x churches, respecting predestination and election, though they
allege that these doctrines are not consistently taught. But they differ
from the majority of all sects of Christians in various other important
particulars, such as,--

1. Respecting our knowledge of the Deity. Upon this subject, they say the
majority of professed Christians stumble at the very threshold of
revelation; and, by admitting the doctrine of natural religion, natural
conscience, natural notices, &c., not founded upon revelation, or derived
from it by tradition, they give up the cause of Christianity at once to
the infidels, who may justly argue, as Mr. Paine, in fact, does, in his
"Age of Reason," that there is no occasion for any revelation or word of
God, if man can discover his nature and perfections from his works alone.
But this, the Bereans argue, is beyond the natural powers of human reason;
and, therefore, our knowledge of God is from revelation alone; and,
without revelation, man would never have entertained an idea of his
existence.

2. With regard to faith in Christ, and assurance of salvation through his
merits, they differ from almost all other sects whatsoever. These they
reckon inseparable, or rather the same, because (they say) "God hath
expressly declared, He that believeth shall be saved; and, therefore, it
is not only absurd, but impious, and, in a manner, calling God a liar, for
a man to say, 'I believe the gospel, but have doubts, nevertheless, of my
own salvation.' " With regard to the various distinctions and definitions
that have been given of different kinds of faith, they argue that there is
nothing incomprehensible or obscure in the meaning of this word, as used
in Scripture; but that, as faith, when applied to human testimony,
signifies neither more nor less than the mere simple belief of that
testimony as true, upon the authority of the testifier, so, when applied
to the testimony of God, it signifies precisely "the belief of his
testimony, and resting upon his veracity alone, without any kind of
collateral support from concurrence of any other evidence or testimony
whatever." And they insist that, as this faith is the gift of God alone,
so the person to whom it is given is as conscious of possessing it, as the
being to whom God gives life is of being alive; and, therefore, he
entertains no doubts, either of his faith, or his consequent salvation
through the merits of Christ, who died and rose again for that purpose.