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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." 5. "So great things (saith Athanasius) doth our carn. Ver- 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 shows himself unto every one."

Athanasius de In

bi Dei.

Greg. Mag. Hom. 30. upon the

teach

6. Gregory the Great, upon these words [He shall you all things] saith, "That unless the same Gospel. 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."

Cyril.Alex.

in Thesau

7. Cyrillus Alexandrinus plainly affirmeth, "That ro lib. 13. 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."

c. 3.

Bernard in
Psal. 84.

Luther.

76.

8. "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. 5. 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.”

lancthon.

rit alone

Philip Melancthon, in his annotations upon John Phil. Mevi. 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; and therefore to hear the voice of God, to see God, is to know and hear the Spirit. By the By the SpiSpirit alone God is known and perceived. Which God is also the more serious to this day do acknowledge, known. 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."

of Cam

And therefore to this purpose a modern author, viz. Dr. Smith of Cambridge, in his select discourses, Dr. Smith saith well; "To seek our divinity merely in books bridge, and writings, is to seek the living among the dead; concernwe do but in vain many times seek God in these, divinity. ing book 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 voɛpa nap (as Plotinus phraseth 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,) ἕξι και ψυχῆς αίθησις τις, &c. The soul itself hath its sense as well as the body. And there

Apostacy

knowl

edge intro duced.

fore 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 θειότερόν τι πάσης υποSéigeas, (as Origen speaks,) It brings such a divine light into the soul, as is more clear and convincing than any demonstration.”

§. III. That this certain and undoubted method and a false 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 good 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 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

Se.

ty is be

an

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. Thus Christianity is become as it were an art, acquired Christianiby human science and industry, like any other art come or science; and men have not only assumed the art acquired by huname of Christians, but even have procured them- man sciselves to be esteemed as masters of Christianity by industry. 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?

ence and

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, By revelathat inward and immediate revelation is the only tion is the sure and certain way to attain the true and saving ledge 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

true know

God.

of

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? 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 Abel, Seth, means, unless they be also so bold as to exclude instanced. Abel, Seth, Noah, Abraham, Job, and all the holy patriarchs from true knowledge and salvation.

Noah, &c.

§ 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 oth

er.

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.

I. ́

II.

III.

First, That there is no knowledge of the
Father but by the Son.

Secondly, That there is no knowledge of
the Son but by the Spirit.

Thirdly, That by the Spirit, God hath always revealed himself to his children.

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