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AN ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 THE GROUND OR FORMAL REASON 
 
 OF 
 
 SAVING FAITH. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. THOMAS HALYBURTON, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNITEP.SITY OF VT -ANDREWS. 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED, 
 
 TWO ESSAYS, BY THE SAME AUTHOR, ' 
 
 lELUSTRATIVE OF THE SUBJECT OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR 1714. 
 
 A New Edition, carefully Revised. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JAMES NISBET & CO., BERNERS STREET. 
 
 MDCCCLXV. 
 
Printed by John Greig and Son, Edinburgh. 
 
PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION. 
 
 —- 0 - 
 
 In an age when the foundations of our faith are en¬ 
 dangered by vague and inaccurate notions of In¬ 
 spiration, it is of the utmost importance, that the 
 divine autlmrity of the Holy Scriptures should be 
 vindicated, and firmly established on its proper basis. 
 For this purpose, the writings of eminent men who 
 have, in their own experience, successfully contended 
 with temptations to infidelity, are highly valuable. 
 Among these, as is well known, Professor Halyburton 
 holds a distinguished place. His “ Reason of Faith,” 
 has been pronounced by some of the most competent 
 judges,* to be equal, if not superior, to any other 
 treatise on the same subject, in our language: and 
 the two shorter Essays, especially the last, will be 
 read with deep interest, by those who are desirous of 
 attaining a well-grounded assurance of their own 
 interest in the blessed life to come. 
 
 That great and good man was early removed from 
 * Dr Chalmers and Principal Cunningham. 
 
IV 
 
 FREFACE. 
 
 the church on earth, to higher service above. Had 
 he lived to prepare the following Essays for the press, 
 they would have appeared to much greater advantage. 
 For, on comparing them with his inimitable sermons, 
 it is evident that they were first thoughts, chiefly put 
 down as they occurred at the time of writing; although 
 the subject had been fully matured in his own mind. 
 For this reason, the Editor has judged it necessary to 
 deal with them as with manuscripts: observing, how¬ 
 ever, the strictest fidelity to the works of so illustrious 
 an Author ; and having no other aim but to bring out 
 his meaning as distinctly, and as much in his own 
 words, as possible. 
 
 R. B. 
 
 Rockhaven, 22,d Ma 7 'ch 1865. 
 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 ESSAY I. 
 
 ON THE GROUND, OR FORMAL REASON 
 OF 
 
 SAVING FAITH IN THE SCRIPTURES : 
 
 WHEREIN THE OPINION OF THE RATIONALISTS, ESPECI¬ 
 ALLY AS IT IS STATED BY THE LEARNED MR LOCKE, IS 
 PROPOSED AND EXAMINED. 
 
 ESSAY II. 
 
 A MODEST ENQUIRY, WHETHER REGENERATION OR JUSTI¬ 
 FICATION IS FIRST IN ORDER OF NATURE. 
 
 ESSAY III. 
 
 AN ENQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF THAT ACT, BY WHICH 
 
 GOD JUSTIFIES A SINNER. 
 

 
 1 
 
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 '•4 • 
 
 i1 
 
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ON THE GROUND OR REASON OF FAITH. 
 

CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS CONCERNING KNOWLEDGE, FAITH, AND 
 PARTICULARLY DIVINE FAITH. 
 
 A ll knowledge is commonly, and not unfitly, re¬ 
 ferred to the understanding, or intellective 
 power of the mind of man which is conversant about 
 truth. The foundation of our assent to any truth, is 
 either the immediate perception of the agreement or 
 disagreement of our ideas, which is called intuitiv e 
 knowledge; or the comparison of our ideas with 
 intermediate ideas which assist us in discerning their 
 agreement or disagreement, which is rational know¬ 
 ledge; or the information of our senses, which is 
 sensible knowledge; or the testimony of credible 
 witnesses, which is faith. 
 
 Faith again, if it be founded on the testimony of 
 men, may be called human ; if upon the testimony 
 of angels, angelical; and if upon the testimony of 
 God himself, it is called divine faith. It is of this 
 last that we design to discourse, as that which par¬ 
 ticularly belongs to our present purpose. 
 
4 
 
 £SSA V /. 
 
 When we speak of divine faith, we mean either 
 the faculty or power whereby we assent unto divine 
 testimony, or the assent given by that power. Both 
 are signified by that name, and the term faith is pro¬ 
 miscuously used for either of them. 
 
 Again, faith, as it denotes the faculty, power, or 
 ability of the mind, to perceive the evidence of divine 
 testimony, and assent to it, is either natural or super¬ 
 natural. That naturally we have a faculty capable 
 of assenting, in some sort, to divine testimony, is, so 
 far as I know, denied by none. But that ability 
 whereby we are, at least habitually, fitted, disposed, 
 and enabled, to assent in a due manner to the testi¬ 
 mony of God, and to receive it with just regard, no 
 man hath by nature; it is a supernatural gift. 
 
 Concerning this ability, several questions are moved, 
 into which neither my subject nor my inclination 
 lead me to dip much at present. I shall only make 
 the few following remarks :— 
 
 1. It is plain that God revealed himself to man in 
 the state of innocence, and that he made man 
 capable of converse with himself; wherefore it seems 
 unquestionably clear, that man originally had a power, 
 ability, or faculty, capable of perceiving, discerning, 
 and assenting to divine revelations, upon their proper 
 evidence. For if such a faculty had been wanting, 
 he had neither been capable of those revelations, nor 
 fitted for converse with God. 
 
 2. It may be demonstrated, that all our_Jaculties 
 have suffered a dreadful shock, and have been mightily 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 5 
 
 impaired, by the entrance of sin, and the consequent 
 corruption of our nature ; and, in particular, that our 
 understandings are so far disabled, especially in things 
 pertaining to God, that unless our natures be super- 
 naturally renewed, we cannot, in a due manner, per¬ 
 ceive, discern, or entertain divine revelations, upon 
 their proper evidence, to the glory of God, and our 
 own advantage. But although the faculty of assent¬ 
 ing to divine testimony is impaired, and rendered 
 unfit for performing its proper work in a due manner, 
 it is by no means quite lost. I know of no one who 
 asserts that any of our faculties was entirely lost by 
 the fall. In regeneration, they are renewed ; but no 
 promise is made of implanting new ones. It is 
 certain that unrenewed men, such as Balaam and 
 others, had revelations made to them, and did assent 
 to those revelations ; and it is not less clear that the 
 devils themselves believe, and tremble.^ 
 
 3. Whether men in a state of nature, whose minds 
 are not renewed, may not so far discern and be 
 affected by the characters and evidences of God im¬ 
 pressed upon divine revelations, (particularly the 
 Scriptures, where those evidences shine brightly), as 
 to give some sort of assent to the testimony of God, 
 I shall not positively determine, although the affirma- 
 
 * “We cannot conceive how reason should be prejudiced by 
 the advancement of the rational faculties of our souls, with 
 respect unto their exercise toward their proper objects ; which 
 is all we assign to the work of the Holy Spirit in this matter.” 
 —Dr Owen on the Spirit, preface, page 9. 
 
6 
 
 £SSA V I. 
 
 tive seems probable to me. The impress of a Deity 
 is no less evident on the Scriptures than on His other 
 works. He has magnified his word above all his 
 name, Psalm cxxxviii. 2. Besides, I do not see how 
 the faculty itself can remain, if it be not capable of 
 discerning anything of God, where he gives the most 
 full and convincing evidence of himself, as he un¬ 
 questionably doth in the Scriptures. Nor do I doubt, 
 but that multitudes of sober persons, trained up within 
 the Church, and thereby drawn to a more attentive 
 and less prejudiced perusal of the Scriptures, do, upon 
 various occasions, even while they remain strangers 
 to the work of renovation, find their minds affected 
 by the evidence of God in them, and are thereby 
 drawn to assent to them as his word, although not in a 
 due manner. And if it be so, it will certainly leave the 
 rejecters of the Scriptures altogether without excuse. 
 
 4. Whether some transient act of the Spirit of God 
 upon the mind, be always necessary to draw forth 
 such an assent as I have described, I shall not deter¬ 
 mine. That it is so in some cases, is not to be 
 doubted. The faith of temporary believers doth 
 undoubtedly require such an act as its cause; and 
 where any degree of this evidence affects the minds 
 of persons deeply prejudiced, (as they were who were 
 sent to apprehend Christ, and returned under a con¬ 
 viction that never man spake as he did), there such 
 a transient work of the Spirit of God seems necessary, 
 to clear their minds of prejudices, and cause them to 
 discern the evidences of a Deity. 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 7 
 
 5. Now, understanding by the term faith, the faculty 
 or power of believing, (which is nothing else but the 
 mind of man considered as a subject capable of 
 assenting to testimony), and granting that faith, as 
 so defined, still remains ; and that, although wofully 
 impaired, weakened, and disabled, it continues in so 
 far able for its proper office and work, that either by 
 a more sedate, sober, and less prejudiced attention, 
 or by the assistance of some transient act of the Spirit 
 of God, breaking, in some measure, the power of its 
 prejudices, and fixing it to the consideration of its 
 proper object, it may, though less perfectly, perceive 
 the impress and evidence of God in the revelation 
 which he has made of himself; and that thereon it 
 may be so affected, as to give some sort of assent, 
 and reach some conviction that it is God who speaketh: 
 granting all this, it will amount to no great matter; 
 since it is certain that it is not every kind of faith or 
 assent to divihe testimony, that will answer our duty, 
 obtain acceptance with God, and turn to our salvation. 
 
 As we are not much concerned to inquire into the 
 faith which fails of answering those ends, I shall dip no 
 further into questions regarding it, or our ability for 
 it; but shall proceed, in the next chapter, to discourse 
 at more length, of the nature and origin of that faith 
 which God requires us to give to his word, which 
 he will accept, and which therefore will secure our 
 salvation. 
 
CHAPTER 11 . 
 
 AN INQUIRY INTO THE NATURE-OF THAT FAITH WHICH WE 
 ARE OBLIGED TO GIVE TO THE WORD OF GOD ; OUR 
 OBLIGATION THERETO, AND OUR ABILITY FOR ANSWER¬ 
 ING OUR DUTY. 
 
 E have already hinted, what, of itself, is suffi¬ 
 
 ciently evident, that it is not every kind of 
 
 faith or assent to divine testimony that will answer 
 our duty, and amount to that regard which we owe to 
 the truth and authority of God, when he speaks or 
 writes his mind to us. We must therefore, in the first 
 place, inquire into the nature of that faith which will 
 do so; and there is no better way of making this 
 inquiry, than by attending to the plain accounts given 
 of it in Scripture. 
 
 I. The apostle Paul, commending the Thessa- 
 lonians, and blessing God on their behalf (i Thess. ii. 
 13), gives a clear description of the faith which is due 
 to the word of God: “ For this cause,” says he. 
 “ thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye 
 received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye 
 received it, not as the word of men, but, as it is in 
 truth, the word of God; which effectually worketh 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 9 
 
 also in you that believe.” If we attend to this 
 description, we cannot but see these things in it: 
 First , that some special sort of assent is here intended. 
 The Thessalonians did not think it enough to give 
 such credit, or yield such assent, as is due to the 
 word of men, even the best of men. Secondly, that 
 such assent is intended as doth, in some way, answer 
 the unquestionable firmness of the ground whereon it 
 leans, which is the testimony of the God of truth. 
 Thjrdly, that somewhat more is intended than a mere 
 assent, of what sort soever it be. The words plainly 
 import such an assent to the word of God, or such a 
 reception of it, as is attended with the reverence, sj^- 
 mission of soul, resignation of will, and subjection of 
 conscience, which are due to God. Less than this, 
 would scarcely have been a sufficient ground for the 
 apostle’s giving thanks to God, and that without 
 ceasing. The same expression, in other places of 
 Scripture, imports not only an assent to the word 
 of God, but an approbation of it, consenting to its 
 terms, yea, embracing the gospel in practice. See 
 Acts viii. 14, and xi. i. 
 
 2. In Hebrews xi. i, we are told that faith is the 
 evidence of things not seen. The word EAErxos, 
 which we render evidence, properly signifies a 
 vindng demonstration, standing firm against objec¬ 
 tions, and repelling their force. Faith, then, is such 
 an assent as this. It is a firm conviction, resting upon 
 the most solid foundation, and able to withstand the 
 strongest objections. 
 
lO 
 
 ESS A Y I. 
 
 3. In I Cor. ii. 4 , 5, the apostle more particularly 
 describes, both negatively and positively, the ground 
 whereon faith rests; or what the demonstrative 
 evidence is, whereon this conviction is founded. It 
 standeth not in the wisdom of men, but in the power 
 of God ; that is, it resteth not upon the eloquence or 
 the reasonings of men, but upon the powerful evidence 
 of the Spirit’s demonstration. 
 
 Having given this short and plain account of 
 faith from the Scripture, we are now to prove that 
 we are in duty bound to receive the word of God, 
 with a faith of this sort. Nor will this be difficult; 
 for, 
 
 1. The Scriptures claim to be the oracles of God ; 
 spoken by holy men of God, as they were moved by 
 the Holy Ghost, and written by divine inspiration. 
 By them the Holy Ghost is said to speak unto us. 
 Now the v ery light of natur e teacheth us, that when 
 God uttereth oracles, when he speaketh and writeth 
 his mind to us, we are in duty bound to give entire 
 credit to the speaker, to rely with the firmest confi¬ 
 dence on his veracity, and to give a ready assent to 
 what he says; and farther, to attend, with the deepest 
 veneration, reverence, and subjection of soul, to what 
 is spoken, and to yield an unreserved practical com¬ 
 pliance with every intimation of his mind. 
 
 2. The Scriptures were written, that we might so 
 believe them as to have life by them, John xx. 31. 
 And the gospel is made known, by the Scriptures of 
 the prophets, to all nations, for the obedience of faith. 
 
ON THE TEA SON OF FAITH. ir 
 
 according to the commandment of the everlasting 
 God, Rom. xvi. 25, 26. Certainly then, we are in 
 duty obliged to yield this obedience of faith. 
 
 3. They who do not thus receive the words of God 
 from his servants, whether by speech or writing, are 
 threatened with eternal ruin, and that of the most 
 intolerable kind : “Whosoever shall not receive you, 
 nor hear your words; when ye depart out of that 
 house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily, 
 I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land 
 of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, 
 than for that city,” Mat. x. 14, 15. Accordingly, the 
 apostles preached the word at Antioch in Pisidia, 
 Acts xiii., demanded acceptance of it both from Jews 
 and Gentiles, and, upon their refusal, testified against 
 them in this way of the Lord’s appointment: “ they 
 shook off the dust of their feet against them,” verse 
 51. And all this severity they used, without offering 
 miracles, so far as we can learn, or any other proof of 
 their doctrine, besides the authoritative proposal of it 
 in the name of God. 
 
 4. In I Thess. ii. 13 (already quoted), the Thessa- 
 lonians are commended by the apostle for receiving 
 the word in this manner; which is proof enough that 
 it was their duty so to do. 
 
 Thus much being clear, it yet remains to be in¬ 
 quired, whence we have the power or ability to yield 
 such an assent; whether that power is natural or 
 supernatural. Now, if we consult the Scripture on 
 this point, we learn, 
 
12 
 
 ESSAY/. 
 
 1. That this ability to believe and receive the things 
 of God, to his glory and our own salvation, is ex¬ 
 pressly denied to unrenewed man, or man in his 
 natural estate. 2 Thess. iii. 2, “All men have not 
 faith.” I Cor. ii. 14, “The natural man receiveth not 
 the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish¬ 
 ness unto him; neither can he know them, because 
 they are spiritually discerned.” John viii. 47, “Ye 
 therefore hear not God’s words, because ye are not of 
 God.” 
 
 2. This ability is expressly denied to be of our¬ 
 selves, and asserted to be a supernatural gift of God. 
 Eph. ii. 8, “ By grace are ye saved, through faith; and 
 that not of yourselves, it is the gift, of God.’’~*" 
 
 3. The production of it is expressly ascribed unto 
 God. He it is that fulfils, in his people, “all the 
 good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith 
 with power,” 2 Thess. i. 11. He it is that giveth them, 
 that is, that enableth them, “ both to believe on him, 
 and to suffer for his sake,” Philip, i. 29. Faith is one 
 of the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22 ; and the author 
 of it is Christ, Heb. xii. 2. For the further proof and 
 vindication of this truth, I refer to the controversial 
 writers. 
 
 Here it may be inquired. How can it be our duty 
 thus to believe the Scriptures, since we are not able, 
 of ourselves, to do so In answer to this, I shall only 
 say, I. We are unable of ourselves to yield perfect 
 obedience to the divine law; yet the very light of 
 • nature shews that it is our duty. 2. The Scriptures 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 13 
 
 plainly require us to serve God acceptably, with re¬ 
 verence and godly fear; and tell us, in the same 
 breath, that we must have grace to enable us to do 
 so, Heb. xii, 28. 3. By our own sin, we have im¬ 
 
 paired the powers which God originally gave us, and 
 have brought ourselves under innumerable prejudices, 
 and other evils, whereby the entrance of light is 
 obstructed ; but this cannot be pleaded against God’s 
 undoubted right to demand credit to his word, on 
 which he has impressed sufficient objective evidence 
 of himself. 4. Our duty therefore is, to blame our¬ 
 selves, to justify God, and to wait upon him, in the 
 way which he has prescribed, for the grace that is 
 necessary. If we thus do his will, or at least aim at 
 it, although we cannot yet claim grace as our due, we 
 have no reason to despair; but may expect to be 
 enabled, in due time, to understand and know 
 whether those truths are of God or of men. See 
 John vii. 17. 
 
 From what has been discoursed, it -is evident that 
 the faith whereby we assent to the Scripture, ig^uper- 
 natural; or may be so called upon a twofold account: 
 1st, Because the power or ability for the exercise of 
 it is supernaturally given ; and 2d, Because the evi¬ 
 dence whereon it rests is supernatural. 
 
 In this chapter, it is the first of these that we have 
 directly attempted to prove ; namely, that our ability 
 thus to believe is supernaturally given. That this 
 has been the constant doctrine of the Church of God, 
 might be confirmed by testimonies of all sorts, did 
 
£SSA Y L 
 
 our intended brevity allow. It is, however, resolutely 
 opposed by our modern r-ationalists. The author of 
 a late atheistical pamphlet,* which truly subverts all 
 religion, may be allowed to speak for the rest; for he 
 says no more than what they all do assent to. He 
 tells us, “ That when once the mystery of Christ Jesus 
 was revealed, even human reason was able to behold 
 and confess it; not that grace had altered the eye¬ 
 sight of reason, but that it had drawn the object 
 nearer to it.” To the same purpose speak the 
 Socinians. Schlichtingius tells us, that “Man, endued 
 with understanding, is no otherwise blind in divine 
 mysteries, than as he who hath eyes but sits in the 
 dark. Remove the darkness, and bring him a light, 
 and he will see. The eyes of a man are his under¬ 
 standing ; the light is Christ’s doctrine.” To the 
 same purpose doth the paradoxical Belgic exercita- 
 tor, who sets up philosophy as the interpreter of 
 Scripture, frequently express himself. Nor is his 
 pretended answerer, Volzogius, differently minded, 
 though he is not so constant to his opinion as the 
 other. 
 
 But whatever these gentlemen may say, we are not 
 obliged to believe them in this matter; while the 
 Scriptures plainly teach us that our minds are blinded, 
 our understandings impaired and obstructed, in dis¬ 
 cerning the evidence of truth, by prejudices arising 
 from the enmity of the will, and the depravity of the 
 affections. Nor were it difficult to demonstrate from 
 * Treatise of Human Reason, page 58. 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 15 
 
 Scripture, that no man can believe the word of God 
 aright, or even understand it aright, until the Spirit of 
 God repair this defect of the faculty, or give us an 
 understanding, as i John v. 20 ; br eak the powe r of 
 the enmity in our hearts, that rises up against the 
 truths of God, as foolishness; cure the disorder of our 
 affections, that blinds our minds ; and fix our minds, 
 otherwise vain and unstable, to attend to the voice of 
 God, and the evidence he gives of himself. But this 
 not being our principal design, we shall insist upon it 
 no longer. Our present question is not about our 
 ability or power to believe, but ajjout the ground 
 whereon we do believe- What has been hitherto 
 spoken of the former, is only to prepare the way for 
 the consideration of the latter; to which we now 
 proceed. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 AN INQUIRY INTO THE GROUND, OR FORMAL REASON, 
 WHEREON FAITH ASSENTS TO THE SCRIPTURES ; IN WHICH 
 THE OPINION OF THE RATIONALISTS, PARTICULARLY AS IT 
 IS STATED BY MR LOQKE IN HIS BOOK ON THE HUMAN 
 UNDERSTANDING, IS PROPOSED AND CONSIDERED. 
 
 LTHOUGH, in the preceding chapter, we have 
 
 lx. offered our thoughts on what goes under the 
 name of subjective light, yet that is not the question 
 mainly intended in these papers. That which we 
 design more particularly to inquire into, is the ground 
 whereon the mind, thus subjectively enlightened by 
 the Spirit of God, builds its assent, and acquiesces, 
 or rests, with full satisfaction. 
 
 The question then before us is this: What is the 
 ground whereon we receive the Scriptures as the word 
 of God ? Or what is the reason that moves and 
 determines us to receive the Scriptures as the word 
 of God ? What is the formal reason whereon our 
 faith rests ? Or what is the proper answer to this 
 question, Wherefore do ye believe the Scriptures to 
 be the word of God, and receive truths therein pro¬ 
 posed, as the word of God ? 
 
ON THE TEA SON OF FAITH. 
 
 17 
 
 By all who believe the Scriptures to be a divine 
 revelation, it is acknowledged, in general terms, that 
 the ground whereon we receive and assent to prpposi- 
 ti pns of truth t herein revealed, is the authority and 
 veracity of God ; who, being truth itself, can neither 
 deceive nor be deceived. 
 
 But this general answer satisfies not the question. 
 For, though it is naturally and unquestionably evi¬ 
 dent, that God’s testimony is, and cannot but be, true, 
 and, as such, must be received; yet it is certain that 
 the ground of our assent unto any particular truth 
 cannot be divine testimony abstractly considered, but 
 divine testimony evidencing itself, or as it gives evi¬ 
 dence of itself, to the mind. The knot of the question 
 then lies here: What is that evidence that it is God 
 who speaketh, or giveth testimony to truths super- 
 naturally revealed, whereby the mind is satisfied that 
 he is the revealer ? 
 
 Now, whereas there are three different circum¬ 
 stances in which persons may be called to assent to 
 divine revelation, the question proposed may be con¬ 
 sidered with respect to each of them. 
 
 1. As to the prophets or others, to whom the Scrip¬ 
 ture revelations were originally made, it may be in¬ 
 quired : When God revealed his mind to them, what 
 was that evidence, what were those TEKMHPIA, or 
 certain signs, whereby they were infallibly assured 
 that the propositions which were impressed upon 
 their minds, were from God ^ 
 
 2 . As to those persons to whom the former did 
 
 li 
 
£SSA y /. 
 
 i 8 
 
 communicate these truths immediately, it may be 
 inquired, By what evidence were they moved to 
 assent and give credit to them, as divine revelations ? 
 
 3. Whereas we who now live, neither received these 
 truths ourselves by immediate revelation, nor heard 
 them from those persons who did, but have them col¬ 
 lected together in the Bible, and offered to us as a 
 divine revelation ; and whereas we are, on pain of 
 God’s displeasure in case of refusal, required to believe 
 and assent to whatever is therein revealed, as the 
 word of God; it is inquired. What evidence does that 
 book give, that it is of God ? or on what grounds may 
 we be fully assured that it is so ? 
 
 I. So far as the question concerns the first sort of 
 persons, I shall not dip much into it. I shall only 
 say, in the words of the judicious and learned Dr 
 Owen, “ In the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and 
 his actings of the minds of holy men of old, he gave 
 them infallible assurance that it was himself alone by 
 whom they were acted, Jer. xxiii. 28. If any shall 
 ask, by what infallible tokens they might know as¬ 
 suredly the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, and be 
 satisfied, with such a persuasion as was not liable to 
 mistake, that they were not imposed upon; I must 
 say plainly, that I cannot tell: for these are things 
 whereof we have no experience.” * 
 
 There is, however, one thing dropped as to this 
 matter, by the ingenious Mr Locke, which deserves 
 
 * Owen on the Spirit, book ii. chap. i. sect. x. 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 19 
 
 some animadversion. * Though he delivers nothing 
 positively, about the evidences which the prophets 
 had, yet he tells us negatively, that their assurance did 
 not arise, solely at least, from the revelations them¬ 
 selves, or the operation of the Spirit impressing them 
 upon their minds ; which he calls the internal lig ht of 
 assurance : but that besides this, to satisfy them fully 
 that those impressions were from God, external signs 
 were requisite. This he endeavours to prove from 
 their desiring confirmatory signs, as Abraham and 
 others did ; and from God’s giving such signs un¬ 
 desired. To this purpose he notices God’s appearance 
 to Moses in the bush. 
 
 As to the opinion itself, I look upon it as highly 
 injurious to the honour of divine revelation ; and the 
 grounds whereon it is founded, I take to be weak and 
 inconclusive. For, i. It is impossible to prove, that 
 these divinely inspired persons always required or 
 obtained such confirmatory signs, extrinsecal to the 
 revelation or inspiration itself; yea, it is manifest, that 
 for the most part they neither received nor sought 
 them. 2. When they were sought or obtained, it 
 cannot be proved that they were necessary for the 
 full satisfaction of those who received them, to con¬ 
 vince them that he who was dealing with them, and 
 revealing himself to them, was God : as if (to use Mr 
 Locke’s own words) the “ internal light of assurance,” 
 while it abode, were not sufficient for that purpose. 
 
 * Locke on the Human Understanding, book iv. chap. xix. 
 sect. XV. 
 
20 
 
 ESSA Y /. 
 
 It is plain that other reasons may be assigned. When 
 the matters revealed to them related to things at a 
 distance, which could not be effected without extra¬ 
 ordinary outgoings of divine power, they desired, and 
 God condescended to grant, some such extraordinary" 
 signs; not for the purpose of assuring them that he 
 was the speaker, but to strengthen their convictions 
 of the sufficiency of his power to perform, in defiance 
 of the greatest opposition, what he had promised ; or 
 to enable them to do what he had required of them, 
 how difficult soever it might be. Sometimes divine 
 revelations were promises of things at a distance, 
 which were not to be actually accomplished, till after 
 a long tract of time, and over many intervenient 
 obstacles. In that case, they were obliged to believe 
 those promises, and wait in the faith of them, even 
 when the light which first assured them was gone: 
 and such evidences or signs might strengthen their 
 adherence to the assent formerly given, upon the 
 supernatural evidence which accompanied the revela¬ 
 tion itself These reasons, and others of a like nature, 
 may sufficiently account, both for their desiring such 
 signs, and for God’s giving them. But, as we have 
 already said, we design not a full determination of this 
 question. We shall therefore consider the question, 
 only with respect to the last two sorts of persons. 
 
 2 . As to those who received revealed truths im¬ 
 mediately from inspired persons: our rati ona l divines 
 seem to be positive, that the evidence whereon these 
 inspired persons required assent to what they delivered 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH 
 
 21 
 
 as the mind of God, consisted in, or did result from, 
 the miracles which they wrought; with other external 
 signs or proofs which they gave of their mission from 
 God. Monsieur^ le Clerc, in his “ Emendations and 
 Additions” to Hammond on the New Testament,gives 
 us this gloss on i Cor. ii. 5, “ Paul,” says he, would 
 “ have the Corinthians believe him, not as a philo¬ 
 sopher proposing probabilities to them, but as the 
 messenger of God, who had received commandment 
 from him to deliver to them those truths which he 
 preached ; and that he thus received them, he did 
 shew by the miracles which he wrought.” And a 
 little after, he adds, “ He whose faith leans upon 
 miracles wrought by God’s power, his faith is grounded 
 upon the divine power, the cause of those miracles.” 
 As to this opinion itself, I shall express myself more 
 particularly just now; but as to what M. le Clerc 
 deduces from this text, he had no manner of ground 
 for it. In the preceding verse the apostle tells the 
 Corinthians, that in his preaching he avoided the 
 enticing words of man’s wisdom, and delivered his 
 message in the demonstration of the Spirit and of 
 power; immediately adding, that his design in so 
 doing was, that their faith might not stand in the 
 wisdom of men, but in the power of God ; that is, in 
 the powerful demonstration of the Spirit of God. 
 How M. le Clerc came to dream of miracles, and 
 fetch them in here, while the whole scope and every 
 circumstance of the text stood in the way of this 
 exposition, I cannot divine ; for nothing can be more 
 
22 
 
 £SSA V /. 
 
 remote from the sense of the place. If he had fol¬ 
 lowed the old_ approved interpreter of Scripture, I 
 mean the ScriptureHItself, and had looked into the 
 context, he would have given us a more genuine com¬ 
 ment. But philosophy, which has now set up for an 
 interpreter (I had almost said a perverter), did cer¬ 
 tainly lead him into this violent and ridiculous gloss. 
 But to come to the matter itself: 
 
 Miracles can be no otherwise the ground of assent, 
 than as the medium of an argument to prove the 
 divine mission of the worker. This then must be the 
 opinion of these gentlemen, that they who heard the 
 apostles or prophets, could not be satisfied that what 
 they heard was divinely revealed, until they were 
 convinced of it by proofs drawn from miracles or 
 signs wrought by the preachers. That this is not 
 merely my own conjecture, is evident from the ac¬ 
 counts which we have of their opinions and hypo¬ 
 theses ;* whereof this is reckoned a principal one, 
 that the mind of man, being rational, cannot be moved 
 but by a rational impression ; that is, by the force of 
 effectual reasons. To the same purpose we shall find 
 Mr Locke expressing himself by and by. 
 
 Upon this hypothesis it is evident, i. That a 
 heathen, coming into a Christian assembly, and hear¬ 
 ing Paul preach, or even Jesus Christ himself; if he 
 had never seen him work a miracle, would not be 
 obliged to believe his doctrine. 2. If the apostles 
 preached to those among whom they wrought no 
 
 * Spanhemii Elenchus Controversiarum, p. 320. ed. 1694. 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH 
 
 23 
 
 miracles, they could not require them to believe, the 
 evidence being withheld, whereon belief is founded. 
 
 3, They who heard the apostles and saw their miracles, 
 could not be obliged to assent to their doctrine, until 
 they had time to satisfy themselves, by reasoning, 
 how far the miracles might be accounted for by 
 natural causes; and, admitting them to be super¬ 
 natural, how far they would go toward proving the 
 doctrine to be of God. 4. If any of the hearers were 
 so dull as to be incapable of deciding such nice ques¬ 
 tions, I do not see how, upon these principles, they 
 could be obliged to believe. 
 
 These, and the like, are no strained consequences ; 
 for it is undeniable, that as our obligation to believe 
 arises from the proposal of due objective evidence, so, 
 where this is wanting, no man can be obliged to believe. 
 
 3. To come now to our own case. We who neither 
 conversed with those to whom the revelations were 
 originally given, nor saw the miracles which they 
 wrought, are told by those rationalists that we have 
 historical proofs, that there were such persons as the 
 sacred writers, that they wrote the revelations which 
 we now have, and that they wrought such miracles in 
 confirmation of their divine mission and doctrine. 
 Upon the evidence of these proofs we must rest. 
 They will allow us no other ground for our faith. 
 Hence Monsieur le Clerc tells us, that whatever faith 
 is this day in the world among Christians, depends 
 upon the testimony of men. 
 
 Among those who have embraced this opinion, Mr 
 
24 
 
 ESS A Y /. 
 
 Locke, upon several accounts, desei*ves to be particu¬ 
 larly noticed ; wherefore I shall briefly and faithfully 
 represent his opinion with the grounds of it, and 
 make such animadversions upon them as may be 
 necessary for clearing our way. His opinion you 
 may take in the following propositions:— 
 
 I, Speaking of the different grounds and degrees 
 of assent, he says,* “ Besides those we have hitherto 
 mentioned, there is one sort of propositions that chal¬ 
 lenge the highest degree of our assent, upon bare tes¬ 
 timony, whether the thing proposed agree or disagree 
 with common experience, and the ordinary course of 
 things, or no. The reason whereof is, because the 
 testimony is of such an one as cannot deceive or be 
 deceived; and that is, of God himself. This carries 
 with it assurance beyond doubt, evidence beyond 
 exception. This is called by a peculiar name. Reve¬ 
 lation, and our assent to it. Faith: which as absolutely 
 determines our minds, and as perfectly excludes all 
 wavering, as our knowledge itself.” 
 
 2 . Notwithstanding this, he tells us in the same 
 paragraph, that “ We must be sure that it is a divine 
 revelation, and that we understand it aright;” and 
 that “ our assent can be rationally no higher than an 
 assurance, or a diffidence, arising from the more or 
 less apparent probability of the proofs.” In other 
 words, if the reasons proving it to be a revelation are 
 only probable, our assurance amounts to no more 
 than probability. 
 
 * Human Understanding, book iv. chap. xvi. sect. xiv. 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 25 
 
 3. He distinguishes between original and tradi¬ 
 tional revelation.* * * § “ By the one,” he says, “ I mean 
 that first impression which is made immediately by 
 God on the mind of any man, to which we cannot set 
 any bounds ; and by the other, those impressions de¬ 
 livered over to others in words, and the ordinary ways 
 of conveying our conceptions one to another.” Speak¬ 
 ing of immediate or original revelation, he asserts that 
 “ no evidence of our faculties by which we receive such 
 revelations, can exceed, if equal, the certainty of our 
 intuitive knowledge.” f And again he affirms, that 
 whatsoever truths we come to the clear discovery of, 
 from the knowledge and contemplation of our own 
 ideas, will always be certainer to us, than those which 
 are conveyed by traditional revelation.” J 
 
 4. In the next chapter, he writes as follows:— 
 “ Light, true light, in the mind, is, or can be, nothing 
 else but the evidence of the truth of any proposition; 
 and if it be not a self-evident proposition, all the light 
 it has, or can have, is from the clearness and validity 
 of those proofs upon which it is received. To talk of 
 any other light in the understanding, is to put our¬ 
 selves in the dark, or in the power of the prince of 
 darkness.” § 
 
 5. In the following paragraph, he tells us plainly, 
 that there is no way of knowing any revelation to be 
 
 * Human Understanding, book iv. chap, xviii. sect. iii. 
 
 t Ibidem, book iv. chap, xviii. sect. v. 
 
 f Ibidem, book iv. chap, xviii. sect. iv. 
 
 § Ibidem, book iv. chap. xix. sect. xiii. 
 
26 
 
 ESS A V 1. 
 
 from God, but by rational proofs; or by “ some 
 marks in which reason cannot be mistaken.”* 
 
 6 . In the next paragraph he maintains {as we have 
 noticed already), that the “internal light of assur¬ 
 ance” which the prophets had, was not, without other 
 signs, sufficient to testify, that the truths impressed 
 on their minds, were from God.f 
 
 Thus far of Mr Locke’s opinion; which, in sum, 
 amounts to this; that the revelations, even as originally 
 made, had not in them intrinsic evidence sufficient to 
 assure those to whom they were given, that they were 
 from God : that others who received such revelations 
 from them at second hand, had no ground of assent, 
 except the signs whereby they did confirm their mis¬ 
 sion : and that we, who saw not those signs, have no 
 other ground of assent to the written revelations 
 which have come down to us, than the historical evi¬ 
 dence, that they who wrote them, wrought such signs 
 in confirmation of their mission from God. 
 
 It is worth our while to dwell a little here, and con¬ 
 sider Mr Locke’s opinion, and the grounds of it. I 
 shall therefore offer a few observations on this doctrine. 
 
 I. In his first proposition, Mr Locke speaks veiy 
 honourably of divine faith. As to the assent, or act 
 of faith, he says, that it is an assent of the highest de¬ 
 gree ; assurance without doubt. As to the ground of 
 it, that it is such as challenges an assent of the highest 
 degree ; that it is evidence beyond exception. These 
 
 * Human Understanding, book iv. chap. xix. sect. xiv. 
 t Ibidem, book iv. chap. xix. sect. xv. 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 27 
 
 are goodly words; but let us look a little into his 
 meaning. 
 
 To find it out, I shall suppose that God doth (as 
 no doubt he did) reveal immediately to Paul this 
 proposition, “Jesus is the Son of God.” Here is a 
 revelation. Paul assents to it: well, here is faith. 
 Now, in believing this proposition, he may be said to 
 assent to three things : that what God says is true ; 
 that Jesus is the Son of God ; and that God says this 
 to Paul. 
 
 Now I ask Mr Locke, or any of our rationalists, 
 which of these three is it, of which Paul has evidence 
 beyond exception, and to which his assent is of the 
 highest degree 
 
 1. Could Mr Locke’s meaning be, that in this act 
 of faith, Paul assented with the highest assurance to 
 this general verity, “ that God’s testimony is infallibly 
 true” } No surely : for the assent to this truth is not 
 an act of faith, but of intuitive knowledge. 
 
 2 . Could his meaning be, that Paul had evidence 
 beyond exception, and assurance beyond doubt, of 
 this proposition, “Jesus is the Son of God”.? Surely 
 Mr Locke knew, that on the foregoing supposition, 
 Paul assented to this truth, only as revealed. Then 
 the degree of his assent would depend on the evidence 
 which he had, that it was God who revealed it: and 
 if this were not such as to challenge an assent of the 
 highest degree, he could not receive the proposition 
 with the highest degree of assurance. For, as Mr 
 Locke says truly, our assurance of any revealed truth 
 
28 
 
 JESS A y L 
 
 cannot rise higher than our assurance that it is re¬ 
 vealed. Wherefore, 
 
 3. Can his meaning be, that Paul would have evi¬ 
 dence beyond exception, challenging the highest de¬ 
 gree of assent, to this proposition, “ God did reveal to 
 him that Jesus is the Son of God.^” It is the' assent 
 to this, that properly constitutes faith. Mr Locke 
 must have meant this, or he meant nothing.^, Yet I 
 scarcely suppose that he did mean this : for he after¬ 
 wards affirms, that “ no evidence of our faculties by 
 which we receive such revelations, can exceed, if equal, 
 the certainty of our intuitive knowledge.” If then 
 we have not evidence of God’s being the revealer, equal 
 at least to what we have for our intuitive knowledge, 
 we cannot have the highest degree of assurance. Again 
 he tells us, that there is no way of knowing any revela¬ 
 tion to be from God, but by rational proofs; or by 
 “ some marks in which reason cannot be mistaken.” 
 Yet he acknowledges that the evidence of all our rea¬ 
 sonings is still short of that which we have for our 
 intuitive knowledge. This appears to me to over¬ 
 throw his first proposition altogether. 
 
 Whatever Mr Locke has, in that proposition, con¬ 
 ceded to faith, he has taken care that we who live now, 
 shall not be the better for it: for afterwards he tells 
 us plainly, that “whatsoever truths we come to the 
 clear discovery of, from the knowledge and contem¬ 
 plation of our own ideas, will always be certainer to 
 us, than those which are conveyed by traditional 
 revelation.” We have no revelation at this day but 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 29 
 
 that which Mr Locke calls traditional: and here it is 
 plain, that he considered our certainty of any truth, 
 derived from that source, as inferior in degree to any 
 kind of natural knowledge, whether intuitive, rational, 
 or sensible. 
 
 The foundation of all is manifestly what he teaches 
 in the fourth proposition above quoted ; that to talk 
 of any other light in the understanding, besides that 
 of self-evidence, reason, and sense, is to put ourselves 
 in the dark. I have added this last, the light of sense, 
 because, though he doth not mention it here, he ad¬ 
 mits it elsewhere. 
 
 That we may rightly understand Mr Locke’s asser¬ 
 tion, it must be observed, that writers treating of this 
 subject usually speak of two kinds of light, subjective 
 and objective. By the former is meant, either our 
 ability to perceive, discern, and judge of objects ; or 
 our actual knowledge and as.sent: by the latter, the 
 evidence on which our knowledge is founded, and by 
 which our assent or dissent is determined. It is of 
 this latter that Mr Locke is treating, in his chapter on 
 Enthusiasm, from which this proposition is taken. 
 
 His doctrine is shortly this: There is a threefold 
 objective light which is a just ground of assent. 
 I. Self-evidence, resulting from the immediate per¬ 
 ception of the agreement or disagreement of our ideas, 
 when compared together: this is the ground of intui¬ 
 tive knowledge. 2. Rational evidence, in which our 
 judgment is assisted in the comparison, by assuming 
 intermediate ideas; and 3. Sensible evidence, result- 
 
30 
 
 £SSA y I. 
 
 ing from impressions made on our minds through the 
 organs of sense. Besides these three, he admits no 
 other objective light or evidence as a just ground of 
 assent; and adds, that to talk of any other, is to turn 
 enthusiasts; to put ourselves in the dark ; yea, in the 
 power of the prince of darkness. 
 
 In examining this doctrine, we shall not at present 
 inquire whether it does not really preclude all place 
 for faith, properly so called. This will appear in the 
 issue. In the mean time, if the doctrine be true, it is 
 certain that faith, if it be not founded on one of those 
 three grounds of assent, is altogether irrational. 
 
 Farther; taking self-evidence for that which is im¬ 
 mediately perceptible by the natural power of our 
 intellectual faculties, not assisted, elevated, or renewed, 
 by any supernatural influence; and taking sensible 
 evidence for the impressions received from corporeal 
 substances through the bodily organs, it cannot be 
 supposed that Mr Locke intended to make either of 
 these the ground of faith in the divine testimony. 
 The only foundation therefore that remains, is rational 
 evidence. But I need not spend time in proving this, 
 since it is no more than he has taught us in the fifth 
 proposition quoted above. 
 
 This is the sum and substance of what is pleaded, 
 or, for aught I know, can be pleaded, for the judg¬ 
 ment of our rationalists. We shall therefore weigh 
 the matter more seriously, proceeding by plain steps, 
 in the following propositions. 
 
 Prop, I. If a fourth kind of objective evidence can 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 31 
 
 be proved by good and solid reasons, it must be ad¬ 
 mitted ; although we are not able to give a satisfactory 
 account of its nature. 
 
 This, as a general truth, has, I believe, never been 
 denied by any person of judgment, adverting to, and 
 understanding, what he said. If any one denies it in 
 words, every one admits it in fact. Who is he that, 
 upon good proof drawn from their causes, effects, and 
 inseparable adjuncts, admits not the existence of 
 many things, of whose nature he can give no satis¬ 
 factory account t We all acknowledge the mutual 
 influence of our souls and bodies, upon proofs taken 
 from their effects on each other: but who understands 
 the manner in which the soul operates on the body, 
 or the body on it } Instances of this kind are in¬ 
 numerable. 
 
 Sufficient proofs must always determine our assent. 
 If we have sufficient reasons to prove the existence of 
 a fourth kind of objective light, and deny it because 
 we cannot give a clear account of its nature, I know 
 not but we may, for the very same reason, reject the 
 three kinds admitted by Mr Locke. He has probably 
 done as much as any man to explain them : but 
 were he yet alive, I believe he would readily acknow¬ 
 ledge, that he has been far from satisfying himself, or 
 offering what may fully satisfy others, as to what 
 evidence is, or wherein it consists ; what is that evi¬ 
 dence that is the ground of intuitive knowledge, or of 
 rational knowledge, or of sensible knowledge ; and 
 how these different kinds of evidence operate, and 
 
32 
 
 £SSA y L 
 
 influence the assent. His accounts of these things are 
 merely descriptions, taken from causes, effects, or the 
 like. But what objective light or evidence really is, 
 remains as great a mystery as ever. For instance, 
 when he tells us that self-evidence is that which is 
 perceived at once, without the intervention of inter¬ 
 mediate ideas, I learn, that self-evidence differs from 
 rational evidence, which requires intermediate ideas. 
 But this is all: except that it is perceptible by the 
 mind ; that is, that it is evidence. But what evidence 
 
 is, I have yet to learn. 
 
 Prop. 2. A fourth kind of objective evidence, dif¬ 
 ferent from the three assigned by Mr Locke, is not 
 impossible. 
 
 If any one affirm that it is, it lies upon him to prove 
 
 it. That millions have never observed such a light 
 in themselves, will not prove that it is impossible ; or 
 even that it does not exist; yea, that such a light has 
 never been in their own minds: for although Mr 
 Locke observed the actings of his mind as accurately 
 as most men, it is possible that some of them may 
 have escaped his notice. 
 
 It cannot be pretended that it is impossible for 
 want of a suff cient cause, while God liveth, who is the 
 Father of lights, and author of the three kinds of light 
 that are admitted. Is it not possible for Him who 
 made our organs of sense, to frame others, different 
 from those which we have ; and by means of them, to 
 impart to us other perceptions whereby our judgment 
 may be determined } Or could he not make such 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 33 
 
 impressions without the intervention of bodily organs? 
 To deny this, would appear very strange and irra¬ 
 tional to sober men who have due thoughts of God. 
 
 We who enjoy the benefit of sight, have a kind of ob¬ 
 jective evidence different from any that men have who 
 were born blind. Why then should it be thought im¬ 
 possible that others should possess a kind of evidence 
 whereof we have no experience ? And that, equally 
 convincing with any that we have, or even more so ? 
 
 , Mr Locke himself grants, that on some occasions, 
 God, by his Spirit, illuminates the minds of men with 
 the knowledge of truths, in extraordinary ways, to 
 which no bounds can be set. If this be so, why may 
 not evidence of a different kind, result from such ex¬ 
 traordinary illuminations and impressions ? 
 
 Either God can so reveal his mind to man as to 
 give the highest evidence that it is He who speaks, 
 or he cannot. If he can, then an objective evidence 
 is possible, and that of the highest kind, different from 
 the three kinds allowed by Mr Locke. That it must 
 be different, is manifest: for in the case of immediate 
 revelation, he allows no place for self-evidence or in¬ 
 tuitive knowledge, which he determines to be the 
 highest of the three kinds of evidence; saying, “No 
 evidence of our faculties by which we receive such 
 revelations, can exceed, if equal, the certainty of our 
 intuitive knowledge.” Wherefore, since this evidence 
 of the highest degree, is different from what we have 
 in our intuitive knowledge, and confessedly superior 
 to that which is the ground of rational or of sensible 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 A'SSA Y I. 
 
 knowledge, a fourth kind of evidence is admitted to 
 be possible. 
 
 On the other hand, if God cannot reveal his mind 
 to man with the highest degree of evidence, it follows 
 unavoidably, that his testimony cannot produce the 
 highest degree of assent; which, as Mr Locke well 
 observes, is undoubtedly its due. It is in vain to reply, 
 that God’s testimony is infallible : for, as Mr Locke 
 truly says, our assent to any truth on that testimony, 
 can be rationally no higher than our assurance that it 
 is a divine revelation, and that we understand it aright. 
 To me it looks like blasphemy, to imagine that God 
 has made a rational creature, to whom he is unable to 
 impart his mind with such assurance as will command 
 the respect that is due to it. 
 
 Prop. 3. A fourth kind of objective evidence, 
 different from the three specified by Mr Locke, doth 
 really exist. 
 
 The prophets to whom immediate revelations were 
 made, had objective evidence, sufficient to ground the 
 highest assurance that God himself was the revealer. 
 It is impious to deny this. Now Mr Locke will not 
 allow that this evidence was such as founds intuitive 
 knowledge: and all must acknowledge that it came 
 not through the outward senses. That it was not 
 grounded on reasoning from marks or signs extrinsecal, 
 or even from anything intrinsecal, to the revelations 
 themselves, appears to be undeniable. For the Scrip¬ 
 ture, so far from countenancing such notions, seems 
 plainly to teach the contrary. The evidence conveyed 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 35 
 
 by the impressions themselves, was so convincing as 
 to bear down the force of the strongest arguments 
 that stood against it. This appears eminently in the 
 case of Abraham, when he was commanded to offer 
 up his son Isaac. If the command had not been im¬ 
 pressed on his mind with an evidence beyond what 
 any reasoning from signs could pretend to, the plain 
 arguments that lay against it, combined with the 
 strongest natural affection, must have carried it. If 
 he was convinced by such reasonings, is it not strange 
 that he made no mention of them, when it was so 
 liable to be questioned whether God could give such 
 a command } It must be obvious to any one who 
 attentively considers this case, that nothing less could 
 have prevailed, but the irresistible, evidence of the im¬ 
 pression itself whereby the command was given. But 
 to wave any farther consideration of this, of which we 
 have now no experience, 
 
 Mr Locke will admit, that the primitive Christians 
 who embraced the gospel, did so upon sufficient ob¬ 
 jective evidence. He is not a Christian who denies 
 it. I^t Mr Locke will not, in this case, admit intuitive 
 evidence : and I hope to make it appear afterwards, 
 that it was not on such evidence as he talks of, that 
 they received the gospel. 
 
 The Scriptures demand our assent, and offer no 
 evidence but the authority of God. Arguments are 
 not insisted on, to prove that it is God who speaketh. 
 God doth not require us to assent without objective 
 evidence ; and yet he waves the use of such arguments 
 
36 
 
 £SSA V /. 
 
 as Mr Locke would have to be the foundation of our 
 faith. Some objective light of a different kind, must 
 therefore be assumed as the ground of the required 
 assent. That it is so, the Scripture teacheth ; as we 
 shall see when this proposition comes to be proved 
 and more fully explained. 
 
 Independent of this, we have ground, as good as 
 can be desired, and as good as the nature of the 
 thing admits, for believing that there is a light, dis¬ 
 tinct from those which are specified by Mr Locke. 
 To the persons who have it, this light evidences itself 
 in the same way that other kinds of intellectual light 
 do. They are conscious of it; and experience the 
 same effects from it, in determining the mind to assent, 
 and giving rest in the full conviction of truth. To 
 those who have it not, it affords such evidence as men 
 Avho were born blind have of the existence of visible 
 evidence. They have the concurring testimony of 
 persons, sober, rational, and judicious, who have given 
 evidence of the greatest caution in guarding against 
 delusion, enthusiasm, and groundless imaginations. 
 Moreover, the existence of this light is farther evi¬ 
 denced by the peculiar effects which flow from a faith 
 grounded upon it. But I cannot stay to prove this 
 further at present. 
 
 Prop. 4. Although it is perhaps impossible to give 
 an account of this light, every way satisfactory, to 
 those who are unacquainted with it; or to convey to 
 them a notion of its nature and properties, as accurate 
 as they have who know it by experience ; yet such an 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 37 
 
 account may be given of it, as ought to secure it 
 against the imputation of being irrational or unin¬ 
 telligible. 
 
 That light, or objective evidence, which founds the 
 obligation to believe the Scriptures, and on which, all 
 that are subjectively enlightened do ground their 
 assent, is of such a nature, that a more intelligible 
 account of it by far, may be given to those who have 
 no experience of it, than can be given of the evidence 
 of visible objects, to persons who have no experience 
 of sight. To clear this, let the following things be 
 attended to: 
 
 The writings of men, especially of those who have 
 any peculiarity of genius, and excel in any kind of 
 composition, are distinguished by certain marks and 
 characters, not only in the matter, but in the manner 
 of expression. Such a spirit may be observed, and 
 somewhat so peculiar to the author, that those who 
 are acquainted with his writings, cannot avoid the 
 conviction that this or that book, although it bear not 
 his name, was written by him.* Few men who are 
 accustomed to read books with attention and judg¬ 
 ment, have not experienced this. It is often employed 
 as a test to discover whether a book is the genuine 
 production of the author whose name it bears, and in 
 many cases it is found more convincing than the 
 
 * “ Though you had not named the author, &c., I could have 
 both known and avouched him. There is a face, o f a styl e, by 
 which we scholars know one another, no less than our persons 
 by a visible countenance .”—Bishop Hall. 
 
£SSA y L 
 
 38 
 
 testimony of credible witnesses. Yet it must be 
 acknowledged, that persons of the best judgment, 
 and most capable of expressing their thoughts intelli¬ 
 gibly, while they cannot question the existence of 
 this kind of evidence, would find it difficult, if not 
 impossible, to shew wherein it consists. 
 
 Men differ infinitely less from one another, than 
 the most exalted of created beings does from God 
 himself. If men leave upon their writings such 
 discernible characters of their own genius and spirit, 
 is it not reasonable to believe, that a book written by 
 the Most High, must bear a peculiar and distinguish¬ 
 ing impress of its divine author, which will be dis¬ 
 cerned with the greater certainty, by those who have 
 right notions of God, as the difference between him 
 and the most exalted human genius, is infinitely 
 greater, than between the most elevated scholar, and 
 the most contemptible pamphleteer. Nay, is it not 
 impossible, rationally to imagine the contrary.^ That 
 he who, on all his works, down to the meanest insect, 
 has left such impressions of himself, as prove him to 
 be their author, hath not left impressions more 
 remarkable and distinguishing on his Word } That 
 Word which he has “magnified above all his name 
 that is, above all other means of making himself 
 known ? That Word which he designed to be the 
 principal means of imparting to men the knowledge 
 of himself, to his own glory and their salvation ? 
 
 This impress, those characters, prints, and vestiges 
 of the divine perfections, must be apparent, not only, 
 
ON THE REASOE Of FAITH. 
 
 39 
 
 or principally, in the matter itself, but also in the 
 words and writings by which it is expressed ; in their 
 style, in their spirit, scope, and tendency. This ©EO- 
 nPEiiElA, this God-becoming impress of majesty, 
 sovereignty, omniscience, independence, holiness, 2 
 justice, goodness, wisdom, and power, is an objective 
 light and evidence, not only sufficient, but the greatest 
 that can be imagined. On intuition of this evidence, 
 any one who has “ an understanding given him to 
 know Him that is true,” and is thereby made to 
 entertain suitable notions of the Deity, will, without 
 waiting to reason on the matter, have his assent 
 carried, and unavoidably determined, to rest upon it 
 as the highest ground of assurance. 
 
 This assenj^ founded on the impress of the Deity 
 upon his own Word, is indeed an assent of the highest 
 degree ; and thus far, our faith resembles our intuitive 
 knowledge. There is, however, this difference be¬ 
 tween them, not as to the manner m which the mind 
 acteth, but as to the ability by which it acteth, that 
 in our intuitive knowledge, as defined by Mr Locke, 
 the evidence, or objective light, is such as is not only 
 discerned immediately without reasoning, but is dis¬ 
 cernible by our understandings without any subjective 
 light or supernatural work of the Spirit of God upon 
 them : whereas the assent of faith described above, 
 requireth such a work, to repair our disabled faculties, 
 to elevate and guide them, to fix our attention, and 
 to free us from that aversion of the will, that disorder 
 of the affections, and those prejudices, that obstruct 
 
40 
 
 £SSA V I. 
 
 the discerning power. And moreover, according to 
 the greater or lesser degree of this divine assistance, 
 our assent will be stronger or weaker, more fixed or 
 wavering, although the objective evidence is always 
 the same. 
 
 When this objective evidence is actually under the 
 view of the mind, thus disposed and assisted, it makes 
 a corresponding impression on the whole soul. The 
 beaming of God’s sovereign authority awes the con¬ 
 science. The piercing evidence of his omniscience, 
 increases that awe. The view of goodness, mercy, 
 grace, and love, operates on the will, and leaves a 
 relish on the affections. This impression, although 
 of a spiritual nature, and conversant about spiritual 
 things, doth truly resemble sensible evidence : and, 
 as evidence, is not inferior, but on many accounts 
 preferable to it. This self-evidencing power, keeps 
 pace, in degree, with the self-evidencing light from 
 which it arises, in proportion to the clearness of the 
 view that is obtained of that light. 
 
 The effects wrought upon the soul are not transient. 
 Some of them remain ever after, and many of them 
 for a long tract of time. In their nature, they tend 
 to the perfecting of our faculties, even in the judg¬ 
 ment of sober unprejudiced reason : and their reality 
 appears, to the conviction of beholders, in their in¬ 
 fluence upon the deportment of those who are the 
 subjects of them. Hence it is, [that although our 
 faith neither needeth reasoning, nor buildeth upon it, 
 yet those effects afford solid ground for a rational 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 41 
 
 and argumentative confirmation of our assent; both 
 for the conviction of others, and for our own establish¬ 
 ment in the truth, when the evidence by which our 
 faith was first produced, and on which it rests, is not 
 actually under our view. 
 
 This evidence doth indeed challenge assent of the 
 highest degree. Upon this ground, the saints of God, 
 even those of the meanest condition, and under the 
 greatest disadvantages in respect of capacity and 
 education, have, in life and in death, given proofs of 
 a faith amounting to assurance without doubt, even 
 the full assurance of faith ; yea, the riches of the full 
 assurance of understanding. Of this we have notable 
 instances not a few, in the eleventh chapter of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews. 
 
 Prop. 5. This light, or objective evidence, whereon 
 faith , is grounded, has no affinity with enthusiastic 
 impulses or imaginations. * 
 
 It leans upon the strongest reason and the most 
 pregnant evidence : whereas, enthusiastic impressions 
 are irrational. It carries no contradiction to our 
 faculties, but influences them in a way suitable to 
 their nature and condition. In their due exercise, 
 they do not contradict or disprove it; but, as we 
 have said, do rather, on perceiving its effects, confirm 
 it. It is not a persuasion, or a ground for it, inde¬ 
 pendent of the Word, or contrary to it; but it is the 
 evidence of the Word itself, directing us to attend to 
 the Word, and to improve it. 
 
 Mr Locke is welcome to run down, as much as he 
 
42 
 
 F.SSA V I. 
 
 pleaseth, all enthusiasm, and all persuasions whereof 
 no reason can be given : nevertheless, what he has 
 delivered on that subject, must be received with some 
 caution. A persuasion whereof no reason can be 
 given, is certainly not faith, but fancy : yet a per¬ 
 suasion may be solid, whereof he that hath it, is, 
 through weakness, unable to give an account. Again, 
 a persuasion may be solid, of which he that hath it, 
 cannot give to another person, evidence of the same 
 kind with that which he hath himself: it is enough 
 that sufficient proof be offered, of a different kind. A 
 man may see and feel, and may be satisfied that he 
 doth. His inability to account for the nature of 
 things that are within him, concludeth not against 
 the reality and truth of what he knows by experience; 
 but his experience is not a ground of conviction to 
 others. An uneducated man, of shallow capacity, 
 may be 4:onvicted of enthusiasm, by a subtle blind 
 man, to whom he cannot explain the nature of visible 
 evidence, or give any other proof that he is not mis¬ 
 taken, but that he sees: and yet he assenteth not 
 without reason, and hath no ground to question what 
 he seeth ; but may, and will, securely laugh at the 
 sophistry of the blind man, and tell him he is blind. 
 The cases are parallel. We must not be frightened 
 out of our faith and experience, by this atheistical 
 scarecrow. 
 
 Prop. 6. That many read the Scriptures without 
 discerning this light, is no argument against it. 
 
 Many want that supernatural ability, that under- 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 43 
 
 standing, whereby God is known, whereby Christ’s 
 sheep know his voice from that of a stranger : and so, 
 not being of God, they cannot hear his words, John 
 X. 4, 5, viii. 47. Many are destitute of any tolerable 
 notions of God. It is impossible that such should 
 discern what is suitable to him. Many, both of the 
 learned and the unlearned, have perverse notions of 
 God riveted on their minds : and finding the Scripture 
 opposed to these preconceived notions, they look 
 upon it as foolishness. Many want that humble 
 frame of spirit, to which the promise of divine teach¬ 
 ing is made ; Psalm xxv. 9. It is to them who are 
 fools in their own eyes, that wisdom is given. Many 
 are proud and conceited : no wonder that they know 
 nothing. In many, the vanity of the mind is not 
 cured ; so they hunt after vain things, and fix not 
 their thoughts on what is solid : whereby their minds 
 are darkened, and their foolish hearts are hardened. 
 Not a few are under the power of prevailing lusts, and 
 disordered affections. Out of favour to these, they 
 are so far from desiring to increase in knowledge, that 
 on the contrary, they like not to retain God in their 
 knowledge at all. What they already know, is un¬ 
 easy to them, and therefore they would be rid of it. 
 Many despise the Spirit of God, reject his operations, 
 and seek not after him. No wonder that they who 
 refuse the guide, lose their way. For these and 
 other sins, many are judicially left to the god of this 
 world, who blindeth the minds of them that believe 
 not; 2 Cor. iv. 4. Many never attain to the know- 
 
44 
 
 ESS A y /. 
 
 ledge of the doctrine, whether it be of God, because 
 they never seriously attempt to do his will, John 
 vii. 17. 
 
 If all these things be considered, so far from ques¬ 
 tioning the truth, because many see not its evidence, 
 we shall discern, in this very blindness, an argument 
 to prove it, and a strong evidence of the need of 
 supernatural power to believe it. 
 
 Finally, persons who are sober and attentive, are 
 not without some darker views of this evidence; which 
 may and ought to draw them on to wait for more 
 light: and I look upon the honourable concessions 
 in favour of the Scriptures, which have been made 
 by adversaries, as having proceeded from some fainter 
 views of this nature. 
 
 Thus have I stated the question in dispute between 
 us and the rationalists, and considered the force of 
 Mr Locke’s reasoning. I have assigned an intelligible 
 notion of the reason of faith, adapted to all, even to 
 the meanest, who are under obligation to believe the 
 Scriptures : whereas, the historical proofs are above 
 the reach of thousands, and are never heard of by 
 multitudes, who are obliged, on pain of damnation, 
 to receive the Scriptures as the Word of God. 
 
 Having, under the third proposition, overthrown 
 the ground of Mr Locke’s opinion, we are now to 
 shew that what he builds upon it, must fall of course; 
 particularly what he says, book iv. chap, xviii. par. 6, 
 “ I do not see how those who make revelation alone 
 the sole object of faith, can say, that it is a matter of 
 
ON THE TEA SON OF FAITH. 
 
 45 
 
 faith, and not of reason, to believe that such or such 
 a proposition, to be found in such or such a book, is 
 of divine inspiration ; unless it be revealed, that that 
 proposition, or all in that book, was communicated 
 by divine inspiration. Without such a revelation, 
 the believing or not believing that proposition or 
 book to be of divine authority, can never be matter 
 of faith, but matter of reason ; and such as I must 
 come to an assent to, only by the use of my reason.” 
 
 What Mr Locke intended by this discourse, I know 
 not; unless it were to compel us to prove the inspira¬ 
 tion of every particular proposition contained in the 
 Scripture, before we are warranted to believe what it 
 exhibits : which would overthrow the Christian re¬ 
 ligion, or at least deprive mankind in general of any 
 advantage by it. But waving other remarks, I shall 
 only animadvert a little upon this assertion, “ That 
 our believing any proposition to be from God, is not 
 an act of faith, but of reason.” 
 
 If his meaning were, that our assent to the pro¬ 
 positions of Scripture, is an act of our rational or 
 intellective faculty, it might well be admitted. Or if 
 it were, that our assent is consistent with the principles 
 of sound reason, and proceeds on such grounds as 
 are required by the nature of our understandings ; in 
 this sense, we should admit that it is an act of reason. 
 But neither of these being intended, we cannot agree 
 with Mr Locke when he asserts, that our belief of 
 Scripture propositions is not built upon divine 
 testimony, but upon arguments independent of it, 
 
46 
 
 £SSAY /. 
 
 whereby their inspiration is proved or supported. 
 On the contrary we maintain, that the Scriptures do 
 evidence themselves to be from God ; and that the 
 truths therein revealed, are by no means to be ranked 
 among conjectural things, supported on mere pro¬ 
 babilities, such as historical proofs, and reasonings 
 founded upon them. 
 
 The question, in short, amounts to this : whereas 
 the Scriptures, wherever they come, oblige all that 
 have the offer of them, to receive them as the Word 
 of God ; upon what ground or formal reason do we 
 thus receive them, to the glory of God, and our own 
 salvation ? 
 
 In answer to this important inquiry, I shall offer 
 what hath satisfied myself, upon mature consideration 
 of the Scriptures, in connection with my own experi¬ 
 ence, and a review of what hath been written on the 
 subject by others ; especially by that profound and 
 judicious divine Dr Owen. This I shall do in a few 
 propositions ; which I shall lay down, explain, and 
 confirm, with as much brevity and perspicuity as 
 possible. 
 
 Proposition I. 
 
 “ The ground on which we are required to receive 
 the Scriptures as the Word of God, is not the authority 
 of any man or church.” 
 
 This is fully demonstrated by our writers against 
 the Papists. It is sufficient for our purpose to ob- 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 47 
 
 serve, i. That this is not to believe God and his pro¬ 
 phets for their own testimony. When God speaketh 
 to us, our duty is, to believe him on account of his 
 own veracity. 2. Men may be deceived, and may 
 deceive us : “ All men are liars.” 3. This is nowhere 
 in Scripture proposed as the ground of our duty. 
 4. The church and her doctrines are to be tried by the 
 Word; and her testimony is to be received in so far only 
 as the Word consenteth : wherefore, to make this the 
 ground of our faith, is to reason in a circle, of which 
 the church of Rome can never clear herself But I 
 need not insist farther on this head. The only church 
 that claims this right, has been convicted of so many 
 falsehoods, that her testimony serves rather to pre¬ 
 judice a cause, than to confirm it. 
 
 Proposition II. 
 
 “ The rational arguments whereby the truth of the 
 Christian religion is demonstrated against atheists, 
 although useful in many ways, are n ot the grou nd 
 whereon they who h ave the Scriptures proposed to 
 them, are obliged to receive them as the Word of 
 God.” 
 
 These moral and rational considerations are of use, 
 to strengthen the faith of believers, and to relieve 
 them against the objections of enemies ; to stop the 
 mouths of adversaries; to beget, in those who are yet 
 ignorant of the intrinsic value of the Word, some 
 respect for it, and to attract their serious attention to 
 
48 
 
 ESSA V /. 
 
 ! 
 
 it. This is granted : and in this atheistical age, is 
 sufficient to induce all sorts of persons who value the 
 Scriptures, to study them. Yet it is not upon those 
 rational arguments, that our faith in the divine 
 authority of the Scripture is to be founded. For, i. 
 Although they are a proper foundation for a rational 
 assent, and are sufficient to beget a strong moral 
 persuasion of the truth, this persuasion cannot 
 properly be called faith, which is an assent upon 
 testimony. 2. The faith required of us, is not founded 
 on the wisdom of men, i Cor. ii. 5 ; that is, on the 
 reasonings or arguments of men. Now this moral 
 persuasion rests entirely on these. 3. Many are 
 obliged to receive the Scriptures, to whom these 
 arguments were never offered ; and many who are 
 lincapable of understanding their force. The apostles 
 never used them ; and yet required their hearers to 
 receive the word of God. 
 
 Proposition III. 
 
 “ The miracles by which the sacred writers proved 
 their commission, are not the foundation of our faith 
 in the divine authority of the Scriptures.” 
 
 I need not spend much time in clearing this. For, 
 I. Many who saw not the miracles, are under obli¬ 
 gation to believe. 2. For most of the miracles, we 
 [have no other evidence but the testimony of the 
 I Word itself. 3. The Scripture nowhere teaches men 
 to expect miracles as the ground of their faith; but. 
 
ON INE REASON OF FAITN. 
 
 49 
 
 on the contrary, refers them to the words of Moses 
 and the prophets, Luke xvi. 31. 
 
 Proposition IV. 
 
 “ The ground on which we are required to believe 
 the Scripture, is not a^ ecretJntimatio n by the Spir it 
 of God, distinct from the written Word, assuring us 
 that it is the Word o f'God .” ~ ~~~ 
 
 This needs no long proof. For, i. No man is under 
 obligation to receive the Scripture, to whom the 
 ground of the obligation is not proposed. But many 
 are obliged to believe, to whom no such secret sug¬ 
 gestion was ever granted. 2. Neither the Word of 
 God, nor the experience of his people, gives any reason 
 to look for such suggestions. Besides, the question 1 
 would recur. What reason is there to believe that 1 
 suggestion to be from God 
 
 Proposition V. 
 
 “ The ground of our obligation to believe the Word 
 of God, is not the authority of any particular pro¬ 
 position of Scripture, bearing testimony to all the 
 rest. For example, 2 Timothy iii. 16, All Scripture 
 is given by inspiration of God.” ' 
 
 This is very plain on many accounts. For instance, 
 
 I. These passages have no more evidence of inspira¬ 
 tion, than other places of Scripture. 2. Although 
 they had been left out, we should have been obliged 
 
 D 
 
50 
 
 £SSA V I. 
 
 to believe. Yea, those who had them not, were under 
 obligation to believe what they had. 
 
 Proposition VI. 
 
 “ The ground of our obligation to believe the Word 
 of God, is not that its doctrines are suitable to our 
 natural notions of God, and adapted to our necessities, 
 desires, and capacities.” 
 
 I shall not spend time in controverting this idea, * 
 which some appear to be fond of: only I observe, 
 
 I. The suitableness of revealed truths to our natural 
 notions, as discerned by unrenewed men, is not a 
 ground for faith, but for a persuasion of a different 
 kind. 2. Many revealed truths do not answer this 
 description : for example, the doctrine of the Trinity, 
 which no man can reasonably receive on this account. 
 Although these truths are not contrary to our reason, 
 there is an appearance of inconsistency between them, 
 which has startled many. 
 
 Proposition VII. 
 
 “The ground of our obligation to receive the Scrip¬ 
 tures as the Word of God, is not, that God hath, by 
 his Spirit, wrought faith in us, and thereby enabled 
 us to receive them.” 
 
 I have added this proposition, because Protestants 
 have, although falsely, been accused of holding such 
 an irrational opinion. It is indeed true, that we 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 51 
 
 cannot savingly believe the Scriptures until it please 
 God to remove, by his Holy Spirit, our natural dark¬ 
 ness and prejudices, whereby we are prevented from 
 receiving his Word ; and to work in us that gracious 
 ability to receive it, which is saving faith. Yet this is 
 not the reason of our assent to the Scriptures. If we 
 .should be asked, on what account we believe the 
 Scriptures to be the Word of God, it would be imper¬ 
 tinent to answer, we believe it because God hath 
 wrought in us the faith of it. This would shew, not 
 wherefore we believe, but how we obtained the power 
 or ability to believe. 
 
 Proposition VIII. 
 
 “Wherefore, to the question. On what ground do 
 you receive the Scriptures as the Word of God } we 
 do not answer. On the testimony of the church ; or 
 because of the weighty moral arguments by which 
 their divine authority is supported ; or because the 
 Sacred Writers wrought miracles ; or because of any 
 secret suggestion from God himself; or because par¬ 
 ticular Scriptures bear witness to the inspiration of 
 the whole ; or because the truths which they reveal 
 approve themselves to our reason, as worthy of God ; 
 or finally, because God has given us an ability to 
 believe.” 
 
 This is the sum of what has been advanced on the 
 negative side. The arguments conclude against all 
 the rejected reasons, whether taken singly or con- 
 
52 
 
 £SSA V /. 
 
 jointly. We now proceed to the positive side of the 
 question. 
 
 Proposition IX. 
 
 “ The faith whereby we assent unto, and receive, 
 the Word of God, to his glory and our own salvation, 
 i s faith divine and supernatural.” 
 
 It is necessary to insist a little in confirming this 
 important truth ; because there are some who would 
 persuade us, that whatever faith is, at this day, to be 
 found among men, is built upon, and resolved into, 
 the testimony of men.* 
 
 The understanding, that power or faculty whereby 
 we perceive truth, and assent to it on its proper evi¬ 
 dence, may be distinguished into different subordinate 
 powers, according to the different kinds of truth to 
 which it assents. To the self-evident maxims of 
 reason, (such as this proposition, “The same thing, 
 at the same time, cannot be and not be,”) we assent 
 at once, on their being proposed to us in terms which 
 we understand. To some truths, our assent is gained 
 by arguments drawn from known truths, which are 
 themselves either self-evident or acknowledged by us: 
 and to other truths we assent on the testimony of 
 credible witnesses. This last kind of assent, and the 
 faculty by which it is given, are both known by the 
 name of faith. 
 
 Faith, then, is that power or ability of the mind of 
 * Le Clerc, in his Logics. 
 
ON THE REASON OF RAITH. 
 
 53 
 
 man, whereby he is capable of assenting, and doth 
 assent, on the evidence of testimony. Now, as testi¬ 
 mony may be given, either by the Most High himself, 
 or by men, or by angels, good or bad ; faith may be 
 considered as either divine, or human, or angelical. 
 The last of these, not being to our purpose, may be 
 set aside. The faith which assents on the testimony 
 of man, is called human faith ; that which assents on 
 the testimony of God, who cannot lie, is divine faith. 
 
 Divine faith, then, is that power, or ability, where¬ 
 by, in compliance with our duty, we assent unto and 
 receive, to the glory of God, and our own salvation, 
 the trj^ths which are proposed to us on the evidence 
 of God’s Word or testimony. In this definition we 
 include the words, “ in compliance with our duty, to 
 the glory of God, and our own salvation,” because 
 men, and even devils, may, on the evidence of God’s 
 testimony, assent to some truths, in a way that neither 
 answers their duty, nor turns to the glory of God in 
 their salvation. This assent we pass over, as not 
 belonging to the faith of which we are discoursing. 
 
 The faith now described, is called divine and super¬ 
 natural on two accounts : i. Because it is wrought in 
 the soul by the power of God ; and 2, because it rests 
 on his testimony alone. 
 
 I. This faith is wrought in the soul by the power 
 of God. To clear this, we shall merely hint at the 
 heads of a few arguments ; referring, for farther proof, 
 to the controversial treatises. i. This ability to 
 believe and receive the truths of God, to his glory and 
 
54 
 
 y^ssj Y /. 
 
 our own salvation, is expressly denied to natural or 
 unrenewed men; i Cor. ii. 14, “ The natural man 
 receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they 
 are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, 
 because they are spiritually discerned.” John viii. 47: 
 “Ye therefore hear not God’s words, because ye are 
 not of God.” 2 Thess. iii. 2, “All men have not 
 faith.” 2. It is expressly denied to be of ourselves, 
 and asserted to be a supernatural gift of God ; Eph. 
 ii. 8, “ By grace are ye saved, through faith; and that, 
 not of yourselves ; it is the gift of God.” 3. The pro¬ 
 duction of it is ascribed unto God. It is he that 
 “ fulfilleth in his people, the work of faith with power,” 
 2 Thess. i. ii. It is he that “giveth them,” that is, 
 that enableth them, “ on the behalf of Christ, to 
 believe on him, and to suffer for his sake ;” Philip, 
 i. 29. Faith is one of the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. 
 V. 22 : and in Heb. xii. 2, Christ is styled “ the author 
 and finisher of our faith.” 
 
 2. This faith resteth not on the evidence of men, 
 but on the testimony of God, evidencing itself In 
 I Cor. ii. 5, it is described as that which standeth 
 “ not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God:” 
 that is, (as appeareth by comparing the 4th and 13th 
 verses,) not in the reasoning or eloquence of men, but 
 in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, and, by 
 his power accompanying them, doth demonstrate to 
 be the Word of God. In i Thess. ii. 13, it is held forth 
 as a receiving of the Word, “ not as the word of men, 
 but, as it is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 55 
 
 worketh in them that believe.” Many other proofs 
 might be added ; but these are sufficient for our 
 purpose. 
 
 We shall next very briefly prove, that it is our duty 
 thus to receive the Scriptures, i. They are the Word 
 of God, and every where profess to be so. They are 
 the Oracles of God, which holy men of God, spake as 
 they were moved by the Holy Ghostand by them 
 the Holy Ghost speaketh unto us.* Now, the very 
 ligh^b -S £riature te acheth, that when God speaketh and 
 commandeth, we are bound to assent and obey. 
 2. The Scriptures were written for this very end, that 
 we may believe, and that, believing, we may have 
 life: John xx. 30, 31. The mystery which was kept 
 secret since the world began, is now, by the Scrip¬ 
 tures of the prophets, according to the commandment 
 of the everlasting God, made known to all nations 
 for the obedience of faith : Rom. xvi. 25, 26. Again, 
 the apostle Peter, (2d Epistle i. 17-19) after speaking 
 of the voice which came from heaven on the holy 
 mount, adds, “We have also a more sure Word of 
 prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,” 
 (that is, it is your duty to take heed,) as unto a light 
 that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and 
 the day-star arise in your hearts.” 3. The most 
 dreadful judgments are threatened on those who 
 receive not the Word of God from the prophets or 
 apostles : (whether by speech or writing is all one) 
 
 * Heb. V. 12 ; 2 Peter i. 20, 21 ; 2 Tim. iii. 16 ; Mark xii. 36; 
 Acts i. 16 ; Acts xxviii. 25-27 ; Heb. iii. 7, 8. 
 
56 
 
 ESSA Y 1 
 
 Matt. X. 14, 15 : “Whosoever shall not receive you, 
 nor hear your words, when you depart out of that 
 house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily 
 I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom 
 and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that 
 city.” Accordingly, the apostles preach the word at 
 Antioch in Pisidia ; demand acceptance of it both 
 from Jews and Gentiles, and, upon their refusal, 
 testify against them in the way of the Lord’s appoint¬ 
 ment, (Acts xiii. 5 I :) although, so far as appeareth, 
 they wrought no miracle there, to confirm their mis¬ 
 sion. 4. The Thessalonians (ist Epistle, ii. 13), are 
 commended for receiving the Word, not as the word 
 of men, but as the Word of God : a sufficient proof 
 that it was their duty. 
 
 Here it may be objected, that if believing is not in 
 our own power, it cannot be our duty. I answer 
 briefly: i. The light of nature requireth of us perfect 
 obedience ; yet we are unable’ to render it_ 2. The 
 Scripture requireth us to “serve God acceptably, with 
 reverence and godly fear;” but telleth us at the 
 same time, that we need “grace” to do so: Heb. 
 
 xii. 28. 3. “We have destroyed ourselvesHosea 
 
 xiii. 9. “We have fallen by our iniquity;” Hosea 
 
 xiv. I. In consequence of our fall, our natural ability 
 to believe truth upon testimony, is so much impaired 
 in itself, and obstructed by prejudices, that we are 
 unable to discern the clear evidence of God’s authority 
 which he has impressed upon his Word, and to assent 
 in a due manner to his testimony. But this inability 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 57 
 
 which we have brought upon ourselves, cannot affect 
 the unquestionable right which God hath, to require 
 of all his rational creatures that they should give 
 credit to his Word. Wherefore, 4. Our duty is, to 
 take blame to ourselves, to justify God, to aim at 
 obedience to his will, and to wait upon him in all the 
 ways of his own appointment. If we are sincere in 
 this, we have no reason to despair: but are perirdtted 
 to hope, that although we cannot claim it as our due, 
 it may please God, of his sovereign grace, to give us 
 an understanding, that we may know whether the 
 Scriptures are his own Word, or the words of men. 
 John vii. 17; i John v. 20. 
 
 Proposition X. 
 
 The formal reason of our obligation to believe the 
 Scriptures, and to receive them as the Word of God, 
 and the ground on which we so receive them, is the 
 authority ofbhe God of truth speaking in them, evi¬ 
 dencing itself, by its own light and powder, to ourlaitli 
 when duly exercised about them. — 
 
 In explanation of this proposition, which contains 
 the truth principally intended, I shall offer the few 
 following remarks. 
 
 I. The evidence of God in his Word, how great 
 soever it is, cannot determine the assent of any one 
 whose faith, or power of assenting, is not duly dis¬ 
 posed ; nor is it necessary that it should. The blind 
 cannot see the sun, though he shine ever so clearly. 
 
58 
 
 £:SSA V /. 
 
 No wonder that the evidence of God’s authority and 
 truth in his Word, should not be perceived by those 
 who have lost the power, which they had by nature, 
 of discerning spiritual truths ; and to whom God hath 
 not yet restored it by supernatural grace. 
 
 2. Even one who may possess this faith, or power 
 of assent, unless it be exercised, and duly applied to 
 the consideration of the Word on which the evidence 
 is impressed, will fail in giving that assent to divine 
 truth which is required of him, in the way of duty, to 
 the glory of God, and his own salvation : just as the 
 evidence of moral, metaphysical, or mathematical 
 truths, is not discerned by many capable persons, 
 because they do not duly apply their minds to the 
 observation of it. Although the evidence which God 
 has imparted to his Word, doth not, like the light of 
 the sun, force an acknowledgment from all; yet it is 
 abundantly sufficient to satisfy those who have eyes 
 to see, and who apply their minds to it in the way of 
 duty. 
 
 I 3. This light, which evidenceth the divine authority 
 bf the Scriptures, is impressed on every truth, and on 
 every word which God speaketh to us: but it is best 
 seen when the words are viewed in their proper con¬ 
 nection, and as they stand related to other parts of 
 Scripture. Of thi.s, more anon. 
 
 4. When it is asserted that the Scripture evidenceth 
 itself to be the Word of God, by its own light and 
 power, there is no place for the captious question. 
 How do ye know that the light of which you speak, 
 
ON THE REASON OE FAITIL 
 
 59 
 
 is from God ? For it is of the nature of light, whether 
 external and sensible, or internal and mental, (and it 
 is hard to determine which of these two kinds is light 
 properly, and which metaphorically,) not only to 
 render objects visible, but, in proportion to its clear¬ 
 ness, to satisfy the mind as to the medium by which 
 they are seen. When we enjoy the light of the sun, 
 we need no arguments to persuade us that it is light, 
 and that it is real. The proof of a mathematical 
 truth, not only convinces us, that the proposition in 
 which it is enunciated, is true, but also that the evi¬ 
 dence on which we believe it, is real. In like manner, 
 the divine light which accompanies the Word, not only 
 convinces us that the things which it reveals are true, 
 but also, in proportion to its degree, that the light 
 which discovers them to us is truth, and is no lie. 
 Nor is any argument necessary to prove this, to any 
 one who enjoys that light. If a blind man should 
 ask me how I know that the sun shines, and that I 
 see it; I would answer, I know it by the evidence of 
 its own light. If he should further inquire, how I prove 
 that I am not under a delusion ; I should be obliged 
 to produce such arguments as he might be capable of 
 understanding. Now it will be granted, that the 
 evidence of these arguments, though it may be more 
 convincing to him, must fall exceedingly short of the 
 evidence which I have from the light itself. More¬ 
 over, the arguments which I use with the blind man 
 are not intended to convince myself, but to satisfy 
 him, and to answer his objections. In like manner, if 
 
6 o 
 
 £SSA y I. 
 
 one who rejects the Scriptures, should ask me how I 
 know that they are the Word of God ; I would answer, 
 I know it by the evidence of their own light and 
 power. If he should add, I cannot discern that light; 
 I would answer, that is because your own mind is 
 darkened ; either you have no eyes, or else they are 
 shut. If he should further urge, that my light is not 
 real ; I would prove it to be so, by such arguments 
 as he could understand. These arguments, although 
 they may stop his mouth, are not the foundation of 
 my belief They may, however, be of use to fortify 
 me against his sophistry. For, though I could not 
 be persuaded to disbelieve the evidence that shines 
 upon my mind, I might find some difficulty in answer¬ 
 ing his arguments ; which, at times, through my own 
 inadvertency, or ^the indisposition of my mind, or by 
 reason of clouds interposing between me and the 
 light, might even shake me a little. 
 
 5. Considering that our minds are naturally dark, 
 sluggish, weak, and unstable; that we are renewed 
 but in part, and that our faith is liable to many 
 defects, and exposed to many temptations; the 
 ministry of the church is of great importance, to 
 awaken our attention, to cure the indisposition of 
 our minds, to hold up the light before us, and to 
 point out and explain the truths which it discovers ; 
 whereby, through the efficacy of the divine ordina¬ 
 tion and appointment, its evidence becomes more and 
 more apparent.* 
 
 * “We may be moved and induced, by the testimony of the 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 6 i 
 
 6. In order to our holding fast the faith, and per¬ 
 severing in it to the end ; besides the outward ministry 
 of the church, the inward renovation of the mind by 
 the Holy Ghost, and the moral arguments already 
 spoken of, we stand in need of the daily influences of 
 the Spirit of God, to strengthen faith, to remove 
 prejudices and incidental indispositions, to seal the 
 truths on our minds, to give us refreshing tastes of 
 them, and, in many ways, to confirm us against 
 opposition. 
 
 7. This LIGHT, whereby the written Word evi¬ 
 dences its divine origin, is the impress of the majesty, 
 authority, omniscience, truth, wisdom, holiness, justice, 
 grace, and mercy of God, stamped upon it by the 
 Holy Ghost, beaming on the minds of believers, and 
 affecting them with such a sense of those perfections, 
 both in the sublimity of the matter, and in the 
 majestic manner becoming the Most High, as fully 
 satisfies them that God is the speaker. Moreover, 
 
 church, to an high and reverent esteem of the holy Scripture ; 
 and the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, 
 the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope 
 of the whole, which is, to give all glory to God, the full dis¬ 
 covery it makes of the only way of man’s salvation, the many 
 other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection 
 thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence 
 itself to be the Word of God: yet notwithstanding, our full 
 persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine 
 authority thereof, is from th« inward work of the Holy Spirit, 
 bearing witness, by and with the Word, in our hearts.”— West- 
 minster Confession of Faith, chap. i. sect. v. 
 
62 
 
 £SSA V I. 
 
 the impressions which are stamped upon the matter, 
 being conveyed by the Word only, do combine with 
 those that are made by the manner, to strengthen the 
 evidence of the divine original of the Scriptures. The 
 Word of God, by a manifestation of the truth, that 
 scorns the arts of insinuation by fair and enticing 
 words and artificial argumentation, with the like con¬ 
 fessions of weakness, that are in all human writings, 
 commends itself to the conscience, dives into the 
 secret recesses of the heart, guides, teaches, directs, 
 determines, and judges, in the name and authority of 
 the great God. And when it thus enters, the soul is 
 so filled with the light of the glory of those per¬ 
 fections, that it is constrained to cry out. The voice of 
 God, and not of man. 
 
 8. The POWER whereby the Scripture evidences 
 itself to be the Word of God, is just the authority and 
 efficacy which, by means of it, he exercises over the 
 ; minds and consciences of men ; working in them 
 divinely, and leaving upon them the evident marks 
 of his glorious almighty power. It enters into the 
 conscience, a territory exempt from the authority of 
 creatures, and subject to God alone. It awakens, 
 challenges, convinces, threatens; it sets the conscience 
 a roaring, so that the whole creation cannot quiet it 
 again. It commands a calm; and the sea, which was 
 troubled before, is stilled so that men and devils can¬ 
 not disturb its repose. It enters into the understand¬ 
 ing ; opens its eyes, fills it with a clear, purifying, and 
 glorious light, and sets before it wonders hitherto 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 63 
 
 undiscerned, concerning God, concerning ourselves, 
 our sin, our duty, our danger and relief; concerning 
 the works, the ways, the counsels and purposes of the 
 Most High. It speaks to the will; converts it, and 
 disengages it from what it grasped before, so firmly, 
 that no art or force of eloquence, no argument, fear, 
 or hope, could make it quit its hold. It turns the 
 bent of the will another way, yea, the opposite way ; 
 and causes it to embrace, with open arms, what 
 nothing before could induce it to look at. It over¬ 
 comes the strongest aversion ; making the will, not 
 only to go, but to run, after that which it hated 
 before ; and obstinately to refuse anything else offered 
 in its place. It enters the affections ; raises them 
 from the earth, and gives them so divine a touch, 
 that although, through their fickle nature, they may, 
 at times, be carried by force another way, yet they 
 are never at rest, until they are pointing heavenward., 
 It comes to the soul that is sunk under the pressure 
 of unrelievable distresses, refusing comfort, and ap¬ 
 parently incapable of it: pulls it out of the horrible 
 pit and the miry clay, sets its feet upon a rock, fills it 
 with joy, yea makes it exceeding joyful, although 
 all its outward troubles may continue, or even in¬ 
 crease. It enters into the soul that was the willing 
 slave of reigning lusts; tries and condemns those 
 powerful criminals, and causes the soul to throw off 
 their yoke, and to join in executing the sentence 
 upon them. Now when the power of the Word is thus 
 
64 
 
 ESS A Y 1. 
 
 felt, how can the soul do otherwise, than fall down 
 and acknowledge that God is in it of a truth ? 
 
 9. Whereas it may be objected. Many have, for a 
 long time, heard and read the Word, without perceiv¬ 
 ing this light, or feeling this power: are not such 
 exempted from any obligation to believe ? I answer, 
 I. Many who have spent their lives in studying the 
 works of God as displayed in the visible creation, 
 have not discerned in them the evidence of his eternal 
 power and Godhead : yet none will affirm that on that 
 account, they are to be excused, and want of evidence 
 imputed to the works of creation ; Romans i. 20. 
 Why should not the case be the same, with respect to 
 the divine Word ? 2. The power by which this light 
 
 is discerned, has, in all men, been greatly impaired by 
 the fall. Many entertain unreasonable prejudices 
 against the Scriptures; and wilfully shut their eyes 
 against the light, whereby the power of discernment 
 is farther weakened: others refuse to attend to the 
 Word of God in the way that he requires of them ; 
 and hereon many are judicially blinded, and given 
 up to the power of Satan. No wonder that the light 
 of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of 
 God, should not shine into the minds of those whom 
 the god of this world hath blinded : 2 Cor. iv. 4. 
 3. No wonder that many are not affected by the 
 clearest evidence; for God hath not given them eyes 
 to see, and ears to hear, and hearts to perceive (Deut. 
 xxix. 4). To open the eyes of those who wilfully 
 .shut them, is an act of sovereign grace, which God 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 65 
 
 owes to none. 4. Light, how clear soever it may be, 
 cannot supply the defect of the discerning power. 
 The sun, though it shineth, cannot make the blind to 
 see. The Word hath in it the light already described, 
 although they who are spiritually blind, see it not. 
 Yea, I may venture to say, that the Word of God, 
 contained in the Scriptures, hath in it evidences more 
 numerous, and no less discernible, of the divine per¬ 
 fections, and consequently of its own divine original 
 and authority, than the whole visible creation : Psalm 
 cxxxviii. 2. The works of creation, if they are con¬ 
 templated in the due exercise of the rational powers, 
 even by men who are not savingly enlightened, are 
 sufficient to produce in their minds a conviction of 
 the great Creator; which, although it cannot com¬ 
 mand such an assent as will engage and enable them 
 to receive the Scriptures in a due manner, to the 
 glory of God and their own salvation, will yet, I con¬ 
 ceive, prove sufficient to justify against them the 
 claim of the Word to a divine original, and to deprive 
 them of the excuse of insufficient evidence. I doubt 
 not that many of those, who, upon conviction, testified 
 that Christ spake as never man spake, were strangers 
 to saving illumination ; and yet perceived, in what he 
 said, and in his manner of saying it, so much of the 
 stamp and impress of divinity, as drew this confession 
 from them, and rendered them inexcusable, in not 
 listening to him and complying with his Word. Nor 
 do I doubt that the case will be found the same with 
 respect to the written Word as to many; and would 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 ESS A y /. 
 
 be so to all, if, without wilful prejudices, they did 
 seriously attend to it. 
 
 10. I observe farther, that in order to engage this 
 assent, it is not necessary that all these effects should 
 be experienced at all times ; but that the Word should 
 have this power, and put it forth as occasion requires 
 and circumstances call for it. 
 
 Having thus explained our tenth proposition, we 
 are now to prove that which is asserted in it, that “the 
 formal reason of our obligation to believe the Scrip¬ 
 tures, and to receive them as the Word of God, and 
 the ground on which we so receive them, is the 
 authority of the God of truth speaking in them, evi¬ 
 dencing itself, by its own light and power, to our 
 faith when duly exercised about them.” Of many 
 arguments that offer themselves, I shall restrict my¬ 
 self to some of the most important; which I shall 
 briefly propose, without insisting largely in the pro¬ 
 secution of them. 
 
 Argjimeiit r. The ordinary way in which God de¬ 
 livers his mind in Scripture, is by declaring his will, 
 and requiring us to believe, obey, and submit to it, 
 on no other evidence but his own testimony; “ Thus 
 saith the Lord.” 
 
 Arg. 2. To enable his people to distinguish his 
 Word from the pretended revelations of the false pro¬ 
 phets, he referred them to the evidence of* its own 
 light and power: Jeremiah xxiii. 26-29, “How long 
 shall this be in the heart of the prophets that pro¬ 
 phesy lies } yea, they are prophets of the deceit of 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 67 
 
 their own heart; who think to cause my people to 
 forget my name, by their dreams which they tell, 
 every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have 
 forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath 
 a dream, let him tell a dream ; and he that hath my 
 Word, let him speak my Word faithfully. What is the 
 chaff to the wheat } saith the Lord. Is not my Word 
 like as a fire ? saith the Lord ; and like a hammer 
 that breaketh the rock in pieces ?” This was in the 
 latter days of the ancient church, when the people 
 were in greatest danger of being deceived by false 
 prophets: yet God lays their safety or ruin, both 
 temporal and eternal, on their discerning aright be¬ 
 tween his word and theirs. And to shew the reason¬ 
 ableness of this, he intimates that his Word may be 
 distinguished from impostures, as easily as wheat 
 from chaff: and that it will discover itself by its own 
 properties of light, heat, and power, like the fire, and 
 like the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. 
 
 Ar^". 3. When farther evidence, such as that of 
 miracles, was required, it was refused, as what was 
 unnecessary, and would prove ineffectual. This is 
 clearly taught, by our Lord, in the parable of the 
 rich man and Lazarus; Luke xvi. 24-31. The rich 
 man, disappointed of relief to himself, and desirous to 
 prevent the ruin of his brethren, proposes to Abraham 
 that Lazarus should be sent from the dead, to con¬ 
 vince them of the reality of things eternal. “ I pray 
 thee therefore, father,” says he, “that thou wouldst 
 send him to my father’s house: for I have five 
 
68 
 
 £SSA V /. 
 
 brethren ; that he may testify unto them, lest they 
 also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith 
 unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let 
 them hear them. And he said. Nay, father Abraham; 
 but if one went unto them from the dead, they will 
 repent. And he said unto him. If they hear not 
 Moses and the prophets, neither will they be per¬ 
 suaded, though one rose from the dead.” Here the 
 case is plain. The rich man desires a miracle to 
 satisfy his brethren. He is denied this, and remitted 
 to Moses and the prophets as sufficient. He insists ; 
 and pleads that a miracle would be more convincing. 
 This is still refused ; and it is plainly taught, that 
 men who will not hear the Word of God, will not be 
 persuaded by miracles. 
 
 Ar^. 4. In the fourteenth chapter of 1st Corin¬ 
 thians, which treats of spiritual gifts, and their com¬ 
 parative usefulness to the church ; particularly the 
 miraculous gift of tongu es, and the ordinary gift of 
 prophecy, or preaching the Word ; the latter is pre¬ 
 ferred to the former, not only for the edification of 
 believers, but also for the conviction of unbelievers ; 
 in which, the manner of its operation, which is speci¬ 
 fied, is no other than its evidencing itself to be of 
 God, by its own light and power. Let the whole 
 passage be considered, but especially the 24th and 
 25th verses : “But if all prophesy, and there come in 
 one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is con¬ 
 vinced of all, he is judged of all; and thus are the 
 secrets of his heart made manifest; and so, falling 
 
ON THE TEA SON OF FAITH. 69 
 
 down on his face, he will worship God, and report 
 that God is in you of a truth.” 
 
 Arg. The constant practice of the apostles, fully 
 proves our assertion. In order to persuade the un¬ 
 believing world, they did not prove the truth of their 
 doctrine by the arguments which are now commonly 
 insisted on, or by working miracles, or by referring to 
 miracles formerly wrought by them : but, by mani¬ 
 festation of the truth, and demanding acceptance of 
 it in the name of God, they commended themselves 
 to every man’s conscience in his sight. By this means 
 they converted the world. And when their message 
 was rejected, they shook off the dust of their feet for 
 a testimony against the unbelievers ; who were there¬ 
 by laid open to our Lord’s awful threatening, of 
 punishment more intolerable than that of Sodom and 
 Gomorrah. 
 
 Arg. 6 . Our assertion is farther confirmed by the 
 experience of those who believe aright. Believers of 
 all sorts, learned and unlearned, however they may, 
 by other means and arguments, be capacitated to 
 deal with adversaries, and fortified against their ob¬ 
 jections, do yet agree in resting their own minds upon 
 the Word of God, as it evidences itself to their faith 
 by its own light and power. The unlearned, for the 
 most part, are capable of no other evidence : and yet, 
 upon this alone, in all ages, in life and in death, in 
 adhering to the truth, and cheerfully suffering for it, 
 they have exhibited a firmness and stability to which, 
 without it, the most learned could never attain. 
 
70 
 
 £SSA Y I 
 
 Without this evidence, divine faith, resting on divine 
 testimony, is impossible ; and the vulgar, who are in¬ 
 capable of any other, must wander in uncertainty, 
 and pin their faith on the sleeves of their teachers. 
 But, blessed be God, here is a ground that cannot fail. 
 He speaketh : and, notwithstanding their simplicity, 
 for which they are despised by the world, “ his sheep 
 hear his voice, and follow him ; and a stranger will 
 they not follow, for they know not the voice of a 
 stranger,” John x. 4, 5. 
 
 Proposition XL 
 
 Whereas it may be pretended, that on supposi¬ 
 tion of what has been stated in the foregoing Pro¬ 
 position, the people of God, at such times as they 
 discern not this light, and feel not this power, in 
 reading or hearing particular portions of Scripture, 
 have no ground for their faith with respect to those 
 passages : in answer to that objection, I offer this 
 proposition : That to persons capable of discerning 
 the evidence of divine authority, duly applying them¬ 
 selves, in the way of the Lord’s appointment, in so 
 far as, in compliance with their duty, they are at 
 present concerned to understand, believe, and obey 
 any particular portion of the Word ; and reaching 
 the true meaning of it; there is no part of Scripture, 
 in so far as God speaketh in it, which doth not suf¬ 
 ficiently evidence its authority in its season. 
 
 As this objection hath sometimes appeared very 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 71 
 
 formidable to myself, I shall, as far as intended 
 brevity will permit, distinctly propose the grounds 
 whereon I was satisfied about the truth of the pro¬ 
 position which I have offered in answer to it: referring 
 to the preceding chapter, for farther clearing as to the 
 way wherein the Lord quieted me, and relieved me 
 from objections. 
 
 I. By the fall of man , his faith, or power of assent¬ 
 ing to truth upon testimony, was corrupted: and 
 although, in common with his other faculties, it is 
 renewed in believers, who receive from the Lord an 
 understanding whereby they discern his voice from 
 that of a stranger ; yet this renovation being but in 
 part, their faith is habitually weak, and they know 
 but in part. That they may live to God in a due 
 manner, this weakness engages them to cry daily to 
 him to increase their faith, and to carry on “the work 
 of faith with power.” Besides this habitual weakness, 
 the faith of believers, in this imperfect state, is liable 
 to various incidental disorders, arising from outward 
 and inward occasions : from the restless power of in¬ 
 dwelling corruptions, which raise many fogs and 
 damps to overcloud the soul ; and from the violence 
 of outward temptations, which Satan and the world, 
 through the wise permission of God for the exercise 
 of their faith, throngs in upon them. By such things 
 as these, their darkness is increased, their faith 
 weakened, or at least straitened in its exercise, and 
 their spiritual discernment more or less obstructed. 
 Now if, at such seasons, the believer is unable to dis- 
 
72 
 
 £SSA y /. 
 
 cern, to his comfort, the evidence of divine authority 
 in the Word, even where it shines most brightly, he 
 has no reason to abandon the Word, complaining of 
 its want of evidence ; but rather has reason to be ex¬ 
 ercised, as believers in such a case usually are, in 
 complaining of his own darkness. Vitiiim est in 
 organo. The fault is not in the Word, but in the 
 discerning power. The same argument would prove 
 that there is no light in the sun. 
 
 2. Through the power of corruption, and the force 
 of temptation, the Lord’s people often become negli¬ 
 gent and inadvertent; not applying their minds, nor 
 inclining their hearts, unto the Word, with the atten¬ 
 tion that is necessary in order to discern the evidence 
 of God in it. As a punishment for this, God with¬ 
 draws, and leaves them under the darkness into which 
 they are hereby cast; and then, when God passeth 
 by, before or behind, on the right hand or on the left, 
 and worketh round about them, they cannot perceive 
 him. If we turn our backs, or shut our eyes, or 
 neglect to remove the motes that obstruct our sight, 
 no wonder we do not discern the light. When 
 we have idols in our hearts, no wonder we see not 
 God. If we lay not aside the filthiness of our hearts, 
 we cannot receive with meekness the engrafted Word, 
 which is able to save our souls. James i. 21. 
 
 3. Although the whole Scriptures are to be received 
 as the Word of God, it doth not follow that every 
 proposition which they contain, considered by itself, 
 is to be so received. The Scripture contains men’s 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 1Z 
 
 words, and the devil’s words ; which are often false 
 and pernicious. These are to be received, on the 
 divine authority, not as the Word of God, but as the 
 words of the persons to whom they are ascribed. 
 The Scripture testifies to nothing more than the truth 
 of God in the historical narration of them ; which is 
 all that we are required to believe. 
 
 4. Albeit every divine truth which God speaketh, 
 hath equal authority and sufficient evidence, yet the 
 evidence of every truth is not equally clear and affect¬ 
 ing. The Scripture is like the visible heaven, another 
 piece of divine workmanship, which is filled with 
 stars, each giving light; although not equally clear, 
 powerful, and glorious, yet sufficient to answer the 
 use for which it was designed, and to satisfy the dis¬ 
 cerning and attentive beholder, that it is light. There 
 is one glory of the sun, another of the moon, and 
 another of the stars ; for star differeth from star 
 in glory : and the greater lights, if they are at a 
 sufficient distance, like the fixed stars, affect us less 
 than the smaller lights, the moon and planets, which 
 are nearer. There are some truths contained in 
 Scripture, to which, although they are useful in their 
 own place and connexion, the divine testimony is 
 comparatively of minor importance to us. These are 
 either such as are in some measure known or knowable 
 by us without revelation, or such as bear less directly 
 on our eternal interests ; yet, in order to our security 
 in walking with God, it was necessary that they 
 should be proposed to us on the faith of divine testi- 
 
74 
 
 ESS A Y I. 
 
 mony. There are other truths, more important in 
 themselves, and bearing more directly on our salva¬ 
 tion, in which our present concern is more apparent, 
 and which, therefore, make a deeper and more lasting 
 impression upon us. Now it must be allowed, that 
 truths of the latter sort have an evidence more bright, 
 sensible, and affecting, than those of the former. 
 
 5. Hereon several subordinate observations offer 
 themselves, which are of the greatest importance for 
 clearing the difficulty under consideration, i. Truths 
 which otherwise are, in some respects, within our 
 reach, but are stamped with the authority of Scrip¬ 
 ture, in order to the stability of our faith, in so far as 
 we are, in practice, obliged to lay weight on them ; 
 cannot be supposed to affect our minds so discernibly, 
 as truths of a different kind ; inasmuch as it is diffi¬ 
 cult to distinguish this additional evidence, from that 
 which we have for them otherwise. Moreover, God, 
 who doth nothing in vain, seeing we are more easily 
 induced to believe them, and less liable to temptations 
 which may shake our faith, sees it not meet to stamp 
 upon them such lively and affecting impressions of 
 himself. 2. On the other hand, those propositions 
 which disclose the secret purposes of the Most High, 
 and other things which, without revelation, are beyond 
 the reach of any mortal, or perhaps of any created 
 understanding, must needs make a more vivid impres¬ 
 sion ; as illuminating the mind with a knowledge to 
 which it must otherwise have ever remained a stranger. 
 3. In like manner, truths wherein our eternal salva- 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 75 
 
 tion, or our present relief from incumbent trouble, is 
 
 directly concerned, affect us more powerfully than 
 
 others which lie more remote from present use, how 
 
 profitable soever they may be in their own place. 
 
 The moon that guides me in the night, affects me 
 
 more sensibly than the sun which is then out of view ; 
 
 although the moon has comparatively no light; and 
 
 what she appears to have, is derived from the sun. 
 
 In like manner, truths which are suited to our present 
 > 
 
 case, although they are, in themselves, of less import¬ 
 ance, and derive all their glory from others, affect us 
 more deeply than truths of more importance, and 
 their evidence appears greater. Every thing is beauti¬ 
 ful in its season. We know from historical evidence 
 that there was such a city as Jerusalem. This fact, 
 however, being incidentally recorded in Scripture, we 
 believe it on the testimony of the Word, which is an 
 additional security. Hereon our minds are not so 
 illuminated and affected, as they are when God pro¬ 
 claims to us that he is, in Christ, reconciling the world 
 to himself. This truth, which is discovered to us by 
 revelation alone, fills our minds with a sense of the 
 divine glory before unknown; and consequently affects 
 us more deeply. Again, when we are perplexed about 
 through-bearing in some particular strait, a promise 
 of grace to help us, though it is of less importance in 
 itself than the fore-mentioned discovery of reconcilia¬ 
 tion, and derives from it all its light and efficacy, yet, 
 coming in the season wherein we are wholly exercised 
 as above, affects us more. 4. Where the same truth 
 
76 
 
 ESS A V L 
 
 is discerned at the same time by different lights, such 
 as the light of_nature, human testimony, and divine 
 revelation, it requires both attention and discernment 
 to distinguish their respective influence; although 
 each of them has its own particular use, which would 
 appear by the defect that would be felt upon its 
 extinction. 
 
 6. With respect to truths of high importance, which 
 affect our minds with the enriching discovery of what 
 was before unknown, or not knowable without revela¬ 
 tion ; or truths which do strongly affect us with a 
 sense of the divine authority, by their suitableness to 
 our case and exercise at the time ; there is no diffi¬ 
 culty, save in such cases as those which are to be 
 noticed afterwards. 
 
 7. With respect to truths of minor importance, 
 which relate to matters not so remote from our owm 
 apprehensions, or not so suitable to our present 
 circumstances, it is acknowledged, that even real 
 Christians, accustomed to the exercise of faith, are not, 
 in reading or hearing them, affected with so clear and 
 sensible an evidence of God, as in reading or hearing 
 Scriptures of a different kind. This difference arises 
 from the nature of the truths themselves, the design 
 of God and his manner in delivering them, our present 
 circumstances, the imperfection and weakness of our 
 faith, our incidental indisposition at the time, and 
 other causes which may be easily collected from 
 what has been hinted in the course of the preceding 
 observations. 
 
OJV THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 77 
 
 8. Notwithstanding all this, the least considerable 
 truth in Scripture bears a sufficient evidence of divine 
 authority ; that is, an evidence which answers the 
 design of God, determines the believer’s assent, and 
 lays him under obligation to obey or submit. This 
 evidence, being every way suited to the scope of the 
 passage, the importance of the matter, and the weight 
 that is to be laid upon it ; although, for such reasons 
 as those that have been mentioned, it may not 
 always be equally discernible, yet, in its proper season, 
 it is observed by judicious and reflecting Christians. 
 For instance, when any of those truths that may 
 appear least in importance is questioned, whether 
 by men or by Satan, the authority of God so awes the 
 conscience of a believer, that he dares not part with 
 the least shred of divine truth ; but adheres to it in 
 spite of all opposition, though it may cost him his 
 life. And, when any particular truth comes to be 
 applied, by the Spirit of God, to the scope at which 
 it is aimed in the Word, it is accompanied by such 
 evidence, as not only determines the believer’s assent 
 and adherence, but emboldens him to lay that stress 
 upon it which the case requires. 
 
 9. Whereas some truths, for reasons already given, 
 do not admit of so clear and bright an evidence as 
 others ; in order to prevent our faith from being- 
 shaken, or at least from failing, the wisdom and good¬ 
 ness of God have, in various ways, provided for our 
 security: as, i. Though in certain propositions, when 
 viewed apart by themselves, the evidence may be less 
 
78 
 
 £SSA y 1. 
 
 apparent, yet, when viewed in connexion with the 
 scope of the passage, as intended by the divine 
 Author, there often appears a beaming light. 2. Other 
 passages related to them, which have a more distinct 
 evidence of God, are joined wit];i them, or placed near 
 them ; which relation, on being perceived, strengthens 
 the evidence : and I conceive there may be an eye to 
 this, where doctrinal passages are inserted in Scripture 
 history. 3. In some truths it is directly asserted that 
 God is the speaker. Many examples of this occur in 
 the books of Moses ; wherein it is expressly declared, 
 that what is enjoined, is by the particular command 
 of God. 4. The objection chiefly respects the Old 
 Testament: the divine authority of which, is secured 
 by plain and evident testimonies in the New. 5. Be¬ 
 lievers being in general accustomed to read the Word 
 of God under a solemn sense of his authority, will 
 not easily be induced to entertain a suspicion, that a 
 book in which God is so manifestly concerned, and 
 which, in the main, he acknowledges to be from him¬ 
 self, is, or can be, with the permission of his provi¬ 
 dence, corrupted by the interpolation of grosser 
 matter : and therefore they will rather question them¬ 
 selves, and acknowledge their own ignorance, than 
 doubt the divine authority of the whole. 
 
 10. Although no faulty obscurity is chargeable on 
 the Scriptures, i n which every thing is clearly revealed 
 that is, in present circumstances, of absolute necessity 
 to believers, in order to their acceptable walking with 
 God ; yet they contain many truths not understood 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 79 
 
 ^ allj or perhaps by any ; which have been inserted 
 on purpose to exercise the diligence and to try the 
 faith of Christians, as well as for other wise ends. 
 Now it is evident, that until the Spirit of God open 
 to us, in the use of appointed means, the meaning of 
 those passages, we cannot perceive their light and 
 power. But whenever they are opened to us, the 
 same light that discovers the meaning, will not fail to 
 affect us with a sense of divine light, authority, and 
 power, that will make our hearts burn within us. Of 
 this, the experience of God’s people, as they grow in 
 knowledge, furnishes them daily with new instances : 
 for which reason, they stumble not at the want of 
 present light ; but, encouraged by the wonders which 
 they discern in other parts of the Word, they are 
 quickened to diligence, and excited to earnest prayer, 
 that their eyes may be opened to see the wonders 
 that may be concealed under those parts which are 
 yet obscure. 
 
 11. T he Word of God, being intended for the use 
 of the whole church, and every member of it, in all 
 stations, relations, temptations, cases, and circum¬ 
 stances, in which any of them are, have been, or may 
 be placed, cont ains truths designed fo r, and suited to, 
 different persons, in different circumstances. Now, 
 what God speaketh to one, cannot be so affecting to 
 another, who, though he may discern the Lord’s 
 voice, is not in the same case: and the same may be 
 said of the same person with respect to different cases. 
 
 12. It must be kept in mind, that although every 
 
8 o 
 
 A'SSA y 1. 
 
 part of Scripture hath, in its proper place and degree, 
 sufficient evidence of divine authority, yet the actual 
 discerning of that evidence, depends very much upon 
 the present state of the dis cerning power ; which, 
 according as it may be stronger or weaher, more or 
 less free from accidental indispositions and outward 
 temptations, and applied in a more or less orderly 
 manner to the observation of the evidence, may either 
 not perceive it at all, or may discern it more or less 
 clearly. 
 
 13. Yet whereas they who are once renewed by the 
 grace of God, do continue to be children of light, 
 having a spiritual capacity to discern the Lord’s 
 voice from that of a stranger, they do, in general, 
 find in the Scriptures, the authority of God evidenc¬ 
 ing itself suitably to the exigence of their particular 
 cases. When the truths that occur are sucILas do 
 riot affect present faith or practice, or, by their abstract 
 nature, and the connexion in which they stand, re¬ 
 quire no more than a bare assent; where the truths 
 are not attacked by enemies, or where there is no 
 immediate call to hazard much upon them; in these 
 and similar cases, although they make not so powerful 
 an impression, yet, one way or other, as much of the 
 divine authority shines in them, as is sufficient to 
 engage the adherence and reverence which are due to 
 the oracles of God. When the truths are of a different 
 nature, and of more importance, when they are suited 
 to present necessities, when they require more distinct 
 actings of faith or obedience, and call for more stress 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 8 i 
 
 to be laid upon them; in that case, the evidence of 
 God shines more brightly. And scarcely ever will a 
 discerning and attentive Christian, who is not griev¬ 
 ously indisposed by some casual disorder, read any 
 considerable part of Scripture, but somewhere or 
 other, in the scope, or in particular words and pro¬ 
 positions, or their contexture, some light will shine 
 in upon the soul, enforcing a conviction, that God is 
 in it of a truth. 
 
 14. When the faith of the Lord’s people is assaulted 
 as to the truth of the Word ; when they are called, 
 in difficult cases and duties, to lay great stress upon 
 it, and, as it were, to hazard their all for it ; when 
 they are distressed by violent temptations, and stand 
 in need of comfort; when they are under spiritual 
 decays, and God designs to restore them ; when they 
 are newly brought in, and need to be confirmed ; 
 when they are humble and diligent, and the Lord 
 intends to reward them graciously, and encourage 
 them to go on ; when they are at a loss to discover 
 the path of duty, in cases of more than usual import¬ 
 ance, and are waiting on the Lord for light; when 
 the Lord designs to carry them on to high degrees of 
 grace and holiness, and employ them in special ser¬ 
 vices : in a word, whenever any extraordinary exigence 
 calls for it; then the Lord opens the eyes of his peo¬ 
 ple, fixes their attention, removes whatever intercepts 
 the discoveries of his mind, speaks the Word to them 
 distinctly, powerfully, and sweetly ; and thereby gives 
 them such a taste of his goodness, wisdom, and power, 
 
 F 
 
82 
 
 ESS A V I. 
 
 with such an experience of his authority in the Word, 
 and of his gracious design in its present application, 
 as fills their souls with the riches of the full assurance 
 of faith, peace, joy, and steadfastness in believing. 
 
 Proposition XIL 
 
 Whereas, by reason of various readings in the 
 ancient manuscripts of the original Scriptures, and 
 passages wrong translated in our versions, it may be 
 pretended that we are in danger of being imposed 
 upon by propositions which are not of divine authority: 
 I assert, that the ground of faith, laid down in the 
 preceding pages, is sufficient for the satisfaction of 
 Christians, in so far as their own cases and tempta¬ 
 tions are concerned. To clear this a little, I offer 
 the following remarks: 
 
 1. Although it must be granted, that to those who 
 are capable of it, the use of the original languages is 
 more satisfactory; yet, where the authority of God evi- 
 denceth itself to believers in the way above described, 
 (and, as all real Christians know by experience, this 
 is the case with all those truths which are of greatest 
 importance, and immediately concern their faith or 
 obedience), they have a sure foundation for their faith, 
 whether they use the originals o r translations. 
 
 2. In truths of any conslder^le importance, our 
 faith is not left to rest upon a single testimony. The 
 wisdom of God has provided against this, by repe at- 
 ing them on a variet y of occasions, and by clearing 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 83 
 
 and confirming their connexion with other truths ; 
 as well as by the analogy of faith, or current of the 
 Scriptures with respect to hls'pnhcipal design in the 
 whole. We are therefore in no danger of being de¬ 
 prived of any truth which is of consequence to our 
 faith or practice, by alleged corruptions of the text, 
 or wrong translations. It is remarked by the famous 
 Dr Owen, v/ho had considered all the various read¬ 
 ings, and who well knew the failures of particular 
 translations, that if all the various readings were added 
 to the worst and most faulty translation, the church 
 of God would not sustain by it the loss of one im¬ 
 portant truth. 
 
 3. Since difficulties of this kind began to trouble 
 the church, the wise God hath stirred up many learned 
 men to devote their labour to the solution of them. 
 By consulting their writings, or by applying to such 
 ministers of the gospel as are skilful in those matters, 
 with dependence on the Lord for his blessing, any 
 one who is particularly concerned to know the right 
 reading or the right translatio n of a passage, may 
 attaln~tb~satrsfacHo nabout it. If any man will do 
 his will, he shall"Taiow of the doctrine, whether it be 
 of God, John vii. 17. 
 
 4. Persons who are called to such exercise (which 
 rarely befalls the vulgar sort of Christians), are seldom 
 without access to such means. But if they should be 
 so, the Lord can easily relieve them, by evidencing 
 his authority to the conscience in a satisfying light, 
 or by enabling them to wait for light till the solution 
 
84 
 
 ESS A V /. 
 
 come, or by removing the temptation when it be¬ 
 comes too strong, or by leading them to rest in the 
 particular truth as secured by other passages, or by 
 some other like way. 
 
 5. The difficulty as to translations, is really of less 
 importance ; and as to the alleged corruption of the 
 text, ordinary Christians, whose consciences are 
 habitually affected by a sense of the Lord’s authority 
 in his Word, and who are daily engaged in attending 
 to his voice in it, speaking to them, and conveying 
 to their souls divine influences of light, life, and com¬ 
 fort, will not be prone to entertain a suspicion so 
 unworthy of God, as that he would permit a book, 
 which he acknowledges as his own Word, to impose 
 upon them, under pretence of his authority, doctrines 
 of human invention, injurious to their faith or obedi¬ 
 ence. 
 
 6. I shall make but one observation more; that 
 enemies trust more to bringing forward their pre¬ 
 tended corruptions tu ciimnlo, in a bulky shape, to 
 alarm Christians who are capable of entertaining such 
 objections, than to insisting on particular instances. 
 Their want of success in the latter method, discovers 
 the weakness of the objection. If there are such 
 readings as would materially alter the text, why are 
 they not produced, and proved to be of equal 
 authority with the received readings } Others are of no 
 consequence ; these only are to be regarded. Of this 
 kind, there are very few that dare be brought for¬ 
 ward ; and those few have been disproved by writers 
 
ON THE REASON OE FAITH. 
 
 85 
 
 of equal capacity and learning. But to take leave of 
 this subject, which is above the ordinary sort of 
 Christians, the Lord’s people, to whom he has evi¬ 
 denced his authority in the way described above, 
 will be moved by none of these things. They will 
 not abandon the Scripture ; but will, as they have 
 good reason to do, respect it as the Word of God, 
 and hold it fast as the charter of eternal life. 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 From the whole subject, I shall make these obser¬ 
 vations : 
 
 1. How justly may divine faith be called infallible; 
 resting, as it doth, upon the faithfulness and truth of 
 God in his Word ! Sometimes, through darkness we 
 may not discern, through negligence may not observe, 
 or through the force of interposing temptations may 
 lose sight of, this evidence. But while our faith is 
 fixed on this foundation, although it may waver, it 
 cannot fail. The ground is firm. The Scripture can¬ 
 not be broken, John x. 35. 
 
 2. This reason of faith, is equally accessible to the 
 most learned and judicfbus divine, and to the meanest 
 and most illiterate Christian, who knows nothing of 
 the props by which the faith of others is supported. 
 Hence it is, that the latter cleaves as firmly to the 
 Word, and hazards for it all that is dear to him, yea 
 life itself, with as much courage and cheerfulness as 
 the former, and sometimes with much more. This is 
 unaccountable on any other ground. 
 
86 
 
 £SSA Y 1. 
 
 3. In answer to the objections against this ground 
 of faith, let the following things be considered, i. The 
 Scripture being a relief provided by sovereign grace, 
 for those of the fallen race of man to whom God in- 
 tendeth to shew mercy, it was so written as to leave 
 room for the discovery of divine sovereignty, and for 
 the subordinate means which were to be employed ; 
 wherefore, it was not adjusted, in all respects, to the 
 capacity of man in his fallen state, so as to exclude 
 the agency of the Holy Spirit, and of the gospel 
 ministry. 2. Although the Word is our only rule, it 
 is not our only guide : for God hath also given us the 
 Holy Spirit, who teacheth by the Word, as he seeth 
 meet. 3. The Word being a rule intended for all 
 ages, it was not necessary that what concerneth one 
 generation, should be equally clear to all other genera¬ 
 tions. It is sufficient that what concerneth every 
 particular age, be so clear, that people living at the 
 time, may, in the use of the means which are ap¬ 
 pointed of God, attain to the knowledge of that which 
 concerneth themselves. 4. The Word being designed 
 for persons of all stations and capacities, in every 
 different case, each ought to be satisfied with the dis¬ 
 tinct knowledge of what, in the way of duty, is 
 required of himself; though he cannot discern so 
 clearly what concerns others. 5 - The Scriptures are 
 not systematically arranged under distinct heads, but 
 digested in another method, in order to leave room 
 for the conduct of the Spirit, to excite the diligence of 
 Christians in the study of the whole, and for other 
 
ON THE REASON OF FAITH. 
 
 reasons which are obvious to infinite wisdom. 6. There 
 are difficulties in the Word of God, and things hard 
 to be understood, which are designed, not only to 
 exercise the faith, humility, and dependence, of the 
 Lord’s people, but also, though without prejudice to 
 the perfection of the Scripture, to prove stones of 
 stumbling and rocks of offence, to those who, being 
 disobedient, obstinately .stumble at the Word. To 
 some he speaketh in parables, that seeing, they may 
 not see : but wisdom is justified of her own children. 
 2 Peter iii. i6; i Peter ii. 8 ; Luke vii. 35, viii. 10. 
 
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ESSAY II. 
 
 A MODEST ENQUIRY, WHETHER 
 REGENERATION OR JUSTIFICATION 
 HAS THE PRECEDENCY, IN ORDER 
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ESSAY II. 
 
 I. The Question Stated. 
 
 T he question is, Whether justification, which 
 compriseth forgiveness of sin, absolution from 
 guilt, and gracious acceptance of our persons, doth, 
 in order of nature, precede the renovation of our 
 natures by the Spirit of Christ, the implantation of 
 supernatural habits of grace, a principle of life, or the 
 new creature } Or, on the other hand. Whether el ect 
 sinners are first renewed, regenerated, and furnished 
 with a principle of life ; which, being excited through 
 the influence of the Spirit of life, accepts of Christ 
 in the gospel offer ; whereon justification follows, in 
 the same instant of time, yet consequent in order of 
 nature ? 
 
 II. Difficulties on either Hand. 
 
 I. If regeneration be held to precede justification, 
 the following difficulties occur. 
 
 How is it consistent with the wisdom and righteous¬ 
 ness of God, to impart his image to a sinner who is 
 yet under the curse ? This respects the act of God, 
 and seems to fix an incongruity on him. 
 
92 
 
 £SSA Y IL 
 
 How can it be conceived that a soul, yet under the 
 wrath and curse of God, should be dignified with his 
 image ? This seems to be inconsistent with the nature 
 of the things themselves, and the order to which it 
 leads. 
 
 Does not this make the object of justification to be 
 a holy renewed saint, and not (according to Rom. 
 iv. 5) an ungodly sinner t 
 
 How can the soul be partaker of spiritual life, before 
 its union with Christ the fountain of life Unipn-is 
 by faith, whereby we come to Christ for life ; but this 
 appears to be unnecessary, if we have life before union. 
 
 Does not this make the giving of the Spirit ante¬ 
 cedent to union and faith ? And yet we receive the 
 Spirit by faith : Gal. iii. 14. 
 
 Does not this suppose the heart to be purified 
 before faith, while yet it is purified by faith } Acts 
 XV. 9. 
 
 Is not the new creature begotten by the immortal 
 seed of the Word ? And can the Word operate in any 
 other way than by the intervention of faith ? 
 
 2 . On the other hand, if justification be said to pre¬ 
 cede, the difficulties are many. I need not repeat 
 them at length ; only, 
 
 How will this accord with the doctrine of the 
 Reformed Churches and Divines, that harmoniously 
 teach the contrary ? And how does it agree with 
 our Confession of Faith and Catechisms, to which we 
 sign an assent ? Particularly where they treat of 
 effectual calling ? 
 
REGENERATION AND JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 93 
 
 How can we conceive the acts of life, where there 
 is no abiding principle from whence they should pro¬ 
 ceed ? The acts of faith, without the Spirit of faith ? 
 
 How can we understand that an unrenewed soul 
 should be the subject of this noblest act of faith, by 
 which we are justified (I speak of it objectively), by 
 which we are united to Christ, and interested in him 
 and all his benefits ? 
 
 . Whereas the exercise of justifying faith, implies 
 many actings in all the faculties ; how can it be under¬ 
 stood, that the whole soul, with all its powers, should, 
 before it is renewed, harmoniously and uniformly go 
 out toward the Lord ; assenting to the record con¬ 
 cerning him, approving him, chusing him, and rest¬ 
 ing in him ? 
 
 Can the best fruit be produced without a root ? 
 
 These difficulties, and many such that are commonly 
 alleged, might be insisted on : but those that have 
 been given, may serve for a specimen. 
 
 HI. A Scheme of Principles Exhibited, for the Vindi¬ 
 cation OF THE Commonly Received Opinion ; that 
 Regeneration, in order of Nature, precedes Justi¬ 
 fication ; ALTHOUGH IT IS AGREED ON ALL HANDS, THAT 
 THEY TAKE PLACE AT THE SAME TIME. 
 
 Proposition I. 
 
 A design being laid in the decree of God, to save 
 elect sinners, to the praise of his grace, by Jesus 
 Christ ; they were given to him in the Covenant of 
 
94 
 
 i:ssA VII. 
 
 Redemption. By an act of sovereignty, the law_of 
 works was relaxed ; not simply, as to its obligation 
 to doing or suffering, but in so far as it respected man 
 himself as the subject of that obligation. Nor was 
 the law relaxed, simply as it obliged men, even elect 
 sinners, to obey; but in so far as it obliged them to 
 obey in order to exemption from the curse, and a 
 title to life. And he to whom elect sinners were thus 
 given, was, by the designation of the Father, and his 
 own consent, substituted for elect sinners ; thereby 
 coming under an obligation to answer the demands 
 of the law, as to what it required of them in order to 
 avoid the curse and obtain the promised blessings. 
 Or briefly, he became obliged, in their stead, to fulfil 
 its demands, as it was a covenant. Moreover, he 
 undertook, as Mediator, to purchase for them by the 
 price of his own blood, complete redemption, with all 
 things necessary to it. 
 
 Corollary. My design does not require a minute 
 statement of the foregoing truths, which are generally 
 acknowledged among the orthodox : only I observe, 
 that from the purpose of the Father, his gift of elect 
 sinners to Christ, his substitution of Christ in their 
 place, and Christ’s consent, there doth result some 
 relation between him and them, which may as fitly be 
 designed by the name Union, as by any other word 
 that occurs to me. This, I grant, is not that complete 
 mystical union, whereby we are actually grafted into 
 him, as branches into a tree. Whether it should be 
 called a legal or federal, fundamental or fountain 
 
REGENERATION AND JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 95 
 
 union, as our divines differently term it, I am not con¬ 
 cerned : yet certain it is that such a relation exists, 
 and that it is the fountain of all subsequent advantages 
 to the elect. 
 
 Proposition II. 
 
 This relaxation of the law, in favour of the original 
 subjects of its obligation, with the substitution of 
 Christ in their place, being, in the purpose of God, and 
 in the Covenant of Redemption between the Father 
 an^the Son, expressly designed for those who were 
 given of the Father ; it plainly follows, that imme¬ 
 diately upon Christ’s yielding the satisfaction de¬ 
 manded, or his engagement to do so, (which, in his 
 case, was equivalent,) there did result a right for them, 
 to all the benefits of his purchase. This right is what 
 lawyers call Jzis ad rem.; not Jus in re. It is more 
 proper to say there is a right for them, than that they 
 have a right. Since it is not known to them, nor 
 actually vested in their persons, it is not actionable 
 by them. Yet with God it is righteous, that they 
 for whom redemption is purchased, should be put in 
 possession of it, at the time and in the order agreed 
 upon. The use of this will appear in due time.* 
 
 The foundation of this assertion lies in this plain 
 Scripture truth ; that although the ultimate design of 
 all, was the glory of the adorable Trinity, yet the 
 
 * See Owen’s Death of Death, page 68, and Vindicise Evan- 
 gelicae, Appendix, page 30. 
 
96 
 
 ESS A V n. 
 
 principal subordinate end, the proper and immediate 
 design, of the Father and the Son, was the salvation 
 of sinners. The designation of Christ to the media¬ 
 tory office, with his undertaking and execution of it, 
 being pursuant to the purpose of God with respect to 
 the salvation of sinners, had no remote respect to 
 them, but primarily aimed at their salvation. Christ’s 
 undertaking, 'with his exhibition in the flesh, his 
 obedience, and his death, whether considered as a 
 satisfaction, an atonement, a price or a ransom, was 
 for the redemption of persons. It was not to obtain 
 liberty for the Father, without injury to his justice, 
 or to obtain a right for the Son, on what terms he 
 pleased, to bestow salvation on whom he saw meet. 
 It was not the impetration of the effects absolutely, 
 but the salvation of lost sinners by them, that was 
 primarily in view. The Scripture speaks not of the 
 absolute procurement of these things, but constantly 
 includes a direct respect to sinners, to their personal 
 advantage. The Father sent the Son, and the Son 
 came, to save them that were lost. Our sins were 
 laid on him. He was made a curse for us, that we 
 might be made the righteousness of God in him. He 
 was made Lord of the dead and the living, or, which 
 is the same thing, he had power given him over all 
 flesh, that he might give eternal life to as many as 
 were given him of the Father. In a word, they, who¬ 
 ever they were, for whom Christ died, (of which we 
 dispute not now), being in the design, and all being 
 
REGENERATION AND JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 97 
 
 for them, with a direct and immediate respect to 
 their advantage, a right must result for them. 
 
 This is opposed by universalists, because it under¬ 
 mines the foundation of their whole fabric : for they 
 teach, in opposition to what the whole tenor of Scrip¬ 
 ture uniformly testifies, that the effect wherein the 
 death of Christ, as a satisfaction, ransom, or price, did 
 terminate, was the procurement or impetration of the 
 things, and not the advantage of persons by the 
 ^ application of them. The charge of Antinomianism 
 ^ will be answered by the next proposition. 
 
 Proposition III. 
 
 Pardon, absolution from guilt, and all saving bless¬ 
 ings, were purchased by Christ, suh termino: that is, 
 it was agreed in the contract whereby Christ was 
 constituted Surety and Mediator, that those blessings 
 should be actually given out to each of them, for 
 whom they were respectively designed, in their several 
 generations, in the season and order prefixed by God: 
 to the praise of his glorious grace. 
 
 Cor. I. Hence we see that the elect can lay no 
 claim to anything on account of Christ’s satisfaction 
 or purchase, except at the time and in the order 
 agreed on. Till that time, therefore, considered in 
 themselves, they are in no better case than others. 
 
 Cor. 2. Hence also we learn the true reason, that 
 they for whom satisfaction has been made, do yet 
 continue, for a time, under the wrath or curse of God, 
 
 G 
 
98 
 
 ESS A Y II. 
 
 as well as others. It is not, as Baxter fondly sup¬ 
 poses, because Christ paid not the idem, the same in 
 kind, that was due from sinners : but because all those 
 privileges being contrived and provided by a concert 
 between the Father and the Son, without the know¬ 
 ledge of the sinner, or any contribution of counsel, 
 performance, or consent, from him, it did belong, by 
 the best of rights, to the authors of them, to bestow 
 them at what time, and in what order, they pleased ; 
 which was accordingly fixed in the Covenant of Re¬ 
 demption. 
 
 Proposition IV. 
 
 Christ Jesus the Mediator, immediately upon the 
 performance of what was required of him, was fully 
 discharged ; and as Trustee appointed by the Father, 
 and Head of those who were given to him, invested, 
 for their behoof, with the management of the right 
 already spoken of. This right, which was purchased 
 for them, and confirmed to them, by his blood, was, 
 till the time of their actual investiture, lodged in the 
 hand of the righteousness and faithfulness of God. 
 And now, as Trustee aforesaid, he hath access, in the 
 order and at the respective terms agreed upon, to 
 make his claim for the outgiving of the purchased 
 privileges, and the actual investing of the persons 
 with the right to them. To crave this, in due season, 
 at the hand of the righteousness and faithfulness of 
 God, is the design of his intercession ; or appearing 
 
REGENERATION AND JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 99 
 
 in the Holiest with his own blood, which is the ground 
 of his claim. This trust he executeth faithfully. The 
 faithful Advocate never fails to put in his claim in, 
 due season. 
 
 Cor. This discharge of our debt to our Surety, 
 although it is not our Justification properly and 
 strictly so called, yet, because it was for us that he 
 suffered and paid the ransom, is not unfitly termed 
 by our divines, (Charnock, Witsius, &c.), our funda¬ 
 mental or general Justification. The right and privi¬ 
 leges purchased and confirmed by his death, were for 
 us. The provision made for the conveyance of that 
 right and those privileges, respects us ; and the con¬ 
 veyance of right and possession, is hereby absolutely 
 secured; though meanwhile, till the term agreed on 
 come, we are, in ourselves, as we were before. 
 
 Proposition V. 
 
 When the term draws on, that was prefixed for the 
 actual outgiving of privileges, it is so ordered, that 
 the elect soul is summoned, at the instance of the law 
 and justice of God, for his violation of the law. The 
 charge is enforced on his conscience. Through the 
 Spirit’s influence joining with the Word, God is re¬ 
 vealed, seated as Judge. His presence, majesty, 
 holiness, and justice, are realized to the sinner, who 
 now stands in this lower court, at God’s tribunal 
 erected there. He is beat from all the denials. 
 
lOO 
 
 ESS A y IT. 
 
 pleas, extenuations, shifts, and evasions, that he can 
 devise; and stands before God, self-convicted and 
 silenced. 
 
 Proposition VI. 
 
 If sentence should pass while matters do stand thus, 
 it must unavoidably be a sentence of condemnation. 
 The charge is proved ; the libel is relevant; all pleas 
 are justly repelled, nay, they are passed from by the 
 panel himself. But the term being now come, the faith¬ 
 ful Advocate, who will lose none that are his,,steps 
 in, appears in the higher house whither he is entered 
 with his own blood, and puts in his claim on behalf 
 of the criminal arraigned before God’s tribunal below. 
 Whether this claim be made in words, I inquire not; 
 but it is to this purpose: “ This poor criminal was 
 thine by creation ; thy prisoner by his rebellion; but 
 thou gavest him to me. I bare for him the curse of 
 the law; behold my wounds ! I purchased for him 
 all saving blessings ; lo, there is my blood ! the price 
 of redemption. The term is come. I crave, therefore, 
 in consideration of what I have done and suffered for 
 him, that he be acquitted ; that grace be given to en¬ 
 able him to put in his claim at the bar where he now 
 stands personally convicted ; and that thereon he be 
 absolved, accepted, and entered into orderly pos¬ 
 session of all purchased privileges.” Christ’s appear¬ 
 ance for us in the holiest, must be allowed to import 
 no less, by all who own the orthodox doctrines of 
 
REGENERA TION AND JUSTIEICA TION. lor 
 
 Christ’s oblation and intercession, with their relation 
 to each other. 
 
 Cor. Christ’s intercession, although it is represented 
 as a prayer, is not strictly so. In so far as concerneth 
 himself, it is a claim of right; but out of regard to 
 the majesty of the Judge, it is, like other legal claims, 
 managed in the form of a prayer, or what is equivalent 
 thereto. Or rather it is represented after this manner 
 in condescension to our capacity; the way of trans¬ 
 acting things in heaven, between the glorious Judge 
 and Advocate, being above our reach. 
 
 Proposition VII. 
 
 This plea being made above, on behalf of the 
 sinner convicted at God’s tribunal below, is admitted; 
 and the admission of it, in what manner soever it is 
 done, imports a reckoning of Christ to the criminal; 
 or an acknowledgment that his undertaking re¬ 
 spected the sinner who is now pursued by the law 
 before God’s tribunal on earth; and an acknowledg¬ 
 ment of the sinner’s right to absolution on account of 
 satisfaction made, and to all other privileges on ac¬ 
 count of the price paid: in consideration of which, 
 (I speak after our manner of conceiving and express¬ 
 ing what is above our reach,) order is given out for 
 putting him in actual possession. 
 
 This is what Dr Owen calls absolution in heaven 
 before believing : and is, as it were, a second step, 
 moment, instant, or, as Witsius calls it, articulus^ of 
 
102 
 
 ESSA y 11. 
 
 the sinner’s justification. But this, being of great 
 moment for clearing the difficulties above mentioned, 
 must be illustrated and confirmed. Observe then, 
 
 1. Though this, in order of nature, precedes any 
 grace in the sinner ; yet regeneration, believing, and 
 justification, all take place at the same instant of time. 
 
 2. Although, in our way of expressing the deep 
 things of God, and for our more easy conception, we 
 are obliged to think and speak of each of these as 
 distinct acts, yet we pretend not to determine the 
 manner in which they are done. 
 
 3. This is no new or singular opinion. Many of 
 our old divines have gone farther in their expressions ; 
 but what we have pleaded for, is no more than the 
 native consequence of acknowledged truths before laid 
 down. Dr Owen, who was remote enough from novel¬ 
 ties, asserts it aflength, and defends it against Baxter, 
 in his discourse of the Death of Christ (page 68, &c.), 
 and Appendix toVindiciae Evangelicae : and Witsius 
 pleads for it, in his Dissertationes Irenicae, (Cap. no). 
 
 4. To the confirmation given to this opinion by the 
 foregoing propositions, which unavoidably lead to it, 
 we may add the following things. This is the order 
 to which we are directed by Scripture. Rom viii. 32, 
 Christ is first delivered for us; then given to us ; 
 then, with him, all other things. 2 Peter i. i, the 
 giving out of the first grace, namely faith, is declared 
 to be an act of righteousness. The saints are said to 
 have obtained precious faith, through the righteous¬ 
 ness of God ; which can no otherwise be, but in con- 
 
REGENERATION AND JUSTIFICATION. 103 
 
 sideration of the right obtained by Christ, and as it 
 proceeds upon an antecedent admission of that right 
 on their behalf. Philip, i. 29, it is expressly asserted, 
 that it is given unto us to believe, on the behalf of 
 Christ, or for his sake. Now this imports, that in 
 giving it, God has a regard to what Christ did for 
 them ; in consideration of which, he gives it as that 
 which is of right due. How comes the grace of faith, 
 for example, to be given, for Christ’s sake, to Peter 
 and not to Judas Is it not, that God looks upon 
 Christ as standing under another relation to Peter 
 than to Judas.? And what is that, but to reckon 
 him to the one and not to the other.? Dr Owen adds, 
 that tWs may perhaps be what is meant in Rom. iv. 5, 
 by the justification of the ungodly: but as he is not 
 peremptory, so neither shall I be so. 
 
 5. This, however, is not the sinner’s Justification ; 
 although it is a step towards it, and issues in it. It 
 is not so called, at least usually, in Scripture. 
 Although it is a sentence passed by God himself, it 
 is not passed in the court where the sinner now stands 
 personally arraigned. It terminates not on the per¬ 
 son of the sinner; and, to speak after our manner, it 
 is no more than a warrant for the outgiving of grace, 
 to put the sinner in case to make his plea in the court 
 where he now stands convicted. Till this be done, 
 which, I acknowledge, is at the very same instant, 
 the sinner is, in himself, as he was before. 
 
 Cor. This reckoning of Christ to us, is a second step 
 or advancetowardsthecompleteunion that is designed. 
 
104 
 
 £SSA V n. 
 
 Proposition VIII. 
 
 This act being passed in favour of him who, know¬ 
 ing nothing of it, now stands trembling at the bar, is 
 instantly executed. The Spirit of Christ takes pos¬ 
 session of the soul, and creates a principle of grace 
 therein. In the wise and exact providence of the 
 Most High, Christ in the promise, is held forth as the 
 ordinance of God for the salvation of sinners, and 
 particularly as the propitiation; and, through the 
 enlightening, enlivening, and quickening influence of 
 the same Spirit, the poor sinner himself, at that very 
 instant, closes with Christ, and accepts of Him as his 
 righteousness. 
 
 Proposition IX. 
 
 Immediately hereon, God, the Judge, acquits the 
 sinner personally sisted before Plim, and receives him 
 into favour, only on account of Christ and His right¬ 
 eousness imputed to him. This is what is properly 
 called Justification; a doctrine which, being commonly 
 discoursed of, need not be farther inquired into. 
 
 From what has been said, I draw the following 
 inferences: 
 
 Inf. I. This Justification properly so called, differs 
 vastly from the absolution in heaven, formerly men¬ 
 tioned. For, 
 
 I. The former act did not reach the sinner himself; 
 
RE GENERA TION AND J USTIFICA TION. I o5 
 
 but now he is personally acquitted, by an act of God 
 terminated in his conscience. 
 
 2. In this sentence, the plea of law and justice 
 against the sinner, which was managed in his con¬ 
 science, is declared to be void, and abandoned for 
 ever: so that no one ever can, by warrant from God, 
 again insist against the justified sinner upon that 
 charge, to his condemnation, or to the disturbance of 
 his peace. I do not deny, that the litigious accuser 
 of the brethren, together with the sinner’s misinformed 
 conscience, may abuse this, to give the poor creature 
 trouble ; but in and by this sentence, there is a claim¬ 
 able defence, that justly may, and instantly should, 
 be taken hold of, and pleaded for the relief of the 
 conscience against all disturbances of this nature. 
 This clears what is meant by being terminated in 
 conscience. 
 
 3. By this sentence the sinner has immediate access 
 to peace with God, and to his favour: though some¬ 
 times he cannot so soon recover himself from the 
 alarm attending his former condition, as to be able at 
 once to make use of it. 
 
 4. This sentence, although it is an act of God, is 
 manifestly passed on earth, with direct and immediate 
 respect to the sinner, sisted before God as aforesaid ; 
 whereas all the former acts took place in heaven, and 
 terminated on Christ our Head, as the Surety and 
 Advocate for sinners. 
 
 Inf^ 2. Although the complete mystical union 
 between Christ and elect sinners, is not before faith ; 
 
io6 
 
 £SSA VII. 
 
 yet there are, before faith, several kinds of union, 
 each of which has its own special use and influence. 
 Nor is there here any danger of antinomianism. The 
 most zealous opposers of antinomians grant all that I 
 advance. Dr Williams in particular, expressly asserts 
 all that I design ; and our divines do the same. 
 
 1. Christ and his people are one in the decree: 
 which yet, says Witsius, infers nothing but that, in 
 time, they shall be actually united. 
 
 2. They are one federally, or, as others express it, 
 legally, by virtue of the Covenant of Redemption, 
 wherein Christ is constituted Head of the elect, and 
 Surety for them ; which yet infers no present altera¬ 
 tion in their state, but leaves them as they are, until 
 they are brought out of it in the order agreed upon 
 in that transaction. 
 
 3. They are one in nature. Christ took part herein 
 with the children, that as their near kinsman he might 
 redeem them. 
 
 4. They are one really, (though, on the part of the 
 children, but passively,) when the Spirit of Christ, in 
 his name, takes possession of them, and unites them 
 to Him. There are two bonds of union ; the Spirit 
 on Christ’s part, and faith on ours. The union mu'st 
 begin on his part. His taking hold of us, is the 
 cause of our taking hold of him, and so must be first 
 in order of nature. These things are not controverted; 
 yet they are of chief use, in the business in hand. 
 
 Inf. 3. The sinner’s discharge advances by steps, 
 some of which do precede faith. 
 
REGENERATION AND JUSTIFICATION. 107 
 
 1. There is that fundamental orgeneral Justification, 
 (as Charnock and Witsius call it,) when Christ was 
 discharged. This is antecedent to Justification, in 
 order of time. 
 
 2. There is that absolution in heaven, which we 
 have cleared and confirmed above. This is antecedent 
 to faith in order of nature, but not in time. 
 
 3. There is Justification, strictly and properly so 
 called, which immediately follows faith. 
 
 IV. The principles which were more largely laid 
 
 DOWN, explained, AND CONFIRMED ABOVE, BRIEFLY 
 SUMMED UP, AND PRESENTED TOGETHER, THAT THEIR 
 INFLUENCE IN THE RESOLUTION OF THE FOREGOING 
 DIFFICULTIES, MAY MORE CLEARLY APPEAR. 
 
 Prop. I. In the Covenant of Rede mption, Christ 
 Jesus was, with his own consent, appointed Head, 
 Surety, and Mediator, for those who were given to 
 him by the Father ; thereby obliging himself to make 
 satisfaction to Divine justice in their stead, and to 
 purchase_fbr them corn^lete redemption, with all 
 saving blessings. 
 
 2. Immediately upon his performance, or engage¬ 
 ment equivalent to performance, a right did result for 
 the parties whom he represented : that is to say, it 
 became righteous with God to give them, under the 
 restriction to be just now mentioned, a right to, and 
 possession of, all the blessings purchased for them. 
 
 3. These blessings were purchased sub termino; 
 
io8 
 
 £S'SA y 11. 
 
 Ithat is, to be actually given out to the persons con- 
 perned, at a time and in an order which had been 
 agreed upon between the Father and the Son, the 
 contrivers and managers of this whole matter. 
 
 4. Immediately upon performance of what he had 
 V undertaken, Christ was discharged of his obligation, 
 
 and personally instated in the possession of what had 
 been promised. The right purchased for sinners, 
 being safely lodged in the hand of God’s righteous¬ 
 ness and faithfulness, action was allowed to him, as 
 their Trustee and Head, to sue for their personal 
 investiture with right to the possession of all, at the 
 time and in the order agreed upon. 
 
 5. When this term approaches, the sinner, at the 
 instance of injured justice, is summoned before God’s 
 tribunal on earth; where, by the Word and Spirit, 
 God the Judge is presented to him, in his majesty and 
 holiness; and here, before God, he is charged, con¬ 
 victed, and silenced. 
 
 6. The term being now come, the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the vigilant and faithful advocate, fully know¬ 
 ing that the poor sinner, who is now arraigned and 
 duly convicted before God’s tribunal on earth, cannot 
 obtain an orderly discharge, but upon a plea wherein 
 he is really and actually interested, and his interest 
 evinced before the Judge, in that court where he now 
 stands personally sisted ; moves his action on behalf 
 of the sinner, before the same Judge, in the higher 
 court; the holiest, into which he is now entered with 
 his own blood. 
 
REGENERA TION AND J USTIEICA TION 109 
 
 7. This action of the blessed Advocate, is admitted, 
 his plea is sustained, and sentence passed accordingly. 
 The first or immediate effect of this sentence, is not 
 the sinner’s discharge ; but, as preparatory to it, the 
 present out-giving of what is necessary to instate him 
 in an actual and actionable plea, and enable him to 
 put in an orderly claim for a discharge, in the court 
 where he is now arraigned : that is, the sending of the 
 Spirit, to work regeneration, and thereby enable 
 him to accept of Christ, as he is freely offered in the 
 gospel. 
 
 8. Although the sustaining of Christ’s action in the 
 higher court, (which is called absolution in heaven^) 
 does not, of itself, liberate the sinner immediately, 
 yet it has the following effects: the curse of the law, 
 having been borne by Christ for the sinner, cannot 
 now be alleged against the out-giving and conferring 
 of the Spirit of grace, or of faith in particular: the 
 purchased blessings, being now demanded for the 
 sinner, are instantly ordered, as what cannot, of right, 
 be refused ; and the Holy Spirit, immediately taking 
 possession of the poor sinner in Christ’s name, and 
 working faith, both in principle and act, enables him, 
 and causes him, to believe. Thus the mystical union 
 to Christ, begun by the Spirit’s entrance, is now 
 completed by faith’s closing with Christ, and making 
 Him its plea. 
 
 9. Immediately hereon, God justifies the sinner by 
 an act terminating in his conscience, or on himself 
 personally considered ; freeing him from all righteous 
 
no 
 
 £ss/i y II. 
 
 pursuit upon the former charge, constituting him free, 
 accepting him into favour, and allowing him to plead 
 this acquittance against all accusations. Romans 
 viii. 33 » 34 - 
 
 V. Application of the foregoing principles, to the 
 
 SOLUTION OF THE DIFFICULTIES STATED AT THE BE¬ 
 GINNING. 
 
 If I had not aimed at a full and satisfactory clear¬ 
 ing of the difficulties, short answers might have served 
 for most of them : but the way being now prepared, 
 I shall answer them particularly. 
 
 Objection i. How is it consistent with the wisdom 
 and righteousness of God, to impart his image to a 
 sinner who is yet under the curse t For it is manifest 
 that, in the sight of God, he is to be considered so 
 until he is justified. 
 
 Answer i. They who hold the opposite opinion, 
 such of them at least as we have principally in view, 
 are burdened with the same difficulty. The act of 
 faith by which a sinner is justified, being an effect of 
 special grace wrought in the soul, antecedently, in 
 order of nature, to justification ; how can God send 
 his Spirit to work faith in a sinner yet under the 
 curse ? 
 
 2 . Granting what has been stated above, of the 
 claim put in by the blessed Intercessor, and God’s 
 admitting it, there is no difficulty in conceiving that 
 he should give out what is necessary for instating 
 
REGENERATION AND JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 Ill 
 
 the sinner in the actual right to full and personal 
 absolution. In so doing, he doth indeed look on the 
 sinner as yet under the curse ; but withal, as one for 
 whom that curse was borne, and for whom the grace 
 was purchased, that is necessary to his obtaining a 
 personal and plenary discharge. 
 
 Obj. 2. That a soul, yet under the wrath and curse 
 of God, should be dignified with his image, or that 
 one dignified with his image, should be under the 
 curse, appears to be inconsistent with the nature of 
 the things themselves, and the order to which it 
 leads. First wrath should be removed, then a right 
 given, and then privileges. 
 
 Ans. I. There would be some difficulty here, if 
 matters continued so for some time: but all taking 
 place at the same time, it is scarcely worth while to 
 debate it. 
 
 2. Allowing it to be absurd to imagine, that one 
 simply under the curse, should be dignified with the 
 image of God ; yet there is no absurdity in conceiving 
 that a sinner, for whom satisfaction has been made 
 and accepted, should be thus dignified, in order to 
 enable him, at that very instant, to put in a claim for 
 a personal and plenary discharge. 
 
 3. The first result of Christ’s death, being the satis¬ 
 faction of divine justice for our offences, the order of 
 things, according to our way of conceiving, is hereby 
 sufficiently secured ; inasmuch as no blessing is im¬ 
 parted, but upon satisfaction previously made. As to 
 the order of investing the persons with a right to the 
 
II2 
 
 ESSA V //. 
 
 privileges, and putting them in possession, we must 
 allow God to be the best judge. 
 
 Odj. 3. This makes the object of God’s justifying 
 act, to be a renewed saint, and not an ungodly sinner, 
 according to Rom. iv. 5 ; and consequently, the offer 
 of remission is to saints, and not to sinners. This 
 objection being much insisted on by some, we shall 
 consider it the more largely. 
 
 Ans. I. In the Word of God, no man is termed 
 righteous or unrighteous, godly or ungodly, merely 
 on account of habitual righteousness. These denomi¬ 
 nations always respect acts. “He that doeik right¬ 
 eousness is righteous,” i John iii. 7. Now, at the 
 instant of justification, the person justified is one 
 whose former acts have all been ungodly ; and who, 
 antecedently to his justification, has done no works 
 of righteousness. 
 
 2. The expression ungodly, being here used with 
 respect to justification, must be taken in the sense 
 that relates to the business in hand : wherefore he is 
 to be deemed ungodly, who has no godliness that 
 can be admitted by the Judge, as a ground of justi¬ 
 fication. In the eye of the law, and as to this 
 business, have what he may, he is ungodly. Here, 
 then, and in a law sense, he is ungodly ; having no 
 plea, but standing convicted, with his mouth stopped. 
 
 3. According to the foregoing scheme, the sinner 
 can have no eye to any thing in himself, either 
 habitual or actual, as contributing to his justification. 
 For, habitual grace is not discernible in itself; it is 
 
REGENERA TION AND J USTIFICA TION. 113 
 
 seen in its actings only. There is no act of grace 
 previous, in any instant of time, to justifying faith ; 
 and at that very instant he is justified. Whence it is 
 manifest, that until he is justified, he can discern no 
 grace in himself, and so can lay no stress on any. 
 
 4. Hence it is evident, that saving faith is the out¬ 
 going of the soul to Christ for righteousness, in a poor 
 sinner who is convicted of ungodliness, who sees 
 nothing in himself but sin and guilt, and is fully 
 satisfied that if God enter into judgment with him, he 
 cannot stand ; that he has no godliness, no acts of 
 righteousness, that can be admitted ; much less a 
 complete righteousness ; yea, that, on the contrary, he 
 is all guilt, sin, and defilement. 
 
 5. Nor can the Judge, in pronouncing sentence 
 of justification, have regard to any holiness in the 
 sinner. The renovation being but in part, habitual 
 righteousness will not answer the rule; and as for 
 acts, the sinner has none. Wherefore, on that ground, 
 the Judge must legally find him ungodly, and con¬ 
 demn him. 
 
 6. When God is said to justify the ungodly, the 
 expression is not to be restricted to one precise action, 
 as the sound of the word seems to import. All agree 
 that it includes the imputation of Christ’s righteous¬ 
 ness, as well as the act of acquittance that follows 
 thereon: and that imputation, as has been cleared 
 above, is, in order of nature, before both faith and 
 regeneration. 
 
 7. From all this it is evident, that the foregoing 
 
 H 
 
£SSA V JL 
 
 114 
 
 principles give no ground for ministers to warn their 
 people against venturing to betake themselves by- 
 faith to Christ’s righteousness, until they see ^ch 
 qualifications in themselves as regeneration, repentance, 
 and the like: a danger of which the movers of this 
 objection seem very apprehensive; and, to avoid 
 which, some of them have used expressions obnoxious 
 enough to misconstruction. The minister, in dealing 
 with a convinced sinner, is not to bid him look inward, 
 and to tell him that if he finds not there that he is 
 regenerated, and truly repents, he is not warranted 
 to expect justification, or to go to Christ for it. 
 Such an enquiry before justification, is preposterous 
 and vain. On such terms it is impossible ever to 
 believe. But he ought, like the apostle in the i6th 
 of the Acts, directly to press, “ Believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christand the sinner, like the poor jailor, 
 without any such previous enquiry for qualifications 
 in himself, should directly grip* to Christ for righteous¬ 
 ness, as one altogether lost in himself, and destitute 
 of any qualifications that can avail him. And this is 
 quite consistent with the duty of ministers to press 
 conversion, repentance, and faith, at the same time, 
 as Scripture precepts and examples require ; and that, 
 without troubling themselves or their people with the 
 disputes about the priority or posteriority of these in 
 order of nature, while it is agreed that they all take 
 
 * This expressive Scotch word has no equivalent in English. 
 Jamieson explains it by a circumlocution; i. To take forcible 
 possession of. 2. To catch, or lay hold of, after pursuit.—E d. 
 
REGENERA TION AND J USTIFICA TION. 115 
 
 place at the same time. Hundreds have successfully 
 preached the gospel, and many more have received 
 it, without ever concerning themselves in these 
 questions. See Isaiah Iv. 7. Mark i. 14. 15. Acts 
 iii. 19. Acts V. 31. Acts xxvi. 18. 
 
 Ob~. 4. How can the soul be partaker of spiritual 
 life, before its union with Christ, the fountain of life 
 Union is by faith, whereby we come to Christ for 
 life. But this appears to be unnecessary, if we have 
 life before union. 
 
 Ans. I. There are several kinds of union, before 
 complete mystical union, as we have already cleared. 
 As to this, orthodox divines, not excepting the most 
 zealous opposers of antinomianism, do agree. Each 
 of these unions is attended with special advantageous 
 influences to the elect. 
 
 2. To answer more closely: the p assive union 
 described above, being brought about by the Spirit 
 of Christ, in taking possession of the soul and work¬ 
 ing a vital principle, must, in order of nature, precede 
 all acts of ours. Union must begin on his part. The 
 first uniting act belongs to the living principle. The 
 soul enters into the body and quickens it; and the 
 body, by life derived from the soul, cleaves to the soul 
 again. Just so, Christ the head, by his Spirit, first 
 quickens the dead sinner ; and then the sinner, thus 
 quickened, doth, by this derived life, cleave unto Christ. 
 
 3. Hence, it is evident, that the sinner hath no life 
 but on Christ’s account; and that what life he hath, 
 is derived from Christ. 
 
ESS A y IL 
 
 Ii6 
 
 4. The sinner receiveth no life actively, until he 
 comes to Christ by faith, and is engrafted into him. 
 
 5. The sinner, on coming to Christ, receives the 
 life of justification. As he that is condemned 
 may be said to lose his life, so he that is absolved, 
 especially if he deserve to die, may be said to receive 
 his life. 
 
 6. It is by faith that we receive the life of sanctifi¬ 
 cation. By the first exercise of faith, in coming to 
 Christ and closing with him, and by the view which 
 the soul then gets of him, the principle of life, which 
 had been formed in the soul, is quickened and 
 enlivened, and grace is drawn forth into action. Till 
 that view of Christ is obtained, all lies, as it were, 
 dead. By the continued exercise of faith, the daily 
 supplies of grace are conveyed, whereby the life of 
 sanctification is carried on. Thus it is between the 
 vine stock and the ingrafted branch. The stock 
 sends up quickening influences to the graft. The 
 branch, thus enlivened, cleaves to the stock ; and the 
 union being completed, and all the channels of con¬ 
 veyance opened, life in abundance is sent from the 
 root; whereby the branch putteth forth leaves, flowers, 
 and fruit, each in its place and season. 
 
 7. The life of comfort, which is the life of life, is 
 received and maintained wholly by faith. There is 
 no comfort, but by faith. 
 
 8. Eternal life, both in right and in possession, is 
 by faith. 
 
 Obj. 5. Does not this make the conferring of the 
 
REGENERA TION AND JUSTIFICA TION. 117 
 
 Spirit, antecedent to faith ? while yet it is by faith 
 that we receive the Spirit, Gal. iii. 14. 
 
 A ns. I. The Spirit is received passively, to make 
 us lively stones, and to build us up “ a spiritual house, 
 an habitation of God through the Spiritand we 
 being thus prepared, receive him by faith actively, 
 to dwell in us, and to act in us as occasion may 
 require. 
 
 2. They who choose the other side of the question, 
 must allow that the Spirit is given to work faith ; 
 and so fall under their own objection. 
 
 Obj. 6. Does not this suppose that the heart is 
 purified before faith ; contrary to Acts xv. 9, which 
 teaches that the heart is purified by faith ? 
 
 A ns. I. Faith itself, as Dr Owen well observes, is 
 a principal part of the restored image of God ; and 
 so, of our purity. The same objection may be applied 
 to the other parts of the divine image. 
 
 2. What the Spirit of God begins in renovation, is 
 progressively carried on through the exercise of faith, 
 drawing purifying virtue from Christ: and this is the 
 intent of the text. 
 
 Obj. 7, Is not the new creature begotten by the 
 immortal seed of the Word ? Are we not born again 
 of incorruptible seed, by the Word of God, which 
 liveth and abideth for ever ^ i Peter i. 23. And can 
 the Word operate in any other way, than through 
 the intervention of faith ? The Word profiteth not 
 but as it is received by faith, wherefore faith must be 
 antecedent to the new nature. 
 
iiS 
 
 £SSA V II. 
 
 A ns. I. Not to take any advantage from the clause 
 which fixes the sense of the Word, in the text referred 
 to, I ask: Since faith cometh by hearing the Word 
 of God (Rom. x. 17), and the Word can have no 
 influence but by faith, must not faith be before 
 faith ? The argument is the same. 
 
 2. The plain intent of such words, in these and 
 similar cases, is this : that while, in the gospel dispen¬ 
 sation, the Word is objectively proposed, and the 
 mind conversant about it, the Spirit of the Lord, 
 using it as the instrument, means, or channel of his 
 influences, worketh faith, and so begetteth or formeth 
 the new creature. 
 
 
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 i— 
 
ESSAY Iir. 
 
 AN ENQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF 
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ESSAY III. 
 
 An Enquiry into the Nature of God’s Act of 
 Justification. 
 
 T hat the word Justification, as it relates to the 
 acquitment of a sinner, is to be understood in 
 a forensic o r law sense, as a juridical act, whereby God, 
 as Judge, upon the righteousness of Christ, doth 
 acquit the sinner, and receive him into favour ; is 
 generally agreed among orthodox divines. Now 
 whereas it is certain, that the sinner is really sisted at 
 God’s tribunal, and there accused by the law, con¬ 
 science, and Satan; and no less clear, that upon his 
 believing, he is acquitted by a sentence passed in his 
 favour, and so is justified ; it may hereon be modestly 
 enquired, how God giveth out sentence in favour of 
 the sinner. These things are not visibly transacted; 
 nor is the sentence audibly pronounced by any par¬ 
 ticular form of words, in the hearing of the sinner 
 arraigned, much less in the hearing of bystanders. 
 The question then is. What is that act of God ? Or 
 how does he express that act absolvatory ? 
 
 This question being, so far as I know, but rarely 
 and sparingly touched by our divines, much modesty 
 
122 
 
 ESSA V III. 
 
 and sobriety are necessary in the determination of it. 
 Yet some having delivered their opinions, I hope it 
 will be no presumption to enquire a little into the 
 subject; provided always that there be no attempt to 
 be wise above what is written ; against which, with 
 the help of God, I will endeavour to guard. 
 
 I find that, among divines, there are different 
 apprehensions of this matter. 
 
 I. Some distinguish betw'een sentential and con¬ 
 stitutive Justification. The sinner, say they, imme- 
 diately upon his believing, is constitutively justified by 
 the gospel law, Rom. v. 19 ; and sententially justified, 
 when the Judge, at the day of judgment, passeth 
 sentence upon him, acquitting him, according to the 
 said law. Thus Mr Truman expressly delivers him¬ 
 self ; flatly denying any act of God, as Judge, ac¬ 
 quitting any particular person in time; and admit¬ 
 ting no act of God but that which is rectoral or 
 legislative, in the constitution of the new law of grace. 
 This opinion, however dogmatically delivered as clear 
 and unquestionable, I must confess, does not satisfy 
 me ; for the following reasons : 
 
 I. The Scripture representation of the state of the 
 sinner at the time when he is justified, seems un¬ 
 avoidably to require the interposition of some act of 
 God, applicative of the law, rule, or promise, (call it 
 which you please ; of that I dispute not now,) to the 
 sinner, now personally attacked, convened before the 
 Judge, accused and convicted. How such a one can 
 be free, without the interposition of the Judge on his 
 
THE ACT OF JUSTIFICATION. 123 
 
 behalf, I know not; nor does it seem very intelligible. 
 The sinner’s own pleading of the constitution or law, 
 will not end the dispute between him and his accusers, 
 if the Judge be silent; as it never does in the like 
 cases among men. 
 
 2. Justification is expressly said to be the act of 
 God, Rom. viii. 33 ; and we read of God’s forgiving 
 sin now, or at a definite time, and not before ; which 
 cannot easily be reconciled to that opinion. I doubt 
 whether the Scripture, designing to set forth such an 
 act of God, could use terms more significant to this 
 purpose, than those which it has made use of. 
 
 3. That opinion seems entirely to deny sentential 
 justification : for as to that justification (which is 
 commonly so called) at the last day, it is altogether 
 different from that which the Scripture speaks of, 
 under the name of justification before God. The 
 Judge, the state of the persons, the ground and design 
 of the procedure, are altogether different. See Dr 
 Owen on Justification, pp. 223, 224, 225."^ “A very 
 few words will free our e'nquiry from any concern in 
 that which is called Sentential Justification at the 
 day of Judgment. For, of what nature soever it be, 
 the person concerning whom that sentence is pro¬ 
 nounced, was actually and completely justified before 
 God in this world, and made partaker of all the 
 benefits of that Justification, even to a blessed resur¬ 
 rection in glory; i Cor. xv. 43. The souls of the 
 most will, long before, have enjoyed a blessed rest 
 
 * This important passage is here quoted at length.—E d. 
 
124 
 
 ESS A Y III. 
 
 with God ; absolutely discharged and acquitted from 
 all their sins and all their labours. There remaineth 
 nothing but an actual admission of the whole person 
 into eternal glory. Wherefore, this judgment can 
 be no more but declaratory, to the glory of God, 
 and the everlasting refreshment of believers. And 
 without reducing it to a new Justification, which it is 
 nowhere called in Scripture, the ends of that solemn 
 judgment are sufficiently apparent: the manifestation 
 of the wisdom and righteousness of God, in appoint¬ 
 ing the way of salvation by Christ, as well as in the 
 giving of the law ; the public conviction of them by 
 whom the law hath been transgressed and the gospel 
 despised ; the vindication of the righteousness, power, 
 and wisdom of God, in ruling the world by his pro¬ 
 vidence, wherein, for the most part, his paths, unto all 
 in this life, are in the deep, and his footsteps are not 
 known ; the glory and honour of Jesus Christ, 
 triumphing over all his enemies, then fully made his 
 footstool; and the glorious exaltation of grace in all 
 that do believe; with sundry other things of a like 
 tendency to the ultimate manifestation of divine glory, 
 in the creation and guidance of all things. 
 
 “Hence it appears how little force there is in that 
 argument which some pretend to be of so great 
 weight in this cause. As every one (they say) shall 
 be judged of God at the last day, in the same way 
 and manner, or on the same grounds, is he justified 
 of God in this life. But by works, and not by faith 
 alone, every one shall be judged at the last day. 
 
THE ACT OF JUSTIFICATION. 125 
 
 Wherefore, by works, and not by faith alone, every 
 one is justified before God in this life. For, 
 
 “ I. It is nowhere said that we shall be judged, at 
 the last day, ex operibiis; but only, that God will 
 render unto men, secundum opera: being justified 
 freely by his grace, and not according to the works 
 of righteousness which we have done. And we are 
 everywhere said to be justified in this life, ex fide, 
 per fidem ; but nowhere propter fidem, or secundum 
 fidem: or God is said to justify us by faith, but not 
 for our faith, or according to our faith. And we are 
 not to depart from the expressions of Scripture, 
 where such a difference is constantly observed. 
 
 “2. It is somewhat strange, to assert that men 
 shall be judged at the last day, and justified in this 
 life, just in the same way and manner with respect to 
 faith and works ; when the Scripture doth constantly 
 ascribe our justification before God, unto faith with¬ 
 out works ; and the judgment at the last day is said 
 to be according unto works, without any mention of 
 faith. 
 
 “3. If Justification and eternal Judgment proceed 
 absolutely on the same grounds, reasons, and causes; 
 then, if men had not done what they shall be con¬ 
 demned for doing, at the last day, they should have 
 been justified in this life. But many shall be con¬ 
 demned for sins against the light of nature only ; as 
 never having had the written law or gospel made 
 known unto them. Wherefore, unto such persons, to 
 abstain from sins against the light of nature, would be 
 
126 
 
 £SSA V III. 
 
 sufficient unto their justification, without any know¬ 
 ledge of Christ or the gospel: Rom. ii. 12. 
 
 “ 4. This proposition, ‘ God pardons men their sins, 
 and gives them the adoption of children, with a right 
 unto the heavenly inheritance, according to their 
 works,’ is not only foreign to the gospel, but contrary 
 to it, and destructive of it; being contrary to all 
 express testimonies of Scripture where these things 
 are spoken of, both in the Old Testament and the 
 New. But that God judgeth all men, and rendereth 
 unto all men, at the last judgment, according to their 
 works, is true, and affirmed in the Scripture. 
 
 “5. In our justification by faith, in this life, Christ 
 is considered as our Propitiation and Advocate; as he 
 who hath made atonement for sin, and brought in 
 everlasting righteousness. But at the last day, and in 
 the last judgment, he is considered only as the Judge. 
 
 “6. The end of God in our justification, is the glory 
 of his Grace: Eph. i. 6. But the end of God in the 
 last Judgment, is the glory of his renumerative 
 Righteousness: 2 Tim. iv. 8. 
 
 “ 7. The representation that is made of the final 
 Judgment, in Matthew chapters vii. and xxv., is only 
 of the visible Church: and therein, the plea of faith, 
 as to the profession of it, is common to all, and is 
 equally made by all. Upon that plea of faith, it is 
 put to the trial, whether it was sincere true faith, or 
 only that which is dead and barren. This trial is 
 made, solely by the fruits and effects of it: and, in 
 the public declaration of things unto all, it cannot be 
 
THE ACT OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 127 
 
 made otherwise. In no other way, doth the faith 
 whereby we are justified, come into judgment at the 
 last day. See John v. 24, with Mark xvi. 16.” So 
 far Dr Owen. 
 
 4. The Reformed Churches, in their Confessions, 
 seem harmoniously agreed in this; that Justification 
 is an act of God, applicative of the gospel to the 
 sinner’s actual relief, upon his believing, and at the 
 time of it. This, it is probable, would not have much 
 weight with Mr Truman, were he alive; who not 
 only dissents, without difficulty, from the Reformed 
 Churches, but is bold to charge them with talking 
 not very intelligibly, if consistently with themselves. 
 But however, this will have its weight with sober 
 spirits. 
 
 II. Others there are, who, besides that Justification 
 in which a sinner, upon his believing, is constitutively 
 justified by the gospel law or promise, (whereby it is 
 provided that the believer shall be justified,) are 
 willing to admit of another act of God at the time of 
 believing, viz., an immanent act, by which God acquits 
 the believer in his own mind. So Mr Ferguson, in 
 his elegant discourse upon Justification. But neither 
 can I grant that this fully satisfies; for 
 
 I. The immanent acts of God are all eternal, and 
 are not distinct from God himself, as our divines 
 generally agree. But this act of Justification takes 
 place, at the time of believing, and not before it ; 
 and has an effect without him ; terminating on the 
 sinner, and making a relative change. 
 
128 
 
 ESS A Y III. 
 
 2. An immanent act does not answer the end of 
 Justification, or come up to the Scripture account of 
 it, which makes it to terminate in conscience, and 
 free the sinner from any just impeachment or accusa¬ 
 tion upon the grounds whereon he was formerly 
 impleaded and pursued. 
 
 III. Others there are, who seem to conceive that 
 this act of God’s grace in justifying a sinner, consists 
 in, or rather is. His powerful application, or setting 
 home, of the word of promise, immediately upon the 
 sinner’s first believing on, or accepting of, the Lord 
 Jesus. For confirming this, several things may be 
 alleged, not without some countenance from the 
 Word ; as, 
 
 1. This act of God, is unquestionably an act of 
 grace. 
 
 2. The word of promise, is the channel, or means, 
 whereby all the grace of the covenant, of what kind 
 soever, is conveyed to us. 
 
 3. It is not the bare letter of the promise, but it is 
 the promise as used by the Spirit of God, (to whom 
 belongs the application of saving blessings,) that 
 doth effect this conveyance; whether the grace or 
 privilege be in its own nature real, a work of grace 
 wrought in the soul of the sinner; or only relative, 
 such as acquitment, and the change thereby made, 
 unquestionably are. The meaning is plainly and 
 shortly this. The Spirit of God, by the promises of 
 inherent grace, produces inherent and real effects, 
 such as holy dispositions, holy affections, &c. The 
 
THE ACT OF JUSTIFICA TION. 129 
 
 same Spirit, by the promises of relative grace, and 
 the application of them to the soul, effects a relative 
 change; or produces effects which, merely to dis¬ 
 tinguish them from real and inherent, I may call 
 moral or relative : such as acquitment from condem¬ 
 nation, right to the favour of God, and privileges of 
 children. 
 
 4. It is agreed among those who are sound, that 
 at first believing, there is given, by the Spirit of the 
 Lord, a clear discovery of Christ Jesus, as held forth 
 in the Word; whereby the soul, convinced of sin, is 
 effectually determined to close with him, as the only 
 way of relief: and this act of the soul, is now generally 
 thought to be the justifying act of faith. 
 
 5. It must also be granted, that at the same time, 
 or immediately afterward, there follows some dis¬ 
 covery of the safety and security of the soul’s eternal 
 concerns, in adherence to this way. That there is 
 some such apprehension, is evident from this one 
 thing; that from the first moment of believing, the 
 most discouraged soul, at its worst condition, cannot 
 think of giving up its interest in this way, upon any 
 terms. This cannot be accounted for, but by sup¬ 
 posing, that amidst all its shakings, there is some 
 trust, expectation, or hope of salvation, in this way. 
 
 6. The ground of this hope, trust, or expectation, 
 certainly is the promise of God, cleared or set home 
 by the Spirit of God, at the soul’s first closing with 
 Christ. And this act of God, setting home the 
 promise to the believer as a ground of trust, (which, 
 
 I 
 
130 
 
 £SSA Y III. 
 
 as was noted above, always does in some sort relieve), 
 I take to be the justifying act of God. 
 
 If I should stop here, what has been said would 
 appear too dark and perplexed; and, with many, 
 would fail to give a due understanding of the opinion 
 which I have expressed : much less would it suffice 
 to establish the truth of it, or to answer objections, 
 I shall therefore endeavour to give a clear and dis¬ 
 tinct account of my own thoughts on this subject; 
 remarking, that for the main, they fall in with this 
 opinion, which has been but obscurely proposed, 
 being gathered from dark hints in writing and con¬ 
 versation. 
 
 General observations laid down, for clearing the 
 WAY to the solution OF THIS QUESTION. 
 
 In order to a distinct conception of this matter, the 
 following observations should be carefully attended to. 
 
 1, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, has some special 
 influence, of what kind soever it be, in our Justifica¬ 
 tion before God. This is clearly evinced by the 
 constant use of those expressions, that we are justi¬ 
 fied by faith, or through faith: while the like 
 expressions are not used with respect to any other 
 grace or duty. See Owen on Justification, p. 148, &c. 
 
 2. The subject of this justifying faith, is a sinner, 
 cited to, and sisted at, the tribunal of God, convicted 
 of guilt, destitute of any valid defence in himself, 
 and, in a word, put to silence before God. No other 
 is capable of this faith, immediately. 
 
THE ACT OT JUSTIFICATION. 131 
 
 3. The object of this faith, is the Lord Jesus Christ 
 himself, as the ordinance of God, in his work of media¬ 
 tion, for the recovery and salvation of lost sinners ; 
 and as proposed unto that end, in the promise of the 
 gospel. He that would see this fully confirmed and 
 explained, may consult the judicious Dr Owen’s 
 Treatise of Justification, chapters i., ii., iii. 
 
 4. The acts of faith, in reference to this object, 
 required of convinced sinners, and comprised under 
 the general name of believing in him, are three: 
 assent, consent, and reliance. 
 
 Assent. 
 
 4: I. Assent unto the truths concerning Christ, 
 his nature, his person, and offices ; viz : that he is 
 God manifested in the flesh; that he is the person 
 whom God, of his mercy to sinners, chose, and sent 
 into the world, to recover them ; that he is the only 
 mediator between God and sinners; that he is able 
 to save to the uttermost them that come unto God 
 through him; &c. The object of this assent, is the 
 revelation of those truths in the Word of promise. 
 
 Consent. 
 
 4 ; 2. Consent, or the receiving act of faith; whereby 
 we accept of Christ, or receive Christ; John i. 12. As 
 to this, we are distinctly to observe these things: 
 
 4: 2, I. It is obvious that this receiving of Christ, 
 not being capable of the natural or vulgar sense of 
 the word as it is applied to things external, must be 
 
132 
 
 ESS A V III. 
 
 taken in a moral sense. Being thus taken, it supposes 
 an act of the mind or judgment, approving of Christ 
 as meet for the purpose for which he is proposed ; 
 and it formally and directly imports the will’s consent 
 and complacency, in closing with him as such. The 
 mind seeing in him all that can be desired with respect 
 to the sinner’s present case, the will closes with him ; 
 satisfied that he is such a one as the sinner wants. 
 
 4: 2, 2. This consent or approbation, more fully 
 considered, as applied in practice, includes in it a 
 renunciation of all other means pretending any use¬ 
 fulness to the same end, and standing in opposition 
 to Christ, or coming in competition with Christ, as 
 thus proposed ; a deliberate judgment, that Christ 
 alone is, in all respects, fitted and designed for that 
 work ; together with a satisfaction of mind, and com¬ 
 placency in him as such ; and an acquiescence, or rest 
 of mind in this consent: so that the soul is come to 
 a point, that it has no other way to look; and that 
 if it has but him, it is safe. 
 
 This is that cleaving to the Lord, which some call 
 trust or adherence ; and it respects the way, or con¬ 
 sists in a fiducial confidence as to the safety of the 
 way. The object of this act of consent or approba¬ 
 tion, is properly the goodness, suitableness, and 
 excellency of Christ, as the means of recovery for 
 lost sinners.* 
 
 * On this act of adherence, there follows trust, expectation, 
 or fiducial confidence as to the event; and this is what we 
 judge to be posterior to Justification. 
 
THE ACT OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 133 
 
 Reliance. 
 
 4: 3. Reliance. The foregoing acts of faith are 
 followed by another, commonly called the, fiducial 
 a^ or Trust; whereby the soul, in expectation and 
 confidence of relief by Christ, rolls itself upon him. 
 This may be understood two ways: either more 
 generally, that the soul, seeing as above, the vanity 
 of other ways, and the safety of this, dares not build 
 expectation any where else, but looks to this as the 
 only door at which relief can come in ; or, more par¬ 
 ticularly, as a confident expectation of its own salva¬ 
 tion in particular, through Jesus Christ. If the former 
 only be intended, it differs not from the acquiescence 
 above mentioned : if the latter, to wit, a confidence 
 or trust that we shall be relieved; whether it be more 
 faint or more vigorous, it is indeed, where the other 
 two acts precede, a distinct act of faith. As to this 
 last act I shall only observe, that the ground of it 
 is the promise, or engagement of the faithfulness 33^ 
 God, for the salvation of believers; and that, as 
 specially applied by God to the sinner, and the appli¬ 
 cation discerned by him. This is of great moment 
 for clearing the point in hand ; and shall be after¬ 
 wards further insisted on. 
 
 5. It is disputed, which of these three acts is the 
 justifying act of faith: that is, the act whereon 
 justification doth immediately and necessarily ensue ; 
 and with respect to which, we are said in Scripture 
 to be justified by faith. 
 
134 
 
 ESS A y III. 
 
 The papists generally, and some of our divines 
 particularly, (as Camero,) place it in assent. Of this 
 I shall only say, that if it be not so explained, as 
 really to fall in with one or other of the opinions 
 after mentioned, it runs counter to Scripture. As to 
 this, our divines who have written against the papists, 
 may be consulted. 
 
 Others place it in the fiducial act, or reliance. Of 
 these, some, understanding the fiducial act more 
 generally, do, in effect, differ but in words from those 
 who make the second to be the justifying act. 
 
 Others, among whom were many of our first 
 Reformers, seem at least, to make the fiducial act 
 strictly so called, to be the justifying act of faith ; or 
 a confidence, persuasion, or belief, that our sins are 
 forgiven. Now it is obviously no man’s duty to 
 believe this, but upon supposition that he is ante¬ 
 cedently justified by faith. See Owen, p. 138. 
 Shepard’s Sound Believer, pp. 196, 197, &c. Where¬ 
 fore, others do place it in the second act, which is 
 thus described by Dr Owen : “ The heart’s approba¬ 
 tion of the way of Justification and salvation of sinners 
 by Jesus Christ, proposed in the gospel, as proceeding 
 from the grace, wisdom, and love of God ; with its 
 acquiescence therein as to its own condition.” This 
 acquiescence is not a persuasion of its own salvation 
 in particular, but is to be understood as above ex¬ 
 plained. The confirmation and explanation of this, 
 may be found in the place above referred to ; and in 
 the writings of our divines, practical and polemical. 
 
THE ACT OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 135 
 
 who generally embrace this opinion: and with them 
 I agree, Mastricht, pages 53, 55. 
 
 6. As soon then as the soul, by a discovery of 
 Christ Jesus, in the light of the Lord, conveyed to it 
 in and by the gospel, is brought to this approbation 
 of him. Justification, or the act of God acquitting him, 
 doth immediately ensue. And as to this act, the 
 question is, wherein doth it consist ? By what means 
 is it expressed ? or how does God pronounce this 
 sentence For clearing this question upon the fore¬ 
 going principles, we observe farther; 
 
 7, That the fiducial act, or the trust above men¬ 
 tioned, although it is not the justifying act, but, in 
 order of nature, consequent thereto, doth, in a greater 
 or less degree, necessarily accompany, and immediately 
 follow upon, the foregoing acts of faith, at the same 
 instant of time, I do not mean, that the believing 
 soul, at first closing with Christ, always hath so steady 
 and full a persuasion that its sins are forgiven and its 
 salvation secured, as that it dares boldly to pronounce 
 and speak out so much to others, or even to assert it 
 resolutely within itself: nor do I mean, that it hath so 
 clear a view of its own graces, that by reflecting on 
 them, it can confidently conclude its election, justifi¬ 
 cation, and certain salvation.* But what I mean is 
 
 * To these two kinds of persuasion, the one built upon reflec¬ 
 tion, (under the influence of the Spirit of grace,) upon our own 
 graces, enabling us to discern them, and to conclude from them 
 our interest in Christ; the other grounded upon a word of 
 promise, powerfully set home by the Spirit of God, (such as, 
 
£SSA y III. 
 
 136 
 
 this: that to a convinced sinner, pursued by the law, 
 conscience, and Satan, the first saving manifestation 
 of Christ, determining the soul to close with him in 
 the manner above mentioned, is immediately followed 
 by such an expectation, trust, and humble confidence, 
 as engages the soul, ever after, to follow the Lord in 
 a way of duty, without despairing of a saving issue : 
 yea, not without a secret hope, (though, in times of 
 temptation, this hope is afterwards variously clouded,) 
 that in due time it shall obtain a merciful issue. 
 This persuasion and humble confidence, is really par¬ 
 ticular as to the sinner himself, and his own salvation; 
 although, through the humbling impressions which he 
 has of himself at the time, his own guilt, and the awe 
 of God which is upon his spirit, he is afraid to express 
 it directly and particularly of himself. 
 
 For confirming this, I shall only hint the few fol¬ 
 lowing things. 
 
 7. I. That which is set before the eye of the soul 
 at first believing, namely, a discovery, in a super¬ 
 natural light, of the glory of God’s grace, mercy, and 
 love, to sinners, in Christ Jesus, especially considering 
 what the circumstances of the poor sinner at present 
 are, cannot possibly be supposed to have a less effect. 
 
 7. 2. This discovery, without which believing is 
 impossible, must, in some measure, relieve the soul; 
 for that is the very design of it. Now, this persuasion, 
 as we have stated it, is the least that can be supposed 
 
 Be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee ;) most part do 
 restrict, (how justly, I enquire not now,) the notion of assurance. 
 
THE ACT OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 137 
 
 in this matter. Without something of this, the soul 
 is, in effect, as it was before. 
 
 7. 3. The experience and confession of those who 
 have distinctly observed what passed in their own 
 souls at the time, together with instances from the 
 Word of God, confirm this. 
 
 7. 4. When poor believers, disquieted through the 
 power of temptation and confusion of mind, deny any 
 such persuasion or confidence, yet, by its effects, it is 
 evident to others that they have it. Doth not their 
 resolute adherence to duty in spite of all discourage¬ 
 ments, and their refusing to quit their claim, or to try 
 other ways suggested to them, plainly bewray some 
 such secret persuasion } 
 
 7. 5. To add no more; the plac ing of the essence 
 of faith in assurance, by our gravest and most ex¬ 
 perienced divines, seems to intimate, that they were 
 generally persuaded that this, at least, is inseparable 
 from justification: and if they meant no more, their 
 opinion will, upon the strictest trial, be found unex¬ 
 ceptionable. 
 
 8. This humble persuasion, trust, confidence, or 
 expectation, must be allowed to be, in believers, not 
 a groundless presumption, but an act of faith; and if 
 it be so, it must have some solid foundation. 
 
 9. The ground of this fiducial act, is certainly the 
 word of promise, whereby God engages to pardon 
 sinners, and accept them graciously, in Christ Jesus. 
 This the Scriptures clear in many ways. In the 
 gospel call, there is a revelation of Christ to be 
 
138 
 
 £SSA y III. 
 
 assented to ; an offer or proposal of him, as worthy of 
 all acceptation, to be accepted ; a command, requiring 
 and warranting this acceptance; and a promise of 
 mercy or salvation to the acceptor. This last is the 
 ground of this fiducial trust. Psalms cxix. 74, cxxx. 5. 
 
 10. Yet the word of promise, absolutely considered, 
 is not, of itself, able or sufficient to draw forth this 
 trust, without the special application of it to the soul. 
 The promise must come, not in word only, but in 
 power, and in the Holy Ghost: i Thess. i. 5. God, 
 who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, 
 must shine into the soul; and give that evidence of 
 the faithfulness of his own engagement, which will 
 prevail with the soul to lay stress upon it. 
 
 11. Hence it appears evident, that there is an act 
 of God, manifesting his faithfulness in the promise; 
 clearly holding forth and powerfully applying his 
 promised mercy, for the relief of the sinner, now look¬ 
 ing to the Lord Jesus, and approving of him as the 
 only way of acceptance. 
 
 To prevent any mistake about this: when I say 
 that God applies, I do not mean, (whatever he may 
 do upon some occasions,) that he speaks in the way 
 of an absolute promise or assertion, “ Thy sins are 
 forgiven thee.” But what I mean is this ; that when 
 the poor trembling convinced sinner is, by a clear 
 manifestation of the Mediator, prevailed on to re¬ 
 nounce all other ways of relief, and turn his eye 
 toward him, as alone worthy of acceptation, and 
 available to poor sinners in his case; at that very 
 
THE ACT OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 139 
 
 instant, though consequent in order of nature, there 
 is, I. a shining discovery of mercy, of which the sinner 
 had no sight before in that way : 2. this mercy is 
 particularly held forth to the poor sinner for his relief; 
 it is set in his eye as suitable to his present case ; and 
 3. the promise and engagement of God are enforced 
 upon his soul, “Thou shalt be saved that is, saving 
 mercy is presently tendered to the poor trembling 
 sinner. 
 
 Now although the sinner, not yet recovered from 
 the alarm into which he had been cast, immediately 
 before, by the discovery of his misery, dares not 
 always go presently into particular and applicative 
 conclusions ; yet this gracious intimation begets some¬ 
 what of a humble confidence; and, for the time at 
 least, breaks the force of the oppressing and confound¬ 
 ing charge under which he lay. 
 
 12. The act of God above described, may, I con¬ 
 ceive, be called, and justly considered to be, his justi¬ 
 fying act, or act of acquitment. To clear this a little, 
 observe the following particulars :— 
 
 12. I. All these things taking place at the same 
 instant, their close connexion as to time, unavoidably 
 occasions some difficulty in the conception, observa¬ 
 tion, and expression, of the several distinct acts, either 
 of God, or of our own minds. And this difficulty is 
 increased, by the sinner’s alarm before the gospel 
 manifestation, and his surprise under the manifestation 
 itself. 
 
 12. 2. It is clear, and agreed among sound divines* 
 
140 
 
 ESSA Y III. 
 
 (for we concern not ourselves, at present, with others,) 
 that there are, at first, such distinct actings of faith ; 
 that each of them hath its proper foundation; and that 
 the ground of the whole, is the saving manifestation 
 of God’s mercy in the promise, through Jesus Christ. | 
 
 12, 3. From what has been said it is evident, that 
 there is such an act of God, holding forth mercy and 
 favour, in and by the promise, to the soul, while its 
 eye is fixed upon the Lord Jesus, in the way described 
 above. I need not stand to confirm this farther. If 
 it be denied, there neither is, nor can be, any ground 
 sufficient to produce or support the trust which I 
 have spoken of. 
 
 12, 4. That this is an act of acquitment, appears 
 thus. The sinner is now at the tribunal of God, beat 
 from all his pleas, and ready to sink under the,weight 
 of a heavy charge. At this very instant, the gospel 
 discovery, seasonably presenting the Lord Jesus to 
 view, the eye of the soul is turned wholly toward him. 
 While he looks to that quarter alone for relief, God 
 irradiates the soul by a sweet manifestation of his 
 mercy through Christ to sinners, in the promise. 
 This discovery, made at such a time to the sinner 
 whose case is now depending, and who is, as it were, 
 a prisoner at the bar, imports no less than an intima¬ 
 tion of the judge’s mind as to the case: namely an 
 acquitment from the charge: instead of a sentence of 
 condemnation, or a discovery and application, to the 
 sinner’s conscience, of wrath and the curse; which, in 
 these circumstances, would quite overwhelm him. 
 
THE ACT OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 141 
 
 12. 5. This act is sufficient to all the ends and pur¬ 
 poses of an act of Justification. For, 
 
 12. 5. I. It repels the force of the charge; and 
 although it doth not presently cure all the accidental 
 consequences of the sinner’s former case, yet it is 
 found in experience, that this discovery, at the season 
 of it, always frees the soul from the confounding 
 dread and despondency under which it lay before. 
 
 12. 5. 2. It lays the sinner under an endearing and 
 everlasting obligation to the kindness of God ; the 
 sense of which, though it may at times be weakened 
 by various occurrences, is never entirely lost. 
 
 12. 5. 3. From this time forward, the sinner hath, 
 if not at all times to his own discerning, yet really, 
 and oft-times to the discerning of others, a liberty of 
 spirit from his former discouraging dread of God ; 
 and somewhat, if I may not say of confidence, yet of 
 kindly freedom, in his dealings with God. 
 
 12. 5. 4. This act of God, not only gives a right 
 to freedom from all righteous pursuit of the charge 
 that was so lately managed against the sinner in his 
 own conscience; (which, I acknowledge, results, ipso 
 iure, from the promise, at the instant of believing;) 
 but it doth moreover apply this right, declaratively, 
 and juridically; and giveth him a ground on which 
 he justly may and should claim it, insist upon it, and 
 employ it against all attempts to revive the old process. 
 
 12. 5. 5. After this, none may or can, by warrant 
 and authority from God, and in his name, righteously 
 insist against the sinner for his life. 
 
142 
 
 £SSA y III. 
 
 12. 5. 6. When God, for wise ends, permitteth 
 Satan, the malicious accuser, to wake the pursuit, 
 and importunately to vex the sinner, there needeth 
 no new or different sentence, to silence and repel him. 
 If God, in his mercy, be pleased to grant a revival of 
 the first discovery, (which is like an extract of the 
 first sentence,) the soul is instantly quieted, and the 
 enemy confounded. 
 
 12. 5. 7. Immediately upon this, God carries it 
 toward the soul, as a reconciled God; and at first, for 
 the most part discernibly; or if it be not discerned 
 by the sinner, this flows rather from his own weak¬ 
 ness, than from want of evidence. In a word ; upon 
 this discovery, the Judge appears divested, as it were, 
 of his terrible majesty ; the frowns are no more seen 
 in his face, but a benign majesty, such as commands 
 at once, kindly thoughts and respect. The panel is 
 no more imprisoned and hampered, as before, by the 
 fearful expectation of wrath and fiery indignation ; 
 the pursuers either entirely withdraw and disappear ; 
 or, if the litigious adversary persist, what is now done 
 by Satan, or a misinformed conscience, is but like the 
 malicious reclaiming of those who have met with a 
 disappointment from the judge. And, to add no 
 more, the poor man, with some pleasant freedom, 
 goes his way, and falls to his work. 
 
 Might not God have justly required of every one of 
 the sons of men, that act of faith, whereon, by a graci¬ 
 ous promise, he has voluntarily obliged himself to jus¬ 
 tify sinners ; although he had made no such promise } 
 
THE ACT OF JUSTIFICATION. 
 
 H 3 
 
 If he had given a doctrinal revelation of Christ 
 Jesus, and the way of salvation by him, without 
 promising to justify any, or fixing any terms, but re¬ 
 serving these things wholly in his own mind; had not 
 every sinner been obliged to assent to the revelation, 
 to approve of it in his judgment, as the only expedient 
 suitable to his case, and, renouncing all other ways, 
 to turn his eyes to this ; reckoning thus with himself: 
 All my contrivances are vain ; here, here is the only 
 suitable expedient. Whether God will ever vouch¬ 
 safe to save me, I cannot tell; he has kept that to 
 himself; but if ever I am saved, this is the way: 
 wherefore I will look this way, and let him do with 
 me what he pleaseth. Justly may he set me aside; 
 yet if I go elsewhere, it will assuredly be in vain. 
 Here is a safe way ; and who can tell but he may be 
 gracious } 
 
 This, I think, has the acting of that faith which is 
 justifying ; or it is that acting of faith which is so. 
 
 THE END. 
 

 
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