Fuller on 1662 heroes

In the CIRCULAR LETTER of the Northampton Baptist Association of 1785 by Andrew Fuller headed CAUSES OF DECLENSION IN RELIGION, AND MEANS OF REVIVAL we read in one place

Let us recollect the best periods of the Christian church. and compare them with the present; and the best parts of our own life, if we know when they were, and compare them with what we now are. — A recollection of the disinterestedness zeal and godly simplicity of the primitive Christians, and their successors in after-ages, millions of whom, in Christ's cause, loved not their lives unto death, would surely make us loathe ourselves for our detestable lukewarmness! As Protestants, let us think of the fervent zeal and holy piety of our Reformers — think what objects they grasped, what difficulties they encountered, and what ends they obtained! As Protestant Dissenters, let us reflect on the spirit and conduct of our puritan and non-conforming ancestors. Think how they served Goa at the expense of all that was dear to them in this world, and laid the foundation of our churches in woods, and dens, and caves of the earth! Say, too, was their love to God more than need be? Is the importance of things abated since their death? Might not they have pleaded the danger and cruelty of the times in excuse for a non-appearance for God, with much more seeming plausibility than we can excuse our Spirit of hateful indifference? O let us remember whence we are fallen, and repent!