It remains only that we inquire 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 Scrip- ture, distinct from the work of spiritual illumination, before de- scribed; for it is the common opinion of protestant divines that the testimony of the Holy Ghost is the ground whereon we believe the Scripture 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 counte- nance unto enthusiasms, and exposing the minds of men to endless delusions. Wherefore, this matter must be a little farther inquired 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 be- sides these there is no divine operation in this kind but an imme- diate 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
62 TIIE REASON OF FAITH. [BOOK VI., PART I.
or motives of credibility, to be the formal reason of our faith. How- beit 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 opera- tions of the Spirit, enabling us to understand, believe, and obey the perfect, complete 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 Avhole duty, or Avhen 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 is 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 tried by the Scrip- ture, or it is not. If it be to be tried and examined by the Scrip- ture, then doth it acknowledge a superior rule, judgment, and testi- mony, 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 abroKigria, 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 show immediately that no such pri- vate testimony, though real, can be the formal object of faith or rea- son 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, enlightening our minds, enables us to discern the
CHAP. IV.] MORAL CERTAINTY INSUFFICIENT. 63
divine excellencies that are in the Scripture, there is another inter- nal efficiency of his, whereby we are moved, persuaded, 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 itself, producing an assur- ance above all human judgment, and such as stands in need of no farther 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 itself 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.