These men would
have disavowed with horror those wretches who claimed a fellowship
with them upon no other titles than those of their having pillaged the
persons with whom they maintained controversies, and their having
despised the common religion for the purity of which they exerted
themselves with a zeal which unequivocally bespoke their highest
reverence for the substance of that system which they wished to
reform. Many of their descendants have retained the same zeal, but (as
less engaged in conflict) with more moderation. They do not forget
that justice and mercy are substantial parts of religion. Impious
men do not recommend themselves to their communion by iniquity and
cruelty toward any description of their fellow creatures.
We hear these new teachers continually boasting of their spirit of
toleration. That those persons should tolerate all opinions, who think
none to be of estimation, is a matter of small merit. Equal neglect is
not impartial kindness. The species of benevolence which arises from
contempt is no true charity. There are in England abundance of men who
tolerate in the true spirit of toleration. They think the dogmas of
religion, though in different degrees, are all of moment, and that
amongst them there is, as amongst all things of value, a just ground
of preference. They favor, therefore, and they tolerate. They
tolerate, not because they despise opinions, but because they
respect justice.
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