for the Holy Spirit to enable them to understand, receive, and obey what was thus externally made known to them.
Contrary to the Facts of Experience.
3. The doctrine in question is no less contrary to fact than it is to Scripture. The doctrine teaches that by the inward revelation of the Spirit saving knowledge of truth and duty is given to every man. But all experience shows that without the written Word, men everywhere and in all ages, are ignorant of divine things, — without God, without Christ, and without hope in the world. The sun is not more obviously the source of light, than the Bible is the source of divine knowledge. The absence of the one is as clearly indicated as the absence of the other. It is incredible that an in- ward revelation of saving truth is made to every man by the Holy Spirit, if the appropriate effects of that revelation are nowhere manifested. It is to be remembered that without the knowledge of God, there can be no religion. Without right apprehensions of the Supreme Being, there can be no right affections towards him. Without the knowledge of Christ, there can be no faith in him. Without truth there can be no holiness, any more than there can be vision without light. . As right apprehensions of God, and holi- ness of heart and life, are nowhere found where the Scriptures are unknown, it is plain that the Scriptui'es, and not an inward light common to all men, are, by the ordinance of God, the only source to us of saving and sanctifying knowledge.
There is a sense in which, as all evangelical Christians believe, the Spirit is given to every man. He is present with every human mind exciting to good and restraining from evil. To this the order, and what there is of morality in the world, are due. Without this " common grace," or general influence of the Spirit, there would be no difference between our world and hell ; for hell is a place or state in which men are finally given up of God. In like manner, there is a general providential efficiency of God by which He cooperates with second causes, in the productions of the won- derful phenomena of the external world. Without that coopera- tion— the continued guidance of mind — the cosmos would become chaos. But the fact that . this providential efficiency of God is universal, is no proof that He everywhere woi'ks miracles, that He constantly operates without the intervention of second causes. So, also, the fact that the Spirit is present with every human mind, and constantly enforces the truth present to that mind, is no proof that He makes immediate, supernatural revelations to every human
102 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. IV. — Mysticism,
being. The fact is, we cannot see without hght. We have the sun to give us hght. It is vain to say that every man has an inward hght sufficient to guide him without the sun. Facts are against the theory.
iVb Criterion by which to judge of the 'Source of Inward Suggestions. 4. A fourth objection to the Mystical doctrine is that there is no criterion by which a man can test these inward impulses or revela- tions, and determine which are from the Spirit of God, and which are from his own heart or from Satan, who often appears and acts as an angel of light. This objection, Barclay says, " Bespeaketh
much ignorance in the opposers For it is one thing to
affirm that the true and undoubted revelation of God's Spirit is certain and infallible ; and another thing to affirm that this or that particular person or people is led infallibly by this revelation in what they speak or write, because they affirm themselves to be so led by the inward and immediate revelation of the Spirit." ^ It is admitted that there is an inwax'd and infalHble testimony of the Spirit in the hearts of believers to the truths objectively revealed in the Scriptures. It is admitted, also, that there have been immediate revelations of truth to the mind, as in the case of the prophets and Apostles, and that these revelations authenticate themselves, or are attended with an infallible assurance that they come from God. But these admissions do not invalidate the objection as above stated. Granted that a man who receives a true revelation knows that it is from God ; how is the man who receives a false revelation to know that it is not from God ? Many men honestly believe themselves to be inspired, who are under the influence of some evil spirit, — their own it may be. The assurance or certainty of conviction may be as strong in one case as in the other. In the one it is well founded, in the other it is a delusion. Irresistible conviction is not enough. It may satisfy the subject of it himself. But it cannot either satisfy others, or be a criterion of truth. Thousands have been, and still are, fully convinced that the false is true, and that what is wrong is right. To tell men, thei*efore, to look within for an authoritative guide, and to trust to their irresistible convictions, is to give them a guide which will lead them to destruction. When God really makes revelations to the soul. He not only gives an in- fallible assurance that the revelation is divine, but accompanies it with evidence satisfactory to others as well as to the recipient that
1 Barclay's Apology, p. 67.