Faith and Revelation, The Works of Thomas Halyburton, Vol. 3

Rev. Dr. Thomas Halyburton was a son of a Covenanter who became one of the first minsters in the Church of Scotland after the “Killing Times.” He was very doctrinal, practical and experimental (experiential) in his ministry.

Halyburton’s book on the “Insufficiency of Natural Religion, and the Necessity of Revelation” (republished as this volume) was occasioned by the publication of certain treatises written by Lord Herbert of Cherbury with the avowed object of setting aside the pretensions of all “particular religions,” as he termed them, and resting the claims of religion at large on the basis of nature alone.

In his reply to this scheme, Halyburton sets himself largely and distinctly to show that the light of nature is extremely defective, even with respect to the discoveries of a Deity, and the worship that is to be rendered to him; with respect to the question of man’s true happiness, the rule of duty, and the motives to obedience; and that it is unable to discover the means of obtaining pardon for sin, or to eradicate inclinations to sin, and subdue its power. He appeals to reason, to testimony, to matter of fact, and to the general experience of the world.