“Such is the woful Degeneracy and Corruption of human Nature, even in the Church herself, that if by the Mercy and Goodness of God, She be for a While freed from a persecuting Sword, She soon waxeth wanton, turns luxuriant, and becomes the Disturber of her own Peace; either by Error or Division, and commonly there is a Mixture of both together.” — John Thomson, The Doctrine of Convictions Set in a Clear Light (1741), pp. 1–2