There is something in the temper of men so averse to severe and
boisterous treatment, that he who endeavours to carry his point that
way, instead of prevailing, generally leaves the mind of him, whom he
has thus attempted, in a more confirmed and obstinate situation than he
found it at first. Bitter words and hard usage freeze the heart into a
kind of obduracy, which mild persuasion and gentle language only can
dissolve and soften. Persecution has always fixed and rivetted those
opinions which it was intended to dispel; and some discerning men have
attributed the quick growth of Christianity, in a great measure, to the
rough and barbarous reception which its first teachers met with in the
world. The same may have been observed of our reformation; the blood of
the martyrs was the manure which produced that great Protestant crop, on
which the church of England has subsisted ever since. Providence, which
always makes use of the most natural means to attain its purpose, has
thought fit to establish the purest religion by this method: the
consideration of which may give a proper check to those who are
continually endeavouring to root out errors by that very management,
which so infallibly fixes and implants all opinions, as well erroneous
as orthodox. When an opinion is so violently attacked, it raises an
attention in the persecuted party, and gives an alarm to their vanity,
by making them think that worth defending and keeping, at the hazard of
their lives, which, perhaps, otherwise they would only have admired
awhile for the sake of its novelty, and afterwards resigned of their own
accord. In short, a fierce turbulent opposition, like the north Wind,
only serves to make a man wrap up his notions more closely about him;
but we know not what a kind, warm, Sun-shiny behaviour, rightly applied,
would not be able to effect.