The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Cessation of Special Revelation - Paperback

by Garnet Howard Milne (Author), Joel R. Beeke (Foreword by)

In the opening chapter of the Confession, the divines of Westminster included a clause that implied that there would no longer be any special immediate revelation from God. Means by which God had once communicated the divine will, such as dreams, visions, and the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, were said to be no longer available. However, many of the authors of the WCF accepted that "prophecy" continued in their time, and a number of them apparently believed that disclosure of God's will through dreams, visions, and angelic communication remained possible. How is the "cessationist" clause of WCF 1:1 to be read in the light of these claims? This book reconciles this paradox in a detailed study of the writings of the authors of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

Author Biography

Garnet Howard Milne has served as pastor of two Reformed churches in Wainuiomata and Wanganui, New Zealand, over the past eleven years. He has contributed to the Westminster Theological Journal and was editor of his denominational magazine Faith in Focus for many years. Dr. Milne's doctorate in historical theology, from Otago University, forms the basis of this book.