If ye can be kept disputing and wrangling about church and meeting, ye just answer the purpose of every courtier, who lives the while on the spoils of the taxes, and laughs at your credulity.
In "Rights of Man," Paine warns that public disputes over religious differences serve the interests of corrupt courtiers who profit from division.
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In fine, society performs for itself almost everything which is ascribed to government.
It has nothing to dread from attacks; truth has given it an establishment, and time will record it with a name as lasting as his own.
To account for this sudden transition, it is proper to observe that there are two distinct species of popularity; the one excited by merit, and the other by resentment.