L00 A CAVEAT AGAINST INFIDELITY. litern. Those who have been, as it vyere, exalted to heaven, as Capernaum anti Bethsaida were, in the discoveries of the gospel, and yet obstinately reject it, what can they expect but the fate and sentence of Capernaum and Bethsaida, that is, to be thrust down to hell, without pity or hope of pardon ? Methinks, I feel a pain at my heart, when I,am forced to use such language. But know- ing the threatenings and terrors of the Lord, we endeavour to persuade men ;' 2 Cor. v. 11. that they would not oblige him to the terrible execution of them. O may divine light and pre- venting grace, overpower their chosen darkness, and lead them captive to the obedience of faith, and thereby to everlasting glory! Question X. Suppose a man' has taken great and sincere pains in searéhing into the evidences of the christian religion, suppose him heartily desirous to receive conviction of the truth, attentive to the force of every argument, and engaged in daily supplications to God, to lead hint into the right way of salvation ; and yet, after all, he solemnly declares, that the evidences,. at present, arise no higher in his judgment, than to a mere proba- bility : Suppose he can get no further than just to say, " I do rather think the gospel true than false :" Is such a one bound to practise christianity ? Answer. Yes, by all means: And that for these three reasons: I. In such sort of questions, where the truth and evidence depend much upon matters of fact, which were done in past ages, and distant nations, such as ancient miracles and prophe- cies, &c, wecannot arise to such a natural or mathematicalcer- tainty, as we may in questions about things present, which are the objects of our senses, or about propositions in geometry, where our reason sees the strongest proof and undeniable demon- stration. In such questions, therefore, as the ancient prophecies and miracles, which support the truthof the Jewish or the chris- tian religion, we canarrive only at a moral certainty, by the use of our reasoning powers on these evidences : This moral cer- tainty, is built on sucha degree of evidence,.that it is hardlypos- sible in the nature-of things, that the contestedproposition should not be true. It is with this moral certainty, the generality of men in England believe there is a pope at Rome, that there is a king of Spain, or that they make fine silks in China, or that king George reigns in Great Britain. Now, if our evidence rises but to a probability, it ought certainly to influence our prac- tice, since a moral certainty, which is all that I here plead for, is but the highest degree, of this kind: We do not expect demonstrations in such a case, though the assent sometimes is so just and so strong, that, in many cases, it may be well called assurance. We may boldly and truly say, we are sure,
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