writing, the Church had even then an existence." To trifle in a serious matter with such cavils as this, is highly unbecoming in Christians, unless they have changed their former godly manners and are transformed into Jesuits. The Church is not more ancient than this saying: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head;" (Gen. iii, 15.) although she had an existence before this sentence was recorded by Moses in Scripture. For it was by the faith which they exercised on this saying, that Adam and Eve became the Church of God; since, prior to that, they were traitors, deserters, and the kingdom of Satan-that grand deserter and apostate. The Church indeed is "the pillar and ground of the truth;" (1 Tim. iii, 13.) but the truth is built upon it as a foundation; and thus this pillar bears up the truth and holds it out as an object of sight to be viewed by all mankind. In this way the Church performs the part of a director and a witness to this truth, and its guardian, herald, and interpreter. But in her acts of interpretation, the Church is confined to the sense of the word itself, and is tied down to the expressions of Scripture: for, according to the prohibition of St. Paul, it neither becomes her "to be wise above that which is written;" (1 Cor. iv, 6.) nor is it possible for her to be so, since she is hindered both by her own imbecility, and the depth of things divine.

But it will reward our labour, if in a few words we examine the efficacy of this testimony, since such is the pleasure of the Papists, who constitute "the authority of the Church" the commencement and the termination of our certainty, when she bears witness to the scripture that it is the word of God.-In the first place, the efficacy of the testimony does not exceed the veracity of the witness. The veracity of the Church is the veracity of men: But the veracity of men is imperfect and inconstant, and is always such as to give occasion to this the remark of truth: "All men are liars." Neither is the veracity of him that speaks, sufficient to obtain credit to his testimony, unless the veracity of him who bears witness concerning the truth appear plain and evident to him to whom he makes the declaration. But in what manner will it be possible to make the veracity of the Church plain and evident? This must be done, either by a notion conceived a long time before, or by an impression recently made on the minds of the hearers. But men possess no such innate notion of the veracity of the Church as is tantamount to that which declares, "God is true and cannot lie.” (Tit. i, 2.) It is necessary, therefore, that it be impressed by

some recent action; such impression being made either from within or from without. But the Church is not able to make any inward impression, for she bears her testimony by external instruments alone, and does not extend to the inmost parts of the soul. The impression therefore will be external; which can be no other than a display and indication of her knowledge and probity, as well as testimony,-often truly so called. But all these things can produce nothing more than an opinion in the minds of those to whom they are offered. Opinion, therefore, and not knowledge, is the supreme effect of this efficacy.

But the Papists retort, "that Christ himself established the authority of his Church by this saying, 'He that heareth you, heareth me.'" (Luke x, 16.) When these unhappy reasoners speak thus, they seem not to be aware, that they are establishing the authority of Scripture before that of the Church. For it is necessary that credence should be given to that expression as it was pronounced by Christ, before any authority can, on its account, be conceded to the Church. But the same reason will be as tenable in respect to the whole Scripture as to this expression. Let the Church then be content with that honour which Christ conferred on her when he made her the guardian of his word, and appointed her to be the director and witness to it, the herald and the interpreter.

III. Yet since the arguments arising from all those observations which we have hitherto adduced, and from any others which are calculated to prove the Divinity of the scriptures, can neither disclose to us a right understanding of the scriptures, nor seal on our minds those meanings which we have understood, (although the certainty of faith which God demands from us, and requires us to exercise in his word, consists of these meanings,)-it is a necessary consequence, that to all these things ought to be added something else, by the efficacy of which that certainty may be produced in our minds. And this is the very subject on which we are now prepared to treat in this the third part of our discourse.

9. THE INTERNAL WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

We declare, therefore, and we continue to repeat the declaration till the gates of hell re-echo the sound," that the Holy Spirit, by whose inspiration holy men of God have spoken this word, and by whose impulse and guidance they have, as his amanuenses, consigned it to writing,-that this Holy Spirit is the Author of that light by the aid of which we obtain a perception and an understanding of the divine mean

ings of the word, and is the Effector of that CERTAINTY by which we believe those meanings to be truly divine; and that He is the necessary Author, the all-sufficient Effector." (1) Scripture demonstrates that He is the necessary Author, when it says, "The things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God (1 Cor. ii, 11.) No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” (1 Cor. xii, 3.)—(2) But the Scripture introduces him as the sufficient and the more than sufficient Effector, when it declares, "The wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, he hath revealed unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (1 Cor. ii, 7, 10.) The sufficiency therefore of the Spirit proceeds from the plenitude of his knowledge of the secrets of God, and from the very efficacious revelation which he makes of them. This sufficiency of the Spirit cannot be more highly extolled than it is in a subsequent passage, in which the same Apostle most amply commends it, by declaring, "He that is spiritual [a partaker of this revelation,] judgeth all things," (verse 15.) as having the mind of Christ through his Spirit, which he has received. Of the same sufficiency the Apostle St. John is the most illustrious herald. In his general Epistle he writes these words: "But the anointing which ye have received of Him, abideth in you; and ye need not that any man teach you; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." (1 John ii, 27.) "He that believeth on the Son of God, hath the witness in himself." (1 John v, 10.) To the Thessalonians another Apostle writes thus: "Our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance." (1 Thess. i, 3.) In this passage he openly attributes to the power of the Holy Ghost the certainty by which the faithful receive the word of the gospel. The Papists reply, "Many persons boast of the revelation of the Spirit, who nevertheless are destitute of such a revelation: It is impossible therefore for the faithful safely to rest in it." Are these fair words? Away with such blasphemy! If the Jews glory in their Talmud and their Cabala, and the Mahometans in their Alcoran, and if both of these boast themselves that they are Churches,-cannot credence therefore be given with sufficient safety to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, when they affirm their Divine Origin? Will the truc Church be any less a Church because the sons of the

stranger arrogate that title to themselves? This is the distinction between opinion and knowledge: It is their opinion, that they know that of which they are really ignorant. But they who do know it, have an assured perception of their knowledge. "It is the Spirit that beareth witness that the Spirit is truth;" (1 John v, 8.) that is, "the doctrine, and the meanings comprehended in that doctrine, are truth.”

"But that attesting witness of the Spirit which is revealed in us, cannot convince others of the truth of the Divine word." -What then? It will convince them when it has also breathed on them it will breath its Divine afflatus on them, if they be the sons of the church, all of whom "shall be (GeodidaxTo) taught of God: every man of them will hear and learn of the Father, and will come unto Christ." (John vi, 45.) Neither can the testimony of any Church convince all men of the truth and divinity of the sacred writings. The Papists, who arrogate to themselves exclusively the title of " the Church," experience the small degree of credit which is given to their testimonies, by those who have not received an afflatus from the spirit of the Roman See.

"But it is necessary that there should be a testimony in the Church of such a high character as to render it imperative on all men to pay it due deference."-True. It was the incumbent duty of the Jews to pay deference to the testimony of Christ when he was speaking to them; the Pharisees ought not to have contradicted Stephen in the midst of his discourse; and Jews and Gentiles, without any exception, were bound to yield credence to the preaching of the Apostles, confirmed as it was by so many and such astonishing miracles. But the duties here recited, were disregarded by all these parties. What was the reason of this their neglect? The voluntary hardening of their hearts, and that blindness of their minds which was introduced by the Devil.

If the Papists still contend, that "such a testimony as this ought to exist in the Church, against which no one shall actually offer any contradiction;" we deny the assertion: And experience testifies, that a testimony of this kind never yet had an existence, that it does not now exist, and (if we may form our judgment from the scriptures,) we certainly think that it never will exist.

"But perhaps the Holy Ghost, who is the Author and Effector of this testimony, has entered into an engagement with the Church, not to inspire and seal on the minds of men

this certainty, except through her, and by the intervention of her authority." The Holy Ghost does, undoubtedly, according to the good pleasure of his own will, make use of some organ or instrument in performing these his offices. But this instrument is the word of God, which is comprehended in the sacred books of scripture; an instrument produced and brought forward by Himself, and instructed in his truth. The Apostle to the Hebrews in a most excellent manner describes the efficacy which is impressed on this instrument by the Holy Spirit, in these words: "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. iv, 12.) Its effect is called "Faith," by the Apostle: "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Rom. x, 7.) If any act of the Church occurs in this place, it is that by which she is occupied in the sincere preaching of this word, and by which she sedulously exercises herself in promoting its publication. But even this is not so properly the occupation of the Church, as of " the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers," whom Christ has constituted his labourers "for the edifying of his body, which is the Church." (Ephes. iv, 11.) But we must in this place deduce an observation from the very nature of things in general, as well as of this thing in particular; it is, that the First Cause can extend much further by its own action, than it is possible for an instrumental cause to do; and that the Holy Ghost gives to the word all that force which he afterwards employs, such being the great efficacy with which it is endued and applied, that whomsoever he only counsels by his word he himself persuades by imparting Divine meanings to the word, by enlightening the mind as with a lamp, and by inspiring and sealing it by his own immediate action. The Papists pretend, that certain acts are necessary to the production of true faith; and they say that those acts cannot be performed except by the judgment and testimony of the Church, —such as to believe that any book is the production of Matthew or Luke, to discern between a Canonical and an Apocryphal verse, and to distinguish between this or that reading, according to the variation in different copies. But, since there is a controversy concerning the weight and necessity of those acts, and since the dispute is no less than how far they may be performed by the Church,-lest I should fatigue my most illustrious auditory by too great prolixity,-I will omit at