Time for a wee competition. From whose mouth/pen did the following words come:
‘For not only has the darkness of foolishness and ignorance so blinded our mind that it can neither sense nor utter anything divine, but also conscience has convicted it of all sins, so that even if our mind may have some light, still it conceals it’.
Closing on Friday. No cheating.
jasongoroncy.com 
Joel Osteen?
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Sounds like John Calvin. Can’t be right — too obvious.
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Calvin crossed my mind too, but I thought I would go with something less obvious. Of course, Osteen is really not obvious, but if I’m right, oh boy!
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I’m going with Jonathan Edwards.
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I will guess Calvin.
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Seeing the other likely ones are taken… perhaps it was James Denney
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Obviously discussing the nature of the fall, and centering the whole thing on human intellect. I’m going to take a stab in the dark and go early. Irenaeus?
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Maybe Augustine?
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I am almost positive this is none other than James Arminius — and I think that it would be from his Dissertation on the true and genuine sense of on Romans 7.
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Oh, and I promise I didn’t cheat — I just read Arminius pretty much on a daily basis these days (and I admit that though I could be wrong about this, I’m sure I could dig up the passage I’m thinking of that basically repeats the above with striking similarity).
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Sounds like you’re in with a chance Dave. By the way I read your thesis on Baptism and Dispossession the other day and really enjoyed it. Or rather, found it challenging and am still processing it.
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Wow, thanks Bruce…keep in mind that if I were to write that paper again today (something I actually hope to do) it would look very different (and I would hope would be written much better than it is!). But I appreciate it.
More and more I am thinking I could be wrong about Arminius — Arminius really does say something very close to this, but I don’t know…I haven’t take the time to just go check yet. After all, Jason did say no cheating!
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OK so I cheated, but this kind of thing is not fair to ex librarians who just can’t help looking things up within the first 20 seconds of seeing the question.
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I would like to add a second vote: John Wesley.
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I think it’s Calvin . . . which is probably too obvious.
I was just reading Partee on Calvin, and he quotes some very similar things from Calvin on the sensus divinitatis.
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Sounds like Calvin, but I’m going with Augustine of Hippo.
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If the latest post with the picture of the astronomical device is a hint, I will give a split guess and say Gallileo.
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