Sealing of the Spirit of God

None of all these arguments can undoubtedly persuade the heart certitudine fidei, that the holy Scripture, or any doctrine contained in it is the word of God, till we be taught it of God, till the holy Spirit of God have inwardly certified and assured us of it. This is called the Sealing of the Spirit of God, Ephes. 1. 13. by this the Scripture is imprinted in our hearts as the signe of the Seale in the Wax. Other arguments may convince, but this is absolutely necessary; this is alsufficient to perswade certainly, Matth. 11. 25. The Holy Ghost is the authour of light, by which we understand the Scripture, and the persuader of the heart, by which we believe the things therein to be truly divine, 1 John 5. 6. It is the Spirit that beareth witnesse, because the Spirit, (i. metonynmically the doctrine delivered by the Spirit) is truth. So to prove that there is a God, reasons may be brought from nature and the testimony of the Church, but no man can believe it savingly, but by the Holy Ghost.

 

Edward Leigh. A Treatise of Divinity (London, UK: E. Griffin, 1646), 23-24