03. Chapter III.

Chapter III.

Various convincing external arguments for divine revelation.

There are various cogent arguments which are taken from external considerations of the Scripture, that evince on rational grounds that it is from God. All these are motives of credibility, or effectual persuasives to account and esteem it to be the word of God. And although they neither are, nor is it possible for them to ever be, the ground and reason on which we believe it to be the word of God with divine and supernatural faith, they are necessary to confirm our faith in it against temptations, oppositions, and objections. These arguments have been pleaded by many, and usefully so. It is therefore not necessary for me to insist on them. And they are the same in substance, for both ancient and modern writers, however managed by some with more learning, dexterity, and force of reasoning than by others.

It may not be expected, therefore, that in this short discourse designed for another purpose, I would give them much improvement. However, I will touch a little on those which seem to be most cogent, and what it is in them, in which (in my apprehension) their strength lies. I will do this even though we plead that no man can believe with divine, supernatural, and infallible faith, that the Scriptures are the word of God, except on its own internal divine evidence and efficacy. I do it to manifest that we allow and make use of all those external arguments of the sacred truth and divine origin of the Scriptures which are pleaded by others, ascribing to them as much weight and cogency as possible. And we acknowledge that the persuasion which these arguments produce and effect, is as firm as they can pretend it to be. Only, we do not judge that they contain the whole of the evidence which we have for faith to rest on or to be resolved into — indeed, not that evidence at all which renders it divine, supernatural, and infallible. The rational arguments, we say, which are or may be used in this matter — with the human testimonies by which they are corroborated — may and ought to be made use of and insisted on. It is but vainly pretended that their use is superseded by our other assertions — as though, where faith is required, all the subservient use of reason would be absolutely discarded, and our faith rendered irrational thereby. The assent to the divine origin and authority of the Scriptures, which the mind ought to give, based upon these arguments, we grant are of as high a nature as it is pretended to be — namely, a moral certainty. Moreover, the conclusion which unprejudiced reason will make upon these arguments is firmer, better grounded, and more pleadable, than that which is built solely on the authority of any church whatever. But we assert that there is another kind of assent to the divine origin and authority of the Scriptures that is required of us — namely, that of divine and supernatural faith. None will say that such faith can be effected by or resolved into the best and most cogent of rational arguments and external testimonies, which are absolutely human and fallible. For it implies a contradiction to believe infallibly upon fallible evidence. Therefore, I will prove that, beyond all these arguments and their effect on our minds, we are required to assent to the Scripture as the word of God, with divine, supernatural, and infallible faith. And therefore, there must be a divine evidence which is the formal object and reason of this faith, on which alone it rests and is resolved into. This will also be declared and proved. Yet, as said in the first place, because their property is to level the ground, and to remove the rubbish of objections out of the way, that we may build safer on the sure foundation, I will mention some of those arguments which I esteem are justly pleadable in this cause; and —

1. The antiquity of these writings, and of the divine revelation contained in them, is pleaded in evidence of their divine origin; and this is deservedly so, for where it is absolute, it is unquestionable; what is most ancient in any kind is most true. God himself makes use of this plea against idols: Isaiah 43:10-12, "You are my witnesses, says the Lord. I, even I, am the Lord; and besides me there is no savior. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shown, when there was no strange god among you. Therefore, you are my witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God." What he asserts is that he alone is God, and no other. He calls the people to testify by this argument, that he was among them as God — that is, in the church — before any strange god was known or named. And so it is justly pleaded in behalf of this revelation of the mind of God in the Scripture, that it was in the world long before any other thing or writing pretended to be given to the same end. Whatever, therefore, ensued of a like design, must either be set up in competition with Scripture, or in opposition to it, over which Scripture has its advantage merely from its antiquity.

Therefore, because the first books of this writing are acknowledged to be more ancient than any other that is extant in the world, or indeed that ever was so, and may be proved to be so, it is beyond all reasonable apprehension that it should be of human origin. For we know how low, weak, and imperfect, all human inventions were at first — how rude and unpolished in every kind — until time, observation, subsequent additions and diminutions, had shaped, formed, and improved them. But this writing was issued in the world absolutely, the first of its kind, directing us in the knowledge of God and ourselves. It was from the first, and at once, so absolutely complete and perfect that no art, industry, or wisdom of man, has ever yet found any just defect in it, or been able to add anything to it by which it might be bettered or improved. From the beginning, it would never allow any additions to it, except what came from the same fountain of divine revelation and inspiration — thus clearing itself, in all ages, from all addition and superfetation46 whatsoever by men. This at least puts a singular character upon this book, and represents it with such reverend awe and majesty, that it is the highest petulancy 47 not to pay it sacred respect. This argument is pursued by many at large, as that which affords a great variety of historical and chronological observations. It has been so examined and proved, that nothing remains for present or future diligence, than giving it a new dress. But the real force of it lies in the consideration of the people by and among whom this revelation first commenced in the world, and the time in which it did so. When some nations had so improved and cultivated the light of nature as to greatly excel others in wisdom and knowledge, they generally looked at the Jews as ignorant and barbarous. And the wiser any of these nations conceived of themselves, the more they despised the Jews. And, indeed, the Jews were utter strangers to all those arts and sciences by which the faculties of men’s minds are naturally enlightened and enlarged. Nor did the Jews pretend to have any wisdom by which to compete with other nations, except what they received by divine revelations. God himself had taught them to look at this alone, and to esteem it as their only wisdom before all the world, Deu 4.6-8.48 Now, we will not need to consider what the first attempts of other nations were in expressing their conceptions concerning divine things, the duty and happiness of man. The Egyptians and Grecians were those who vied for a reputation in the improvement of this wisdom. But it is known and confessed that the utmost production of their endeavors were foolish things, irrational and absurd, contrary to the being and providence of God and to the light of nature, leading mankind into a maze of folly and wickedness. But we may consider what these nations attained to in the fullness of time by their utmost improvement of science, wisdom, mutual intelligence, experience, communication, laborious study, and observation. When they had added to and deducted from the inventions of all former ages from time immemorial — when they had used and improved the reason, wisdom, invention, and conjectures of all that went before them in the study of this wisdom — when they had discarded whatever they had found by experience was unsuited to natural light and the common reason of mankind — it must yet be acknowledged that the apostle passes a just censure on their utmost attainments: namely, that "they grew vain in their imaginations," and "the world by wisdom did not know God." 49 This one nation of the Jews was esteemed barbarous, and really so with respect to that wisdom, and those arts and sciences, which ennobled other nations. From antiquity it was not pretended that reason and wisdom had received any considerable improvement [among them]: they were without converse, communication, learning, or experience.50 Why was it, then, that there should at once proceed such a law, doctrine, and instructions concerning God and man, that were so stable, certain, and uniform, as not only to incomparably excel all products of human wisdom for that purpose — however advantaged by time and experience — but also to abide invariable throughout all generations? Whatever has been advanced in opposition to it, or merely differing from it, has quickly sunk under the weight of its own unreasonableness and folly. This one consideration (unless men have a mind to be contentious) gives sufficient satisfaction that this book could have no other origin than what it pleads for itself — namely, an immediate emanation from God.

2. It is apparent that God in all ages has had a great regard for it, and acted in his power and care in its preservation. If the Bible were not what it pretends to be, there would have been nothing more suitable to the nature of God, and more becoming divine providence, than long since to have blotted it out of the world. For to allow a book to be in the world from the "beginning of times," falsely pretending to carry his name and authority, seducing so great a portion of mankind into a pernicious and ruinous apostasy from him (as it must and does do if it is not of a divine origin), and exposing inconceivable multitudes of the best, wisest, and soberest among them, to all sorts of bloody miseries which they have undergone on behalf of it — does not seem consonant with that infinite goodness, wisdom, and care with which this world is governed from above. But on the contrary, through the watchful care and providence of God, sometimes putting itself forth in miraculous instances, the Bible has been preserved to this day, and it will be to the consummation of all things. This is despite the malicious craft of Satan, and the prevalent power and rage of mankind, which have combined and been set at work to the ruin and utter suppression of this book, sometimes proceeding so far that no way of escape was apparent.51 The event spoken of by our Savior invincibly proves the divine approbation52 of this book, as does its divine origin, "Till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle will in any way pass from the law," Matthew 5:18. God’s perpetual care over the Scripture for so many ages, that not a letter of it should be utterly lost — nothing that has the least tendency towards its end should perish53 — is sufficient evidence of his regard for it. It would be especially so if we consider with what remarkable judgments and severe reflections of vengeance on its opposers, this care has been managed (instances of which might easily be multiplied). And if any will not ascribe this preservation of the books of the Bible to the care of God — not only in their being, but in their purity and integrity, free from the least just suspicion of corruption, or intermixture of anything human or heterogeneous — it is incumbent on him to assign some other cause that would be proportionate to such an effect, while it was in the interest of heaven [to preserve it], and the endeavor of earth and hell to have it corrupted and destroyed. For my part, I cannot help but judge that the one who does not see a hand of divine Providence stretched out in the preservation of this book, with the open opposition that has been made to it, does not believe there is any such thing as divine providence at all. For all that is in it, in its words and syllables, was preserved for thousands of years through all the overthrows and deluges of calamities that have befallen the world, with the weakness of the means by which it has been preserved, and the interest in some ages of all those in whose power it was to have it corrupted — as it was in the interest of the apostate churches of the Jews and Christians.

It was first written in the very infancy of the Babylonian empire, a contemporary of Israel for about nine hundred years. By this monarchy, that people which alone had these oracles of God committed to them, were oppressed, destroyed, and carried into captivity. But this book was then preserved among them while they were absolutely under the power of their enemies, even though it condemned those enemies and all their gods and religious worship, which we know how horribly mankind is enraged with. Satan had enthroned himself as the object of their worship, and the author of all ways of divine veneration among them. They adhered to these as their principal interest; as all people do to what they esteem their religion. In the whole world there was nothing that judged, condemned, and opposed him or them, except this book, which was now absolutely in their power. If it could have been destroyed by any means, then when it was in the hands of but a few, and them for the most part flagitious54 in their lives, hating the things contained in the book, and wholly under the power of their adversaries, then the interest of Satan and the whole world in idolatry, would have been secured. But through the mere provision of divine care, the book outlived that monarchy, and saw the ruin of its greatest adversaries. So it also did during the continuance of the Persian monarchy which succeeded it, while the people were still under the power of idolaters. This book was the only testimony in the world against them. By some branches of the Grecian monarchy, a most fierce and diligent attempt was made to have the book utterly destroyed; but still it was snatched out of the furnace by divine power — not one hair of it was singed, nor the least detriment brought to its perfection. The Romans destroyed both the people and the place designed for its preservation up until then. On the conquest of Jerusalem, they carried the ancient copy of the law in triumph to Rome. And while all absolute Power and dominion in the whole world was in their hands, wherever this book was known or heard of, they exercised a rage against it for a number of ages, with the same success that former enemies had. From the very first, all the endeavors of mankind that professed an open enmity against the book have been utterly frustrated. And also, those to whom it was outwardly committed — first the Jews and afterwards the antichristian church of apostatized Christians — not only fell into opinions and practices absolutely inconsistent with it, but they also built all their present and future interests on those opinions and practices. Yet none of them ever dared to attempt corrupting one line in it, who were not forced to attempt their own security by a pretense of additional traditions, and of keeping the book itself (as much as they dared) out of the hands and knowledge of all who were not engaged in the same interest as themselves. From what could all this proceed, if not from the watchful care and power of divine Providence?

It is brutish folly not to believe that what God so protected, originally proceeded from himself, seeing that it pleads and pretends to do so; for every wise man will take more care of a stranger, than of a bastard that is falsely imposed on him to his dishonor.

3. The design of the whole, and all its parts, has an impress on it of divine wisdom and authority. And there are two parts of this: first, to reveal God to men; and secondly, to direct men to come to the enjoyment of God. It would be easy to prove that these are the only two great concerns of our nature (of any rational being), but that is acknowledged by all those with whom I deal. Now, no book or writing in the world, in the way of authority, no single or joint endeavor of mankind or of invisible spirits, ever gave out a law, rule, guide, and light for all mankind universally in both these parts — namely, the knowledge of God and ourselves — except this book. And any other, perhaps like the Koran, that pretended in the least to do it, quickly revealed its own folly, and exposed itself to the contempt of all wise and considerate men. The only question is, How has the Bible discharged itself in this design? For if it has completely and perfectly accomplished it, then it is not only evident that it must be from God, but also that it is the greatest benefit and kindness that divine benignity and goodness ever granted to mankind. For without it, all men universally must necessarily wander in an endless maze of uncertainties, without ever attaining light, rest, or blessedness, here or hereafter. Therefore —

(1.) It takes on itself to speak in the name and authority of God; and it delivers nothing, commands nothing, except what becomes his infinite holiness, wisdom, and goodness. Thus it makes such a declaration of him — in his nature, being, and subsistence, with the necessary properties and acts thereof; and of his will, with all his voluntary actings or works in which we may be or are concerned — that we may know him rightly, and entertain true notions and apprehensions of him, according to the utmost capacity of our finite, limited understanding. Nor do we urge his authority in this case, without here and elsewhere resorting to the evidence of his reasonings, compared with the event or matter of fact. What horrible darkness, ignorance, and blindness, was upon the whole world with respect to the knowledge of God — what confusion and debasement of our nature ensued from that — while God "suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, and winked at the times of their ignorance," as the apostle declares at large in Romans 1, from the 18th verse to the end of the chapter. The sum is this: the only true God had become unknown to them, as the wisest of them acknowledged, Acts 17.23,55 and as our apostle proved against them. The devil, that murderer from the beginning, and enemy of mankind, under various pretenses, had substituted himself in God’s place, and had become "the god of this world," as he is called in 2 Corinthians 4:4. He had appropriated to himself all the religious devotion and worship of mankind generally; for "the things which the Gentiles sacrificed, they sacrificed to devils, and not to God," as our apostle affirms in 1 Corinthians 10:20, and as may be easily evinced. I have abundantly manifested it elsewhere.56 It is acknowledged that a few speculative men among the heathen sought after God in that horrid darkness with which they were encompassed. They labored to reduce their conceptions and notions of his being to what reason could apprehend of infinite perfections, and what the works of creation and providence could suggest to them. But they could never come to any certainty or consistency of notions in their own minds, proceeding little beyond conjecture (which is the manner of those who seek after anything in the dark). Much less could they propose to the world anything for the use of mankind in these things, by common consent with one another. And thus none of them could ever free themselves from the grossest practical idolatry in worshipping the devil, the head of their apostasy from God. Nor could they in the least influence the minds of mankind generally, with any due apprehensions of the divine nature. This is the subject and substance of the apostle’s argument against them in Romans 1. In this state of things, what misery and cohesion the world lived in for many ages, what an endless labyrinth of foolish, slavish superstitions and idolatries it had cast itself into! I have particularly declared this another discourse.57 With respect to this, the Scripture is well called by the apostle Peter "a light shining in a dark place," 2 Peter 1:19. It gives to all men at once a perfect, clear, steady, uniform declaration of God — of his being, subsistence, properties, authority, rule, and actings. This evidences itself to the minds and consciences of all whom the god of this world has not absolutely blinded by the power of prejudices and lusts, confirming them in an enmity to and hatred of God himself. There is, indeed, no more required to free mankind from this horrible darkness, and enormous conceptions about the nature of God and the worship of idols, than a sedate, unprejudiced consideration of the revelation of these things in the books of the Scripture. We may therefore say to all the world, with our prophet, "When they say to you, ’Seek those who have familiar spirits, and wizards that peep and mutter’ — should not a people seek their God? Should the living seek the dead? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them," Isaiah 8:19-20. And this also plainly manifests the Scripture to be of a divine origin: for this declaration of God, this revelation of himself and of his will, is incomparably the greatest and most excellent benefit that our nature is capable of in this world — it is more needful58 for and more useful to mankind than the sun in the firmament, as to the proper end of their lives and beings. And if none of the wisest men in the world, severally or jointly, could attain for themselves or make known to others this knowledge of God, we may say with our apostle that, "in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom did not know God," 1 Corinthians 1:21. Those who attempted any such things "grew vain in their imaginations" and conjectures, so that no one in the world dares admit the regulation of his mind and understanding, by their notions and conceptions absolutely. This is so, even though they had all the advantages of wisdom, and the exercise of reason, above those (at least most of them) who wrote and published the books of the Scripture. And so it cannot, with any pretense of reason, be questioned whether these were given by inspiration from God, as they pretend and plead. There was done in those prophets, what all the world could not do, and without which all the world must have been eternally miserable; and who could do this but God? If anyone would judge that the ignorance about God, which existed among the heathens of old or which exists among the Indians at this day, is not so miserable a matter as we make it out to be; or that there is any way to free them from it except by an emanation of light from the Scripture; then he dwells out of my present way, under the confines of atheism, so that I will not divert for any converse with him. I will only add that whatever notions of truth concerning God and his essence may be found in those philosophers who lived after the preaching of the gospel in the world, or who are to be found at this day among the Mohammedans or other false worshippers in the world — above those notions of the more ancient Pagans — they all derive from the fountain of the Scripture, and were traduced59 from it by various means.

(2.) The second end of this doctrine is to direct mankind in their proper course of living to God, and attaining that rest and blessedness of which they are capable, and which they cannot help but desire. These things are necessary to our nature; so that without them, it would be better not to exist — for it is better to have no being in the world than, while we have it, to always wander and never act towards our proper end. For all that is really good for us consists in our tendency toward this end, and to our attaining it. Now, just as these things were never stated in the minds of the community of mankind, but they lived in perpetual confusion, so the inquiries of the philosophers about the chief end of man, the nature of felicity or blessedness, and the way of attaining it, are nothing but so many uncertain and fierce digladiations.60 No one truth is asserted in these, nor is any one duty prescribed, that is not spoiled and vitiated61 by its circumstances and ends. Besides, they never rose to so much as a surmise about the most important matters of religion – without which, it is demonstrable by reason that it is impossible for us to ever attain the end for which we were made, or the blessedness of which we are capable. They could never give any account of our apostasy from God, or the depravation of our nature — of the cause or necessary cure of it. In this lost and wandering condition of mankind, the Scripture presents itself as a light, rule, and guide for all, to direct them in their whole course to their end, and to bring them to the enjoyment of God. And it does this with such clearness and evidence, as to dispel all the darkness, and put an end to all the confusion of the minds of men (as the sun does with the shades of the night, by rising) — unless they wilfully shut their eyes against it, "loving darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." John 3:19 For all of the confusion of the minds of men — to extricate themselves from which, they searched out and immixed themselves in endless questions, to no purpose — arose from their ignorance of what we were originally; of what we now are, and how we came to be so; by what way or means we may be delivered or relieved; what are the duties of life, or what is required of us in order to live to God as our highest end; and what the blessedness of our nature consists in. All the world was never able to give a satisfactory and tolerable answer to any one of these inquiries. Yet, unless they are all infallibly determined, we are not capable of the least rest or happiness above the beasts that perish. But now, all these things are so clearly declared and stated in the Scripture, that it comes with an evidence, like a light from heaven, on the minds and consciences of unprejudiced persons:

What was the condition of our nature in its first creation and constitution, with the blessedness and advantage of that condition; How we fell from it, and what was the cause; What is the nature, and what are the consequences and effects, of our present depravation and apostasy from God; How help and relief is provided for us in this, by infinite wisdom, grace, and bounty; What that help is, and how we may be interested in it and made partakers of it; What is that system of duties, or course of obedience to God, which is required of us, and in which our eternal felicity consists;

— All these are so plainly and clearly revealed in the Scripture, as to generally leave mankind no ground for doubt, inquiry, or conjecture. Set aside inveterate prejudices from tradition and education, false notions into whose mould the mind is cast, the love of sin, and the conduct of lust —things which have an inconceivable power over the minds, souls, and affections of men — and the light of the Scripture in these things will be like that of the noon-day sun.

It closes the way to all further inquiry, and efficaciously necessitates an acquiescence in it. And in particular — in that direction which it gives to the lives of men, for that obedience which they owe to God, and that reward which they expect from him — there is no conceivable instance of anything that is conducive to this, which is not prescribed in the Scripture; nor is there anything which is contrary to it, that does not fall under its prohibition. Therefore, those whose desire or interest is that the bounds and differences of good and evil should be unfixed and confounded; who are afraid to know what they were, what they are, or what they will come to; who care to know neither God nor themselves, neither their duty nor their reward — may despise this book, and deny its divine origin. Others will retain a sacred veneration of it, as the offspring of God.

4. The testimony of the church may in like manner be pleaded to the same purpose. And I will also insist on it, partly to manifest what its true nature and efficacy consist in; and partly to evince the vanity of the old pretense that even we, who departed from the church of Rome, receive the Scripture on that church’s authority. From this it is further pretended that, on the same ground and reason, we ought to receive whatever else that church proposes to us.

(1.) The church is said to be the pillar and ground of truth, 1 Timothy 3:15, This is the only text pleaded with any sobriety to give countenance to the assertion that the authority of the Scripture, with respect to us, depends on the authority of the church. But the weakness of a plea to that purpose has been so fully manifested by many already, that it does not need to be insisted on. In short, the church cannot be so much the pillar and ground of truth, that the truth should be built and rest upon the church as its foundation, as it were. For this is directly contrary to the same apostle, who teaches us that the church itself is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone," Ephesians 2:20. The church cannot be the ground of truth, and truth be the ground of the church, in the same sense or kind. Therefore, the church is the pillar and ground of truth, in that it holds up and declares the Scriptures and the things contained in it, to be so.

(2.) In receiving anything from a church, we may consider its authority, or its ministry. By the authority of the church in this matter, we intend no more than the weight and importance that is found in its testimony; for testimonies vary according to the worth, gravity, honesty, honor, and reputation of those by whom they are given.

It is a foolish imagination to suppose that there is an authority, properly so called, in any church, or in all the churches of the world, on which our reception of the Scripture should depend, as that which gives it authority towards us, and is a sufficient warranty to our faith. For the authority and truth of God do not stand in need of, nor are they capable of, any such attestation from men. All they will admit from the children of men, is that they humbly submit to them, and testify of their doing so, with the reasons for it. The ministry of the church in this matter is that duty by which it proposes and declares to all the world that the Scripture is the word of God, and to do so as it has occasion. This ministry may be considered either formally, as it is appointed by God for this end, and blessed by him; or materially only, as the thing is done — though the grounds on which it is done and the manner of doing it are not divinely approved.

We wholly deny that we ever received the Scripture on the authority of the church of Rome, in any sense whatsoever. The reasons for this will be mentioned shortly. But it may be granted that, together with the ministry of other churches in the world, and many other providential means of their preservation and successive communication, we de facto received the Scriptures by the ministry of the church of Rome, seeing that they also were in possession of them. But this ministry we allow only in the latter sense, as an actual means in subservience to God’s providence, without respect to any special institution. And for the authority of the church in this case, in that sense in which it is allowed — namely, as denoting the weight and importance of a testimony which, being strengthened by all sorts of circumstances, may be said to have great authority in it — we must be careful to whom or to what church we grant or allow it. For let men assume whatever names or titles they please, if most of them are corrupt or flagitious in their lives, and have great secular advantages which they highly prize and studiously improve62 — things which they suppose and profess the Scripture supplies them with — call them a church or whatever you please, their testimony in this is of very little value. For all men may see that they have an earthly, worldly interest of their own in this. And it will be said that if such persons knew the whole Bible was a fable (as one pope expressed himself), they would not forego its profession, unless they could better advantage themselves in the world another way. Therefore, it is manifest to all, that those who conduct the Roman church have made, and continue to make for themselves, great earthly, temporal advantages in honor, power, wealth, and reputation in the world, by their profession of the Scripture. And thus their testimony may rationally be supposed to be so far influenced by self-interest, as to be of little validity.

Therefore, the testimony which I intend is that of multitudes of persons of unspotted reputation on all other accounts in the world — those who are free from all possibility of impeachment as to any designed evil or conspiracy among themselves, with respect to any corrupt end. Not having the least secular advantage by what they testified to, they were absolutely secured against all exceptions which either common reason or common usage among mankind can put to any witness whatever. And to evidence the force that is in this consideration, I will briefly represent, [1.] Who they were that gave and give this testimony, in some special instances;

[2.] What they gave this testimony to;

[3.] How they did so, or by what means.

[1.] To be considered in the first place, is the testimony of those by whom the several books of the Scripture were written. All of them, severally and jointly, witnessed that what they wrote was received by inspiration from God. This is pleaded by the apostle Peter in the name of them all:

"We have not followed cunningly-devised fables, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, ’This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we heard this voice which came from heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount. We also have a more sure word of prophecy, to which you do well that you take heed, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the day star arises in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy did not come in olden times by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," 2 Peter 1:16-21. This is the concurrent testimony of the writers both of the Old Testament and the New — namely, that just as they had certain knowledge of the things they wrote, so their writing was by inspiration from God. So, in particular, John bears witness to his Revelation, chapter 19.9, 22.6: "These are the true and faithful sayings of God." What weight is to be laid on this is declared in John 21:24, "This is the disciple which testifies of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true." He testified to the truth of what he wrote; but how was it known to the church intended there ("We know that his testimony is true") — that it was true indeed? He was not absolutely autopistos, or "one that was to be believed, merely on his own account." Yet here it is spoken in the name of the church, with the highest assurance, "We know that his testimony is true."

I answer, their assurance did not arise merely from his moral or natural endowments, or holy counsels, but from the evidence they had of his divine inspiration, which we will treat afterward. The particular things pleaded to give force to this testimony are all that such a testimony is capable of; and they are so many that they would require a large discourse by itself to propose, discuss, and confirm them. But supposing the testimony they gave, and in compliance with my own design, I will reduce the evidences of its truth to these two considerations:

1st. Of their persons; and, 2dly. Of the manner of their writing:

1st. As to their persons, they were absolutely removed from all possible suspicion of deceiving or being deceived. The wit of all the atheistic spirits in the world is not able to fix on any one thing that would be a tolerable ground for any such suspicion concerning the integrity of witnesses, if such a testimony could be given in any other case. And surmises in things of this nature, which have no pleadable ground for them, are to be looked at as diabolical suggestions or atheistic dreams — or at best, they are the false imaginations of weak and distempered minds:

the nature and design of their work; their unconcern with all secular interests; their unacquaintance with one another; the times and places in which the things reported by them were done; the facility of convincing them of falsehood if what they wrote (which is the fountain of all else they taught) was not in fact true; the evident certainty that this would have been done, arising from the known desire, ability, will, and interest of their adversaries to do so, if it had been possible to effect it — seeing that this would have secured for their adversaries the victory in the conflicts in which they were violently engaged; it would have put an immediate end to all that difference and uproar in the world about their doctrine; their harmony among themselves, without any conspiracy or antecedent agreement; the miseries which they underwent, most of them without hope of relief or recompense in this world, on the sole account of the doctrine taught by themselves; with all those other innumerable circumstances that are pleadable to evince the sincerity and integrity of any witnesses whatsoever;

— these all concur to prove that they did not follow cunningly-devised fables in what they declared concerning the mind and will of God as immediately received from him. To confront this evidence with bare surmises, incapable of any rational countenance or confirmation, is only to manifest what brutish impudence, infidelity, and atheism, are forced to retreat to for shelter.

2dly. Their style or manner of writing deserves special consideration; for there are impressed on it all those characteristics of a divine origin that can be communicated to such an outward adjunct of divine revelation.

Notwithstanding the distance of the ages and seasons in which they lived, the difference of the languages in which they wrote, the great variety of their roles, abilities, education, and other circumstances, there is yet, on the whole and on all parts of their writing, such gravity, majesty, and authority, mixed with plainness of speech, and absolute freedom from any appearance of an affectation of esteem, or applause, or anything else that derives from human frailty — that it must excite an admiration in all those who seriously consider them. But I have elsewhere insisted at large on this consideration.63 And in the same place, I have shown that no other writings extant in the world, which ever pretended to a divine origin — such as the apocryphal books under the Old Testament, and some fragments of spurious pieces pretended to be written in the days of the apostles — that are not sufficient for their own conviction. They openly reveal their own vain pretensions, not only from their matter, but from the manner of their writing, and the plain footsteps of human artifice and weakness in it. So must everything necessarily do which, being merely human, pretends to an immediate derivation from God. When men have done all they can, these things will have as evident a difference between them, as there is between the wheat and the chaff, or between real and painted fire, Jer 23.28-29.64

We must add to the testimony of the divine writers themselves, the testimony of those who in all ages have believed in Christ through their word — which is the description which the Lord Jesus Christ gives of his church in John 17:20. This is the church — that is, both those who wrote the Scripture, and those who believe in Christ through their word, through all ages — which bears witness to the divine origin of the Scripture; and it may be added that we know this witness is true. I would rather risk my faith and eternal condition with these, than with any society, any real or pretended church whatsoever. And among these, there is a special consideration to be had of those innumerable multitudes who, in primitive times, witnessed this confession all the world over. For they had many advantages above us to know the certainty of various matters of fact which the verity of our religion depends upon. And we are directed to a special regard for their testimony, which is signalized by Christ himself. In the great judgment that is to be passed on the world, the first appearance is of "the souls of those who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God," Revelation 20:4; and at present, there is a special regard for them in heaven on account of their witness and testimony, Revelation 6:9-11. These were the ones who, with the loss of their lives by the sword and other ways of violence, gave testimony to the truth of the word of God. And to reduce these things to a natural consideration, who can have the least occasion to suspect all those persons of folly, weakness, gullibility, wickedness, or conspiracy among themselves, which such a diffuse multitude was absolutely incapable of? Nor can any man undervalue their testimony unless he complies with their adversaries against them, with those who were known generally to be of the worst of men. And who is there that believes there is a God and an eternal future state, that would not rather have his soul with Paul than with Nero, with the holy martyrs than with their bestial persecutors? Therefore, this suffrage and testimony, begun from the first writing of the Scripture, and carried on by the best of men in all ages, and made conspicuously glorious in the primitive times of Christianity, must be unavoidably cogent with all wise men — at least for a due and sedate consideration of what they bear witness to — and sufficient to scatter all those prejudices which atheism or profaneness may raise or suggest.

[2.] What it was they gave testimony to is to be duly considered. And this was not only that the book of Scripture was good, holy, and true, in all its contents, but that the whole and every part of it was given by divine inspiration, as their faith in this matter is expressed, 2 Peter 1:20-21. On this account, and no other, they themselves received the Scripture, and also believed and yielded obedience to the things contained in it. Nor would they admit their testimony was received except as the word which is immediately spoken by God himself, even if the whole world was content to allow or obey the Scripture on any other or lower terms — nor will God himself allow an assent to the Scripture under any other conception. Hence, those who refuse to give credit to it are said to "belie the Lord and say, It is not He," Jeremiah 5:12; yes, to "make God a liar," 1 John 5:10. If all mankind were to agree together to receive and make use of this book,

as that which taught nothing except what is good, useful, and profitable to human society; as that which is a complete directory to men in all that they need to believe or do towards God; as the best means under heaven to make them settled, satisfied, and assured of the knowledge of God and themselves; as the safest guide to eternal blessedness; and therefore, that it must have been written and composed by persons who were wise, holy, and honest above all comparison, and they had that knowledge of God and his will which is necessary to such an undertaking;

— yet, all this does not correspond to the testimony given of the Scriptures by the church of believers in all ages. It was not lawful for them, and it is not lawful for us, to so compound this matter with the world. The whole Scripture was given by inspiration from God — it was his word, his true and faithful sayings — this was what they gave testimony to in the first place; and we are also obliged to do so.

They never pretended to any other assurance of the things they professed, nor did they give any other reason of their faith and obedience than this: that the Scripture in which all these things are contained, was given immediately from God, or was his word. And therefore, those who gave up their Bibles to persecutors, were always esteemed no less traitors to Christianity,65 than those who denied Jesus Christ.

[3.] The manner in which this testimony was given adds to its importance; for —

1st. Many of them, especially at some times, gave their testimony with various miraculous operations. Our apostle pleads this as corroboration of the witness to its truths, given by the first preachers of the gospel, Heb 2.4;66 the same was done by all the apostles together, Acts 5.32.67 It must be granted that these miracles were not worked immediately to confirm this single truth, that the Scripture was given by inspiration of God; but that the end of miracles is to be an immediate witness from heaven, or it is God’s attestation to their persons and ministry by whom these miracles were worked. His presence with them and approval of their doctrine were publicly declared by them. But the miracles worked by the Lord Christ and his apostles, by which God gave immediate testimony to the divine mission of their persons, and the infallible truth of their doctrine, might either not have been written (as most of them were not),John 21:25 or they might have been written and their doctrine recorded in books not given by inspiration from God. Besides, as to the miracles worked by Christ himself, and most of those of the apostles, they were worked among those by whom the books of the Old Testament were acknowledged as the oracles of God, and before the writing of those books of the New Testament; so that they could not be worked to immediately confirm one or the other. Nor do we have any infallible testimony concerning these miracles except the Scripture itself, in which they are recorded. Thus it is necessary that we believe the Scripture is infallibly true, before we can believe on infallible grounds that the miracles recorded in it are true. This is why I grant that the whole force of this consideration lies in this alone: that those who gave testimony to the Scripture, that it is the word of God, had an attestation given to their ministry by these miraculous operations, concerning which we have good collateral security also.

2dly. Many of them confirmed their testimony with their sufferings. They were not only witnesses but martyrs, in the specific church notion of that word, grounded on the Scripture, Acts 22:20; Rev 2.13, 17.6.68

They were so far from having any worldly advantage by the profession they made, and the testimony they gave, that to confirm these, they willingly and cheerfully underwent whatever is evil, dreadful, or destructive to human nature in all its temporary concerns. It is therefore unquestionable that they had the highest assurance of the truth in these things, which the mind of man is capable of. The management of this argument is the principal design of the apostle in the whole 11th chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. For he declared the nature of faith in general — namely, that it is the "substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen," verse 1. That is, there is an assent to and confidence in invisible things that are not capable of demonstration from sense or reason, as it respects divine revelation only; and it is into this revelation alone that faith is resolved. For our encouragement and establishment in this, the apostle produces a long catalogue of those who did, suffered, and obtained great things by faith. What he principally insists on is the hardships, miseries, cruelties, tortures, and several sorts of deaths which they underwent, especially from verse 33 to the end. He calls them a "cloud of witnesses," with which "we are compassed about," Hebrews 12:1, giving testimony to what we believe — that is, to divine revelation, and in a special manner, to the promises contained in it. And this is for our encouragement in the same duty, as he declares there.69 And certainly what was thus testified to in such a way and manner, by so many great, wise, and holy persons, has as great an outward evidence of its truth, as anything of that nature is capable of in this world.

3dly. They did not give their testimony casually, or on some extraordinary occasion only, or by some one solemn act, or in some one certain way, as other testimonies are or can be given. But they gave their testimony in this cause in their whole course, in all that they thought, spoke, or did in the world, and in the whole disposal of their ways, lives, and actions — as every true believer continues to do at this day. For when a man is occasionally called on to give a verbal testimony to the divine origin of the Scripture, in the meantime ordering the whole course of his life — his hopes, designs, aims, and ends — without any eminent respect or regard to it, then his testimony is of no value; nor can it have any influence on the minds of sober and considerate men. But when men manifest and evince that the declaration of the mind of God in the Scripture has a sovereign divine authority over their souls and consciences, absolutely and in all things, then their witness is cogent and efficacious. There is to me a thousand times more force and weight in the testimony of some holy persons to this purpose, than in the verbal declaration of the most splendid, populous church in the world, which does not evidence such an inward sense of the power and efficacy of God’s word. Such holy persons universally and in all things, with respect to this world and their future eternal condition, in all their thoughts, words, actions, and ways, really experience in themselves and express to others, the power and authority of this word of God in their souls and consciences — living, doing, suffering, and dying in peace, in assurance of mind, and with consolation from that word.

There is, therefore, such force in the real testimony which has been given in all ages, by all persons of this sort — not one excepted — to the divine authority of the Scripture, that it is highly arrogant for anyone to question the truth of it without evident convictions of its imposture;70 which no person of any tolerable sobriety ever yet pretended to.

5. I will add, in the last place, the consideration of that success which the doctrine — derived solely from the Scripture, and resolved into it — has had in the world on the minds and lives of men, especially upon the first preaching of the gospel. Two things on this success immediately offer themselves for our consideration:

(1.) The persons by whom this doctrine was successfully carried on in the world; and, (2.) The way and manner of its propagation; The Scripture takes notice of of both these in particular, as evidences of that divine power which the word was really accompanied with.

(1.) As to their outward condition in the world, the persons to whom this work was committed (I mean the apostles and first evangelists) were poor, lowly, and despised in every way. And as to the endowments of their minds, they were destitute of all those abilities and advantages which might give them either reputation or probability of success in such an undertaking. The Jews marked this about them with contempt, Acts 4.13;71 and the Gentiles also generally despised them on the same account. They afforded our apostle no better a title than "babbler," Acts 17:18. And so, for a long time they kept up the public vogue in the world, that Christianity was the religion of idiots and illiterate men. But God had another design in this order of things, which our apostle declares upon admitting the inconsiderable lowliness of those to whom the dispensation of the gospel was committed: 2 Corinthians 4:7, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God, and not of us." The reason why God would make use of such instruments in so great a work was that, through their lowliness, His own glorious power might be more conspicuous. There is nothing more common among men, or more natural to them, than to admire the excellencies of those of their own race and kind, and a willingness to have all evidences of a divine, supernatural power clouded and hidden from them. Therefore, if such persons had been employed as instruments in this work — those whose powers, abilities, qualifications, and endowments, might have been pretended as sufficient, and as the immediate causes of such an effect — there would have been no observation of the divine power and glory of God. But the one who is not able to discern these things in bringing about so mighty a work, by means that are so disproportionate to it, is under the power of the unrelievable prejudices which are intimated by our apostle in such a case, 2Cor 4.3-4.72

(2.) The means which were to be used to this end — namely, subduing the world to the faith and obedience of the gospel, and thus erecting the spiritual kingdom of Christ in the minds of men who before were under the power and dominion of his adversary — must either be force and arms, or else eloquence in plausible and persuasive reasonings. And mighty works have been worked by both one and the other. By the former, empires have been set up and established in the world, and the superstition of Mohammed has been imposed on many nations. And the latter has also had great effects on the minds of many. Therefore, it might have been expected that those who had engaged themselves in so great a design and work as that mentioned, would take one or the other of these means and ways. For the wit of man cannot contrive any way to such an end, except what may be reduced to one of these two, seeing that no other way can be imagined, either on the principles of nature, or on the rules of human wisdom or policy.

Yet both these ways were abandoned by the apostles and evangelists; and they declared against the use of either of them. For as to outward force, power, and authority, they had none — the use of all carnal weapons was utterly inconsistent with this work and design. As to the other way — of persuasive orations, of enticing words, of alluring arts and eloquence, with like effects of human wisdom and skill — these were all studiously declined by them in this work, as things extremely prejudicial to its success, 1Cor 2.4-5.73 But they resorted to this alone: they went up and down, preaching to Jews and Gentiles "that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and rose again, according to the Scriptures," 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. And they did this by virtue of those spiritual gifts which were the hidden powers of the world to come, whose nature, virtue, and power, others were utterly unacquainted with. This preaching of theirs, this preaching of the cross, both for its subject-matter and manner — without art, eloquence, or oratory — was looked at as a marvellous foolish thing, a sweaty kind of babbling, by all those who had any reputation for learning or cunning among men. Our apostle discusses this at large in 1 Corinthians 1:17-31. In this state of things, everything was under as many improbabilities of success, for all rational conjectures, as can be conceived. Besides, together with the doctrine of the gospel that they preached (which was new and uncouth74 to the world), they taught observances of religious worship — in meetings, assemblies, or conventicles75 to that end — which all the laws in the world prohibited, Acts 16.21, 18.13.76

Upon this, no sooner did the rulers and governors of the world begin to take notice of them and what they did, than they judged that it all tended to sedition, and that commotions would ensue from it. These things enraged most of mankind against them and their converts, and therefore made havoc of them with incredible fury. Yet, notwithstanding all these disadvantages, and against all these oppositions, their doctrine prevailed to subdue the world to obey it. There may be added to all these things, one or two considerations from the state of things in the world at that time, which signalize the quality of this work, and manifest that it was of God; such as —

[1.] In the New Testament, its writers constantly categorize all those they had to deal with in this world, into Jews and Greeks (which we render Gentiles). The other nations of the world came under that latter designation because of their preeminence on various accounts. Now, the Jews at that time were, in solidum,77 possessed of all the true religion that was in the world. They boasted of this as their privilege, exalting themselves with the thought and reputation of it, everywhere and on all occasions. At that time, it was their great business to gain proselytes to it, which their honor and advantage also depended on. The Greeks, on the other side, were in as full a possession of arts, sciences, literature, and all that which the world calls "wisdom," as the Jews were of religion. And they too had a religion, received by a long tradition of their fathers from time immemorial, which they had variously cultivated and dressed with mysteries and ceremonies to their own complete satisfaction.

Besides this, the Romans, who were the ruling part of the Gentiles, ascribed to their gods and the religious worship they gave them, all their prosperity, and the whole raising of their stupendous empire. Thus it was a fundamental maxim in their policy and rule, that they should prosper or decay according to how well they observed or were negligent in the religion they received. Indeed, not only those who owned the true God and his providence, but (before idolatry and superstition had given way to atheism) all people solemnly imputed all their achievements and successes to their gods, as the prophet says of the Chaldeans, Hab 1.11.78 And the one who first undertook to record the exploits of the nations of the world, constantly assigns all their good and evil to their gods, as they were pleased or provoked. The Romans, especially, boasted that their religion was the cause of their prosperity: "It is in piety only and religion, and the wisdom of regarding the providence of the immortal gods as that which rules and governs all things, that we have surpassed all nations and peoples," says their great orator.79 And Dionysius of Halicarnassus,80 a great and wise historian, giving an account of the religion of the Romans and the ceremonies of their worship, affirms that he does it to this end: "that those who have been ignorant of the Roman piety should cease to wonder at their prosperity and successes in all their wars, seeing that, because of their religion, they always had the gods propitious and succorable to them," Antiq. Rom., lib. ii. The consideration of this made them so obstinate in their adherence to their present religion, that when, after many ages and hundreds of years, some books of Numa (their second king, and principal establisher of their commonwealth), were occasionally found, instead of paying them any respect, they ordered them to be burnt, because the one who had perused them took his oath that they were contrary to their present worship and devotion! And on the decline of their empire, after the prevalence of the Christian religion, those who were obstinate in their Paganism reflected severely upon the Christians; they fiercely avowed that the relinquishment of their old religion was the cause of all their calamities. It was in answer to this calumny, principally, that Austin wrote his excellent discourse, De Civitate Dei.81 In this state of things, the preachers of the gospel come among them. They not only bring a new doctrine, under all the disadvantages mentioned before (and moreover, the one who was the head of it was newly crucified as a malefactor, by the present powers of the earth), but also such a doctrine that was to expressly take away the religion from the Jews, and the wisdom from the Greeks, and the principal maxim of polity from the Romans, on which they thought they had raised their empire! It would be easy to declare how all those sects were engaged in worldly interest, honor, reputation, and principles of safety — to oppose, decry, condemn, and reject, this new doctrine. If a company of sorry craftsmen was able to fill a whole city with tumult and uproar against the gospel, as they did when they thought it would bring decay to their trade (Acts 19:23-41), then what can we think was done in all the world by all those who were engaged and enraged by higher provocations? To the Jews, it was like death to part with their religion, on account of the conviction they had of its truth, and also the honor they thought to accrue by it. And the Greeks were raised to the highest indignation by having that wisdom which they and their forefathers had been laboring in for so many generations, now be entirely rejected as an impertinent foolery by the sorry preachments of a few illiterate persons. And the Romans were wise enough to secure the fundamental maxim of their state.

Therefore, the world seemed sufficiently fortified against the admission of this new and strange doctrine, on the terms on which it was proposed. There can be no danger, surely, that it would ever obtain considerable progress. But we know that things fell out quite otherwise. Religion, wisdom, and power, with honor, profit, interest, and reputation, were all forced to give way to its power and efficacy.

[2.] The world at that time was in the highest enjoyment of peace, prosperity, and plenty, that it had ever attained since the entrance of sin. It is known how, from all these things, provision is usually made for the flesh to fulfil its lusts.Romans 13:14 Whatever the pride, ambition, covetousness, or sensuality of anyone, that could carry them to lust after these things, the world was full of satisfactions for them. And so most men lived in the eager pursuit of their lusts, in full supply of what they required. In this condition, the gospel is preached to them — requiring at once and indispensably, a renunciation of all those worldly lusts which before had been the salt of their lives. If men designed any compliance with it or interest in it, then their pride, ambition, luxury, covetousness, sensuality, malice, and revenge, must all be mortified and rooted up. If it had only been a new doctrine and religion, declaring such a knowledge and worship of God that they had never heard of before, they could not help being very wary in entertaining it. But when it required, at the first instant, that for its sake they should "pull out their right eyes, and cut off their right hands,"82 — to part with all that was dear and useful to them, and which had such a prevalent interest in their minds and affections (as corrupt lusts are known to have) — this could only invincibly fortify them against its admittance. Yet this also was forced to give way; and all the fortifications of Satan in this were thrown to the ground by the power of the word, as our apostle expresses it, 2Cor 10.4-5.83 There he gives an account of that warfare by which the world was subdued to Christ by the gospel. Now, a man who has a mind to make himself an instance of conceited folly and pride, may talk as though there was no evidence in all this of divine power giving testimony to the Scripture and the doctrine contained in it. But its characteristics are so legible to every modest and sedate view, that they leave no room for doubt or hesitation. But the force of this whole argument is liable to one exception of no small moment. Therefore, this must necessarily be taken notice of and removed. Because we plead the power, efficacy, and prevalence of the gospel in former days as a demonstration of its divine origin, it may be asked,

"Why it is that it is not still accompanied with the same power, nor does it produce the same effects? For we see that its profession is now confined to narrow limits in comparison to what it formerly extended itself to. Nor do we find that it gains ground anywhere in the world; rather, it is more and more restricted every day.

Therefore, either the first prevalence that it was asserted to have, and which is argued as evidence of its divinity, indeed proceeded from some other accidental causes, in an efficacious though unseen concurrence, and not by an emanation of power from itself; or else the gospel is not at present what it was formerly, seeing that it does not have the same effect or power over the minds of men that it had of old. We may therefore suspend pleading this argument from what was formerly done by the gospel, lest it reflect a disadvantage on what we profess at present."

Ans. 1. Whatever different events may fall out in different seasons, the gospel is the same as it ever was from the beginning. Another book, containing another doctrine, has not crept into the world instead of what was once delivered to the saints. And whatever various apprehensions men may have through their weakness or prejudices, concerning the things taught in this book, they are in themselves absolutely the same as they ever were, without the loss or change of a material word or syllable in the manner of their delivery. I have proved this elsewhere, and it is capable of the most evident demonstration. Therefore, however this gospel is entertained at present in the world, its former prevalence may be pleaded in justification of its divine origin.

Ans. 2. The cause of this event lies principally in the sovereign will and pleasure of God. For although the Scripture is his word, and he has testified to this by his power that was put forth and exerted in its dispensations to men, yet that divine power is not included or shut up in the letter of it, so that it must have the same effect wherever it comes. We do not plead that there is absolutely in itself, in its doctrine, in the preaching or preachers of it, such a power that it would naturally and physically produce the effects mentioned. Rather, it is an instrument in the hand of God for that work which is his own; and he exerts his power in it and by it as it seems good to him. And if at any time he so puts forth his divine power in its administration, or in the use of this instrument, that its great worth and excellence manifests itself as being from him, then he gives a sufficient attestation of it. Therefore, the times and seasons of the prevalence of the gospel in the world are in the hand and at the sovereign disposal of God. He is not obliged to accompany it with the same power at all times and seasons (for "who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor?"), Romans 11:34 and so the evidence of his own power going along with it at any time, while under an open claim of a divine origin, is an irrepressible approval of it. Thus, at the first preaching of the word, to fulfil the promises made to the fathers from the foundation of the world, and to glorify his Son Jesus Christ and the gospel which he had revealed, He put forth that effectual divine power in its administration, by which the world was subdued to its obedience. And the time will come when he will revive that same work of power and grace, to retrieve the world into subjection to Jesus Christ. In these latter ages, God does not do as he did formerly, causing the gospel to run and prosper among those nations of the world which have not yet received it. Yet, considering the state of things at present among mankind generally, its preservation in that small remnant by whom it is obeyed in sincerity, is no less a glorious evidence of his presence with it, and his care over it, than its eminent propagation was in days of old.

3. The righteousness of God is in like manner to be considered in these things. For though he had granted the inestimable privilege of his word to many nations, they suppressed the truth in unrighteousness,Romans 1:18 through their horrible ingratitude and wickedness; so that the continuance of the gospel among them was in no way to the glory of God, nor yet to their own advantage. For neither nations nor persons will ever be advantaged by an outward profession of the gospel while they live in contradiction and disobedience to its precepts; indeed, nothing can be more pernicious to the souls of men. God at this day is revenging this impiety on the nations of the world, having utterly cast off many of them from the knowledge of the truth, and having given up others to "strong delusions to believe lies," 2 Thessalonians 2:11 though they retain the Scriptures and an outward profession of Christianity. How far he may proceed in the same way of righteous vengeance towards other nations also, we do not know; but we ought to tremble in the consideration of it. When God first granted the gospel to the world, mankind generally, had greatly sinned against the light of nature, and had rejected all those supernatural revelations that had been made to them at any time; yet they had not sinned against the gospel itself nor its grace. It pleased God, therefore, to wink at and pass over that time of ignorance; thus his justice would not be provoked by any of their former sins, to withhold from them the efficacy of his divine power in the administration of the gospel by which he "called them to repentance." But now, after the gospel has been sufficiently tendered to all nations, and been rejected by most of them — either as to its profession or its power, with the obedience it requires — things are quite otherwise stated. It is from the "righteous judgment of God," revenging the sins of the world against the gospel itself, that so many nations are deprived of it, and so many are left obstinate in its refusal. Thus, the present state of things in no way weakens or prejudices the evidence given to the Scripture by that mighty power of God which accompanied the administration of it in the world. There are secret reasons of sovereign wisdom, and there are open causes in divine justice, for what has since fallen out, and to which it is to be assigned.

I have briefly recalled these things, not as though they were all that may be pleaded of this kind, but only to give some instances of those external arguments by which the divine authority of the Scripture may be confirmed.

Now, these arguments are able of themselves to produce in the minds of men — those who are sober, humble, intelligent, and unprejudiced — a firm opinion, judgment, and persuasion that the Scripture proceeds from God. Some men are prepossessed with invincible prejudices, contracted by a course of education in which they imbibed principles opposite and contrary to this. And they have increased and fortified these prejudices by some fixed and hereditary enmity against all those whom they know would admit the divinity of the Scripture. This is how it is with Mohammedans and some of the Indians. In such cases, these arguments may not prevail to immediately work or effect their assent. It is this way with those who, out of a love for and delight in those ways of vice, sin, and wickedness which are absolutely and severely condemned in the Scripture, and are without the least hope of exemption for those who continue under their power — they will not take these arguments into due consideration. Such persons may talk about and discuss them, but they never weigh them as seriously as the importance of the cause requires. For if men would examine them as they should, it must be with a sober judgment that their eternal condition depends on a right determination of this inquiry. But for those who can scarcely get free from the service and power of their lusts, to seriously consider what their condition is, or what it is likely to be, it is no wonder if they talk about these things in the manner of these days, without any impression on their minds and affections, nor influence on their practical understanding. But our inquiry is about what is a sufficient evidence to convict rational and unprejudiced persons, and to defeat objections to the contrary. These and similar arguments answer them in every way.

Some think it fit to stay here — that is, in these or similar external arguments, or in rational motives for faith, that would render the Scriptures so credible that it is unreasonable not to assent to them.

"That certainty which may be attained upon these arguments and motives is," they say, "the highest which our minds are capable of with respect to this object. And therefore it includes all the assent which is required of us for this proposition that ’the Scriptures are the word of God;’ or all the faith by which we believe them to be the word of God." When I speak of these arguments, I do not intend those alone which I have rested on, but also all others of the same kind, some of which have been urged and improved by others with great diligence. For in the variety of those arguments which offer themselves in this cause, everyone chooses what seems most cogent to him; and some amass all that they can think of. Now, these arguments, with the evidence tendered in them, are such that nothing but perverse prejudice can detain men from giving a firm assent to them. And no more is required of us than — according to the motives that are proposed to us, and the arguments that are used to that purpose — we come to a judgment and persuasion (called a moral assurance) of the truth of the Scripture, and endeavor to yield obedience to God accordingly.

It could be wished that more people than it is feared there are, were really so affected by these arguments and motives; for the truth is, tradition and education bear practically the whole sway in this matter. Yet, when all is done, it must be said that this is but a mere natural work, for which no more is required than the natural exercise and acting of our own reason and understanding; or that the arguments and motives used, though strong, are human and fallible — and therefore the conclusion we draw from them is also fallible — and thus we may be deceived in it; or that an assent which is grounded and resolved in such rational arguments only, is not faith in the Scriptural sense. In brief, it is required that we believe the Scriptures are the word of God with divine and supernatural faith, which cannot be deceived.84 Two things are replied to this requirement:

Obj.1. "Where the things to be believed are divine and supernatural, so is the faith by which we believe or give our assent to them. Whatever kind the motives and arguments are, on which we give our assent, if that assent is true and real, and the things believed are divine and supernatural, then the faith by which we believe will also be divine and supernatural." But this is all the same thing. It is as if saying, in natural things, that our sight is green when what we see is green, and it is blue when what we see is blue. And this would be so in moral things also, if the acts specified were from their material objects. But it is certain that they are not always of the same nature as the things they concern; nor are they changed by that nature from what their own nature is in themselves — whether natural or supernatural, human or divine. Now, divine things are only the material object of our faith, as shown before. And by enumerating them, we answer the question, "What do you believe?" But it is the formal object of (or reason of) all our acts, from which they are designated, or by which they are specified. And the formal reason of our faith, assent, or believing, is what prevails with us to believe, and on whose account we believe, and with which we answer the question, "Why do you believe?"

If this reason is human authority — where the arguments are highly probable but absolutely fallible, and the motives are cogent but they only produce a moral persuasion — then whatever we believe on that basis, our faith will be human, fallible, and a moral assurance only.

Therefore it is said —

Obj. 2. "This assent is sufficient; it is all that is required of us, and it contains all the assurance our minds are capable of in this matter. For no further evidence or assurance is to be sought, in any case, than the subject-matter will bear. And so it is in this case, where the truth is not exposed to sense, nor capable of scientific demonstration. Rather, it must be received upon those reasons and arguments which carry it above the highest probability, even though they leave it beneath science, or knowledge, or infallible assurance (if there is such a persuasion of mind)."

Yet I must say that there are external arguments by which learned and rational men have proved, or may yet further prove, that the Scripture is a divine revelation given by God, and the doctrine contained in it is a heavenly truth. They are of singular use for strengthening the faith of those who believe, by relieving their minds against temptations and objections that will arise to the contrary, and also to convict gainsayers.85 Yet to say that they contain the formal reason of that assent which is required of us, that the Scripture is the word of God — or to say that our faith is the effect and product of those arguments, and that it rests upon and is resolved into them — is contrary to the Scripture. It is destructive of the nature of divine faith, and exclusive of the work of the Holy Ghost in this whole matter.

Therefore, I will do two things before I proceed to the design of our principal argument:

1. I will give a few reasons, proving that the faith by which we believe the Scripture is the word of God, is not a merely a firm and moral persuasion, built on external arguments and motives of credibility; but that our faith is divine and supernatural, because the formal reason of that faith is also divine and supernatural.

2. I will show what the nature of that faith is, by which we believe or ought to believe the Scripture is the word of God; what the work of the Holy Spirit is in this; and what its proper object is. In the first I will be very brief, for my design is to strengthen the faith of all, and not weaken the opinions of any.