of my Meaning, miſrepreſent me, as endeavouring to caſt any Ridicule on the greateſt Perfections of Human Nature; and which do, indeed, alone purify and enoble the Heart of Man, and raiſe him above the Brute Creation. This, Reader, I will venture to ſay, (and by how much the better Man you are yourſelf, by ſo much the more will you be inclined to believe me) that I would rather have buried the Sentiments of theſe two Perſons in eternal Oblivion, than have done any Injury to either of theſe glorious Cauſes.
On the contrary, it is with a View to their Service that I have taken upon me to record the Lives and Actions of two of their falſe and pretended Champions. A treacherous Friend is the moſt dangerous Enemy; and I will ſay boldly, that both Religion and Virtue have received more real Diſcredit from Hypocrites, than the wittieſt Profligates or Infidels could ever caſt upon them: Nay farther, as theſe two, in their Purity, are rightly called the Bands of civil Society, and are indeed the greateſt of Bleſſings; ſo when poiſoned and corrupted with Fraud, Pretence and Affectation, they have become the worſt of civil Curſes, and have enabled Men to perpe-trate
