". . .Man has no right to think for himself apart from God, or independent of the Revelation of God. God’s declarations are to be received in unquestioning simplicity. What we are to believe, what we are to do, how we are to worship, are not matters of opinion or speculation: they are truths —truths not reasoned out or demonstrated by man, but dictated by God, and coming to us, therefore, with a certainty which man cannot add to or improve, and which no strength of mathematical demonstration can surpass.
"This thinking for one’s-self independently of God and His Revelation, is…a sin. Nay, it is a sin of more than common darkness—it is so audacious, and contemptuous towards God. It places man on a level with God, or at least sets Divine truth and human opinion on the same footing. It strips the former of all innate authority, while it gives to the latter an authority to which it has no claim.
"It makes man the teacher, not the listener or the learner. If it does not call good evil, and evil good; if it does not put light for darkness, and darkness for light, it at least claims the right of saying what is evil and what is good—what is light and what is darkness. It is another development of the old temptation, “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Nor is it of any consequence who it is that claims the right of settling religious truth or worship. It may be one man, or it may be many men. It may be a church, or a priest, or a council. It matters not. In such things there can be no authority save that which is infallible and Divine, that is, God speaking to us directly in His Word.”
(Horatius Bonar, "God Defines How He Will Be Worshiped", Reformed Bibliophile)
