No Vocal Testimony

It is not an outward or inward vocal testimony concerning the Word, as the Papist would impose upon us to believe and assent. We do not affirm that the Spirit immediately, by himself, saith unto every individual believer, This book is, or contains, the word of God. We say not that the Spirit ever speaks to us of the Word, but by the Word. Such an enthusiasm as they fancy is rarely pretended; and where it is so, it is for the most part quickly discovered to be a delusion. We plead not for the usefulness, much less the necessity, of any such testimony. Yea, the principles we have laid down—resolving all faith into the public testimony of the Scriptures themselves—do render all such private testimonies altogether needless.

 

John Owen, Of the Divine Original of the Scriptures, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold, vol. 16 (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, n.d.), 325-326.