Excerpt from The History of Persecution: From the Patriarchial Age to the Reign of George II It is now upwards of seventy years since this excellent treatise was first presented to the public by the author, and, considering his celebrity as a writer, (especially among the Dissenters) it is presumed no apology is necessary for sending it again into the world: especially at the present interesting crisis, when the subject of Religious Toleration, is become the topic of general conversation and discussion. This work comprises every thing of importance connected with the dreadful persecutions which have disgraced human nature, both in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad; and is designed to prove that the things for which christians have persecuted one another have generally been of small importance; that pride, ambition, and covetousness, have been the grand sourses of persecution; and that the religion of Jesus Christ absolutely condemns all persecution for conscience sake. In this Edition, I have wholly omitted Dr. Chander's "Preface," which contains "Remarks on Dr. Rogers' vindication of the civil establishment of religion," and have substituted Memoirs of Dr. Chandler in its room: which I thought would be more generally acceptable to the reader. I have also omitted all his marginal notes of a controversial nature, being answers to Dr. Berriman, who had written a pamphlet entitled, "Brief remarks on Mr. Chandler's Introduction to the History of the Inquisition." These I conceived would be at present of little use. And as the republication of this volume is intended chiefly for common readers, I have also left out all the Greek and Latin sentences interspersed in the work, judging that they would be of no real advantage to such persons. I have however retained Dr. Chandler's authorities, so that the learned reader may refer to them when he thinks proper. As to the body of the work, I have neither altered the sense nor the language. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.