]SISC.,«j rAITH BUILT ON KNOWLEDGE. Qgg, every dart; you are then best furnished to resist unto death. But I would here chide the ignorant and the lazy Christian. What will you do when ye shall be assaulted with the witty reproaches of the heathens of our age, those apostates from Christianity ? When they shall laugh at you -for a fool, because you profess to be a believer, and they think they have reason to laugh, if you Carr give no reason why you believe ? What will you say, when they shall tell you the gospel of Christ is bu_t a fahle, and en- deavour to scoff you out of your faith? When they shall ridicule you for paying the honours of a God, to a poor man, that was hanged upon a. tree in Jerusalem, and bath been dead and buried seventeen hundred years ago ? What will you say, when they shall ask you, how you can imagine that this man was the Son of God, or the scriptures are of divine original ? Will you answer as a papist does, I believe it because the church believes it?" Or will you reply <with, the Turk, " I believe in Christ, as theTurk doth in Mahomet, because the whole nation believes ?" Or will you give the answer ofa child, " I..believe the bible is the word of God, because my mother told me so? But how unworthy is this of a per- son that professes to be a christian, and is grown to full years of maturity? How ridiculous is it for a man to be- lieve, and he knows not why ? Aman that bath a thou- sand advantages to get his faith well-grounded, and to learn the reason of the hope that is in him? Besides, how. will you be able to stand in such an hour of temptation ? Perhaps you will lose your faith, and all your religion, A bold jest, or a fair shew of argument, may make so deep an impression on a weak and unfur- nished mind, as to give a sudden inlet to the tempter; and your soul may be filled with doubts and suspicions of Christianity : Then from one degree of unbelief you may be led on to another, till you have made shipwreck of the faith and a good conscience too.. Thus you will part with all your hopes of immortality and heaven, for want of a well-grounded knowledge of the person .. in whom you profess to.trust. But further; if persecution should grow sharp, And days of torment and martyrdom return again, howwould you be able to resist unto blood, and tç bear the fiery 2
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