First, then, I observe, that, if the principle of their final and beneficial intention be admitted as a just ground for such proceedings, there never was, in the blamable sense of the word, nor ever can be, such a thing as a religious persecution in the world.
Burke challenges the notion that any religious persecution can be justified by its supposed good intentions.
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More from Edmund Burke
Their trust for the future preservation of the Constitution was not in future revolutions.
The engagement and pact of society, which generally goes by the name of the Constitution, forbids such invasion and such surrender.
We procure reverence to our civil institutions on the principle upon which Nature teaches us to revere individual men: on account of their age, and on account of those from whom they are descended.
Governments must be abused and deranged indeed, before it can be thought of; and the prospect of the future must be as bad as the experience of the past.
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