n man,
becomes a perpetual inward Teacher in those who are reborn. "Precious
gifts of the Holy Ghost flow from the essential Being of God into the
heart of the believer." There is, Schwenckfeld holds, a double
revelation of God. The primary Word of God is eternal, spiritual,
inward. "The Word, when spiritual messengers preach or teach, is of
two kinds with a decided difference in their manner of working. One is
of God, even is God, and lives and works in the heart of the messenger.
This is the inner Word, and is in reality nothing else than the
continued manifestation of Christ. He is inwardly revealed, and heard
with the inward ears of the heart."[17] It is, in fact, God Himself
_operating_ as Life and Spirit and Light upon the spiritual substance
of the human soul, first as the Life-Seed which forms the new creation
in man, and afterwards as the permanent {73} nourishing and tutoring
Spirit who leads the obedient soul on into all the Truth, and perfects
it into the likeness and stature of Christ. "There is a living, inner
Scripture, written in the believer's heart by the finger of God."
"This inner Scripture has an active creative power of holiness, and
makes holy, living, righteous and saved all those in whose hearts it is
written."

The _divine word_ in the secondary sense is the outward word--the word
of Scripture. "The other word which serves the inner Word with voice,
sound, and expression is the external word, and is heard by the
external man with his ears of sense, and is written and read in
letters. He who has read and heard only that, and not the inner Word,
has not heard the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of Grace, nor has he
received or understood it."[18] It is at best only the witness or
testimony which assists the soul to find the real life-giving Word.
Cut apart from the inner spiritual Word, the word of the letter is
"dead," as the body would be if sundered from the spirit. "It paints
truth powerfully for the eye, but it cannot bring it into the
heart."[19] "The Scriptures cannot bring to the soul that of which
they speak. This must be sought directly from God Himself."[20] In
his practical use of Scripture and in his estimate of its importance he
is hardly behind Luther himself. "There is," he says, "no writing on
earth like the Holy Scriptures."[21] His Christianity is penetrated
and illuminated at every point by the profound spiritual experiences of
the saints of the Bible, and still