78 THE REASON OF FAITH. [BOOK VI., PART I.
So is the whole object of faith proposed by the same apostle, 2 Pet. iii. 2, " The words which were spoken before by the holy pro- phets, and of the commandment of the apostles of the Lord and Saviour." And because our faith is resolved into them, we are said to be "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets," as was said, Eph. ii. 20 ; that is, our faith rests solely, as on its proper foun- dation, which bears the weight of it, on the authority and truth of God in their writings. Hereunto we may add that of Paul, —
Rom. xvi. 25, 26, "According to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made mani- fest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the com- mandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith." The matter to be believed is the mystery of the gospel, which was kept secret since the world began, or from the giving of the first promise ; not absolutely, but with respect unto that full manifestation which it hath now received. This God com- mands to be believed ; the everlasting God, he who hath sovereign authority over all, requires faith in a way of obedience hereunto. But what ground or reason have we to believe it? This alone is proposed, namely, the divine revelation made in the preaching of the apostles and writings of the prophets; for "faith cometh by hear- ing, and hearing by the word of God," Rom. x. 1 7. This course, and no other, did our Saviour, even after his resurrection, take to beget and confirm faith in the disciples, Luke xxiv. 25-27. That great testimony to this purpose, 2 Tim. iii. 15-17, 1 do not plead in particular, because I have so fully insisted on it in another discourse.
From these and many other testimonies to the same purpose which might be produced, it is evident, —
1. That it is the Scripture itself, the word or will of God as re- vealed or written, which is proposed unto us as the object of our faith and obedience, which we are to receive and believe with faith divine and supernatural.
*2. That no other reason is proposed unto us either as a motive to encourage us, or as an argument to assure us that we shall not be mistaken, but only its own divine original and authority, making our duty necessary and securing our faith infallibly. And those testi- monies are with me of more weight a thousand times than the plaus- ible reasonings of any to the contrary. With some, indeed, it is grown a matter of contempt to quote or cite the Scripture in our writings, such reverence have they for the ancient fathers, some of whose writings are nothing else but a perpetual contexture of Scrip- ture. But for such who pretend to despise those testimonies in this case, it is because either they do not understand what they are pro- duced to confirm or cannot answer the proof that is in them; for it
CHAP. V.] THE ONLY FOUNDATION AND REASON OF FAITH. 79
is not unlikely but that some persons, well-conceited of their own understanding in things wherein they are most ignorant, will pride and please themselves in the ridiculousness of proving the Scripture to be the word of God by testimonies taken out of it. But, as was said, we must not forego the truth because either they will not or cannot understand what we discourse about.
Our assertion is confirmed by the uniform practice of the pro- phets and apostles, and all the penmen of the Scripture, in pro- posing those divine revelations which they received by immediate inspiration from God; for that which was the reason of their faith unto whom they first declared those divine revelations is the reason of our faith now they are recorded in the Scripture, for the writing of it being by God's appointment, it comes into the room and sup- plies the place of their oral ministry. On what ground soever men were obliged to receive and believe divine revelations when made unto them by the prophets and apostles, on the same are we obliged to receive and believe them now they are made unto us in the Scripture, the writing being by divine inspiration, and appointed as the means and cause of our faith. It is true, God was pleased some- times to bear witness unto their personal ministry by miracles or signs and wonders, as Heb. ii. 4, "God bearing them witness;" but this was only at some seasons, and with some of them. That which they universally insisted on, whether they wrought any miracles or no, was, that the word which they preached, declared, wrote, was "not the word of man," came not by any private suggestion, or from any invention of their own, but was " indeed the word of God/' 1 Thess. ii. 13, and declared by them as they were " acted by the Holy Ghost," 2 Pet. L 21.
Under the Old Testament, although the prophets sometimes re- ferred persons unto the word already written, as that which their faith was to acquiesce in, Isa. viii. 20, Mai. iv. 4, setting out its power and excellency for all the ends of faith and obedience, Ps. xix. 7-9, cxix., and not to any thing else, nor to any other motives or arguments to beget and require faith, but its own authority only ; yet as to their own especial messages and revelations, they laid the foundation of all the faith and obedience which they required in this alone, "Thus saith the Loed, the God of truth." And under the New Testament, the infallible preachers and writers thereof do in the first place propose the writings of the Old Testament to be re- ceived for then own sake, or on the account of their divine origi- nal: see John i. 45; Luke xvi. 29, 31; Matt. xxi. 42; Acts xviii. 24, 25, 28, xxiv. 14, xxvi. 22; 2 Pet. i. 21. Hence are they called " The oracles of God," Rom. iii. 2 ; and oracles always required an assent for their own sake, and other evidence they pleaded none.