Part 3

[Sidenote: _Epictetus._] Again, How needful and desirable that Knowledge is, which brings _Life Eternal_, _Epictetus_ sheweth, saying excellently well, _Cap. 38._ [Greek: isthi hoti to Kyriôtaton: ισθι ὁτι το Κυριωτατον], &c. _Know that the main Foundation of Piety is this, To have_ [Greek: orthas hypolêpseis: ορθας ὑποληψεις], _right Opinions and Apprehensions of God_.

This therefore I judged necessary, as a first Principle, in the first Place, to affirm; and I suppose will not need much farther Explanation or Defence, as being generally acknowledged by all (and in these Things that are without Controversy I love to be brief) as that which will easily commend itself to every Man’s Reason and Conscience; and therefore I shall proceed to the next Proposition; which, though it be nothing less certain, yet by the Malice of Satan, and Ignorance of many, comes far more under Debate.

PROPOSITION II.

Of IMMEDIATE REVELATION.

[29]_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 Saints’ Faith is the same in all Ages, tho’ 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.

[29] Mat. 11. 27.

§. I. [Sidenote: _Revelation by Apostate Christians rejected._] It is very probable, that many carnal and natural Christians will oppose this Proposition; who, being wholly unacquainted with the Movings and Actings of 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 to, 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_, ibid. verse 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 Heretick. 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.

[Sidenote: _Knowledge Spiritual and Literal distinguished._] For the better understanding then of this Proposition, we do distinguish betwixt the certain Knowledge of God, and the uncertain; betwixt the spiritual Knowledge, and the literal; the saving Heart-Knowledge, and 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, inlightning 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 Eternal 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.

[Sidenote: _Aug._] 1. [30]“_It is the Inward Master (_saith_ Augustine) that 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._”

[30] _Aug. _ex Tract. Ep._ Joh. 3._

[Sidenote: _Clem. Alex._] 2. [31]“_There is a Difference (_saith_ Clemens Alexandrinus) 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, [32]“_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._”

[31] _Clem. Alex._ I. 1. Strom.

[32] Pædag.

[Sidenote: _Tertullian._] 3. [33]“_How is it (_saith_ Tertullian) that since the Devil always worketh, and stirreth up the Mind to Iniquity, that the Work of God should either cease, or desist to act? Since for this End the Lord did send the Comforter, 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 cannot as yet bear them; but when that Spirit of Truth shall come, he shall lead you into all Truth, and shall teach you these Things that are to come. _But of this his Work we have spoken above. What is then the Administration of the Comforter, but that Discipline be directed, and the Scriptures revealed?_” &c.

[33] _Tertullianus_ Lib. de veland. Virginibus, cap. 1.

[Sidenote: _Jerome_] 4. [34]“_The Law (_saith_ Jerome) is Spiritual, and there is need of a Revelation to understand it._” And in his 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._”

[34] _Jerome_ Ep. Paulin. 103.

[Sidenote: _Athanasius._] 5. [35]“_So great Things (_saith_ Athanasius) doth our Saviour daily: He draws unto Piety, persuades unto Virtue, teaches Immortality, excites to the Desire of Heavenly Things, reveals the Knowledge of the Father, inspires Power against Death, and shews himself unto every one._”

[35] _Athanasius_ de Incarn. Verbi Dei.

[Sidenote: _Gregory_] 6. [36]_Gregory_ the Great, upon these Words [_He shall teach you all Things_] saith, “_That unless the same Spirit is present in the Heart of the Hearer, in vain is 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._”

[36] _Greg._ Mag. Hom. 30. upon the Gospel.

[Sidenote: _Cyrillus Alexandrinus_] 7. [37]_Cyrillus Alexandrinus_ plainly affirmeth, “_That Men know that_ Jesus is the Lord by the Holy Ghost, _no otherwise than they who taste Honey know that it is sweet, even by its proper Quality_.”

[37] _Cyril. Alex._ in _Thesauro_, lib. 13. c. 3.

[Sidenote: _Bernard._] 8. [38]“_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._”

[38] _Bernard _in_ Psal. 84._

This was the very Basis, and main Foundation, upon which the Primitive Reformers built.

[Sidenote: _Luther._] [39]_Luther_, in his Book to the Nobility of _Germany_, 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._”

[39] _Luther._ Tom. 5. p. 76.

[Sidenote: _Phil. Melancthon_] _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 Spirit;_ [Sidenote: _By the Spirit alone God is known._] _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 feel that no Knowledge effectually prevails to the producing of this, but that which proceeds from the warm Influence of God’s Spirit upon the Heart, and from the comfortable Shining of his Light upon their Understanding. [Sidenote: _Dr. _Smith_ of _Cambridge_, concerning Book-Divinity._] And therefore to this Purpose a modern Author, _viz._ Dr. _Smith_ of _Cambridge_, in his Select Discourses, saith well; “_To seek our Divinity merely in Books and Writings, is to seek the Living among the Dead. We do but in vain many Times seek God in these, where his Truth is too often not so much Enshrined as Entombed._ Intra te quære Deum, _Seek God within thine own Soul: He is best discerned _[Greek: noera epaphê: νοερα επαφη]_ (as _Plotinus_ phrased it) by an Intellectual Touch of him. We must_ see with our Eyes, and hear with our Ears, and our Hands must handle the Word of Life (_to express it in St. _John_’s Words_) [Greek: hoti tês psychês aisthêsis: ὁτι της ψυχης αισθησις], _&c. The Soul itself hath its Sense, as well as the Body._ And therefore, _David_, when he would teach us to know what the Divine Goodness is, calls not for Speculation, but Sensation: _Taste, and see how good the Lord is_. That is not the best and truest Knowledge of God, which is wrought out by the Labour and Sweat of the Brain, but that which is kindled within us, by an heavenly Warmth in our Hearts. _And again_: There is a Knowing of the _Truth, as it is in Jesus_, as it is in a _Christ-like Nature_; as it is in that sweet, mild, humble, and loving Spirit of Jesus, which spreads itself, like a _Morning Sun_, upon the Souls of good Men, full of Light and Life. It profits little to know Christ himself after the Flesh; but he gives his Spirit to good Men, _that searcheth the deep things of God_. _And again_: It is but a thin airy Knowledge, that is got by mere Speculation, which is ushered in by Syllogisms and Demonstrations; but that which springs forth from true Goodness, is [Greek: theioteron ti pasês hypodeixeôs: θειοτερον τι πασης ὑποδειξεως] (as _Origen_ speaketh) _It brings such a Divine Light into the Soul, as is more clear and convincing than any Demonstration_.”

§. III. [Sidenote: Apostasy and a false Knowledge introduced.] That this certain and undoubted Method of the true Knowledge of God hath been brought out of use, hath been none of the least Devices of the Devil, to secure Mankind to his Kingdom. For after the Light and Glory of the Christian Religion had prevailed over a great Part of the World, and dispelled the thick Mists of the Heathenish Doctrine of the Plurality of Gods, he that knew there was no Probability of deluding the World any longer that Way, did then puff Man up with a false Knowledge of the true God; setting him on work to seek God the wrong Way, and persuading him to be content with such a Knowledge as was of his own acquiring, and not of God’s teaching. And this Device hath proved the more successful, because accommodated to the natural and corrupt Spirit and Temper of Man, who above all Things affects to exalt himself; in which Exaltation, as God is greatly dishonoured, so therein the Devil hath his End; who is not anxious how much God is acknowledged in Words, provided himself be but always served; he matters not how great and high Speculations the Natural Man entertains of God, so long as he serves his own Lusts and Passions, and is obedient to his evil Suggestions and Temptations. [Sidenote: _Christianity is become an Art, acquired by human Science and Industry._] Thus _Christianity_ is become as it were an Art, acquired by human Science and Industry; like any other Art or Science; and Men have not only assumed the Name of _Christians_, but even have procured themselves to be esteemed as _Masters of Christianity_, by certain Artificial Tricks, though altogether Strangers to the Spirit and Life of Jesus. But if we make a right Definition of a _Christian_, according to the Scripture, That _he is one who hath the Spirit and is led by it_, how many _Christians_, yea, and of these great _Masters_ and _Doctors of Christianity_, so accounted, shall we justly divest of that Noble Title?

[Sidenote: _By Revelation is the true Knowledge of God._] If those therefore who have all the other Means of Knowledge, and are sufficiently Learned therein, whether it be the Letter of the Scripture, the Traditions of Churches, or the Works of Creation and Providence, whence they are able to deduce strong and undeniable Arguments (which may be true in themselves) are not yet to be esteemed _Christians_, according to the certain and infallible Definition above-mentioned; and if the inward and immediate Revelation of God’s Spirit in the Heart, in such as have been altogether ignorant of some, and but very little skilled in others, of these Means of attaining Knowledge, hath brought them to Salvation; then it will necessarily and evidently follow, that Inward and Immediate Revelation is the only sure and certain Way to attain the true and saving Knowledge of God.

But the first is true: Therefore the last.

Now as this Argument doth very strongly conclude for this Way of Knowledge, and against such as deny it; so in this Respect it is the more to be regarded, as the Propositions, from which it is deduced, are so clear, that our very Adversaries cannot deny them. For as to the first, it is acknowledged, that many Learned Men may be, and have been, damned. And as to the second, who will deny but many illiterate Men may be, and are, saved? [Sidenote: Abel, Seth, Noah, _&c. instanced_.] Nor dare any affirm, that none come to the Knowledge of God and Salvation by the inward Revelation of the Spirit, without these other outward Means; unless they be also so bold as to exclude _Abel_, _Seth_, _Noah_, _Abraham_, _Job_, and all the holy Patriarchs from true Knowledge and Salvation.

§. IV. I would however not be understood as if hereby I excluded those other Means of Knowledge from any Use or Service to Man; it is far from me so to judge, as concerning the _Scriptures_, in the next Proposition, will more plainly appear. The Question is not, what may be profitable or helpful, but what is absolutely necessary. Many Things may contribute to further a Work, which yet are not the main Thing that makes the Work go on.

The Sum then of what is said amounts to this, That where the true Inward Knowledge of God is, through the Revelation of his Spirit, there is all; neither is there an absolute Necessity of any other. But where the best, highest, and most profound Knowledge is, without this there is nothing, as to the obtaining the great End of Salvation. This Truth is very effectually confirmed by the first Part of the Proposition itself, which in few Words comprehendeth divers unquestionable Arguments, which I shall in brief subsume.

[Sidenote: I.] First, _That there is no Knowledge of the Father but by the Son_.

[Sidenote: II.] Secondly, _That there is no Knowledge of the Son, but by the Spirit_.

[Sidenote: III.] Thirdly, _That by the Spirit God hath always revealed himself to his Children_.

[Sidenote: IV.] Fourthly, _That these Revelations were the formal Object of the Saints’ Faith_.

[Sidenote: V.] And Lastly, _That the same continueth to be the Object of the Saints’ Faith to this Day_.

Of each of these I shall speak a little particularly, and then proceed to the latter Part.

§. V. [Sidenote: _Assert. _I._ Proved._] As to the first, viz. _That there is no Knowledge of the Father but by the Son_, it will easily be proved, being founded upon the plain Words of Scripture, and is therefore a fit _Medium_ from whence to deduce the rest of our Assertions.

For the infinite and most wise God, who is the _Foundation_, _Root_ and _Spring_ of all _Operation_, hath wrought all Things by his Eternal Word and Son. [40]_This is that WORD that was in the Beginning with God, and was God, by whom all Things were made, and without whom was not any Thing made that was made_, [41]This is that _Jesus Christ, by whom God created all Things, by whom, and for whom, all Things were created, that are in Heaven and in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones, or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers_, Col. i. 16. Who therefore is called, _The first-born of every Creature_, Col. i. 15. As then that infinite and incomprehensible Fountain of Life and Motion operateth in the Creatures by his own Eternal Word and Power; so no Creature has Access again unto him but in and by the Son, according to his own express Words, _No Man knoweth the Father, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him_, Mat. xi. 27. Luke x. 22. And again, he himself saith, _I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: No Man cometh unto the Father but by me_, John xiv. 6.

[40] John 1. 1, 2, 3.

[41] Eph. 3. 9.

Hence he is fitly called, _The Mediator betwixt God and Man_: For having been with God from all Eternity, being himself God, and also in Time partaking of the Nature of Man; through him is the Goodness and Love of God conveyed to Mankind, and by him again Man receiveth and partaketh of these Mercies.

Hence is easily deduced the Proof of this first Assertion, thus:

If no Man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him; then there is no Knowledge of the Father but by the Son.

But no Man knoweth the Father but the Son.

Therefore, there is no Knowledge of the Father but by the Son.

The first Part of the Antecedent are the plain Words of Scripture: The Consequence thereof is undeniable; except one would say, that he hath the Knowledge of the Father, while yet he knows him not; which were an absurd Repugnance.

Again, if the Son be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that no Man cometh unto the Father but by him; then there is no Knowledge of the Father but by the Son.

But the first is true: Therefore the last.

The Antecedent are the very Scripture Words: The Consequence is very evident: For how can any know a Thing, who useth not the Way, without which it is not knowable? But it is already proved, that there is no other Way but by the Son; so that whoso uses not that Way, cannot know him, neither come unto him.

§. VI. [Sidenote: _Assert. _II._ Proved._] Having then laid down this first Principle, I come to the second, viz. _That there is no Knowledge of the Son but by the Spirit_; or, _That the Revelation of the Son of God is by the Spirit_.