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
with them if they were equally obliged to punish Men for false Religions or Doctrines as well as for Theft and Murder c which must necessarily discourage all Commerce and make Nations most inhospitable and barbarous And if Persecutors do not follow this Method it 's because they do not act according to their own Principles 9. Which root out all Mercy and take from the Magistrate all Power of pardoning any Crime whatever and from all private Persons the forgiving their Enemies For if the Magistrate is not to act as the Representative of the Civil Society only but also to punish Offences against God meerly as such tho he may forgive any Crime against himself or pardon the breach of his own Laws yet these being also Sins against God he is obliged upon God's Account to punish Men for the Breach of them as well as for Infidelity or Heresy And all private Persons tho they must forgive their Brethren not only seven but seven times seven yet the not punishing them by this Doctrine is wholly put out of their Power because it obliges them to shew their Zeal for God's Honour in getting the Magistrate to punish them who by injuring their Brethren offend against God 10. In a word this Doctrine of Force is directly contrary to the main Design of all God's Laws wherein Men are concerned one with another which is their mutual Good As for Instance The forbidding Murder is intended for the Security of Mens greatest Good their Lives which would be strangely defeated if the Supream Powers were to punish with Death those they judg do dishonour God with their false Worship because it would not fail to fill the World with Blood and Slaughter since the Governours of it are as opposite in their Judgments about these Matters as in the Fable the Man's two Wives were where his old one pluckt out his black Hairs and his young Wife his gray Ones But suppose the Supream Powers were not oblig'd to deprive People of their Lives but only of their Properties not to mention that even that would destroy great Numbers by robbing them of the Necessaries of Life the end of all those Laws which forbid all kinds of Injuries and require mutual Assistance one towards another for their common good would be in a manner destroyed since a great part of Mankind must be unavoidably miserable by being either at once or by degrees deprived of the means of subsisting happily and the rest would hold what they possess but by a precarious Tenure since it would depend on their Governours tho they had never so many successively or their own not changing their Opinions neither of which is in their Power to hinder whether they should enjoy any thing or not Therefore it shews the greatest Indiscretion in those who tho they have a share in the Legislature yet are subject to the Laws themselves to consent to any persecuting Ones because they cannot be sure but that they are contriving Rods for their own Backs or for their Childrens or near Relations and I believe there are few Persecutors for all their Zeal but would rather Speculative Points were wholly left to the merciful and wise Judgment of God than to have their own Families or Friends ruin'd about them But to return In vain are the Magistrates required not to tyrannize over and oppress their Subjects if they are to punish them for not being of the same Perswasion with them It had been much happier for Men in relation to their Temporal as well as Eternal Condition to be in a State of Nature than to let Tyrants deprive them of the Comforts of this Life for no other Reason than not daring to act contrary to their Consciences in things not relating to this Life And People where they oppress one the other when the Good of the Society cannot be pretended may justly be reckoned in a worse State than that of Nature viz. of War which is never at an end as long as there are Men who cannot comply with all those things that out of Ignorance Superstition Ambition c. are established as necessary to Church-Communion 11. In a word Can Men oppress ruin and kill for God's sake and destroy all moral Honesty on pretence of Religion which when it serves to no other end than to enflame the Tempers of Men and set a keener Edg on their Spirits and to make them ten times more the Children of Wrath and Cruelty than they are by Nature does surely lose its Nature and ceases to be Religion for let Men say worse of Infidelity and Atheism if they can But if on the contrary the ruining those that do nothing against the Welfare of the Society becomes an Act of Piety when it 's made use of to extirpate a false Religion or Opinion there are no Crimes whatever but by the same reason will become religious and vertuous Actions if they are equally serviceable to the same pious End scelera ipsa nef asque hâc mercede placent and consequently it would be an Act of Piety and Vertue to make use of pious Frauds to calumniate to lie to bear false Witness to murder to assassinate even the Magistrate himself 12. Thus whereas Religion has no other Design than the Advancement of Man's Happiness and God's Glory this persecuting Humour is so far from being serviceable to the former that it 's plainly destructive of it for whereas in order to that good End the Scripture has directed all Stations and Relations of Men so to act as may best tend to Love and peace the true Basis of the Happiness of the Society this drives them all to contrary Motions for Magistrates are incited to ruin those for whose Good they were instituted Subjects are tempted to disobey their Governours and retaliate Persecution so much the more fiercely by how much greater Influence their Opinions and Actions have upon the Community Nor does it only destroy the Peace of a Nation within its own Bowels but it engageth one Nation against another And 13. As it destroys all these Publick Obligations by the same reason all private Ones which are not so great as those owing to the Publick must cease so that it embroileth private Families subverts the mutual Duties between Parents and Children Husbands and Wives Masters and Servants c. seducing them into a belief that the way to be serviceable to one another's Eternal Interest is by being cruel to their Temporal and consequently the more Charity they owe one another the sooner they are to use one another ill Nor can there by any reason why the doing this of themselves is not as effectual to promote each others Eternal Happiness as the doing the very same at the command of the Magistrate who is every whit as fallible as they or why they need more to expect a Command to use Force than to give Advice if one as well as the other has a tendency to promote which is every ones Duty the Good
he does God Service therein therefore his Belief is worse than Atheism or no Faith at all That Faith that must save us is that which works by Love but his Faith destroys his Love The Apostle James Chap. 1. v. 27. tells us Pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this To visit the Fatherless and Widows in their Affliction But his Religion is to bring Affliction to Fatherless and Widows and every one else that has a different Perswasion from himself In a word If it were so great a Crime in the Jews that it could not be forgiven in this World nor the next to impute the Miracles our Saviour did when he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the Devil not to the Holy Spirit but to that of Beelzebub Can it be much less to impute to the Holy Ghost a Doctrine which destroys the End and Intent of all natural as well as revealed Religion and can serve to no other End than to dishonour God destroy Conscience and confound Mankind By what has been said I think it 's plain that nothing can be more provoking to the Supream Protector of Mankind than to pervert the Knowledg he has given us of himself for the Good of his Creatures to their ruin and make the Honour of God a Pretence for destroying the Welfare of Human Societies Besides 5. What can be more absurd than that in judging of these matters wherein we differ from Brutes we should be subject to brutal Force which is the highest Indignity that can be put not only on Reason which is the Candle of the Lord but upon Religion it self which is the highest and most exalted Reason and even upon the infinitely rational Nature of God which can receive no Satisfaction but in a Rational Service which must be free and spontaneous Force has only a natural tendency and therefore can only lawfully be used to cure brutal Passions where Men act contrary to their Knowledg and in defiance to their Reason where the Inconveniences they suffer may over-balance the Pleasure they receive in indulging their unlawful Appetites But he seems to be void of all Understanding himself who by Force attempts to inform the Understanding If Reasons and Arguments cannot convince it 's downright Madness to think Fines Imprisonments or Tortures can 6. The destroying Men when the Publick Good does not require it on pretence it's pleasing to God what is it but in effect imagining he delights in Man's Blood and Human Sacrifices And as under the Law none were to be offered but unspotted and clean Beasts so here none are to be sacrificed but pure and undefiled Men who prefer the honouring and obeying God according to the best of their Knowledg before any worldly Advantages whatever even the saving their own Lives And as the Heathen Priests amongst the most brutish and barbarous Nations introduced the sacrificing of Men not so much to gratify their Gods as their own Ambition there being no way more effectual to bring a Man who otherwise would be in danger to be mark'd for a Sacrifice into perfect Subjection so the Christian Priests who have given the World as little reason to suspect their neglecting any Means that make for their Advantage promoted the sacrificing the Peoples Lives and Properties much upon the same account For they having obtained the Direction of the Sword made it fall with unparallel'd Cruelty on all that opposed or by a Separation disowned their usurped Powers and Jurisdictions by which means they made the People on whom they imposed what Doctrines they thought fit absolute Slaves and Magistrates no better than their Executioners who durst not refuse to put their Sentences in force 7. It may be said That the Magistrate when he deprives People of their Lives or Properties does not offer them as a Sacrifice to God but as God's Vicar in Spirituals executes his Wrath on those that offend him But if it be the Magistrate's Duty to punish those Offences that relate meerly to God it cannot be presumed but that God has sufficiently qualified him for that Employ which how can it be whilst he is incapable of knowing not only the greatest part of the Actions but all the Thoughts of Men in which alone consists by far the greater part of the Offences against him Nay to qualify the Magistrate for this Employ 't is not sufficient he knows the present but it 's necessary he should discern the future Thoughts of Men and how God himself will deal with them for if God instead of punishing will highly reward those that come in at the Eleventh as well as at the first Hour it would be unjust in the Substitute to punish where the Principal for whose Sake alone he punisheth will not only pardon but highly reward But 8. This is so far from being so that the Magistrate is obliged to punish not only those that will be but those that are actually innocent in the Sight of God otherwise he could punish no Criminal at all because there 's none but will pretend he has truly repented of his Crime and consequently is wholly innocent in the sight of God And the Magistrate being no Discerner of Hearts could punish none for fear of punishing such a One had he not a Right to punish those who with respect to God are entirely Innocent so vice versa had he not a Power to forgive those that in relation to God are as Nocent it would not be in his Power to forgive any one Nay the Magistrate may justly be the Occasion even of the Death not only of those that have repented of their Crimes but even of Innocent Persons as he is by forcing his Innocent Subjects into the Wars where it 's unavoidable but Numbers must be slain and in attacking Ships and Towns of Enemies where Children that never offended either God or Man are very often destroyed and this without any Fault in the Magistrate because protecting the Common-Wealth being his indispensible Duty any lesser Good in competition with that ought to be looked upon sub ratione Mali. All which sufficiently shows that the only thing he concerns himself with as Magistrate is the Good of the Society and that he rewards and punishes his Subjects only as it tends to this End without respect to their being either Innocent or Nocent in the Sight of God and that when he punishes any Sin he does it not as it 's a Sin against God but as it 's prejudicial to the Society and consequently he does not act as God's Deputy in punishing Offences meerly as they relate to him But to make this if it be possible more plain 10. The Magistrate as he has no Right so he pretends to none to punish for things that are owned by all to be notorious Offences against God and where Men cannot plead Conscience to justify themselves such as Pride Ambition Ingratitude breach of Promise Lying Uncharitableness Envy Ill-nature Covetousness Prodigality