There is nothing more to be said on intolerance when we consider it in its excess. We all now know what we ought to think of the severities and persecutions which history has transmitted an account of, and we know the opinion we should form of many acts of intolerance and inhumanity which some have for a long time gloried in; and we cannot stifle our indignation at the sight of the faggots that are still lighted round those unhappy wretches scattered over the face of the earth, of whom Jesus Christ himself said, with so much goodness, in the midst of his agonies; _Father forgive them, for they know not what they do_. It is time to abolish for ever those dreadful customs, ignominious remembrance of our ancient phrensies! O God, are these Thy creatures that they dare to torment in Thy name! Is it the work of Thy hand that they sacrifice to Thy glory?—Petty tyrants! ferocious inquisitors! do you expect to obtain the favour of Heaven, with a heart hardened, after mutilating the members and tearing the bosoms of those whom you can only draw to you by a sentiment of pity? whose emotions you are not acquainted with? The God of goodness rejects such offerings—He cannot away with them. Who then will pardon errors, if not men who are continually deceived! Alas! if exactness of judgment, or the perfection of reason, were the only title to divine benevolence, there is not any one who might not cast down his eyes devoid of all hope. Those who proudly flatter themselves, that they alone know the worship agreeable to the Supreme Being, lose all their claim to our confidence, when, guided by a spirit of intolerance, they depart so visibly from the character which ought to inspire the idea of a God, protector of human weakness. But the absurd attempt to inspire faith by acts of rigour and severity, has been so often and so ably combated, that I shall not dwell on a principle, the truth of which common sense will discover. I shall only make one observation sufficient to intimidate the conscience of inquisitors, and all those who adopt their maxims. The operations of the mind can only be influenced by reasoning, all the designs formed to attain this end by violence are attempts to subvert the belief of the spirituality of the soul, and indirect associations with materialists; for we must believe in the identity of matter and thought to have a right of presuming, that the empire exercised on us by rigorous treatment can have an influence on our opinions; and then we must consider man as a being governed by mechanical laws, to be able to imagine, that with instruments of torture we can excite a sensation, which, by an unknown conduit, might act instead of judgment and the sentiment of persuasion.