Excerpt from The Spirit of Religious ControversyIt was not, indeed, without a long combat with my apprehensions, that I could be induced to engage in the cause of controversy. I know the general disinclination to controversy. I know, that what we now call liberality, frowns Upon it. I have, besides, many private motives, which argued more powerfully against the un dertaking. It is my ot to move within a small, though respectable, circle of acquaintance, who loudly censure every thing controversial. My Catholic friend condemns whatever is written against the Protestant, as the source of fresh disunion, and my Protestant neighbour, possi bly for the same reason, reprobates whatever is written in defence of the Roman Catholic. Thus, as I love peace, (if I know myself, ) as much as the most peaceful, and should equally with them, be unwilling to disturb it, the fear of public disapprobation, and the dread of private censure, had nearly awed my timidity to silence. However, notwithstanding the impressions which these considerations made upon my mind.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.