Search -
Hints on the Formatin of Religious Opinions
Hints on the Formatin of Religious Opinions Author:Ray Palmer Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: RESPONSIBILITY OF MEN FOR THEIR OPINIONS, 43 of fflw for %ir (Dpinicms. John iii. 18 : He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth, no... more »t is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the wily begotten Son of Gud, T7VERY reader of the Scriptures is aware that belief in " Jesus Christ, and in those essential truths which stand in immediate relation to human duty and happiness, is there continually insisted on as an imperative duty. It is so exhibited in the passage just recited. This is the work of God, said our Lord himself, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. He that believeth shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Of sin, because they believe not on me; as though their unbelief were the very sum and essence of their sin. To say nothing now of the divine authority of the Scriptures, we may observe that their style of teaching in reference to the duty of believing what may be known as true, is not at all peculiar. Even' eminent moralist, whether of ancient or modern times, whether in name a heathen or a Christian, has taught the same doctrine as to the duty of accepting the primary truths of religion and morality; those truths, that is, in respect to which the attainment of satisfactory conclusions was to be deemed a practicable thing. It is a remarkable fact, certainly,and one worthy to be specially considered, that the wisest and most candid men of all ages and all nations, when they have addressed mankind with a view to their improvement, have with one consent assumed that the act of believing, of assenting heartily to such moral and religious truths as are or may be known, is a matter of positive and solemn obligation—something which men are bound, and may be authoritatively required to do. It would s...« less