--Thus did these ill-advised persons,
by a breach of that charity and unity, which Scripture every where
enjoins, prevent the Protestant church from exhibiting the surest marks
of Christian verity. Instead of alluring people to come out of the
mystical Babylon, these most lamentable divisions and controversies
about trifles have driven thousands into the perilous labyrinths of a
persuasion, which admits no difference of opinion, or into the yet more
dreary dungeons of Atheism, whose most formidable objection to our
faith, is the ill blood which it foments. Never have these enemies to
God and man made such progress, as since the time when spiritual pride,
turbulence and ambition, united under the name of perfect reformation,
to pluck down an edifice constructed in moderation, defended by the
doctrines, beautified by the labours, and cemented by the blood of its
founders."
The fiery zeal of Davies would not permit Dr. Beaumont to finish his
harangue. "And ye planted in your edifice," said he, "a poisonous scion,
an abominable branch of the tree of evil; but our friend Humphreys
speaks not unadvisedly, or at peradventure.
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