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a persuasion that this third period of learning may far exceed the two 

 former of the Greeks and Romans, provided only that men would well 

 and prudently understand their own powers and the defects thereof; 

 receive from each other the lamps of invention, and not the firebrands 

 of contradiction; and esteem the search after truth as a certain noble 

 enterprise, not a thing of delight or ornament, and bestow their wealth 

 and magnificence upon matters of real worth and excellence, not upon 

 such as are vulgar and obvious. As to my own labors, if any one shall 

 please himself or others in reprehending them, let him do it to the full, 

 provided he observe the ancient request, and weigh and consider what 

 he says " Verbera, sed audi." P And certainly the appeal is just, 

 though the thing perhaps may not require it, from men's first thoughts 

 to their second, and from the present age to posterity. 



We come, lastly, to that science which the two former periods of 

 time were not blessed with; viz., sacred and inspired theology: the 

 sabbath of all our labors and peregrinations. 



