Herman Witsius: Assurance of The Scriptures

Dutchman Herman Witsius (1636-1708) was a Reformed pastor and theologian whose most well know work was The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man (published in Latin in 1677 as De oeconomia foderum Dei cum hominibus).   Wes White, a PCA pastor in South Dakota, has decided to provide the English translation of the French translation of  a different Witsius’ work, The Practice of Christianity (it was originally written in Dutch).  He will be posting that over the next several months.  The first post he has the first part of Chapter 1 discussing the Scriptures.  In this chapter, Witsius deals with the question of assurance:

How are you assured that Scripture is the Word of God and that it is truly from heaven? It is not only because Holy Scripture says this about itself, “All Scripture is divinely inspired” (2 Tim. 3:16). “Prophecy did not come about in former times by the will of man, but it is by the movement of the Holy Spirit that holy men of God spoke” (2 Pet. 1:21). We also believe this because Scripture contains such evident marks of its divine inspiration that whoever pays attention to them will find himself powerfully convinced and persuaded of this divine inspiration. But ultimately we believe because the Holy Spirit clearly testifies to it in our hearts. “The Spirit (who speaks in the heart of believers) is the one who witnesses (also in my heart) that the Spirit (who speaks in Scripture) is the truth” (1 Jn. 5:6).

HT: The Heidelblog