Page:Essay on the First Principles of Government 2nd Ed.djvu/270

 rotten as he thinks them to be. They have been of excellent service in their day.

To conclude this section with perfect seriousness. I congratulate my reader, and the age in which we live, that the great writers (as Dr. Balguy calls them) in defence of church power, have fallen into neglect, and that their doctrines are, in a manner, forgotten. To account for this remarkable fact, in an age, in which knowledge of all other kinds (and especially the knowledge of government and laws, and I think the knowledge of religion too) has been so greatly advanced, may surprise the Doctor and his friends, and therefore they may resolve it into caprice or chance; but it is no surprise to me, or my friends. Magna est veritas, &c. the translation of which saying I shall give my reader in the words of this author, p. 9. "Truth can never suffer from a free inquiry. The combat may be sharp, but she is sure to conquer in the end." And though the performance I am animadverting upon be an attempt to revive the memory of some