The mind, in discovering truth, acts in the same manner as it acts through the eye in discovering objects; when once any object has been seen, it is impossible to put the mind back to the same condition it was in before it saw it.
From "Rights of Man," this passage uses the analogy of sight to explain that once the mind perceives truth, it cannot revert to its prior state of unknowing.
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But as religion is very improperly made a political machine, and the reality of it is thereby destroyed, I will conclude this work with stating in what light religion appears to me.
Discussion and the general will arbitrates the question, and to this, private opinion yields with a good grace, and order is preserved uninterrupted.
I do not believe that any two men, on what are called doctrinal points, think alike who think at all.