occæcation

Thus the sceptic, “speaking evil of the things which he knows not,” and which, while he labours under his present state of mental occæcation, he cannot know, either in the garb of a mild and specious eloquence strives to sap the foundations of the gospel, or with his pen dipped in gall and venom, proceeds in his bold career, beguiling the hearts of the simple, and exulting in his fancied victory.