If I demean myself as a good citizen, I am accountable, not to man, but to God, for the religious opinions which I embrace, and the manner in which I worship the supreme being. If such had been the universal sentiments of mankind, and they had acted accordingly, persecution, the bane of truth and nurse of error, with her bloody axe and flaming hand, would never have turned so great a part of the world into a field of blood. But while I assert the rights of religious liberty, I would not deny that the civil power has a right, in some cases, to interfere in matters of religion. For this reason, I heartily approve of our laws against drunkenness, profane swearing, blasphemy, and professed atheism. A test-law is the parent of hypocrisy, and the offspring of error and the spirit of persecution.
Legislatures have no right to set up an inquisition, and examine into the private opinions of men.
The University of Chicago Press Ford, Paul Leicester, ed. Historical Printing Club, 1892. Easy to print version. All rights reserved.