40.'
'God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that every
one that BELIEVETH ON HIM should not perish, but should have eternal
life,' John iii. 15, 16. 'HE THAT BELIEVETH ON THE SON, hath eternal
life; but he that believeth not the Son will not see life; but the wrath
of God abideth on him,' John iii. 36." He afterwards said, "Demonstrate
also the THIRD, and the next two doctrines:" I replied, "What need is
there to demonstrate 'that evils ought to be shunned, because they are
of the devil and from the devil; and that goods ought to be done,
because they are of God and from God;' also 'that the latter are to be
done by a man as from himself; but that he ought to believe that they
are from the Lord with him and by him?' That these three doctrines are
true, is confirmed by the whole Sacred Scripture from beginning to end;
for what else is therein principally insisted on, but to shun evils and
do goods, and believe on the Lord God? Moreover, without these three
doctrines there can be no religion: for does not religion relate to
life? and what is life but to shun evils and do goods? and how can a man
do the latter and shun the former but as from himself? Therefore if you
remove these doctrines from the church, you remove from it the Sacred
Scripture, and also religion; and these being removed, the church is no
longer a church.
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