In reading many books there is great danger of being corrupted from the simplicity of pure religion. Heresies have generally sprung from men of superior talents and unsanctified learning, who would not be in subjection to the plain declarations of Scripture. The apostle gives a rule, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy." Let all your sentiments on religious subjects be wholly subject to the Bible, and taken not from a few partially-extracted passages, but from an enlarged view of the whole, and a comparison of the different parts of truth one with another. No religious truth is essential, but what is plainly asserted, or may be easily deduced from the Holy Scriptures. All things, then, that human writers assert, must be proved by this test, and received and rejected as they are comfortable or not to the only infallible standard.
- Edward Bickersteth, bishop of Exeter (1786-1850)
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