Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

The main Question proposed to consideration. How we may know assuredly the Scripture to be the word of God. The Scripture to be received by divine faith. The Ground and foundation of that faith enquired after. The Answer in the General Thesis of this discourse. The Authority of God that foundation. The way whereby that Authority is evidenced or made known. What is meant by the Authority of the Scriptures. Authority is in respect of others. First general Evidence given to the Thesis laid down. The various ways of Gods Revealing himself and his mind. 1 By his works: 2. By the light of nature; 3. By his word. Each of these evince themselves to be from him. His word especially.

Section 1. Having laid in the foregoing Chapter the foundation that we are to build and proceed upon, I come now to lay down the Enquiry, whose Resolution must thence be educed. That then which we are seeking after is; How We, and the rest of men in the world, who through the merciful dispensation of God, have the Book or Books wherein the Scripture given out from him as above declared, is contained, or said to be contained, who live so many Ages from the last Person who received any part of it immediately from God, or who have not received it immediately our selves, may come to be ascertained, as to all ends and purposes wherein we may be concerned therein, that the whole and entire written word in that Book, or those Books, has the original and consequently the Authority that it pleads and avows, namely that it is, [illegible] and not [illegible], from God, in the way and manner laid down, and not the Invention of men, attending [illegible]. 2 Peter 1:26; or to cunningly devised fables.

Section 2. Now seeing it is expected from us, and required of us by God himself, and that on the penalty of his eternal Displeasure, if we fail in our duty (2 Thessalonians 1:8, 9, 10.) that we receive the Scripture not as we do other Books in relation to their Author, with a firm Opinion, built on prevailing probable Arguments, prevalent against any actual conclusions to the contrary; but with divine and supernatural faith, omitting all such inductions as serve only to ingenerate a persuasion, not to be cast out of the mind by contrary reasonings or objections; it is especially inquired, what is the foundation and formal Reason of our doing so, if we so do. Whatever that be, it returns an answer to this important Question; why, or on what Account do you believe the Scriptures, or Books of the old and new Testament to be the word of God. Now the formal Reason of things being but one, whatever consideration may be had of other inducements or Arguments to beget in us a Persuasion that the Scripture is the Word of God, yet they have no influence into that divine faith wherewith we are bound to believe them. They may indeed be of some use, to repel the objections that are, or may, by any, be raised against the Truth we believe; and so indirectly cherish, and further faith itself; but as to a Concurrence unto the foundation, or formal Reason of our believing, it is not capable of it.

Section 3. Having then laid down the Divine Original of the Scriptures, and opened the manner of the Word's coming forth from God, an Answer shall now on that sole foundation be returned to the Enquiry laid down. And this I shall do in the ensuing Position.

The Authority of God, the supreme Lord of all; the first and only absolute Truth whose Word is Truth, speaking in, and by the Penmen of the Scriptures, evidenced singly in, and by the Scripture itself, is the sole bottom and foundation, or formal Reason, of our assenting to those Scriptures as his word, and of our submitting our hearts and Consciences unto them, with that faith and obedience, which morally respects him, and is due to him alone.

Section 4. God speaking in the Penmen of the Scripture, Hebrews 1:1, his Voice to them was accompanied with its own Evidence, which gave Assurance unto them; And God speaking by them, or their Writings unto us, his Word is accompanied with its own Evidence, and gives Assurance unto us. His Authority and Veracity did, and do in the one and the other sufficiently manifest themselves, that men may quietly repose their Souls upon them, in believing and obedience. Thus are we built [illegible], Ephesians 2:20. on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles, in our believing.

Section 5. That then which to the establishment of the Souls of Believers, I shall labor to prove and evince, is plainly this; namely, that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, do abundantly, and uncontrollably manifest themselves to be the Word of the living God; so that merely on the account of their own proposal of themselves unto us, in the Name and Majesty of God, as such, without the contribution of help or Assistance from Tradition, Church, or any thing else without themselves, we are obliged upon the penalty of eternal damnation (as are all to whom by any means they come, or are brought) to receive them, with that subjection of soul which is due to the Word of God. The Authority of God shining in them, they afford unto us all the divine Evidence of themselves, which God is willing to grant unto us, or can be granted us, or is any way needful for us. So then, the Authority of the written Word, in itself and unto us, is from itself, as the Word of God, and the eviction of that Authority unto us, is by itself.

Section 6. When the Authority of the Scripture is enquired after, strictly its power to command, and require Obedience in the name of God, is intended. To ask then whence it has its Authority, is to ask, whence it has its Power to command in the name of God. Surely men will not say, that the Scripture has its power to command in the name of God, from any thing but itself. And it is indeed a contradiction for men to say, They give Authority to the Scriptures. Why do they do so? Why do they give this Authority to that Book rather than another? They must say, because it is the Word of God. So the Reason why they give Authority unto it, is the formal Reason of all its Authority, which it has antecedently to their charter and concession of Power. [illegible] John 17:17. Thy Word is Truth.

Section 7. Some say indeed, that the Scripture has its Authority in itself, and from itself, or its own divine Original, but not quoad nos; not in respect of us; that it may reach us, that we may know, and understand, and submit to its Authority, it must be testified unto aliunde, from some other person, or thing appointed thereunto: Answer.

1. But may not this be said of God himself, as well as of his word? If God reveal himself to us, it must be by means; and if those means may not be understood to reveal him, unless they are testified unto from somewhat else, God cannot reveal himself to us. Si Deus hominibus non placuerit, utique Deus non erit. If God and his Word, will keep themselves, within themselves, to themselves, they may be God and his Word still, and keep their Authority; but if they will deal with us, and put forth their Commands to us, let them look that they get the Churches Testimonials, or on this Principle, they may be safely rejected; but

Section 8. Authority is a thing that no Person or Thing can have in him, or itself, that has it not in respect of others. In its very nature it relates to others, that are subject unto it. All Authority arises from Relation; and answers it throughout. The Authority of God over his Creatures, is from their Relation to him as their Creator. A Kings Authority is in respect of his subjects. And he who has no subjects, has no Kingly Authority in himself, but is only a Stoical King. The Authority of a Minister relates to his flock; and he who has no flock, has no Authority of a Minister; if he have not a Ministerial Authority, in reference to a flock, a People, a Church; he has none, he can have none in himself. So is it in this Case; If the Scripture has no Authority from itself, in respect of us, it has none in itself, nor can have. If it has it in itself, it has it in respect of us. Such a Respect, that is, a Right to Command and oblige to Obedience, is as inseparable from Authority, or a Moral Power, as heat is from fire. It is true: A man may have de jure, a lawful Authority over them, whom de facto, he cannot force or compel to obedience. But want of force does not lessen Authority. God loses not his Authority over men, though he put not forth towards them, [illegible]. or [illegible], the greatness of his Power, or the Efficacy of the might of his strength to cause them to obey. It is fond then to imagine, that a Man, or any thing, should have an Authority in himself, or itself, and yet not have that Authority in respect of them who are to be subject thereunto. That is not a Law properly at all, which is not a Law to some. Besides, all the evil of Disobedience relates to the Authority of him that requires the Obedience. James 2:10, 11. No action is Disobedience, but from the subjection of him who performs it, unto him who requires Obedience. And therefore if the Scripture has not an Authority in itself, towards us, there is no evil in our disobedience unto its commands; or our not doing what it commands, and our doing what it forbids, is not disobedience, because it has not an Authority over us; I speak of it as considered in itself, before the Accession of the Testimony pretended necessary to give it an authority over us. Hitherto then have we carried this objection; To disobey the commands of the Scripture, before the communication of a Testimony unto it by men, is no sin; credat Apella.

Section 9. The sense then of our Position is evident and clear; and so our Answer to the Enquiry made. The Scripture has all its Authority from its Author, both in itself, and in respect of us; that it has the Author and Original pleaded for, it declares itself, without any other Assistance by the Ways and Means, that shall afterwards be insisted on: the Truth whereof, I shall now confirm by one General induction. 2. By Testimonies. 3. By Arguments, expressing the Ways and means of its Revelation of itself.

Section 10. There are 3 ways, whereby God in several Degrees reveals himself, His Properties, His Mind, and Will, to the Sons of men.

1. He does it by his Works, both of Creation and Providence. All thy works praise thee. Psalm 145:10, and so forth. The Heavens declare the Glory of God, and the firmament tells the works of his hands. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night declares knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out throughout the earth, and their word to the end of the world, Psalm 19:1-4, and so forth. So Job: chapter 37, chapter 38, chapter 39; throughout. God who made heaven and earth, and the Sea, and all things that are therein, suffered in times past all nations to walk in their own ways, yet he left not himself without witness in that he did Good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and Gladness, Acts 14:15-17. And, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing he is the Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he gives unto all life and breath, and all things, and has made of one blood all mankind to dwell on the face of the earth, and assigned the seasons which were ordained before, and the bounds of their habitations [Greek text], that they should seek the Lord, if happily they might feel after him and find him. Acts 17:24-27: For, that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them; for the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. Romans 1:18-20. All which places God assisting shall be opened before long, in another Treatise. The sum of them amounts to what was before laid down; namely, that God reveals and declares himself unto us, by the Works of his hands.

Section 11. God declares himself, his Sovereign power and Authority, his Righteousness and Holiness, by the innate (or ingrafted) light of nature, and Principles of the consciences of men. That indispensable moral obedience, which he requires of us, as his creatures subject to his law, is in general thus made known unto us. For the Gentiles which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law; they having not the law, are a law unto themselves, showing the work of the law written in their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts in the mean time excusing or accusing one another. Romans 2:14, 15. By the light that God has indelibly implanted in the minds of men, accompanied with a moral instinct of Good and evil, seconded by that self-Judgment which he has placed in us, in reference to his own over us, does he reveal himself unto the Sons of men. 3rdly. God reveals himself by his Word, as is confessed. It remains then that we enquire, how we may know, and be ascertained that these things are not deceivable Pretences, but that God does indeed so reveal himself by them.

Section 12. First; The Works of God, as to what is his Will to teach and reveal of himself by them, have that Expression of God upon them; that stamp and character of his Eternal Power and Godhead, that Evidence with them that they are his, that where ever they are seen and considered, they undeniably evince that they are so, and that what they teach concerning him, they do it in his Name and Authority. There is no need of Traditions, no need of Miracles, no need of the Authority of any Churches to convince a rational Creature, that the works of God are his, and His only; and that he is Eternal, and infinite in Power that made them. They carry about with them their own Authority. By being what they are, they declare whose they are. To reveal God by his works, there is need of nothing, but that they be by themselves represented, or objected to the consideration of Rational creatures.

Section 13. The Voice of God in nature is in like manner effectual. It declares itself to be from God by its own light and Authority. There is no need to convince a man by substantial Witnesses, that what his Conscience speaks, it speaks from God. Whether it bear Testimony to the Being, Righteousness, Power, Omniscience or Holiness of God himself; or whether it call for that moral obedience which is eternally and indispensably due to him, and so shows forth the work of the law in the heart; it so speaks and declares itself, that without further Evidence or Reasoning, without the Advantage of any considerations, but what are by itself supplied, it discovers its Author from whom it is, and in whose name it speaks. Those [Greek text], those common notions, and general Presumptions of him and his Authority, that are inlaid in the natures of Rational Creatures by the hand of God, to this End, that they might make a Revelation of him as to the Purposes mentioned, are able to plead their own divine Original, without the least contribution of strength or Assistance from without.

Section 14. And thus is it with those things; Now the Psalmist says unto God, Thou hast magnified [Greek text] over all thy name the Word thou hast spoken. The Name of God is all that whereby he makes himself known. Over all this, God magnifies his Word. It lies all in a subserviency thereunto. The name of God, is not here God himself; but every thing whereby God makes himself known. Now it were very strange that those low, dark and obscure Principles and Means of the Revelation of God and his Will, which we have mentioned, should be able to evince themselves to be from him, without any external help, Assistance, Testimony, or Authority, and that which is by God himself magnified above them, which is far more noble and Excellent in itself, and in respect of its end and Order, has far more divinely conspicuous and glorious impressions and Characters of his Goodness, Holiness, Power, Grace, Truth than all the Creation, should lie dead, obscure, and have nothing in itself to reveal its Author, until this or that superadded Testimony, be called in to its Assistance. We esteem them to have done no service unto the Truth, who amongst innumerable other bold denials, have insisted on this also; that there is no natural knowledge of God arising from the innate Principles of Reason, and the Works of God proposing themselves to the consideration thereof; let now the way to the progress of supernatural Revelation be obstructed, by denying, that it is able to evince itself to be from God, and we shall quickly see what banks are cut to let in a flood of Atheism upon the face of the Earth.

Section 15. Let us consider the issue of this General Induction. As God in the creation of the World, and all things therein contained, has so made and framed them, has left such characters of his Eternal Power and Wisdom, in them, and upon them, filled with such Evidences of their Author, suited to the Apprehensions of rational Creatures, that without any other Testimony from himself, or any else, under the naked consideration and Contemplation of what they ARE, they so far declare their Creator, that they are left wholly inexcusable, who will not learn, and know him from thence; So in the giving out of his Word to be the foundation of that World, which he has set up in this world, as [Greek text] a wheel within a wheel, his Church, He has by his Spirit implanted in it, and impressed on it, such Characters of his Goodness, Power, Wisdom, Holiness, Love to mankind, Truth, Faithfulness, with all the rest of his Glorious Excellencies and Perfections, that at all times, and in all Places when [Greek text] the Expansion of it, is stretched over men by his Providence, without any other Witness or Testimony given unto it, it declares itself to be his, and makes good its Authority from him, so that the refusal of it upon its own evidence brings unavoidable condemnation on the souls of men. This comparison is insisted on by the Psalmist, Psalm 19, where as he ascribes [Greek text] and [Greek text] a voice, and line to the creatures, so [Greek text] and so forth. Light, Power, stability and Permanency like that of the heavens and Sun, in commutation of properties to the Word, and in an inexpressible Exaltation of it above them; The light of one day of this Sun, being unspeakably more, than that of seven others, as to the manifestation of the Glory of God.

Section 16. This then is fixed as a Principle of Truth; whatever God has appointed to reveal himself by, as to any special or general End, that those whom he intends to discover himself unto, may either be effectually instructed in his mind and will, according to the measure, degree, and means of the Revelation afforded, or be left inexcusable for not receiving the Testimony that he gives of himself, by any Plea or pretence of want of clear, evident, manifest, Revelation; That, whatever it be has such an impression of his Authority upon it, as undeniably to evince that it is from him. And this now concerning his Word, comes further to be confirmed by Testimonies and Arguments.

Chapter 2.

The main question proposed for consideration. How we may know with certainty that the Scripture is the Word of God. Scripture is to be received by divine faith. The ground and foundation of that faith examined. The answer in the general thesis of this discussion. The authority of God as that foundation. The way that authority is demonstrated or made known. What is meant by the authority of the Scriptures. Authority exists in relation to others. The first general evidence given for the thesis laid down. The various ways God reveals Himself and His mind. 1. By His works; 2. By the light of nature; 3. By His Word. Each of these proves itself to be from Him. His Word especially.

Section 1. Having laid the foundation in the previous chapter that we are to build and proceed on, I now come to set out the question whose answer must be drawn from it. What we are seeking to know is this: How can we -- and all other people in the world who, through God's merciful arrangement, have the book or books in which the Scripture given by Him (as described above) is contained or said to be contained, and who live so many ages after the last person to receive any part of it directly from God, and who have not received it directly ourselves -- how can we become certain, for every purpose we may be concerned with, that the whole and entire written Word in that book or those books has the origin, and therefore the authority, that it claims? That is, how do we know it is from God in the way and manner described, and not a human invention or a collection of cunningly devised fables (2 Peter 1:16)?

Section 2. Since God Himself expects and requires us -- under the threat of His eternal displeasure if we fail (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10) -- to receive Scripture not as we receive other books in relation to their authors (with a firm opinion built on persuasive probable arguments that outweigh any actual objections), but with divine and supernatural faith, setting aside all those arguments that merely produce a conviction not easily dislodged by contrary reasoning or objections, it is especially important to ask: what is the foundation and formal reason for our doing so, if we do? Whatever that foundation is, it answers this crucial question: why, or on what basis, do you believe the Scriptures or books of the Old and New Testament to be the Word of God? Since the formal reason of things is only one, whatever other inducements or arguments may help produce in us a conviction that Scripture is the Word of God, those arguments have no influence on the divine faith with which we are bound to believe it. They may indeed be useful for answering the objections that are or may be raised against the truth we believe, and so indirectly support and strengthen faith itself. But they cannot contribute to the foundation or formal reason of our believing.

Section 3. Having established the divine origin of the Scriptures and explained how the Word came from God, I will now offer an answer to the question posed above, built solely on that foundation. I will do this in the following proposition.

The authority of God -- the supreme Lord of all, the first and only absolute Truth whose Word is Truth -- speaking in and through the writers of Scripture, demonstrated solely in and by Scripture itself, is the only basis and foundation, or formal reason, for our accepting those Scriptures as His Word and for our submitting our hearts and consciences to them, with that faith and obedience which morally relates to Him and is due to Him alone.

Section 4. When God spoke to the writers of Scripture (Hebrews 1:1), His voice to them was accompanied by its own evidence, which gave them assurance. And when God speaks through them, or their writings, to us, His Word is accompanied by its own evidence and gives assurance to us. His authority and truthfulness did and do, in both cases, sufficiently show themselves, so that people may safely rest their souls upon them in believing and obeying. In this way we are built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles in our believing (Ephesians 2:20).

Section 5. What I will work to prove and demonstrate, for the strengthening of believers' souls, is simply this: the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament abundantly and undeniably show themselves to be the Word of the living God. By their very presentation of themselves to us in the name and majesty of God -- without any help or assistance from tradition, the Church, or anything else outside themselves -- we are obligated, on pain of eternal damnation (as is everyone to whom they come by any means), to receive them with the submission of soul that is due to God's Word. The authority of God shining in them, they provide us with all the divine evidence of themselves that God is willing to grant us, can grant us, or is in any way necessary for us. So then, the authority of the written Word, both in itself and toward us, comes from itself as the Word of God, and the proof of that authority to us is accomplished by itself.

Section 6. When we ask about the authority of Scripture, we strictly mean its power to command and require obedience in God's name. To ask where it gets its authority is to ask where it gets its power to command in God's name. Surely no one would say that Scripture gets its power to command in God's name from anything other than itself. It is actually a contradiction for people to say they give authority to the Scriptures. Why do they do so? Why do they give this authority to that book rather than another? They must say: because it is the Word of God. So the reason they give authority to it is the formal reason for all its authority, which it already possessed before their endorsement and granting of power. John 17:17. Your Word is truth.

Section 7. Some say that Scripture has its authority in itself and from itself, or from its own divine origin, but not as far as we are concerned. They claim that for it to reach us, for us to know, understand, and submit to its authority, it must be testified to from outside -- from some other person or thing appointed for that purpose. I answer:

1. But could not the same thing be said about God Himself, just as about His Word? If God reveals Himself to us, He must do so through means. And if those means cannot be understood to reveal Him unless they are confirmed by something else, then God cannot reveal Himself to us. Si Deus hominibus non placuerit, utique Deus non erit. If God and His Word keep themselves within themselves and to themselves, they may still be God and His Word and keep their authority. But if they choose to deal with us and issue their commands to us, they had better get the Church's endorsement first -- or, on this principle, they may safely be rejected. But --

Section 8. Authority is something that no person or thing can possess in himself or itself without also possessing it in relation to others. By its very nature, authority relates to others who are subject to it. All authority arises from relationship and corresponds to it throughout. God's authority over His creatures comes from their relationship to Him as their Creator. A king's authority exists in relation to his subjects. A king who has no subjects has no royal authority in himself -- he is only a pretend king. The authority of a minister relates to his flock. A minister who has no flock has no ministerial authority. If he does not have ministerial authority in reference to a flock, a people, a Church, he has none and can have none in himself. The same is true here: if Scripture has no authority from itself in relation to us, it has none in itself, nor can it have any. If it has authority in itself, it has it in relation to us. Such a relation -- that is, a right to command and require obedience -- is as inseparable from authority, or moral power, as heat is from fire. It is true that a person may have a lawful authority by right over those whom in practice he cannot force or compel to obey. But lack of force does not diminish authority. God does not lose His authority over people even though He may not exercise toward them the greatness of His power or the working of His mighty strength to make them obey. It is foolish, then, to imagine that a person or thing could have authority in himself or itself yet not have that authority in relation to those who should be subject to it. Something that is not a law to anyone is not properly a law at all. Furthermore, all the evil of disobedience relates to the authority of the one who requires obedience. James 2:10-11. No action counts as disobedience unless the one performing it is subject to the one requiring obedience. Therefore, if Scripture does not have authority in itself toward us, there is no evil in our disobedience to its commands. Our failure to do what it commands and our doing what it forbids would not be disobedience, because it has no authority over us -- I am speaking of it as considered in itself, before the addition of the external testimony supposedly necessary to give it authority over us. So we have pushed this objection to its conclusion: to disobey the commands of Scripture before some human testimony is attached to it is no sin. Let the gullible believe that.

Section 9. The meaning of our position is therefore clear and plain, and our answer to the question has been given. Scripture has all its authority from its Author, both in itself and in relation to us. That it has the Author and origin claimed for it, it declares by itself, without any other assistance, through the ways and means that will be discussed below. I will now confirm the truth of this: first, by one general argument; second, by testimonies; and third, by specific arguments demonstrating the ways and means of Scripture's self-revelation.

Section 10. There are three ways by which God, in varying degrees, reveals Himself -- His character, His mind, and His will -- to humankind.

1. He does it through His works, both of creation and providence. All Your works praise You. Psalm 145:10, and so forth. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky proclaims the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, and night after night they reveal knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:1-4, and so forth. The same is found in Job chapters 37, 38, and 39, throughout. God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them, allowed all nations in past times to walk in their own ways. Yet He did not leave Himself without witness, because He did good, giving rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Acts 14:15-17. And, God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Neither is He served by human hands as though He needed anything, since He gives to all people life and breath and all things. He made from one blood every nation of humanity to live on the face of the earth, and determined the appointed seasons and the boundaries of their dwelling places, so that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him. Acts 17:24-27. All of these passages, God willing, will be explained more fully in another treatise. The sum of them amounts to what was stated above: namely, that God reveals and declares Himself to us through the works of His hands.

Section 11. God declares Himself -- His sovereign power and authority, His righteousness and holiness -- through the inborn light of nature and the principles of human conscience. The non-negotiable moral obedience He requires of us as His creatures subject to His law is, in general, made known to us in this way. For the Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things required by the law; they, not having the law, are a law to themselves, showing the work of the law written in their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them. Romans 2:14-15. Through the light God has permanently planted in people's minds -- accompanied by a moral sense of good and evil, backed up by the self-judgment He has placed in us in relation to His own judgment over us -- He reveals Himself to humankind. Third, God reveals Himself through His Word, as everyone agrees. It remains, then, for us to ask: how can we know and be certain that these things are not deceptive claims, but that God truly reveals Himself through them?

Section 12. First, the works of God -- as far as what He intends to teach and reveal about Himself through them -- carry such an expression of God upon them, such a stamp and mark of His eternal power and Godhead, such evidence that they are His, that wherever they are seen and considered, they undeniably prove themselves to be so. What they teach about Him, they teach in His name and with His authority. There is no need of traditions, no need of miracles, no need of the authority of any churches to convince a rational creature that God's works are His and His alone, and that He who made them is eternal and infinite in power. They carry their own authority with them. By being what they are, they declare whose they are. For God to reveal Himself through His works, nothing is needed except that those works be presented to the consideration of rational creatures.

Section 13. The voice of God in nature is equally effective. It declares itself to be from God by its own light and authority. There is no need to convince a person through outside witnesses that what their conscience speaks, it speaks from God. Whether conscience testifies to the being, righteousness, power, omniscience, or holiness of God Himself, or whether it calls for the moral obedience that is eternally and absolutely due to Him -- thus showing the work of the law in the heart -- it speaks and declares itself so clearly that, without further evidence or reasoning, without any advantage beyond what it supplies itself, it makes known its Author -- the one from whom it comes and in whose name it speaks. Those common ideas and general assumptions about God and His authority that are built into the nature of rational creatures by God's own hand, for the purpose of revealing Him in the ways mentioned, are able to prove their own divine origin without the slightest help or support from outside.

Section 14. This is how things stand with those lesser means of revelation. But the psalmist says to God: You have magnified Your Word above all Your name -- above everything by which You make Yourself known. The name of God is everything by which He makes Himself known. Above all this, God magnifies His Word. Everything else serves in support of it. The name of God here is not God Himself, but everything by which God makes Himself known. Now it would be very strange if those dim, limited, and obscure principles and means of God's revelation that we have mentioned could prove themselves to be from Him without any external help, assistance, testimony, or authority, while the Word that God Himself has exalted above them -- which is far more noble and excellent in itself and in its purpose and design, and which bears far more divinely striking and glorious marks of His goodness, holiness, power, grace, and truth than all creation -- should lie lifeless, hidden, and have nothing in itself to reveal its Author, until this or that added testimony is called in to help it. We consider those who, among their countless other bold denials, have also insisted that there is no natural knowledge of God arising from the inborn principles of reason and God's works presenting themselves for consideration, to have done no service to the truth. Now let the path to supernatural revelation also be blocked by denying that it can prove itself to be from God, and we will quickly see what barriers are being removed to let a flood of atheism sweep across the face of the earth.

Section 15. Let us consider where this general argument leads. Just as God, in creating the world and everything in it, has so made and shaped them, leaving such marks of His eternal power and wisdom in them and upon them, filled with such evidence of their Author and suited to the understanding of rational creatures, that without any other testimony from Himself or anyone else, simply by being considered and observed for what they are, they reveal their Creator so clearly that those who refuse to learn and know Him from them are left completely without excuse -- so also, in giving out His Word as the foundation of that world He has established within this world (like a wheel within a wheel -- His Church), He has by His Spirit implanted in it and impressed on it such marks of His goodness, power, wisdom, holiness, love for humanity, truth, faithfulness, and all the rest of His glorious perfections, that at all times and in all places where its reach is extended over people by His providence, without any other witness or testimony, it declares itself to be His and proves its authority from Him. The refusal of it based on its own evidence brings unavoidable condemnation on people's souls. The psalmist pursues this comparison in Psalm 19, where he attributes a voice and a line to the created world and ascribes the same and more to the Word. Light, power, stability, and permanence like that of the heavens and the sun are given to the Word by this exchange of qualities, with an indescribable exaltation of the Word above them. The light of one day of this Sun is immeasurably greater than that of seven others in revealing the glory of God.

Section 16. This, then, is established as a principle of truth: whatever God has appointed to reveal Himself through, whether for a specific or general purpose -- so that those He intends to make Himself known to may either be effectively taught His mind and will (according to the measure, degree, and means of the revelation given) or be left without excuse for not accepting the testimony He gives of Himself, with no valid plea of insufficient, unclear, or hidden revelation -- that thing, whatever it may be, carries such an imprint of His authority upon it as to undeniably prove it is from Him. And this point, concerning His Word, will now be further confirmed by testimonies and arguments.