Doct. 4. Evangelical doctrine now is most certain.
Something I spake of it before in the former vei*se, but I have reserved Bomething to speak of it now. The Son of God preached by St Paul, with the consent of these blessed men, it was not ' yea and nay,' it was not un- constant. Evangelical truth is not yea and nay ; and the preachers of it, the apostles, were not ' yea and nay' in the delivering of it. As it is true in itself, so it was true in the delivery of it. They were constant in it, they sealed it with their blood some of them.
Quest. How shall we know the doctrine of the gospel concerning Christ to be yea, undoubtedly true ?
Ans. 1. I answer, hoic do we know the sun shines ? I know it by its own light, and by a light that I have in my eye. There is an inward light joined with the outward light. So it is in this business, how do we know divine truth out of the book of God to be divine ? By the light in itself, by the majesty of the Scriptures, by the consent of the Old and New Testa- ment, by the opposition of the enemies, and the confusion of them at the
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last that have been opposors of it, by tho miraculous preservation of it, and the like ; but especially by the powerful work of it on the heart, by the ex- perience of this blessetl truth. I know this to be an undoubted truth, 1 find it quelling my corruptions, changing my nature, pacifying my con- science, raising my heart, casting down high imaginations, turning the stream of nature smother way ; to make mo do that which I thought I should never have done, only because I have a strong light of divine truth and comfort. There is this experience of Christ, that a man fnids in his soul. It sets him down that he can say nothing, but that it is divine truth, becaiTse he Ihids it so (rrr).
Ans. 2. Besides this, thi' Icstiinoin/ of the Sjiirit of God, and the work of the S]>irit i)t him. For as to see, there is an outward light required, and an inward light in the eye ; so to see divine truth there must be a light in itself, a divine sparkle in God's book, in every passage ; but yet 1 must have an eye to see too. I cainiot see it except God witness to my soul, that these things are divine, that they are yea, that they are certainly and infallibly true.
There is a great difllcrence between us and our adversaries. I can but touch it, and I need but touch it. They say we must believe, and we must believe because of the church. I say no. The church, we believe, hath a kind of working here, but that is in the last place. For God himself in his word, he is the chief. The inward arguments from the word itself, and from the Spirit they are the next. The church is the remotest witness, the remotest help of all. For the church is but to propound God's truth, to lay it open ; to be as it were the candlestick. Now the candlestick shines not, but upholds the candle while that shines. So the church is but to propose, to set up divine truth, that of itself being set up will enlighten well enough. The church is to set out the word, and to publish it by the ministry, which word of itself will shine. That work which the church hath therefore is the last, and the inferior ; for the Spirit of God, and the inward majesty of the word, is of more force.
If a messenger come, and bring a relation, or bring a letter from one, and he tells n\e many things of the man ; aye, but I doubt him, because he may be false for aught I know ; but when I see his hand and seal, and his characters and style, that shews such a spirit to be in him, I know by his own characters certainly this comes from the hand of that man. Now, the messenger brings it and gives it, but I believe it, because I see the characters and hand and seal of such a one, that it is a truth. So the church propounds. It is the messenger that brings the truth of God to us ; but when a Christian soul hears the truth, and sees God's seal upon it, there is a majesty and power that works on the soul. Now, we believe not for the messenger, but for the thing itself. Here is the dif- ference. We believe the Scripture for the seal of divinity that is in itself ; they believe it for the messenger, as if a doubtful messenger should come that is not certain, and a man should believe the things he brought for him, for his sake. We believe and entertain the messenger for the message sake, not the message for the messenger's sake. Our faith is better built than theirs.
Obj. But they say. This all comes to this at the last, God speaks by the church as well as by the Scriptures ; therefore, the church is to be believed more than the Scripture itself.