PROPOSITION II. OF IMMEDIATE REVELATION. Mat. xi. 27. Seeing no man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son revealeth him; and seeing the revelation of the Son is in and by the Spirit; therefore the testimony of the Spirit is that alone by which the true knowledge of God hath been, is, and can be only revealed; who as, by the moving of his own Spirit, he disposed the chaos of this world into that wonderful order in which it was in the beginning, and created man a living soul, to rule and govern it, so by the revelation of the same Spirit he hath manifested himself all along unto the sons of men, both patriarchs, prophets, and apostles; which revelations of God by the Spirit, whether by outward voices and appearances, dreams, or inward objective manifestations in the heart, were of old the formal object of their faith, and remain yet so to be; since the object of the saint's faith is the same in all ages, though held forth under divers administrations. Moreover, these divine inward revelations, which we make absolutely necessary for the building up of true faith, neither do nor can ever contradict the outward testimony of the scriptures, or right and sound reason. Yet from hence it will not follow, that these divine revelations are to be subjected to the test, either of the outward testimony of the scriptures, or of the natural reason of man, as to a more noble or certain rule and touchstone; for this divine revelation, and inward illumination, is that which is evident and clear of itself, forcing by its own evidence and clearness, the well disposed understanding to assent, irresistibly moving the same thereunto, even as the common principles of natural truths do move and incline the mind to a natural assent: as, that the whole is greater than its part; that two contradictories can neither be both true, nor both false. Revelation §. I. IT is very probable, that many carnal and naturejected by ral Christians will oppose this proposition; who being Christians. Wholly unacquainted with the movings and actings of apostate God's Spirit upon their hearts, judge the same nothing necessary; and some are apt to flout at it as ridiculous: yea, to that height are the generality of Christians apostatized and degenerated, that though there be not any thing more plainly asserted, more seriously recommended, or more certainly attested, in all the writings of the holy scriptures, yet nothing is less minded and more rejected by all sorts of Christians, than immediate and divine revelation; insomuch that once to lay claim to it is matter of reproach. Whereas of old none were ever judged Christians, but such as had the Spirit of Christ, Rom. viii. 9. But now many do boldly call themselves Christians, who make no difficulty of confessing they are without it, and laugh at such as say they have it. Of old they were accounted the Sons of God, who were led by the Spirit of God, Rom. viii. 14. But now many aver themselves sons of God, who know nothing of this leader; and he that affirms himself so led is, by the pretended orthodox of this age, presently proclaimed an heretic. The reason hereof is very manifest, viz. Because many in these days, under the name of Christians, do experimentally find, that they are not actuated nor led by God's Spirit; yea, many great doctors, divines, teachers, and bishops of Christianity (commonly so called), have wholly shut their ears from hearing, and their eyes from seeing, this inward guide, and so are become strangers unto it; whence they are, by their own experience, brought to this strait, either to confess that they are as yet ignorant of God, and have only the shadow of knowledge, and not the true knowledge of him, or that this knowledge is acquired without immediate revelation. spiritualand For the better understanding then of this proposi- Knowledge 'tion, we do distinguish betwixt the certain knowledge literal disof God, and the uncertain; betwixt the spiritual tinguished. knowledge, and the literal; the saving heart-knowledge, and the soaring airy head-knowledge. The last, we confess, may be divers ways obtained; but the first, by no other way than the inward immediate manifestation and revelation of God's Spirit, shining in and upon the heart, enlightening and opening the understanding. §. II. Having then proposed to myself, in these propositions, to affirm those things which relate to the true and effectual knowledge which brings life eter 1 Aug. ex Joh. 3. nal with it, therefore I have truly affirmed, that this knowledge is no otherways attained, and that none have any true ground to believe they have attained it, who have it not by this revelation of God's Spirit. The certainty of which truth is such, that it hath been acknowledged by some of the most refined and famous of all sorts of professors of Christianity in all ages; who being truly upright-hearted, and earnest seekers of the Lord (however stated under the disadvantages and epidemical errors of their several sects or ages), the true seed in them hath been answered by God's love, who hath had regard to the good, and hath had of his elect ones among all; who finding a distaste and disgust in all other outward means, even in the very principles and precepts more particularly relative to their own forms and societies, have at last concluded, with one voice, that there was no true knowledge of God, but that which is revealed inwardly by his own Spirit. Whereof take these following testimonies of the ancients. 1. "It is the inward master (saith Augustine) that Tract. Ep. teacheth, it is Christ that teacheth, it is inspiration that teacheth where this inspiration and unction is wanting, it is in vain that words from without are beaten in.' And thereafter: "For he that created us, and redeemed us, and called us by faith, and dwelleth in us by his Spirit, unless he speaketh unto us inwardly, it is needless for us to cry out." Clem. Alex. 2. "There is a difference (saith Clemens Alexan1. 1. Strom. drinus) betwixt that which any one saith of the truth, and that which the truth itself, interpreting itself, saith. A conjecture of truth differeth from the truth itself; a similitude of a thing differeth from the thing itself; it is one thing that is acquired by exercise and discipline, and another thing, which by power and faith." Lastly, the same Clemens saith, "Truth is neither hard to be arrived at, nor is it impossible to apprehend it; for it is most nigh unto us, even in our houses, as the most wise Moses hath insinuated." Pædag. nus Lib. de 3. "How is it (saith Tertullian) that since the devil Tertulliaalways worketh, and stirreth up the mind to iniquity, veland. Virthat the work of God should either cease, or desist to ginibus,cap. act? Since for this end the Lord did send the Com- 1. forter, that because human weakness could not at once bear all things, knowledge might be by little and little directed, formed, and brought to perfection by the Holy Spirit, that vicar of the Lord. I have many things yet (saith he) to speak unto you, but ye 4. "The law (saith Hierom) is spiritual, and there Hieron. Ep. is need of a revelation to understand it." And in his Paulin. 103. Epistle 150, to Hedibia, Quest. 11. he saith, "The whole epistle to the Romans needs an interpretation, it being involved in so great obscurities, that for the understanding thereof we need the help of the Holy Spirit, who through the apostle dictated it." Incarn. Verbi Dei. 5. "So great things (saith Athanasius) doth our Athanasius Saviour daily he draws unto piety, persuades unto de car virtue, teaches immortality, excites to the desire of heavenly things, reveals the knowledge of the Father, inspires power against death, and shows himself unto every one.' Hom. 30, upon the 6. Gregory the Great, upon these words [He shall Greg. Mag. teach you all things] saith, "That unless the same Spirit is present in the heart of the hearer, in vain is Gospel. the discourse of the doctor; let no man then ascribe unto the man that teacheth, what he understands from the mouth of him that speaketh; for unless he that teacheth be within, the tongue of the doctor, that is without, laboureth in vain.' 7. Cyrillus Alexandrinus plainly affirmeth, "That Cyril. Alex. men know that Jesus is the Lord by the Holy Ghost, in Thesauro, lib. xiii. c.3. Bernard, in Luther, 76. p. no otherwise, than they who taste honey know that it is sweet, even by its proper quality." Therefore (saith Bernard) we daily exhort you, brethren, that ye walk the ways of the heart, and that your souls be always in your hands, that ye may hear what the Lord saith in you." And again, upon these words of the apostle [Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord], "With which threefold vice (saith he) all sorts of religious men are less or more dangerously affected, because they do not so diligently attend, with the ears of the heart, to what the Spirit of truth, which flatters none, inwardly speaks." This was the very basis, and main foundation upon which the primitive reformers built. Luther, in his book to the nobility of Germany, tom. v. P. saith, "This is certain, that no man can make himself a teacher of the holy scriptures, but the Holy Spirit alone." And upon the Magnificat he saith, "No man can rightly know God, or understand the word of God, unless he immediately receive it from the Holy Spirit; neither can any one receive it from the Holy Spirit, except he find it by experience in himself; and in this experience the Holy Ghost teacheth, as in his proper school; out of which school nothing is taught but mere talk." Phil. MeJancthon. rit alone God is known. Philip Melancthon, in his annotations upon John vi. "Those who hear only an outward and bodily voice, hear the creature; but God is a Spirit, and is neither discerned, nor known, nor heard, but by the By the Spi- Spirit; and therefore to hear the voice of God, to see God, is to know and hear the Spirit. By the Spirit alone God is known and perceived. Which also the more serious to this day do acknowledge, even all such who satisfy themselves not with the superficies of religion, and use it not as a cover or art. Yea, all those who apply themselves effectually to Christianity, and are not satisfied until they have found its effectual work upon their hearts, redeeming them from sin, do |