90 THE REASON OF FAITH. [BOOK VI., PART I.
And if I declare unto any one that the Scripture is the word of God, a divine revelation, and that it doth evidence and manifest itself so to be, if he shall say that he hath the vise and exercise of his sense and reason as well as others and yet it doth not appear unto him so to be, it is, as unto the present inquiry, a sufficient reply, for the secu- rity of the authority of the Scriptures, (though* other means may be used for his conviction,) to say that " all men have not faith," by which alone the evidence of the divine authority of the Scripture is discoverable, in the light whereof alone we can read those characters of its divine extract which are impressed on it and communicated unto it.
If it be not so, seeing it is a divine revelation, and it is our duty to believe it so to be, it must be either because our faith is not fitted, suited, nor able to receive such an evidence, suppose God would give it unto the revelation of himself by his word, as he hath done unto those by the light of nature and works of providence, or because God would not or could not give such an evidence unto his word as might manifest itself so to be ; and neither of these can be affirmed without a high reflection on the wisdom and goodness of God.
That our faith is capable of giving such an assent is evident from hence, because God works it in us and bestows it upon us for this very end; and God require th of us that we should infallibly believe what he proposeth unto us, at least when we have infallible evidence that it is from him. And as he appointeth faith unto this end, and approveth of its exercise, so he doth both judge and condemn them who fail therein, 2 Chron. xx. 20; Isa. vii. 9; Mark xvi. 16. Yea, our faith is capable of giving an assent, though of another kind, more firm, and accompanied with more assurance, than any given by reason in the best of its conclusions; and the reason is, because the power of the mind to give assent upon testimony, which is its most ncble faculty, is elevated and strengthened by the divine supernatural work of the Holy Ghost, before described.
To say that God either could not or would not give such a power unto the revelation of himself by his word as to evidence itself to be so is exceedingly prejudicial unto his honour and glory, seeing the ever- lasting welfare of the souls of men is incomparably more concerned therein than in the other ways mentioned. And what reason could be assigned why he should implant a less evidence of his divine au- thority on this than on them, seeing he designed far greater and more glorious ends in this than in them? If any one shall say, " The reason is, because this kind of divine revelation is not capable of receiv- ing such evidences ;" it must be either because there cannot be evident characters of divine authority, goodness, wisdom, power, implanted in it or mixed with it ; or because an efficacy to manifest them cannot
CHAP. VI.] THE NATURE OF DIVINE REVELATIONS. 91
be communicated unto it. That both these are otherwise shall be demonstrated in the last part of this discourse, which I shall now enter upon.
It hath been already declared that it is the authority and vera- city of God, revealing themselves in the Scripture and by it, that is the formal reason of our faith, or supernatural assent unto it as it is the word of God.
2. It remains only that we inquire, in the second place, into the way and means whereby they evidence themselves unto us, and the Scripture thereby to be the word of God, so as that we may un- doubtedly and infallibly believe it so to be. Now, because faith, as we have showed, is an assent upon testimony, and consequently divine faith is an assent upon divine testimony, there must be some testimony or witness in this case whereon faith doth rest ; and this we say is the testimony of the Holy Ghost, the author of the Scrip- tures, given unto them, in them, and by them. And this work or testimony of the Spirit may be reduced unto two heads, which may be distinctly insisted on: —
(1.) The impressions or characters which are subjectively left in the Scripture and upon it by the Holy Spirit, its author, of all the divine excellencies or properties of the divine nature, are the first means evidencing that testimony of the Spirit which our faith rests upon, or they do give the first evidence of its divine original and authority, whereon we do believe it. The way whereby we learn the eternal power and deity of God from the works of creation is no otherwise but by those marks, tokens, and impressions of his divine power, wisdom, and goodness, that are upon them; for from the con- sideration of their subsistence, greatness, order, and use, reason doth necessarily conclude an infinite subsisting Being, of whose power and wisdom these things are the manifest effects. These are clearly seen and understood by the things that are made. We need no other arguments to prove that God made the world but itself. It carrieth in it and upon it the infallible tokens of its original. See to this purpose the blessed meditation of the psalmist, Ps. civ. throughout. Now, there are greater and more evident impressions of divine excel- lencies left on the written word, from the infinite wisdom of the Au- thor of it, than any that are communicated unto the works of God, of what sort soever. Hence David, comparing the works and the word of God, as to their instructive efficacy in declaring God and his glory, although he ascribes much unto the works of creation, yet doth he prefer the word incomparably before them, Ps. xix. 1-3, 7-9, cxlvii. 8, 9, etc., 19, 20. And these do manifest the word unto our faith to be his more clearly than the others do the works to be his unto our reason. As yet I do not know that it is denied by any, or the