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
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
did on the Authority of the Church of Rome in any sense whatever for the Reasons that shall be mentioned immediately But it may be granted that together with the Ministry of other Churches in the World and many other Providential Means of their Preservation and successive Communication we did de Facto receive the Scriptures by the Ministry of the Church of Rome also seeing they also were in the possession of them But this Ministry we allow only in the latter sense as an actual means in subserviency unto God's Providence without respect unto any especial Institution And for the Authority of the Church in this case in that sense wherein it is allowed namely as denoting the Weight and Importance of a Testimony which being strengthened by all sorts of Circumstances may be said to have great Authority in it we must be careful unto whom or what Church we grant or allow it For let men assume what Names or Titles to themselves they please yet if the Generality of them be corrupt or flagitious in their lives and have great secular Advantages which they highly prize and studiously improve from what they suppose and profess the Scripture to supply them withall be they called Church or what you please their Testimony therein is of very little value for all men may see that they have an earthly worldly Interest of their own therein And it will be said that if such Persons did know the whole Bible to be a Fable as one Pope expressed himself to that purpose they would not forego the Profession of it unless they could more advantage themselves in the World another way Wherefore whereas it is manifest unto all that those who have the Conduct of the Roman Church have made and do make to themselves great earthly temporal Advantages in Honour Power Wealth and Reputation in the World by their Profession of the Scripture their Testimony may rationally be supposed to be so far influenced by self interest as to be of little Validity The Testimony therefore which I intend is that of multitudes of persons of unspotted Reputâ—â—ion on all other accounts in the World free from all possibility of impeachment as unto any designed evil or conspiracy among themselves with respect unto any corrupt end and who having not the least secular Advantage by what they testified unto were absolutely secured against all Exceptions which either common Reason or common Vsage among Mankind can put in unto any Witness whatever And to evidence the force that is in this Consideration I shall briefly represent 1. Who they were that gave and do give this Testimony in some especial Instances 2. What they gave this Testimony unto 3. How or by what means they did so And in the first place The Testimony of those by whom the several Books of the Scripture were written is to be considered They all of them severally and joyntly witnessed that what they wrote was received by Inspiration from God This is pleaded by the Apostle Peter in the Name of them all 2 Pet. 1. 16 17 18 19 20 21. For we have not followed cunningly devised Fables when we made known unto you the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eye witnesses of his Majesty For he received from God the Father honour and glory when there came such a voice to him from the excellent Glory This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased And this voice which came from Heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy Mount We have also a more sure word of Prophecy whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts Knowing this first that no Prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation For the Prophecy came not in old time by the Will of Man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost This is the concurrent Testimony of the Writers both of the Old Testament and the New Namely that as they have certain knowledg of the things they wrote so their writing was by Inspiration from God So in particular John beareth witness unto his Revelations Chap. 19. 9. Chap. 22. 6. These are the true and faithful sayings of God And what weight is to be laid hereon is declared Joh. 21. 24. This is that Disciple which testifyeth of these things and wrote these things and we know that his testimony is true He testifyed the Truth of what he wrote but how was it known to the Church there intended we know that his Testimony is true that so it was indeed He was not absolutely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or one that was to be believed in meerly on his own account yet here it is spoken in the name of the Church with the highest Assurance and we know that his Testimony is true I answer this assurance of theirs did not arise meerly from his moral or natural endowments or holy Counsels but from the Evidence they had of his divine Inspiration Whereof we shall treat afterwards The things pleaded to give force unto this Testimony in particular are all that such a Testimony is capable of and so many as would require a large discourse by it self to propose discuss and confirm them But supposing the Testimony they gave I shall in compliance whith my own design reduce the Evidences of its Truth unto these two considerations 1. of their Persons and 2. of the Manner of their Writing 1. As to their Persons they were absolutely removed from all possible suspition of deceiving or being deceived The Wit of all the Atheistical Spirits in the World is not able to fix on any one thing that would be a tolerable ground of any such suspition concerning the integrity of witnesses could such a Testimony be given in any other case And surmises in things of this nature which had no pleadable ground for them are to be looked on as Diabolical suggestions or Atheistical Dreams or at best the false Imaginations of weak and distempered Minds The nature and design of their work their unconcernment with all secular interests their unacquaintance with one another the Times and Places wherein the things reported by them were done and acted the facility of convincing them of falshood if what they wrote in matter of fact which is the Fountain of what else they taught in case it were not true the evident certainty that this would have been done arising from the known Desire Ability Will and Interest of their Adversaries so to do had it been possible to be effected seeing this would have secured them the Victory in the conflicts wherein they were violently ingaged and have put an immediate issue unto all that difference and uproar that was in the World about their Doctrine their Harmony among themselves without conspiracy or antecedent Agreement the miseries which they underwent most of them without hope of releif or
Declaration of him in his Nature Being and Subsistence with the necessary Properties and Acts thereof his Will with all his voluntary Actings or Works wherein we may be or are concerned so as that we may know him aright and entertain true Notions and Apprehensions of him according to the utmost capacity of our finite limited Understanding Neither do we urge his Authority in this case but here and elsewhere resort unto the Evidence of his Reasonings compared with the Event or Matter of Fact What horrible Darkness Ignorance and Blindness was upon the whole World with respect unto the Knowledge of God what confusion and debasement of our Nature ensued thereon whilst God suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways and winked at the times of their Ignorance the Apostle declares at large Rom. 1. from the 19th verse to the end of the Chapter The Sum is That the only true God being become unknown to them as the wisest of them acknowledged Acts 17. 21. and as our Apostle proved against them the Devil that Murderer from the Beginning and Enemy of Mankind had under various pretences substituted himself in his Room and was become the God of this World as he is called 2 Cor. 4. 4. and had appropriated all the religious Devotion and Worship of the Generality of Mankind unto himself For the things which the Gentiles sacrificed they sacrificed unto Devils and not unto God as our Apostle affirms 1 Cor. 10. 20. and as may easily be evinced and I have abundantly manifested it elsewhere It is acknowledged that some few speculative Men among the Heathens did seek after God in that horrid Darkness wherewith they were encompassed and laboured to reduce their Conceptions and Notions of his Being unto what Reason could apprehend of infinite Perfections and what the Works of Creation and Providence could suggest unto them but as they could never come unto any certainty or consistency of Notions in their own minds proceeding but a little beyond Conjecture as is the manner of them who seek after any thing in the dark much less with one another to propose any thing unto the World for the use of Mankind in these things by common consent so they could none of them either ever free themselves from the grossest practical Idolatry in worshipping the Devil the Head of their Apostacy from God nor in the least influence the minds of the Generality of Mankind with any due Apprehensions of the divine Nature This is the Subject and Substance of the Apostles Disputation against them Rom. 1. In this state of things what misery and confusion the World lived in for many Ages what an endless Labyrinth of foolish slavish Superstitions and Idolatries it had cast it self into I have in another Discourse particularly declared With respect hereunto the Scripture is well called by the Apostle Peter a Light shining in a dark place 2 Pet. 11. 9. It gives unto all men at once a perfect clear steady uniform Declaration of God his Being Subsistence Properties Authority Rule and Actings which evidenceth it self unto the Minds and Consciences of all whom the God of this World hath not absolutely blinded by the power of prejudices and lusts confirming them in an Enmity unto and hatred of God himself There is indeed no more required to free Mankind from this horrible darkness and enormous conceptions about the Nature of God and the Worship of Idols but a sedate unprejudiced Consideration of the Revelation of these things in the Book of the Scripture We may say therefore to all the World with our Prophet When they say unto you Seek unto them who have familiar Spirits and unto Wizards that peep and mutter Should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light in them Isa. 8. 19 20. And this also plainly manifests the Scripture to be of a divine Original For if this Declaration of God this Revelation of Himself and his Will is incomparably the greatest and most excellent Benefit that our Nature is capable of in this World more needful for and useful unto Mankind than the Sun in the Firmament as to the proper end of their Lives and Beings and if none of the wisest men in the World neither severally nor joyntly could attain unto themselves or make known unto others this Knowledge of God so that we may say with our Apostle that in the Wisdom of God the World by Wisdom knew not God 1 Cor. 1. 21. And whereas those who attempted any such things yet waxed vain in their Imaginations and Conjectures so that no one person in the World dares own the Regulation of his Mind and Understanding by their Notions and Conceptions absolutely although they had all advantages of Wisdom and the Exercise of Reason above those at the least the most of them who wrote and published the Books of the Scripture it cannot with any pretence of Reason be questioned whether they were not given by Inspiration from God as they pretend and plead There is that done in them which all the World could not do and without the doing whereof all the World must have been eternally miserable and who could do this but God If any one shall judge that that Ignorance of God which was among the Heathens of old or is among the Indians at this day is not so miserable a matter as we make it or that there is any way to free them from it but by an Emanation of Light from the Scripture he dwells out of my present way upon the Confines of Atheism so that I shall not divert unto any Converse with him I shall only add That whatever Notions of Truth concâ—rning God and his Essence there may be found in those Philosophers who lived after the Preaching of the Gospel in the World or are at this day to be found among the Mahumetans or other false Worshippers in the World above those of the more ancient Pagans they all derive from the Fountain of the Scripture and were thence by various means traduced 2. The second End of this Doctrine is to direct Mankind in their proper Course of living unto God and attaining that Rest and Blessedness whereof they are capable and which they cannot but desire These things are necessary to our Nature so that without them it were better not to be for it is better to have no Being in the World than whiles we have it always to wander and never to act towards its proper end seeing all that is really good unto us consists in our Tendency thereunto and our Attainment of it Now as these things were never stated in the minds of the Community of Mankind but that they lived in perpetual confusion so the Enquiries of the Philosophers about the chief end of Man the Nature of Felicity or Blessedness the ways of attaining it are nothing but
whatever various Apprehensions men may have through their Weakness or Prejudices concerning the things taught therein yet are they in themselves absolutely the same that ever they were and that without the loss or change of a material Word or Syllable in the manner of their Delivery This I have proved elsewhere and it is a thing capable of the most evident Demonstration Wherefore whatever Entertainment this Gospel meets withal at present in the World its former Prevalency may be pleaded in Justification of its divine Original 2. The Cause of this Event lyeth principally in the Soveraign Will and Pleasure of God For although the Scripture be his Word and he hath testified it so to be by his Power put forth and exerted in Dispensations of it unto men yet is not that divine Power included or shut up in the Letter of it so that it must have the same Effect where ever it comes We plead not that there is absolutely in its self its Doctrine the Preaching or Preachers thereof such a Power as it were naturally and physically to produce the Effects mentioned But it is an Instrument in the Hand of God unto that work which is his own and he puts forth his Power in it and by it as it seems good unto him And if he doth at any time so put forth his divine Power in the Administration of it or in the use of this Instrument as that the great Worth and Excellency of it shall manifest it self to be from him he giveth a sufficient Attestation of it Wherefore the Times and Seasons of the Prevalency of the Gospel in the World are in the Hand and at the Sovereign Disposal of God And as he is not obliged for who hath known the Mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellor to accompany it with the same Power at all times and seasons so the Evidence of his own Power going along with it at any time whiles under an open Claim of a divine Original is an uncontroulable Approbation of it Thus at the first Preaching of the Word to fullfil the Promises made unto the Fathers from the Foundation of the World to glorify his Son Jesus Christ and the Gospel it self which he had revealed he put forth that effectual divine Power in its Administration whereby the World was subdued unto the Obedience of it And the Time will come when he will revive the same Work of Power and Grace to retrieve the World into a subjection to Jesus Christ. And although he doth not in these latter Ages cause it to run and prosper among the Nations of the world who have not as yet received it as he did formerly yet considering the state of things at present among the Generality of Mankind the Preservation of it in that small Remnant by whom it is obeyed in sincerity is a no less glorious Evidence of his Presence with it and Care over it than was its eminent Propagation in days of old 3. The Righteousness of God is in like manner to be considered in these things For whereas he had granted the inestimable Priviledge of his Word unto many Nations they through their horrible ingratitude and wickedness detained the Truth in Vnrighteousness so that the continuance of the Gospel among them was no way to the Glory of God no nor yet unto their own Advantage For neither Nations nor Persons will ever be advantaged by an outward Profession of the Gospel whilst they live in a Contradiction and Disobedience to its Precepts yea nothing can be more pernicious to the Souls of Men. This Impiety God is at this day revenging on the Nations of the World having utterly cast off many of them from the Knowledg of the Truth and given up others unto strong Delusions to believe Lies though they retain the Scriptures and outward Profession of Christianity How far he may proceed in the same way of Righteous Vengeance towards other Nations also we know not but ought to tremble in the Consideration of it When God first granted the Gospel unto the World although the Generality of Mankind had greatly sinned against the Light of Nature and had rejected all those supernatural Revelations that at any time had been made unto them yet had they not sinned against the Gospel it self nor the Grace thereof It pleased God therefore to wink at and pass over that Time of their Ignorance so as that his Justice should not be provoked by any of their former sins to with-hold the Efficacy of his divine Power in the Administration of the Gospel from them whereby he called them to Repentance But now after that the Gospel hath been sufficiently tendred unto all Nations and hath either as unto its Profession or as unto its Power with the Obedience that it requires been rejected by the most of them things are quite otherwise stated It is from the Righteous Judgment of God revenging the sins of the World against the Gospel it self that so many Nations are deprived of it and so many left obstinate in its Refusal Wherefore the present state of things doth no way weaken or prejudice the Evidence given unto the Scripture by that mighty Power of God which accompanied the Administration of it in the World For what hath since fallen out there are secret Reasons of Sovereign Wisdom and open Causes in Divine Justice whereunto it is to be assigned These things I have briefly called over and not as though they were all of this kind that may be pleaded but only to give some Instance of those external Arguments whereby the divine Authority of the Scripture may be confirmed Now these Arguments are such as are able of themselves to beget in the Minds of Men sober humble intelligent and unprejudiced a firm Opinion Judgment and Perswasion that the Scripture doth proceed from God Where Persons are prepossessed with invincible Prejudices contracted by a Course of Education wherein they have imbibed Principles opposite and contrary thereunto and have increased and fortified them by some fixed and hereditary Enmity against all those whom they know to own the Divinity of the Scripture as it is with Mahometans aud some of the Indians these Arguments it may be will not prevail immediately to work nor effect their Assent It is so with respect unto them also who out of Love unto and Delight in those ways of Vice Sin and Wickedness which are absolutely and severely condemned in the Scripture without the least hope of a Dispensation unto them that continue under the Power of them who will not take these Arguments into due Consideration Such Persons may talk and discourse of them but they never weigh them seriously according as the Importance of the Cause doth require For if men will examine them as they ought it must be with a sedate Judgment that their eternal Condition depends upon a right Determination of this Enquiry But for those who can scarce get Liberty from the Service and Power of their Lusts seriously
Lord and therefore they are to be believed Some of them we must mention Deut. 31. 11 12 13. When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall chuse thou shalt read this Law before all Israel in their hearing Gather the people together Men Women and Children and the Stranger that is within thy Gates that they may hear and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God and observe to do all the Works of this Law and that their Children which have not known any thing may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God It is plain that God here requireth Faith and Obedience of the whole people Men Women and Children The Enquiry is what he requireth it unto It is to this Law to this Law written in the Books of Moses which was to be read unto them out of the Book at the hearing of which they were obliged to believe and obey To evidence that Law to be his he proposeth nothing but it self But it will be said that Generation was sufficiently convinced that the Law was from God by the Miracles which they beheld in the giving of it But moreover it is ordered to be proposed unto Children of future Generations who knew nothing that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord. That which by the Appointment of God is to be proposed unto them that know nothing that they may believe that is unto them the formal Reason of their Believing But this is the written Word Thou shalt read this Law unto them who have known nothing that they may hear and learn c. Whatever use therefore there may be of other Motives or Testimonies to commend the Law unto us of the Ministry of the Church especially which is here required unto the Proposal of the Word unto men it is the Law it self or the written Word which is the Object of our Faith and which we believe for its own sake see also chap. 29. 29. where revealed things are said to belong unto us and our Children that we might do them that is receive them on the Account of their Divine Revelation Isa. 8. 19 20. And when they shall say unto you Seek unto them that have familiar Spirits and unto Wizards that peep and mutter should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no Light in them The Enquiry is by what means men may come to satisfaction in their Minds and Consciences or what their Faith and Trust is in Two Things are proposed unto this end 1. Immediate diabolical Revelations real or pretended 2. The written Word of God the Law and the Testimony Hereunto are we sent and that upon the Account of its own Authority alone in opposition unto all other pretences of Assurance or Security And the sole Reason why any one doth not acquiesce by Faith in the written Word is because he hath no Mornings or Light of Truth shining on him But how shall we know the Law and Testimony this written Word to be the Word of God and believe it so to be and distinguish it from every other pretended Divine Revelation that is not so This is declared Jerem. 23. 28 29. The Prophet that hath a Dream let him tell a Dream and he that hath my Word let him speak my Word faithfully What is the Chaff to the Wheat saith the Lord Is not my Word like as fire saith the Lord and like an Hammer that breaketh the Rock in pieces It is supposed that there are two Persons in Reputation for Divine Revelations esteemed Prophets one of them only pretends so to be and declares the Dreams of his own Fancy or the Divinations of his own Mind as the Word of God The other hath the Word of God and declares it faithfully from him Yea but how shall we know the one from the other Even as men know Wheat from Chaff by their different Natures and Effects For as false pretended Revelations are but as Chaff which every Wind will scatter so the true Word of God is like a Fire and like an Hammer is accompanied with that Light Efficacy and Power that it manifests it self unto the Consciences of men so to be Hereon doth God call us to rest our Faith on it in opposition unto all other Pretences whatever But is it of this Authority and Efficacy in it self See Luk. 16. 27 28 29 30 31. Then said he the rich Man in Hell I pray thee therefore Father that thou wouldest send him Lazarus who was dead unto my Fathers house for I have five Brethren that he may testify unto them lest they also come into this place of torment Abraham saith unto him they have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them And he said Nay Father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they would repent and he said unto him if they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead The Question here between Abraham and the rich Man in this Parable indeed between the Wisdom of God and the superstitious Contrivances of Men is about the way and means of bringing those who are Unbelievers and impenitent unto Faith and Repentance He who was in Hell apprehended that nothing would make them believe but a Miracle one rising from the dead and speaking unto them which or the like marvellous Operations many at this day think would have mighty power and influence upon them to settle their minds and change their lives should they see one rise from the dead and come and converse with them this would convince them of the Immortality of the Soul of future Rewards and Punishments as giving them sufficient Evidence thereof so that they would assuredly repent and change their Lives but as things are stated they have no sufficient evidence of these things so that they doubt so far about them as that they are not really influenced by them give them but one real Miracle and you shall have them for ever This I say was the Opinion and Judgment of him who was represented in Hell as it is of many who are posting thither apace He who was in Heaven thought otherwise wherein we have the immediate Judgment of Jesus Christ given in this matter determining this Controversy The Question is about sufficient Evidence and Efficacy to cause us to believe Things divine and supernatural and this he determines to be in the written Word Moses and the Prophets If he that will not believe on the single Evidence of the written Word to be from God or a Divine Revelation of his Will will never believe upon the Evidence of Miracles nor any other Motives then that written Word contains in it self the entire formal Reason of Faith or all that Evidence of the Authority and Truth of God in it which Faith divine
Minds and Consciences of Men with its Operation of Divine Effects thereon This the Apostle expresly affirms to be the Reason and Cause of Faith 1 Cor. 14. 24 25. If all prophesy and there comes in one that believeth not or one unlearned he is convinced of all he is judged of all And thus are the Secrets of his Heart made manifest and so falling down on his Face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a Truth The Acknowledgment and Confession of God to be in them or among them is a Profession of Faith in the Word administred by them Such Persons assent unto its Divine Authority or believe it to be the Word of God And on what Evidence or Ground of Credibility they did so is expresly declared It was not upon the Force of any external Arguments produced and pleaded unto that Purpose It was not upon the Testimony of this or that or any Church whatever nor was it upon a Conviction of any Miracles which they saw wrought in its Confirmation Yea the Ground of the Faith and Confession declared is opposed unto the Efficacy and Use of the Miraculous Gift of Tongues v. 23 24. Wherefore the only Evidence whereon they received the Word and acknowledged it to be of God was that Divine Power and Efficacy whereof they found and felt the Experience in themselves He is convinced of all judged of all and thus are the Secrets of his Heart made manifest whereon he falls down before it with an Acknowledgment of its Divine Authority finding the VVord to come upon his Conscience with an irresistible Power of Conviction and Judgment thereon He is convinced of all judged of all He cannot but grant that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Divine Efficacy in it or accompanying of it Especially his Mind is influenced by this that the Secrets of his Heart are made manifest by it For all Men must acknowledge this to be an Effect of Divine Power seeing God alone is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he who searcheth knoweth and judgeth the Heart And if the VVoman of Samaria believed that Jesus was the Christ because he told her all things that ever she did John 4. 29. there is Reason to believe that VVord to be from God which makes manifest even the Secrets of our Hearts And although I do conceive that by the Word of God Heb. 4. 12. the Living and Eternal Word is principally intended yet the Power and Efficacy there ascribed to him is that which he puts forth by the VVord of the Gospel And so that VVord also in its Place and use pierceth to the dividing asunder of Soul and Spirit of the Joynts and Marrew and is a Discerner or passeth a critical Judgment on the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart or makes manifest the Secrets of mens Hearts as it is here expressed Hereby then doth the Holy Ghost so evidence the Divine Authority of the Word namely by that Divine Power which it hath upon our Souls and Consciences that we do assuredly acquiesce in it to be from God So the Thessalonians are commended that they received the Word not as the Word of Men but as it is in truth the Word of God which effectually works in them that believe 1 Thess. 2. 15. It distinguisheth it self from the Word of Men and evidences it self to be indeed the Word of God by its effectual Operation in them that believe And he who hath this Testimony in himself hath a higher and more firm Assurance of the Truth than what can be attained by the Force of external Arguments or the Credit of Humane Testimony VVherefore I say in general that the Holy Spirit giveth Testimony unto and evinceth the Divine Authority of the Word by its Powerful Operations and Divine Effects on the Souls of them that do believe So that although it be weakness and foolishness unto others yet as is Christ himself unto them that are called it is the Power of God and the VVisdom of God And I must say that although a Man be furnished with external Arguments of all Sorts concerning the Divine Original and Authority of the Scriptures although he esteem his Motives of Credibility to be effectually perswasive and have the Authority of any or all the Churches in the VVorld to confirm his Perswasion yet if he have no Experience in himself of its Divine Power Authority and Efficacy he neither doth nor can believe it to be the Word of God in a due manner with Faith Divine and Supernatural But he that hath this Experience hath that Testimony in himself which will never fail This will be the more manifest if we consider some few of those many Instances wherein it exerts its Power or the Effects which are produced thereby The Principal Divine Effect of the Word of God is in the Conversion of the Souls of Sinners unto God The Greatness and Glory of this Work we have elsewhere declared at large And all those who are acquainted with it as it is declared in the Scripture and have any Experience of it in their own Hearts do constantly give it as an Instance of the exceeding Greatness of the Power of God It may be they speak not improperly who prefer the Work of the New Creation before the Work of the Old for the express Evidences of Almighty Power contained in it as some of the Ancients do Now of this Great and Glorious Effect the Word is the only Instrumental Cause whereby the Divine Power operates and is expressive of it self For we are born again born of God not of Corruptible Seed but of Incorruptible by the Word of God which abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 21. For of his own Will doth God beget us with the Word of Truth Jam. 1. 18. The Word is the Seed of the New Creature in us that whereby our whole Natures our Souls and all their Faculties are changed and renewed into the Image and Likeness of God And by the same Word is this new Nature kept and preserved 1 Pet. 2. 2. and the whole Soul carried on unto the Enjoyment of God It is unto Believers an Ingrafted Word which is able to save their Souls James 1. 21. The Word of God's Grace which is able to build us up and give us an Inheritance among them that are sanctified Acts 20. 32. And that because it is the Power of God unto Salvation unto them that do believe Rom. 1. 16. All the Power which God puts forth and exerts in the Communication of that Grace and Mercy unto Believers whereby they are gradually carried on and prepared unto Salvation he doth it by the Word Therein in an especial manner is the Divine Authority of the Word evidenced by the Divine Power and Efficacy given unto it by the Holy Ghost The VVork which is effected by it in the Regeneration Conversion and Sanctification of the Souls of Believers doth evidence it infallibly unto their Consciences that it is not the VVord