University of Virginia Library

1623. CONSCIENCE, Liberty of.—

It behooves
every man who values liberty of
conscience for himself, to resist invasions
of it in the case of others; or their case may,
by change of circumstances, become his own.
It behooves him, too, in his own case, to give
no example of concession, betraying the
common right of independent opinion, by
answering questions of faith, which the laws
have left between God and himself.—
To Dr. Benjamin Rush. Washington ed. iv, 480. Ford ed., viii, 224.
(April. 1803)