William Perkins on the virtues of the heathen

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Reformed Covenanter

Cancelled Commissioner
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God, must believe that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 Geneva Bible)

Hereby it is also manifest that all the virtues of the heathen and the works of such men as either know not Christ or, knowing Him, acknowledge Him not their only Saviour, or, acknowledging Him, do not truly believe in Him with such a faith as “purifieth their hearts” are nothing else but as the fathers called them splendida peccata, gilded and glittering dross, and beautiful deformities. And however this seems harsh, yet it must needs be true, seeing “without faith it is impossible to please God.”

And here also the vanity of some popish writers appears who presumptuously make some philosophers saints, whereas they should first have showed that they believed in Christ, and then we would believe and teach it as willingly as they. But else, if they had had all the learning and all the moral virtues in the world, this must stand: without faith it is impossible to please God.

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