in following Ages But however in the present case it helps us not The one only narrow way which leads to Heaven is not better known to the Magistrate than to private Persons and therefore I cannot safely take him for my Guide who may probably be as ignorant of the way as my self and who certainly is less concerned for my Salvation than I my self am Amongst so many Kings of the Iews how many of them were there whom any Israelite thus blindly following had not fall'n into Idolatry and thereby into Destruction Yet nevertheless you bid me be of good Courage and tell me that all is now safe and secure because the Magistrate does not now enjoin the observance of his own Decrees in matters of Religion but only the Decrees of the Church Of what Church I beseech you Of that certainly which likes him best As if he that compells me by Laws and Penalties to enter into this or the other Church did not interpose his own Judgment in the matter What difference is there whether he lead me himself or deliver me over to be led by others I depend both ways upon his Will and it is he that determines both ways of my eternal State. Would an Israelite that had worshipped Baal upon the Command of his King have been in any better condition because some body had told him that the King ordered nothing in Religion upon his own Head nor commanded any thing to be done by his Subjects in Divine Worship but what was approved by the Counsel of Priests and declared to be of Divine Right by the Doctors of their Church If the Religion of any Church become therefore true and saving because the Head of that Sect the Prelates and Priests and those of that Tribe do all of them with all their might extol and praise it what Religion can ever be accounted erroneous false and destructive I am doubtful concerning the Doctrine of the Socinians I am suspicious of the way of Worship practised by the Papists or Lutherans will it be ever a jot the safer for me to join either unto the one or the other of those Churches upon the Magistrates Command because he commands nothing in Religion but by the Authority and Counsel of the Doctors of that Church But to speak the truth we must acknowledge that the Church if a Convention of Clergy-men making Canons must be called by that Name is for the most part more apt to be influenced by the Court than the Court by the Church How the Church was under the Vicissitude of Orthodox and Arrian Emperors is very well known Or if those things be too remote our modern English History affords us fresh Examples in the Reigns of Henry the 8 th Edward the 6 th Mary and Elizabeth how easily and smoothly the Clergy changed their Decrees their Articles of Faith their Form of Worship every thing according to the inclination of those Kings and Queens Yet were those Kings and Queens of such different minds in point of Religion and enjoined thereupon such different things that no man in his Wits I had almost said none but an Atheist will presume to say that any sincere and upright Worshipper of God could with a safe Conscience obey their several Decrees To conclude It is the same thing whether a King that prescribes Laws to another mans Religion pretend to do it by his own Judgment or by the Ecclesiastical Authority and Advice of others The Decisions of Church-men whose Differences and Disputes are sufficiently known cannot be any founder or safer than his Nor can all their Suffrages joined together add any new strength unto the Civil Power Tho this also must be taken notice of that Princes seldom have any regard to the Suffrages of Ecclesiasticks that are not Favourers of their own Faith and way of Worship But after all the principal Consideration and which absolutely determines this Controversie is this Although the Magistrates Opinion in Religion be sound and the way that he appoints be truly Evangelical yet if I be not thoroughly perswaded thereof in my own mind there will be no safety for me in following it No way whatsoever that I shall walk in against the Dictates of my Conscience will ever bring me to the Mansions of the Blessed I may grow rich by an Art that I take not delight in I may be cured of some Disease by Remedies that I have not Faith in but I cannot be saved by a Religion that I distrust and by a Worship that I abhor It is in vain for an Unbeliever to take up the outward shew of another mans Profession Faith only and inward Sincerity are the things that procure acceptance with God. The most likely and most approved Remedy can have no effect upon the Patient if his Stomach reject it as soon taken And you will in vain cram a Medicine down a sick mans Throat which his particular Constitution will be sure to turn into Poison In a word Whatsoever may be doubtful 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 pretence of saving their Souls If they believe they will come of their own accord if they believe not their coming will nothing avail them How great soever in fine may be the pretence of Good-will and Charity and concern for the Salvation of mens Souls men cannot be forced to be saved whether they will or no. And therefore when all is done they must be left to their own Consciences Having thus at length freed men from all Dominion over one another in matters of Religion let us now consider what they are to do All men know and acknowledge that God ought to be publickly worshipped Why otherwise do they compel one another unto the publick Assemblies Men therefore constituted in this liberty are to enter into some Religious Society that they may meet together not only for mutual Edification but to own to the world that they worship God and offer unto his divine Majesty such service as they themselves are not ashamed of and such as they think not unworthy of him nor unacceptable to him and finally that by the purity of Doctrine Holiness of Life and Decent form of Worship they may draw others unto the love of the true Religion and perform such other things in Religion as cannot be done by each private man apart These Religious Societies I call Churches and these I say the Magistrate ought to tolerate For the business of these Assemblies of the People is nothing but what is lawful for every man in particular to take care of I mean the Salvation of their Souls nor in this case is there any difference between the National Church and other separated Congregations But as in every Church there are two things especially to be considered The outward Form and Rites of
of those that violate any other Man's Rights Now that the whole Jurisdiction of the Magistrate reaches only to these Civil Concernments and that all Civil Power Right and Dominion is bounded and confined to the only care of promoting these things and that it neither can nor ought in any manner to be extended to the Salvation of Souls these following Considerations seem unto me abundantly to demonstrate First Because the Care of Souls is not committed to the Civil Magistrate any more than to other Men. It is not committed unto him I say by God because it appears not that God has ever given any such Authority to one Man over another as to compell any one to his Religion Nor can any such Power be vested in the Magistrate by the consent of the People because no man can so far abandon the care of his own Salvation as blindly to leave it to the choice of any other whether Prince or Subject to prescribe to him what Faith or Worship he shall embrace For no Man can if he would conform his Faith to the Dictates of another All the Life and Power of true Religion consists in the inward and full perswasion of the mind and Faith is not Faith without believing Whatever Profession we make to whatever outward Worship we conform if we are not fully satisfied in our own mind that the one is true and the other well pleasing unto God such Profession and such Practice far from being any furtherance are indeed great Obstacles to our Salvation For in this manner instead of expiating other Sins by the exercise of Religion I say in offering thus unto God Almighty such a Worship as we esteem to be displeasing unto him we add unto the number of our other sins those also of Hypocrisie and Contempt of his Divine Majesty In the second place The care of Souls cannot belong to the Civil Magistrate because his Power consists only in outward force but true and saving Religion consists in the inward perswasion of the Mind without which nothing can be acceptable to God. And such is the nature of the Understanding that it cannot be compell'd to the belief of any thing by outward force Confiscation of Estate Imprisonment Torments nothing of that nature can have any such Efficacy as to make Men change the inward Judgment that they have framed of things It may indeed be alledged that the Magistrate may make use of Arguments and thereby draw the Heterodox into the way of Truth and procure their Salvation I grant it but this is common to him with other Men. In teaching instructing and redressing the Erroneous by Reason he may certainly do what becomes any good Man to do Magistracy does not oblige him to put of either Humanity or Christianity But it is one thing to perswade another to command one thing to press with Arguments another with Penalties This Civil Power alone has a right to do to the other Good-will is Authority enough Every Man has Commission to admonish exhort convince another of Error and by reasoning to draw him into Truth but to give Laws receive Obedience and compel with the Sword belongs to none but the Magistrate And upon this ground I affirm that the Magistrate's Power extends not to the establishing of 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 Neither the Profession of any Articles of Faith nor the Conformity to any outward Form of Worship as has already been said can be available to the Salvation of Souls unless the truth of the one and the acceptableness of the other unto God be thoroughly believed by those that so profess and practise But Penalties are no ways capable to produce such Belief It is only Light and Evidence that can work a change in Mens Opinions which Light can in no manner proceed from corporal Sufferings or any other outward Penalties In the third place The care of the Salvation of Mens Souls cannot belong to the Magistrate because though the rigour of Laws and the force of Penalties were capable to convince and change Mens minds yet would not that help at all to the Salvation of their Souls For there being but one Truth one way to Heaven what Hopes is there that more Men would be led into it if they had no Rule but the Religion of the Court and were put under a necessity to quit the Light of their own Reason and oppose the Dictates of their own Consciences and blindly to resign up themselves to the Will of their Governors and to the Religion which either Ignorance Ambition or Superstition had chanced to establish in the Countries where they were born In the variety and contradiction of Opinions in Religion wherein the Princes of the World are as much divided as in their Secular Interests the narrow way would be much straitned one Country alone would be in the right and all the rest of the World put under an obligation of following their Princes in the ways that lead to Destruction and that which heightens the absurdity and very ill suits the Notion of a Deity Men would owe their eternal Happiness or Misery to the places of their Nativity These Considerations to omit many others that might have been urged to the same purpose seem unto me sufficient to conclude that all the Power of Civil Government relates only to Mens Civil Interests is confined to the care of the things of this World and hath nothing to do with the World to come Let us now consider what a Church is A Church then I take to be a voluntary Society of Men joining themselves together of their own accord in order to the publick worshipping of God in such a manner as they judge acceptable to him and effectual to the Salvation of their Souls I say it is a free and voluntary Society No body is born a Member of any Church otherwise the Religion of Parents would descend unto Children by the same right of Inheritance as their Temporal Estates and every one would hold his Faith by the same Tenure he does his Lands than which nothing can be imagined more absurd Thus therefore that matter stands No Man by nature is bound unto any particular Church or Sect but every one joins himself voluntarily to that Society in which he believes he has found that Profession and Worship which is truly acceptable to God. The hopes of Salvation as it was the only cause of his entrance into that Communion so it can be the only reason of his stay there For if afterwards he discover any thing either erroneous in the Doctrine or incongruous in the Worship of that Society to which he has join'd himself Why should it not be as free for him to go out as it was to enter No Member of a Religious Society can be tied with
any other Bonds but what proceed from the certain expectation of eternal Life A Church then is a Society of Members voluntarily uniting to this end It follows now that we consider what is the Power of this Church and unto what Laws it is subject Forasmuch as no Society how free soever or upon whatsoever slight occasion instituted whether of Philophers for Learning of Merchants for Commerce or of men of leisure for mutual Conversation and Discourse No Church or Company I say can in the least subsist and hold together but will presently dissolve and break to pieces unless it be regulated by some Laws and the Members all consent to observe some Order Place and time of meeting must be agreed on Rules for admitting and excluding Members must be establisht Distinction of Officers and putting things into a regular Course and such like cannot be omitted But since the joyning together of several Members into this Church-Society as has already been demonstrated is absolutely free and spontaneous it necessarily follows that the Right of making its Laws can belong to none but the Society it self or at least which is the same thing to those whom the Society by common consent has authorised thereunto Some perhaps may object that no such Society can be said to be a true Church unless it have in it a Bishop or Presbyter with Ruling Authority derived from the very Apostles and continued down unto the present times by an uninterrupted Succession To these I answer In the first place Let them shew me the Edict by which Christ has imposed that Law upon his Church And let not any man think me impertinent if in a thing of this consequence I require that the Terms of that Edict be very express and positive For the Promise he has made us that wheresoever two or three are gathered together in his Name he will be in the midst of them seems to imply the contrary Whether such an Assembly want any thing necessary to a true Church pray do you consider Certain I am that nothing can be there wanting unto the Salvation of Souls Which is sufficient to our purpose Next Pray observe how great have always been the Divisions amongst even those who lay so much stress upon the Divine Institution and continued Succession of a certain Order of Rulers in the Church Now their very Dissention unavoidably puts us upon a necessity of deliberating and consequently allows a liberty of choosing that which upon consideration we prefer And in the last place I consent that these men have a Ruler of their Church established by such a long Series of Succession as they judge necessary provided I may have liberty at the same time to join my self to that Society in which I am perswaded those things are to be found which are necessary to the Salvation of my Soul. In this manner Ecclesiastical Liberty will be preserved on all sides and no man will have a Legislator imposed upon him but whom himself has chosen But since men are so sollicitous about the true Church I would only ask them here by the way if it be not more agreeable to the Church of Christ to make the Conditions of her Communion consist in such things and such things only as the Holy Spirit has in the Holy Scriptures declared in express Words to be necessary to Salvation I ask I say whether this be not more agreeable to the Church of Christ than for men to impose their own Inventions and Interpretations upon others as if they were of Divine Authority and to establish by Ecclesiastical Laws as absolutely necessary to the Profession of Christianity such things as the Holy Scriptures do either not mention or at least not expresly command Whosoever requires those things in order to Ecclesiastical Communion which Christ does not require in order to Life Eternal he may perhaps indeed constitute a Society accommodated to his own Opinion and his own Advantage but how that can be called the Church of Christ which is established upon Laws that are not his and which excludes such Persons from its Communion as he will one day receive into the Kingdom of Heaven I understand not But this being not a proper place to enquire into the marks of the true Church I will only mind those that contend so earnestly for the Decrees of their own Society and that cry out continually the Church the Church with as much noise and perhaps upon the same Principle as the Ephesian Silversmiths did for their Diana this I say I desire to mind them of That the Gospel frequently declares that the true Disciples of Christ must suffer Persecution but that the Church of Christ should persecute others and force others by Fire and Sword to embrace her Faith and Doctrine I could never yet find in any of the Books of the New Testament The End of a Religious Society as has already been said is the Publick Worship of God and by means thereof the acquisition of Eternal Life All Discipline ought therefore to tend to that End and all Ecclesiastical Laws to be thereunto confined Nothing ought nor can be transacted in this Society relating to the Possession of Civil and Worldly Goods No Force is here to be made use of upon any occasion whatsoever For Force belongs wholly to the Civil Magistrate and the Possession of all outward Goods is subject to his Jurisdiction But it may be asked By what means then shall Ecclesiastical Laws be established if they must be thus destitute of all Compulsive Power I answer They must be established by Means suitable to the Nature of such Things whereof the external Profession and Observation if not proceeding from a thorow Conviction and Approbation of the Mind is altogether useless and unprofitable The Arms by which the Members of this Society are to be kept within their Duty are Exhortations Admonitions and Advices If by these means the Offenders will not be reclaimed and the Erroneous convinced there remains nothing farther to be done but that such stubborn and obstinate Persons who give no ground to hope for their Reformation should be cast out and separated from the Society This is the last and utmost Force of Ecclesiastical Authority No other Punishment can thereby be inflicted than that the Relation ceasing between the Body and the Member which is cut off the Person so condemned ceases to be a Part of that Church These things being thus determined let us inquire in the next place how far the Duty of Toleration extends and what is required from every one by it And first I hold That no Church is bound by the Duty of Toleration to retain any such Person in her Bosom as after Admonition continues obstinately to offend against the Laws of the Society For these being the Condition of Communion and the Bond of the Society if the Breach of them were permitted without any Animadversion the Society would immediately be thereby dissolved But nevertheless in all
the Power to carry on Persecution and to become Masters there they desire to live upon fair Terms and preach up Toleration When they are not strengthned with the Civil Power then they can bear most patiently and unmovedly the Contagion of Idolatry Superstition and Heresie in their Neighbourhood of which in other Occasions the Interest of Religion makes them to be extreamly apprehensive They do not forwardly attack those Errors which are in fashion at Court or are countenanced by the Government Here they can be content to spare their Arguments which yet with their leave is the only right Method of propagating Truth which has no such way of prevailing as when strong Arguments and good Reason are joined with the softness of Civility and good Usage No body therefore in fine neither single Persons nor Churches nay nor even Commonwealths have any just Title to invade the Civil Rights and Worldly Goods of each other upon pretence of Religion Those that are of another Opinion would do well to consider with themselves how pernicious a Seed of Discord and War how powerful a provocation to endless Hatreds Rapines and Slaughters they thereby furnish unto Mankind No Peace and Security no not so much as Common Friendship can ever be established or preserved amongst Men so long as this Opinion prevails That Dominion is founded in Grace and that Religion is to be propagated by force of Arms. In the third place Let us see what the Duty of Toleration requires from those who are distinguished from the rest of Mankind from the Laity as they please to call us by some Ecclesiastical Character and Office whether they be Bishops Priests Presbyters Ministers or however else dignified or distinguished It is not my Business to inquire here into the Original of the Power or Dignity of the Clergy This only I say That Whence-soever their Authority be sprung since it is Ecclesiastical it ought to be confined within the Bounds of the Church nor can it in any manner be extended to Civil Affairs because the Church it self is a thing absolutely separate and distinct from the Commonwealth The Boundaries on both sides are fixed and immovable He jumbles Heaven and Earth together the things most remote and opposite who mixes these two Societies which are in their Original End Business and in every thing perfectly distinct and infinitely different from each other No man therefore with whatsoever Ecclesiastical Office he be dignified can deprive another man that is not of his Church and Faith either of Liberty or of any part of his Worldly Goods upon the account of that difference between them in Religion For whatsoever is not lawful to the whole Church cannot by any Ecclesiastical Right become lawful to any of its Members But this is not all It is not enough that Ecclesiastical men abstain from Violence and Rapine and all manner of Persecution He that pretends to be a Successor of the Apostles and takes upon him the Office of Teaching is obliged also to admonish his Hearers of the Duties of Peace and Good-will towards all men as well towards the Erroneous as the Orthodox towards those that differ from them in Faith and Worship as well as towards those that agree with them therein And he ought industriously to exhort all men whether private Persons or Magistrates if any such there be in his Church to Charity Meekness and Toleration and diligently endeavour to allay and temper all that Heat and unreasonable averseness of mind which either any mans fiery Zeal for his own Sect or the Craft of others has kindled against Dissenters I will not undertake to represent how happy and how great would be the Fruit both in Church and State if the Pulpits every where sounded with this Doctrine of Peace and Toleration lest I should seem to reflect too severely upon those Men whose Dignity I desire not to detract from nor would have it diminished either by others or themselves But this I say That thus it ought to be And if any one that professes himself to be a Minister of the Word of God a Preacher of the Gospel of Peace teach otherwise he either understands not or neglects the Business of his Calling and shall one day give account thereof unto the Prince of Peace If Christians are to be admonished that they abstain from all manner of Revenge even after repeated Provocations and multiplied Injuries how much more ought they who suffer nothing who have had no harm done them forbear Violence and abstain from all manner of ill usage towards those from whom they have received none This Caution and Temper they ought certainly to use towards those who mind only their own Business and are sollicitous for nothing but that whatever Men think of them they may worship God in that manner which they are persuaded is acceptable to him and in which they have the strongest hopes of Eternal Salvation In private domestick Affairs in the management of Estates in the conservation of Bodily Health every man may consider what suits his own conveniency and follow what course he likes best No man complains of the ill management of his Neighbour's Affairs No man is angry with another for an Error committed in sowing his Land or in marrying his Daughter No body corrects a Spendthrift for consuming his Substance in Taverns Let any man pull down or build or make whatsoever Expences he pleases no body murmurs no body controuls him he has his Liberty But if any man do not frequent the Church if he do not there conform his Behaviour exactly to the accustomed Ceremonies or if he brings not his Children to be initiated in the Sacred Mysteries of this or the other Congregation this immediately causes an Uproar The Neighbourhood is filled with Noise and Clamour Every one is ready to be the Avenger of so great a Crime And the Zealots hardly have the patience to refrain from Violence and Rapine so long till the Cause be heard and the poor man be according to Form condemned to the loss of Liberty Goods or Life Oh that our Ecclesiastical Orators of every Sect would apply themselves with all the strength of Arguments that they are able to the confounding of mens Errors But let them spare their Persons Let them not supply their want of Reasons with the Instruments of Force which belong to another Jurisdiction and do ill become a Churchman's Hands Let them not call in the Magistrate's Authority to the aid of their Eloquence or Learning lest perhaps whilst they pretend only Love for the Truth this their intemperate Zeal breathing nothing but Fire and Sword betray their Ambition and shew that what they desire is Temporal Dominion For it will be very difficult to persuade men of Sense that he who with dry Eyes and satisfaction of mind can deliver his Brother unto the Executioner to be burnt alive does sincerely and heartily concern himself to save that Brother from the Flames of Hell in the World
to come In the last place Let us now consider what is the Magistrate's Duty in the Business of Toleration which certainly is very considerable We have already proved That the Care of Souls does not belong to the Magistrate Not a Magisterial Care I mean if I may so call it which consists in prescribing by Laws and compelling by Punishments But a charitable Care which consists in teaching admonishing and persuading cannot be denied unto any man. The Care therefore of every man's Soul belongs unto himself and is to be left unto himself But what if he neglect the Care of his Soul I answer What if he neglect the Care of his Health or of his Estate which things are nearlier related to the Government of the Magistrate than the other Will the Magistrate provide by an express Law That such an one shall not become poor or sick Laws provide as much as is possible that the Goods and Health of Subjects be not injured by the Fraud or Violence of others they do not guard them from the Negligence or Ill-husbandry of the Possessors themselves No man can be forced to be Rich or Healthful whether he will or no. Nay God himself will not save men against their wills Let us suppose however that some Prince were desirous to force his Subjects to accumulate Riches or to preserve the Health and Strength of their Bodies Shall it be provided by Law that they must consult none but Roman Physicians and shall every one be bound to live according to their Prescriptions What shall no Potion no Broth be taken but what is prepared either in the Vatican suppose or in a Geneva Shop Or to make these Subjects rich shall they all be obliged by Law to become Merchants or Musicians Or shall every one turn Victualler or Smith because there are some that maintain their Families plentifully and grow rich in those Professions But it may be said There are a thousand ways to Wealth but one only way to Heaven 'T is well said indeed especially by those that plead for compelling men into this or the other Way For if there were several ways that lead thither there would not be so much as a pretence left for Compulsion But now if I be marching on with my utmost Vigour in that way which according to the Sacred Geography leads streight to Ierusalem Why am I beaten and ill used by others because perhaps I wear not Buskins because my Hair is not of the right Cut because perhaps I have not been dip't in the right Fashion because I eat Flesh upon the Road or some other Food which agrees with my Stomach because I avoid certain By-ways which seem unto me to lead into Briars or Precipices because amongst the several Paths that are in the same Road I choose that to walk in which seems to be the streightest and cleanest because I avoid to keep company with some Travellers that are less grave and others that are more sowre that they ought to be or in fine because I follow a Guide that either is or is not clothed in White and crowned with a Miter Certainly if we consider right we shall find that for the most part they are such frivolous things as these that without any prejudice to Religion or the Salvation of Souls if not accompanied with Superstition or Hypocrisie might either be observed or omitted I say they are such like things as as these which breed implacable Enmities amongst Christian Brethren who are all agreed in the Substantial and truly Fundamental part of Religion But let us grant unto these Zealots who condemn all things that are not of their Mode that from these Circumstances arise different Ends. What shall we conclude from thence There is only one of these which is the true way to Eternal Happiness But in this great variety of ways that men follow it is still doubted which is this right one Now neither the care of the Commonwealth nor the right of enacting Laws does discover this way that leads to Heaven more certainly to the Magistrate than every private mans Search and Study discovers it unto himself I have a weak Body sunk under a languishing Disease for which I suppose there is one only Remedy but that unknown Does it therefore belong unto the Magistrate to prescribe me a Remedy because there is but one and because it is unknown Because there is but one way for me to escape Death will it therefore be safe for me to do whatsoever the Magistrate ordains Those things that every man ought sincerely to enquire into himself and by Meditation Study Search and his own Endeavours attain the Knowledge of cannot be looked upon as the Peculiar Possession of any one sort of Men. Princes indeed are born Superior unto other men in Power but in Nature equal Neither the Right nor the Art of Ruling does necessarily carry along with it the certain Knowledge of other things and least of all of the true Religion For if it were so how could it come to pass that the Lords of the Earth should differ so vastly as they do in Religious Matters But let us grant that it is probable the way to Eternal Life may be better known by a Prince than by his Subjects or at least that in this incertitude of things the safest and most commodious way for private Persons is to follow his Dictates You will say what then If he should bid you follow Merchandise for your Livelihood would you decline that Course for fear it should not succeed I answer I would turn Merchant upon the Princes command because in case I should have ill Success in Trade he is abundantly able to make up my Loss some other way If it be true as he pretends that he desires I should thrive and grow rich he can set me up again when unsuccessful Voyages have broke me But this is not the Case in the things that regard the Life to come If there I take a wrong Course if in that respect I am once undone it is not in the Magistrates Power to repair my Loss to ease my Suffering nor to restore me in any measure much less entirely to a good Estate What Security can be given for the Kingdom of Heaven Perhaps some will say that they do not suppose this infallible Judgment that all men are bound to follow in the Affairs of Religion to be in the Civil Magistrate but in the Church What the Church has determined that the Civil Magistrate orders to be observed and he provides by his Authority that no body shall either act or believe in the business of Religion otherwise than the Church teaches So that the Judgment of those things is in the Church The Magistrate himself yields Obedience thereunto and requires the like Obedience from others I answer Who sees not how frequently the Name of the Church which was so venerable in the time of the Apostles has been made use of to throw Dust in Peoples Eyes
grow the strongest While things are in this condition Peace Friendship Faith and equal Justice are preserved amongst them At length the Magistrate becomes a Christian and by that means their Party becomes the most powerful Then immediately all Compacts are to be broken all Civil Rights to be violated that Idolatry may be extirpated And unless these innocent Pagans strict Observers of the Rules of Equity and the Law of Nature and no ways offending against the Laws of the Society I say unless they will forsake their ancient Religion and embrace a new and strange one they are to be turned out of the Lands and Possessions of their Forefathers and perhaps deprived of Life it self Then at last it appears what Zeal for the Church joyned with the desire of Dominion is capable to produce and how easily the pretence of Religion and of the care of Souls serves for a Cloak to Covetousness Rapine and Ambition Now whosoever maintains that Idolatry is to be rooted out of any place by Laws Punishments Fire and Sword may apply this Story to himself For the reason of the thing is equal both in America and Europe And neither Pagans there nor any Dissenting Christians here can with any right be deprived of their worldly Goods by the predominating Faction of a Court-Church nor are any civil Rights to be either changed or violated upon account of Religion in one place more than another But Idolatry say some is a sin and therefore not to be tolerated If they said it were therefore to be avoided the Inference were good But it does not follow that because it is a sin it ought therefore to be punished by the Magistrate For it does not belong unto the Magistrate to make use of his Sword in punishing every thing indifferently that he takes to be a sin against God. Covetousness Uncharitableness Idleness and many other things are sins by the consent of all men which yet no man ever said were to be punished by the Magistrate The reason is because they are not prejudicial to other mens Rights nor do they break the publick Peace of Societies Nay even the sins of Lying and Perjury are no where punishable by Laws unless in certain cases in which the real Turpitude of the thing and the offence against God are not considered but only the Injury done unto mens Neighbours and to the Commonwealth And what if in another Country to a Mahumetan or a Pagan Prince the Christian Religion seem false and offensive to God may not the Christians for the same reason and after the same manner be extirpated there But it may be urged further That by the Law of Moses Idolaters were to be rooted out True indeed by the Law of Moses But that is not obligatory to us Christians No body pretends that every thing generally enjoyned by the Law of Moses ought to be practised by Christians But there is nothing more frivolous than that common distinction of Moral Judicial and Ceremonial Law which men ordinarily make use of For no positive Law whatsoever can oblige any People but those to whom it is given Hear O Israel sufficienly restrains the Obligation of the Law of Moses only to that People And this Consideration alone is Answer enough unto those that urge the Authority of the Law of Moses for the inflicting of Capital Punishments upon Idolaters But however I will examine this Argument a little more particularly The Case of Idolaters in respect of the Iewish Commonwealth falls under a double consideration The first is of those Who being initiated in the Mosaical Rites and made Citizens of that Commonwealth did afterwards apostatise from the Worship of the God of Israel These were proceeded against as Traytors and Rebels guilty of no less than High-treason For the Common-wealth of the Iews different in that from all others was an absolute Theocracy nor was there or could there be any difference between that Commonwealth and the Church The Laws established there concerning the Worship of One Invisible Deity were the Civil Laws of that People and a part of their Political Government in which God himself was the Legislator Now if any one can shew me where there is a Commonwealth at this time constituted upon that Foundation I will acknowledge that the Ecclesiastical Laws do there unavoidably become a part of the Civil and that the Subjects of that Government both may and ought to be kept in strict conformity with that Church by the Civil Power But there is absolutely no such thing under the Gospel as a Christian Common-wealth There are indeed many Cities and Kingdoms that have embraced the Faith of Christ but they have retained their ancient Form of Government with which the Law of Christ hath not at all medled He indeed hath taught men how by Faith and Good Works they may attain Eternal Life But he instituted no Common-wealth He prescribed unto his Followers no new and peculiar Form of Government Nor put he the Sword into any Magistrate's Hand with Commission to make use of it in forcing men to forsake their former Religion and receive his Secondly Foreigners and such as were Strangers to the Commonwealth of Israel were not compell'd by force to observe the Rites of the Mosaical Law. But on the contrary in the very same place where it is ordered that an Israelite that was an Idolater should be put to death there it is provided that Strangers should not be vexed nor oppressed I confess that the Seven Nations that possest the Land which was promised to the Israelites were utterly to be cut off But this was not singly because they were Idolaters For if that had been the Reason why were the Moabites and other Nations to be spared No the Reason is this God being in a peculiar manner the King of the Iews he could not suffer the Adoration of any other Deity which was properly an Act of High-treason against himself in the Land of Canaan which was his Kingdom For such a manifest Revolt could no ways consist with his Dominion which was perfectly Political in that Country All Idolatry was therefore to be rooted out of the Bounds of his Kingdom because it was an acknowledgment of another God that is to say another King against the Laws of Empire The Inhabitants were also to be driven out that the intire possession of the Land might be given to the Israelites And for the like Reason the Emims and the Horims were driven out of their Countries by the Children of Esau and Lot and their Lands upon the same grounds given by God to the Invaders But tho all Idolatry was thus rooted out of the Land of Canaan yet every Idolater was not brought to Execution The whole Family of Rahab the whole Nation of the Gibeonites articled with Iosuah and were allowed by Treaty and there were many Captives amongst the Iews who were Idolaters David and Solomon subdued many Countries without the Confines of the Land of Promise