Rivals will run up to thee
and call thee a plagiary, and, rather than that proof should be
wanting, similar words to some of thine will be thrown in thy teeth
out of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
"'Do you desire calm studies? Do you desire high thoughts?
Penetrate into theology. What is nobler than to dissect and discern
the opinions of the gravest men upon the subtlest matters? And what
glorious victories are those over Infidelity and Scepticism! How
much loftier, how much more lasting in their effects, than such as
ye are invited unto by what this ingenious youth hath contemptuously
and truly called
"The swaggering drum, and trumpet hoarse with rage."
And what a delightful and edifying sight it is, to see hundreds of
the most able doctors, all stripped for the combat, each closing
with his antagonist, and tugging and tearing, tooth and nail, to lay
down and establish truths which have been floating in the air for
ages, and which the lower order of mortals are forbidden to see, and
commanded to embrace. And then the shouts of victory! And then the
crowns of amaranth held over their heads by the applauding angels!
Besides, these combats have other great and distinct advantages.
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