320 A CAVEAT AGAINST INFIDELIT'. one is not fit to enter into these debates with men of wit and learning, who are engaged on the side of infidelity. Common plain christians should rather abstain from such sort of confe- rences, as will fill their minds with cavils against the scripture, and objections against the gospel. You know not what unhappy impressions a profane jest, or a shrewd cavil may make upon your spirits : And as the devil is an enemy tothe doctrine and kingdom of Christ, so we have just reason to believe, that he is ever ready to assistthe infidel party. Where the gospel is pub- lished with sufficient evidence, St. Paul tells äs, jhat it is the God of this world that blinds the minds of those that believe not; 2 Cor. iv. 4. And he is ever ready to help them to raise a dust, and to blind others. A witty scoff thrown out against the truth, may pierce the mind deeper, and stick longer than a solid argument to support the truth. How well soever you fancy yourself settled in the principles of your holy religion, yet perhaps you may hear some new subtle objections, or somewitty turn upon the sacred history of the bible, that mayweaken your belief, when you have not an answer ready at hand, to ward off the force of it. Some have been taken and ruined in our ageby these snares of the devil, who have thought themselvesas safe as you. If the providence ofGod plainly call you into an infected house, and evident duty require you to venture your life in the midst of thepestilence, you may humbly hope for divine'preservation and security : But if you venture without a call, you have reason to dread the event. A sincere and humble Christian may be led by the course of his duty into such dangerous company, and he may hope for the assistance of the Spirit and the grace of God, to fill his mouth with arguments, and enable him to defend his faith with holy skill and courage : But if he mingle himself in such sort of con- versation at every turn, without any evident call of providence, and out of a mere idle curiosity of spirit, or from a presumption of the strength of his own faith or arguments, he has but little reason to hope for divine protection from these dangerous and fatal snares. XI. " When you see just reason to believe the gospel of Christ, and have your faith confirmed in it by solid evidence, let not every objection and cavil which you cannot answer, shake your stedfastness, and cast you into doubts again." This is the common practice of infidels, whereby they deceive themselves, and it has been part of their craft in all ages, in order to deceive others ; they turn away their eyesfrom the bright evidence which is given to the gospel, and wink at the glorious lights that sur- round it, while they dwell on some little darknesses that attend it. They call off the eyes of others from the rational and convincing evidence, inorder to fix them upon some of these obscurities and
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