Persecution for conscience' sake, that is, inflicting penalty upon men merely for their religious principles or worship , is plainly founded on a supposition that one man has a right to judge for another in matters of religion , which is manifestly absurd, and has been fully proved to be so by many excellent writers of our Church . Undoubtedly he would complain of this as a very great hardship , and soon see the absurdity and injustice of such a treatment when it fell upon him, and when such measure as he would mete to others was measured to him again. True religion imports an entire change of the heart , and it must be founded in the inward conviction of the mind , or it is impossible it should be, what yet it must be, a reasonable service. Let it only be considered what violence and persecution can do towards producing such an inward conviction . A man might as reasonably expect to bind an immaterial spirit with a cord, or to beat down a wall with an argument, as to convince the understanding by threats and tortures .
Persecution is much more likely to make men hypocrites than sincere converts .
Persecution tends to produce much mischief and confusion in the world . The cause of truth itself must, humanly speaking, be not only obstructed, but destroyed , should persecuting principles universally prevail . For, even upon the supposition that in some countries it might tend to promote and establish the purity of the Gospel , yet it must surely be a great impediment to its progress.