Thomas Paine: “We disclaim all tumult and disorder in the punishment of offenders; and wish to be governed, not by temper but by…”

If, therefore, the good to be obtained be worthy of a passive, rational, and costless revolution, it would be bad policy to prefer waiting for a calamity that should force a violent one.

Discussion and the general will arbitrates the question, and to this, private opinion yields with a good grace, and order is preserved uninterrupted.

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.

As to what are called national religions, we may, with as much propriety, talk of national Gods.