A53726:104
The reason of faith, or, An answer unto that enquiry, wherefore we believe the…
The reason of faith, or, An answer unto that enquiry, wherefore we believe the scripture to be the word of God with the causes and nature of that faith wherewith we do so : wherein the grounds whereon the Holy Scripture is believed to be the word of God with faith divine and supernatural, are declared and vindicated / by John Owen ...
London: printed for Nathaniel Ponder, 1677
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. That this Assent is sufficient, all that is required of us, and contains in it all the Assurance which our minds are capable of in this matter. For no further Evidence nor Assurance is in any case to be enquired after than the subject matter will bear. And so is it in this Case, where the Truth is not exposed to Sense, nor capable of a scientifical Demonstration, but must be received upon such Reasons and Arguments, as carry it above the highest Probability, though they leave it beneath Science or Knowledge, or infallible Assurance; if such a Persuasion of Mind there be.
2. That this Assent is sufficient, all that is required of us, and contains in it all the Assurance which our minds are capable of in this matter. For no further Evidence nor Assurance is in any case to be enquired after than the subject matter will bear. And so is it in this Case, where the Truth is not exposed to Sense, nor capable of a scientifical Demonstration, but must be received upon such Reasons and Arguments, as carry it above the highest Probability, though they leave it beneath Science or Knowledge, or infallible Assurance; if such a Perswasion of Mind there be.
But yet I must needs say, that although those external Arguments, whereby learned and rational Men have proved or may yet further prove the Scripture to be a divine Revelation given of God, and the Doctrine contained in it to be a heavenly Truth, are of singular Use for the strengthening of the Faith of them that do believe, by relieving the mind against Temptations and Objections that will arise to the contrary, as also for the Conviction of Gainsayers; yet to say that they contain the formal Reason of that Assent, which is required of us unto the Scripture as the Word of God, that our Faith is the Effect and Product of them, which it rests upon and is resolved into, is both contrary to the Scripture, destructive of the Nature of divine Faith, and exclusive of the Work of the Holy Ghost in this whole matter.