cannot resist it,—it is bound and forced to believe it; not from any compulsory measure, but from the clear force of the thing, because it is self evident; and when we have self evident certainty of any thing, though we had no belief about it before, this will be a saving knowledge." p. 146.
How fully in this extract is shown the root of the false doctrines, which it is our object to expose, in contrast with Scripture, viz., the pride of the deceived heart of man, setting itself above the wisdom of God. We now see the reason for the pains that were taken to undermine the Scriptures; until this was done, it was less likely that men would be persuaded to abandon their hope of salvation through Jesus Christ, as therein revealed. But after rejecting the authority of the revelation of the Spirit in Holy Scripture, the atonement made for sin by Jesus Christ is boldly denied; and transgressors against the righteous law of an infinitely pure and holy God, are invited to risk the safety of the never dying soul on the deistical notion furnished by Satan, from the perversion of Scriptural truth, (and therefore the more subtle and dangerous) that all men in the world, believers and unbelievers, are in possession of a principle, independent of the Gospel, sufficient for them to secure the favour of God, and eternal life!
The doctrine of the New Testament is,—
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"God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our [believers] hearts, to give the light of the knowledge |
of the glory of God in the face of jesus christ" 2 Cor. iv. 6. "The God of this world hath blinded the minds of |
