PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

[ vi ]
tion, with '\vhich the gratitude of Protestant
churches relnerr~.bers their ser- .
vices. What they did for 11lankind
,vas this: they exonerated Christianity
of a "\veight '\" hich sunk it. If indolence
or tilniditv had checked these ex-
~
tcrtions, or suppressed the fruit and
publication of these enquiries, is it too
luueh to affirln, that infidelity \\Tould at
this day have been universal?
I do not ll1ean, my Lord, by the
Jl1ention of this ~.xanlple, to insinuate,
that any popular opinion \:vhich your
Lordship tnay have encountered, ought
to be cOlllnared ,vith transubstantiation,
or that the assurance ,vith ,vhich ,ve
reject that extravc:gant absurdity is attaillable
ill the controversies in ",~hicl,
your Lordship has been engaged: but
! Inean, by calling to mind those great
refortners of the public faith, to observe,
or rather to express Iny o'vn
persuasion, that to restore the purity,
is most effectually to pr01110te tlv=;
progress of Christianity; and that the
same Vil"-tll0llS motive wllicll hatll sa11C ..
t.ified their labours, suggested yours.
i\.t a tinlc ,vhcn some Inen appear not