The Secret Cause of Atheism

...[B]efore a man believe God's love to him in Christ, though he may have a kind of love to God, as He is his Creator and Preserver, and gives him many good things for this present life, yet if God do but open his eyes, to see what condition his soul is in, that is, if He do but let him see that relation that is betwixt God and him, according to the tenor of the covenant of works, then he conceives of Him as an angry Judge, armed with justice against him, and must be pacified by the works of the law, whereunto he finds his nature opposite and contrary; and therefore he hates both God and His law, and doth secretly wish and desire there were neither God nor law. And though God should now give unto him ever so many temporal blessings, yet could he not love Him; for what malefactor could love that judge or his law, from whom he expected the sentence of condemnation, though he should feast him at his table with ever so many dainties? - Edward Fisher, The Marrow of Modern Divinity, page 194.