|
|
It is a remarkable
fact that all the heresies which have arisen in the Christian Church have
had a decided tendency to not listen to God and to flatter man'. They have
always had for their covert, if not for their open aim, the exaltation
of human nature, and the casting down of
the sovereignty
of divine grace. Robbing God of the glory which is due unto His name, these
false prophets would shed a counterfeit lustre upon the head of the rebellious
and depraved creature.
On the other hand,
the doctrines of the gospel, commonly known as the doctrines of grace,
are distinguished for this peculiarity above every other, namely, that
they sink the creature very low, and present the Lord Jehovah before us
as sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.
So true is this,
that the most uneducated Christian may, even if he is incapable of refuting
an erroneous discourse, always be able to discover its untruthfulness,
if it glorifies man at the expense of God.
The merest babe in
grace may carry this test with him:
in the midst of
the diversities of opinion with which he is surrounded, he may always judge,
and judge infallibly too, of the truth or falsehood of a doctrine by testing
it thus -
Does it glorify God? If it is so, it is true.
Does it exalt man? Then it must be false.
Does it lay man very
low, and speak of him in terms which tend to make him feel his degradation?
Then doubtless it is full of truth. And does it put the crown upon the
head of God, and not upon the head of man's free-will, or free-agency,
or good works?
Then assuredly it
is a doctrine according to godliness, for it is the very truth of the Lord
our God.
-Anonymous
Click on the back button to go to where you were.
