berm. (XXVI. Qf a Lielkiatis and Divine hith. which is wrought by the Argument, which we call Teftimony, or Authuriy. But according to the true and general notion of Faith, which .is a perfva/ion of the mind concerning any thing, a perfwaion of the mind concerning a Divine Revelation, may as properly be call'd Faith, as any thing elle, if men will but grant, that a man may be fo fatisfied, concerning a Divine Revelation, as verily to believe and be perfwaded that it is fo. IV. How we may come to beiperfwaded of a Divine Revelation, that it is filch; or by what Arguments this Perfwafion is wrought in us? For anfwer to this it will be requifite diflin&ly to confider,, Firfi, The Perlons to whom a Divine Revelation is immediately made, what affurance they can have of it. And, Second What aflùrancc other perfons can have of ir. I fay, there are diflintly to be confider'd, becaufe there is a very different account to be given of them. . Firjl, As to chore. perlons, to whom the Revelation is immediately made, the queftion is, By what Arguments or Means they may come to be allured, that any Revelation, which they have, is really and truly loch, and not a Delu&on or Impofture. The jewifh Do&ors tell us, that fome kind of Divine Revelations do not carry full afiurance alongwith them, that they are Di. vine 5 fuch are Dreams and Vitions, as they are diftinguifh'd from Prophecy, and as to that kind of Revelation, which they ftri&ly call Prophecy, they give feveral chara&erittical notes to diftinguifh true Divine Revelation from Delufion; fuch as there; that the (pith of delufon only works upon the Imagination, and the lower Faculties; the Divine Spirit of Prophecy upon the underfianding and reafonable pare of the Soul : that delufive Infpirations were accompanied with alienation of mind, which did difcover it Pelf either in Rage and Fury, or Melancholy; but the true Prophetical Spirit is always confiftent with the ufe of reafon and underftanding. They diftinguilh them likewif by the manner of their feifing upon them5 that in the beginning of Infpirations the Prophets tired ro have fome Apparition, or to hear fome voice, either articulate in Words, or inarticulate by Thunder, or the found of a Trumpet, which in the Revela- tiens loth frequently precede St. yohn's Vifions ; and by there they werd af- fured that they were divine. And tartly ; that a Divine lnfpiration' did always carry along with it a flrong Evidence of its original, and that by the vigour and firength of its impreffion, they were fully affured and fatisfied beyond all doubt and hefitation. Thus they. But all that I tball fay by way of Anfwer to this Quefhon, shall be in thefe two Propofitions. x. If we believe any fuch thing as Divine Revelation, we cannot doubt but chore who have it, are fome way or other fully fatisfied of it. The Reafon is evident ; becaufe otherwile it would be in vain, and to no purpofe, and could not pofiibly attain its end. A Divine Revelation cannot poffibly lignify any thing, or in reafon have any effe& upon a, man, unlefs he be fa- tisfied it is fuch : for fo long as he does not know but that it is a delufion. he will not attend to it, or regard ir. So that the diflin&ion of, the 3ewifh Do&ors between Dreams, 'and Vifions, and Prophecy, that this carriesalways full affurance with it, the other not, is vain and unreafonable. z The means whereby this siurante of a Divine Revelation is wrought, is molt probably the evidence it carries along with ir, whereby it did fully facisfie the perfon that had it of its Divine Original. That God can accompany his own Revelations with fuch a clear and overpowering Light as that! difcover to us the Divinity of them, and facisfie us beyond all doubt and feruple, I think no Man can doubt, that confiders the vaft Power and Influence which he mutt needshave overour Underfiandings, who made them, and knows the Frame ,of them : And if this be granted, it is not neceffary to :explain the particular way how it io done, it being a thing' not to be expreft in words, but to be felt and experienced. So'ibat the Argument, whereby this perfwafioi of a Divine Revelation is wrought in thole that have ir, is inward E,roeriérce of the full Satisfaftion and Affurance, which they find to be fùpeinaturallywrought LII in
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