come upon you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts i. 8). When they de- clared the death and resurrection of Christ, as facts to be be- lieved, they said, " Whereof we are witnesses " (Acts ii. 32, iii. 15, v. 32). In this last passage the Apostles say they were witnesses not only of the fact of Christ's resurrection but that God had " exalted " Him " with his right hand to be a prince and a saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." See Acts x. 39-43, where it is said, " He commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins."
The great complaint against the Apostles, especially in the Grecian cities, was that they did not present their doctrines as propositions to be proved ; they did not even state the philosoph- ical grounds on which they rested, or attempt to sustain them at the bar of reason. The answer given to this objection by St. Paul is twofold : First, that philosophy, the wisdom of men, had proved itself utterly incompetent to solve the great problems of God and the universe, of sin and redemption. It was in fact neither more nor less than foolishness, so far as all its specula- tions as to the things of God were concerned. Secondly, that the doctrines which He taught were not the truths of reason, but matters of revelation ; to be received not on rational or philo- sophical grounds, but upon the authority of God ; that they, the Apostles, were not philosophers, but witnesses ; that they did not argue using the words of man's wisdom, but that they simply declared the counsels of God, and that faith in their doctrines was to rest not on the wisdom of men, but on the powerful testi- mony of God.
The second proof, that the Scriptures teach that faith is the reception of truth on the ground of testimony or on the author- ity of God, is, that the thing which we are commanded to do, is to receive the record which God has given of his Son. This is faith ; receiving as true what God has testified, and because He has testified it. " He that believeth not God hath made him a liar ; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his
Son." The Greek here is, ov 7r«rioT£UKev cis ttjv fiaprvpiav rjv fxefiap-
TvprjKtv 6 ©cos 7repi tov vlov awov, " believeth not the testimony which God testified concerning his Son." " And this is the testimony,
66 PART m. Ch. XVI. — FAITH.
(17 fiaprvpia') that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son " (1 John v. 10, 11). There could hardly be a more distinct statement of the Scriptural doctrine as to the nature of faith. Its object is what God has revealed. Its ground is the testimony of God. To receive that testimony, is to set to our seal that God is true. To reject it, is to make God a liar. " If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater : for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his son."
Such is the constant teaching of Scripture. The ground on which we are authorized and commanded to believe is, not the conformity of the truth revealed to our reason, nor its effect upon our feelings, nor its meeting the necessities of our nature and con- dition, but simply, " Thus saith the Lord." The truths of reve- lation do commend themselves to the reason ; they do powerfully and rightfully affect our feelings ; they do meet all the necessities of our nature as creatures and as sinners ; and these considerations may incline us to believe, may strengthen our faith, lead us to cherish it, and render it joyful and effective ; but they are not its ground. We believe on the testimony or authority of God.
It is objected to this view that we believe the Bible to be the Word of God on other ground than testimony. The fulfilment of prophecies, the miracles of its authors, its contents, and the effects which it produces, are rational grounds for believing it to be from God. To this objection two answers may be made : First that supernatural occurrences, such as prophecies and miracles' are some of the forms in which the divine testimony is riven' Paul says that God bears « witness both with signs and wonders " (Hebrews 11. 4). And, secondly, that the proximate end of these manifestations of supernatural foresight and power was to authen- ticate the divme mission of the messengers of God. This being established, the people were called upon to receive their message and to believe on the authority of God, by whom they were sent.
™1 / JTf' ^ ^ ScriPtures ^ach that faith is a re- ception of tath on the ground of testimony, is found in the examples- and illustrations of faith given in the Scriptures. iZ
Sfie^V^ faU ^ l™ ™ made t0 -S3 parents that the seed of thewoman should bruise the serpent's head. On
the JT t fSf C°Uld faith in ±his I**** -t except on
£l£K ,°d' Wh6n N°ah WaS ™rned of God * the coming deluge, and commanded to prepare the ark, he believed,
^eZltr,the T90' thQ aPP— hing flood, not bt cause his moral judgment assured him that a just God would in
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