Let us then, in like manner, examine all that is
offered to our belief, and test it by the faculties with which the
great God has endowed us. These rare senses and powers of reasoning
were given to be used freely, but not audaciously, to discover, not
to pervert the truth. Why were so many things presented as through
a veil, unless to stimulate our efforts to clear away the veil, and
penetrate to the light? I think it is plain that St. Paul, while he
calls upon us to believe, never intended that we should be
passively credulous. [Footnote: My son might have further enforced
his view by a passage from St. Paul, 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5
verse 21, had it occurred to him: "Prove all things; hold fast that
which is good." By this the apostle implies, according to
Archbishop Secker's commentary, all things which may be right or
wrong according to conscience. And by "proving them" he means, not
that we should try them by experience, which would be an absurd and
pernicious direction, but that we should examine them by our
faculty of judgment, which is a wise and useful exhortation.]
Credulity was one of the most prominent engines of the Romish
Church, but there was a trace of sense in their application of it.
Pages:
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110