A SECOND LETTER CONCERNING TOLERATION LICENSED June 24. 1690. LONDON Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill at the Black Swan in Ave-Mary-Lane near Pater-Noster-Row M DC XC TO THE AUTHOR OF THE Argument of the Letter concerning Toleraration briefly considered and answered SIR YOU will pardon me if I take the same Liberty with you that you have done with the Author of the Letter concerning Toleration to consider your Arguments and endeavour to shew you the Mistakes of them For since you have so plainly yeilded up the Question to him and do own that the Severities he would disswà de Christians from are utterly unapt and improper to bring Men to imbrace that Truth which must save them I am not without some hopes to prevail with you to do that your self which you say is the only justifiable Aim of Men differing about Religion even in the use of the severest Methods viz. Carefully and impartially to weigh the whole matter and thereby to remove that Prejudice which makes you yet favour some Remains of Persecution Promising my self that so ingenious a Person will either be convinced by the Truth which appears so very clear and evident to me or else confess that were either you or I in Authority we should very unreasonably and very unjustly use any Force upon the other which differ'd from him upon any pretence of want of Examination And if Force be not to be used in your case or mine because unreasonable or unjust you will I hope think fit that it should be forborn in all others where it will be equally unjust and unreasonable as I doubt not but to make it appear it will unavoidably be where ever you will go about to punish Men for want of Consideration For the true way to try such Speculations as these is to see how they will prove when they are reduc'd into Practice The first thing you seem startled at in the Author's Letter is the largeness of the Toleration he proposes And you think it strange that he would not have so much as a Pagan Mahumetan or Jew excluded from the Civil Rights of the Commonwealth because of his Religion We pray every day for their Conversion and I think it our Duty so to do But it will I fear hardly be believed that we pray in earnest if we exclude them from the other ordinary and probable means of Conversion either by driving them from or persecuting them when they are amongst us Force you allow is improper to convert Men to any Religion Toleration is but the removing that Force So that why those should not be tolerated as well as others if you wish their Conversion I do not see But you say it seems hard to conceive how the Author of that Letter should think to do any Service to Religion in general or to the Christian Religion by recommending and perswading such a Toleration For how much soever it may tend to the Advancement of Trade and Commerce which some seem to place above all other Considerations I see no reason from any Experiment that has been made to expect that true Religion would be a gainer by it that it would be either the better preserved the more widely propagated or rendred any whit the more fruitful in the Lives of its Professors by it Before I come to your Doubt it self Whether true Religion would be a gainer by such a Toleration give me leave to take notice that if by other Considerations you mean any thing but Religion your Parenthesis is wholly besides the matter and that if you do not know that the Author of the Letter places the Advancement of Trade above Religion your Insinuation is very uncharitable But I go on You see no reason you say from any Experiment that has been made to expect that true Religion would be a gainer by it True Religion and Christian Religion are I suppose to you and me the same thing But of this you have an Experiment in its first appearance in the World and several hundreds of Years after It was then better preserv'd more widely propagated in proportion and render'd more fruitful in the Lives of its Professors than ever since tho then Jews and Pagans were tolerated and more than tolerated by the Governments of those places where it grew up I hope you do not imagine the Christian Religion has lost aâ—… of its first Beauty Force or Reasonableness by having been â—…most 2000 Years in the World that you should fear it should be less able now to shift for it self without the help of Force I doubt not but you look upon it still to be the Poâ—…er and Wisdom of God for our Salvation and therefore cannot suspect it less capable to prevail now by its own Truth and Light than it did in the first Ages of the Church when poor contemptible Men without Authority or the countenance of Authority had alone the care of it This as I take it has been made use of by Christians generally and by some of our Church in particular as an Argument for the Truth of the Christian Religion that it grew and spread and prevailed without any Aid from Force or the Assistance of the Powers in being And if it be a mark of the true Religion that it will prevail by its own Light and Strength but that false Religions will not but have need of Force and foreign Helps to support them nothing certainly can be more for the advantage of true Religion than to take away Compulsion every where And therefore it is no more hard to conceive how the Author of the Letter should think to do Service to Religion in general or to the Christian Religion than it is hard to conceive that he should think there is a true Religion and that the Christian Religion is it which its Professors have always own'd not to need Force and have urged that as a good Argument to prove the truth of it The Inventions of Men in Religion need the Force and Helps of Men to support them A Religion that is of God wants not the Assistance of Human Authority to make it prevail I guess when this dropp'd from you you had narrow'd your Thoughts to your own Age and Country But if you will enlarge them a little beyond the Consines of England I do not doubt but you will easily imagine that if in Italy Spain Portugal c. the Inquisition and in France their Dragooning and in other parts those Severities that are used to keep or force Men to the National Religion were taken away and instead thereof the Toleration propos'd by the Author were set up the true Religion would be a gainer by it The Author of the Letter says Truth will do well enough if she were once left to shift for her self She seldom hath received and he fears never will receive much Assistance from the Power of great Men to whom she is but rarely known and more rarely welcome Errors indeed prevail by the
Assistance of Foreign and borrowed Succours Truth makes way into our Vnderstanding by her own Light and is but the weaker for any borrowed Force that Violence can add to her These words of his how hard soever they may seem to you may help you to conceive how he should think to do Service to True Religion by recommending and perswading such a Toleration as he proposed And now pray tell me your self whether you do not think True Religion would be a gainer by it if such a Toleration establish'd there would permit the Doctrine of the Church of England to be freely preached and its Worship set up in any Popish Mahumetan or Pagan Country If you do not you have a very ill Opinion of the Religion of the Church of England and must own that it can only be propagated and supported by Force If you think it would gain in those Countries by such a Toleration you are then of the Author's Mind and do not find it so hard to conceive how the recommending such a Toleration might do Service to that which you think True Religion But if you allow such a Toleration useful to Truth in other Countries you must find something very peculiar in the Air that must make it less useful to Truth in England And 't will savour of much partiality and be too absurd I fear for you to own that Toleration will be advantagious to True Religion all the World over except only in this Island Though I much suspect this as absurd as it is lies at the bottom And you build all you say upon this lurking Supposition that the National Religion now in England back'd by the Publick Authority of the Law is the only True Religion and therefore no other is to be tolerated Which being a Supposition equally unavoidable and equally just in other Countries unless we can imagine that every where but in England Men believe what at the same time they think to be a Lie will in other Places exclude Toleration and thereby hinder Truth from the means of propagating it self What the Fruits of Toleration are which in the next words you complain do remain still among us and which you say give no Encouragement to hope for any Advantages from it what Fruits I say these are or whether they are owing to the want or wideness of Toleration among us we shall then be able to judg when you tell us what they are In the mean time I will boldly say that if the Magistrates will severely and impartially set themselves against Vice in whomsoever it is found and leave Men to their own Consciences in their Articles of Faith and Ways of Worship True Religion will be spread wider and be more fruitful in the Lives of its Professors than ever hitherto it has been by the imposition of Creeds and Ceremonies You tell us that no Man can fail of sinding the Way of Salvation who seeks it as he ought I wonder you had not taken notice in the places you quote for this how we are directed there to the right way of seeking The words John vii 17. are If any Man will do his Will he shall know of the Doctrine whether it be of God And Psalm XXV 9 12 14. which are also quoted by you tell us The Meek will he guide in Judgment and the Meek will he teach his Way What Man is he that feareth the Lord him shall he teach in the Way that he shall chuse The Secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant So that these places if they prove what you cite them for that no Man can fail of finding the Way of Salvation who seeks it as he ought they do also prove that a good Life is the only way to seek as we ought and that therefore the Ma istrates if they would put Men upon seeking the way of Salvation as they ought should by their Laws and Penalties force them to a good Life A good Conversation being the readiest and surest way to a right Understanding Punishments and Severities thus apply'd we are sure are both practicable just and useful How Punishments will prove in the way you contend for we shall see when we come to consider it Having given us these broad Marks of your Good-will to Toleration you tell us 'T is not your Design to argue against it but only to enquire what our Author offers for the proof of his Assertion And then you give us this Scheme of his Argument 1. There is but one Way of Salvation or but one True Religion 2. No Man can be saved by this Religion who does not believe it to be the True Religion 3. This Belief is to be wrought in Men by Reason and Argument not by outward Force and Compulsion 4. Therefore all such Force is utterly of no use for the promoting True Religion and the Salvation of Souls 5. And therefore no Body can have any Right to use any Force or Compulsion for the bringing Men to the True Religion And you tell us the whole strength of what that Letter urged for the Purpose of it lies in this Argument Which I think you have no more reason to say than if you should tell us that only one Beam of a House had any strength in it when there are several others that would support the Building were that gone The purpose of the Letter is plainly to desend Toleration exempt from all Force especially Civil Force or the Force of the Magistrate Now if it be a true Consequence that Men must be tolerated if Magistrates have no Commission or Authority to punish them for Matters of Religion then the only strength of that Letter lies not in the unfitness of Force to convince Mens Vnderstanding Vid. Let. p. 7. Again If it be true that Magistrates being as liable to Error as the rest of Mankind their using of Force in Matters of Religion would not at all advance the Salvation of Mankind allowing that even Force could work upon them and Magistrates had Authority to use it in Religion then the Argument you mention is not the only one in that Letter of strength to prove the Necessity of Toleration V. Let. P. 8. For the Argument of the unsitness of Force to convince Mens Minds being quite taken away either of the other would be a strong proof for Toleration But let us consider the Argument as you have put it The two first Propositions you say you agree to As to the Third you grant that Force is very improper to be used to induce the Mind to assent to any Truth But yet you deny that Force is utterly useless for the promoting True Religion and the Salvation of Mens Souls which you call the Author's 4th Proposition But indeed that is not the Author's 4th Proposition or any Proposition of his to be sound in the Pages you quote or any where else in the whole Letter either in those terms or
impartially to examine a Religion which they embraced upon such Inducements as ought to have no sway at all in the matter and therefore with little or no Examination of the proper Grounds of it What Human Method can be used to bring them to act like Men in an Affair of such Consequence and to make a wiser and more rational Choice but that of laying such Penalties upon them as may ballance the weight of those Prejudices which inclin'd them to prefer a false Way before the true and recover them to so much Sobriety and Reflection as seriously to put the Question to themselves Whether it be really worth the while to undergo such Inconveniencies for adhering to a Religion which for any thing they know may be false or for rejecting another if that be the case which for any thing they know may be true till they have brought it to the Bar of Reason and given it a fair trial there Here you again bring in such as prefer a false Way before a true To which having answered already I shall here say no more but that since our Church will not allow those to be in a false Way who are out of the Church of Rome because the Church of Rome which pretends Infallibity declares hers to be the only true Way certainly no one of our Church nor any other which claims not Infallibility can require any one to take the Testimony of any Church as a sufficient Proof of the Truth of her own Doctrine So that true and false as it commonly happens when we suppose them for our selves or our Party in essect signify just nothing or nothing to the purpose unless we can think that true or false in England which will not be so at Rome or Geneva and Vice versâ As for the rest of the Description of those on whom you are here laying Penalties I beseech you consider whether it will not belong to any of your Church let it be what it will Consider I say if there be none in your Church who have imbrac'd her Religion upon such Inducements as ought to have no sway at all in the matter and therefore with little or no Examination of the proper Grounds of it who have not been inclin'd by Prejudices who do not adhere to a Religion which for any thing they know may be false and who have rejected another which for any thing they know may be true If you have any such in your Communion and 't will be an admirable tho I fear but a little Flock that has none such in it consider well what you have done You have prepared Rods for them for which I imagine they will con you no Thanks For to make any tolerable Sense of what you here propose it must be understood that you would have Men of all Religions punished to make them consider whether it be really worth the while to undergo such Inconveniencies for adhering to a Religion which for any thing they know may be false If you hope to avoid that by what you have said of true and false and pretend that the supposed preference of the true Way in your Church ought to preserve its Members from your Punishment you manifestly triste For every Church's Testimony that it has chosen the true Way must be taken for it self and then none will be liable and your new Invention of Punishment is come to nothing Or else the differing Churches Testimonies must be taken one for another and then they will be all out of the tâ—…ue Way and your Church need Penalties as well as the rest So that upon your Principles they must all or none be punished Chuse which you please One of them I think you cannot escape What you say in the next words Where Instruction is stifly refused and all Admonitions and Perswasions prove vain and ineffectual differs nothing but in the way of expressing from Deaf to all Perswasions And so that is answer'd already In another place you give us another description of those you think ought to be punished in these words Those who refuse to embrace the Doctrine and submit to the Spiritual Government of the proper Ministers of Religion who by special designation are appointed to Exhort Admonish Reprove c. Here then those to be punished are such who refuse to imbrace the Doctrine and submit to the Government of the proper Ministers of Religion Whereby we are as much still at uncertainty as we were before who those are who by your Scheme and Laws suitable to it are to be punished Since every Church has as it thinks its proper Ministers of Religion And if you mean those that refuse to imbrace the Doctrine and submit to the Government of the Ministers of another Church then all Men will be guilty and must be punished even those of your Church as well as others If you mean those who refuse c. the Ministers of their own Church very few will incur your Penalties But if by these Proper Ministers of Religion the Ministers of some particular Church are intended why do you not name it Why are you so reserv'd in a Matter wherein if you speak not out all the rest that you say will be to no purpose Are Men to be punished for refusing to imbrace the Doctrine and submit to the Government of the proper Ministers of the Church of Geneva For this time since you have declared nothing to the contrary let me suppose you of that Church And then I am sure that is it that you would name For of what-ever Church you are if you think the Ministers of any one Church ought to be hearken'd to and obey'd it must be those of your own There are Persons to be punished you say This you contend for all through your Book and lay so much stress on it that you make the Preservation and Propagation of Religion and the Salvation of Souls to depend on it And yet you describe them by so general and equivocal Marks that unless it be upon Suppositions which no Body will grant you I dare say neither you nor any Body else will be able to find one guilty Pray find me if you can a Man whom you can judicially prove for he that is to be punished by Law must be fairly tried is in a wrong way in respect of his Faith I mean who is deaf to all Perswasions who flies from all Means of a right Information who refuses to imbrace the Doctrine and submit to the Government of the Spiritual Pastors And when you have done that I think I may allow you what Power you please to punish him without any prejudice to the Toleration the Author of the Letter proposes But why I pray all this bogling all this loose talking as if you knew not what you meant or durst not speak it out Would you be for punishing some Body you know not whom I do not think so ill of you Let me then speak out for you
The Evidence of the Argument has convinced you that Men ought not to be persecuted for their Religion That the Severities in use amongst Christians cannot be defended That the Magistrate has not Authority to compel any one to his Religion This you are forced to yield But you would fain retain some Power in the Magistrate's Hands to punish Dissenters upon a new Pretence viz. not for having imbraced the Doctrine and Worship they believe to be True and Right but for not having well consider'd their own and the Magistrate's Religion To shew you that I do not speak wholly without-Book give me leave to mind you of one Passage of yours The words are Penalties to put them upon a sorious and impartial examination of the Controversy between the Magistrates and them Though these words be not intended to tell us who you would have punished yet it may be plainly inferr'd from them And they more clearly point out whom you aim at than all the foregoing places where you seem to and should describe them For they are such as between whom and the Magistrate there is a Controversy That is in short who differ from the Magistrate in Religion And now indeed you have given us a Note by which these you would have punished may be known We have with much ado found at last whom it is we may presume you would have punished Which in other Cases is usually not very difficult because there the Faults to be mended easily design the Persons to be corrected But yours is a new Method and unlike all that ever went before it In the next place Let us see for what you would have them punished You tell us and it will easily be granted you that not to examine and weigh impartially and without Prejudice or Passion all which for shortness-sake we will express by this one word Consider the Religion one embraces or refuses is a Fault very common and very prejudicial to true Religion and the Salvation of Mens Souls But Penalties and Punishments are very necessary say you to remedy this Evil. Let us see now how you apply this Remedy Therefore say you let all Dissenters be punished Why Have no Dissenters considered of Religion Or have all Conformists considered That you your self will not say Your Project therefore is just as reasonable as if a Lethargy growing Epidemical in England you should propose to have a Law made to blister and scarify and shave the Heads of all who wear Gowns Though it be certain that neither all who wear Gowns are Lethargick nor all who are Lethargick wear Gowns Dii te Damasippe Deaeque Verum ob consilium donent tonsore For there could not be certainly a more Learned Advice than that one Man should be pull'd by the Ears because another is asleep This when you have consider'd of it again for I find according to your Principle all Men have now and then need to be jog'd you will I guess be convinced is not like a fair Physician to apply a Remedy to a Disease but like an engag'd Enemy to vent one's Spleen upon a Party Common Sense as well as Common Justice requires that the Remedies of Laws and Penalties should be directed against the Evil that is to be removed where-ever it be found And if the Punishment you think so necessary be as you pretend to cure the Mischief you complain of you must let it pursue and fall on the Guilty and those only in what company soever they are And not as you here propose and is the highest Injustice punish the Innocent considering Dissenteâ—… with the Guilty and on the other side let the inconsiderate guilty Conformist scape with the Innocent For one may rationally presume that the National Church has some nay more in proportion of those who little consider or concern themselves about Religion than any Congregation of Dissenters For Conscience or the Care of their Souls being once laid aside Interest of course leads Men into that Society where the Protection and Countenance of the Government and hopes of Preferment bid fairest to all their remaining Desires So that if careless negligent inconsiderate Men in Matters of Religion who without being forced would not consider are to be roused into a care of their Souls and a search after Truth by Punishments The National Religion in all Countries will certainly have a right to the greatest share of those Punishments at least not to be wholly exempt from them This is that which the Author of the Letter as I remember complains of and that justly viz. That the pretended Care of Mens Souls always expresses it self in those who would have Force any way made use of to that end in very unequâ—…l Methods some Persons being to be treated with Severity whilst others guilty of the same Faults are not to be so much as touched Though you are got pretty wâ—…ll out of the deep Mud and renounce Punishments directly for Religion yet you stick still in this part of the Mire whilst you would have Dissenters punished to make them consider but would not have any thing done to Conformists tho never so negligent in this point of considering The Author's Letter pleas'd me because it is equal to all Mankind is direct and will I think hold every where which I take to be a good Mark of Truth For I shall always suspect that neither to comport with the Truth of Religion or the Design of the Gospel which is suited to only some one Country or Party What is True and Good in England will be True and Good at Rome too in China or Geneva But whether your great and only Method for the propagating of Truth by bringing the Inconsiderate by Punishments to consider would according to your way of applying your Punishments only to Dissenters from the National Religion be of use in those Countries or any where but where you suppose the Magistrate to be in the Right judg you Pray Sir consider a little whether Prejudice has not some share in your way of Arguing For this is your Position Men are generally negligent in examining the Grounds of their Religion This I grant But could there be a more wild and incoherent Consequence drawn from it than this Therefore Dissenters must be punished But that being laid aside let us now see to what end they must be punished Sometimes it is To bring them to consider those Reasons and Arguments which are proper and sufficient to convince them Of what That it is not easy to set Grantham Steeple upon Paul's Church What-ever it be you would have them convinced of you are not willing to tell us And so it may be any thing Sometimes it is To incline them to lend an Ear to those who tell them they have mistaken their Way and offer to shew them the Right Which is to lend an Ear to all who differ from them in Religion as well crafty Seducers as others Whether this be for the procuring
the Salvation of their Souls the End for which you say this Force is to be used judg you But this I am sure Whoever will lend an Ear to all who will tell them they are out of the Way will not have much time for any other Business Sometimes it is To recover Men to so much Sobriety and Reflection as seriously to put the Question to themselves Whether it be really worth their while to undergo such Inconveniences for adhering to a Religion which for any thing they know may be false or for rejecting another if that be the case which for ought they know may be true till they have brought it to the Bar of Reason and given it a fair Trial there Which in short amounts to thus much viz. To make them examine whether their Religion be True and so worth the holding under those Penalties that are annexed to it Dissenters are indebted to you for your great care of their Souls But what I beseech you shall become of those of the National Church every where which make sar the greater part of Mankind who have no such Punishments to make them consider who have not this only Remedy provided sor them but are lest in that deplorable Condition you mention of being suffer'd quietly and without Molestation to take no care at all of their Souls or in doing of it to follow their own Prejudices Humours or some crafty Seducers Need not those of the National Church as well as others bring their Religion to the Bar of Reason and give it a fair trial there And if they need to do so as they must if all National Religions cannot be supposed true they will always need that which you say is the only means to make them do so So that if you are sure as you tell us that there is need of your Method I am sure there is as much need of it in National Churches as any other And so for ought I can see you must either punish them or let others alone Unless you think it reasonable that the sar greater part of Mankind should constantly be without that Soveraign and only Remedy which they stand in need of equally with other People Sometimes the end for which Men must be punished is to dispose them to submit to Instruction and to give a fair hearing to the Reasons are offer'd for the inliâ—…htning their Minds and discovering the Truth to them If their own words may be taken for it there are as sew Dissenters as Consormists in any Country who will not profess they have done and do this And if their own word may not be taken who I pray must be judg You and your Magistrates If so then it is plain you punish them not to dispose them to submit to Instruction but to your Instruction not to dispose them to give a fair hearing to Reasons offer'd for the inlightning their Minds but to give an obedient hearing to your Reasons If you mean this it had been sairer and shorter to have spoken out plainly than thus in fair words of indesinite Signification to say that which amounts to nothing For what Sense is it to punish a Man to dispose him to submit to Instruction and give a fair hearing to Reasons offer'd for the inlightning his Mind and discovering Truth to him who â—…s two or three times a week several 〈◊〉 on purpâ—…se to do iâ—… and that with the hazard of his Liberty or Purse 〈◊〉 you mean your Instructions your Reasons your Truth Which brings us but back to what you have disclaimed plain Persecution for differing in Religion Sometimes this is to be done To prevail with Men to weigh Matters of Religion carefully and impartially Discountenance and Punishment put into one Scale with Impunity and hopes of Preferment put into the other is as sure a way to make a Man weigh impartially as it would be for a Prince to bribe and threaten a Judg to make him judg uprightly Sometimes it is To make Men bethink themselves and put it out of the power of any foolish Humor or unreasonable Prejudice to alienate them from Truth and their own Happiness Add but this to put it out of the power of any Humour or Prejudice of their own or other Mens and I grant the end is good if you can find the means to procure it But why it should not be put out of the Power of other Mens Humour or Prejudice as well as their own wants and will always want a Reason to prove Would it not I beseech you to an indifferent By-stander appear Humour or Prejudice or some thing as bad to see Men who profess a Religion reveal'd from Heaven and which they own contains all in it necessary to Salvation exclude Men from their Communion and persecute them with the Penalties of the Civil Law for not joining in the use of Ceremonies which are no where to be found in that reveal'd Religion Would it not appear Humour or Prejudice or some such thing to a sober impartial Heathen to see Christians exclude and persecute one of the same Faith for things which they themselves confess to be indifferent and not worth the contending for Prejudice Humour Passion Lusts Impressions of Education Reverence and Admiration of Persons Worldly Respects Love of their own Choice and the like to which you justly impute many Mens taking up and persisting in their Religion are indeed good words and so on the other side are these following Truth the right Way inlightning Reason sound Judgment but they signify nothing at all to your purpose till you can evidently and unquestionably shew the World that the latter viz. Truth and the right way c. are always and in all Countries to be found only in the National Church and the former viz. Passion and Prejudice c. only amongst the Dissenters But to go on Sometimes it is To bring Men to take such care as they ought of their Salvation What care is such as Men ought to take whilst they are out of your Church will be hard for you to tell me But you endeavour to explain your self in the following words that they may not blindly leave it to the choice neither of any other Person nor yet of their own Lusts and Passions to prescribe to them what Faith or Worship they shall imbrace You do well to make use of Punishment to shut Passion out of the choice because you know fear of suffering is no Passion But let that pass You would have Men punished to bring them to take such care of their Salvation that they may not blindly leave it to the choice of any other Person to prescribe to them Are you sincere Are you in earnest Tell me then truly Did the Magistrate or National Church any where or yours in particular ever punish any Man to bring him to have this care which you say he ought to take of his Salvation Did you ever punish any
establish'd by Law Which is it seems the Lawful Religion of a Countrey and to be comply'd with as such There being such things such notions yet in the World it was not quite besides the Author's business to alledge that God never gave such authority to one man over another as to compel any one to his Religion I will grant if you please Religion establish'd by Law is a pretty odd way of speaking in the mouth of a Christian and yet it is much in fashion as if the Magistrate's Authority could add any force or sanction to any Religion whether true or false I am glad to find you have so far considered the Magistrate's Authority that you agree with the Author that he hath none to compel men to his Religion Much less can he by any establishment of Law add any thing to the Truth or Validity of his own or any Religion whatsoever It remains now to examine whether the Author's Argument will not hold good even against Punishments in your way For if the Magistrate's Authority be as you here say only to procure all his Subjects mark what you say ALL HIS SUBJECTS the means of discovering the way of Salvation and to procure withal as much as in him lies that NONE remain ignorant of it or refuse to embrace it either for want of using those means or by reason of any such prejudices as may render them ineffectual If this be the Magistrate's business in reference to ALL HIS SUBJECTS I desire you or any man else to tell me how this can be done by the application of Force only to a part of them Unless you will still vainly suppose ignorance â—…gligence or prejudice only amongst that part whiâ—…h any where dâ—…ffers from the Magistrate If those of the Magistrates Church may be ignorant of the way of salvation If it be possible there may be amongst them those who refuse to imbrace it either for want of using those means or by reason of any such prejudices as may render them ineffectual What in this case becomes of the Magistrate's Authority to procure all his Subjects the means of discovering the way of salâ—…ation Must these of his Subjects be neglected and lest without the means he has Authority to procure them Or must he ase Force upon them too And then pray shew me how this can be done Shall the Magistrate punish those of his own Religion to procurâ—… them the means of discovering the way of salvation and to procure as much as in him lies that they remain nor ignorant of it or refuse not to imbrace it These are such contradictions in practice this is such condemnation of a man 's own Religion as no one can expect from the Magistrate and I dare say you desire not of him And yet this is that he must do If his Authority â—…e to precure all his subjects the means of discovering the way to salvation And if it be so needful as you say it is that he should use it I am sure Force canâ—…do that till it be apply'd wider and Punishment be laid upon more than you would have it For if the Magistrate be by Force to pricuâ—…e â—…s much as in him lies that none remâ—…gnorant of the way of salvation must he not punish all those who are ignorant of the way of salvation And pray tell me how is this any way practicable but by supposing none in the National Church ignorant and all out of it ignorant of the way of Sâ—…lvation Which what is it but to punish men barely for not being of the Magistrate's Religion The very thing you deny he has authority to do So that the Magistraie having by your own confession nâ—… authority thus to use Force and it being otherways impract cable for the procuring all his Subjects the means of discovering the way of salvation there is an end of Force And so Force being laid aside either as unlawful or unpracticable the Author's Argument holds good against Force even in your way of applying it But if you say as you do in the foregoing page That the Magistrate has authority to lay such Penalties upon those who refuse to imbrace the Doctrine of the proper Ministers of Religion and â—…o submit to their Spiritual Government as to make them betbâ—…nk themselvâ—…s so as not to be aliâ—…nated from the Truth â—…or as for foâ—…lish â—…umour and uncharitable prâ—…judice c. which are but words oâ—… course that opposite Parties give one another as marks of dâ—…ke and presumption I omit them as signifying nothing to the Question being such as will with the same Reason be retorâ—…ed by the other Side Against that also the Author's Argument holds That the Magistrate has no such Authority 1st Because God never gave the Magistrate an authority to be Judg of truth for another man in matters of Religion and so he cannot be judg whether any man be altenated from the truth or no. 2â—…ly Because the Magistrate had never authority given him to lay any Penaltieâ—… on those who refuse to imbrace the Doctrine of the proper Ministers of his Religion or of any other or to submit to their Spiritual Government more than oâ—… any other men To the Author's Argument that the Magistrate cannot receive such authority from the People because no man has power to leave it to the choice of any other man to chuse a Religion for him you give this pleasant Answer As the Power of the Magi-strate in reference to Religionâ—… is ordained for the bringing men to take such care as they ought of their Salvation that they may not blindly leave it to the choice neither of any other person nor yet of their own lusts and passiâ—…ns to prescribe to them what faith or worship they shall embrace So if we suppose this power to be vested in the Magistrate by the consent of the People this will not 〈◊〉 their abandoning the care of their Salvation but rather the contrayâ—… For if men in chusing their Religion are so generally subject as has been showed when left wholly to thâ—…es to be so much â—…way d by prejudice and passion as either not at all or not sufficiently to regard the reasonâ—… and motives which ought alone to determine their choice then it is every man's true interest not to be left whoâ—…ly to himself in this matter but that care should be taken thaâ—…in an Affair of so vast concernment to him be 〈◊〉 be brought even against his own inclâ—…ation if it cannot be done otherwise which is ordinarily the case to act according to reason anâ—… sound judgmentâ—… And then what better course can mâ—…n take to provide for this than by vesting the Power I have described in him who bears the Sword Wherein I beseech you consider 1st Whether it be not pleasant that you say the Power of the Magistrate is ordaâ—…'d to bring men to take such care and thence infer Then it is every one's interest to vest such Power in
in the sense you take it In the 8th Page which you quote the Author is shewing that the Magistrate has no Power that is not Right to make use of Force in Matters of Religion for the Salvation of Mens Souls And the reason he gives for it there is because force has no efficacy to convince Mens Minds and that without a full perswasion of the Mind the Profession of the true Religion it self is not acceptable to God Vpon this ground says he I affirm that the Magistrate's Power extends not to the establishing any Articles of Faith or Forms of Worship by the force of his Laws For Laws are of no force at all without Penalties and Penalties in this case are absolutely impertinent because they are not proper to convince the Mind And so again Pag. 27. which is the other place you quote the Author says What soever may be doubted in Religion yet this at least is certain that no Religion which I believe not to be true can be either true or profitable unto me In vain therefore do Princes compel their Subjects to come into their Church-Communion under the pretence of saving their Souls And more to this purpose But in neither of those Passages nor any where else that I remember does the Author say that it is impossible that Force should any way at any time upon any Person by any Accident be useful towards the promoting of true Religion and the Salvation of Souls for that is it which you mean by utterly of no use He does not deny that there is any thing which God in his Goodness does not or may not sometimes graciously make use of towards the Salvation of Mens Souls as our Saviour did of Clay and Spittle to cure Blindness and that so Force also may be sometimes useful But that which he denies and you grant is that Force has any proper Efficacy to enlighten the Understanding or produce Belief And from thence he infers that therefore the Magistrate cannot lawfully compel Men in matters of Religion This is what the Author says and what I imagine will always hold true whatever you or any one can say or think to the contrary That which you say is Force indirectly and at a distance may do some Service What you mean by doing Service at a distance towards the bringing Men to Salvation or to imbrace the Truth I confess I do not understand unless perhaps it be what others in propriety of Speech call by Accident But be it what it will it is such a Service as cannot be ascribed to the direct and proper Efficacy of Force And so say you Force indirectly and at a distance may do some Service I grant it Make your best of it What do you conclude from thence to your purpose That therefore the Magistrate may make use of it That I deny That such an indirect and at a distance Vsefulness will authorize the Civil Power in the use of it that will never be prov'd Loss of Estate and Dignities may make a proud Man humble Sufferings and Imprisonment may make a wild and debauched Man sober And fo these things may indirectly and at a distance be serviceable towards the Salvation of Mens Souls I doubt not but God has made some or all of these the occasions of good to many Men. But will you therefore infer that the Magistrate may take away a Man's Honour or Estate or Liberty for the Salvation of his Soul or torment him in this that he may be happy in the other World What is otherwise unlawful in it self as it certainly is to punish a Man without a fault can never be made lawful by some Good that indirectly and at a distance or if you please indirectly and by accident may follow from it Running a Man through may save his Life as it has done by chance opening a lurking Imposthume But will you say therefore that this is lawful justifiable Chirurgery The Gallies 't is like might reduce many a vain loose Protestant to Repentance Sobriety of Thought and a true sense of Religion And the Torments they suffer'd in the late Persecution might make several consider the Pains of Hell and put a due estimate of Vanity and Contempt on all things of this World But will you say because those Punishments might indirectly and at a distance serve to the Salvation of Mens Souls that therefore the King of France had Right and Authority to make use of them If your indirect and at a distance Serviceableness may authorize the Magistrate to use Force in Religion all the Cruelties used by the Heathens against Christians by Papists against Protestants and all the persecuting of Christians one amongst another are all justifiable But what if I should tell you now of other Effects contrary Effects that Punishments in matters of Religion may produce and so may serve to keep Men from the Truth and from Salvation What then will become of your indirect and at a distance Vsefulness For in all Pleas for any thing because of its usefulness it is not enough to say as you do and is the utmost that can be said for it that it may be serviceable But it must be considered not only what it may but what it is likely to produce And the greater Good or Harm like to come from it ought to determine of the use of it To shew you what Effects one may expect from Force of what usefulness it is to bring Men to imbrace the Truth be pleas'd to read what you your self have writ I cannot but remark say you that these Methods viz. depriving Men of their Estates Corporal Punishments starving and tormenting them in Prisons and in the end even taking away their Lives to make them Christians are so very improper in respect to the Design of them that they usually produce the quite contrary Effect For whereas all the use which Force can have for the advancing true Religion and the Salvation of Souls is as has already been shewed by disposing Men to submit to Instruction and to give a fair hearing to the Reasons which are offer'd for the enlightning their Minds and discovering the Truth to them These Cruelties have the Misfortune to be commonly look'd upon as so just a Prejudice against any Religion that uses them as makes it needless to look any further into it and to tempt Men to reject it as both false and detestable without ever vouchsafing to consider the rational Grounds and Motives of it This Effect they seldom fail to work upon the Sufferers of them And as to the Spectators if they be not beforehand well instructed in those Grounds and Motives they will be much tempted likewise not only to entertain the same Opinion of such a Religion but withal to judg much more favourably of that of the Sufferers who they will be apt to think would not expose themselves to such Extremities which they might avoid by compliance if they were not throughly satisfied
you not say so But if you had it would in this case do you little service For the Mass in France is as much supposed the Truth as the Liturgy here And your way of applying Force will as much promote Popery in France as Protestantism in England And so you see how serviceable it is to make Men receive and imbrace the Truth that must save them However you tell us in the same Page that if Force so applied as is above mentioned may in such sort as has been said i. e. Indirectly and at a distance be serviceable to bring Men to receive and imbrace Truth you think it sufficient to shâ—…w the usefulness of it in Religion Where I shall observe 1st That this Vsefulness amounts to no more but this That it is not impossible but that it may be useful And such a Vsefulness one cannot deny to Auricular Confession doing of Penance going of a Pilgrimage to some Saint and what not Yet our Church do's not think sit to use them though it cannot be deny'd but they may have some of your indirect and at a distance usefulness that is perhaps may do some service indirectly and by accident 2. Force your way apply'd as it may be useful so also it may be useless For 1st Where the Law punishes Diâ—…enters without telling them it is to make them consider they may through ignorance and over-sight neglect to do it and so your Force proves useless 2. Some Dissenters may have considered already and then Force imploy'd upon them must needs be useless unless you can think it useful to punish a Man to make him do that which he has done already 3. God has not directed it and therefore we have no reason to expect he should make it successful 3. It may be hurtful nay it is likely to prove more hurtful than useful 1st Because to punish Men for that which 't is visible cannot be known whether they have perform'd or no is so palpable an Injustice that it is likelier to give them an aversion to the Persons and Religion that uses it than to bring them to it 2ly Because the greatest part of Mankind being not able to discern betwixt Truth and Falshood that depend upon long and many Proofs and remote Consequences nor have ability enough to discover the salse Grounds and resist the captious and fallacious Arguments of Learned Men versed in Controversies are so much more expos'd by the Force which is used to make them hearken to the Information and Instruction of Men appointed to it by the Magistrate or those of his Religion to be led into Falshood and Error than they are likely this way to be brought to imbrace the Truth that must save them by how much the National Religions of the World are beyond comparison more of them False or Erroneous than such as have God for their Author and Truth for their Standard And that seeking and examining without the special Grace of God will not secure even knowing and learned Men from Error We have a famous instance in the two Reynold's both Scholars and Brothers but one a Protestant the other a Papist who upon the exchange of Papers between them were both turn'd but so that neither of them with all the Arguments he could use could bring his Brother back to the Religion which he himself had found Reason to imbrace Here was Ability to examine and judg beyond the ordinary rate of most Men. Yet one of these Brothers was so caught by the sophistry and skill of the other that he was brought into Error from which he could never again be extricated This we must unavoidably conclude unless we can think that wherein they differ'd they were both in the right or that Truth can be an Argument to support a Falshood both which are impossible And now I pray which of these two Brothers would you have punished to make him bethink himself and bring him back to the Truth For 't is certain some ill-grounded Cause of assent alienated one of them from it If you will examine your Principles you will find that according to your Rule The Papist must be punished in England and the Protestant in Italy So that in effect by your Rule Passion Humour Prejudice Lust Impressions of Education Admiration of Persons Worldly Respect and the like incompetent Motives must always be supposed on that side on which the Magistrate is not I have taken the Pains here in a short recapitulation to give you the view of the Vsefulness of Force your way applied which you make such a noise with and lay so much stress on Whereby I doubt not but it is visible that its Usefulness and Uselessness laid in the Ballance against each other the pretended Vsefulness is so far from outweighing that it can neither incourage nor excuse the using of Punishments which are not lawful to be used in our case without strong probability of Success But when to its Uselesness Mischief is added and it is evident that more much more harm may be expected from it than good your own Argument returns upon you For if it be reasonable to use it because it may be serviceable to promote true Religion and the Salvation of Souls it is much more reasonable to let it alone if it may be more serviceable to the promoting Falshood and the Perdition of Souls And therefore you will do well hereafter not to build so much on the Vsefulness of Force apply'd your way your indirect and at a distance Vsefulness which amounts but to the shadow and possibility of Vsefulness but with an over-balancing weight of Mischief and Harm annexed to it For upon a just estimate this indirect and at a distance Vsefulness can directly go for nothing or rather less than nothing But suppose Force apply'd your way were as useful for the promoting true Religion as I suppose I have shew'd it to be the contrary it does not from thence follow that it is lawful and may be used It may be very useful in a Parish that has no Teacher or as bad as none that a Lay-man who wanted not Abilities for it for such we may suppose to be should sometimes preach to them the Doctrine of the Gospel and stir them up to the Duties of a good Life And yet this which cannot be deny'd may be at least indirectly and at a distance serviceable towards the promoting true Religion and the Salvation of Souls you will not I imagine allow for this Vsefulness to be lawful And that because he has not Commission and Authority to do it The same might be said of the Administration of the Sacraments and any other Function of the Priestly Office This is just our Case Granting Force as you say indirectly and at a distance useful to the Salvation of Mens Souls yet it does not therefore follow that it is lawful for the Magistrate to use it Because as the Author says the Magistrate has no Commission or Authority to
Man that he might not blindly leave it to the choice of his Parish-Priest or Bishop or the Convocation what Faith or Worship he should imbrace 'T will be suspected care of a Party or any thing else rather than care of the Salvation of Mens Souls if having found out so useful so necessary a Remedy the only Method there is room left for you will apply it but partially and make trial of it only on those who you have truly least kindness for This will unavoidably give one Reason to imagine you do not think so well of your Remedy as you pretend who are so sparing of it to your Friends but are very free of it to Strangers who in other things are used very much like Enemies But your Remedy is like the Helleboraster that grew in the Woman's Garden for the cure of Worms in her Neighbours Children For truly it wrought too roughly to give it to any of her own Methinks your Charity in your present Persecution is much what as prudent as justisiable as that good Woman's I hope I have done you no Injury that I here suppose you of the Church of England If I have I beg your Pardon It is no offence of Malice I I assure you For I suppose no worse of you than I confess of my self Sometimes this Punishment that you contend for is to bring Men to act according to Reason and sound Judgment Tertius è Coelo cecidit Cato This is Reformation indeed If you can help us to it you will deserve Statues to be erected to you as to the Restorer of decay'd Religion But if all Men have not Reason and sound Judgment will Punishment put it into them Besides concerning this matter Mankind is so divided that he acts according to Reason and sound Judgment at Auspurg who who would be judged to do the quite contrary at Edinburgh Will Punishment make Men know what is Reason and sound Judgment If it will not 't is impossible it should make them act according to it Reason and sound Judgment are the Elixir it self the universal Remedy And you may as reasonably punish Men to bring them to have the Philosopher's Stone as to bring them to act according to Reason and sound Judgment Sometimes it is To put Men upon a serious and impartial Examination of the Controversy between the Magistrate and them which is the way for them to come to the Knowledg of the Truth But what if the Truth be on neither side as I am apt to imagine you will think it is not where neither the Magistrate nor the Dissenter is either of them of your Church how will the examining the Controversy between the Magistrate and him be the way to come to the Knowledg of the Truth Suppose the Controversy between a Lutheran and a Papist or if you please between a Presbyterian Magistrate and a Quaker Subject Will the examining the Controversy between the Magistrate and the Dissenting Subject in this case bring him to the Knowledg of the Truth If you say yes then you grant one of these to have the Truth on his side For the examining the Controversy between a Presbyterian and a Quaker leaves the Controversy either of them has with the Church of England or any other Church untouched And so one at least of those being already come to the Knowledg of the Truth ought not to be put under your Discipline of Punishment which is only to bring him to the Truth If you say no and that the examining the Controversy between the Magistrate and the Dissenter in this case will not bring him to the Knowledg of the Truth you consess your Rule to be salse and your Method to no purpose To conclude your System is in short this You would have all Men laying aside Prejudice Humour Passion c. examin the Grounds of their Religion and search for the Truth This I consess is heartily to be wish'd The means that you propose to make Men do this is that Dissenters should be punished to make them do so It is as if you had said Men generally are guilty of a Fault therefore lâ—…t one Sect who have the ill luck to be of an Opinion different from the Magistrate be punished This at first sight shocks any who has the least spark of Sense Reason or Justice But having spoken of this already and concluding that upon second thoughts you your self will be ashamed of it let us consider it put so as to be consistent with common Sense and with all the advantage it can bear and then let us see what you can make os it Men are negligent in examining the Religions they imbrace refuse or persist in therefore it is sit they should be punished to make them do it This is a Conâ—…e indeed which may without desiance to common Sâ—…nse be drawn from it This is the use the only use which you think Punishment can indirectly and at a distance have in matters of Religion You would have Men by Punishments dâ—…iven to examine What Religion To what end To bring them to the Knowledg of the Truth But I answer First Every one has not the Ability to do this Secondly Every one has not the opportunity to do it Would you have every poor Protestant for Example in the Palatinate examine throughly whether the Pope bâ—… insalliblâ—… or Head of the Church whether there be a Purgatory whether Saints are to be pray'd to or the Dead pray'd sor whether the Sâ—…ripture be the only Rule of Faith whether there be no Salvantion out of the Church and whether there be no Church without Bishops and an hundred other Questions in Controversy between the Papists and those Protestants and when he had master'd these go on to sortify himself against the Opinions and Objections of other Churches he dissers from This which is no small Task must be done before a Man can have brought his Religion to the Bar of Reason and given it fair trial there And if you will punish Men till this be done the Country-man must leave off plowing and sowing and betake himself to the Study of Greek and Latin and the Artisan must sell his Tools to buy Fathers and School-men and leave his Family to starve If something less than this will satisfy you pray tell me what is enough Have they considered and examined enough if they are satisfied themselves where the Truth lies If this be the limits of their Examination you will sind sew to punish unless you will punish them to make them do what they have done already For however he came by his Religion there is scarce any one to be found who does not own himself satisfied that he is in the right Or else must they be punished to make them consider and examine till they imbrace that which you choose for Truth If this be so what do you but in effect choose for them when yet you would have Men punished To bring them to such a
the Magistrate For if it be the Power of the Magistrate it is his And what need the People vest it in him unless there be need and it be the best course they can take to vest a Power in the Magistrate which he has already 2dly Another pleasant thing you here say is That the Power of the Magistrates is to bring men to such a care of their Salvation that they may not blindly leave it to the choice of any person or their own lusts or passions to prescribe to them what faith or worship they shall imbrace And yet that 't is their best course to vest a Power in the Magistrate liable to the same lusts and passions as themselves to chuse for them For if they vest a Power in the Magistrate to punish them when they dissent from his Religion to bring them to act even against their own inclination according to reason and sound judgment which is as you explain your self in another place to bring them to consider Reasons and Arguments proper and sufficient to convince them How far is this from leaving it to the choice of another man to prescribe to them what Faith or Worship they shall imbrace Especially if we consider that you think it a strange thing That the Author would have the care of every man's Soul left to himself alone So that this care being vested in the Magistrate with a Power to punish men to make them consider Reasons and Arguments proper and sufficient to convince them of the Truth of his Religion the choice is evidently in the Magistrate As much as it can be in the power of one man to chuse for another what Religion he shall be of which consists only in a Power of compelling him by Punishments to embrace it I do neither you nor the Magistrate Injury when I say that the Power you give the Magistrate of punishing men to make them consider reasons and arguments proper and sufficient to convince them is to convince them of the truth of his Religion and to bring them to it For Men will never in his opinion Act according to Reason and sound Judgment which is the thing you here say Men should be brought to by the Magistrate even against their own Inclination till they imbrace his Religion And if you have the brow of an Honest Man you will not say the Magistrate will ever punish you to bring you to consider any other Reasons and Arguments but such as are proper to convince you of the truth of his Religion and to bring you to that Thus you shift forwards and backwards You say The Magistrate has no Power to punish Men to compel them to his Religion but only to compel them to consider Reasons and Arguments proper to convince them of the truth of his Religion which is all one as to say no Body has Power to chuse your way for you to Jerusalem But yet the Lord of the Mannor has Power to punish you to bring you to consider Reasons and Arguments proper and sufficient to convince you of what That the way he goes in is the right and so to make you joyn in Company and go along with him So that in effect what is all your going about but to come at last to the same place again and put a Power into the Magistrate's hands under another pretence to compel Men to his Religion which use os Force the Author has sufficiently overthrown and you your self have quitted But I am tired to follow you so often round the same Circle You speak of it here as the most deplorable Condition imaginable that Men should be left to themselves and not be forced to consider and examine the Grounds of their Religion and search impartially and diligently after the truth This you make the great miscarriage of Mankind And for this you seem solicitous all through your Treatise to find out a Remedy and there is scarce a Leaf wherein you do not offer yours But what if after all now you should be found to prevaricate Men have contrived to themselves say you a great variety of Religions 'T is granted They seek not the Truth in this matter with that Application of Mind and that freedom of Judgment which is requisite 'T is confessed All the false Religions now on foot in the World have taken their rise from the slight and partial Consideration which Men have contented themselves with in searching after the true and Men take them up and persist in them for want of due Examination Be it so There is need of a Remedy for this and I have found one whose Success cannot be questioned Very well What is it Let us hear it Why Dissenters must be punished Can any Body that hears you say so believe you in earnest and that want of Examination is the thing you would have amended when want of Examination is not the thing you would have punished If want of Examination be the fault want of Examination must be punished if you are as you pretend fully satisfied that Punishment is the proper and only means to remedy it But if in all your Treatise you can shew me one place where you say That the Ignorant the Careless the Inconsiderate the Negligent in examining throughly the truth of their own and others Religion c. are to be punished I wâ—…ll allow your remedy for a good one But you have not said any thing like this and which is more I tell you before hand you dare not say it And whilst you do not the World has reason to judg that however want of Examination be a general Fault which you with great Vehemency have exaggerated yet you use it only for a pretence to punish Dissenters and either distrust your remedy that it will not cure this Evil or else care not to have it generally cur'd This evidently appears from your whole management of the Argument And he that reads your Tâ—…eatise with attention will be more confirm'd in this Opinion when he shall find that you who are so earnest to have Men punished to bring them to consider and examine that so they may discover the way to Salvation have not said one word of considering searching and hearkening to the Scripture which had been as good a rule for a Christian to have sent them to as to Reasons and Arguments prâ—…per to convince them of you know not what As to the Inâ—…ction and Government of the proper Ministers of Religion which who they are Men are yet â—…ar from being agreed Or as to the â—…formation of â—…hose who tell them they have mistakâ—…n their way and offer to shew them the right and to the like uncertain and dangerous Guides whâ—…ch were not those that our Saviour and the Apostles sent Men to but to the Scriptures Sâ—…arch the Scriptures for in them you think you have â—…nal Life says our Saviour to the unbelieving persecuting Jews 〈◊〉 5.39 And 't is the Scriptures which St. Pauls says
e. Punishment may be any way useful for the promoting the Salvation of Souls there is a right somewhere to use it And this Right say you is in the Magistrate Who then upon your grounds may quickly find reason where it suits his inclination or serves his turn to punish men directly to bring them to his Religion For if he may use Force because it may be indirectly and at a distance any way useful towards the Salvation of Souls towards the procuring any degree of glory Why may he not by the same Rule use it where it may be useful at least indirectly and at a distance towards the procuring a greater degree of glory For St. Paul assures us that the Afflictions of this life work for us a far more exceeding weight of glory So that why should they not be punished if in the wrong to bring them into the right way If in the right to make them by their Sufferings gainers of a far more exceeding weight of glory But whatever you say of Punishment being lawful because indirectly and at a distance it may be useful I suppose upon cooler thoughts you will be apt to suspect that however Sufferings may promote the Salvation of those who make a good use of them and so set men surer in the right way or higher in a state of glory yet those who make men unduly suffer will have the heavier Account and greater weight of guilt upon them to sink them deeper in the Pit of perdition and that therefore they should be warn'd to take take care of so using their Power Because whoever be gainers by it they themselves will without repentance and amendment be sure to be losers But by granting that the Magistrate misapplies his Power when he punishes those who have the Right on their side whether it be to bring them to his own Religion or whether it be to bring them to consider reasons and arguments proper to convince them you grant all that the Author contends for All that he endeavours is to shew the bounds of Civil Power and that in punishing others for Religion the Magistrate misapplies the Force he has in his hands and so goes beyond Right beyond the limits of his Power For I do not think the Author of the Letter so vain I am sure for my part I am not as to hope by Arguments though never so clear to reform presently all the Abuses in this matter Especially whilst men of Art and Religion endeavour so industriously to palliate and disguise what truth yet sometimes unawares forces from them Do not think I make a wrong use of your saying the Magistrate misapplies his Power when I say you therein grant all that the Author contends for For if the Magistrate misapplies or makes a wrong use of his Power when he punishes in matters of Religion any one who is in the Right though it be but to make him consider as you grant he does he also misapplies or makes wrong use of his Power when he punishes any one whomsoever in Matters of Religion to make him consider For every one is here Judg for himself what is Right And in matters of Faith and Religious Worship another cannot judg for him So that to punish any one in Matters of Religion tho it be but to make him consider is by your own Confession beyond the Magistrate's Power And that punishing in matters of Religion is beyond the Magistrate's Power is what the Author contends for You tell us in the following words All the hurt that comes to them by it is only the suffering some tolerable Inconveniences for their follâ—…ing the Light of their own Reason and the Dictates of their own Consciences which certainly is no such mischief to Mankind as to make it more elegible that there should be no such Power vested in the Magistrate but the care of every Man's Soul should be left to himself alone as this Author demands it should be that is that every Man should be suffer'd quietly and without the least Molestation either to take no care at all of his Soul if he be so pleased or in doing it to follow his own groundless Prejudices or unaccountable Humour or any crafty Seducer whom he may think fit to take for his Guide Why should not the care of every Man's Soul be left to himself rather than the Magistrate Is the Magistrate like to be more concern'd for it Is the Magistrate like to take more care of it Is the Magistrate commonly more careful of his own than other Men are of theirs Will you say the Magistrate is less expos'd in matters of Religion to Prejudices Humours and Crafty Seducers than other Men If you cannot lay your Hand upon your Heart and say all this What then will be got by the change And why may not the care of every Man's Soul be left to himself Especially if a Man be in so much danger to miss the truth who is suffer'd quietly and without the least Molestation either to take no care of his Soul if he be so pleased or to follow his own Prejudices c. For if want of Molestation be the dangerous state wherein Men are likeliest to miss the right way it must be confessed that of all Men the Magistrate is most in danger to be in the wrong and so the unfittest if you take the care of Mens Souls from themselves of all Men to be intrusted with it For he never meets with that great and only Antidote of yours against Error which you here call Molestation He never has the benefit of your Sovereign Remedy Punishment to make him consider which you think so necessary that you look on it as a most dangerous State for Men to be without it and therefore tell us 't is every Man's true Interest not to be left wholly to himself in matters of Religion Thus Sir I have gone through your whole Treatise and as I think have omitted nothing in it material If I have I doubt not but I shall hear of it And now I refer it to your self as well as to the Judgment of the World Whether the Author of the Letter in saying no Body hath a Right or you in saying the Magistrate hath a Right to use force in Matters of Religion has most Reason In the mean time I leave this request with you That if ever you write again about the means of bringing Souls to Salvation which certainly is the best design any one can imploy his Pen in you would take care not to prejudice so good a Cause by ordering it so as to make it look as if you writ for a Party I am SIR Your most Humble Servant PHILANTHROPUS May 27. 1690. FINIS Pag. 12 13 14. Pag. 1. Pag. 2. Pag. 49. Pag. 7. Pag. 3. Pag. 4. Pag. 5. Pag. 5. Pag. 13. Pag. 14. Pag. 23. Pag. 5. Pag. 5. Pag. 16. Pag. 5. Mark 4.24 Pag. 6. Pag. 10. Ezek. 11.5 7. Pag. 10. Pag. 11. Pag. 11. Pag. 20. Pag. 26. Pag. 12. Pag. 5. Pag. 10. Pag. 27 Pag. 23. Pag. 11. Pag. 27. Pag. 12. Pag. 13. Pag. 14. Pag. 20. Pag. 6 7 8 9 10. Pag. 22. Pag. 12. Pag. 22. Pag. 26. Pag. 22. Pag. 12. Pag. 21. Pag. 25. Pag. 26. Pag. 12. Pag. 10. Pag. 12. Pag. 24. Pag. 15. Pag. 12. P. 14. P. 13 14. P. 26. P. 13 14 P. 21. P. 24. P. 25. P. 15. P. 16. P. 17. P. 18. P. 19. P. 21. P. 21. P. 20. P. 22. P. 22. P. 7. P. 26. P. 15. P. 16. P. 26.