104 THE REASON OF FAITH. [BOOK VI., PART L
The truth is, if we will attend unto our own and the experience of the whole church of God, the way whereby we come to believe the Scripture to be the word of God ordinarily is this, and no other. God having first given his word as the foundation of our faith and obedience, hath appointed the ministry of men, at first extraordi- nary, afterward ordinary, to propose unto us the doctrines, truths, precepts, promises, and threatenings contained therein. Together with this proposition of them, they are appointed to declare that these things are not from themselves, nor of their own invention, 2 Tim. iii. 14—17- And this is done variously. Unto some the word of God in this ministry thus comes, or is thus proposed, preached, or declared, whilst they are in a condition not only utterly unacquainted with the mysteries of it, but filled with contrary apprehensions, and consequently prejudiced against it. Thus it came of old unto the pagan world, and must do so unto such persons and nations as are yet in the same state with them. Unto these the first preachers of the gospel did not produce the book of the Scriptures, and tell them that it was the word of God, and that it would evidence itself unto them so to be, for this had been to despise the wisdom and authority of God in their own ministry; but they preached the doctrines of it unto them, grounding themselves on the divine revelation con- tained therein. And this proposition of the truth or preaching of the gospel was not left of God to work itself into the reason of men by the suitableness of it thereunto ; but being his own institution for their illumination and conversion, he accompanied it with divine power, and made it effectual unto the ends designed, Rom. i. 16. And the event hereof among mankind was, that by some this new doctrine was derided and scorned; by others, whose hearts God opened to attend unto it, it was embraced and submitted unto. Among those who, after the propagation of the gospel, are born, as they say, within the pale of the church, the same doctrine is variously instilled into persons, according unto the several duties and concerns of others to instruct them. Principally, the ministry oj the word is ordained of God unto that end, whereon the church is the pillar and ground of truth. Those of both sorts unto whom the doctrine mentioned is preached or proposed are directed unto the Scriptures as the sacred repository thereof; for they are told that these things come by revela- tion from God, and that that revelation is contained in the Bible, which is his word. Upon this proposal, with inquiry into it and considera- tion of it, God co-operating by his Spirit, there is such evidence of its divine original communicated unto their minds through its power and efficacy, with the characters of divine wisdom and holiness im- planted on it, which they are now enabled to discern, that they believe it and rest in it as the immediate word of God. Thus was it in the
CHAP. VII.] INFERENCES AND OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 105
case of the woman of Samaria and the inhabitants of Sychar with respect unto their faith in Christ Jesus, John iv. 42. This is the way whereby men ordinarily are brought to believe the word of God, Rom. x. 14, 15, 1 7; and that neither by external arguments nor motives, which no one soul wa,s ever converted unto God by, nor by any mere naked proposal and offer of the book unto them, nor by miracles, nor by immediate revelation or private subjective testimony of the Spirit; nor is their faith a persuasion of mind that they can give no reason of, but only that they are so persuaded.
2. But it will be yet farther objected, " That if there be such clear evidence in the thing itself, that is, in the divine original and autho- rity of the Scriptures, that none who freely use their reason can deny it, then it lies either in the naked proposal of the thing unto the understanding, — and if so, then every one that assents unto this pro- position, ' That the whole is greater than the part,' must likewise as- sent unto this, ' That the Scripture is the word of God/ — or the evi- dence must not lie in the naked proposal, but in the efficacy of the Spirit of God in the minds of them unto whom it is proposed."
Ans. 1. I know no divine, ancient or modern, popish or protest- ant, who doth not assert that there is a work of the Holy Ghost on the minds of men necessary unto a due belief of the Scripture to be the word of God; and the consideration hereof ought not by any Christian to be excluded. But they say not that this is the objective testimony or evidence on which we believe the Scripture to be the word of God, concerning which alone is our inquiry.
2. We do not dispute how far or by what means this proposition, " The Scripture is the word of God," may be evidenced merely unto our reason, but unto our understanding as capable of giving an assent upon testimony. It is not said that this is a first principle of reason, though it be of faith, nor that it is capable of a mathematical de- monstration. That the whole is greater than the part is self-evident unto our reason upon its first proposal, but such none pretends to be in the Scripture, because it is a subject not capable of it; nor do those who deny the self-evidence of the Scripture pretend by their arguments for its divine authority to give such an evidence of it unto reason as is in first principles or mathematical demonstra- tions, but content themselves with that which they call a " moral cer- tainty." But it is by faith we are obliged to receive the truth of this proposition, which respects the power of our minds to assent unto truth upon testimony, infallibly on that which is infallible. And hereunto it evidenceth its own truth, not with the same, but with an evidence and certainty of a higher nature and nobler kind than that of the strictest demonstration in things natural or the most forcible argument in things moral.