uniformity. What has been the efFeft of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To fupport roguery and error all over the earth. Let us refledl that it is inhabited by a thoufand mil- lions of people. That thefe profefs pro- bably a thoufand different fyftems of reli- gion. That ours is but one of that thou- fand. That if there be but one right, and ours that one, we fhould wifh to fee the 999 wandering fefts gathered into the fold of truth. But againft fuch a majority we cannot effeft this by force. Reafon and perfuafion are the only pradlicable in- ftruments. To make way for thefe, free inquiry muft be indulged; and how can we wifti others to indulge it while we refufe it ourfelves. But every ftate, fays an inquifitor, has eftablilhed fome religion. No two, fay I, have eftabliihed the fame.
Is this a proof of the infallibility of efta- blifhments? Our fifter ftates of Pennfyl- vania and New-York, however, have long fubfifted w^ithout any eftablifliment at all. The experiment was new and doubtful when they made it. It has anfwered be- yond conception. They flouriih infinitely.
Religion is well fupported ; of various kinds, indeed, but all good enough ; all fufficient to preferve peace and order: or if a fe6l arifes, whofe tenets would fubvert morals, good fenfe has fair play, and reafons and laughs it out of doors, without fufFering the ftate to be troubled with it. They do not hang more malefaftors than we do. They are not more difturbed with religious dif- fentions. On the contrary, their harmony is unparalleled, and can be afcribed to nothing but their unbounded tolerance, becaufe there is no other circumftance in which they differ from every nation on earth. They have made the happy difcovery, that the way to filence religious difputes, is to take no notice of them. Let us too give this experiment fair play, and get rid, while we may, of thofe tyrannical laws. It is true, we are as yet fecured againft them by the fpirit of the times. I doubt whether [ 317 J the people of this country would fufFer an execution for herefy, or a three years imprifonment for not comprehending the myfteries of the Trinity. But is the ipirit of the