s. viii. p. 461.
For heresy is not an error of the understanding, but an error of the will.
Most excellent. To this Taylor should have adhered, and to its converse. Faith is not an accuracy of logic, but a rectitude of heart.
Ib.
p. 462.
It was the heresy of the Gnostics, that it was no matter how men lived, so they did but believe aright.
I regard the extinction of all the writings of the Gnostics among the heaviest losses of Ecclesiastical literature. We have only the account of their inveterate enemies. Individual madmen there have been in all ages, but I do not believe that any sect of Gnostics ever held this opinion in the sense here supposed.
Ib.
And, indeed, if we remember that St. Paul reckons heresy amongst the works of the flesh, and ranks it with all manner of practical impieties, we shall easily perceive that if a man mingles not a vice with his opinion, — if he be innocent in his life, though deceived in his doctrine, — his error is his misery not his crime; it makes him an argument of weakness and an object of pity, but not a person sealed up to ruin and reprobation.
O admirable! How could Taylor, after this, preach and publish his Sermon in defence of persecution, at least against toleration!