Moral certainty, the result of external arguments, insufficient.
1*. Divine revelation is* the proper object of divine faith. With such faith we can believe nothing but what is so, and what is so can be received no otherwise by us. If we believe it not with divine faith, we believe it not at all. Such is the Scripture, as the word of God, everywhere proposed unto us, and we are required to believe, — that is, first to believe it so to be, and then to believe the things contained in it; for this proposition, “That the Scripture is the word of God,” is a divine revelation, and so to be believed. But God nowhere requires, nor ever did, that we should believe any divine revelation upon such grounds, much less on such grounds and motives only. They are left unto us as consequential unto our believing, to plead with others in behalf of what we profess, and for the justification of it unto the world. But that which he requires our faith and obedience unto, in the receiving of divine revelations, whether immediately given and declared or as recorded in the Scripture, is his own authority and veracity: “I am the Lord;” “Thus saith the high and lofty One;” “Thus saith the Lord;” “To the law and to the testimony;” “This is my beloved Son, hear ye him;” “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God;” “Believe in the Lord and his prophets.” This alone is that which he requires us to resolve our faith into. So when he gave unto us the law of our lives, the eternal and unchangeable rule of our obedience unto him, in the ten commandments, he gives no other reason to oblige us thereunto but this only, “I am the Lord thy God.” The sole formal reason of all our obedience is taken from his own nature and our relation unto him; nor doth he propose any other reason why we should believe him, or the revelation which he makes of his mind and will. And our faith is part of our obedience, the root and principal part of it; therefore, the reason of both is the same. Neither did our Lord Jesus Christ nor his apostles ever make use of such arguments or motives for the ingenerating of faith in the minds of men, nor have they given directions for the use of any such arguments to this end and purpose. But when they were accused to have followed “cunningly-devised fables,” they appealed unto Moses and the prophets, to the revelations they had themselves received, and those that were before recorded. It is true, they wrought miracles in confirmation of their own divine mission and of the doctrine which they taught; but the miracles of our Saviour were all of them wrought amongst those who believed the whole Scripture then given to be the word of God, and those of the apostles were before the writings of the books of the New Testament. Their doctrine, therefore, materially considered, and their warranty to teach it, were sufficiently, yea, abundantly confirmed by them. But divine revelation, formally considered, and as written, was left upon the old foundation of the authority of God who gave it. No such method is prescribed, no such example is proposed unto us in the Scripture, as to make use of these arguments and motives for the conversion of the souls of men unto God, and the ingenerating of faith in them; yes, in some cases, the use of such means is decried as unprofitable, and the sole authority of God, putting forth his power in and by his word, is appealed unto, 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5, 13, xiv. 36, 37; 2 Cor. iv. 7. But yet, in a way of preparation, subservient unto the receiving the Scripture as the word of God, and for the defence of it against gainsayers and their objections, their use hath been granted and proved. But from first to last, in the Old and New Testament, the authority and truth of God are constantly and uniformly proposed as the immediate ground and reason of believing his revelations; nor can it be proved that he doth accept or approve of any kind of faith or assent but what is built thereon and resolved thereinto. The sum is, We are obliged in a way of duty to believe the Scriptures to be a divine revelation, when they are ministerially or providentially proposed unto us; whereof afterward. The ground whereon we are to receive them is the authority and veracity of God speaking in them; we believe them because they are the word of God. Now, this faith, whereby we so believe, is divine and supernatural, because the formal reason of it is so, — namely, God’s truth and authority. Wherefore, we do not nor ought only to believe the Scripture as highly probable, or with a moral persuasion and assurance, built upon arguments absolutely fallible and human; for if this be the formal reason of faith, namely, the veracity and authority of God, if we believe not with faith divine and supernatural, we believe not at all.
2. The moral certainty treated of is a mere effect of reason. There is no more required unto it but that the reasons proposed for the assent required be such as the mind judgeth to be convincing and prevalent; whence an inferior kind of knowledge, or a firm opinion, or some kind of persuasion which hath not yet gotten an intelligible name, doth necessarily ensue. There is, therefore, on this supposition, no need of any work of the Holy Ghost to enable us to believe or to work faith in us; for no more is required herein but what necessarily ariseth from a naked exercise of reason. If it be said that the inquiry is not about what is the work of the Spirit of God in us, but concerning the reasons and motives to believing that are proposed unto us, I answer, it is granted; but what we urge herein is, that the act which is exerted on such motives, or the persuasion which is begotten in our minds by them, is purely natural, and such as requires no especial work of the Holy Ghost in us for the effecting of it. Now, this is not faith, nor can we be said in the Scripture sense to believe hereby, and so, in particular, not the Scriptures to be the word of God; for faith is “the gift of God,” and is “not of ourselves,” Eph. ii. 8. It is “given unto some on the behalf of Christ,” Phil. i. 29, and not unto others; Matt. xi. 25, xiii. 11. But this assent on external arguments and motives is of ourselves, equally common and exposed unto all. “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost,” 1 Cor. xii. 3; but he who believeth the Scripture truly, aright, and according to his duty, doth say so. No man cometh to Christ, but he that hath “heard and learned of the Father,” John vi. 45. And as this is contrary to the Scripture, so it is expressly condemned by the ancient church, particularly by the second Arausican council, can. 5, 7: “Si quis sicut augmentum ita etiam initium fidei, ipsumque credulitatis affectum, non per gratiæ donum, id est, per inspirationem Spiritus Sancti, corrigentem voluntatem nostram ab infidelitate ad fidem, ab impietate ad pietatem, sed naturaliter nobis inesse dicit, apostolicis dogmatibus adversarius approbatur.” And plainly, can. 7: “Si quis per naturæ vigorem bonum aliquod quod ad salutem pertinet vitæ eternæ, cogitate ut expedit, aut eligere, sive salutari, id est, evangelicæ prædicationi consentire posse affirmat absque illuminatione et inspiratione Spiritus Sancti, qui dat omnibus suavitatem consentiendo et credendo veritati, hæretico fallitur spiritu.”