04. Chapter IV.

Chapter IV.

Moral certainty, as the result of external arguments, is insufficient.

1. Divine revelation is the proper object of divine faith. With such faith we can believe nothing but what is divinely revealed;86 and what is divinely revealed can be received by us in no other way. If we do not believe it with divine faith, then we do not believe it at all. Such is the Scripture. It is everywhere proposed to us as the word of God, and we are required to believe it — that is, first to believe that it is the word of God, and then to believe the things contained in it. For this proposition, "The Scripture is the word of God," is a divine revelation, and so it is to be believed. But God nowhere requires, nor ever required, that we believe any divine revelation on such propositional grounds, much less on such grounds and motives alone. They are consequential to our believing, left to us to plead with others in behalf of what we profess, and to justify it to the world. But in receiving divine revelations, what God requires our faith in, and our obedience to — whether they are immediately given and declared, or as recorded in the Scripture — is his own authority and veracity: "I am the Lord;" "Thus says the high and lofty One;" "Thus says the Lord;" "To the law and to the testimony;" "This is my beloved Son, hear him;" "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God;" "Believe in the Lord and his prophets." 87 This alone is what he requires us to resolve our faith into. So when he gave us the law of our lives in the Ten Commandments, the eternal and unchangeable rule of our obedience to him, he gives no other reason to oblige us to this obedience, except this alone: "I am the Lord your God." The sole formal reason of all our obedience is taken from his own nature and our relation to him; nor does he propose any other reason why we should believe him, or the revelation which he makes of his mind and will. And our faith is part of our obedience, the root and principal part of it; therefore, the reason of both is the same. Neither our Lord Jesus Christ nor his apostles ever made use of such arguments or motives for ingenerating faith in the minds of men; nor have they given directions for the use of any such arguments to this end and purpose. But when accused of "following cunningly-devised fables,"2 Peter 1:16 the apostles appealed to Moses and the prophets, to the revelations they themselves had received, and those that were recorded before. It is true, they worked miracles in confirmation of their own divine mission and of the doctrine which they taught. But all the miracles of our Savior were worked among those who believed the whole Scripture (as then given) to be the word of God; and those miracles of the apostles were done before the writings of the books of the New Testament. Therefore, their doctrine as materially considered, and their warranty to teach it, were sufficiently (indeed, abundantly) confirmed by those miracles. But divine revelation, formally considered and as written, was left upon the old foundation of the authority of God who gave it. No such method is prescribed, no such example is proposed to us in the Scripture, that would make use of these arguments and motives for the conversion of the souls of men to God, and ingenerating faith in them. In fact, in some cases, the use of such means is decried as unprofitable; and the sole authority of God is appealed to, putting forth his power in and by his word: 1 Corinthians 2:4-5; 1 Corinthians 2:13; 1 Corinthians 14:36-37; 2Cor 4.7.88 Yet the use of arguments and motives has been granted and proved as a way of preparation, subservient to receiving the Scripture as the word of God, and for the defense of it against gainsayers and their objections. But from first to last, in the Old and New Testaments, the authority and truth of God are constantly and uniformly proposed as the immediate ground of, and reason of, believing his revelations. Nor can it be proved that he accepts or approves any kind of faith or assent except what is built on that, and resolved into it. The sum is this: We are obliged by duty to believe the Scriptures are a divine revelation when ministerially or providentially proposed to us (more of this afterward). The ground on which we are to receive them is the authority and veracity of God speaking in them — we believe them because they are the word of God. Now, this faith by which we believe them is divine and supernatural, because the formal reason of it is divine and supernatural: namely, God’s truth and authority. Therefore, we do not and should not only believe that the Scripture is "highly probable;" nor should we believe it only with a moral persuasion and assurance, built on arguments that are absolutely fallible and human. For if the formal reason of our faith is the veracity and authority of God, then if we do not believe with divine and supernatural faith, we do not believe at all.

2. The moral certainty addressed is a mere effect of reason. No more is required for it than that the reasons proposed for the assent required, is what the mind judges to be convincing and prevalent. What necessarily ensues from this is an inferior kind of knowledge, or a firm opinion, or some kind of persuasion which has not yet gotten an intelligible name. On this supposition, there is therefore no need for any work of the Holy Ghost to enable us to believe or to work faith in us — for no more is required in this than what necessarily arises from a naked exercise of reason.

If it is said that the inquiry is not about what the work of the Spirit of God is in us, but concerns the reasons and motives proposed to us for believing, I grant that. But what we urge in this is that the act which is exerted upon such motives, or the persuasion which is begotten in our minds by them, is purely natural; it requires no special work of the Holy Ghost in us to effect it. Now, this is not faith; nor can we be said, in the Scriptural sense, to believe by this. And so, in particular, we cannot be said to believe that the Scriptures are the word of God. For faith is "the gift of God," and "not of ourselves," Ephesians 2:8. It is "given to some on behalf of Christ," Php 1:29, and not to others; Mat 11.25, 13.11.89 But assent that is based on external arguments and motives, is of ourselves; it is equally common and exposed to all. "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," 1 Corinthians 12:3; but the one who believes the Scripture truly, rightly, and according to his duty, does say so. No man comes to Christ unless he has "heard and learned from the Father," John 6:45. As this other means is contrary to Scripture,90 so it is expressly condemned by the ancient church, particularly by the second Arausican council,91 canon 5:

"If anyone says that not only the increase of faith but also its beginning and the very desire for faith, by which we believe in Him who justifies the ungodly and comes to the regeneration of holy baptism — if anyone says that this belongs to us by nature and not by a gift of grace, that is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit amending our will and turning it from unbelief to faith and from godlessness to godliness, it is proof that he is opposed to the teaching of the Apostles;"92 And plainly, canon 7:

"If anyone affirms that we can form any right opinion or make any right choice which relates to the salvation of eternal life, as is expedient for us, or that we can be saved, that is, assent to the preaching of the gospel through our natural powers without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who makes all men gladly assent to and believe in the truth, he is led astray by a heretical spirit, and does not understand the voice of God;"93

It is still granted that the arguments intended are of good use in their place, and for their proper end, which is to produce whatever assent to the truth they are capable of effecting — speaking of all those arguments which are indeed true, and will endure a strict examination. For some are frequently made use of in this cause, which will not endure a trial. Although this assent is not what is required of us in a way of duty, but is inferior to it, the mind is prepared and disposed by them to receive the truth in its proper evidence.

3. Our assent can be of no other nature than the arguments and motives on which it is built, or by which it is worked in us, just as it cannot exceed their evidence in degree. Now, these arguments are all human and fallible. Exalt them to the greatest esteem possible, and yet, because they are not demonstrations, nor do they necessarily produce a certain knowledge in us (for indeed, if they did, there would be no place left for faith or our obedience in this), they will only produce an opinion in us — 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 that is to be believed. For instance, say a man professes that he believes Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Demand the reason why he believes it, and he will say, "Because God, who cannot lie, has revealed and declared him to be so."

Proceed still further, and ask him where or how God has revealed and declared this to be so, and he will answer, "In the Scripture, which is His word." Now inquire further of him (which is necessary) why he believes this Scripture is the word of God, or why it is an immediate revelation given from Him. For we must come to this, and have something that we may ultimately rest in, excluding all further inquiries in its own nature;94 or we can have neither certainty nor stability in our faith. On this supposition, his answer must be that he has many cogent arguments that render it highly probable that it is the word of God. They have prevailed with him to judge it is so, and he is fully persuaded from these, having the highest assurance that the matter will bear. And so he firmly believes it is the word of God. Yes, but it will be replied that all these arguments are human in their kind or nature; and therefore they are fallible, so that it is possible they may be false — for everything may be fallible that is not immediately from the first essential Verity. Therefore, this assent to the Scriptures as the word of God is human, fallible, and such that we may be deceived in it. Our assent to the things revealed can be of no other kind than what we give to the revelation itself; for it is resolved into this, and it must be reduced to this. These waters will rise no higher than their fountain. And thus we come at length to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God with a faith that is human and fallible, and which at last may deceive us. This 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 in 1Thes 2.13.95 Therefore —

4. If I believe the Scripture is the word of God with human faith only, then I do not believe whatever is contained in it in any other way; this overthrows all faith, properly so called. And if I believe whatever is contained in the Scripture with divine and supernatural faith, I cannot help but believe the Scripture itself by the same faith; this removes moral certainty out of our way. And the reason of this is that, we must believe the revelation and the things revealed in it, with the same kind of faith, or else we bring confusion on the whole work of believing. No man living can distinguish in his experience between that faith by which he believes the Scripture, and that faith by which he believes its doctrine, or the things contained in it. Nor is there any such distinction or difference intimated in the Scripture itself — but all our believing is absolutely resolved into the authority of God revealing it. Nor can it be rationally apprehended that our assent to the things revealed, is of a kind and nature superior to what we yield to the revelation itself. For however evident and cogent the arguments are which our assent is resolved into — however firm and certain the assent itself can be imagined — it is still human and natural; and thus it is inferior to what is divine and supernatural. And yet, on this other supposition,96 what is of a superior kind and nature is wholly resolved into what is inferior, and on all occasions it must resort to this inferior kind for relief and confirmation. For the faith by which we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, is on all occasions absolutely melted down into that faith by which we believe the Scriptures are the word of God. But none of these things are my present special design; and therefore I have insisted on them long enough. I am not inquiring what grounds men may have on which to build an opinion or any kind of human persuasion, that the Scriptures are the word of God. Nor am I inquiring how we may prove or maintain to gainsayers that they are so. I am asking what is required that we may believe they are so with divine and supernatural faith, and what the work of the Spirit of God is in this. 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 to, the sole ground and reason of our believing. For if it were possible that a thousand arguments of similar cogency were offered to confirm any truth or doctrine, if it did not have a divine worth and excellence in itself, they could give the mind no assurance of it. Therefore, it is the truth itself, or the doctrine contained in the Scripture, which they testify to, that animates them and gives them their efficacy. For there is such a majesty, holiness, and excellence in the doctrines of the gospel; and moreover, such a suitableness in them to unprejudiced reason; and such a correspondence to all the rational desires and expectations of the soul — as to evidence that they proceed from the fountain of infinite wisdom and goodness. It must be conceived impossible for such excellent, heavenly mysteries, that have such use and benefit for all mankind, to be the product of any created industry. Let a man but know himself in any measure — his state and condition, with a desire for that blessedness which his nature is capable of, and which he cannot help but design when the Scripture is proposed to him in the ministry of the church, and attested to by the arguments insisted on — and there will appear to him in its truths and doctrines, or in the things that it contains, such an evidence of the majesty and authority of God, that these will prevail with him to believe it is a divine revelation. This persuasion is such that the mind is established in its assent to the truth, so as to yield obedience to all that is required of us. And because our belief of the Scripture is only to rightly perform our duty, or all that obedience which God expects from us — our minds being guided by its precepts and directions, and duly influenced by its promises and threatenings to this end — there is no other faith required of us except what is sufficient to oblige us to that obedience." This being, so far as I can apprehend, the substance of what is proposed and adhered to by some learned men, it will be briefly examined. And I say here, as on other occasions, that I would rejoice to see more of such a faith in the world that would effectively oblige men to obedience, out of a conviction of the excellence of the doctrine and the truth of the promises and threatenings of the word — even if learned men were never to agree about the formal reason of faith. Such notions of truth, when most diligently inquired into, are but sacrifice compared with obedience.97 But the truth itself is also to be inquired after diligently. This opinion, therefore, either supposes what we will shortly declare — namely, the necessity of an internal, effectual work of the Holy Spirit in the illumination of our minds, enabling us to believe with divine and supernatural faith — or it does not. If it does, then I suppose, as to its substance, it will be found to coincide with what we will afterward assert and prove to be the formal reason of believing. However, I cannot absolutely comply98 with it as it is usually proposed, for these two reasons, among others:

1. It belongs to the nature of faith, of whatever sort, that it be built on and resolved into testimony. This is what distinguishes it from any other conception, knowledge, or assent of our minds, based on other reasons and causes. And if this testimony is divine, so is that faith by which we give assent to it, on the part of the object. But the doctrines contained in the Scripture, or the subject-matter of the truth to be believed, do not have the nature of a testimony in them; rather, they are the material objects, not the formal objects of faith, which must always differ. If it is said that these truths or doctrines so evidence themselves to be from God, that in and by them we have the witness and authority of God himself proposed to us to resolve our faith into, I will not further contend about it. I will only say that the authority of God, and thus his veracity, manifest themselves primarily in the revelation itself, before they do so in the things revealed; which is what we plead for.

2. The excellency of the doctrine, or things revealed in the Scriptures, does not so much respect the truth of them speculatively, as it respects their goodness and suitableness for the souls of men as to their present condition and eternal end.99 Now, things under that consideration do not respect faith so much as spiritual sense and experience. Nor can any man duly apprehend such a goodness suitable to our constitution and condition, with absolute usefulness in the truth of the Scriptures, unless we suppose there is an antecedent assent of the mind to them, which is believing. This assent, therefore, cannot be the reason why we believe. But if this opinion does not proceed on the aforesaid supposition (shortly to be proved), and if it requires no more for our satisfaction in the truth of the Scriptures, and our assent based on that, than the due exercise of reason (the natural faculties of our minds) about them when proposed to us, then I suppose it is furthest from the truth, for these ensuing reasons (among many others):

1. On this supposition, the whole work of believing would be a work of reason. "Let it be so," say some; "nor is it fit to be conceived otherwise." But if it is so, then its object must be things that are so evident in themselves and in their own nature, that the mind is, as it were, compelled by that evidence to assent, for it cannot do otherwise. If there is such a light and evidence in the things themselves with respect to our reason, in the right use and exercise of it, then the mind is thereby necessitated to assent to it. This both overthrows the nature of faith — substituting in its place an assent based on natural evidence— and it absolutely excludes the necessity or use of any work of the Holy Ghost in our believing, which sober Christians will scarcely comply with.

2. There are some doctrines revealed in the Scripture (and those of the most importance), which concern and contain things so far above our reason that, without some previous supernatural disposition of mind, they carry no evidence of truth to our mere reason, nor of suitableness to our constitution and end. For such an apprehension requires both the spiritual elevation of the mind by supernatural illumination, and a divine assent to the authority of the revelation on that, before reason can so much as be satisfied in the truth and excellence 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 various other doctrines that are the most proper subjects of divine revelation. There is a heavenly glory in some of these things, which natural reason can never thoroughly apprehend because it is finite and limited. Thus it can neither receive them nor delight in them as doctrinally proposed to us, even with all the aids and assistance mentioned before. Flesh and blood does not reveal these things to our minds, but our Father which is in heaven;Matthew 16:17 nor does any man know these mysteries of the kingdom of God, except the one "to whom it is given;" Matthew 19:11 nor do any learn these things rightly except those who are taught by God.John 6:45

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 itself to the authority of God in any supernatural revelation whatsoever.

Therefore the truth is, that the pure and absolute doctrines of the gospel are so far from having any convincing evidence in themselves of their divine truth, excellence, and goodness, to the reason of men who are unrenewed by the Holy Ghost, that they are "foolishness"100 and most undesirable to their reason, as I have proved at large elsewhere. We will therefore proceed.

There are two things to be considered with respect to our believing that the Scriptures are the word of God in a due manner, or according to our duty. The first respects the subject, or the mind of man — how it is enabled to this belief. The other is the object to be believed, with the true reason why we believe the Scripture with divine and supernatural faith. The first of these must of necessity fall under our consideration in this; for without it, whatever reasons, evidences, or motives are proposed to us, we will never believe in a due manner. Because the mind of man, or the minds of all men, are by nature depraved, corrupt, carnal, and enmity against God, they cannot of themselves, or by virtue of any innate ability of their own, understand or assent to spiritual things in a spiritual manner; we sufficiently proved and confirmed this before.101 For this reason, that assent which is worked in us by mere external arguments, consisting in the rational conclusion and judgment which we make upon their truth and evidence, is not that faith with which we ought to believe the word of God. Therefore, so that we may believe the Scriptures are the word of God, according to our duty as required of us by God — in a useful, profitable, and saving manner, above and beyond that natural, human faith and assent which is the effect of the arguments and motives of credibility insisted on before, with all others of that kind — there is and must be worked in us, by the power of the Holy Ghost, supernatural and divine faith, by which we are enabled to do so, or rather by which we do so. This work of the Spirit of God is distinct from, and in order of nature it is antecedent to, all divine objective evidence of the Scriptures being the word of God, or the formal reason that moves us to believe it. Therefore, without this work of the Spirit, whatever arguments or motives are proposed to us, we cannot believe that the Scriptures are the word of God in a due manner, and as a duty that is required of us.

Some, it may be, will suppose that these things are "out of place," and impertinent to our present purpose. For while we are inquiring on what grounds we believe that the Scripture is the word of God, we seem to flee to the work of the Holy Ghost in our own minds, which is irrational. But we must not be ashamed of the gospel, nor of its truth, because some do not understand or will not duly consider what is proposed.

It is necessary that we return to the work of the Holy Spirit, not with particular respect to the Scriptures that are to be believed, but with respect to our own minds, and that faith with which they are to be believed. For it is not the reason why we believe the Scriptures, but the power by which we are enabled to do so, which we are inquiring about at present:

1. The faith by which we believe the Scripture is the word of God, is worked in us by the Holy Ghost; this can be denied only on two principles or suppositions:

(1.) That it is not divine and supernatural faith by which we believe it is the word of God, but only other moral assurance of it.

(2.) That this divine and supernatural faith is of ourselves, and it is not worked in us by the Holy Ghost. The first of these has already been disproved, and it will be further evicted afterward; it may be there are very few who are of that judgment. For generally, whatever men suppose is the prime object, principal motive, and formal reason of that faith, they all acknowledge that it is divine and supernatural. And as to the second, it is must be of the operation of the Spirit of God. For to say it is divine and supernatural is to say that it is not of ourselves, but it is the grace and gift of the Spirit of God, worked in us by his divine and supernatural power. Those of the church of Rome who would resolve our faith in this matter into the authority of their church objectively, still acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit ingenerating faith in us subjectively; and that work is necessary to our believing the Scripture in a due manner.102 We do not, therefore, assert any such divine formal reason of believing, such that the mind would not need supernatural assistance enabling it to assent to this. No indeed: we affirm that without this assistance, there is no true faith at all in any man — however forcible and pregnant with evidence those arguments and motives can be imagined on which he believes. It is in this case, as it is in natural things — neither the light of the sun, nor any persuasive arguments made to men to look at it, will enable them to discern it, unless they are endowed with a due visual faculty. And the Scripture is express in this beyond all possibility of contradiction. Nor is it, that I know of, denied as yet by anyone, in express terms. For indeed, it cannot be questioned by anyone who owns the gospel, that all which is properly called faith with respect to divine revelation, and is accepted by God as such, is the work of the Spirit of God in us, or it is bestowed on us by him.

I also proved it elsewhere so fully and largely, that at present I will give no other confirmation than what necessarily falls in with the description of the nature of that faith by which we believe, and the way or manner of its being worked in us.

2. The work of the Holy Ghost for this purpose, consists in the saving illumination of the mind. And the effect of it is a supernatural light by which the mind is renewed: see Romans 12:2; Eph 1.18-19, 3.16-19.103 It is called a "heart to understand, eyes to see, ears to hear," Deuteronomy 29:4; the "opening the eyes of our understanding," Ephesians 1:18; "giving us an understanding,’"1 John 5:20. Hereby we are enabled to discern the evidences of the divine origin and authority of the Scripture that are in it, as well as assent to the truth contained in it. Without it, we cannot do so, for "the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned," 1 Corinthians 2:14. To this end, it is written in the prophets that "we will all be taught by God," John 6:45. That there is a divine and heavenly excellence in the Scripture cannot be denied by anyone who admits its divine origin on any grounds or motives whatsoever. For all the works of God set forth his praise; and it is impossible for anything to proceed immediately from Him without express characteristics of divine excellencies on it. And as to the communication of these characteristics of himself, he has "magnified his word above all his name." Psalms 138:2 But we cannot discern these, however illustrious they are themselves, without the effectual communication to our minds of the light mentioned — that is, without divine, supernatural illumination. In this, "he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness shines in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ," 2 Corinthians 4:6. He irradiates the mind with a spiritual light, by which it is enabled to discern the glory of spiritual things. Unbelievers cannot do this: "the god of this world has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine into them," 2 Corinthians 4:4. Those who are under the power of their natural darkness and blindness, cannot see or discern that divine excellence in the Scripture — especially where prejudices are also superadded (as there are in the whole world of unbelievers), begotten and increased by the craft of Satan. And without an apprehension of it, no man can rightly believe it is the word of God. Such persons may assent to the truth of the Scripture and its divine origin, on external arguments and rational motives; but they cannot believe it with divine and supernatural faith on those arguments and motives alone.

There are two things which hinder or disenable men from believing with divine and supernatural faith, when any divine revelation is objectively proposed to them:

First, the natural blindness and darkness of their minds, which have come upon all by the fall, and also by the depravation of their nature that ensued from that.

Secondly, the prejudices that — through the craft of Satan, the god of this world — their minds are possessed with by traditions, education, and experience in the world. This last obstruction or hindrance may be so far removed by external arguments and credible motives, that men may attain from them a moral persuasion concerning the divine origin of the Scripture. But these arguments cannot remove or take away the native blindness of the mind. That is only removed by the renovation and divine illumination of the mind. Therefore, none will, I think, positively affirm that we can believe that the Scripture is the word of God, in the way and manner which God requires, without a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit on our minds, in their illumination. So David prays that God would "open his eyes, that he might behold wondrous things out of the law," Psalms 119:18; that he would "make him understand the way of his precepts," verse 27; that he would "give him understanding, and he would keep the law," verse 34. So the Lord Christ also "opened the understanding of his disciples, that they might understand the Scriptures," Luke 24:45 — as he affirmed before: that it was given to some and not to others, to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, Matthew 11:25; Matthew 13:11. These things are not spoken in vain, nor is the grace intended in them needless. The Scripture calls the communication of this light to us, revealing and revelation: Matthew 11:25, "You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them to babes;" that is, it is given to them to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven when these mysteries were preached to them. And "no man knows the Father, but the one to whom the Son will reveal him," verse 27. So the apostle prays for the Ephesians, "that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, that the eyes of their understanding being enlightened, they might know," etc., Ephesians 1:17-19. It is true that these Ephesians were already believers, or considered as such by the apostle. 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 understanding," and this was with respect to further degrees of faith and knowledge — or as he says in another place, that they might come to "the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God," Colossians 2:2 — then enlightenment is much more necessary to make believers of those who were not believers before, but were utter strangers to the faith. But because a pretense of this has been abused (as we will see afterward), so pleading it is liable to be mistaken. For some are ready to think this retreat to a Spirit of revelation is only a pretense to discard all rational arguments, and to introduce enthusiasm in their place. Now, the charge is grievous; yet, because it is groundless, we must not forego what the Scripture plainly affirms and instructs us in — thereby to avoid the charge, Scripture testimonies may be expounded according to the analogy of faith.104 But they must not be denied or despised, however contrary they seem to our apprehension of things. Some, I confess, seem to disregard both the objective work of the Holy Spirit in this matter (which we will treat afterward), and also his subjective work in our minds, so that all things may be reduced to sense and reason. But we must grant that, to open the eyes of our understanding, a "Spirit of wisdom and revelation" Ephesians 1:17 is needed to enable us to duly believe that the Scripture is the word of God, and it goes before the gospel. Thus it is our duty to pray continually for that Spirit, if we intend to be established in the faith of that gospel.

Yet we do not plead for external immediate revelations which were granted to the prophets, apostles, and other penmen of the Scripture. The revelation we intend differs from them, both in its special subject and its formal reason or nature — that is, in its whole kind. For,

1. The subject-matter of divine, prophetic revelation by an "immediate divine inspiration," 2 Timothy 3:16 concerned things not made known before — things "hid in God," or in the counsels of his will, and were "revealed to the apostles and prophets by the Spirit," Ephesians 3:5; Ephesians 3:9-10. Whether they were doctrines or things, they were, at least as to their present circumstances, made known by their revelation, from the counsels of God. But the matter and subject of the revelation we address is nothing but what is already revealed. It is an internal revelation of that which is outward and antecedent to it; it is not to be extended beyond the bounds of this. And if any pretend to immediate revelations of things not revealed before, we have no concern in their pretenses.

2. They differ likewise in their nature or kind: for immediate, divine, prophetic revelation, consisted in an immediate inspiration or afflatus,105 or in visions and voices from heaven. It was accompanied with a power of the Holy Ghost transiently affecting their minds and guiding their tongues and hands, to whom these were granted, and by which they received and represented divine impressions — just as an instrument of music receives and represents the skill of the hand by which it is moved. I have more fully discussed the nature of this revelation elsewhere.106 But this revelation of the Spirit consists in his effectual operation, freeing our minds from darkness, ignorance, and prejudice, enabling them to discern spiritual things in a due manner. And such a Spirit of revelation is necessary for those who would rightly believe the Scripture, or anything else that is divine and supernatural contained in it. And if through the power of temptations and prejudices, men are in the dark, or at a loss as to the great and fundamental principle of all religion — namely, the divine origin and authority of the Scripture — they will absolutely lean on their own understandings.Proverbs 3:5 They will have the whole difference determined by the natural powers and faculties of their own souls. If they do so without seeking divine aid and assistance, or earnest prayer for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to open the eyes of their understandings, they must be content to abide in their uncertainties, or to come away from them without any advantage to their souls. It is not that I would deny or take away from men, the use of their reason in this matter. For why is their reason given to them, unless it is to use it in those things which are of the greatest importance to them? Only, I must crave leave to say that it is not sufficient of itself to enable us to perform this duty, without the immediate aid and assistance of the Holy Spirit of God.

If anyone, on these principles, were now to ask us why we believe the Scripture is the word of God; we would not answer, "It is because the Holy Ghost has enlightened our minds, worked faith in us, and enabled us to believe it." Without this, we say — indeed, if the Spirit of God did not so work in us and upon us — we neither should nor could believe with divine and supernatural faith. If God had not opened the heart of Lydia,Acts 16:14 she would not have attended to the things preached by Paul, so as to receive them. And without it, the light often shines in the darkness, but the darkness comprehends it not.John 1:5 But this neither is nor can it be the formal object of our faith, or the reason why we believe the Scripture is of God, or why we believe anything else. By this enlightenment, we neither do, nor can we, rationally answer the question why we believe. The reason must be something external and evidentially proposed to us. For whatever ability to spiritually assent exists in the understanding, which is thus worked in it by the Holy Ghost, the understanding cannot assent to anything, with any kind of assent — whether natural or supernatural — except what is outwardly proposed to it as true; and with sufficient evidence that it is true. Therefore, whatever proposes anything to us as true, with evidence of that truth, that is the formal object of our faith, or the reason why we believe. And what is so proposed, must be evidenced to be true, or else we cannot believe it. Our faith is according to the nature of that evidence — human if that evidence is human, and divine if that evidence is divine. Now, nothing of this is done by that saving light which is infused into our minds. And it is therefore not the reason why we believe what we believe.

Some seem to conceive that the only general ground for believing that the Scripture is the word of God, consists in rational arguments and motives of credibility. Therefore, while they grant that private persons may have their assurance of this from the illumination of the Holy Ghost (though this means is not pleadable for others), they grant what is not desired by any that I know of, and what in itself is not true. For this work consists solely in enabling the mind for that kind of assent which is divine and supernatural faith, on the supposition that an external formal reason of it has been duly proposed. Yet, it is not the reason why any believe; nor is it the ground into which their faith is resolved.107

It remains only that we inquire whether our faith in this matter is not resolved into an immediate internal testimony of the Holy Ghost, assuring us of the divine origin and authority of the Scripture, distinct from the work of spiritual illumination, described before. For it is the common opinion of protestant divines that the testimony of the Holy Ghost is the ground on which we believe that the Scripture is the word of God, and it will be immediately declared in what sense it is so. But on this, they are generally charged by those of the church of Rome (and others), with resolving the entire ground and assurance of faith into their own particular spirits, or the spirit of every one that pretends to it. And this is looked at as a sufficient warranty to reproach them for countenancing emotionalism, and exposing the minds of men to endless delusions. Therefore, this matter must be inquired into a little further. [For it is assumed that], —

"An internal testimony of the Spirit may intend an extraordinary afflatus or new immediate revelation. Men may suppose they have, or ought to have, an internal particular testimony that the Scripture is the word of God, by which (and by which alone) they may be infallibly assured that it is so. And this is supposed to be of the same nature as the revelation made to the prophets and penmen of the Scripture. For it is neither an external proposition of truth, nor an internal ability to assent to such a proposition — and besides these, there is no divine operation of this kind, except an immediate prophetic inspiration or revelation. Therefore, because such a revelation or immediate testimony of the Spirit is the only reason why we believe, it is that alone which our faith rests on and is resolved into." This is what is commonly imputed to those who deny that either the authority of the church, or any other external arguments or motives of credibility, are the formal reason of our faith. However, not one of them, that I know of, ever asserted any such thing [as stated above]. And I therefore deny that our faith is resolved into any such private testimony, immediate revelation, or inspiration of the Holy Ghost. And that is for the ensuing reasons:

1. Since the finishing of the canon of Scripture, the church is not under that conduct which needs such new extraordinary revelations.108 Indeed, it lives upon the internal gracious operations of the Spirit, enabling us to understand, believe, and obey the perfect and complete revelation of the will of God that has already been made; thus the church has neither need nor use for new revelations. To suppose there is a need for them, not only overthrows the perfection of the Scripture, but it also leaves us uncertain whether we know all that is to be believed for salvation, or our whole duty, or when we may have it. For it would be our duty to live all our days in expectation of new revelations, which is inconsistent with peace, assurance, and consolation.

2. On this supposition, those who are to believe, would not be able to secure themselves from delusion, and being imposed on by the deceits of Satan — for this new revelation is either to be tested by the Scripture, or it is not. If it is to be tried and examined by the Scripture, then such new revelation acknowledges a superior rule, judgment, and testimony; and so it cannot be that which our faith is ultimately resolved into. If it is exempted from that rule of testing the spirits, then —

(1.) It must produce the grant of this exemption, seeing that the rule is extended generally to all things and doctrines that relate to faith or obedience.

(2.) It must declare what the grounds and evidences of its "self-credibility" are, and how it may be infallibly or assuredly distinguished from all delusions — which can never be done. And if any tolerable countenance could be given to these things, we will show immediately that no such private testimony, though real, can be the formal object of faith or reason of believing.

3. It has so fallen out in the providence of God, that all generally who, in any things concerning faith or obedience, have given themselves up to the pretended conduct of immediate revelations, — even though they have pleaded respect to the Scripture also — have been seduced into opinions and practices that are directly repugnant to it. And this, with all persons of sobriety, is sufficient to discard this pretense. But this internal testimony of the Spirit is explained by others in quite another way. For they say that besides the work of the Holy Ghost insisted on before — by which he takes away our natural blindness, and (enlightening our minds) enables us to discern the divine excellencies that are in the Scripture — there is another internal efficiency of his, by which we are moved, persuaded, and enabled to believe. They say we are so taught of God by this, that — finding the glory and majesty of God in the word — our hearts, by an ineffable power, assent to the truth without any hesitation. And this work of the Spirit carries its own evidence in itself, producing such an assurance above all human judgment, that it needs no further arguments or testimonies. This is what faith rests on and is resolved into.

Some learned men seem to embrace this, because they suppose that the objective evidence which is given in the Scripture itself is only moral, or it can give only a moral assurance. Therefore, because faith ought to be divine and supernatural, what faith is resolved into must also be divine and supernatural — indeed, it is divine and supernatural from the formal reason of it alone. And they can apprehend nothing in this work that is immediately divine, except this internal testimony of the Spirit, in which God himself speaks to our hearts.

Yet, as it is thus explained, we cannot allow it to be the formal object of faith, nor that in which faith acquiesces; for —

1. It does not have the proper nature of a divine testimony. It may be a divine work, but it is not a divine testimony; rather, the nature of faith is built on an external testimony. Therefore, though our minds may be established and enabled to believe firmly and steadfastly by an ineffable internal work of the Holy Ghost (of which we may also have a certain experience), yet neither that work, nor its effect, can be the reason why we believe, nor that by which we are moved to believe. It is only that by which we believe.109

2. The formal object of our faith, or the reason on which we believe, is the same and common to all who believe. For our inquiry is not how or by what means this or that man came to believe, but why anyone or everyone to whom the scripture is proposed, ought to believe. The object that is to be believed, and which is proposed to all, is the same. And the faith required of all by way of duty, is the same (or it is of the same kind and nature). And therefore, the reason why we believe must also be the same. But on this other supposition, there would have to be as many distinct reasons for believing, as there are believers.

3. On this supposition, it cannot be the duty of anyone to believe that the Scripture is the word of God, if they have not received this internal testimony of the Spirit. For where the true formal reason of believing is not proposed to us, it is not our duty to believe. Therefore, although the Scripture is proposed as the word of God, it is not our duty to believe it is the word of God, until we have this work of the Spirit in our hearts (if that were the formal reason of our believing). But not to press any further how it is possible for men to be deceived and deluded in their apprehensions of such an internal testimony of the Spirit, this cannot be admitted as the formal object of our faith, because it would divert us from what is public, proper, and in every way certain and infallible.110 This is especially true if this testimony is not to be tried by the Scripture — if it is, then it loses its "self-credibility;" and if it is not, then it throws us into circular reasoning, which is what the Papists charge us with.

However, that work of the Spirit which may be called an internal real testimony, is granted as that which belongs to the stability and assurance of faith. For if he did not work in us, or upon us, other than by the communication of spiritual light to our minds, enabling us to discern the evidences that are in the Scripture of its own divine origin, we would often be shaken in our assent and moved from our stability. For our spiritual darkness is removed only in part; while we are here, we see things at best but darkly, as in a mirror;1 Corinthians 13:12 all things that are believed, have tenuous evidence or some obscurity attending them. And because temptations frequently shake and disturb the due respect of the faculty toward the object, or interpose mists and clouds between them, we can have no assurance in believing, unless our minds are further established by the Holy Ghost. Therefore, he assists us in two ways to believe, and to make our minds certain about the things believed, so that we may hold fast the beginning of our confidence, firm and steadfast to the end.Hebrews 3:6 For —

1. He gives to believers a spiritual sense of the power and reality of the things believed, by which their faith is greatly established. And although the divine witness, to which our faith is ultimately resolved, does not consist in this, it is the greatest corroborating testimony of which we are capable. This is what brings us to the "riches of the full assurance of understanding," Colossians 2:2; also 1 Thessalonians 1:5. On account of this spiritual experience, our perception of spiritual things is so often expressed by acts of sense, such as tasting, seeing, feeling, and similar means of assurance in natural things. And when believers have attained this, they find the divine wisdom, goodness, and authority of God so present to them, that they need neither argument, nor motive, nor anything else, to persuade or confirm them in believing. Because this spiritual experience, which believers obtain through the Holy Ghost, cannot be rationally contended. It is such that those who have received it, cannot fully express it; and those who have not received it, cannot understand it, nor the efficacy which it has to secure and establish the mind. And so it is left to be determined by those alone who have their "senses exercised to discern good and evil." Hebrews 5:14 This belongs to the internal subjective testimony of the Holy Ghost.

2. He so assists, helps, and relieves us, against temptations to the contrary, that they will not be prevalent. Our first prime assent to the divine authority of the Scripture, based upon its proper grounds and reasons, will not secure us against future objections and temptations to the contrary, from all manner of causes and occasions. David’s faith was so assaulted by them that "he said in his haste that all men were liars;" Psalms 116:11 and Abraham himself, after he had received the promise that "in his seed all nations would be blessed," was reduced to that anxious inquiry, "Lord God, what will you give me, seeing that I go childless?" Genesis 15:2; and Peter was so winnowed by Satan, that although his faith did not fail, he greatly failed and fainted in its exercise. And we all know what fears from within, what fights from without, we are exposed to in this matter. Of this sort are all those atheistic objections against the Scripture which abound these days, which the devil uses as fiery darts to inflame the souls of men and to destroy their faith. Indeed, this is that work which the powers of hell are principally engaged in at this day. Having lopped off many branches, they now lay their axe to the root of faith. And hence, in the midst of the profession of Christian religion, there is no greater controversy than whether the Scriptures are the word of God or not. Against all these temptations the Holy Ghost gives such a continual supply of spiritual strength and assistance to believers, that these temptations will at no time prevail, nor will their faith totally fail. In such cases, the Lord Christ intercedes for us so that our faith will not fail;Luke 22:32 and God’s grace is sufficient against the buffetings of these temptations.2 Corinthians 12:9 In this, the fruit of Christ’s intercession, with the grace of God and its efficiency, are communicated to us by the Holy Ghost. This is no place to declare in particular what those internal aids are, by which he establishes and assures our minds against the force and prevalence of objections and temptations against the divine authority of the Scripture — how they are communicated to us and received by us. It is in vain for anyone who denies these things, to pretend to the name of Christian. And these supplies also have the nature of an internal, real testimony, by which faith is established.

It is somewhat strange that, after a long, quiet possession of the professed faith, and the assent of most men to this, there should now arise among us such an open opposition to the divine authority of the Scriptures (as we find by experience). And thus it may not be amiss in our passage, to name the principal causes or occasions of this opposition. For if we were to bring into one reckoning (as we justly may), all those who either openly oppose and reject it — or who use or neglect it at their pleasure; or who set up other guides in competition with it or above it; or who otherwise declare that they have no sense of the immediate authority of God in this — we will find that they are like the Moors, or like slaves in some countries or plantations:

They are so great in number and force above their rulers and other inhabitants, that it is only lack of communication and confidence, and some distinct interests, that keep them from throwing off their yoke and restraint. I will name only three causes of this surprising and perilous event:

1. A long-continued outward profession of the truth of the Scripture, without an inward experience of its power. This betrays men at length to question the truth itself, or at least not to regard it as divine. Owning that the Scripture is the word of God, speaks of a divine majesty, authority, and power, that is present in it and with it. This is why men who have professed this for a long time, find that they never had any real experience of such a divine presence in it by any effects on their own minds. They grow imperceptibly heedless of it, or they give it a very common place in their thoughts. When they have worn off the impressions that were on their minds from tradition, education, and custom, they then oppose it, rather than believe it in any way. Once a reverence for the word of God on account of its authority is lost, an assent to it on account of its truth will not long abide. All such persons, under a concurrence of temptations and outward occasions, will either reject it, or prefer other guides before it.

2. The power of lust, rising up to a resolve to live in those sins to which the Scripture unavoidably annexes eternal ruin, has prevailed with many to cast off Scripture’s authority. For while they are resolved to live in outrageous sin, to admit that there is a divine truth and power in the Scripture, is to cast themselves under a present torment, as well as to make certain their future misery. For there can be no other condition for one who is perpetually aware that God always condemns him in all that he does, and will assuredly take vengeance on him. This is the constant language of the Scripture concerning such persons. Therefore, even if they do not immediately fall into open atheistic opposition to Scripture, as that which may not be consistent with their interest and reputation in the world, they keep it at the greatest distance from their thoughts and minds, until they have habituated themselves to a contempt for it. For they look at it as the devils looked at Jesus Christ — as that which "comes to torment them before the time." Matthew 8:29 Therefore, finding it utterly impossible to pretend there can be a reconciliation between owning that the Scripture is the word of God, and resolving to live in an excess of known sin, multitudes allow their minds to be bribed by their corrupt affections, to relinquish any regard for the word of God.

3. The scandalous quarrels and disputations of those of the church of Rome, against the Scripture and its authority, have contributed much to the ruin of the faith of many. Their great design is to secure, by all means, the power, authority, and infallibility of their church. They continually say about these, as the apostle said in the 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 believe at present, nor be saved hereafter. To secure this interest, the authority of the Scripture must by all means be questioned and impaired. They will allow it a divine authority in itself, but with respect to us, it has no authority except what it obtains by the suffrage and testimony of their church. But though authority consists essentially in the relation and respect which it has to others,111 or those who are to be subject to it, to say that it has an authority in itself, but none towards us, is not only to deny that it has any authority at all, but also to reproach it with an empty name.

They deal with it as the soldiers did with Christ: they put a crown on his head, and clothed him with a purple robe, and bowing the knee before him, mocked him, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" They ascribe to God’s word the crown and robe of divine authority in itself, but not towards any particular person in the world. So, only if they please, will God be God and his word be of some credit among men. In this, they continually seek to entangle those of the weaker sort by urging them vehemently with this question, "How do you know that the Scripture is the word of God?" And they have in continual readiness a number of sophistical artifices to weaken all evidences that will be pleaded in its behalf. Nor is that all; but on all occasions, they insinuate objections against it — from its obscurity, imperfection, lack of order, difficulties, and seeming contradictions in it — that are suited to take men’s minds away from a firm assent to or reliance on it. It is as if a company of men were to conspire to weaken the reputation of a chaste and sober matron, by crafty multiplied insinuations, divulged on all advantages. Even if they cannot deprive her of her virtue (unless the world were for the most part wiser than it appears to be), they will insensitively take away her due esteem. And this in any case, is just as bold an attempt as can well be made. For the first tendency of these courses is to make men atheists; and after success, it is left uncertain whether they will be Papists or not. Therefore, there can be no greater nor more dishonorable reflection made on the Christian religion than this: that it has no other evidence or testimony of its truth, than the authority and witness of those by whom it is professed at present, and who have notable worldly advantages by it. Thus the minds of multitudes are secretly influenced by the poison of these disputes, to think that it is in no way necessary to believe that the Scripture is the word of God; or at least, they are shaken from the grounds on which they professed that it is. A similar disservice is done to faith and to the souls of men, by those who advance "a light within," or an immediate inspiration, into competition with or in place of faith. For as such imaginations take place and prevail in the minds of men, so their respect for the Scripture and all sense of its divine authority decay, as experience openly manifests.

It is, I say, from an unusual concurrence of these and similar causes and occasions, that at present among us there is such a decay in, relinquishment of, and opposition to belief in the Scripture, as perhaps former ages could not parallel. But the minds of true believers are secured against all these objections and temptations, by supplies of spiritual light, wisdom, and grace from the Holy Ghost.

There are several other special gracious actings of the Holy Spirit on the minds of believers, which also belong to this internal real testimony by which their faith is established. Such are his "anointing" and "sealing" of them, his "witnessing with them," and his being an "earnest" in them; all of which must be spoken to elsewhere. Hereby our faith is every day more and more increased and established. Therefore, no internal work of the Spirit can be the formal reason of our faith, or what it is resolved into. And yet, it is such that, without it, we can never sincerely believe as we should, nor be established in believing, against temptations and objections. And it is with respect to this work of the Holy Ghost, that divines at the first reformation generally resolved our faith in the divine authority of the Scripture, into the testimony of the Holy Spirit. But they did not do this exclusively by the proper use of external arguments and motives of credibility — whose store indeed is great, and whose fountain is inexhaustible. For these arise from all the indubitable notions that we have of God or ourselves, in reference to our present duty or future happiness. Much less did they exclude that evidence of this, which the Holy Ghost gives to it in and by itself. Their judgment is well expressed in the excellent words of one of them [Calvin]. —

Let this point therefore stand: that those whom the Holy Spirit has inwardly taught truly rest upon Scripture, and that Scripture indeed is self-authenticated; hence, it is not right to subject it to proof and reasoning. And the certainty it deserves with us, it attains by the testimony of the Spirit. For even if it wins reverence for itself by its own majesty, it seriously affects us only when it is sealed upon our hearts through the Spirit. Therefore, illumined by his power, we believe neither by our own nor by anyone else’s judgment that Scripture is from God. But above human judgment we affirm with utter certainty (just as if we were gazing upon the majesty of God himself) that it has flowed to us from the very mouth of God by the ministry of men. We seek no proofs, no marks of genuineness upon which our judgment may lean; but we subject our judgment and wit to it as to a thing far beyond any guesswork! ...Nor do we do this as those miserable men who habitually bind over their minds to the thralldom of superstition; but we feel that the undoubted power of his divine majesty lives and breathes there. By this power we are drawn and inflamed, knowingly and willingly, to obey him, yet also more vitally and more effectively than by mere human willing or knowing! ...Such, then, is a conviction that requires no reasons; such is a knowledge with which the best reason agrees — in which the mind truly reposes more securely and constantly than in any reasons; finally, such is a feeling that can be born only of heavenly revelation. I speak of nothing other than what each believer experiences within himself — though my words fall far beneath a just explanation of the matter. 112 And we may briefly recall here what we have attained or passed through: for —

1. We have shown, in general, both what the nature of divine revelation and divine illumination is, with their mutual respect to one another;

2. What the principal external arguments or motives are for credibility, by which the Scripture may be proved to be of a divine origin;

3. What kind of persuasion the effect of them has, or what the assent is which we give to the truth of the Scriptures on their account;

4. What objective evidence there is for reason in the doctrine of the Scriptures, to induce the mind to assent to them;

5. What the nature of that faith is, by which we believe that the Scripture is the word of God, and how it is worked in us by the Holy Ghost;

6. What that internal testimony is, which is given to the divine authority of the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit, and what the force and use of it is. The principal part of our work yet remains.