[51]
By this barren creed all foundation for a holy life was taken away. The
people, believing such absurdities, were transported from a period which
is declared by the word of God to be blessed by the "dispensation of the
Spirit" to a cold age in which the excellence of the intellect was
measured by the ingenuity of its thrusts at the Scriptures, and in which
the highest piety was the strictest obedience to the dictates of natural
reason. The inspired advice given to the seekers of wisdom was
travestied and made to read, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
_Reason_ that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it
shall be given him." The Christian of that day had but little to
minister to his spiritual growth. All the endeared institutions of his
church were palsied by the strong arm of the Rationalists, who had
nothing to put in their place. Their time was spent in destruction. They
would pull all things down and erect nothing positive and useful. The
doctrines which they professed to believe were mere negatives,--the
sheer denial of some thing already in existence.
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