Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/235

Rh and perſuaſion are the only practicable inſtruments. To make way for theſe, free inquiry muſt be indulged; how can we wiſh others to indulge it while we refuſe it ourſelves. But every ſtate, ſays an inquiſitor, has eſtabliſhed ſome religion. No two, ſay I, have eſtabliſhed the ſame. Is this a proof of the infallibility of eſtabliſhments? Our ſiſter ſtates of Pennſylvania and New-York, however, have long ſubſiſted without any eſtabliſhment at all. The experiment was new and doubtful when they made it. It has anſwered beyond conception. They flouriſh infinitely. Religion is well ſupported; of various kinds, indeed, but all good enough; all ſufficient to preſerve peace and order: or if a ſect ariſes, whoſe tenets would ſubvert morals, good ſenſe has fair play, and reaſons and laughs it out of doors, without ſuffering the ſtate to be troubled with it. They do not hang more malefactors than we do. They are not more diſturbed with religious diſſenſions than we are. On the contrary, their harmony is unparralleled, and can be aſcribed to nothing but their unbounded tolerance, becauſe there is no other circumſtance in which they differ from every nation on earth. They have made the happy diſcovery, that the way to ſilence religious diſputes, is to take no notice of them. Let us too give this experiment fair play, and get rid, while we may, of thoſe tyrannical laws. It is true, we are as yet ſecured againſt them by the ſpirit of the times. I doubt whether the people of this country would ſuffer an execution for hereſy, or a three years impriſomnent for not comprehending the myſteries of the Trinity. But is the ſpirit of the people an infalliable, a permanent reliance? Is it