148 ON NOVEL OPINIONS under which it lay almost buried, would not -these defects have been detected, pointed out, rectified, by the penetrating mind of Bishop Jewel in his renowned challenge at Paul's Cross, or in his cele- brated Apology for the church of Eng- land ? Would they not have been expunged or purified by the judicious Hooker, that bulwark of the establish- ment, in his immortal writings on eccle- siastical polity, and on justVcation ? Would they have eluded the observa- tion and correction ofArchbishop Usher, that prodigy of erudition ? We. need not be again told the well- known fact, that there may be abundant learning where there is little enlightened piety ; but in these glorious champions of the faith of Christ, and of the Pro- testant church, learning was only a secondary excellence. Various and pro- found as were their acquirements, they were conscientiously devoted to the pur- pose of advancing and confirming the scarcely established church. Can we
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