dangerous But if this be so Why is not the Magistrate afraid of his own Church and why does he not forbid their Assemblies as things dangerous to his Government You 'll say Because he himself is a Part and even the Head of them As if he were not also a Part of the Commonwealth and the Head of the whole People Let us therefore deal plainly The Magistrate is afraid of other Churches but not of his own because he is kind and favourable to the one but severe and cruel to the other These he treats like Children and indulges them even to Wantonness Those he uses as Slaves and how blamelesly soever they demean themselves recompenses them no otherwise than by Gallies Prisons Confiscations and Death These he cherishes and defends Those he continually scourges and oppresses Let him turn the Tables Or let those Dissenters enjoy but the same Privileges in Civils as his other Subjects and he will quickly find that these Religious Meetings will be no longer dangerous For if men enter into Seditious Conspiracies 't is not Religion inspires them to it in their Meetings but their Sufferings and Oppressions that make them willing to ease themselves Just and moderate Governments are every where quiet every where safe But Oppression raises Ferments and makes men struggle to cast off an uneasie and tyrannical Yoke I know that Seditions are very frequently raised upon pretence of Religion But 't is as true that for Religion Subjects are frequently ill treated and live miserably Believe me the Stirs that are made proceed not from any peculiar Temper of this or that Church or Religious Society but from the common Disposition of all Mankind who when they groan under any heavy Burthen endeavour naturally to shake off the Yoke that galls their Necks Suppose this Business of Religion were let alone and that there were some other Distinction made between men and men upon account of their different Complexions Shapes and Features so that those who have black Hair for example or gray Eyes should not enjoy the same Privileges as other Citizens that they should not be permitted either to buy or sell or live by their Callings that Parents should not have the Government and Education of their own Children that all should either be excluded from the Benefit of the Laws or meet with partial Judges can it be doubted but these Persons thus distinguished from others by the Colour of their Hair and Eyes and united together by one common Persecution would be as dangerous to the Magistrate as any others that had associated themselves meerly upon the account of Religion Some enter into Company for Trade and Profit Others for want of Business have their Clubs for Clarret Neighbourhood joyns some and Religion others But there is one only thing which gathers People into Seditious Commotions and that is Oppression You 'll say What will you have People to meet at Divine Service against the Magistrates Will I answer Why I pray against his Will Is it not both lawful and necessary that they should meet Against his Will do you say That 's what I complain of That is the very Root of all the Mischief Why are Assemblies less sufferable in a Church than in a Theater or Market Those that meet there are not either more vicious or more turbulent than those that meet elsewhere The Business in that is that they are ill used and therefore they are not to be suffered Take away the Partiality that is used towards them in matters of Common Right change the Laws take away the Penalties unto which they are subjected and all things will immediately become safe and peaceable Nay those that are averse to the Religion of the Magistrate will think themselves so much the more bound to maintain the Peace of the Commonwealth as their Condition is better in that place than elsewhere And all the several separate Congregations like so many Guardians of the Publick Peace will watch one another that nothing may be innovated or changed in the Form of the Government Because they can hope for nothing better than what they already enjoy that is an equal Condition with their Fellow-Subjects under a just and moderate Government Now if that Church which agrees in Religion with the Prince be esteemed the chief Support of any Civil Government and that for no other Reason as has already been shewn than because the Prince is kind and the Laws are favourable to it how much greater will be the Security of a Government where all good Subjects of whatsoever Church they be without any Distinction upon account of Religion enjoying the same Favour of the Prince and the same Benefit of the Laws shall become the common Support and Guard of it and where none will have any occasion to fear the Severity of the Laws but those that do Injuries to their Neighbours and offend against the Civil Peace That we may draw towards a Conclusion The Sum of all we drive at is That every Man may enjoy the same Rights that are granted to others Is it permitted to worship God in the Roman manner Let it be permitted to do it in the Geneva Form also Is it permitted to speak Latin in the Market-place Let those that have a mind to it be permitted to do it also in the Church Is it lawfull for any man in his own House to kneel stand sit or use any other Posture and to cloath himself in White or Black in short or in long Garments Let it not be made unlawful to eat Bread drink Wine or wash with Water in the Church In a Word Whatsoever things are left free by Law in the common occasions of Life let them remain free unto every Church in Divine Worship Let no Mans Life or Body or House or Estate suffer any manner of Prejudice upon these Accounts Can you allow of the Presbyterian Discipline Why should not the Episcopal also have what they like Ecclesiastical Authority whether it be administred by the Hands of a single Person or many is every where the same and neither has any Jurisdiction in things Civil nor any manner of Power of Compulsion nor any thing at all to do with Riches and Revenues Ecclesiastical Assemblies and Sermons are justified by daily experience and publick allowance These are allowed to People of some one Perswasion Why not to all If any thing pass in a Religious Meeting seditiously and contrary to the publick Peace it is to be punished in the same manner and no otherwise than as if it had happened in a Fair or Market These Meetings ought not to be Sanctuaries for Factious and Flagitious Fellows Nor ought it to be less lawful for Men to meet in Churches than in Halls Nor are one part of the Subjects to be esteemed more blameable for their meeting together than others Every one is to be accountable for his own Actions and no Man is to be laid under a Suspition or Odium for the Fault of
each other their Proprieties in the things that contribute to the Comfort and Happiness of this Life leaving in the mean while to every Man the care of his own Eternal Happiness the attainment whereof can neither be facilitated by another Mans Industry nor can the loss of it turn to another Mans Prejudice nor the hope of it be forced from him by any external Violence But forasmuch as Men thus entring into Societies grounded upon their mutual Compacts of Assistance for the Defence of their Temporal Goods may nevertheless be deprived of them either by the Rapine and Fraud of their Fellow-Citizens or by the hostile Violence of Forreigners the Remedy of this Evil consists in Arms Riches and Multitude of Citizens the Remedy of the other in Laws and the Care of all things relating both to the one and the other is committed by the Society to the Civil Magistrate This is the Original this is the Use and these are the Bounds of the Legislative which is the Supreme Power in every Commonwealth I mean that Provision may be made for the security of each Mans private Possessions for the Peace Riches and publick Commodities of the whole People and as much as possible for the Increase of their inward Strength against Forreign Invasions These things being thus explain'd it is easie to understand to what end the Legislative Power ought to be directed and by what Measures regulated and that is the Temporal Good and outward Prosperity of the Society which is the sole Reason of Mens entring into Society and the only thing they seek and aim at in it And it is also evident what Liberty remains to Men in reference to their eternal Salvation and that is that every one should do what he in his Conscience is perswaded to be acceptable to the Almighty on whose good pleasure and acceptance depends their eternal Happiness For Obedience is due in the first place to God and afterwards to the Laws But some may ask What if the Magistrate should enjoyn any thing by his Authority that appears unlawful to the Conscience of a private Person I answer That if Government be faithfully administred and the Counsels of the Magistrate be indeed directed to the publick Good this will seldom happen But if perhaps it do so fall out I say that such a private Person is to abstain from the Action that he judges unlawful and he is to undergo the Punishment which it is not unlawful for him to bear For the private Judgment of any Person concerning a Law enacted in Political Matters for the publick Good does not take away the Obligation of that Law nor deserve a Dispensation But if the Law indeed be concerning things that lie not within the Verge of the Magistrate's Authority as for Example that the People or any Party amongst them should be compell'd to embrace a strange Religion and join in the Worship and Ceremonies of another Church men are not in these cases obliged by that Law against their Consciences For the Political Society is instituted for no other end but only to secure every mans Possession of the things of this life The care of each mans Soul and of the things of Heaven which neither does belong to the Common-wealth nor can be subjected to it is left entirely to every mans self Thus the safeguard of mens lives and of the things that belong unto this life is the business of the Commonwealth and the preserving of those things unto their Owners is the Duty of the Magistrate And therefore the Magistrate cannot take away these worldly things from this man or party and give them to that nor change Propriety amongst Fellow-Subjects no not even by a Law for a cause that has no relation to the end of Civil Government I mean for their Religion which whether it be true or false does no prejudice to the worldly concerns of their Fellow-Subjects which are the things that only belong unto the care of the Commonwealth But what if the Magistrate believe such a Law as this to be for the publick Good I answer As the private Judgment of any particular Person if erroneous does not exempt him from the obligation of Law so the private Judgment as I may call it of the Magistrate does not give him any new Right of imposing Laws upon his jects which neither was in the Constitution of the Government granted him nor ever was in the power of the People to grant much less if he make it his business to enrich and advance his Followers and Fellow-sectaries with the Spoils of others But what if the Magistrate believe that he has a Right to make such Laws and that they are for the publick Good and his Subjects believe the contrary Who shall be Judge between them I answer God alone For there is no Judge upon earth between the Supreme Magistrate and the People God I say is the only Judge in this case who will retribute unto every one at the last day according to his Deserts that is according to his sincerity and uprightness in endeavouring to promote Piety and the publick Weal and Peace of Mankind But what shall be done in the mean while I answer The principal and chief care of every one ought to be of his own Soul first and in the next place of the publick Peace tho' yet there are very few will think 't is Peace there where they see all laid waste There are two sorts of Contests amongst men the one managed by Law the other by Force and these are of that nature that where the one ends the other always begins But it is not my business to inquire into the Power of the Magistrate in the different Constitutions of Nations I only know what usually happens where Controversies arise without a Judge to determine them You will say then the Magistrate being the stronger will have his Will and carry his point Without doubt But the Question is not here concerning the doubtfulness of the Event but the Rule of Right But to come to particulars I say First No Opinions contrary to human Society or to those moral Rules which are necessary to the preservation of Civil Society are to be tolerated by the Magistrate But of these indeed Examples in any Church are rare For no Sect can easily arrive to such a degree of madness as that it should think sit to teach for Doctrines of Religion such things as manifestly undermine the Foundations of Society and are therefore condemned by the Judgment of all Mankind because their own Interest Peace Reputation every Thing would be thereby endangered Another more secret Evil but more dangerous to the Commonwealth is when men arrogate to themselves and to those of their own Sect some peculiar Prerogative covered over with a specious shew of deceitful words but in effect opposite to the Civil Right of the Community For Example We cannot find any Sect that teaches expresly and openly that men are not obliged to keep
grow the strongest While things are in this condition Peace Friendship Faith and equal Justice are preserved amongst them At length the Magistrate becomes a Christian and by that means their Party becomes the most powerful Then immediately all Compacts are to be broken all Civil Rights to be violated that Idolatry may be extirpated And unless these innocent Pagans strict Observers of the Rules of Equity and the Law of Nature and no ways offending against the Laws of the Society I say unless they will forsake their ancient Religion and embrace a new and strange one they are to be turned out of the Lands and Possessions of their Forefathers and perhaps deprived of Life it self Then at last it appears what Zeal for the Church joyned with the desire of Dominion is capable to produce and how easily the pretence of Religion and of the care of Souls serves for a Cloak to Covetousness Rapine and Ambition Now whosoever maintains that Idolatry is to be rooted out of any place by Laws Punishments Fire and Sword may apply this Story to himself For the reason of the thing is equal both in America and Europe And neither Pagans there nor any Dissenting Christians here can with any right be deprived of their worldly Goods by the predominating Faction of a Court-Church nor are any civil Rights to be either changed or violated upon account of Religion in one place more than another But Idolatry say some is a sin and therefore not to be tolerated If they said it were therefore to be avoided the Inference were good But it does not follow that because it is a sin it ought therefore to be punished by the Magistrate For it does not belong unto the Magistrate to make use of his Sword in punishing every thing indifferently that he takes to be a sin against God. Covetousness Uncharitableness Idleness and many other things are sins by the consent of all men which yet no man ever said were to be punished by the Magistrate The reason is because they are not prejudicial to other mens Rights nor do they break the publick Peace of Societies Nay even the sins of Lying and Perjury are no where punishable by Laws unless in certain cases in which the real Turpitude of the thing and the offence against God are not considered but only the Injury done unto mens Neighbours and to the Commonwealth And what if in another Country to a Mahumetan or a Pagan Prince the Christian Religion seem false and offensive to God may not the Christians for the same reason and after the same manner be extirpated there But it may be urged further That by the Law of Moses Idolaters were to be rooted out True indeed by the Law of Moses But that is not obligatory to us Christians No body pretends that every thing generally enjoyned by the Law of Moses ought to be practised by Christians But there is nothing more frivolous than that common distinction of Moral Judicial and Ceremonial Law which men ordinarily make use of For no positive Law whatsoever can oblige any People but those to whom it is given Hear O Israel sufficienly restrains the Obligation of the Law of Moses only to that People And this Consideration alone is Answer enough unto those that urge the Authority of the Law of Moses for the inflicting of Capital Punishments upon Idolaters But however I will examine this Argument a little more particularly The Case of Idolaters in respect of the Iewish Commonwealth falls under a double consideration The first is of those Who being initiated in the Mosaical Rites and made Citizens of that Commonwealth did afterwards apostatise from the Worship of the God of Israel These were proceeded against as Traytors and Rebels guilty of no less than High-treason For the Common-wealth of the Iews different in that from all others was an absolute Theocracy nor was there or could there be any difference between that Commonwealth and the Church The Laws established there concerning the Worship of One Invisible Deity were the Civil Laws of that People and a part of their Political Government in which God himself was the Legislator Now if any one can shew me where there is a Commonwealth at this time constituted upon that Foundation I will acknowledge that the Ecclesiastical Laws do there unavoidably become a part of the Civil and that the Subjects of that Government both may and ought to be kept in strict conformity with that Church by the Civil Power But there is absolutely no such thing under the Gospel as a Christian Common-wealth There are indeed many Cities and Kingdoms that have embraced the Faith of Christ but they have retained their ancient Form of Government with which the Law of Christ hath not at all medled He indeed hath taught men how by Faith and Good Works they may attain Eternal Life But he instituted no Common-wealth He prescribed unto his Followers no new and peculiar Form of Government Nor put he the Sword into any Magistrate's Hand with Commission to make use of it in forcing men to forsake their former Religion and receive his Secondly Foreigners and such as were Strangers to the Commonwealth of Israel were not compell'd by force to observe the Rites of the Mosaical Law. But on the contrary in the very same place where it is ordered that an Israelite that was an Idolater should be put to death there it is provided that Strangers should not be vexed nor oppressed I confess that the Seven Nations that possest the Land which was promised to the Israelites were utterly to be cut off But this was not singly because they were Idolaters For if that had been the Reason why were the Moabites and other Nations to be spared No the Reason is this God being in a peculiar manner the King of the Iews he could not suffer the Adoration of any other Deity which was properly an Act of High-treason against himself in the Land of Canaan which was his Kingdom For such a manifest Revolt could no ways consist with his Dominion which was perfectly Political in that Country All Idolatry was therefore to be rooted out of the Bounds of his Kingdom because it was an acknowledgment of another God that is to say another King against the Laws of Empire The Inhabitants were also to be driven out that the intire possession of the Land might be given to the Israelites And for the like Reason the Emims and the Horims were driven out of their Countries by the Children of Esau and Lot and their Lands upon the same grounds given by God to the Invaders But tho all Idolatry was thus rooted out of the Land of Canaan yet every Idolater was not brought to Execution The whole Family of Rahab the whole Nation of the Gibeonites articled with Iosuah and were allowed by Treaty and there were many Captives amongst the Iews who were Idolaters David and Solomon subdued many Countries without the Confines of the Land of Promise