according to the Submission c. That the Clergy shall not presume to attempt c. unless they have the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence to make c. So that it 's evident the King's Licence is antecedently necessary to their making or even attempting which includes all conferring or debating in order to the making any new Canons and that they are to be punished unless they have the King's Authority on that behalf And none but our Author can be so absurd as to think the King 's confirming the Canons the Convocation has made is a Licence to them to make or attempt the making new ones Is the King 's signing an Act a Licence to the Parliament to make a new one But the Author's Ingenuity in reciting this Act and his Reasoning upon it is much alike 14. The Author demands Why are the Clergy called to a Convocation if when they come they are not to act The Convocation was once a Limb of Parliament and the Writ they are now summoned by is not much different from that of the Commons and no doubt did then meet were Adjourned Prorogued Dissolved with the rest of the Parliament and this continued till H. 8. when they lost all their Parliamentary Rights but of Taxing themselves for the doing of which they were still summoned according to the Antient Form and tho they have now lost that Right too and so the Reason of summoning wholly ceaseth yet the Writs are issued out still after the same manner It is not their being summoned by this Writ that alone makes them a Synod for Ecclesiastical Matters for in the Popish Times they were always summoned with the rest of the Parliament yet they were not a Synod nor could not act as such without Authority from the Pope and instead of any such Authority now the King makes them a Synod and gives them Power to enact Canons by Licence under the Broad-Seal and this with Submission I take to be the true state of the Case 15. As to the third that a Convocation is as essential and necessary to the Church and Constitution and binds all People in Ecclesiasticals as a Parliament does in Temporals I answer If the Clergy have another Right to make Canons besides the Will of the Legislative Power viz. a Divine Right their Canons would be valid without the King 's confirming them nor could an Act of Parliament abrogate or annul any of those Canons made by a Spiritual Authority which is so far from depending on theirs that the Parliament it self is subject to them in those Matters nor could they hinder them from sitting when and as long as they had a Mind to because they that have a Divine Right to make Ecclesiastical Laws must have the same Right to sit in order to make them which is but necessary to the making them and in a word they must be as absolute and independant in all things relating to Ecclesiasticals as the Lay-state is in Civils but there cannot be two Independant or Legislative Powers about the same or different things for then People would be obliged to obey contrary Commands about the same things or different Commands at the same Time which is impossible but that Power which can annul the Commands of the other must be able to command in all Cases and be alone Supreme because as great a Power is required to take off as to lay on If therefore the Civil Power can annul any Ecclesiastical Laws the Convocation can have no Power but what is dependant on theirs which they can abridg curtail or annul as they think fit therefore it 's absurd to pretend that a Convocation has the same Rights or Privileges or is as essential to the Constitution as a Parliament without whose Authority no Laws relating to Church or State can be made And a Convocation is so far from being necessary to make Laws for the Church that it 's usurping the Rights of the English Churches or Christian People of England who are to be tied up by no Laws about indifferent things which alone are subject to humane Empire whether of a Civil or Ecclesiastical Nature but by their own Consent given in Parliament And I know no Law of Christianity that deprives them of this Right which from the first spreading of the Gospel here they have always claimed There were no Laws in the British and Saxon Times that concerned the whole Church but as our Historians testify were made by the same Power that made the Temporal Laws and were put in execution by the same Persons The tearing the Ecclesiastical Power from the Temporal was the cursed Root of Antichrist those Powers were not distinct in England nor in most Nations till the See of Rome got the Ascendant then and not till then did the Clergy attempt to bind the Laity by those Laws they never consented to but their design was never brought to perfection for such was the Genius of a Government built upon this noble Foundation That no Man ought to be bound by a Law he does not consent to that as muffled up in Darkness and Superstition as our Ancestors were yet that Notion seemed to be so strongly engraven in their Nature that nothing could deface it and accordingly we often find them protesting that this and the other thing does not bind them because done without their Consent that they would not be bound by any Ordinances of the Clergy without their Assent that they would not subject themselves to the Clergy no more than their Ancestors had done And 25 H. 8. cap. 21. they tell the King that besides Acts of Parliament The People are bound by no other Laws but what they have taken at their free Liberty by their own Consent to be used amongst them and have bound themselves by long Vse and Custom to the observance of the same No marvel if we find this People submitting to nothing in Religion but what was ordained by themselves De majoribus omnes was one of their Fundamental Constitutions before they came hither and so it has continued to this Day and Matters of Religion were amongst their Majora even before they received Christianity And what neither the Pagan nor Popish Priests could cheat or scare them from our Author will find a hard Matter to harangue them out of If no Canon is valid that is contrary to the Custom or Law of this Realm How can a Canon oblige contrary to this most antient Custom and Fundamental part of the Constitution of the Peoples being obliged by no Laws but of their own making What 's become of the boasted English Liberty if they may be excommunicated and consequently imprisoned for Contempt or Disobedience to a Law they never made This I think is sufficient to show the Frivolousness of our Author's Reasons for making his Majesty guilty of the breach of his Coronation-Oath in denying those Rights to the Convocation he pretends are their due which I think I have proved to be contrary both to the Law of God and the Realm I shall therefore conclude praying that the God of Patience would grant that no Priests of this Man's Principles in or out of Convocation may hinder Men from being like-minded one to another nor disturb the Peace of Church or State FINIS Books sold by Andrew Bell at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhil A New History of Ecclesiastical Writers Containing an Account of the Authors of the several Books of the Old and New Testament and the Lives and Writings of the Primitive Fathers An Abridgment and Catalogue of all their Works c. To which is added A Compendious History of the Councils c. Written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin Doctor of the Sorbon In seven Volumes Fol. A Detection of the Court and State of England during the four last Reigns and the Interregnum Consisting of Private Memoirs c. with Observations and Reflections And an Appendix discovering the present State of the Nation Wherein are many Secrets never before made publick as also a more impartial Account of the Civil Wars in England than has yet been given By Rog. Coke Esq The third Edition much corrected with an Alphabetical Table Advice to the Young or the Reasonableness and Advantages of an Early Conversion In three Sermons on Eccles. 12. 1. By Joseph Stennett His Sermon at the Funeral of Mr. John Belcher Scotland's Sovereignty asserted A Dispute whether the K. of Scots owes Homage to the K. of England Written in Latin by Sir Tho. Craig Translated by Geo. Ridpath with a Preface against Mr. Rymer Answ. 1. * D r. Burnet 's Hist. Reform Part 1. Colâ—ect N. 17. * Rot. Parl. 40 Edw. 3. Num. 7 8. Rot. Parl. 5. Edw. 3. Art 46. Rot. Parl. 6 Rich. 2. Num. 62. †Tacitus de Moribus Germanorum C. 11.
AN ESSAY Concerning the POWER of the MAGISTRATE and the Rights of Mankind in Matters of Religion With some Reasons in particular for the Dissenters not being obliged to take the Sacramental Test but in their own Churches and for a General Naturalization Together with a Postscript in Answer to the Letter to a Convocation-Man LONDON Printed by J. D. for Andrew Bell at the Cross-Keys and Bible in Cornhil 1697. THE CONTENTS of the CHAPTERS PART I. Chap. 1. THAT Government is from the People who had a Right to invest the Magistrate with a Power in those Matters of Religion which have an Influence on Humane Societies but not in others that are meerly Religious or have no such Influence Page 1 Chap. 2. That God has not either by the Law of Nature or his positive Law given the Magistrate a Power in Matters meerly Religious Pag. 17 Chap. 3. That a Power in the Magistrate to use Force in Matters of meer Religion tends to Mens Eternal Ruin Pag. 27 Chap. 4. That Compulsion is inconsistent with all those Duties that God for the sake of Mens Temporal Happiness requires of one towards another P. 30 Chap. 5. That the Doctrine of Compulsion is directly contrary to the Honour of God Pag. 47 PART II. Chap. 1. AN Answer to Arguments from Scripture on behalf of Persecution Pag. 68 Chap. 2. Arguments from Humane Authority answered Pag. 78 Chap. 3. Object That Compulsion tends to make People impartially consider examined Pag. 87 Chap. 4. Object That the Magistrate has a Right to use Force to prevent the Increase to those Erroneous Opinions that a Toleration would produce examined Pag. 103 Chap. 5. That all Force upon the Account of meer Religion is inconsistent with the Principles of the Protestant Religion Pag. 117 Chap. 6. Of the Method to destroy not only Schisms and Heresies but Hatred and Vncharitableness amongst Christians notwithstanding their different Opinions Pag. 124 Chap. 7. That the Good of the Society obligeth the Magistrate to hinder different Professions of Religion examined Pag. 144 Chap. 8. Some few Reasons for the Dissenters not taking the Sacramental Test but in their own Churches and for a General Naturalization Pag. 168 Postscript Pag. 176 Errata Page 28. line 5. for Truth read Lawfulness P. 42. l. 12. r. seventy times P. 48. l. ult r. Notion P. 73. l. 21. r. one P. 99. l. 19. r. betrayed him P. 103. l. 22. r. if Force should P. 144. l. 1. r. Chap. VII P. 190. l. 10. r. creating An ESSAY Concerning the Power of the MAGISTRATE c. CHAP. I. That Government is from the People who had a right to invest the Magistrate with a Power in those Matters of Religion which have an Influence on Humane Societies but not in others that are meerly Religious or have no such Influence 1. A Discourse on this Subject cannot be unseasonable whilst so many instead of shewing their Gratitude to the Government for rescuing them from the apparent Danger of Popish Persecution are so disaffected for being depriv'd of the Power of persecuting their Brethren that they had rather run the risque of the Nation 's being ruined by the French and themselves under Popish Persecution than to be without that Power and for want of it do in their daily invective Discourses and Sermons besides a great many other malicious Insinuations pretend the Church now to be nearer its Ruin than it was in the late Reign I cannot but be sensible I incur a great hazard of exposing my self by writing on a Subject in a manner wholly exhausted by the three incomparable Letters concerning Toleration which yet I had rather do than be wanting in my Endeavours to encourage impartial Liberty and mutual Toleration which instead of ruining is the only way to preserve both Church and State Yet this was not the only Motive that engag'd me in this Design for intending to write concerning what is commonly called Church or Ecclesiastical Power I thought it necessary for the better handling that Subject first to examine the Extent of the Magistrate's Power in Matters of Religion lest the Civil and Ecclesiastical Power should in my Discourse what in the World they frequently do clash one with the other I shall therefore without further prefacing attempt to shew what Power the Magistrate has in Matters of Religion Tho to prevent all occasion of Mistake or Cavil I shall first explain those Terms 2. By the Magistrate I mean the Person or Persons who in every Society have the Supream Power which consists in a Right to make Laws and by Force without which all Laws would be to no purpose to oblige the Unwilling and Disobedient to govern their Actions according to them 3. By Religion I understand the Belief of a God and the Sense and Practice of those Duties which result from the Knowledg we have of him and our selves and the Relation we stand in to him and our fellow Creatures or in short whatever appears to us from any convincing Evidence to be our Duty to believe or practise 4. In things relating to our selves or what is in our disposal any Action is lawful where there is no Law to forbid it But there is more than this required to invest a Man with a Right to deprive others of their natural Freedom and make Laws that in Conscience oblige them Whoever pretends to this must have a Commission either from God or Men but there is no Person that can pretend to have an immediate Commission from God therefore they that lay the Foundation of any Magistrate's Power not on a Humane but a Divine Right destroy all Obligation of Obedience to him for why should I be oblig'd to obey him on the account of a Divine Commission when he can neither show nor ever had any such Commission And there are none of his Subjects but what have as good a Pretence that is just none at all to a Divine Right Therefore since no Man can pretend an immediate Right from Heaven all the Right that one more than another has to command must be the Consent of the Governed either explicitly or implicitly given But it 's said the Powers that be are ordain'd of God which may very fitly and justly be said since they are chosen and appointed by those who had not only a Power from God to chuse them but were absolutely required by the Law of Self-preservation imprinted by God on their Natures to avoid the Inconveniences and Dangers of an unsafe State of Nature by placing the Power of governing them in one or more Hands in such Forms and under such Agreements as they should think fit To suppose the Powers that be to be otherwise from God than as they are the Creatures of the People made by them and for them is not only to contradict St. Peter who calls Government 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Creature or Contrivance of Man but the Experience of all Ages wherein Men have contrived and framed various sorts
an Injustice if he should any farther than relates to the good of the Publick enjoin Men the Care of their Private Concerns or force them to a prosecution of their Private Interest but only protect them from being invaded which is much the same as Toleration there is the same reason he should no farther use Force in Matters of Religion than the Publick Good is concerned and only protect Men from being injured by others in their Private Concerns between God and themselves 10. To suppose that one Man in the State of Nature had a Right to use Force on another on the account of meer Religion is to suppose that State a State of Anarchy War and Confusion because every one supposing himself in the right and not being willing to submit to another there must necessarily happen perpetual Quarrels Confusions and Destruction which is contrary to the Law of right Reason whereby in that State Men were wholly to be governed The only Difference between being in a State of Nature and under Government consists in this that under Government Men have debarred themselves from exercising their natural Rights and intrusted the Magistrate to do those things that in the State of Nature every one of them had a Right to do so that the Magistrate's Power is not larger but their 's more contracted than it was in that State 11. If in the State of Nature Men had a Right to use Force one upon the other for Differences of Opinion different Nations who with respect to one another are still in that State may upon that account justly use it which would involve almost all Nations since there are scarce any but differ and in their own Opinions very materially in endless Wars But they are so far from thinking they ought to make War for this Reason that by the Sacred Laws of Nations Ambassadors and all vested with a Publick Character have a Right to exercise their own Religion in the Country they are sent to tho never so contrary to that there established But 12. If the Magistrate of one Society has no Right to use Force on the Members of another he can have as little to use it on those of his own because in becoming their Governour he has obliged himself to promote their Happiness and Welfare And he that is entrusted with a Power for the Good of the Society can never have a Right to use it to the Prejudice of it as he manifestly does who deprives his Subjects either of their Lives or Properties for things that do not relate to the Safety or Good of the Civil Society Which either against Foreign or Domestick Enemies is best provided for by the Peoples Union which arises from the mutual Enjoyments of their Liberty whereby the Source and Foundation of Domestick Enmities is taken away and their Strength against Foreign Enemies encreased which Union and with it the general Welfare of the People can only be secured by such a Conduct in the Governors as gives impartial Encouragement to all that are Vertuous and Industrious and perfect Security to every one in the Fruits of their Labours Which is altogether inconsistent with the Magistrate's depriving them of those Fruits or any part of them for Matters meerly Religious which can only tend to divide a People into Parties and Factions and to weaken the State by their Disunion and endanger it by their Discontents But this is not the worst it necessarily tends to the ruining and beggaring of a Nation not only by destroying all Encouragement to Industry Frugality and Labour but by depriving People of the Means to carry on those Trades upon which the Safety and Riches of a Nation depend which must in time depopulate a Country as we find evident in all those where Men are not secure in the enjoyments of the Fruits of their own and their Ancestors Labours But such Tyranny is much more destructive when it happens upon the Account of Religion then it wholly falls on the truly Religious and Conscientious who are the most Just most Frugal most Industrious and in a word most serviceable to their Country both in Peace and War For that Conscience that makes them suffer rather than act against it causeth them to abound with all those moral Vertues about which there are no Contentions that are necessary and useful to the Publick But because I shall have further occasion to mention the fatal Consequences of Persecution I shall only add here that there never was a Nation especially a trading One where Men could with ease remove themselves and their Effects long either Rich Populous or Happy where Persecution prevail'd And on the contrary no Nation but what has thriven proportionably as they have allowed a Toleration 13. In a word since it 's the Magistrate's Duty to preserve as much as possible when it 's not contrary to the greater Good of the Society the Property Quiet and Life of every individual Person neither Man nor God can oblige him to inconsistent or contradictory things viz. to do this and deprive the Members of the Society of these when the Good of it is not concerned But the more the Good of the Society forbids him the more he is obliged to use Force because as the Number of those he judges to be erroneous encreases so not only the Number of the Sufferers but even their Sufferings ought to encrease to put a stop to those spreading Errors But the more the Sufferers are and the more they suffer the more the Publick is damnified so that it 's evident the Magistrate cannot be obliged both to promote the Publick Good and to use this Power Nay the very exercising such a Power is inconsistent with Government and as far as it extends destroys it because a Design to deprive People not only of their Lives but Properties for conservation of which Government was instituted and therefore more sacred than Government it self and a Design to govern them are inconsistent And has not the Magistrate such a Design when he invades the Peoples Rights for things not tending to the Good of the Society nor as much as in their Power but morally impossible such as acting contrary to their Conscience is And it 's a greater piece of Tyranny to punish Men for what is morally than what is naturally impossible 14. If the Magistrate on pretence of the Honour of God or the Good of Souls can use Force to make Men of that Religion he judgeth to be true there can be no reason why the same religious Causes should not oblige the dissenting Subjects to use Force on the Magistrate and his Sect in order to cause them to be of that Religion they judg to be true The same reason that will justify one will equally justify the other For Property is no more founded in speculative Opinions or ceremonial Practices than Dominion is and the Magistrate is as much bound to protect his Subjects and not to destroy their Privileges as they
are to obey him and not to invade his Prerogatives The Duties are reciprocal and consequently one Party cannot be bound but the other must be so too so that both or neither are free to use Force in such Cases It 's said the Good of the Society hinders the Subjects from using Force The same Reason then must hinder the Magistrate too because Men will not endeavour to use Force against him but when they judg themselves strong enough and then they will whatever Passive Principles they may pretend as little fail to do it if he persecutes them and in the mean time they must suffer all he will inflict which makes the Argument to conclude much stronger against the Magistrate the Abuse of whose Power produces greater and more unavoidable Mischiefs to Mankind than any thing else can 15. By what has been said I think it 's evident that Men tho they are answerable to God for every Breach of his Laws yet are accountable to one another for those things only that relate to their mutual Security and Welfare because every Man has so much Interest and no more in another's Conduct and therefore Government is no further concerned in Matters of Religion than as the Principles or Practices of the different Professors tend to make them more or less fit for the Duties of the Society For which Reason those Opinions that are meerly Speculative or Practices that are purely Ceremonial as having no relation at all to the true Foundation of Government ought to be tolerated for nothing can be evidently more unjust than for the Representative of the Civil Society as the Magistrate is to deprive any of the Rights of the Society who has done nothing against its Interest nor can any thing be more ridiculous than to suppose a Man's Rights to the enjoyment of this Life ought to depend upon his thinking just as the Magistrate does about Things relating to the next or that a Man's Property in this World is founded upon his having right Notions of Things no ways relating to it which is as absurd as that Property is founded in Grace and there is as much dispute who is in the right Opinion as who has Grace every one alike pretending to it and none being obliged to submit to the Determination of another CHAP. II. That God has not either by the Law of Nature or his positive Law given the Magistrate a Power in Matters meerly Religious SINCE it appears that the Magistrate has not his Power immediately from God but from the People and that God has not authoriz'd or capacitated them to bestow a Right on him to use Force in Cases of meer Religion it necessary follows that he has no such Right But however to avoid all pretence of Cavilling let us suppose that Government both as to the Form and to the Persons that administer it is immediately from God yet still it 's most evident that the Magistrate has no such Power 1. Which thus I prove A Right in the Magistrate to punish for not doing as he commands necessarily supposes it a Duty in the Subject to obey otherwise he would punish a Man for not doing what he is not obliged to do and where there is no Power to make Laws or to command there can be no Disobedience and where there is no Disobedience there punishing on pretence of Disobeying is manifestly unjust But that God has the sole Legislative Power in Matters meerly Religious or what only concerns himself and can alone prescribe what Honour Worship c. shall be paid him none I suppose will deny therefore the Magistrate has no Legislative nor Coercive Power which cannot subsist without Legislation to which it necessarily adheres And 2. As God has reserv'd to himself the sole Legislature so he has not given the Magistrate a Right to interpret for others his Law or to impose on them in what sense they must understand it But he has endowed Men in general with Reason which is the only Guide he has obliged them to follow in judging of the Sense and Meaning of his Laws and he that does not follow it degrades himself from the Rank of rational Creatures and highly offends God And this is not only evident by the Light of Nature but confirmed by God's Positive Law which frequently commands us to make use thereof in Matters of Religion We are bid to prove all things and hold fast that which is good to try the Spirits to let no Man deceive us to beware of false Prophets Seducers Deceivers to judg of our selves what is right But how shall we judg and try Not as the Horse and Mule which have no Vnderstanding but as Circumspect and Wise that is by making use of those Faculties God has given us to discern between Truth and Falshood Good and Evil. And he not only forbids us to act contrary to our Judgment but requires we should be fully satisfied before we act For he that acts when he doubts is damn'd and whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin The Reason is most evident why a Man ought not to do an Action when he judges it to be ill because to judg an Action to be ill or displeasing to God is the same and he that forms such a Judgment of an Action and yet does it does knowingly and willingly displease God which is eternally and essentially ill because no Circumstances what-ever can make it lawful for a Creature to do that which he judges will offend his Creator or even to act when he doubts whether it will or no. If then God rewards and punishes Men according as they have followed the Dictates of their Reason that must needs be the Rule of their Actions and not the Commands of the Magistrate and consequently the Magistrate can have no more Right to use Force on a Subject than a Subject has on him for tho he is his Subject in other Matters yet in those meerly Religious he is equally a Soveraign equally Independant as the Magistrate himself because where there is no other Judg on Earth but every one 's own Reason every Man one as well as another is a Supream Judg Nay this Sovereign Right of judging every one for himself is so inherent that none can make this Power over to another So that it 's impossible that the Magistrate upon any Pretence whatever can claim a Magisterial Power in these Matters but only a Right to advise which belongs to every one as well as to him And 3. The Difference between Advice and Command consists in this that Advice one is oblig'd to follow not for the sake of the Person that gives it but for the good that is contained in it which he to whom and for whose sake it is given is to judg of and consequently if he does not think it good is not obliged to follow it It 's ridiculous as well as unjust to use Force in Matters of Advice and by Civil Sanctions oblige People to follow it
Whoever does this does in effect however he may deny it in Words claim a Legislative Power But where there is such a Power one is oblig'd to obey upon the account and for the sake of the Authority that commands it And if the Magistrate had such a Power Men would be obliged to profess whatever Religion he commands them 4. The Reason why a Judg is necessary in Civil and not in Religious Controversies is because in Civil Matters it is impossible that Titius should enjoy the things in Controversy and Sempronius too therefore the Plaintiff must injure the Defendant by disquieting his Possession or the Defendant wrong the Plaintiff by keeping his Right from him so that there is a necessity of a common Judg between them who would be to no purpose if both Parties were not obliged to acquiesce in his Sentence I mean with an external Obedience so as to suffer it to be put in execution but not with an Internal so as to believe it always just But in Religious Controversies the Case is otherwise for there each may hold his Opinion and do the other no wrong nor himself neither if he did his best in judging concerning his Opinion so that there can be no occasion of a Judg And it 's further considerable that here can be none but what is a Party as being before engaged either for or against the Opinion that is to be decided But for a Party to judg it against all natural Equity tho it 's the constant practice of the Clergy to make profest and highly interessed Parties whose Preferments are held by declaring for such Opinions to be both Accusers and Judges that is to declare themselves Orthodox and therefore to engross all Preferments and their Opponents Heterodox and consequently not to share with them But if there is a Judg to whose Determination one is obliged to submit he that is so obliged must give an Internal Consent because here all External Compliance contrary to one's Judgment is a Sin but all the Power in the World is not able to make a Man give an Internal Consent because it 's not in his own much less in another's Power to make him believe or think as he pleaseth Yet were that possible no Man is qualified to be a Judg but he that is infallible besides were there any such Judg yet a Man was not to be ruled by him except he was convinced he was so But 5. There being no such Judg on Earth there is an absolute necessity of leaving those Controversies to be decided by God himself as being Matters wholly relating to him and consequently wholly to be left to him Therefore for the Magistrate to punish any for acting according to their Judgments is not only invading the Rights of his Fellow-men but the Prerogative of God himself in taking upon him to judg those Matters God has reserv'd for his own Tribunal Nay he goes further than this and punisheth Men for obeying God rather than himself God requires Man to worship him as he in his Conscience thinks most agreeable to his Will and the Magistrate threatneth him if he does so to Fine Imprison and Ruin him which is setting himself above God a Crime greater than that of Lucifer who only attempted an Equality with his Maker not a Superiority above him 6. It 's said the Magistrate has a Right to hinder his Subjects from following their Consciences when erroneous Which is very absurd for if a Man was not oblig'd to act according to his Conscience for fear of its being erroneous no Man would be obliged to act according to his Conscience at all since the mistaken Person thinks himself as much in the right nay is generally more confident than he that is really so So that if one must follow his Conscience there 's the same necessity for all because all equally judg themselves in the Right But if the Magistrate is to judg whose Conscience is erroneous then Men must desert their Consciences and all the World over profess the same Principles with the Magistrates they live under For Civil Government is every where the same and one Magistrate as well as another has an equal right to judg who of his Subjects have erroneous Consciences 7. If it be Mens indispensible Duty to worship God according to Conscience and that publickly too for the more publick the Worship is the more it tends to the Glory of God it must be their Duty to use the Means that are necessary to that End and consequently if it be necessary oppose Force to Force for the Magistrate in things beyond his Commission is but a private Person and People do no Injustice in defending that Right none can have a right to deprive them of and which themselves cannot part with it being the Essential Right of Human Nature to worship God according to Conviction which is antecedent to all Government and can never be subject to it But 8. If the Magistrate has a Right to use Force in Matters of meer Religion he must have this Right by God's positive Law or by the Law of Nature But that he has no such Power by God's positive Law is evident from this one Consideration that all Mankind except the Jews whose Laws were not obligatory to other Nations were under no Law but that of Nature until the coming of Christ But Christ whose Kingdom is not of this World and who disclaimed all Civil Power made no Change or Alteration in the Civil Rights and Conditions of Mankind which he must have done had he made Mens Properties depend upon their thinking or acting in Matters purely Religious according to the Magistrate's Judgment As Christ and the Magistrate have each their distinct Kingdoms so they must have each their Limits and Bounds the Magistrate's Kingdom it's true must be subservient to Christ's in punishing Vice and Immorality and in preserving People from being molested in their Civil Rights for worshipping God according to Conscience and here he still keeps within the Confines of his own Kingdom but if he exerciseth a Legislature in Christ's and makes use of Violence to put his Laws in execution he assumes a greater Power than Christ himself claims But 9. If the Magistrate claims such a Right by the Law of Nature that Right ought fully to be made appear because there is no part of that Law but what is most clear and evident To prove he has such a Power it 's usually urged that if Parents by the Law of Nature have a right to use Force on their Children in Matters of meer Religion the Magistrate whose Power over his Subjects is much greater than that of Parents over their Children has at least as great a Right I answer It 's a Duty in Parents for the Good of their Children for which they are fitted by their natural Love and Tenderness to supply the Defects of their Understanding until they are capable of understanding for themselves Before which time Parents no
doubt will instruct them in their own Religion whether Paganism Judaism or Mahometism yet no Man will suppose that they can justly use Force on them when they come to Years of Discretion to make them embrace those Religions or any other And yet the Case between the Magistrate and his Subjects is very different from that of Parents and Children in their Nonage because the Magistrate is not in those Matters to supply the Defects of his Subjects Understanding for a time but his Power reaches to Men of all Ages and Capacities so that it 's evident that the Reason that subjects Children in their Nonage to the use of Force does not all concern Men at Years of Discretion 10. It 's granted by all that a Heathen Magistrate has no right to judg in Matters simply Religious how then comes a Christian by the Law of Nature to obtain this Charter since that Law allows one Magistrate no more Power than another and what is done by a competent Authority tho not right yet is valid ratum si non rectum And as Civil Power is every where the same so let me add Church-Power is so too so that the Church cannot give any new Power to the Magistrate by his becoming a Member of it nor the Magistrate any new Power to the Church by his coming into it 11. It 's said the Law of Nature obligeth every one in his Station to promote the true Religion and for that reason the Magistrate is obliged to exercise a Coercive Power in Matters meerly Religious The Magistrate no doubt is to make use of his Power in things that belong to his Station but meerly religious Ones as it has been already proved do not as to those he is no more than a private Person nay the Clergy cannot own him for more without destroying their own Supremacy in Matters Spiritual which includes meerly religious Ones except there can be more than one Supream in the same thing CHAP. III. That a Power in the Magistrate to use Force in Matters of meer Religion tends to Mens Eternal Ruin 1. BUT if the Magistrate has any such Power from the Law of Nature it must be because it tends to promote either the Eternal or Temporal Good of Mankind or the Honour of God But to take away the least Colour of any Right upon these Pretences I shall show first the Exercise of such a Power is destructive of Man's Eternal Happiness 2dly Of his Temporal and contrary to all those Laws that for our mutual good God requires of us 3dly That it is directly opposite to and inconsistent with the Honour of God 2. As to the first It is of fatal Consequence to the Eternal Happiness of Mankind in having a direct tendency to make them act contrary to their Consciences For since Force can no more work a Change or Alteration on the Mind than Arguments can on Matter all that it can do is to make Men unwilling to lie under the weight of it which they have no way of avoiding but by acting as the Magistrate will have them the Truth of which Force is wholly unapt to convince them of and can only produce an outward compliance the Conscience still remaining averse For nothing is more evident than that where a thing is wholly impertinent to convince the Conscience as Violence is and yet it obligeth a Man to act it obligeth him to act contrary to his Conscience which is directly contrary to his Eternal Happiness For if he that acts when he doubts is damned he cannot certainly be in a better Condition who wholly revolts from his Conscience and basely lieth both to God and Man 3. The true Religion it self can neither judg nor punish but the Magistrate by the True Religion means his own and since all Magistrates think themselves in the right they if Force is to be used must think themselves oblig'd to use it And consequently if one useth Force to make People profess a True Doctrine or Religion there are at least five hundred who would use it to make People contrary to their Consciences profess a False Religion either in whole or part than which there can be nothing more impious nor would the Matter be much mended if the Magistrate forceth Men to profess the True Religion which yet is certainly false to them whilst they believe it so And the forcing People to profess either a true or false Religion is equally prejudicial to the Common-Wealth and consequently upon that account equally sinful because when Men by acting against their Consciences are brought to have no regard to them they will not scruple to break those moral Duties which all Religions teach and in the observing of which Man 's mutual Happiness consists therefore the Magistrate is so far from having a right to punish Men for acting according to their Consciences that it 's his Duty to see they do not violate them tho supposed never so erroneous and consequently all Force is religiously to be abstain'd from which as Mr. Chillingworth Chap. 5. n. 96. observeth may make Men counterfeit but cannot make them believe and therefore is fit to breed Form without and Atheism within Yet this is not the only fatal Consequence of this Doctrine but as I shall show in my next CHAP. IV. Compulsion is inconsistent with all those Duties that God for the sake of Mens Temporal Happiness requires of one towards another 1. NOthing can be more diametrically opposite to all those Precepts of Love Charity Kindness Gentleness Meekness Patience Forbearance the Gospel is in a manner composed of than Mens ill using one another for different Sentiments in things meerly Religious To pretend Love Kindness Friendship c. and yet vex oppress and ruin is no better than mocking and sporting with the Miseries of those we have so treated First to kiss and then betray is the basest Hypocrisy if that can pass for Hypocrisy which openly proclaims at how great a distance Mens Words and Actions are The kindest Office one Man can do to another is if he thinks him in an Error to endeavour to convince him of it who tho he continues in his former Opinion yet the Obligation to the other for his good Intention still remains and this Benefit he may obtain by it that by examining the Reasons on both Sides he is more likely to discover the Truth yet should he mistake after he has impartially examined the Point his Error would be wholly innocent since he has done what he can to find out the Truth and God requires no more but to cause a Person to be persecuted for being instrumental in this is the most unnatural and diabolical thing that can be 2. Object It 's usually said 't is not want of Charity but the greatest that can be to hinder Men by Force from professing such Opinions as are destructive to their Souls Answ. But I say first that it 's against Charity for the Magistrate to do a real Ill to
for judging for others and punishing them for not acting according to their Judgments are unwilling that others when the Scales of Authority are turned should judg for them in like manner Tho then there 's nothing they can plead for themselves but what before they condemned in others and it would be as ridiculous to request those that they before ill used to have regard to the common Rules of Justice as it would have been in those Scythians who sacrificed all Strangers to their Gods to desire others to have respect to the Laws of Hospitality 5. It may be objected That the Rule of doing as you would be done unto does not hold because one Magistrate is in the Right and the other not and consequently he that is in the Right himself has a Right to judg but not vice versa Answ. But since the Dispute is who is in the Right it 's ridiculous to say he that 's only in the Right has a Power to judg except there were some Superiour to determine which of them is in the Right but there being no such Superiour every Magistrate is to judg for himself who to be sure will judg himself in the Right and consequently those that differ from him in the Wrong And there can be no reason why one Magistrate as well as another has not a Right to judg since that Right is founded in being a Magistrate which is common to them all And there can be no Reason for the Orthodox punishing Schismaticks Hereticks Mahometans Jews Pagans c. but what will equally oblige them as long as they believe themselves to be Orthodox to punish those that really are so Therefore the Defenders of any Persecution are guilty of encouraging and abetting all Persecution whatsoever even that under which themselves suffer since they can frame no Arguments to justify the using Force to promote the true Religion but what will equally serve in behalf of any Religion that 's believed to be true As we find the loose Harangues of Austin upon that Subject are urged by the Patrons of Persecution of what Sect or Denomination soever And since there can be no Argument to prosecute Error but what will be turned upon Truth it self let the Persecutors themselves judg whether it 's not better to leave all such disputable Points to the only just Judg than to take them into their own Hands who were they wholly ignorant in what part of the World their Station was to be would be glad there was no such thing as Persecution rather than run the risque of being persecuted themselves which shows that even they look on it in general as an ill thing and it 's better certainly that a particular Inconvenience supposing Toleration to be such should be permitted than such a Universal Mischief as Persecution is should prevail It 's said do as you would be done unto is not properly a Law to warrant the thing we are about but only a Rule to direct us what Measures we ought to observe in our acting with others when the thing it self is lawful Which granting to be true yet for a Man to judg which is the true Religion and act according to that Judgment all agree is not only lawful but a Duty because all agree themselves are obliged to act so and therefore if I desire this Liberty for my self I ought not to deny it to my Brother seeing he is a Man and I am no more and therefore no more infallible than he and for that reason can have no more Right to persecute him into my Opinion than he has to force me into his for between Equals there ought to be an equal Measure Now by Nature all Men are equal and have an equal and natural Right of serving God as they think best and no accidental Difference as to other Matters can deprive them of this Right In a word there can be no reason to deny the Obligation of this Rule in this Case but what will equally destroy it in any other But 6. Persecution destroys not only natural Equity and Justice but breaks all the Ties of Kindred Blood Gratitude Merit because let a Man be never so nearly related to one of persecuting Principles or have done him all the important Kindnesses imaginable or have never so much Merit be never so useful to the Publick or be never so exemplary in his Life and Conversation that will but the sooner expose him to suffer not only because People are apt to be influenced by such a one but because according to the Persecutor's Principles he is obliged to harass him sooner than another out of pure love to him it being the kindest thing he is capable of doing him So that without a Figure it may justly be said of all Persecutors that their very Mercies and Kindnesses are Cruelties But 7. This is not all this Doctrine of Compulsion annuls all Obligations of the most Sacred Oaths for if the Magistrate is obliged by God to use Force on his dissenting Subjects no Promises to indemnify them tho sworn to with the most solemn Oaths ought to be kept because all such Oaths are void from the beginning the Magistrate being under a prior Obligation to God which is not in his Power to dispense with to punish them which must make all Quarrels between the Magistrate and his dissenting Subjects immortal since there can be no Security given that they shall not be punished for their Religion when-ever it is in the Magistrate's Power and by the same Reason all Articles and Covenants that Towns or Countries make for Liberty of Conscience upon their submitting themselves are null and void and so are all the Promises which Popish Kings have made to their Protestant Subjects because they are obliged to punish Hereticks which they suppose Protestants to be and consequently cannot but think their Oaths unlawful And all our late Laws for Liberty of Conscience are in themselves void because he that has the Power of the Sword is required by God's Laws which no Human Ones can supersede to punish Dissenters from the true Church And if all these Obligations are void in themselves what Reason is there that those between Sovereign and Sovereign should be more firm when either of them judg the breaking them will tend to advance the Honour of God since as they cannot pretend to have so great a tenderness for the Right of Foreigners as of their own Subjects so they cannot but know that God is equally dishonoured by false Religions in one Place as in another And it 's but a poor Zeal for his Honour that looks no farther than such a Lake River or Mountain the usual Boundaries of Kingdoms which would be the way to set all Mankind together by the Ears But 8. Suppose it should not always have that Effect yet it must necessarily destroy all Trade and Commerce between Nations of different Perswasions for who would venture into a Foreign Nation except he were of the same Perswasion
a pernicious Example to others But if Men out of Conscience worship false Gods and are thereby guilty of what is called material Blasphemy the reason for punishing them wholly ceaseth for Force cannot convince but only make them false to their Consciences and they that are so will never be true to the Publick therefore the Magistrate is so far from having a Right to hinder them from honouring those false Gods that he ought to punish those who whilst they pretend to worship them do dishonour them by Blasphemy Perjury or any other manifest Contempt nay God himself will punish such Contempts as if done to himself and consequently will punish the Magistrate for hindering them from worshipping those false Gods when they believe them to be true Ones 2. But as to Christian Magistrates punishing for Matters wherein Conscientious Persons may and do differ it shows their great Wickedness and Impiety in acting contrary to the Light of Nature and those Precepts and Practices of Christ and his Apostles and if there be any weight in meer Human Authority I may add contrary to the Sentiments of the Primitive Church for the first three hundred Years who we do not find but were all unanimous in condemning the use of Force in Matters of Religion and had they been of another Opinion nothing could be more absurd than those frequent Addresses they made to the Heathen for Liberty of Conscience For then they could not deny that it was the Duty of the Heathen Magistrate as long as they rejected what he judged to be the true Religion to punish them nor could they urge any thing for themselves but a shameless begging the thing in dispute which the Magistrate the proper Judg had determin'd against them And to hear them acknowledge that were the Power in their Hands they were oblig'd to serve them after the same manner could not but encourage the Heathen in their Persecution But they were so far from having any such Thoughts that even when the Empire became Christian the very Heathen Worship as the Bishop of Sarum observes in his most excellent Preface to Lactantius was not only tolerated for a whole Age together but the Heathens continued to be in the chief Employments of the Empire 3. Compulsion was not only against the Sense of the Primitive Christians but the rest of Mankind for tho the Differences amongst them were more in Number and wider than those amongst the Christians yet we do not find that they used Force to compel one another Socrates it's true was put to death for his Religion but were not the People tho still averse to his Principles as soon as their Fury was abated sensible of the Crime they had committed and of the Injury done him Therefore to make him what Amends they could they erected a Statue to his Memory and most of those that set them on were so abhorred that this together with their own Remorse made them become their own Executioners But what the Sense of the Heathen was about this Matter cannot be better known than from the Sentiments of Gallio the Town-Clerk of Ephesus Agrippa and Felix in the Acts of the Apostles Nay so zealous Assertors of Liberty of Conscience were the Heathens that we find Themistius and other Philosophers using all their Eloquence to perswade the Christian Emperors to give Liberty to the different Sects of Christians whilst at the same time the Bishops were urging them to persecute their Brethren If the Heathens would have persecuted any it would have been the Jewish Nation whose Religion they most disliked yet we do not find they were so used by the various Masters they were under from their first being subject unto Foreigners until the Destruction of Jerusalem and their being no longer a Nation but by the mad Antiochus who at last grievously lamented that Crime Nay Nero himself the first Persecutor of Christians durst not do it bare-fac'd but pretended they were Incendiaries and set Rome on fire and therefore were to be punished as Enemies to the State And it was their being so represented that was more than any thing else the Cause of their Sufferings For Trajan as soon as he perceived that they were Innocent and disobeyed no Laws of the Empire but those that forbad their Worship straight commanded that they should be no longer enquired after And Adrian under severe Penalties forbad any to accuse them The same did Antoninus Pius And Aurelius went further and made it Death to inform against them Nay Commodus himself as great a Tyrant as he was otherwise enacted the same most just Law so that it was then no less than a Capital Crime to cause any to be molested upon the Account of Religion tho supposed never so false 4. Nay I think I may add that Persecutors act not only contrary to the Sense of Mankind but their own Sentiments for ask any of them why the swift and sudden Encrease of the Mahometan Religion should not be as good an Argument for its Truth as 't is for that of the Christians they straightway answer That maugre its swift Progress 't is little less than a Demonstration of its Falshood that it has the Character of Persecution annexed to it and made use of Violence as a lawful Means for its promotion Which Answer of theirs shows that themselves believe Force an unlawful Means of promoting Religion for how else can that be an Argument of the Falseness of any Religion if it be a Means ordained by God to promote the True And therefore the Mahometans may justly say How can the Christians condemn them for using that Method which themselves as soon as they get Power into their Hands and the Mahometans could do it no sooner practised with far greater Cruelty even one upon the other Thus they give occasion for the Enemies of the Christian Religion to triumph and that so much the more confidently by how much less Christians suffer under them for Religion than they do under one another 5. Nay I may go further and add that there 's no Party of Christians but what have ever since Persecution has been in use expresly condemned it and have writ in defence of Liberty of Conscience And tho the Orthodox made use of Persecution as well as the Arians yet they not only condemn'd it but thought it so very odious that they supposed it as great a Crime as they could brand their Adversaries with And Athanasius in Epist. ad Solit. saith Persecution alone is a manifest Proof that they the Arians have neither Piety nor the fear of God For adds he it 's essential to Piety not to force any in imitation of our Saviour it 's the Devil that comes with violent Means And the Synod of Alexandria condemns all Force in Religion and reproaches the Arians as the Inventers and Promoters of it It 's strange they should be so very forgetful as not to mind that the Nicene Fathers over-perswaded Constantine contrary to his Faith
himself he ought not to rely upon another's Judgment but examine himself whether they are so or not and it 's probable that they that are against this Freedom maintain such Opinions for the more they are afraid of having their Opinions examined the more absurd it 's likely they are and the more any Opinion is grounded in Reason the more willing the Professors of it are to have it undergo the Test it 's only those with flaws in them that like crackt Titles cannot bear a Scrutiny If the Bereans were for ever enobled by St. Paul for not relying on what he said tho he had the Power of Miracles to confirm his Doctrin but for trying whether those things he affirmed were so or not there 's certainly as much reason now to do it otherwise we are Slaves where we ought to be most free in our noblest Part our Understanding And if in all other Matters the more any thing is scanned the more the strength of those Reasons appears that make for Truth as well as the weakness of those that are pleaded in behalf of Error Why should it not be so in Matters of Religion since we must judg of their Truth and Falshood as we do of all other things by their Agreement or Disagreement with our common Notions especially considering Religion is no obscure and unintelligible thing but so plain and easy that it 's suted to the Capacity of the Simple and Ignorant the Bulk of Mankind It 's to me wondrous strange that any should have so ill an Opinion of the Reasonableness of the true Religion or else of the Impotency of those Rational Faculties God has given Men on purpose to judg of Religion as to suppose they would not prefer it were they not prejudiced by temporal Motives before the Inventions of Men. It 's said the Affectation of Singularity and Novelty is apt to cause a Man if the Magistrate by Force does not restrain him to wander from the true Religion But what Charms can there be in being thought not only ignorant and mistaken but also despised and hated as he too certainly is that differs in his Sentiments from his Neighbours And therefore it 's not only a sign that a Man thinks of Religion but that he is very hearty and sincere in it when he exposeth himself to a constant Disgrace and Disrepute by it for there 's not one of a thousand that 's stiff and insensible enough to bear the perpetual dislike of his Neighbours and those he is forc'd to converse with And therefore there 's no need of Force to make Men profess the Publick Religion which for no other Reason but because it is so they are too apt to do Hence it is that not only the Careless and Negligent but the Immoral and Vicious are generally of the Religion established by Law where they can best indulge their Vices as having the Countenance of the People and the Favour and Indulgence of the Magistrate 5. Another Argument they usually urge is that Mens Lusts and Passions would make them prefer false Religions before the true had not the Magistrate a Right to hinder them by Force But not to mention that since the Magistrates are as much governed as their Subjects can be supposed to be by their Lusts and Passions Force in their Hands will more likely promote than hinder false Religions I answer As to the meerly religious or speculative Points of the true Religion Mens Lusts or Passions since these are no way concerned how those are held do not encline them to prefer Falshood before Truth And as for those Parts of Religion wherein Mens Lusts and Passions may be supposed to sway them those I own as far forth as my Adversaries do belong to the Magistrate's Jurisdiction and all Men for the sake of their common Good are obliged to get them believed and practised for it 's equally the Interest of Governours and Governed to embrace the true Religion contrived by the infinite Wisdom of God for the Benefit of Mankind For God as he could not envy his Creatures any Enjoyment they are capable of so he has forbad them nothing but what naturally tends to their Ruin and Destruction and were it not for Persecution and those Opinions supported by it which interested Men have tack'd to the Christian Religion there can be no doubt but that it had long before now been the Universal Profession of Mankind 6. As a free and impartial Liberty is the only way to promote Truth so where Persecution prevails it 's morally impossible but that Error Ignorance aud Superstition must do so too because Men when they are hindred from exercising their Reason by being forced blindly to follow the Opinions of others become ignorant and superstitious and are apt to take any absurd Impressions And the Priests themselves where they are sure of the Force of the Magistrate to make People profess what they please will not much trouble themselves about Reasons and Arguments and consequently by degrees grow very ignorant and superstitious as we find it in Spain Italy Portugal and other Popish Places where the Inquisition is settled tho in France where till of late more Liberty has been allowed they have not for the generality been so grosly ignorant It 's very true what a late Author observes That the Ministry is more learned more diligent and more exemplary where a Government carries it self equally to the different Parties than if one Party being absolute Masters should therefore so much is Human Frailty more apt to be corrupted by Prosperity than by all other Snares together abandon it self to Licentiousness Ignorance Idleness and Superstition And this holds not only in Popish but Protestant Countries also in which the less there is of Liberty the more Error Ignorance and Superstition abounds 7. Besides when Men shall be hindred from professing any Doctrin but what the Priests in their Convocations shall decree will not these be tempted to establish such Opinions as shall tend to promote their own Power and Dominion tho to the destruction of true Piety And this is no strange Supposition considering how fond in general Mankind are to advance their own Power and Authority And do not the Protestant Clergy own that Popery is nothing but a Politick Design to advance the Power of the Clergy under the Bishop of Rome tho to the Ruin of Christianity But as Rome it self was not built in a Day so it was not but by a long steady and uniform Design for many Ages that the Clergy by degrees arrived to such a Power And it 's sufficiently evident that long before the Pope usurped such Superiority over the rest of the Clergy they were carrying on the Design of aggrandizing themselves and tyrannizing over those they call the Laity In a word It has been the Pride Ambition and Covetousness of the Priests and the Force and Violence that by their Means and Instigation the persecuting Magistrates have used on the People to
been ruled by Demetrius and the rest of the Silver-Smiths in punishing Paul whose Preaching spoiled their Trade 8. Did the Clergy but consider the ill Effects that Persecution has all along had on them they would not be so zealous for it As long as the Emperors had the Power in their own Hands there never was a Council but what was an Imperial Machine either for or against a Trinity or worshipping of Images c. as it seemed good not to the Holy Ghost but to those Emperors and when the Priests by their cunning compliance in Matters of Faith had by Degrees advanced their own Power above the Emperors and the Bishop of Rome as their Head had the summoning of Councils then they were meer Papal Engines and in their Synods voted and acted as they were influenced from the Vatican But if these things be too remote the English History affords us fresher Examples in the Reigns of Henry the 8th Edward the 6th Mary and Elizabeth how easily and how smoothly did the Clergy then change their Articles of Faith and Forms of Worship nay every thing according to the Inclinations of those Kings and Queens But we need not go so far back for Examples let us but cast our Eyes upon the present State of Religion in every part of Christendom and we cannot but see that the Opinions of the Clergy as much as they pretend not to take things on trust are every where such as the Terms of Preferment appointed by the Laws of each Country require of them Are they not in Italy and in all the Dominions of Spain zealous and thorow Roman-Catholicks In France Catholicks tho with reserve to the Liberties of the Gallican Church and the Regalities Or rather are they not whatever that absolute King will have them to be as we see by their acting with the See of Rome And are they not in one half of Germany Papists in the other Protestants In Denmark and Sweedland Lutherans in the Alps Calvinists c. This is impossible should so universally happen if Interest had not too great an Influence over them which makes them very unfit Instruments to find out Truth or if found sincerely to discover it And how can they be fit Guides to others who are not trusted to guide themselves but right or wrong are obliged to assert such Opinions or else to starve which certainly destroys all manner of Argument from their Authority since interested Persons are of no Credit and therefore are every where repelled from giving their Testimony But 9. The Clergy had a quite different Design by such Imposition viz. To keep the People in a blind Obedience and make them give an implicite Faith to what they so unanimously agree in whether Con or Transubstantiation or any other such Points which has had the designed Effect for to speak the Truth the great Fault of the Laity has been in paying a servile and blind Deference to the Opinions of the Clergy or as Mr. Hales in his Tract of Schism speaking of the Laity even of the second Century expresseth it Through Sloth and blind Obedience they examined not the things that they were taught but like Beasts of Burden patiently couched down and indifferently underwent whatever their Superiors laid upon them And thus much do the Clergy of each Sect object to the Laity of those Sects they differ with and tho the Laity are so much more numerous and it 's their Business as well as the Clergy's to examine into Matters of Religion in order to know what they are to believe or practise yet if we look into History we shall find that most if not all the Errors Schisms Heresies that have confounded the Christian World have had their Origin and chief Support from the Clergy and that the Laity have been with much ado perverted and as they have held out longest against false and absurd Opinions so they have been always the first and most forward for a Reformation 10. It 's to the Clergy's being every where obliged to defend the established Opinions we in a great measure owe that in the Writings of Controversial Points the Words there used are much more obscure uncertain and undetermined than they are even in ordinary Conversation by which means they are enabled to talk eternally in opposing or defending any Proposition tho never so absurd for Men may wrangle perpetually if they affect an Obscurity and an Uncertainty in the Use of their Words and in truth the whole Learning of the Schools is only disputing about Words there a Man may be furnished with several Words without Ideas annexed to them and nothing so common as Distinctions without any difference But it had not been so intolerable if this sort of Jargon had been confined to things meerly speculative and had not obscured the material Truths of Law and Religion nor invaded the Concernments of Human Life and Society bringing Confusion Disorder and Uncertainty into all Affairs of Moment But I shall say no more on this Point only adding that it was Imposition and the consequence of it Excommunication for matters of Opinion which first brought in Uncharitableness Envy Strifes Fewds Factions amongst Christians and after that Persecution not only heightened them but was the occasion of the prodigious encrease of all other Wickedness by forcing Men to break the Ties and Obligations of Conscience and it 's impossible but that all manner of Immorality must abound whilst Imposition prevails which eats out the very Heart and Life of Religion and at the best makes Men profess as a matter of Form whatever Opinions they find necessary for their worldly Convenience And this I think is sufficient to show the Execrableness of it especially in Protestants whose Principles it 's so inconsistent with CHAP. IV. That the Good of the Society obligeth the Magistrate to hinder different Professions of Religion examin'd 1. AND now I am at leisure to examine the only remaining Pretence for the Magistrate's using force in Matters of meer Religion that without this Power he would be destitute of the Means to prevent Tumults Disturbances Commotions Wars c. which are the necessary Consequences of a Toleration Not to repeat what I have said Chap. 1. § 22. or Chapter the 4th of the horrible Mischief of Persecution nor to mention that what is so directly contrary to the Honour of God and the Good of Souls as I have proved it to be can no wise contribute to the Temporal Good of Mankind I say if the professing of any Religion that in whole or part is different from that established by Law will cause these dismal Effects then the Protestant Perswasion in Popish Countries and the Christian Religion in those of the Heathen will produce them But if Persecutors cannot affirm this it 's false to say that any Religion meerly because it 's different from that of the Publick tends to create Disturbances therefore if they have any value for the true Religion they ought not to
enable them tho they stood alone to be a Match for their most potent Enemy when perhaps otherwise we may sometime or other be in danger of being oppressed by him And when a troublesome Neighbour encreases in Riches and Strength we are very much wanting to our selves if we do not to our utmost endeavour to do the same All that the Government would suffer by a Naturalization would be to have not only the Number of its Subjects in which consists the Riches and Strength of a Nation encreased and them also under as strict an Obligation of Loyalty and Duty as any of the Native Subjects but its Revenues also augmented by not only more of the Exciseable Commodities being consumed but by the vast Encrease of Trade which must proportionably increase the Customs All the Disadvantage the Natives would receive by such an Act would be that by a quick Vent and Consumption of the Products of the Country the Value of all home Commodities would be raised Land and Houses yield greater Rents and Money by its Encrease and quick Circulation be plenty and those that have a mind to dispose of their Estates would the Number of the Chapmen being so much encreased sell to a much greater Advantage and all the Purchase-Money the Foreigners give would be an additional Treasure to the Nation But it requires a just Treatise to show what I have not as much as time to hint at here all the Advantages we should receive by a Naturalization Act Therefore I shall only answer an Objection of some who tho they cannot but own that it would be advantageous to the Nation yet are against it upon an Apprehension it may be prejudicial to Religion But I think I have already proved that no Part of Religion can be opposite to or inconsistent with the Good of Societies but on the contary the promoting the Publick Good is the chiefest Part of it And if to supply the Wants of the Poor and Needy be the greatest Duty viz. of Charity and to visit the Fatherless and Widows in order to relieve their Necessities be pure and undefiled Religion it must be so in the highest manner to prevent Peoples falling into Want and Poverty And whatever contributes to this especially when it tends to the Support not only of a few but of a whole Nation must be the Duty of every one to promote that is a lover of his God his King and his Country And whatsoever is inconsistent with doing this is so far from being a Matter of Religion that it must be either sinful in it self or by the Circumstances that attend it become so and therefore by no means is to be opposed to the Good of a Nation And indeed nothing can be more strange than to suppose God has commanded any thing inconsistent with the Publick Good Yet without this Supposition not only Persecution Humane Sacrifices and absolute Passive Obedience the most pernicious Doctrines that can be but no other destructive Ones could have prevailed And it 's this monstrous Absurdity that Jacobites are guilty of in thinking they are obliged to sacrifice the Peace and Happiness of a Nation to the Interest of a particular Person But I shall conclude only adding That I hope what I have said will not displease the Magistrate since I have no other Intent than to hinder him from committing one of the greatest Sins Humane Nature is capable of and which cannot but turn to his Prejudice here as well as hereafter And as to the Clergy This cannot displease those that have what the Bishop of Sarum in his Preface to Lactantius calls Lay Pity since I have endeavoured to show how much they are in the right in abhorring Persecution and how causlesly they are for that Reason hated as generally they are by their Brethren And for those that are for Persecution the greatest Kindness I could do them was to represent as fully as I could in so short a Discourse the fatal Tendency and Consequence of that Doctrine that they may repent of it which if I any ways contribute to I think my Pains happily bestowed if not I yet hope a Reward from him who accepts the hearty sincere endeavour of those that do their best to promote Peace and Charity which if any hinder or obstruct it 's the Duty of all good Christians to pray that God would abate their Pride asswage their Malice and confound their Devices that there may be Glory to God on High Peace on Earth and good Will towards Men. A POSTSCRIPT concerning the Letter to a Convocation-Man I Must beg the Reader 's pardon for further trespassing on his Patience in making some Remarks on a Pamphlet entituled A Letter to a Convocation-Man I mean as to that part of it which under the Pretence of giving Reasons for the Sitting of a Convocation rails at a Toleration in Matters simply Religious and endeavours to deprive Men of the Right of Judging for themselves about Religious Doctrines and Opinions 1. The Author of this Letter P. 3. affirms That the Indifference of all Religion is endeavoured to be established by the Pleas for the Justice and Necessity of a Vniversal unlimited Toleration Which Assertion were it true would make the King and Parliament indifferent whether they were Quakers since they have given them a Toleration But it 's so far from being true that there cannot well be a greater Demonstration of Mens not thinking all Religions indifferent than a desire to be tolerated in the Profession of that they judg the best Did they suppose all Religions equal it would be indifferent to them whether there was a Toleration since they would be sure to avoid all Persecution by being of the Magistrate's Religion 2. The Author P. 19. saith Tho the Clergy have no Power of changing adding or diminishing the Law of God yet the applying this Law to particular Cases explaining the Doubts that may arise concerning it deducing Consequences from it in things not explicitly determined already by that Law and the enforcing Submission and Obedience to their Determinations are the proper Objects of their Power and Jurisdiction who are to act by ordinary and natural Means such as Assembling Debating and by majority of Voices Deciding But here I must demand Who shall judg whether what the Clergy thus determine be either adding changing or diminishing the Law of God If the Priests to be sure they will not say their Determinations are so But if I must judg then I ought to reject their Determinations if I believe them not consonant to Scripture but if I think them agreeable to it then I must believe them not for the sake of their Determinations but because I judg them to be so and consequently I must be guided by my own Reason in all things of Religion If by the Doubts that may arise be meant any thing that admits of dispute there is scarce any thing so clear but what may or does and if in all such Cases I
or indeed any thing else that does not invade the Right of others or is consistent with the Welfare of the Society And if it be unreasonable that he should harass Men about these things which have some relation to the Civil Society tho not sufficient to erect Courts of Judicature about them is it not much more so to molest them about nice Controversies Speculative Points meer Ceremonies or Forms of outward Worship in which the Interest of the Society is not at all concerned In a word If the Magistrate is to punish for some things in Religion and not for others what other Rule can there be to know what belongs to his Jurisdiction and what not but that about those things of Religion which relate to the Civil Society he is to use the Force of the Society and that what do not ought wholly to be left to God and the Parties concerned For as it 's absurd that the Force of the Society should be imployed about things that do not belong to it so it 's very unjust that a Man should not be suffered to act as he judgeth best in those things wherein no other has an Interest but his own eternal Good or Ill is only concerned 11. God who does not require of Men to be infallible but to do their best to discover Truth can never be supposed to be willing that they should be punished for invincible Error But the Magistrate who by reason of the infinite Variety of Mens Parts and Apprehensions does not know what Errors are invincible and what not cannot but punish unjustly since he cannot tell whether the Person he punisheth supposing him in an Error is in a Fault or if in a Fault cannot know what degrees of Weakness or Wilfulness it has or how to proportion his Punishment according to the different Abilities of every individual Person which he ought to do since where much is given much is required and where little is given as little is required But as he is not capable of doing this so he cannot tell after he has done his best but that he has made them guilty of a much greater Fault than what he pretends to correct by forcing them to act against their Consciences All which no less than demonstrates that the Magistrate is not qualified and therefore not ordained to punish such Offences but that they are to be left to the Searcher of Hearts the great and righteous Judg of all Men who alone discerns all the Powers and Workings of Mens Minds when they sincerely seek after Truth or by what if by any Default they miss it and who alone knows whom to punish and how to proportion his Punishments 12. To suppose God has constituted the Supream Powers to judg not only concerning Civil Crimes for which he has sufficiently qualified them but also meerly Religious Ones is inconsistent with the Justice as well as Wisdom and Goodness of God For if we cannot suppose so very unjust and foolish a thing of a King on Earth as that he should constitute for his Vicegerents those of whom he certainly knew not one in a thousand but would punish his Faithful Subjects and that for no other Reason but because they were so and reward those that were not so How then can we suppose so very absurd a thing of the King of Kings that he should appoint them for his Vicars in spiritual Matters and arm them with a Coercive Power to punish those Offences that relate solely to himself who as he could not but infallibly foreknow would make use of their Power to encourage even their rebelling against him by setting up of false Gods in his stead for Idolatry was every where quickly the Publick Religion of their Dominions except amongst God's own People the Jews and even there very often it was the National Religion And after their Captivity until Constantine's Time not one of God's supposed Vicars in Matters of meer Religion but were themselves Idolaters and did all of them discountenance and several of them persecute the Worshippers of the true God And when the Christians if Persecutors deserve that Name made use of Force upon Christians what did it produce but Popish Superstition and Idolatry 13. Persecution is so far from being a Means to promote the true Religion that it must necessarily hinder its progress because the Infidels must think themselves as much obliged to hinder the preaching of the Gospel amongst them as the Christians their Religion here And in vain do we pray for their Conversion whilst we assert such a Doctrine as will not let us suffer them to live here in order to their Conversion nor them to suffer us to preach the Gospel there But this is not all for had this Doctrine of promoting the true Religion by Force been believed by the Heathen it would have obliged them to have extirpated the Christian Religion and certainly that can scarce be thought to be a Christian Doctrine which if practised would have destroy'd the very Name of Christian. 14. It may be said no Persecution could extirpate the Christian Religion because the severest Methods were so far from destroying it that they were the Occasion of its encreasing the faster Not to mention if this were so and the Magistrate was to persecute it ought to be the true Religion because it 's the way to make it increase and by Parity of Reason use a contrary Method with false Religions I say that Persecution if it continues but a short time will make any Religion to increase and flourish the more because the Bravery the Courage of those that suffer prepares People to have a good Opinion of the Cause they suffer for But if it continue for an Age or Ages so that the old Professors are all destroyed the succeeding Generations will all be of the Religion they are educated in Thus we find Christianity by the continued Cruelty of its Enemies rooted out of the greatest Part of Africa and other Places it entirely possessed And should the Persecution in France continue the next Generation would be all Papists as they are in Spain and Portugal So that the Reason why Persecution had not the like Effect under the Pagan Emperors was because God did not permit it to continue long at a time and not without great intermissions But had all those Emperors been for promoting by Force what according to their Sentiments was the true Religion they had utterly extirpated the very Name of a Christian 15. Nay had the Heathen Emperors abhorr'd Persecution as all but what were Monsters did yet they had been under an indispensible Duty as they valued the Peace and Welfare of Mankind in general and of their Subjects in particular to root out a Religion which when it got Power into its Hands would have no other measure of Justice and Equity than its own Interest and would deprive Men tho never so strict Observers of the Laws of Morality and the Society of their Properties and
even Lives as the Christian Emperors did for acting according to their Consciences And the Heathens who in spight of their Religious Differences cultivated Peace and Friendship amongst themselves could not but have a just Indignation for a Religion that had Compulsion been a part of it brought with it so many horrid Consequences which were sufficient to make them not only reject it as contrary to the Light of Nature but to treat the Professors of it as publick Enemies of Mankind who like Vipers could make no other return to those that nourish them but the sooner to sting them And it 's for the sake of this Doctrin that the Christians instead of propagating their Religion have been so cruelly persecuted of late Years in several Places As in Japan where it 's evident they were not so rigorously dealt with upon account of any aversion the Japoneses had to the Christian Religion for they suffered it quietly a good while to grow amongst them who were not so zealous for a Uniformity since they had seven or eight Sects as different as the Mortality and Immortality of the Soul No it was the Doctrines and Practices of the persecuting Christians that made them believe the Christian Religion was dangerous and destructive to Human Societies 16. Were the Magistrate ordained by God to punish for Matters meerly Religious the Heathen Persecutors supposing they acted according to the best of their Skill were no more to be condemned for punishing the Christians than a Judg is when he acts according to the best of his Knowledg in punishing an innocent Person All that can be said they were faulty in was their being governed by the Prejudices of their Education and influenced by their Priests and not suffering the Christians before they condemned them fairly to represent their Religion nor themselves impartially to consider it If this were the sole Crime of the Heathen Persecutors I am afraid the Christian ones are as much influenced by their Priests or prejudiced by their Education and do as little as they freely permit Men before they condemn them to propose their Opinions back them with their Reasons and answer the Objections of their Adversaries that they may impartially judg whether they ought to receive or reject them And if it be their Duty so to judg all their Subjects ought to do the same which is inconsistent with their hindering any by Penalties from instructing them in those Opinions and the Reasons and Arguments that make for them If the Magistrate without thus examining should condemn Men for professing even an erroneous Opinion that would no more justify him than it would a Judg that condemns a Man without hearing his Defence or a Person that swears a thing to be true without knowing whether it be so or no. 17. Those Matters about which Christians persecute one another are generally such as neither tend to the Honour of God nor the Good of Man and at the best are but Appendices to Religion and withal so perplext mysterious and uncertain that Men of the greatest Learning Judgment and Probity are strangely divided in their Opinions about them and consequently they will not admit of such Proof as in Justice and Equity ought to subject a Man to Punishment for there should be as much certainty and evidence that the Matter one is condemned for is a Crime as that he is guilty of it But can the Magistrate be as sure supposing a meer Error to be a Crime that not only his Subjects are in an Error but himself in the Right as he is that the causless punishing them is Injustice and Tyranny But could he be as certain yet that depends either upon Criticism in the Sacred Tongues and Skill in the Customs and Ways of speaking in use amongst the Jews or in distinguishing between genuine and spurious Readings or upon Metaphysicks School-Divinity Fathers Councils Church History c. which the Supream Powers have neither inclination nor leasure to study and examine and consequently they cannot but act most tyrannically in making Laws for condemning whole Parties of Men at a venture for things that for ought they know may be true and which they do not think worth their while to examine And yet to see them act contrary to their known indispensible Duty in ruining their Subjects about such Points is strangely unaccountable All that can be said is Delirant Reges plectuntur Achivi 18. To prevent the Magistrate's intermedling God has expresly declared That he will have the Tares and Wheat grow together until the Harvest or Day of Judgment where the Angels are the Reapers c. And the Reason is lest the Wheat be rooted up with the Tares which relates not to Civil but only to Matters meerly Religious where Men generally so grosly do they mistake root up the Wheat instead of the Tares and the same Reason will hold not only against the rooting up but any ways molesting them The Magistrate ought to render to God those things which belong to him as well as claim to himself what is Cesar's Due but if he assumes an Absolute viz. a Legislative and Coercive Power in Matters wholly relating to God he leaves nothing to him but usurps his peculiar and inseparable Power and Jurisdiction and is as much guilty of Treason against the King of Heaven as a private Person in assuming a Sovereign Power over his fellow Subjects is guilty of Treason against his King and it will no more excuse the Magistrate if he whom he punisheth should have committed an Offence against God than it would the other if his fellow Subjects had broke the Law of the Land But the Infinite inequality that is between the King of Kings and a King on Earth must strangely aggravate the Magistrate's Crime If God wanted either Skill to judg or Power to punish those Offences that concern himself only there might be some colour for the over-officiousness of the Magistrate if uncommissioned and uncalled for he offers his infallible Judgment and almighty Arm otherwise there can be no Reason as Grotius de jur Bell. Pac. C. 30. l. 2. observes Cur non talia delicta Deo relinquantur punienda qui ad ea noscenda est sapientissimus ad expendenda aequissimus ad vindicanda potentissimus And this I take is sufficient to show that the Magistrate has not only no Right to a Coercive Power in Matters meerly Religious but that such a Power is directly contrary to the Honour of God and most destructive of Mens Eternal and Temporal Happiness and consequently the greatest and most comprehensive of all Sins whatever But because this is a Point of so great a Consequence to Mankind I will most impartially examine the Reasons and Arguments how frivolous soever they are that the Defenders of Persecution urge in its behalf PART II. CHAP. I. An Answer to Arguments from Scripture on behalf of Persecution I Having offered several and if I flatter not my self concluding Arguments against the