his Subjects when by it he who is as fallible as those he persecutes is as likely to promote Error as Truth because if the Error ballanceth the Truth it 's doing Mischief for Mischief's sake now since Truth is but one and Falshood almost infinite there 's a prodigious odds he persecutes his Subjects to establish Error 2dly I answer That Opinions meerly as such are not destructive of Mens Souls for God who has made Man liable to mistake does not require an Impossibility of him never to be mistaken but that he impartially searches after religious Truth and sincerely endeavours to discover it by those Helps and Abilities he has bestowed on him to that purpose He therefore that does this has the satisfaction of doing his Duty as a rational Creature and may be sure tho he misseth Truth he shall not miss the Reward of it since he has followed as well as he could and no more could be his Duty the only Guide God has given him to judg of Truth and Falshood And if it be no Fault in a Judg that condemns an innocent Person if upon sufficient Evidence he appears guilty the same Reason will hold as strong for the Innocence of an Opinion that a Man after he has impartially considered embraceth for Truth and by which he prejudiceth no Person And if he that has lost his Senses if it be not by his own Fault is not accountable for what he does there is as little reason that he should who acts according to the best of his Understanding for it 's the Sincerity of the Heart and the Goodness of the Intention that God wholly regards And the ignorant and mistaken if it be not their own Fault are as acceptable to him as the knowing and not mistaken since it 's he that causes the Differences of Mens Understandings as well as Circumstances which last makes the Widow's Mite tho very inconsiderable in it self as acceptable as the great Presents of the Rich. So that two Men that are of different Religions may be both in the right Way to Heaven provided they do their endeavour to find out the Truth For it 's inconsistent with Justice to give a Being to any Creature that must necessarily make it more miserable than not to be which must be if Men are to be punished eternally for unavoidable Mistakes But God who could have no other Design in creating our immortal Minds than that they should be happy consequently has given them all since they are all equally from him sufficient Means to make themselves so so that it 's strangely absurd as well as injurious to an infinitely perfect Being to suppose he is a respecter of Persons or that he has made Mens Eternal Happiness or Misery to depend on such Accidents as being born in England Rome Turky China c. Promulgation is certainly essential to a Law and therefore those that have no opportunity of being convinced of the Truth of the Gospel shall not be accountable for not believing it but shall be judged by the Law they know and not by that they did not know nor shall those that do believe the Gospel if after a diligent search they are mistaken in some Points of it be condemn'd for it because those Points cannot be said to be sufficiently promulgated to them To doubt of this is to question the Justice of God therefore I may safely conclude that whoever does what God requires from him shall be rewarded and that God requires no more from every one but that he shall use his honest Endeavour by all means to know and understand his Will as perfectly as he can provided when known he does his best Endeavours to live up to it and consequently the greatest Charity the Magistrate is capable of doing is not to prejudice Men in their grand Choice by Punishments or Rewards but to leave them entirely at Liberty as the most likely way to find out the Truth or if they miss it to make their Mistakes wholly innocent But of that more hereafter 3. All the Uncharitableness Animosities Envy and Hatred that reigns amongst dissenting Parties are owing to Persecution and not to the bare Differences of Opinions which of themselves are no more apt to produce these Effects than different Complexions or Palats for to see a Man in an Error is apt to create Pity in us a Passion very opposite to Hatred Nor would there be the least Grounds for Uncharitableness if no Man was to be harassed in his Name Goods or Person for any speculative Opinion or outward way of Worship but to use one ill upon that account sets him at perfect Enmity and creates a Quarrel The Heathens who had more and wider Differences about Matters of Religion than the Christians yet because they tolerated one another had not those irreconcilable Animosities fierce Contentions and unnatural Wars which have frequently happened since the Propagation of the Christian Religion which yet without Impiety cannot be imputed to its Genius which is pure peaceable and inoffensive and requires a universal Love and Charity for all Men of what Profession soever No it 's the Antichristian Doctrine of Persecution that has transformed the mild and sociable Nature of Man into greater Ferocity than that of Wolves and Tigers for nothing it's certain can more exasperate the Minds of Men than to be ill used for following the Dictates of their Consciences for then every one of them since they all suffer upon the same Account will be apt to resent not only what is done to himself but to the rest of his Sect who cannot but think their Persecutors their mortal Enemies since they not only use them ill without any manner of Provocation but as they cannot but suppose endeavour to force them to ruin themselves eternally and they if ever they get their Persecutors in their Power will in all likelihood double or treble on them what themselves suffered So by degrees Men arrive to the height of Fury Rage and Madness and break thrô not only all the Ties of Christianity but even Humanity tho whilst they thus furnish such powerful Provocations to endless Discords Hatreds Factions Wars Massacres c. they have nothing in their Mouths but the Good of the Church and Salvation of Souls not considering that without Love they cannot be Christ's Disciples John 13. and that all other Duties without Charity profit nothing But what is more opposite to these than to tempt Men to make themselves miserable hereafter to avoid being so here For either they must continue all their Lives under Persecution which who can support or else they must buy their temporal Quiet with the loss of their Eternal Happiness But 4. This Doctrine of Compulsion is not only inconsistent with Love Meekness and such-like but directly contrary to the very Foundation of natural Equity and Justice in causing Men to do as they would not be done unto for they that are when they have the Civil Power on their side
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
Party act consistent with their own Principles and had a mind that the People should not blindly follow them they would be so far from hindering them by restraining the Liberty of the Press and Pulpit from examining the Reasonableness of those Opinions that are contrary to theirs that they would make it their Business to perswade them to it and obtain an entire Liberty for their Adversaries to preach and print what they think good 3. It was the Protestant Priests acting most apparently and most shamefully inconsistent with themselves that put a sudden stop to the Reformation which at first like a mighty Torrent overturned all that opposed it And here it is that the Church of Rome insults and saith That the Principles of the Protestants by which they endeavour to justify their Separation from her are so absurd that themselves are obliged to act contrary to them and do the very same things they condemn in her Thus the Persecution of the Popish Church has been kept in Countenance by the Protestants following her Example which otherwise would have appeared so odious that all must have abhorred her for it or else obliged her to grant that Liberty which would infallibly ruin her 4. As Persecution was the chief Cause of hindering the further spreading of the Reformation so to that we must impute that this was not more perfect and compleat For tho the first Reformers deserve very great Commendation for what they did yet it cannot be imagined that being bred up in Popish Darkness and Superstition they should be able to discern much less remove all those Corruptions that had been so long a gathering that could only be the Work of Time or Men inspired and therefore it 's no wonder there were so many different Opinions amongst them at first But had those that succeeded them instead of paying a blind implicit Submission to their Decrees and getting them established by Penal Laws taken the same Liberty in examining their Opinions as the Reformers did their Predecessors all Differences at least of any moment would in some Time have been composed which became impossible by the Clergy being obliged as they valued their subsistence to assert such Opinions right or wrong as were established by Law and by Persecution causing such Animosities and Prejudices amongst the different Sects that instead of examining one anothers Opinions sincerely and impartially they ran daily further into Ignorance Superstition Narrowness and Uncharitableness CHAP. VI. Of the Method to destroy not only Schisms and Heresies but Hatred and Uncharitableness amongst Christians notwithstanding their different Opinions BUT suppose few or none of the different Opinions that are amongst Protestants had been composed by their acting consistent with their own Principles yet there could not well be any Divisions or Schisms amongst them which do wholly arise from that Antiprotestant and impious Practice in imposing on others our own uncertain and dubious Comments as necessary Terms of Communion and requiring People to profess them on pain of Temporal or Eternal Punishment which is nothing less than making our own Opinions of Divine Authority and as necessary to Salvation as the express words of the Scripture which if Men did only make use of in any controverted Point in the publick Forms of Worship they might be of the same Communion for all their variety of Opinions And indeed nothing seems more absurd than that instead of the Expressions the infinite Wisdom of God thought fit to make use of Men should be so zealous for imposing on their Brethren their own Conceits especially of things they confess to be inconceivable and their own Explications of what they acknowledg to be inexplicable and their own Reason of what they own is above their Reason and their own meaning of what they confess their Words cannot reach the meaning But it 's no wonder that they that make themselves wiser than God in contriving Methods even opposite to those he requires to make Men embrace the Faith should think themselves better able to express that Faith than God himself and therefore condemn those as Hereticks who declare their Belief in the Terms of Truth except also they will admit their Expressions and Terms from which it 's by no means lawful to vary which shows that they put a greater value on them than on the Divine Word 2. To this they say they oblige People to use their Expressions in order to discover Hereticks But if God requires no more of a Christian than that he believes the Scripture and endeavours to find out the true Sense of it and to live according to it he that does this can be in no fault but is to all intents and purposes as safe in respect to his Eternal Happiness as if he were infallible and consequently is far from being a Schismatick or Heretick Tho the Imposers are not only Schismaticks by causing a needless Separation but Hereticks by their own definition of Heresy which is erring in Fundamentals and erring obstinately against Knowledg because when they have determined the Holy Scriptures to be the only foundation of Faith nevertheless they lay down certain Propositions as Fundamental that are not in the Scripture which is declaring against their own Principles and destroying the very Foundation they have laid so that instead of finding out others to be Hereticks they make themselves such by requiring a Divine Faith to their own imagined Deductions which how clear soever they seem to themselves to be drawn from Scripture appear quite contrary to others If a King going a far Journey should give certain Injunctions to his Subjects and appoint no Judg to determine any Dispute that should happen about interpreting them but that every one according to the best of his Skill should judg for himself and not act until he was fully perswaded in his own Mind Would not they that do this how much soever they were mistaken in interpreting his Injunctions have done all that he required And would not he be justly enraged at his return to see them for doing this beaten and abused by their Fellow-Subjects And what Reason therefore can there be urged why Christ should deal otherwise at his return to Judgment with your persecuting Heretick Starters and reward those Good and Faithful Servants the supposed Hereticks for following his Directions in judging of his Will according to the best of their Abilities 3. If the Predestinarians and Antipredestinarians who condemn one anothers Tenets as most impious may and ought notwithstanding their different Sentiments to continue in the same Church or if the Orthodox can so infinitely differ in Matters of Faith that one Party of them shall worship but one Infinite Almighty Being or Spirit and another three such and yet be of the same Communion and agree in the same Terms of Human Invention Why may not all since it 's scarce possible any should differ more widely join together in the same Communion if nothing be mentioned in those Matters wherein they
differ but in Scripture-expressions in which they all agree And is it not the Imposers that not only in the Arminian Controversy which has caused a Schism in the Protestant Countries beyond Sea but in all others that are guilty of the Separation For I do not see as that very Honest and Judicious Man Mr. Hales in his Tract of Schism observes That Opinionum varietas Opinantium unitas are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or that Men of different Opinions may not hold Communion in Sacris or both go to the same Church Why may not I go if occasion requires to an Arian Church so there be no Arianism expressed in their Liturgy and were Liturgies and publick Forms of Service so framed as they admitted no particular and private Fancies but contained those things in which all Christians agree Schisms on Opinions were utterly vanished And let me add that not only Schisms or Heresies but all Hatred Animosities and Uncharitableness would be destroyed For then the Clergy since it would be their common Interest to unite together would maintain Peace Love and Kindness amongst themselves and preach the same to the People who would never were they but left to themselves hate or molest one another for meerly speculative Opinions which make but little impression on them especially too when they did not create any Divisions or Schisms amongst them nay then all Opinions of Moment I mean those which Men cannot neglect examining into without a Fault would being handled without Prejudice or Passion quickly be rightly understood and those of little or no Moment which are chiefly kept up by the Hatred and Animosities of the different Sects and the Artifices of the Priests soon fall to the Ground And this is the sense of the ablest Champion that the Protestant Religion could ever boast of the brave Chillingworth who tells us Ch. 3. n. 8. If Men would be themselves and be content that others should be in the choice of their Religion the Servants of God and not of Men if instead of being zealous Papists earnest Calvinists rigid Lutherans c. they would become themselves and be content that others should be plain and honest Christians if all Men would believe the Scripture and freeing themselves from Prejudice and Passion would sincerely endeavour to find the true Sense of it and live according to it and require no more of others than to do so not refusing their Communion to those that do so would so order their Publick Service of God that all may without Scruple or Hypocrisy or Protestation against any part of it join with them in it who does not see that seeing all necessary Truths are plainly and evidently set down in Scripture there would of necessity be amongst all Men in all things necessary Unity of Opinion and notwithstanding any other Differences that are or could be Unity of Communion and Charity and mutual Toleration by which Means all Schism and Heresy would be banished the World and those wretched Contentions which now rend and tear in pieces not the Coat but the Members and Bowels of Christ with mutual Pride and Tyranny would speedily receive a most blessed Catastrophe So Chap. 4. n. 16. This presumptuous imposing of the Senses of Men upon the Word of God the special Senses of Men upon the general Words of God and laying them on Mens Consciences under the equal Penalty of Death and Damnation this vain Conceit that we can speak of the Things of God better than the Words of God this deifying our own Interpretations and tyrannous enforcing them upon others this restraining the Words of God from that Latitude and Generality and the Understanding of Men from their Liberty where Christ and his Apostles left them is and hath been the only Fountain of all Schisms of the Church and that which makes them immortal the common Incendiary of Christendom Ridente Turca nec dolente Judaeo Take away these Walls of Separation and all will quickly be one Take away this persecuting burning cursing damning of Men for not subscribing to the Words of Men as the Words of God require of Christians only to believe Christ and to call no Man Master but him only Let those leave claiming Infallibility that have no Title to it and let them that in their Words disclaim it disclaim it likewise in their Actions In a word Take away Tyranny which is the Devil's Instrument to support Errors Superstitions and Impieties in the several Parts of the World which could not otherwise long withstand the Power of Truth I say take away Tyranny and restore Christians to the just and full Liberty of captivating their Understanding to Scripture only and as Rivers when they have a free passage run all to the Ocean so it may well be hoped by God's Blessing that Universal Liberty thus moderated may quickly reduce Christendom to Truth and Unity But to add a greater Authority even that of the Apostles themselves who tho they were to teach the People the Christian Faith before they baptized them into it nay it 's impossible any should be of the Christian Church before he knew the Faith that must make him a Christian yet they required no more of those that before believed the Unity of God to qualify them to be Members of the Church than to believe Jesus to be the Christ and that God has raised him from the Dead and the Doctrine of Repentance And upon this Belief which all Christians profess they constantly admitted both Jews and Gentiles into the Church and consequently whilst this Belief remains they are not unqualified to be Members of the Church except Men have a Right now-a-days to disown those for Brethren and Members of the Church that the Apostles owned as such But They are indeed as Mr. Chillingworth observeth the greatest Schismaticks who make the Way to Heaven narrower the Yoke of Christ heavier the Differences of Faith greater than they were made at the beginning by Christ and his Apostles they talk of Unity and aim at Tyranny and will have Peace with none but their Slaves and Vassals 4. But it 's said A Heretick after two or three Admonitions is to be rejected or more properly avoided therefore Difference of Opinions will hinder Men from being of the same Communion By a Heretick is not meant one that thrô the weakness of Understanding is in an Error but an immoral Man that acts against his Conscience for the Apostle describes him as one that 's conscious of his Crime as being condemned of himself on whom Admonitions might have a good Effect or if they should not be sufficient yet that the Trouble and Disgrace of being shunned by his Brethren might reclaim him which Methods could have no such Effect if his Fault had been a meer Error of the Understanding And Heresy cannot but be a Fault of the Will because it 's called a Work of the Flesh and damnable which a meer Error of the Understanding by no means is And
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
am obliged to submit to the Determinations of the Clergy I may be forc'd to believe what I judg is either adding changing or diminishing the Law of God as it 's manifest all Sects by believing it to be of their own Side do judg their Adversaries do add c. But if it be meant that the Clergy have a Right to make me believe a thing whilst I doubt of the Truth of it that is impossible and so it is to change my Mind before I see Reason for it It may be said tho it 's not in my Power to believe as they will have me yet I may do as they command even whilst I doubt of the Lawfulness of the Action But then to obey them would be the ready way to damn my self for he that acts when he doubts is damn'd No Law whether of God or Man can scarce be of any use without applying it to particular Cases and deducing Consequences from it and explaining Doubts that arise But if the Laity must be determined by the Priests in all such Cases they must become Brutes and renounce their Reason where they ought to make the most use of it Our Author I confess says not that a Man should rest in the Determinations of the Clergy in deducing Consequences in things explicitly determined by the Law of God But what is meant by things explicitly determined I do not well understand for tho Words are explicit yet the Things implied in those Words are certainly implicit And if the Clergy can oblige Men to follow right or wrong their Determinations in deducing Consequences in things implicitly determined by Scripture they may oblige Men to add change or diminish the Law of God in most Points 3. The Popish Priests never carried their Pretences higher than this Author does they have not the Impudence to assert they can oblige People to believe contrary to the Law of God but that for the sake of the Church's Peace they have a Right to determine those Controversies that may arise among the Faithful and when they have done so none ought to begin to examine those Points again In a word there is no Medium between the Protestant Doctrine of every one having a Right to judg for himself and the Popish one of being obliged to believe as the Church does But this Author is much more absurd than the Papists in making Truth and Falshood to be decided not by an Infallible Pope or Council whose Decrees are to bind the Catholick Church but by the casting Voices of a Fallible Convocation in every Nation which may in Spain oblige the People to believe Transubstantiation in Sweden Consubstantiation in England the Real Corporeal Presence so that a Man may be bound to change his Sentiments with his Habitation and the Difference of a Degree or two may oblige him to opposite Opinions And yet as absurd as this is since the Clergy are so infinitely divided amongst themselves the Laity must either do so or else judg for themselves if it were but to know which of the Clergy were in the Right But 4. The Pamphleteer supposes this impossible and pag. 18. where he speaks out he roundly tells the Commons of England That it 's a little too much to suppose Countrey Gentlemen Merchants or Lawyers to be nicely skill'd in the Languages of the Bible Masters of all the Learning of the Fathers or of the History of the Primitive Church which they must in some measure be who sit Judges of Religious Doctrines and Opinions which ought to be left to their proper Tribunal a Convocation Had People at the Reformation been of this Mind we might still have groaned under the Popish Yoke for the Majority of the Clergy not only in England but every where else were as averse to this Reformation which may justly be called a Lay one as the Jewish Priests were to that of Christ and his Apostles If to be Masters of all the Learning of the Fathers be necessary to the judging of Religious Doctrines it 's as necessary the Laity should understand them because the Clergy are strangely divided amongst themselves about them each Sect pretending they are on their Side which shows that either the Clergy are not to be trusted with giving us the Sense of those Fathers because they make them say any thing according as it serves their present Interest or that the Fathers talk forward and backward contradict themselves as well as one another which if so shows great disingenuity in the Clergy not to own it and if we may trust Mr. Chillingworth a Man unsuspected of the least Priestcraft he tells us Chap. 6. That he sees plainly and that with his own Eyes that there are Councils against Councils some Fathers against others the same Fathers against themselves a Consent of Fathers of one Age against a Consent of Fathers of another Age the Church of one Age against the Church of another Age. 5. The Apostles were so far from requiring the Christians to give up their Judgments to any Number of fallible Men that they command them all to make use of their Reason in judging of Religion commend those as the Bereans that did so and blame those that did not Why have you not judged these things of your selves And if Men were then obliged to try the Spirits because there were many false Prophets gone out into the World there is certainly much more reason to do so now But having spoken fully to this Point in Ch. 2. Par. 1. I shall only add that it 's a Rule authorised by common Sense not to consent to any thing till we are capable of judging of its Truth nor can we without renouncing our Reason suppose God will have us believe any thing without seeing good Reason for it And nothing can reflect more on the Wisdom and Goodness of God than to suppose that he who would have all Men come to the Knowledg of his Will should yet make it so obscure that not one in a thousand is capable of knowing it because it depends upon Skill in Fathers Criticks Church-History c. A Man may therefore justly conclude if there be any such Doctrines pretended as there are in most Systems the impossibility of the Peoples judging of them alone demonstrates they come not from God who as he was able so his Goodness made him willing to express Truth so clearly that all who are not wilfully blind may understand it in order to practice and it would seem strange that God should chuse Fishermen and such simple Persons to preach a Religion intelligible only to the Learned and Philosophers There 's no need of running to Fathers Criticks c. For he that will do the Will of God shall know as our Saviour John 7. saith of the Doctrine whether it be of God that is if it be such as tends to make me love reverence and honour God or is beneficial to Man and a Doctrine cannot shew it self to be of God any