reason of but only that they are so perswaded But it will be yet further objected that if there be such clear Evidences in the thing it self that is in the Divine Original and Authority of the Scriptures that none who freely use their Reason can deny it then it lies either in the naked Proposal of the Things unto the understanding and if so then every one that assents unto this Proposition that the whole is greater than the part must likewise assent unto this that the Scripture is the Word of God or the Evidence must not ly in the naked Proposal but in the Efficacy of the Spirit of God in the minds of them unto whom it is proposed Answ. 1. I know no Divine Ancient or Modern Popish or Protestant who doth not assert that tere is a work of the Holy Ghost on the minds of men necessary unto a due Belief of the Scriptures to be the VVord of God And the Consideration hereof ought not by any Christian to be excluded But they say not that this is the Objective Testimony or Evidence on which we believe the Scripture to be the VVord of God concerning which alone is our Enquiry 2. We do not dispute how far or by what means this Proposition the Scripture is the Word of God may be evidenced meerly unto our Reason but unto our understanding as capable of giving an Assent upon Testimony It is not said that this is a first Principle of Reason though it be of Faith nor that it is capable of a Mathematical Demonstration That the whole is greater than the part is self-evident unto our Reason upon its first Proposal but such none pretends to be in the Scripture because it is a Subject not capable of it Nor do those who denying the self-evidence of the Scripture pretend by their Arguments for its Divine Authority to give such an Evidence of it unto Reason as is in first Principles or Mathematical Demonstrations but content themselves with that which they call a Moral Certainty But it is by Faith we are obliged to receive the Truth of this Proposition which respects the Power of our Minds of assent unto Truth upon Testimony infallibly on that which is infallible And hereunto it evidenceth its own Truth not with the same but with an Evidence and Certainty of an higher nature and nobler kind than that of the strictest Demonstration in things natural or the most forcible Argumens in things moral 3. It will be objected that if this be so then none can be obliged to receive the Scripture as the Word of God who hath not Faith and none have Faith but those in whom it is wrought by the Spirit of God and thereinto all will be resolved at last Answ. 1. Indeed there is no Room for this Objection for the whole Work of the Spirit is pleaded only as he is the efficient Cause of Believing and not the objective or Reason why we do believe But 2. We must not be ashamed to resolve all we do well spiritually and in obedience to the Command of God unto the Efficacious Operation of the Holy Ghost in us unless we intend to be ashamed of the Gospel But this still makes his internal Operation to be the efficient and not his internal Testimony to be the formal Reason of our Faith 3. It is another Question whether all Obligation unto Duty is and must be proportionate unto our own Strength without Divine Assistance which we deny and affirm that we are obliged unto many things by virtue of Gods Command which we have no power to answer but by virtue of his Grace 4. Where the Proposal of the Scripture is made in the way before described those unto whom it is proposed are obliged to receive it as the Word of God upon the Evidence which it gives of it self so to be Yea every Real True Divine Revelation made unto Men or every Proposal of the Scripture by Divine Providence hath that Evidence of its being from God accompanying of it as is sufficient to oblige them unto whom it was made to believe it on pain of his Displeasure If this were otherwise then either were God obliged to confirm every particular Divine Revelation with a Miracle which as to its Obligation unto Believing wants not its difficulty which he did not as in many of the Prophets nor doth at this day at the first Proposal of the Gospel to the Heathen or else when he requires Faith and Obedience in such ways as in his Wisdom he judgeth meet that is in the ordinary Ministry of the Word they are not obliged thereby nor is it their Sin to refuse a Compliance with his Will 5. If this Difficulty can be no otherwise avoided but by affirming that the Faith which God requires of us with respect unto his VVord is nothing but a natural Assent unto it upon rational Arguments and Considerations which we have an Ability for without any spiritual Aid of the Holy Ghost or respect unto his Testimony as before described which overthrows all Faith especially that which is Divine I shall rather ten thousand times allow of all the just Consequences that can follow on the Supposition mentioned than admit of this Relief But of those Consequences this is none that any unto whom the Scripture is proposed are excepted from an Obligation unto Believing In like manner there is no difficulty in the usual Objection which respects particular Books of the Scripture why we receive them as Canonical and reject others as namely the Book of Proverbs and not of Wisdom of Ecclesiastes and not Ecclesiasticus For 1. As to the Books of the Old Testament we have the Canon of them given us in the New where it is affirmed that unto the Church of the Jews were committed the Oracles of God which both confirms all that we receive and excludes all that we exclude And unto the New there are no Pretenders nor ever were to the least Exercise of the Faith of any 2. All Books whatever that have either themselves pretended unto a Divine Original or have been pleaded by others to be of that Extract have been and may be from themselves without further help evicted of falshood in that pretence They have all of them hitherto in matter or manner in plain Confessions or other sufficient Evidence manifested themselves to be of an human Original And much Danger is not to be feared from any that for the future shall set forth with the same pretence 3. VVe are not bound to refuse the Ministry of the Church or the Advantages of Providence whereby the Scripture is brought unto us with the Testimonies which either directly or collaterally any one Part of it gives unto another Although the Scripture be to believed for it self yet it is not ordinarily to be believed by it self without