They have had only
worldly and political motives, for wishing to see the old imposition
done away; and these have been powerless against natural apathy, and
the fixedness of old establishment. Infidelity and indifferentism
prove poor antagonists to superstition.
But when this apathy is one overcome, then the difficulty is, to temper
with discretion the zeal for innovation. Throughout, such only as
heartily prize the true, because it is true, will be likely to shun
alike, rejecting the old for its antiquity, and the new for its
novelty.
The first lesson is, to learn how much of human wisdom is but folly:
the second, that it is not yet all folly, but a good deal of it genuine
wisdom. And he will be most likely to unite these in the habit of
thinking soberly, who first moderates his estimate of human power and
wisdom, by marking how far their utmost flights had failed to
anticipate, what has proved the power of God and the wisdom of God to
the world's renovation. Such is the best preparation for still
learning, how much that wears the appearance of wisdom and science
unsubstantial. This best teaches so to reason soberly and
conscientiously, as not to run into licentiousness the liberty of
thinking.
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