Laudator Temporis Acti

Thomas More (1478-1535), Utopia, Book II (tr. Robert M. Adams):

In these prayers each one acknowledges God to be the creator and ruler of the universe and the author of all good things. He thanks God for the many benefits he has received, and particularly for the divine favour which placed him in the happiest of commonwealths and inspired him with religious ideas which he hopes are the truest. If he is wrong in this, and if there is some sort of society or religion more acceptable to God, he prays that God will, in his goodness, reveal it to him, for he is ready to follow wherever he leads. But if their form of society is the best and their religion the truest, then he prays that God will keep him steadfast, and bring other mortals to the same way of life and the same religious faith — unless, indeed, there is something in this variety of religions which delights his inscrutable will.

In his Deum et creationis et gubernationis et ceterorum praeterea bonorum omnium quilibet recognoscit auctorem, tot ob recepta beneficia gratias agit, nominatim vero, quod Deo propitio in eam rem publicam inciderit, quae sit felicissima, eam religionem sortitus sit, quam speret esse verissimam. Qua in re si quid erret aut si quid sit alterutra melius et quod Deus magis approbet, orare se, eius bonitas efficiat, hoc ut ipse cognoscat: paratum enim sequi se, quaqua versus ab eo ducatur; sin et haec rei publicae forma sit optima et sua religio rectissima, tum, uti et ipsi constantiam tribuat et ceteros mortales omneis ad eadem instituta vivendi, in eandem de deo opinionem perducat, nisi inscrutabilem eius voluntatem etiam sit, quod in hac religionum varietate delectet.