Page:An Index of Prohibited Books (1840).djvu/199

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of real power and courage, who understand their religion, and will defend it with a loyal heart to the utmost. A little more than a century ago she had to sustain a contest much of this character, and was driven from the field with utter rout and disgrace; when a noble band of sound Protestant warriors were roused to the defence of their purified Christian faith, then assailed by the combined powers of Popery, headed by the reigning sovereign, James II. It must, indeed, and with grief, be acknowledged, that a large mixture of what was merely secular, though valuable, and of what was merely intellectual, though valuable likewise, with the spiritual object and means, rendered the victory less pure and decisive that it would otherwise have been. But with no disposition to boast, of which the cause is far enough from us, it may yet be confidently asserted, to the honour of those who are now unfurling the banner of the true cross against the bearers of the false, that they are prevalently faithful, intelligent, and devoted soldiers of their Divine Sovereign and Captain, and both understand and adorn the cause in which they have enlisted themselves. Few, indeed, are now the cases in