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
their Pretences 2. They differ likewise in their Nature or Kind For immediate divine prophetical Revelation consisted in an immediate Inspiration or Afflatus or in Visions and Voices from Heaven with a Power of the Holy Ghost transiently affecting their Minds guiding their Tongues and Hands to whom they were granted whereby they received and represented divine Impressions as an Instrument of Musick doth the Skill of the Hand whereby it is moved the Nature of which Revelation I have more fully discoursed elsewhere But this Revelation of the Spirit consists in his effectual Operation freeing our Minds from Darkness Ignorance and Prejudice enabling them to discern spiritual Things in a due manner And such a Spirit of Revelation is necessary unto them who would believe aright the Scripture or any thing else that is divine and supernatural contained therein And if men who through the Power of Temptations and Prejudices are in the dark or at a loss as to the great and fundamental Principle of all Religion namely the Divine Original and Authority of the Scripture will absolutely lean unto their own understandings and have the whole Difference determined by the natural Power and Faculties of their own Souls without seeking after divine Aid and Assistance or earnest Prayer for the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation to open the eyes of their understandings they must be content to abide in their Uncertainties or to come off from them without any Advantage to their Souls Not that I would deny unto men or take them off from the Use of their Reason in this matter for what is their Reason given unto them for unless it be to use it in those things which are of the greatest importance unto them Only I must crave leave to say that it is not sufficient of it self to enable us to the performance of this Duty without the immediate Aid and Assistance of the Holy Spirit of God If any one upon these Principles shall now ask us Wherefore we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God We do not answer It is because the Holy Ghost hath enlightned our minds wrought Faith in us and enabled us to believe it Without this we say indeed did not the Spirit of God so work in us and upon us we neither should nor could believe with Faith divine and supernatural If God had not opened the Heart of Lydia she would not have attended unto the things preached by Paul so as to have received them and without it the Light oftentimes shines into Darkness but the Darkness comprehends it not But this neither is nor can be the formal Object of our Faith or the Reason why we believe the Scripture to be of God or any thing else neither do we nor can we rationally answer by it unto this Question why we do believe This Reason must be something external and evidently proposed unto us For whatever Ability of spiritual Assent there be in the Understanding which is thus wrought in it by the Holy Ghost yet the Understanding cannot assent unto any thing with any Kind of Assent natural or supernatural but what is outwardly proposed unto it as true and that with sufficient Evidence that it is so That therefore which proposeth any thing unto us as true with Evidence of that Truth is the formal Object of our Faith or the Reason why we do believe And what is so proposed must be true and must be evidenced to be true or we cannot believe it and according to the Nature of that Evidence such is our Faith Humane if that be Humane and Divine if that be so Now nothing of this is done by that saving Light which is infused into our minds and is therefore not the Reason why we believe what we do so Whereas therefore some who seem to conceive that the only general Ground of believing the Scripture to be the Word of God doth consist in rational Arguments and Motives of Credibility do grant that private Persons may have their Assurance hereof from the Illumination of the Holy Ghost though it be not pleadable to others they grant what is not that I know of desired by any and which in it self is not true For this Work consisting solely in enabling the mind unto that Kind of Assent which is Faith divine and supernatural on supposition of an external formal Reason of it duely proposed is not the Reason why any do believe nor the Ground whereunto their Faith is resolved It remains only that we enquire whether our Faith in this matter be not resolved into an immediate internal Testimony of the Holy Ghost assuring us of the divine Original and Authority of the Scripture distinct from the Work of spiritual Illumination before described For it is the common Opinion of Protestant Divines that the Testimony of the Holy Ghost is the Ground whereon we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God and in what sense it is so shall be immediately declared But hereon are they generally charged by those of the Church of Rome and others that they resolve all the Ground and Assurance of Faith into their own particular Spirits or the Spirit of every one that will pretend thereunto And this is looked upon as a sufficient Warranty to reproach them with giving countenance unto Enthusiasms and exposing the minds of men to endless delusions Wherefore this matter must be a little further enquired into And By an internal Testimony of the Spirit an extraordinary Afflatus or new immediate Revelation may be intended Men may suppose they have or ought to have an internal particular Testimony that the Scripture is the Word of God whereby and whereby alone they may be infallibly assured that so it is And this is supposed to be of the same nature with the Revelation made unto the Prophets and Penmen of the Scripture for it is neither an external Proposition of Truth nor an internal Ability to assent unto such a Proposition And besides these there is no divine Operation in this kind but an immediate Prophetical Inspiration or Revelation Wherefore as such a Revelation or immediate Testimony of the Spirit is the only Reason why we do believe so it is that alone which our Faith rests on and is resolved into This is that which is commonly imputed unto those who deny either the Authority of the Church or any other external Arguments or Motives of Credibility to be the formal Reason of our Faith Howbeit there is no one of them that I know of who ever asserted any such thing And I do therefore deny that our Faith is resolved into any such private Testimony immediate Revelation or Inspiration of the Holy Ghost And that for the ensuing Reasons 1. Since the finishing of the Canon of the Scripture the Church is not under that Conduct as to stand in need of such new extraordinary Revelations It doth indeed live upon the internal gracious Operations of the Spirit enabling us to understand believe and obey the perfect
compleat Revelation of the Will of God already made but new Revelations it hath neither need nor use of And to suppose them or a necessity of them not only overthrows the Perfection of the Scripture but also leaveth us uncertain whether we know all that is to be believed in order unto Salvation or our whole Duty or when we may do so For it would be our Duty to live all our days in expectation of new Revelations wherewith neither Peace Assurance nor Consolation are consistent 2. Those who are to believe will not be able on this Supposition to secure themselves from Delusion and from being imposed on by the Deceits of Satan For this new Revelation is to be tryed by the Scripture or it is not If it be to be tried and examined by the Scripture then doth it acknowledge a superiour Rule Judgment and Testimony and so cannot be that which our Faith is ultimately resolved into If it be exempted from that Rule of trying the Spirits then 1. It must produce the Grant of this Exemption seeing the Rule is extended generally unto all Things and Doctrines that relate unto Faith or Obedience 2. It must declare what are the Grounds and Evidences of its own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or self-credibility 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 unto these things yet we shall shew immediatly that no such private Testimony though real can be the formal Object of Faith or Reason of Believing 3. It hath so fallen out in the Providence of God that generally all who have given up themselves in any things concerning Faith or Obedience unto the pretended Conduct of immediate Revelations although they have pleaded a respect unto the Scripture also have been seduced into Opinions and Practices directly repugnant unto it And this with all Persons of Sobriety is sufficient to discard this Pretence But this internal Testimony of the Spirit is by others explained quite in another way For they say that besides the Work of the Holy Ghost before insisted on whereby he takes away our natural blindness and enlightning our minds enables us to discern the divine Excellencies that are in the Scripture there is another internal Efficiency of his whereby we are moved perswaded and enabled to believe Hereby we are taught of God so as that finding the Glory and Majesty of God in the Word our Hearts do by an ineffable Power assent unto the Truth without any Hesitation And this Work of the Spirit carrieth its own Evidence in it self producing an Assurance above all humane Judgment and such as stands in need of no further Arguments or Testimonies this Faith rests on and is resolved into And this some learned men seem to embrace because they suppose that the objective Evidence which is given in the Scripture it self is only moral or such as can give only a moral Assurance Whereas therefore Faith ought to be divine and supernatural so must that be whereinto it is resolved yea it is so alone from the formal Reason of it And they can apprehend nothing in this Work that is immediately divine but only this internal Testimony of the Spirit wherein God himself speaks unto our Hearts But yet neither as it is so explained can we allow it to be the formal Object of Faith nor that wherein it doth acquiesce For 1. It hath not the proper Nature of a divine Testimony A divine Work it may be but a divine Testimony it is not but it is of the nature of Faith to be built on an external Testimony However therefore our minds may be established and enabled to believe firmly and stedfastly by an ineffable internal Work of the Holy Ghost whereof also we may have a certain experience yet neither that Work nor the Effect of it can be the Reason why we do believe nor whereby we are moved to believe but only that whereby we do believe 2. That which is the formal Object of Faith or Reason whereon we believe is the same and common unto all that do believe For our Enquiry is not how or by what means this or that man came to believe but why any one or every one ought so to do unto whom the Scripture is proposed The Object proposed unto all to be believed is the same and the Faith required of all in a way of Duty is the same or of the same kind and nature and therefore the Reason why we believe must be the same also But on this Supposition there must be as many distinct Reasons of believing as there are Believers 3. On this Supposition it cannot be the Duty of any one to believe the Scripture to be the Word of God who hath not received this internal Testimony of the Spirit For where the true formal Reason of believing is not proposed unto us there it is not our duty to believe Wherefore although the Scripture be proposed as the Word of God yet is it not our duty to believe it so to be until we have this Work of the Spirit in our hearts in case that be the formal Reason of believing But not to press any further how it is possible men may be deceived and deluded in their Apprehensions of such an internal Testimony of the Spirit especially if it be not to be tried by the Scripture which if it be it loseth its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or self-credibility or if it be it casteth us into a Circle which the Papists charge us withal it cannot be admitted as the formal Object of our Faith because it would divert us from that which is publick proper every way certain and infallible However that Work of the Spirit which may be called an internal real Testimony is to be granted as that which belongs unto the Stability and Assurance of Faith For if he did no otherwise work in us or upon us but by the Communication of spiritual Light unto our minds enabling us to discern the Evidences that are in the Scripture of its own Divine Original we should often be shaken in our Assent and moved from our Stability For whereas our spiritual darkness is removed but in part and at best whilst we are here we see things but darkly as in a Glass all things believed having some sort of Inevidence or Obscurity attending them and whereas Temptations will frequently shake and disturb the due respect of the Faculty unto 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 He doth therefore three ways assist us in believing and ascertain our minds of the things believed so as that we may hold fast the beginning of our Confidence firm and stedfast unto the end For 1. He gives unto Believers a spiritual Sense of the Power and Reality of the things believed whereby their Faith is greatly established And although
upon them that they cannot see nor discern Spiritual Things no not when they are externally proposed unto them as I have at large evinced elsewhere And no Man can give a greater Evidence that it is so than he who denies it so to be With Respect unto both these Kinds of Darkness the Scripture is a Light and accompanied with a Spiritual Illuminating Efficacy thereby evidencing it self to be a Divine Revelation For what but Divine Truth could recall the Minds of Men from all their wandrings in Error Superstition and other Effects of Darkness which of themselves they love more than Truth All Things being filled with Vanity Error Confusion Misapprehensions about God and our selves our Duty and End our Misery and Blessedness the Scripture where it is communicated by the Providence of God comes in as a Light into a Dark Place discovering all Things clearly and steadily that concern either God or our selves our present or future Condition causing all the Ghosts and false Images of Things which Men had framed and fancied unto themselves in the Dark to vanish and disappear Digitus Dei this is none other but the Power of God But principally it evidenceth this its Divine Efficacy by that Spiritual Saving Light which it conveighs into and implants on the Minds of Believers Hence there is none of them who have gained any Experience by the Observation of God's Dealings with them but shall although they know not the Ways and Methods of the Spirits Operations by the Word yea can say with the Man unto whom the Lord Jesus restored his Sight One thing I know that whereas I was born blind now I see This Power of the Word as the Instrument of the Spirit of God for the Communication of Saving Light and Knowledge unto the Minds of Men the Apostle declares 2 Cor. 3. 18. chap. 4. 4 6. By the Efficacy of this Power doth he evidence the Scripture to be the Word of God Those who believe find by it a Glorious Supernatural Light introduced into their Minds whereby they who before saw nothing in a distinct affecting manner in Spirituals do now clearly discern the Truth the Glory the Beauty and Excellency of Heavenly Mysteries and have their Minds transformed into their Image and LikeLineness And there is no Person who hath the Witness in himself of the kindling of this Heavenly Light in his Mind by the Word but hath also the Evidence in himself of its Divine Original 3. It doth in like manner evidence its Divine Authority by the Awe which it puts on the Minds of the Generality of Mankind unto whom it is made known that they dare not absolutely reject it Multitudes there are unto whom the Word is declared who hate all its Precepts despise all its Promises abhor all its Threatnings like nothing approve of nothing of what it declares or proposes and yet dare not absolutely refuse or reject it They deal with it as they do with God Himself whom they hate also according to the Revelation which he hath made of Himself in his Word They wish he were not sometimes they hope he is not would be glad to be free of his Rule but yet dare not cannot absolutely deny and disown Him because of that Testimony for Himself which he keeps alive in them whether they will or no. The same is the Frame of their Hearts and Minds towards the Scripture and that for no other Reason but because it is the Word of God and manifesteth it selfsso to be They hate it wish it were not hope it is not true but are not by any Means able to shake off a Disquiet in the Sense of its Divine Authority This Testimony it hath fixed in the Hearts of Multitudes of its Enemies Psal. 45. 5. 4. It evidences its Divine Power in administring strong Consolations in the deepest and most unrelievable Distresses Some such there are and such many Men fall into wherein all Means and Hopes of Relief may be utterly removed and taken away So is it when the Miseries of Men are not known unto any that will so much as pity them or wish them Relief or if they have been known and there hath been an Eye to pity them yet there hath been no Hand to help them Such hath been the Condition of innumerable Souls as on other Accounts so in particular under the power of Persecutors when they have been shut up in filthy and nasty Dungeons not to be brought out but unto Death by the most exquisite Tortures that the Malice of Hell could invent or the bloody Cruelty of Man inflict Yet in these and the like Distresses doth the Word of God by its Divine Power and Efficacy break through all interposing Difficulties all dark and discouraging Circumstances supporting refreshing and comforting such poor distressed Sufferers yea commonly filling them under overwhelming Calamities with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory Though they are in Bonds yet is the Word of God not bound neither can all the Power of Hell nor all the Diligence or Fury of Men keep out the Word from entring into Prisons Dungeons Flames and to administer strong Consolations against all Fears Pains Wants Dangers Deaths or whatever we may in this mortal Life be exposed unto And sundry other Instances of the like Nature might be pleaded wherein the Word gives evident Demonstrations unto the Minds and Consciences of Men of its own Divine Power and Authority which is the second Way whereby the Holy Ghost its Author gives Testimony unto its Original But it is not meerly the Grounds and Reasons whereon we believe the Scripture to be the Word of God which we designed to declare The whole Work of the Holy Spirit enabling us to believe them so to be was proposed unto Consideration And beyond what we have insisted on there is yet a further peculiar Work of his whereby he effectually ascertains our minds of the Scriptures being the Word of God whereby we are ultimately established in the Faith thereof And I cannot but both admire and bewail that this should be denied by any that would be esteemed Christians Wherefore if there be any Necessity thereof I shall take Occasion in the Second Part of this Discourse further to confirm this Part of the Truth thus far debated namely that God by his Holy Spirit doth secretly and effectually perswade and satisfy the Minds and Souls of Believers in the Divine Truth and Authority of the Scriptures whereby he infallibly secures their Faith against all Objections and Temptations whatsoever so that they can safely and comfortably dispose of their Souls in all their Concernments with respect unto this Life and Eternity according unto the undeceivable Truth and Guidance of it But I shall no further insist on these Things at present Three Things do offer themselves unto Consideration from what hath been discoursed 1. What is the Ground and Reason why the meanest and most unlearned Sort of Believers do assent unto this Truth that the Scriptures are