It is not, for want of strength, that the standing ordinary ways of proof are rejected, but for want of sincerity and a disinterested mind in those to whom they are proposed; and the same want of sincerity, the same adhesion to vice, and aversion from goodness, will be equally a reason for their rejecting any proof whatsoever. The evidence they had before was enough, amply enough, to convince them; but they were resolved not to be convinced: And to those, who are resolved not to be convinced, all motives, all arguments are equal. He that shuts his eyes against a small light, on purpose to avoid the sight of somewhat that displeases him, would (for the same reason) shut them also against the sun itself; and not be brought to see that, which he had no mind to see, let it be placed in never so clear a light, and never so near him.
Francis Atterbury, Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions, 9th ed., vol. 2 (London: C. and R. Ware, T. Longman, and J. Johnson, 1774), Sermon II, pp. 34-35.
