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. I I' I
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD ENDOWMENT FUND
q.Gr-
BISHOP WARBURTON'S
WORKS.
VOLUME THE FOURTH:
CONTAINING
ALLIANCE.
JULIAN.
DOCTRINE OF GRACE.
Vol. IV.
THE
WORKS
OF THE
RIGHT REVEREND
WILLIAM WARBURTON,
LORD BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER.
IN SEVEN VOLUMES,
VOLUME THE FOURTH.
LONDON,
PRINTED BY JOHN NICHOLS: AND SOLD BY T. C A D E L L, IN THE STRAND.
MDCCLXXXVIII.
[ HI ] 3757
C07
CONTENTS ^B^
O F
THE FOURTH VOLUME.^
The ALLIANCE BETWEEN CHURCH and STATE:
O R,
The necessity and EQUITY of an ESTABLISHED RELIGION, AND a TEST-LAW, Demonstrated.
IN THREE BOOKS, p. x-331.
Preface to the Firjl Edition in iy^^y p. 3 — 6. Dedication to the Earl of Chest ervield^ in 1748, p. 7 — 10. Advertisement to the Edition of lydS, p. 1 1, 12. Letter from M. De Silhouette, to the Cardinal Fleury,
p. 13—13.
BOOK I.
OF the Nature and End of Civil and Religious Society, p. 19 — 71,
Chap. I. Tbe Occafon and Nature of this Difcourfe, p. 19.
Chap. II. Of the State of Nature ; and the Efiabhflment of So- ciety, p. 22.
Chap. 111. Of the natural DefeSls of Civil Society ; and the Nc' cejpty of applying Religion to remedy ihefe Defers, p. 25.
Chap. IV. Of tbe Nature and End of Civil Society ; and the Caufes of the common MlJUkes concerning it, dlfcovered and explained, p. 26. Chap. V. Of the Nature and End of Religion, p. 48. Notes on the First Book, p. d^ — 71.
A 2 BOOK
85S730
iv CONTENTS OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.
B O O K II.
OF an E/labli/hed Churchy p. 73—199.
Chap. I. Of the Nature of that Union between Church and St ate ^ •which produces a Religion ejiablifhed by Law,, p. 73.
Chap. II. Of the Motives the State hadtofeek, and the Church to accept an Alliance, p. 76.
Chap. III. Of the reciprocal ^erms and Conditions of this Alliance f,
p. 90.
Chap. IV. That the Chrijlian Religion, is, of all others,, befl fitted forfuch an Alliance with the State as. may be moft produSiive of their mutual advantages ; and that one is the moji perfeSl of all Chrifiian_ Efiabliflments, p. 140.
Chap. V. In which an Objediion to the fundamental Principles of this Alliance is removed, p. 1760.
Notes on the Second Book, p. 188 — 199,
B O. O K III.
OF a Tejl-Law, p. 201 — 247.
Chap. I. Of the Origin and tejl of a TeJl-Law, p. 20 r.
Chap. IT. Of the Necejfity and Equity of aTeJl-Law, p. 206.
Chap. 111. In which the OljeSlions to the Equity and Expediency of a Tejl-Law are conjidered, p. 2 1 0.-
Chap. IV. Of the m'ljlakcn Principles on which Writers, on this Subje6i have hitherto proceeded ; the Mf chiefs and Abjurdities that fol- lowed them \ and the Remedies which the Principles, here laid dcivn are able tofvpply, p. 235.
Chap. V. The Conclufion^ in which the remaining Objetiion of both Parties are confidered, p. 241.
Notes on theTm-RH Book,, p. 246 — 247.
APPENDIX /(? the First. Edition, in \ys6, p. 249 — 263.
Postscript to the. Fovrth Edition, in 1746, p. 265 — 323,,
Index to the Alliance, p. 325—331.
JULIAN;
COOTENTS OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.
J U . L I A N ;
O K,
A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE EARTHQUAKE AND FIR EY ERUPTION, which defeated that EMPEROR'S ATTEMPT to rebuild THE TEMPLE AT JERUSALEM,
In which, the REALITY of jl DIVINE INTERPOSITION
IS SHEWN; THE OBJECTIONS TO IT ARE censured; AND
THE NATURE OF THAT EVIDENCE which demands the ASSENT OF every REASONABLE MAN to a MIRA- CULOUS FACT IS considered and explained.
P- 333— 531- INTRODUCriON, p. 335—360.. BOOK 7. p. 361—413. BOOK II. p. 414—531.
THE
n CONTENTS OF THE FOURTH VOLUME.
THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE;
(O s, The office and OPERATIONS of the HOLY SPIRIT,
■VINDICATED FROM THB INSULTS OF INFIDELITY,
AND THE ABUSES OF FANATICISM.
With some THOUGHTS (humbly offered to the CONSIDERATION of the ESTABLISHED CLERGY)
REGARDING THE RIGHT METHOD OF DEFENDING RELIGION
AGAINST THE ATTACKS OF EITHER PARTY, p. 535 — 723.
ADVERTISEMENT to the First Edition, p. 535.
PREFACE, ^. SSI— 5^3- BOOK I. p. 545—591. BOOK II. p. 592—681. BOOK in. p. 682--723.
THE
THE
ALLIANCE
BETWEEN
CHURCH AND S TATE:
O R,
The necessity and EQUITY
O F AN ESTABLISHED RELIGION
AND
A TEST t4W
DEMONSTRATED.
IN THREE BOOKS.
True Faith, true Policy United ran ;
That was but love of God, and this, of Man.
Pope.
Vol. IV.
B
[ 3 1
R E F A C E
TO THE
FIRST EDITION
In MDCCXXXVr.
IF the Form or Matter of the enfuhig Difcourfe may be thought to ftand In need of further Apology than that general one of the Author's weaknefles and imperfedions, which is always decent, and almofl always neceffary, to make to the Reader, I defire this following Advertifement may pafs with him for fuch. As to the Form, the fubjed being of the greateft weight and gravity in itfelf, and here treated abftradtedly, I have aimed at nothing, in the ftyle, but exa£tnefs in the exprefhon, and clearnefs in the conftruclion : Content to have it without further ornament than what Truth beftows upon it ; and it being capable of affording Science ; I have not only preferved ftriftnefs of method, but have not been over fludious to decline even the Formality of it. Now thefe are Cir- cumftances which, though they affiil: the gentle Reader in the In- telligence of the Difcourfe, yet render his employment lefs agree- able and amufing. But this is not the worft. For, relying on the ftrengtii of my demonftration, I have laboured to contrad the Dilcourfe within fuch a compafs as that the whole may be com- modioufly read at once. But It treating of a great variety of par- ticulars, I was neceflitated to be very brief in many points of im-
B 2 portaiice :
4 PREFACE TO the EDITION of 1736.
poitance : which had been inexcufable had not my fubje£t confined me to qualified Readers, and my choice led me to fuch as a great Ancient, requefted for judges of his Writings, Tales meorum fcripto- rum veliin judices qui refponjioncm non jemfer dejiderent, quum^ his qua kguniUKj audierint aliquid contradict.
As to the I^latter ; Writing in an age that, of all others, feems moft to be attentive to difengage itfelf from prejudices, enlarge its views, and follow trutli and nature whitherfoever they lead ; to fo iufl:, fo generous, and prevalent afpirit, I fhall have the lefs occafion to apologize for the latitude of my theory. But this is the peculiar happinefs of our own times. It was not always fo. When Dr. Taylor, about a century ago, compofed his liberty of prophefyiug in defence of Religious Toleration (the firft book on that fubje£t wrote on reafonable principles), though he had fo ftrougly vindi- cated the Right, and that in favour of the EJlabliJIjed Church under Gppreffion and perfecution ; which had been overthrown for the want of a Tejl-Law to fecure her ; yet fuch was the ftrange perver- fity oi fome men, at that time, that the great Author was accufed and calumniated for having vindicated their right of fervtng God according to their Confciences ;. becaufe he did It on Principles which made that Right extenfive to all the rcfl of mankind. Thej would accept of Toleration on no other terms but becaufe they were the true Church. I find my engagement to be much the fame with this excellent Writer's* When attempts had been, and are ftill making, to violate the immunities of the Ejlablijloed Religion, which have proved fo far fuccefsful as to induce a very prevailing opinion that it,, with its attendant, a TeJl-Law, was a violation of the law of nature and nations, I prefumed, very unworthy as I am, to ftand up in its defence. And to do this to more advantage, 1 have all along reafoned, on the principles of our adverfaries them- felves, to prove that an EftabJiJlied Church and a Tejl are agreeable to thofe Laws, whether fuch Church be the true one or no. So far, I fay, we are alike. But as greatly as that Author has the
advantage
PREFACE TO THE EDITION of 1736. 5
advantage of me in the noble elegance, learning, and force of his compofition, which, I truly think, is as great as can well be ; fo greatly have I the advantage of him in the felicity of the times I write in. That narrow, four, ignorant fpirit of bigotry, blefled be God, is now no more. A learned one, of liberty, and Chrifiiian charity, univerfally prevails. So that that freedom of thought, which then gave fo much offence, now creates a prepofleflion altogether favourable to the Writer. But if, after all, I fhould chance to be miftaken in the humour of the times, as it would be no great wonder if I fhould, the words of this illuftrious Writer, with a little altera- tion, will be my beil: apology. — " When a perfecution (fay& he, in *' his general Epiftle to his Polemical difcourfes) did arife againfl: the " Church of England, and that I intended to make a defenfative *' for my Brethren and myfelf, by pleading for a liberty to our *' confciences to perfevere in that profeffion which was warranted *' by all the laws of God and our Superiors, fome men were angry *' and would not be fafe that way, becaufe I had made the roof of *' the fandluary fo wide that more might be fheltered under it than *' they had a mind fhould be faved harmlefs : men would be fafe *' alone or not at all, fuppofing that their truth and good caufe was " warranty enough to preferve itfelf. And they thought true, it *^ was indeed warranty enough againfl perfecution, if men have be- " lieved it to be the truth.. But becaufe we were fallen under the *' power of our worft enemies, they looked upon us as men in mif- •' perfuallon and error; and therefore I was to defend our perfons *' that whether our caufe was right or wrong (for it would be " fuppofed wrong) yet we might be permitted in liberty and im- *' punity. But then the confequent would be this, that if we,. " when we were fuppofed to be in error, were yet to be in- '* dempnified, then others alfo, whom we thought as ill of, were " to rejoice in the fame Freedom, becaufe this equality is the *' great inftrument of juflice. Of this, fome men were im- " patient; and they would have all the world fpare them, and
" yet
6 PREFACE TO the EDITION tf 1736.
" yet they would fpare nobody. But becaufe this is too un- •' reafonable I need no excufe for my writing to other pur-
" pofeS.— I CANNOT REPENT ME OF SPEAKING TrUTH, OR
«< DOING Charity."
D E DI-
[ 7 3
DEDICATION to the EDITION of 1748.
TO THE
RIGHT HONOURABLE
P H I L I P
EARL OF CHESTERFIELD,
M Y L O R D,
TH E only fubjefls worth a wife Man's fe.rious notice, are Religion and Government ; fuch Religion and Govern- ment, I mean, as exclude not (which too often they do) Mora- lity and Politicks ; and thefe are fubje6ls that, at the fame time, moft need hia attention. For though they be ordained to one end, to perfeft Humanity ; yet, as they purfue it by different mciaus, they mufl a£l in conjunftion, lefl the diverfity of the means fliould retard or defeat the attainment of the concurrent end.
But then, the obje«fl of Religion being Truth, which requires liberty ; and the objed of Government, Peace, which demands fubmiflion ; they fecm naturally formed to countera£t one another's ojxrations.
However, tliough tlieir Natures, and confequently their Agency, be thus different, yet their Views being the fame, there feems to
be
8 DEDICATION to the EDITION of 1748.
be no more reafon againfl: their politic Alliance than we fee there was againfl: the phyjical union of the Soul and Body, for whofe diftinft benefit each of thofe Inftitutions was feverally or- dained. For though thefe two conftituent parts of Man run counter, and frequently defeat each other's purpofe ; yet Reafon can eafily reconcile their jars, and teach them how to draw together ; fo as beft to put in ule and improve each other's Faculties : the Body fupplying the Mind with organs of fenfation ; and the Mind, the Body with the active principle of fpontaneous motion.
The chief defign of the following Difcourfe is to fliew, that the like important ufes may be derived from an Union between Church and State : and to explain upon what Principles thefe fervices are beft procured. In doing this, I have ftill kept our own happy Conftitution in my eye : and fo, have efcaped the danger which fpeculative Writers, intent only on their philofophic ideas, have incurred in framing their Utopian Societies.
And now, my Lord, being willing to leave behind me a Mo- nument of my love to my Country, I have taken the privilege, arifing from the principles here laid down, to appeal, from the Ecclefiaftical, to a Lay-Tribunal, under theprotedionof a Charader which is going down to pofterity in the full luftre of thofe amia- ble qualities of humanity which Nature delights to throw round the Names of her diftinguiftied Favourites.
It is an uncommon happinefs when an honeft man can congra- tulate a Patriot on his becoming Minifter * : and what one would Hot, in confcience, overlook. When Mlnillers turn Patriots into Courtiers, it is a lofs, to the Public, o{ z good name, at Icaft : But when Patriots teach Courts public fpirit, the lofs of a word is well repaid by the good that word was fuppofed to imply. And now if fuch a one fhould be alked where is his Patriotifm ? he
• Secretar)' of Stat* in the year 1 748.
mipfht
DEDICATION to the EDITION of 1748. 9
might well anfwer in the Spanifli proverb, — The King has eticugh for us all. What Subje(5ls have thrown off is not loft, but lodged in fafer hands, the Crown ; the old, the natural, the legal Guar- dian of Britifh Liberty.
But Your Lordftiip has nov/ a nicer part to manage. The Peo- ple are much more reafonable in their demands on their Patriots than on their Ministers. Of their Patriots they readily accept the Will for the Deed ; but of their Minifters, they unjuftly inter- pret the Deed for the Will, Our great Englifh Poet, who ho- noured Your virtues, as much as he loved Your perfon, was more candid. He underftood the delicate fituation of a Minifter ; and in this fine apology, as I have it under his hand, does juftice to their good intentions :
Our Minifters like Gladiators live ; 'Tis half their bufinefs blows to ward or give : The good their Virtue would effect, or Sense, Dies between Exigents and Self-defence.
Befidcs, my Lord, the dead weight of long defuetude upon good intentions feems not to have been enough confidered. Of all the ftrange connexions which the revolutions of Time bring abovit, the rareft and moft accidental is that between merit and REWARD. So that when things have taken their plye, a Minifter may be well allowed to anfwer with him, in the comic Poet, to one who complained he had beeti cruelly fcratched by Fortune^ That it was now too late to think of paring her nails.
Nor are the miftakes of Expectants far fliort of the difficulties of Men in poiver.
Scholars (to fpeak the Court fenfe of them) who know but little of pradicable Life, are apt to fancy that fuperior diftinftion in Let- ters, or fuperior fervices in their Profeflion, may entitle them to the honours of it. But things are not fo carried. High Stations, even of the more fpiritual kind, require a knowledge of yl fairs. The
Vol. IV. C purfuit
10 DEDICATION to the EDITION of 1748.
purfuit of Letters keeps men from the fight of Bnfnefs : And karned impreflions make them unapt and aukward in the difcharge of it. The Mind mufi be unburthened before it will be able to move there, either with eafe or grace. Nothing is more unquef- ^oned, nor, confequently, truer than thefe Court-Maxims. And the moft that can be faid for fo helplefs a Tribe is, That Let- ters never made a Blockhead. But 1 go no farther. For indeed it muft be owned, That as they find him, fo they always leave him.
But perhaps, my Lord, I am all this while giving an example of that very ignorance I would endeavour to excufe. For, if whart we daily hear be true, I am pleading for the Decorations of Society, at a time, that the Foundations of it are thought to be infecure. Which certainly would be as bad oeconomy as his, who bufied himr felf in white-wafhing his manfion-houfe, when the walls wanted both fupport and repair.
It is true, I had a view to life as well as Ornament ; for I hinted at Religion as well as Letters. But it is not of that wood (I mean the wood of the Crofs) of which the public fupports are now made. So that a great Minifter will find many things to do, before he comes to embelliih and adorn. And if the temper of the times will but fuffer Your Lordfhip to be inftrumental in faving Your Country by a reformation of the general manners, men of fenfe would be unjuft to complain, though they might lament, that the work of polifhing our genius was denied to you, and referved for fome happier Succeflbr. I am, my Lord,
Your Lordship's moll: obliged and faithful fervanf,
W. WARBURTON.
ADVER^
I t' ]
V
ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE
EDITION OF 1766.
AVERY able and judicious French Writer* not long fince tranflated the following Treatife (amongft the other Works of this Author) into his native Language. His purpofe in it was to open a way for appeafing the commotions of Janfenifm^ at that tinoe in a high ferment. He addrefled it, in a private Letter -f-, to the late Cardinal Fleury, to whom he was well known. And to give the conclufions, I ha,ve deduced, the more credit with his ^^\ s.' X countrymen, he fupported them all along with quotations (which
\ A^K.- are here inferted) from the two famous Works of De Marc a and BossuET ; the one the wifeft, and the other the moft fenfible Divine that Nation ever produced : And although their Religion kept them ftrangers to the principles here laid down, as appears from their fuppofing, all along, that both Church and State conti- nue fovereign and independent, even after aid and proteSlion have been mutually given and repaid : yet the love of their Country led them to the conclufions arifing from them ; which they readily em- braced from obferving their ufe to Mankind, without underftanding the grounds on which they flood.
* M, Je SlL'iihetie. f A copy of wliich follows this Advertifcment.
C 2 The
X2 ADVERTISEMENT to the EDITION of 1766.
The Tranflator's fuccefs was fuch as might be expected from every attempt to cafe or foften Popery, though direifted to its firmer Eflablifliment. For, the politic dlredors of that Superflitioii having long fince filled up their meafure of unrighteoufnefs, Provi- dence will not fufFer them to be ivife even in their own Generation. The Mlnifler was jealous of principles, and plans of policy, which came from the fchools of Liberty and Reafon : Neither could he relifh or underfland them, though drefled up and recommended by fome of the ablefl Doftors of his own Church. It i-s a trite obfer- vation, that Divines make bad Politicians ; I believe it is more ge- nerally true, that Politicians are but bad Divines ; and efpecially, fecularized Politicians, fuch as our Cardinal. Yet had this great Man been in the Direction, under a Government like ours, are we to think he would then have flighted a Work which only profefTes to Ihew on what folid grounds the fundamental Conftitutions of it are erected ? By no means. Though his maxims of Policy might not fuffer him to countenance Innovations, how juft and beneficial foever; yet the did:ates of Common fenfe would have led him, to encourage all attempts of fupporting the eftablifhed Syflera of things, on reafonable principles.
Copie
[ ^3 ]
Copie d'une Lettre 6crite a M^'. le Cardinal de Fleury, en lui envoy ant les Dijfertatiom fur f Union de la Re^ ligion, de la Morale^ ^ de la Politique ; tirees d' un Ouv- rage de Mr. War bur ton.
PERMETTEZ moi, Me', de prefenter a votre Eminence des Difl'ertations fur rUaion de la Religion, de la Morale, & de la Politique, tirees de I'Ouvrage d'un favant Anglois. Je pre- fumerai d'en parler avec d'autant plus de liberie que je n'a gueres fait que traduire & qu'extraire. Ce n'eftpas fans de puiflans mo- tifs que j'ai entrepris cet ouvrage, & que je prens la liberte de vous le prefenter. Frape des progres de I'irreligion, & de la decadence des moeurs, qui en eft toujours une fuite infaillible, inftruit par I'hiftolre de toutes les nations, & en particulier par mon se-
JOUR EN AnGLETERRE, DES MAUX FUNESTES Q^ie PRODUIT DANS TOUTES LES BRANCHES DU GoUVERNEMENT, LE RELACHE- MENT DES PARTICULIERS DANS LA PRATIQUE DE LA VERTU
& DES DEVOIRS RELiGiEux J trop pcrfuade que V Angkterre n'eft pas le feul pays oa I'irreligion ait repandu fon poifon contaoieux, j'ai cru que I'ouvrage le plus utile au quel un bon citoyen put s'ap- pllquer, etolt de tacher d'arreter le cours d'un libertinage fi perni- cieux, d'expofer ka chlmeres ainfi que I'ignorance des efprlts forts, 6c de demontrer alternativement Tutilite de la Religion par fa verite, & fa verite par fon utilite. Pour mettre cette grande verite dans tout fon jour, j'ai aprofondl autant qu'il m'etolt poflible la conduite de tous les Legiflateurs & les fentlmens de tous les Philofophes ; difcutions qui ouvrent d'elles-memes un beau champ a la literature.
Mais,
r4 LETTER from M. DE SILHOUETTE
Mais, M6^ j'ofe dire que ce n'eft point aflez que de s'opofer -.uix exces de rirreligion, fi Ton ne s'opofe en meme terns aux abus de la Religion meme. L'hifloire de prefque toutes les nations modcrnes de I'Europe ofFre des tableaux bien touchans des maux qu'A produit Tabus de la Religion : Et pour ne fe point faire d'illu- fion, que ne dott-on poit craindre du feu que couvent les diflenfions qui divifent encore aujourd'hul les efprits, & dont I'eclat n'eft re- tenu que par la fagefle & la moderation de votre Eminence ? J'ai toujours ete cxtremement frape d'un paflage de St. Chryfoftome, qUe je vous demande la permiflion de raporter ici. Hjec est
ChrISTIANISMI REGULA, H^C ILLIUS EXACTA DEFINITIO, HlC VERTEX SUPRA OMNIA EMINENS, PUBLICiE UTILITATI CON-
sulere. C'cft le caradlere eflentiel de la Religion que de s'allier avec Tutilite de I'Etat. Et cependant de corubien de calamitez la religion n'a-t-elle pas ete la fource, elle que n'eft deftinee qu'a produire des fruits falutaires ? On abufe des meilleures chofes, & c'cft Tabus, que Ton fait de la Religion, centre lequel je me fuis propofe d'clever une barriere qui marque tout Tufage que Ton en pent, & que Ton en doit faire, & qui fixe le point ou Ton doit s'aneter. ]e n'ai travaille fur les principes d'aucun parti : je n'ai abfolument fonge qu'a trouver le point critique de reunion oii fe concentrent la verite & l'utilite ; Quoique je me fuis aide du fecours de quelques uns de nos Theologiens les plus refpeftables, j'ai moins fonge a puifer dans leurs ouvrages, que dans les fources primitives d'un raifonnement fonde fur la nature & Teflence meme des chofes. Un long fejour dans des pays ou la diverlite des reli- gions ne produit aucun defordre a contrlbue a me mettre fur la voye du vrai, & m'y a enfuite aifermi : j'ai marche avec d'autant plus de luretcqueje me fuis trouve guide par Texperience des autres nations : j'ai meme trouve ces matieres favament & profondement difcutces par des Theologiens de TEglife AngUcune : un nombre Infini d'ccrits ont paru fur ce fujet : la liberte de tout dire a fait,
qu'aucune
TO CARDINAL FLEURY. 15
qu'aucune dificulte n'a ete fupprimee, 6c aucune n'a ete propofee qu'elle n'ait ete cLairement &c rolldcment expliquee.
Je laifierois a la ledure de CEs Dissertations a devoiler fe feul remede qu'il convienne, & que Ton puifle appliquer ehcacement & falutalrement aux defordres de religion, fi les ocupations impor- tautes & multipliees de votre Eminence pouvoient lui permettrc une lecture auffi longue. Ce remede, c'efl retabliffement d'un A£le par lequel I'Etat s'affure que tous ceux qui rempliffent des poftes publics, foit civlls ou religieux, fe conferment a. la Religion dominante : c'eft, en d'autres mots, la requihtion ou d'un Serment, ou de la fignature d'un Formulaire. J'efpere en avoir demontre la juftice & la neceffite,, fans infifler fur d'autres principes que fur ceux de I'Equite naturelle Sc de la prudence univerfelle de tous les Etats polices : genre de demonftration que je ne fache pas que per- fonne eut encore entrepris, & qui cependant eft eflentieL
Je fais que je dais m'attendre a effuyer un orage violent de la part d'un Parti * qui ne s'eft rendu que trop populaire, & dont tout le credit eft fonde fur rUlufion & le cagotifme. Mais j'ai tout lieu d'efperer que cet orage fe deffipera de lui-meme, lorfque Ton verra que la requifitiou de la fignature d'un formulaire, bornee, comme je le propofe, aux perfonnes qui veulent occuper des emplois pub- lics, n'attaque en rien la liberte des confciences, & qu'elle fe trouve entierement exemte de tous les reproches de perfecution. C'eft la je crols le feul moyen de rendre inutiles toutes les rufes d'un parti extremement habile a s'emprevaloir ; car pour peu que Ton examine avec attention, il n'eft pas difficile de decouvrir ce qui lui attire un fi grand nombre de profelytes. La plupart des particuliers ne font pas capables de juger des matieres theologiques qui feparent les deux partis. Le Francois a naturellement Tame noble & genereufe, en forte que le parti qui peut faire accroire qu'il eft perfecute, ce parti, foit bon ou mauvais, ne peut manquer d'avoir un grand
• Les Janfeniftes,
nombre
Ti6 LETTER from AI. DE SILHOUETTE
nombre de partifans. Rien ne le prouve mieux qu'un traif fort rc- marquable raporte par Brant, dans fon Hiftoire de la Reformation des Pays Bas, Livre qui fait Tadmiration de tous les Hollandois compatriotes de I'Auteur ; eftime par tous les Etrangers qui le con- iioiflent, & qui, quoique I'ouvrage d*un Proteflant, renferme bien des connoiffances utiles & inftru£tives pour un Ledleur Catholique. Cet Hiftorieti raporte qu'avant la revocation de I'Edit de Nantes, quelques Religionaires du Poitou pafferent en Angleterre, ou inter- rogez fur leur foi, & en particulier fur le nombre des facramens, ces bonnes gens, fouverainement ignorans, repondirent qu'il y en avoit trois, le Pere, le Fils, & le St. Efprit. Comment fe peut-il que des gens euflent tant de zele que d'abandonner leur patrie, et tout ce qui leur etoit cher, pour une Religion qu'ils ne connoiffoient certainement pas ? Rien de plus naturel : ils croyoient que Ton vouloit contraindre leurs Opinions ; & ils ne s'imaginoient pas que la Force & la Verite puflent aller de concert. Avec combien d'art les Janfeniftes ne cherchent-ils pas a perfuader qu'ils font perfecu- tez ? lis favent bien que cette opinion, bien loin de decourager leur fefte, eft tout ce qu'il y a de plus capable de I'augmenter. Je fuis perfuade que I'ori trouvera que c'eft la le cas de la plupart de ieurs partifans.
C'eft dans cette vue qu'en m'atachant a prouver la juftice & la neceffite d'un formulaire dont la profefTion feroit requife de toutes les perfonnes qui voudroient des emplois publics, je n'ai pas infifte avec moins de force fur la Tolerance de Opinions, a regard de ceuK qui ne font dans aucun emploi. C'eft meme en vain qu'on voudroit les contraindre : les Opinions font libres, & le pouvoir des hommes n'a aucune prife fur elles. 11 n'a d'autre nioyen d'introduire I'uniformite que I'expulfion, expedient qu'il faudroit renouveller fans ceffe, parce qu'il renait fans ceffe des Opi- nions nouvelles ; expedient par confequent trop dangereux ; & qui ne s'acorde pas avec la maxime de St. Chryfoftorae fur I'utilite de la Religion pour I'Etat. J'ofe d'autant plus volontiers avancer, que
la
T o C A R D I N A L F L E U R V, 17
la Violence & la Religion font Incompatibles ; que rien n'efl: plus oppofe que la violence au caraftere & aux fentimens que toute I'Eu- rope reconnoit dansvotre Eminence.
Toute fe£te privee des dignitez de I'Etat fut-elle appuvee fur la verite, ne peut faire de grands progres dans ce fiecle corrompu. On en a un exemple fenfible dans les Catholiques de Hollande & d'Angleterre, & furtout dans ceux de cet dernier pays, ou leur nombre diminue tous les jours, uniquement parce qu'il y a un plus grand nombre de dignitez a diftribuer, & qu'elles y font plus fa- clles aobtenir, qu'en Hollande, ou elles font prefque entierement confinees aux families des Magiftrats des Villes. Les progres fe- roient encore bien moindres a I'egard des feftes qui aurolent le mal- heur d'etre dans I'erreur. Les Catholiques de Hollande n'y caufent aucun trouble, non plus que les Prelbyteriens en Angleterre. Ex- clus de tous les emplois, ils n'ont point affez de pouvoir pour In- troduire aucune dlvifion dans le Gouvernement ; & joulffint en meme tems de la llberte de profefler tranquUement leur religion, rien ne les excite a fe foulever centre un Gouvernement jufle & equitable. Les Catholiques d'Angleterre font, a la verite, moins bons fujets ; mals d'ou provient cette difference d'avec ceux de Hollande, fi non que les Lolx penales, qui en Angleterre ont lleux contre eux, leur donnent toujours lieu d'apprehender la violence, & les reduifent, en quelque maniere, dans un etat de perfecutlon.
Me permettrez-vous, M^^, de dire avec ingenuite, que je fus convaincu tant par I'ctude que je puis avoir falte de la nature hu- malne, que par le temolgnage unanime qu'en rend rHlftoire de toutes les nations florlffantes, que I'Unlon de la Profession d'un" FoRMULAiRE d'uue part, avec la Tolerance de I'autre, efi: le feul moyen de prevenir les maux que Ton a lieu d'apprehender d'une Secte qui s'accrolt plus qu'elle ne diminue ; & qui jette de jour en jour des racines plus profondes ; qui ne pent etre detruite par tout autre moyen, qu'en meme tems Ton n'affoibllfle infinlment I'Etat, & qui, en ce cas meme, feroit furement fuccedee par quelcue
Vol. IV. D fe^^e
iB LETTER FROM M. DE SILHOUETTE.
fe£le nouvelle. Une rlgidlte exafte a cxiger la profeflion d'un For- mulaire commun, de tous ceux qui entrent dans quelque pofle ou dans quelque fociete publique que ce puiffe etre, & une indulgence entiere a I'egard des opinions des {imples particuliers, aflureroient la tranquillite de I'Etat contre les efforts non feulement des feftes aftuelles, mais encore de toutes celles qui pourroient fe former par la fuite.
Je foumets toutes ces reflexions, M^"",, aux luraieres de votrer Eminence, & j'ai I'honneur d'etre^^ &c^
THE
THE
NECESSITY AND EQUITY
O F A N
Established Religion
AND
ATEST LAW
DEMONSTRATED.
BOOK I.
Of the Nature and EndofCi'vii. ^w./o/'ReligiousSociety,
CHAP. I.
'The Occajion and Nature of ibis Difourfe.
AN Established Religion and a Test Law, the two great folecifms, as we are told, in modern politics, are the fubje6t of the following Difcourfe. A fubjedl that hath not only, in com- mon with moft others of importance, been much perplexed bv the bringing in, on both fides, mens' civil and religious prejudices into the queflion ; but likewife, which is almoft peculiar to this con- troverly, by their concurring in one and the fame erroneous prin- ciple : for where the two parties go on ditfereiiC grounds, they
D 2 naturally
20 O F A C r V I L A N D Book I.
naturally begin with examining one another's principles, which leads to the difcovery of the true, and confequently to the timely deter- mination of the controverfy. But where a falfe principle has the luck to be unqueftioned, the difputants may wrangle for ever, and be, after all, no nearer to the truth. This hath been the fate of the fubje£t in queftion ; while both parties placed their arguments on the fame miftaken foundation, the one defended a Tefl on fuch reafonings as deflroyed a ToleraUon ; and the other oppofed it on fuch as conclude equally againft the very effence and being of a 'National Religion.
Liveterate miflakes^ therefore, upon a fubjeS of fuch importance, would be a fufficient apology for the Expediency of this Difcourfe at any time, although Ibme late occurrences had not made it par- ticularly feafonable at the prefent. Our nnJiappy divifions-in the flate have, it feems, amongft the various intrigues of parties, af- forded opportunity and encouragement to the Proteftant Diflenters to enter upon meafures for the Repeal of the Tejl-Law ; that is, as we (hall prove, for throwing the flate into convulfions, by a dif- folution of the original union between the two Societiesi. In the mean time it hath unhappily befallen, that fome, to whom this kkio^dom is greatly indebted for their reafonings in defence of public liberty, have thought hardly of a Tejl-Law and of an EJlabliJhed Religion fo fecured. From what their miflake hath arifen will be Ihewn in its place. However, the authority of thefe great names hath induced' many unprejudiced perfons to fhew too much coun- tenance to this deftrudtive projed ; and hath emboldened the pro- moters of it to appeal to the abflrad principle of Right. I Ihall therefore attempt to fliew the Necessity and Equity of an Established Religion and a Test-Law from the Essence AND End of Civil Society, upon the fundamental Pe-inci- tles of the Law of Nature and Nations:
This being our fubjeft, I do not propofe to defend an EJiablijled Religion and a Tejl, by the laws of this or that ftate, or on the principles of this or that fcheme of religion, but on the great and
unerring
Chap. I. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 21
unerring maxims of the law of nature and nations : and when, on occafion, I may happen to apply the reafoning here inforced, to this or that church or ftate, it will be only lb far forth as they are conformable to that law.
And this is all now wanting to determine this long controverfy. For the adverfaries of eftablifhments having been beaten off from their attacks of the Teji-La'-Ju, on the frame and principles of our own conftitution, by many excellent vindications of the Corporation and Tejl-Acis, have left this partial queftion, and appealed to the law of nature and nations. To that tribunal we now propofe to follow them.
The Principles of Society, Civil and Religious, here delivered, will ferve to lay open the abfurd reafonings of thofe, who, thinking an EJlabliJlimerit of divine right, defend it on the doctrine of intole- rance, which makes a church, an inquifition ; and the neceffary C07ifequences deduced from thofe principles will as plainly expofe the mifchievous reafonings of thofe, who, holding a J'eji to be againft all human rights, oppofe it on a dodlrine of licentloufnefs, which makes the church a rope of fand. Having done this, from thofe clear principles, and thefe neceffary confequences, we fhall demon- ftrate the perfect concord and agreement between Religious l^iberty and a T'eji Latv ;. and, in the laft place, detedl the delufive Princi- ple, above mentioned, upon which both parties have gone, and fliew how it hath led both, as extraordinary as it may fecm, to quite contrary conclulions. From all this it will appear, which is one of the principal purpofes of this Difcourfe, that our prefent happy Conftitution, both of Church and State, is erecled on folid and lafting Foundations.
C H A P.
22 OFACIVILAND Book L
C H A P. II.
Of the State of Nature ; and the 'Efahlijhment of Society.
'" O lay my foundation therefore with fufficlent ftrength, it will be neceffary, though in as few words as may be, to confider the nature of man in general, and of that civil community which he invented with fo much benefit to himfelf and fellows : that, feeing his wants, and the remedies he applied to them, we may better judge of their fitnefs to, and operations on, each other.
The appetite of felf-prefervation being indifpenfably neceffary to every animal, nature has made it the ftrongeft of all. And though, in rational animals, reafon alone might be fuppofed fufficlent to anfwer the end for which this appetite is beftowed on others, yet, the better to fecure that end, nature has given man likewife a very confiderable fhare of the fame infl:in£l with which (he has endowed brutes fo admirably to provide for their prefervation. Now,'whether it were fome plajik nature that was here in fault, which, Lord Verulam fays, hiow^ not how to keep a ?nean*, or that it was all owing to the perverfe ufe of human liberty, certain it is, that, borne away with the luft of gratifying this appetite, man, in a ftate of nature, foon ran into very violent exceffes ; and never thought he had fufficiently provided for his own being, till he had deprived his fellows of the free enjoyment of theirs. Hence all thofe evils of mutual violence, rapine, and flaughter, that, in a f1:ate of nature, muft needs abound amongft equals. Becaufe, though man, in this flate, was not without a law which exaded punifhment on evil doerf, yet the adminiftration of that law, not being in com- mon hands, but either in the perfon offended, who being a party would be apt to inforcc the punifhment to excefs ; or elfe in the hands of every one, as the offence was againft mankind in general
* Modum tenere nefcia eft.
and
Chap. 2. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 23
and affedcd the good of particuhirs not immediately or directly* ■would be executed remifsly. And very often, where both thefe executors of the law of nature were difpofed to be impartial and exaift in the adminiftration of juflice, they would yet want power to inforce it. Which, altogether, would fo much inflame the evils abovementioned, that they would foon become as general and as in- tolerable as the Hobbeijh reprefent them in that flate to be, was it not for the reftraining principle of Religion that kept men from running into the confufion which the appetite of inordinate felf- love necefiiirily produces. But yet religion could not operate with fufficient efficacy for want, as we obferved before, of a common arbiter, who had impartiality enough fairly to apply the rule of right ; and power to inforce its operations : So that thefe two Prin- ciples were in endlefs jar ; in which juftice generally came by the worft. It was therefore found necefl'ary to call in the Civil Ma- gistrate, as the ally of Religion, to turn the balance.
Jura inventa mctu injujli fateare necejfe ej?^. Tempora Ji fajoi velis evohere mundi^
Thus was Society invented for a Remedy againft Injuftlce ; and , a Magijlrate by mutual confcnt appointed, to give a fandtion to " that common meafure to which, reafon teaches us that, crea- *' tures of the fame rank and fpecies, promifcuoufly born to the " fame advantages of nature, and to the ufe of the fame faculties, *' have all an equal right*." Where it is to be obferved, that though fociety provides for all tliofe conveniencies and accommo- dations of more elegant life, which man muft have been content to have done without, in a flate of nature, yet it is more than pro- bable that thefe were never thought of when fociety was firfteftab- li(hed t : but that they were the mutual violences and injuftices,
at
* Locke.
f Though the judicious Hooker thinks thofe advantages were principally intended when man firft entired into fociety: T/As wrtj thecaKJe (fays he) of men s uniting themfilves
tit
24 O F A C I V I L A N D Book 1.
at length become intolerable, which fet men upon contriving this generous remedy. Becaufe evil felt has a much ftronger influence on the mind than good imagined : and the means of removing the one is much eafier difcovered than the way to procure the other : and this by the wife difpofition of nature; the avoiding evil being iieceflTary to our exiftence ; not fo, the procuring pleafu re. Befidcs, the idea of thofe unexperienced conveniencies would be, at beft, very obfcure: And how unable men would be, before trial, to judge that fociety could beftow them, we may guefs by obferving how little, even now, the generality of men, who enjoy thole bleflings, know or refledl that they are owing to fociety, or how it procures them ; becaufe it doth it neither immediately nor diredt- ]y. But they would have a lively fenfe of evils felt ; and would know that fociety was the remedy, becaufe the very definition of the word would teach them how it becomes fo. Yet becaufe a'vi/ fociety fo greatly Improves human life, this improvement may be called, and not unaptly, thefecondary fW of that convention. Thus, as Arijlotle accurately obferves in the words quoted below, that which was at firft conflituted for thtfah of living, is carried on for thQ-foJie of happy living.
This is further fupported by fa£V. For we fee that thofe favage nations which happen to live in peace out of civil fociety, never t link of entering into it, though they feel all the advantages of that improved condition in the neighbouring colonies round about them.
at Jirft into politique focictics. Eccl. Pol. L. i. § 10. His mafter Ariftotle, though extremely ccncife, feems to hint, that this was but \.h.t fcconJary end of civil fociety; and |that that, which we here make to be fo, was the firfl:. His words are : y^ii'^in (*» e» tS ^k. itfKit., nffoi Si rS li ^iv. Pol. L. ii c. 2.
CHAP.
Chap. 3. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY, 15
CHAP. III.
Of the natural Defedh of Civil Society ; and the 'Necejjlty of applying Religion to remedy thofe DefeSls.
CIVIL Society thus eftabliflied ; from this time, as the Poet fings,
abfjlere lello^ Oppida cceperunt munire^ et poncre leges^ Ne quis Fur ejet^ neu Latro, neu quis Adulter. But as before, bare Religion was no prefervatlve agalnft civil diforders ; fo now Society alone would be equally infufficient.
1. 1. For, firfl, its laws can have no further efficacy than to reftraln men from open tranfgreflion ; while what is done amifs ia private, though equally tending to the public prejudice, elcapes their cenfure. And man, fmce his entering into fociety, would greatly have improved his pradlice in this fecret way of malice. For now an effedual fecurity being provided againft open violence^ and the inordinate principle of felf-love being ftill the fame, fecret craft was the art to be improved ; and the guards of fociety inviting pri- vate men to a carelefs fecurity, what advantages it would afford to thofe hidden mlfchiefs, which civil laws could not take notice of, is cafy to conceive.
2. But, fecondly, the influence of civil laws cannot, in all cafes, be extended even thus far, namely, to the reflraining of open tranfgreflion. It cannot then^ when the fevere prohibition of one irregularity threatens the bringing on a greater : and this will always be the cafe, when the irregularity is owing to the violence of the fenfual pafllons. Hence it hath come to pafs, that no great and flourifhlng community could ever punifh fornication^ or vague lufl, in luch a fort as its ill influence on fociety was confeiJed to
Vol. IV. £ delerve :
r 1
^ OFACIVILAND Book T.
tleferve : Becaufe k was always found that a fevere reflrauit of this forced open the way to more flagitious lufts.
3. Thirdly, The very attention of civil laws to their principal objedl occafions a further inefEcacy in their operations. To under- fland this, we muft confider, that the care of the ftate is for the Whole, under which individuals are confidered but in the fecond place, as acceflaries only to that whole ; the confequence of which is, that, for the fake of the body's welfare, fome individuals are often left negledled. Now the care of Religion is for Particulars, and a Whole has but the fecond place in its concern *. This is only touched upon to ihew, in pafling, the natural remedy for the defedls, i am here endeavouring to account for.
4. But this was not all : There was a further inefficacy in hu- man laws. The Legiflator, in enquiring into the mutual duties of citizens arifing from their equality of condition, found thofe duties to be of two kinds. The firft, he intitled the duties of perfect CBLIGATION, becaufe civil laws could readily and commodioufly,. and were of neceflity required, to inforce their obfervance. The other he called the duties of imperfect obligation; not that morality doth not as ftrongly exacS: them, but becaufe civil laws could not conveniently provide for the obfervance of them ; and becaufe they were fuppofed not fo immediately and eflentially to affect the welfare of fociety. Of this latter kind are gratitude^ hof- pitalityy charity^ &c. Concerning fuch, civil laws, for thefe reafons,.
* Regium Imperium a Sacerdotali in eo maxime dilht, qxiod illi non fola; ilnguloruna civium rationes commiffa; fint, fed totinsreipublicre falus ; unde fit ut in cives etiam in- vites ad fovendum totius reipublicae corpus, jus illi competat — Quod aliter fe habet in epifcopali minifteno, cui ecclefix follicitudo ita eft commiffa, ut lingulorum faluti prat- cipue invigilare debeat, nee curare poffit univerfum corpus aliquorum membrorum per- uicie, Petrue de Marca, De ccncordla facerdoui et imferii^ Kpiftola ad- Caidhiakm de Richelieu : Nous aurons occafion de citer fouvent ce fameux ouvrage, eciit a la requifition Uu Cardinal de Richelieu. Nous Tindiquerons par le nom de I'Auteur, prclat auffi ■=— ^^ . aele pour fa religion que pour fon prince. II mourut pen de tems apr^s fa nomination ^'' X a I'Archeveche de Paris, ou il etoit parvenu par fon roerite et par le difcernement de fon^
^ T^Lt ^oi. French tranjlatar. '^^ ) ,
^^^r*^'' ^"^
Chap. 3. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 2?
are generally fileiit. And yet, though it may be true, that thefe duties, which human laws thus overlook, may not fo direftly affect fociety, it is very certain, that their violation brings as fure, though not fo fwift deftrudlion upon it, as that of the duties of perfect obligation. A very competent judge, and who, too, fpeaks tlie fentiments of antiquity, in this matter, hath not fcrupled to fay — " Ut fcias per fe expetendam effe grati animi adfectio- ** NEM, per fe fugienda res eft ingratUxM efl'e : quoniam nihil *' asque concordiam humani generis diffociat ac diftrahit quam hoc " vitium *."
5. Still further, bcfides thefe duties both of perfect and imperfecl bbligation, for the encouraging and enforcing of which, civil regi- men was invented ; Society itfelf begot and produced a new fet of duties ; which are, to fpeak in the mode of the legiflature, of //«- perfeB obligation : the firft and principal of which is, that antiquated forgotten virtue called the Love of our CotJNTRY.
6. But, laftly, Society not only introduced a new fet of duties, but likewife increafed and inflamed, to an infinite degree, thofe inordinate appetites for whofe corredlion it was invented and in- troduced ; like fome kinds of powerful medicines, which, at the very time they are working a cure, heighten, for a time, the ma- lignity of the difeafe. For the appetites take their birth from our real or imaginary wants. Our real wants are unalterably the fame ; and, ariling only from the imbecillity of our nature and fituation, are exceeding few, and are eafily relieved. Owvfantajiic wants are infinitely numerous, to be brought under no certain meafure nor ftandard ; and are always increafing in exaft proportion to our improvements in the arts of life. But the arts of life owe their original to fociety : and the more perfect the policy is, the higher do thofe improvements life ; and, with them, are our wants, as we fay, proportionably increafed ; and our appetites inflamed: for thofe appetites which leek the gratification of our imaginary wants
* Seneca de Eenef. Lib. iv. c, i8»
E 2 are
28 OFACIVILAND Book L
are much more violent than what are railed by our real wants : not only becaufe tlie imaginary are more numerous; which gives conftant exercife to the appetites : and more, unreafonable ; which makes the gratification proportionably difficult ; and altogether un- natural; to which there is no meafure: but principally becaufe vicious cuflom hath affixed a kind of reputation to the gratification of the fantaftlc wants, which it hath 'not done to the relief of the real ones. So that, on the whole, our wants increafe in proportion as the arts of life advance and perfed. — In proportion to our wants, is our uneafinefs — to our uneafiuefs, our endeavours to remove it — to our endeavours, the weaknefs of human rejiraint. Hence it appears, that, in a ftate of nature, where little is confulted but the fupport of our exlftence, our wants muft be few,, and our appetites in proportion weak ; and that, in civil fociety, where the arts of life are cultivated, our wants muft be many, and our appetites in proportion flrong.
II. Thus far concerning the imperfedlion of civil fociety, with regard to the adminiftration of that power which it hath, namely, of puni/lnng the refradory. We are next to confider its much greater Imperfeftion with regard to that power which i: wanteth y namely of rewarding the obedient.
The two great fanftions of law and civil regimen are Reward and Punishment. Thefe are generally called the two hinges, on which government turns. And fo ftir is certain, and apparent to the common fenfe of mankind, tliat whatever laws are not enforced by both thefe fandions, will never be obferved in any degree fuf- ficient to carry on the ends of fociety.
Yet, I {hall now (hew, from the original conftitution and nature of civil fociety, that it neither had, nor could enforce, the sanction
OF REWARD.
But, to avoid miftakes, I defire it may be obferved, that, by Reward^ muft needs here be meant, fuch as is conferred on every ene for obferving the iaws of his Country ; not fuch as is beftowed on particulars, lE»r any eminent ferviee : as by Punipment we
underftand
Chap. 3. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. ^
underAand that which is infiidled on every one for tranfgreJR^it? the Z-aWi }i-not that which is impofed on particulars, for negledling to do all the fervice in their power,
I make no doubt but this will be put into the Number of my paradoxes ; nothing being more common in the mouths of poli- ticians*, than that the fandiions of reward and punifmient are the two pillars of c'vil governmejjt; all the modern Utopias, and ancient fyf- tems of fpeculative politics, deriving the vigour of their laws from thefe two fources. Let the proof therefore of the two following proportions be confidered.
I, That, by the original conjiitution of civil government, the fanc- tion of rewards was not enforced.
II. That, from the nature of civil government, they could not be enforced.
I. In entering into fociety, it was ftrpulated, between the ma- giftrate and people, that protection and obedience fhould be reciprocal conditions. When, therefore, a citizen obeys the laws, that debt on fociety is difcharged by the protetlion it affordeth him. But, in refpeft to difobedlence, the proceeding is not analogous (thouoh protCiflion, as the condition of obedience, implies the withdrawing it on dlfobedience) and for thefe Realons : The effeft of-withdraw- ing proteftion muff be eitiier expuHion from the fociety, or ex- pofing the offender to all kinds of infult from others, in it. So- ciety could not pracl-ife the firfl, without bringing the body politic into a confumption ; nor the latter, without throwing it into convulfions. Befides, the firft is no puuifliment at all, except by accident ; it being only leaving one Society to go into another : And the fecond is an inadequate punifhment ; for though all obe- dience be the fame ; and fo, unfortn proteclion a proper return for
* Neque folum ut Solonis didiim ufurpem, qui & fapientiflimus fiiit ex feptem, U legum fcriptor folus ex feptem. Is rtmpuhlicam dualui rel/us ccntimri dixit, prjemio «T POENA. Cic. ad Brutiim, Ep. 15,.
it;
30 OFACIVILAND Book I.
it ; yet difobcdience being various both iti kind and degree, the withdrawing proteftion would be too great a punlflinient for fome crimes, and too fmall for others.
This being the cafe, it was ftlpulated that the tranfgreflfor fliould be fubjed: to pecuniary mulcfls, corporal caftigations, mutilation of members, and capital infli6tions. Thefe were the fandlion, and <j«/v fandion of civil laws. For, that protedion is no reward in the fenfe that thefe are punifhnients, is plain from hence, that pro- teclion is of the eflence of foclety itfelf ; penal inflldions an occa- fional adjunft. But this will farther appear by confidering the op- pofite to protedlion, which is expuljion, or banifhment ; for this is the natural confequence of withdrawing proteftion. Now this, as we faid, is no punishment but by accident : and fo the State un- derftood it ; as we may coUeft, even from their manner of em- ploying it <zi ^ punifnment on offenders: for banifhment isofuni- verfal pra6lice, with other punifhments, in all focleties. Now, where withdrawing prote6lion is inflidled as a punifhment, the pradice of all flates hath been, to retain their right to obedience from the banifhed member ; though, according to the nature of the thing, confidered alone, that right be really difcharged ; obe- dience and protedtion, as we obferved, being reciprocal. But it was neceflary all States fhould aft in this manner when they in- flifted exile as a punifhment ; it being no punifhment but by ac- cident, when the claim to fubjeftion was remitted with it. They had a Right to a6l thus ; becaufe it was infilled on an Offender ; who had wilfully forfeited all claim of advantage from that reci- procal condition *.
11. But fecondly, from the nature of civil government, the fatic- tion of rewards could not be enforced by it : becaufe foclety could neither dli^inguifli the objefls of its favour ; nor reward them, though they were diftinguifhed.
• See note [A], at the end of this Book,
I. Firft,
Chap. 3. R E L I G I O If S SOCIETY. ^t
■ I . Firft, Society could not diftmgiiijld the objeSls of its Favours. To infli6l piuiifhment, there is no need of knowing the Motives of the offender ; but judicially to confer reward, ou the obedient, there is.
All that civil judicatures do inpunlfliing is to find whether the a£t was wilfully committed. They enquire not into the intention or mo- tives, any further, or otherwife, than as they are the marks of a vo- luntary aft ; and having found it fo, they concern themfelves no fur- ther with the motives or principles of afting, but punifli, without fcruple, in confidence of the offender's demerit. And this with very good reafon ; becaufe no one of a found mind can be fuppofed ignorant of the principal offences againft right, or of the malignity of thofe offences, but by fome fottifh negligence that hath hindered his information ; or fome brutal paflion that hath prejudiced his judgment ; both which are highly faulty, and deferve civil pu.- nifhment.
It is otherwife in rewarding the abf^ainlng from tranfgreflion. Here the motive muft: be confidered : becaul'e as merely doing ill, i. e. without any />^r//V«/ar wrong motive, deferves punifhment, a crime in the cafe of wrong judgment being ever neceffarily in- ferred ; fo merely ohftaining from ill cannot, for that very realbu, have any merit.
\n judicially reivardiug, therefore, the Motives va\^{\. be known: but human Judicatures can know them but by accident : It is only that tribunal, which fearches the heart, that penetrates thus far. We conclude, therefore, that reward cannot ^ properhy be the fane - tion of human Laivs.
If it (hould be fiiid, that though rewards cannot be equitably adminiil:ered like punifhments ; yet nothing hinders but that,, for the good of fociety, all who obferve the laws may be re- warded, as all who tranfgrefs the laws may be punifhed : the aufwer will lead us to the proof of the fecond part of this pro- pofition^
2,. That
3» OFACIVILAND Book I.
2. That7o<r/V(y C(7«/i/ «o/ reward, though it Jhould ^\Cco\Qr the ob' jeBs of its favour ; the reafon is, becaufe no fociety can ever find a fund fufficient for that purpofe, without raifing it on the people as a tax, to pay it back to them as a reward.
But the univerfal pradice of fociety confirms this reafonlng, and is explained by it; the fandion of puniJJjments only, having, in all ages and places, been employed to fecure the obfervance of civil laws. This was fo remarkable 7i faSfy that it could not efcape the notice of a certain excellent wit, and ftudious obferver of men ' and manners; whofpeaks of it as an univerfal defed : although we ufually, fays he, call reward and funifiment the two hinges, upon which all government turns, yet I could never obferve this maxim to be put in praSiice by any nation except that of Lilliput*. Thus he introduceth an account of the laws and cuftoms of an Utopian cou- flitution of his own framing ; and, for that matter, as good, per- haps, as any of the reft : And, had he intended it as a fatire againft fuch chimerical common-wealths, nothing could have been more juft : for all thefe political romancers, from Plato to this au- thor, make civil rewards and punifliments the two hinges of go- vernment.
I have often wondered what it was, that could lead the reformers of laws from fa£l, and univerfal pradice, in fo fundamental a point : But, without doubt, it was this : the defign of fuch fort of writings is to give a perfed pattern of civil government ; and to fupply the fancied defeds in real focieties. The end of govern- ment coming firfl: under confideration ; and the general pradice of fociety feemiiig to declare this end to be only, what, in truth, it is, fecurity to our temporal liberty and property i the fimpHcity of the plan difpleafed, and appeared defedive. They imagined, that, by enlarging the bottom, they (hould ennoble the ftrudure : and, therefore, formed a romantic projed of making civil fociety ferve for all the good purpofes it was even accidentally capable of produc-
* Gulliver's Travels, vol. I. p. 97.
ing.
Chap. 3- RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 33
ing. And thus, iiiftead of giving us a true pltture of government, they jumbled together all forts of focieties into one ; and confounded the religious, the litet-ary, the mercantile, the convivial, with the CIVIL. Whoever reads them carefully, if indeed they be worth reading carefully, will find that the errors, in which they abound, are all of this nature, and arife from this fource, from the lofing, or never having had, a true idea of the fimple plan of civil govern- ment : a circumftance, which, as we fhall fhew occafionally, in the courfe of this work, hath been produftive of many wrong judg- ments concerning it. No wonder then, that this miftake, concern- ing the end of civil fbciety, drew after it others, concerning the means ; and this, amongft the reft, that reward ivas one of the /auc- tions of human laws.
On the whole, then, it appears, that civil fociety hath not, ia itfelf, t.\\&fanSiion of rewards, to fecure the obfervance of its own laws. So true, in this fenfe, is the obfervation of St. Paul, that
THE LAW WAS NOT MADE FOR THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT FOR THE UNRULY AND DISOBEDIENT.
But it being evident, that the joint fanftions of rewards and pu- nifliments are but juft fufficient to fecure the tolerable obfervance of right (the common falfe opinion that thefe are the two hinges of government arifing from that evidence), it follows, that, as re- ligion, ONLY, CAN SUPPLY THE SANCTION OF KEWARDS, WHICH SOCIETY WANTS, AND HATH NOT, RELIGION IS ABSOLUTELV NECESSARY TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
Thus, on the whole, we fee,
I. That fociety, by its owii proper force, cannot provide for the obfervance of above one third part of moral duties ; and of tliat third, but imperfeftly. We fee likewife, how, by the pecu- fiar influence of its nature, it enlargeth the duty of the citizen, at riie fame time that it leflens his natural ability to perform it.
Vol. IV. F II. Wc
34 O F A C I V T L A N D Book I.
II. We fee further, which is a thing of far greater confequence, that fociety totally wants one of thofe two powers which are owned by all to be the necelTary hinges on which government turns, and without which it cannot be lupported.
To fupply thefe wants and imperfeftions, fome other cJoadive power muft be added, that hath its influence on the mind of man, to keep fociety from running back into confuiion. But there is no other than the power of religion ; which teaching a governing Providence, who hath given laws for the perfe£ling of Man's na- ture, and fo becomes the rewarder of good men, and the puniflier of ill, this religion can oblige to the Duties of imperfeSl obligation^ ■which human law^s overlook : and teaching, alfo, that this Provi- dence is omnifcient, that it fees the moft fecret adions and inten- tions of men, will oblige to thofe duties oiferJeSl obligation, which human laws cannot reach, or fufficiently enforce.
Thus we have explained, in general, the mutual aid which re-- ligion and civil policy lend to one another : not unlike what two parties in the fame caufe, and engaged in the fame encounter, m.ay reciprocally receive and give againft a common enemy : While one party is clofely preffed, the other comes up to its relief; difengages the firft ; gives it time to rally, and repair it's force : By this time the aflifting party is pufhed in its turn, and needs the aid of that which is relieved ; which is now at hand to repay the obligation. From henceforward, the two parties ever ad: in alliance; and, by that means, keep the common enemy at a fland.
This use of religion to the state was {•ttw by the learned, and felt by all men of every age and nation. The ancient world particularly was fo firmly convinced of this truth, that their greateft fecret of the fublime art of legiflation confifted in this, how re- ligion might be beft applied to the fervice of fociety. The parti- cular methods they employed, and the fevcral artful detours they contrived to arrive at this end, are in the fecond book of 'The Di- vine Legation of MosEs explained at large.
Religion
Chap. 3. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 55
Religion being thus proved neceffary to fociety, that it (hould be fo ufed and applied, in the beft way, and to moft advantage, needs no proof. For it is as infilndive in our nature to improve a good, as to difcover or inveftigate it. And with regard to the im- provement of this particular good, there is a fpecial reafon why it fhould be ftudied. For the experience of every place and age in- forms us, that the coaclivity of civil laws and religion is but juft enough to keep men from running into diforder and mutual vio- lence. But this improvement is the effedl of art and contrivance. For all natural good, every thing conftitutionally beneficial to man, needs man's induftry to enable him to reap that benefit. We re- ceive it all at the provident hand of heaven, rather with a capacity of being applied to our ufe, than immediately fit for our fervice. We receive it, indeed, in full meafure, but rude and unprepared. The efficient caufe of this, in natural goods, is the intradtability and innate flubbornnefs of matter ; and in moral goods, the malice and perverfity of man. The final caufe feems to be, that man, of all God's creatures the moft incapable of a ftate of inaftivity and idlenefs, may be fet to work ; and by this means made to culti- vate, what would elfe lye fallow, the faculties both of his mind and body.
Now concerning this technical improvement of moral good, it Is, in artificial bodies, as in natural : Two may be fo eflentially conftituted as to be greatly able to adorn and ftrcngthen each other. But then, as in the one cafe a mere juxta-pofition of the parts is not fufficient, fo neither is it in the other; fome union, fome coalition, fome artful infertion into each other vnll be necefl'ary.
But now again, as in natural bodies, the artift is unable to fet about the proper operation, till he hath acquired a reafonable knowledge of the nature of -thofe bodies which are the fubjedl of his fkill ; fo neither can we Icnow in what manner religion may be heft applied to the fervice of the ftate, till we have learned the real and eflential natures both of a J^ate and a religion. The
¥ z obvious
36 O F A C I V I L A N D B ^ok I.
cbvious qualities of both fufficiently (hew that they muft needs have a good effedl on each other, when properly applied * ; as our artifl", by his knowledge of the obvious qualities of two natural bodies, we fuppofe dilcerns as much ; though he hath not yet gotten fufficient acquaintance with their nature, to make a proper ap» I plication.
CHAP. W.
Of the Nature and End of Civil Society : j^nd the caufes of the com^ mon mijlakes concerning it^ di [covered atid explained.
IT behoves us, therefore, in the next place, to examine the na- ture of CIVIL SOCIETY and religion more at large. Of whofe naturei to be truly informed, the way is to find out their ends. And this will be the more neceffary on account of the wonderful extravagances that the feveral fedls amongft us have run into, concerning one and the other fociety ; while fome ftrike at the adminijlratiouy fome at the nature^ and fome at the very Being of both. The PAPIST makes the ftate a creature of the church ; the Erastian makes the church a creature of the ftate : the PRESBYTERIAN would regulate the ftate on church ideas; the HOBBEisT, the church, on reafons of ftate: And, to compleat the £irce, the ouaker abolifhes the very being of a church ; and the MENNONiTE fuppreffes the office of the civil magiftrate.
But to begin with Civil Society. It was Inftituted either with the purpofe of attaining all the good of tvtry kind, it was even ac- cidentally capable of producing ; or only of fome certain good, which the inftitutors, unconcerned with, and unattentive to, any S other, had in view. To fuppofe its end the vague purpofe of ac-
Cji * Non natura, fed hominum vitio faftum, iit ambx ills poteftates, quae amico foe*
-rvv/ dere conjungi debuerant, in dedecus Chriftiani nominis aliquando diveilan{arab invicem.
Alarca, E^'ftola ad Caidinakm dt RkheVmu F. T ,
quiring
Chap. 4. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 37
quiring all poffible accidental good, is, in politics, a mere folecifm ; as hath been fufficiently (hewn by the writers * on this queftiou. And how untrue it is in fad, may be gathered from what we have faid above, of the Origin of Society. Civil Government then, I fuppofe, will be allowed to have been invented for the attainment of fome certain end or ends, exclufive of others : and this implies the neceffity of diflinguifliing this end from others. Which dif- tinftion ariles from the different properties of the things pretending. But, again, amongft all thofe things which are apt to^ obtrude, or have in fa£l obtruded, upon men, as the ends of civil government:, there is but one difference in their properties, as ends ; which is this, That one of thefe is attainable by civil fociety only ; and all the rejl are eajily attained without it. The thing then, with that fin- gular property, muft needs be the genuine end of civil fociety. And that is no other than security to the temporal liberty and PROPERTY OF MAN. For this end, as we have fhewn, civil fociety was invented ; and this, civil fociety alone is able to procure. The great, but fpurious rival of this end, the salvation of souls, oc the fecurity of man's future happinefs, belongs, therefore, to the other divifion. For this^ not depending on outward accidents, or on the will or power of another, as the body and goods do, may be as well attained in a ftate of nature, as in civil fociety ; and therefore, on the principles here delivered, cannot be one of the caufes of the iniiitution of civil government ; nor confequently one of the ends thereof •\-,
But if fo, the promotion of it comes' not within the peculiar province of the magiftrate \. For he who has nothing to do with
the
* See Locke's Defence of his Letters of Toleration. This appears too to have been Ariftotle's opinion from thefe words— ^ti^,, ^;, I, J,^^,j-„, ri SSXt., ^ ro SSM,- uSi, yi.^ jj ^vtri? c!oii7 tcii3to», oIo. xa^JtoltlTroi t«» [A^^p^ni>] fi«;^ai{a», ■W(>iX?''(t »f^f^' " isfcj t»' tSc Polit. I. i. C. 1.
t See note [B], at the end of this Book.
X Summa divini numinis benignitate duobus maximis prasfidiis inftrmaa eft human! generis Ibcietas ad fclicitatem confequendam, Sacerdotio et Imperio; quorum alterum
diviois
5S OFACIVILAND Book I.
the end, can have no concern with the means, Thefe means are
DOCTRINE AND MORALS, whlch COmpofe what IS Called RELIGION,
m the largeft fenfe of the word — That opinions are not in his relTort, I again refer the reader to Mr. Lockts difcourfes on Tok- ratiofj; where it may be feen, how, from the principles here laid down, the whole do6lrine of religious liberty is demonftrated : an-d that even mora/s are not, when confidered only in a religious fenfe, how ftrange foever this aflertion may appear, is evident both from the reafon of things, and from the fundamental pra6tice of all governments.
We have fhewn they were the bodies, not tht fouls of men, of which the magiflrate undertook the care. Whatever therefore refers to the body, is in his jurifdidion ; whatever to the foul, is not. But, and if there be that wliich refers equally to both (as morals plainly do) fuch thing muft needs be partly within and partly without his province ; that is, it is to be partially confidered by him ; his care thereto extending fo far only as it affefbs fociety. The other confideration of it, namely as it makes part of religion, being in the hands of thofe who prefide in another kind of fociety ; of which more hereafter.
Again, with regard to civil pradlice ; if we cart: our eye on any digef of laws, we (hall find that evil adlions have theit" annexe^ punifhment denounced, not as they are Vices, i. e. not in propor« tion to their deviation from the eternal rule of right : nor as they
divinis myfteriis fe impendit, alterum componit reipublicae ftatum, et humanz vit» tranquillitatem prociirat ; ita lit ex utriufque concordia Chriftiana refpublica cumula- tifilmis incremenlis augeatur. Utraqiic poteftatum fuis limitibus eft circumfcripra, et ill diflitis omnino negotiis exercetur; cum ilia fj)iritualibus addicatur, hsec pubbcis oc- cupata fit — cert2e qiiidem regiila; in genere aflignari pofiunt, quibus frivicem diftermi- nentur. — Et en pailant des difficuitez qui peuvent furvenir entre ces deux puiflances, I'Auteur ajoi.te — Quae locum habent non in controverfiis fidei, quse longo intervallo remotre fiint e cognitione principum, iiec in rerumpublicarum adminiftrationibns, qu« aljenje funt a cura pafcendi gregis. Marca in prrefatione prima, F. T. •
ue iHiv -arc
Chap. 4. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. jg
are Sins, /'. e. not In proportion to their deviation from the revealed will of God; which two things indeed coincide: But as they are Crimes, /'. e, in proportion to their malignant influence on civil fociety.
But the view in which the JlaU regards the praflice of morality is evidently feen in its recognition of that famous maxim by which, in all communities, penal laws are fafhioned and direfted,
THAT THE SEVERITY OF THE PUNISHMENT MUST ALWAYS RISE IN- PROPORTION TO THE PROPENSITY TO THE CRIME. A maxlox
evidently unjtijl, were actions regarded by the ftate as they are ia themfelves ; becaufe the law of nature enjoins only in proportion to the ability of the fubjeil ; and human abilities abate in proportion- to the contrary propenfities : — evidently impious, were actions re- garded by the ftate as they refer to the ivill of God, becaufe this flate-meafure dlreftly contradicts his method and rule of punifhlng. But iuppofe the maglftrate's office to be what is here afiigned ; his aim muft be the Suppression of crimes, or of thofe adlions which malignantly afFe£t fociety ; and then nothing can be more reafon- able than this proceeding. For then, his end mufl: be the good of the whole, not of particulars ; but as they come within that view. But the good of the whole being to be procured only by the preven- tion of crimes ; and thofe, to which there is the greatefl: propenfity, being of the moft difficult prevention, the full feverity of his law mufl, of neceflityy be armed againft thefe *.
* " A law there is mentioned amongft the Grecians whereof P/V/ar»j is reported tc *' have been author : and by that law it was agreed, that he, which being overcoms *' with drink did then ftrike any man, fliould fiiffer punifhment double ss much as if he " had done the fame being fober. No man could ever have thought this reafonable •' that had intended thereby only to punifli the injury committed according to the "gravity of the fat^. For who knoweth not that harm advifedly done is naturally lefs *« pardonable, and therefore worthy of the fliarper punifhment. But for as much as ** none did fo ufually this way offend as men in that cafe, it was for the public good to ** frame a pofitivc law for remedy thereof accordingly." Hooko., Eccl. Pol. L. i, § lo.
But
40 OFACIVILAND BookI.
But now it is to be obferved, in order to clear this queftion from the confufion to which the want of thefe confiderations has fub- je£led it, that though Religion, or the Care of the Soul, be not within the province of the magiftrate, and confeqv etitly matters of doolrine and opifiion ?.re without his jurifdidtion ; yet this mufl; always be underllood with an exception to the three fundamental principles of Natural Religion ; namely — the Being of a God —
HIS PROVIDENCE OVER HUMAN AFFAIUS and THE NATURAL ES- SENTIAL DIFFERENCE OF MORAL GOOD and EVIL. Thefe doftrines it Is dire£lly of his office to cherifli, proteft, and propagate ; and all oppugners of them it is as much his right and duty to reftraia as any the mod flagrant offender agalnft civil peace. Nor doth this at all contrndi£t our general pofition, that the fole end of civil fociety is the confervation of body and goods. For the magiftrate concerns himfelf with the maintenance of thefe three funda- mental ARTICLES, not as they promote o\ir future happinefs, but our prefent : as they are the very foundation and bond of civil policy. To undevftand this, we muft remember what hath been faid above of its original.
The progrefs and increafe of mutual violence in the ftate of nature, till It became general and intolerable, was owing to the natural equality of power among ft men. The remedy of which was feen to be civil fociety. But that equality of power, vv'hich oc- cafioned the evil, prevented the remedy, any otherwife than by the will and free confent of every one. The entrance therefore into fociety was by free convention and ftipulation. But then again, that fame equality which made every man's confent necef- iary, prevented his, giving any other fecurity for the performance of his compa6l than his mere word: and how feeble a lecurity that is, all men know. Some means therefore were to be contrived to ftrengthen the obligation of his word. Now nothing, in the cafe here Imagined of perfe(5t equality (and fuch was the real cafe oa mens' entering into fociety) could give this ftrength, but Reli- gion. An Oath then, rifuig on the three great priiiciples above-
mentlonedj
Chap. 4. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 41
mentioned, was that fandlou to his word which was univerfally employed in all conventions. For an oath is an invocation to heaven, whofe providence is believed to regard mens' aftions ; juftice being the objedl of his delight, and injuftice of his diiplea- fure ; and that he will punifh and reward accordingly: all which neceflarily imply an efl'ential difference between good and evil, prior to human decrees. Thus an old Grecian fage quoted by Clemens, fpeaking of the office of the ancient Lawgiver, fays : " He firft of *' all trained the race of mankind to juftice by the invention of an " oath *."
Again, when fociety was eftablifhed, it was neceffary that human laws Ihould be inforced on a principle of Right as well as fo'iver ; that is, on a principle which would make them obeyed for confc'ience Jah. But the preferving thefe three great articles of natural reli- gion could alone fubfift that principle. Therefore was the magif- trate to provide for their fupport. But thefe being all that were neceflbry to this end. Religion, as fuch, was no farther under his diredion. The confequence is, that no particular fcheme or mode of religion was under his care as a magiftrate, till he had cove- nanted and compacted to that purpofe ; as we ftiall fee hereafter. But for a fuller proof of the neceflity of thefe three great principles to a ftate, I refer the Reader to the firft book of The Divine Lega- tion of Mofes ; where he will find the cavils of Mr. B-tyle againft: that neceffity confuted at large.
Thus It is feen, that though the confervation of thefe principles belong to the magiftrate, it is not becaufe they make a part of the civil inftitute (for this would be violating the unity of its end), but as they are the very rock and foundation on which the edifice of a common-wealth Is built. Nor is it, for that, the lefs within the province of the magiftrate. It was equally the concern of the an- tient Mdiles at Rome to fee to the fupport of the foundations as well as
* OpT©- BT©- t.'i JixKioffi'sr.K S«);u» 'kyx'ixi^ Jt,'|a; Oj-x.o». Sti'oiii. !il\ i. — See alfo note [C], at the end of this Book.
Vol. IV. G to
42 O F A C I V I L A N D Bock IV.
to the repair of the pubhc bulldhigs eredted on them. Nor Is this diftindion made without reafou. For if the care of thefe principles were within the magiftrate's jurifdidion, as making part of the civil inflitute, his office would extend to the care of fouls ; and thea I can fee no reafon but that more, with equal pretence, might enter in, till the whole of religion devolved upon him. And how mifchievous this would be to the ftate, and how much more mifchievous to religion, the following difcourfe will amply demon- ftrate. But if thefe principles are within his care only as they are the Rock on which fociety is ereded, there is then abundant rea- fon why it fliould not be enlarged. And yet many policies, both ancient and modern, by a prepofterous kind of architedlure, that enlarges the foundation at the fame time that it narrows the fuper- ftruclure, have fo furrounded the commonwealth on all iides with this rock, that it puts one in mind of the old puniftiment of im- muring malefadors within four walls. For a miftaken regard to virtue and religion hath, in all ages, difpofed the magiftrate to deviate from his proper office ; till at length the care of the foul got the upper hand of that of the body, in his adminiflration ; to the infinite damage of mankind in all his interefls.
Though one may eafily conceive the magiftrate induftrioufly propagating this flattering deluiion, in order to add power to his office, and veneration to his perfon ; yet, I am perluaded, miftake firft introduced this mifchief : though fraud might, perhaps, con- tribute to fupport it. Becaufe 1 find the error to have fpread itfelf even into thofe communities where public liberty, and confequently where public good, have been moft aimed at, and ef^^efted. Which hath fo riveted the miftake, in the minds of fome, concerning the magiftrate' s real office, that they have even ventured to accufe the wilefl adminiflrationsof injuftice : for, borne away with the com- mon notion that his office extended to the care of fouls, and finding the befl: inftltutes of civil laws framed with a manifeft difregard to that care, they have rafhly cenfured them for carnality and irre-
llgion.
To
Ch-ap. 4. RELIGIOUS S O C I E T V. 4j
To vindicate fuch Gonflitutions, and to remove this only objedioa to the principles liere laid down, it may be proper to trace up, from their original, the feveral caufes that have concurred to the mirtake of the magiftrate's real office ; by which it will be feen, that what makes moft for it, its antiquity, only proves the inveteracy of the miftake.
I. The firll: ground of this error was the confufed mixture of civil and religious interefts, to w'hich the magiftrate, in the execu- tion of his office, had his regard attached. This feveral caufes had in feveral ages contributed to efteft.
As FIRST, In the infancy of civil fociety, fathers of families (who were wont to execute the office of the prieflhood) wiien they advanced, or were called up, to the adminiflration of public atliiirs^ carried that facred charafter with them into the magiliracy: and continued to execute both fundions in perfon. So that the Ciire of religion^ which was thus by accident attached to the perfon of the magiftrate, would naturally in time be thought inherent in his office.
Secondly, Mofl of the antient lav/-glvers, and inllitutors of civil policy, having found it necelTary, for the carrying on their refpec- tive eftablifliments, to pretend to infpration, and the extraordinary affiftance of fome God*, unavoidably mingled and confounded civil and religious interefts with one anotlier ; fo as to animadvert on aftions not only as cr/wcj- againfl the y?j/^, but zs Jins againft that God who patronized the foundation ; and confequentlv, fomiC- times, to make their adjuftments and proportions between the aclion and the punifliment rather according to this latter efti- mate.
Thirdly, Pagan Religion had for \x.%fuh]e5l not only each in- dividual, tht Jt^twal nwn; but likevvife X.\\q artificial man, Societv ; for whom, and by whom, all the />;////«: rites and ceremonies of it were inltituted and performed -f. So that here the care of religion
* See The Divine Legation of Mofes, book IL iS i. t Ibid.
^-^ ^^ became
44
OF A CIVIL AND Book T.
became the care of the republic : The confequence of this was, that religion held the government in partnerfliip ; and nothing was cou- fulted or executed without the advice of the oracle. Prodigies and portents were as common as civil edldls ; and bore as conftant a fhare In the public adminiftration.
Fourthly, In after-ages, when the Roman emperors became Chrif- tian, agreeably to the zeal of new converts, they made the civi/ iiifti- tutes religious, by introducing laws againfl:y;« ; in which, as they were told by their teacjicrs they were not only authorized, but dire<fled, by the examples and precepts of that Scripture which they profefled to believe. This greatly contributed to confound the difllndlon between a church and flate. However, this falfe judgement did not owe its birth to the Chrijlian Religion, where this diftinftion is fo marked out and inforced, as not eafily to be mlftaken ; but to the "JewiJIiy in which thofe focieties were confolidated, and, as it were, incor- porated. For there they faw, in a civil policy inftituted by God himfelf, and therefore to be efleemed mofl: perfeft, and, of courfe,. worthy the imitation of all magiftratcs who profefled themfelves the fervants of that God, they faw, I fay, fins and crimes eqally within the maglftrate's jurlfdlfllon. They did not refledl that that jurifdiftion was the neceflluy confequence of a Theocracy *, a form of government different in kind from all human policies whatfoever.
Fifthly, in thefe later times, when the great feparation was made from the church of Rome, in the fifteenth and fixteenth centuries ; the people, in mofl places, except in England, procured for themfelves their national reforn>ation, fupported by their minif- ters, whofe heads were full of the Jewifh difpenfatlon ill under- ftood. And, in fome places, it being the fortune of the Hate, as well as church, to be new modeled, it was no wonder that, under fuch artificers, a ridiculous imitation of the J.ewifli flate (hould be affe(5led ; and, confequently, that the magiftrate (hould fhew a
* Divine Legation, book V.
greater
Chap. 4. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 45
greater attention to reflrain fns than crimes. And here I cannot but, with much grief, obferve, that this wrong judgement was not only pernicious to civil fbciety, but highly injurious to the interefts of the Frotejiant Re/igici. It did indeed contribute more than any thing befidcs to re-eflablifh Popery, which was then fhaken even to what itfelf calls, its very Centre of Unity. It put a fuddeu flop to the glorious progrefs which the reformed Religion was then making throughout Europe, from Eaft to Weft. For the well- difpolcd princes on the continent finding, in the reformed minlfters, a pragmatic fpirit, which was for modeling the flate as well as church, on their own theologic ftandard, r.dhered, or fell back, to the Papal power : as preferring an ecclefiaftic tyranny they had been ufed to, before a new one, whofe principles threatened an entire fubverfion of the eftabliflied policies. 7 he excellent Grotius fliall be my warrant that I have given no injurious account of the condudl of the reformed miniflers : who, in the hiflory of his own country, has exhibited to us a very lively reprefentation of this whole fcene. Speaking of the Kflablifment of the reformed Religion by the States of Holland he fays : — " Recepta Publice dikiplina, *' quas Genevae et in Palatinatu Germanic pafiimque alibi docebatur : " hoc tamen intereft, quod ejufdem rdigionis alii diverjas minus **■ tolerant: Quippe nom in hoc tantum crdinatas a Deo
*' CIVITATES AC MAGISTR ATUS DICT ANTES UT A CORPORIBUS ET " P05SESSIONIBUS INJURIA ABESSENT, SED UT, Q^'O MORE IP.E •' JUSSISSET, £0 IN COMMUNE COLERETUR ; CUJUS OFFICII NEGLI- " GENTES MULTOS POENAJ^I, ALIORUM IMPIETATI DEBITA^I, IN
*' SE ACCERsissE. Contra, ift^e nationes non modo, &c *."
Nor was £«^A2«c/ altogether free from the effefls of this diforder. For thofe amongft us who were called puritans, having, during the diflreffed ftate of religion at home, been obliged to refide abroad amongft thefe new modelers of church and ftate, imbibed their ruinous notions of reformation : and returning home, on the ap-
* Anr.aks de Rebus Bclgicis, lib. ii. Anno 1572,
proacli
46 OFACIVILAND Book I.
proach of better times, berran early to inforce their whimfies to the difturbance of their c%va country, 'till Hooker, in his immortal book of Rccl-jiajVical Policy *, put a ftop to this religious frenzy. So that the fpirit of pur'ily feemed now to be fubdued : When, towards the conclufion of our laft unhappy civil wars, the f^imous Mr. Baxter took advantage, on the ruins of the conftitutlon, to write his book cf the Cbrijlian Common'weaUh.
II. A fecond caufe of this error arofe from what is called the eJiabUjhnent cf religion in the ftate. There never was a civil fociety, ancient or modern, but what had a religion by law esta- blished. Which arifmg from a league or union between the civil and religious intereds, it receives a delegated coercive power from the flate ; vvhich, inftead of applying to the promotion of their joint intercfts, as was the intention of the truft, it is too apt to di- vert to the fupport and increafe of it's own. But of this, more hereafter. Now, one error arifing from fuch ejlabltflmient was, that thefe powers of the civil kind, which the religious fociety in fuch circumftances exercifed, were inherent in it : and thofe who fell not into this, but faw it was an intruded power, borrowed from the {late, yet ran into an oppofite ; namely, that the reftraining o^Jln, which was aimed at in the right application of this borrozved power, was one of the natural, eflential tendencies to which the civil inaglftrate, as fuch, fliould him/elf direct that power. Whereas, indeed, fuch application was only the refult of that union between the civil and religious interefts.
III. A third caufe of this error was, that, though in many cafes, the malignity of an action varies, according as it is applied to civil or to religious interefls ; and that the diredion of civil laws is ge- nerally regulated on the degree of evil the action occalions to the ftate ; yet, very often, too, the degrees are the lame, and the ma- lignity of the fn and crime is equal. In this cafe, therefore, it
* See note [D], at the end of this Book.
could
Chap. 4. R E L I G I O U S S O C I E T Y. 47
could not be (een, which was in t!ie Icgiflator's intention to puniih; the cmvd', or theji'i. And lo the people concluded th..t hoth were in his view. Add to this, that thefe two com'^lex modes, having, in their compofition, many fimple ideas, common to hot!;, w.re not eafily feen to be, what, in realitv, they aro, two difli.ict modes, but thought, only two terms of one and the fame : Wlilch would very much help forward the error whofe original we are here deducinq:.
IV. But thw' laft general caufe we (hall aflign of this error, was the magiflrate's puaifliing, and by a juft exertion of his power, fome immoral adlions, as Jins : and even xt^x'Awixw^ jpecidative op'i- n'lons. We have obferved, that the only bond of foclety amongft equals Is the fanclion of an coth, as it is an appeal to heaven, the avenger of falfhood and Injudice. And common fwearing diredlly tending to deflroy the reverence due unto it, all ftates have con- curred to puniih that impiety. But an oath derives it's force and virtue from thofe three great principles of natuial rehgion. The he'mg of a God, — his providence, — and the ejj'ent'ud dfference of good and evil : which therefore come within the office of the civil ma- giflrate to fupport. Now the people feeing moral actions, as they regard the Deiry, and Ipeculative opinions, as they refrard truth, (the two parts which make up religion, in the largefl: lenfe of the word) under the magiflrate's jurildictlon, and not conceiving the reafon, as here explained, concluded that the whole of rehgioa was under his care and diredion *.
* See note [E],. at the end of this Book,
CHAP.
48 O F A C I V I L A N D Book I.
CHAP. V.
Of the Nature and End of Religion.
A V I N G thus explained the nature and end of civil so- ciety, together with the origins of thofe errors which men and even ftates, in every age, have been apt to entertain concern- ing it ; I come in the next place, as I propofed, to treat concerning
RELIGION' ;
Whofe end is firft, to procure the favour of God; and fecondly, to advance and improve our own intclleEiual nature.
As to ihtfrji end, the favour of God, this, common fenfe in- forms us, one man cannot procure for another ; nor hinder him from procuring for himfelf ; for as integrity of heart is what alone recommends us to his favour, every one hath this in his own power. It is evident, then, that man, in his religious capacit}', had no occafion to conftitute a fociety for procuring for himfelf the favour of God \ as he had occafion in h'lsfcial, to lecure to himfelf the enjoyment of his liberty*. If, therefore, as a religionift, lie entered into fociety, it was for a reafon different from that for which, as a civilifl:, he conftituted a commonwealth ; that is, it was not to guard himfelf againfl: the malice of rsiTiu.
And this leads us to confider the fecofid end of religion, namely the advancement and improvement of our intellectual nature. Now this, we can as eafily conceive how a number of rfiigious beings confociated may advance, as we can how a number oi fecular
* Regium imperium quietem publicam, epifcoporum follicitudo felicitatem atternam hominibus procurat, teftante apoitolo. Reges facularibus, pontifices fpiritualibus ordi- nandis fe impendunt. Quamdiu neutra poteftatum in alienos limites iniiliet, niutua Concordia res Chrilliana amplificabitur. — Soli principi poteftas in hsec terrena 5c tempo- ralia imperandi afi'eritur, ut ecclelix facra & fpiritualia procurandi. Marca, lib. 2. c. I. F. T.
beings
CflAP. 5. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 44
beings confociated may advance and improve our animal nature the fecundary end of civil fociety.
To fee the neceflity of forming this fociety, we are to confider how the intelleSlual nature is improved by religion.
Religion, as an a6l or exercife regarding its obje>S, is a com- merce and intercourfe with the fupreme caufe of all things. Which confifting, on our parts, in fuitable fentlments, raifed in us by con- templation on his nature, and on the relations wejland in towards him* the proper and adequate obje£l of all dependent beings, muft needs advance and improve our intelletlual tiature to its utmofl height.
But now it may be afked, whether this intercourfe, as it begins, fo likewlfe, it fhould not end in mental exercife ; and, confequentlv, whether religion be not, what }}ia7iy feem now difpofed to think it but a kind of divine fhilofiphy in the mind-, which compofes only a fpiritual and myjlic body of its followers ? For if this be indeed the cafe, there is an end of all religious fociety ; this fpecies of a religion neither ftanding in need, nor being capable of fuch a community.
To refolve this queflion, we are to confider, that, as religion is an intercourfe with the Creator and Governor of all things, it is the objefl of all rational dependent beings. Now we can eafily Conceive how a mere mental religion may fit the nature of pure Im- material fpirlts, of which doubtlefs there are Innumerable degrees within the vaft limits of the univerfe. But man being compounded of two contrary, though, by the divine flcill, united natures, foul and body, it feems neceffary, at firfl fight, that religion here fhould partake of the charader of Its fubjedl, and be compofed equally of internal meditations, and outward aSls arid offices. This will appear 6n confidering his nature as refulting from this compofition ; and the ftuation in which Providence hath been pleafed to place him. To fit us for the ftatlon here ailigned us, It was feen proper, as wcj find by experience, that the paffions of the mind (hould be o-reatlv Influenced by the temper of the body ; in which covering likewlfe, the Intelledual faculties fhould be fo inveloped as to render vaiu
Vol. IV. H all
;||> O F A C I V I L A N D Book I.
all attempts of emancipating ouifelves from the body, while our bufioefs was in this grofs material world. Now how unfit fuch beings are for a mere mental religion appears evident from the very ftate of the cafe. Experience likewife hath conftantly confirmed thefe obfervations. For whenever men, by a miftaken aim at per- fedion, have endeavoured, in their religious exercifes, to defecate thegroffnefs of fenfe, and foar up into the region of pure ideas, it has been found that juft as the temper and conflitution was, fo has been the confequence and iffue : If cold and phlegmatic, their religion has funk into quietifm ; \i bilious or/anguine^ it has flamed out into all the frenzy of enthufiafm.
But further, our ftation and circumftances here contribute to render our natural incapacity, for fuch a mental religion, flill more invincible. The fupply of the neceffities and conveniences of life^ through all our intercourfes for the fatisfac^ion of thofe neceffities and conveniencies, fubjedls us to perpetual converfe with the mofk fenfible and material objedts. But often repeated converfe pro- duces HABITS. And of what force habits are in keeping the mind bent their way ; and how obftinately they adhere, when we endea- vour to get free of them, is as well known, as it is with difficulty remedied. Now thefe habits are fo oppofite, fo averfe to, fo in- compatible with mental contemplation, that, to do even fo much this way, as the very eflence of religion requires, we muft bribe fenfe and matter, and draw them againfl themfelves, to affift us ia the rational offices of religion. If we add to this, that the com- mon people, who compofe the grofs body of mankind, and for every Individual of which, religion is intended, are, by their flation and employments, mofl immerged In matter, we (hall need no fur- ther proof, that a mere mental Intercourfe with God, which makes religion only a divine philofophy in the mind, is altogether ^inflt for fuch a creature as man In his prtfent flation upon earth.
But fuppofing all thefe Impediments of ideal devotion to be away ; yet if men be notfo far fpritualued as to give and receive
au
Chap. 5. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 51
an intuitive knowledge of one another's mental zd:s of religion, ftill fuch a religion would not properly fit them. Becaufe, to the due exerclfe of religion it is required that open profeffion of it be made by each individual, fo as to be feen by others. For, that reafon which tells us it is our duty to acknowledge all the relations in which we ftand towards God : the fame tells us, it is equally our duty to make thofe acknowledgements public. Again, of the bleflings. Providence beftows upon us, fome are particular to the individual, and others common to the fpecies. Now, as return of thanks is due from each man for the bleiTuigs he has received in particular ; fo reafon tells us, that for thofe beftowed on mankind in common, a joint return (hould be made, by as many of the kind together as can conveniently affemble for this purpofe.
From what has been faid then, it appears, that fuch a religion as is fuitable to the nature of man, here, mull have our meditations on the divine nature drawn out into articles of faith ; and our meditations on the feveral relations in which wejland towards him digefted into fuitable and correfpondent acts of religious wor- ship ; and both of them to be profefled and performed in common„ "VVhich things, as we fhall now fhew, require the aid of a societt to regulate and eftablifh.
I. Opinions concerning the nature of the Deity fo entirely in- fluence all religious practice that this invariably takes its chara6ler from thofe ; and becomes m.ore or lefs perfedt as thofe are nearer to, or further from the truth *. On which account the greatefl: care is to be taken to preferve opinions pure and untainted. But this cannot be done but by a society ; as we may underftand from the very mention of thofe two ways which all fuch focieties have ever put in pradtice. i. By reducing men's belief into one common formulary. And 2. By making the profeffion of that formulary the term of communion. For by this means there is zfummary of belief in aid of the ignorant ; and a common repofitory that men
* See Plato's EuthypI;
H a may
5* OFACIVILAND Book I.
may always have recourfe to for information. Where it is to be obferved, that the wider the bottom is made, and the more general the terms of commuiiioa (confiftent with the being of a Society), the wifer and jufter is that religious inftitution.
2. The feveral ails of reJigiou! wor/hip are correfpondcnt to the fentiments arifing in us from our meditation on the feveral relations we fland in towards God ; and inlVituted with delign to aid and improve thofe fentiments. Now, as meditations, net tempered •with thefe outward a£ls, are apt, as we have fliewn, to fly out into enthiijiafm ; fo outward ails not regulated by, nor adapted to thofe meditations, are as fubjedl to degenerate into a childilh unmeaning y«/f^/?/V/o7;. And, how much enthufiafm depraves all the faculties of the mind, how much luperftitlon difhonours thfr fervice of our Maker, is dilputed by no one acquainted with the nature and effe6ls of thefe direful evils. The greatefi: care there- fore Is to be taken, that the folemn a5is of religion be preferved Jimpk, decent, and Jigz/ificativc'. But then this can be done only by providing perfons fet apart for this office ; whofe peculiar employ- ment it (hall be to prefide in, dire6t, and fuperlntend the ritual of worj^pip, left any thing childlib, profane, or fuperftltious fhould (as it certainly would, If left to every one's fancy) obtrude itfelf into religious fervice. Now public officers and minifters muft a£l by fome common policy, which may regulate and fettle their feveral employments, powers, and fubordlnations. But that policy is no- other than the laws of a fociety properly fo called.
What hath been here fald is fufficlent to manifeft the Divine- Wlfdom of the Author and Finifjjer of our Faith, who, revealing the will of his heavenly Father to mankind, a£tually formed our holy religion into a fociety, on a common policy, with public rites, proper officers, and a fubordhi'dtion of the mlnlftry. So that though we had not proved that religion forms a fociety by nature, from whence arlfes the equity of an eftablifJjed religion at large : yet we now find it doth fo by inflitution, which juftlfies an eflabliffj- ment. wherever the religion profeffed is the Chriftian. But, how
certain.
Chap. 5- RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. sT
certain foever It be that religion compofes a fociet;;) by nature', never- thelefs we may at the fame time lee, from a remarkable clrcum- ftaiice, ia the rife and pnTt,refs of the people called ^laker';, ho.v little the plaineft truths are fc-cure from contradldlion. Thefe men, in fpice of the records of facred hiftory which afllire us, that "Jefus inftituted a rule and government, and formed his Followers into a church or fociety, yet regard Chrijlianily as only a kind of divine philofophy in the mind, it being the fundamental principle of this fe61:, 'That there is no other reafon or meajure of compliance or confor- mity^ in matters relating to God, than the conviction of the light and fpirit of Chrilt /// every confcicnce. But here lay the mlfchief ; the \e.xy principle on which this wife fe£l was formed, had a necefliiry tendency to its immediate dcflru^lion, reducing all aggregate bodies to a mere heap of fand. And in faft it was running into all tiie confulion which is neceflarily produced by fucli a principle, when Penn and B/iRCLEy arofe to lick this. abortion into fhape. Penn foon perceived that no fe£l could fubfiit on fuch a principle ; and therefore fet upon convincing h\s friends of the neceflity of fome common policy: but perceiving that if he fhould iniiil on that neceffity for the fake of religion, he (hould too openly contradi6t their darling principle ; he argues for this common policy from the benefits refulting from it to civil life : and thus, Inftead of a church, he hath helped to make ^akerifm, confidered In Its dii'cipllne, a civil community or corporation : and fuch indeed it is at prefent in much perfeftion. A memorable inftance, that truth rarely fails of requiting its oppofers : while thefe very men, the moft averfe to every Thing that looks like a church, or church-policy, have by their ufe of it, under another name, borne, before they were aware, the ftrongeft teflimony for its neceflity.
I. Ref-igon thus compofing a fociety, we are now to confider what kind of lociety it is. Flrft then it muft needs be soverkign,. AND INDEPENDENT ON THE CIVIL*. Natural dependency of one
fociety-
* Segnum & facerdotium diftindVas poteflates in fuo quamque ordine fupremas efle —
54 OFACIVILAND BookL
fociety on another, muft arife either from the law of nature or of TiaUons.
Dependency by the law vf nature is from e[fence, ox generation. Dependency from ejfence there can be none. For a dependency arifing from thence is a mode of natural union and coaUtion ; and coalition only there exifts where an agreement is found in eodem tertio ; but there being no fuch agreement to be found between two ibcieties eflentially different as thefe are, there can poffibly be no dependency : now this effential difference is evident from their having different ends and means ; the ultimate end of religion being the care of fouls ; and the ultimate end of civil fociety the care of bodies ; and tlie means of that being by external application ; and of this by internal. Dependency which arifes from generation, is where one fociety fprings up from another, as corporations, col- leges, companies, and chambers in a city. Thefe, as well by the conformity of their ends and means, as by their charters of incor- poration, betray their original and dependency. But religious fociety^ by ends and means entirely different, gives internal ^xooi of its not arifing from the ftate ; and we have (hewn *, by external evidence, that it exlfted before the ftate had any being.
Again, no dependency can arife from the law of nations or the civil law. Dependency by this law is, where one and the fame people compofuig two different focieties, the imperium of the one clafhes with the imperium of the other; for, in fuch cafe, the lefier fociety, by that law, becomes dependent on the greater ; becaufe the not being dependent, would make that great abfurdity in poli- tics called imperium in imperio. But now civil and religious fociety having ends and means entirely different; and the means of civil {oc'iety being coercive power ; which power, therefore, the religious
rf}> .omnia monumenta clamant, S-x, Defenfio declarationis celeberrimx quam de poteftate -"I ecclefiaftica fanxit clerus Gallicanus 19 Martii, 1682, ab Illuft. ac Reverend. Jacobo
Benigno Bossuet, Meldenfi Epifcopo, ex fpeciali juflu Ludovici Magni Chrilliaaiilimi Regis fcripta & elaborata, 1. 5. c. 3. F. T.
* See The Divine Legation of Moses, Book iii. § 6.
hath
Chap. 5. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY.. ^^
hath not*; It follows that the adminiftratioii of each foclety is exercifed in fo remote fpheres that they can never meet to clafh ; and thofe focieties which never clafh, neceffity of flate can never bring into dependency on one another.
Indeed, were the common opinion true, which we have been at fome pains to confute, 'Thai the magj/irate's office extended to the care of fouls, it would then follow, from what hath been faid of depen- dency from efj'ence and generation, that the religious fociety was- fubfervient to, and a creature of, the ftate : for then it could not be reafonably thought conftituted but by the magiftrate : and con"- flituted by him to ferve and help him out in the difcharge of hi^ office ; who might have endowed his creature, the church, in its firft conftitution, with what powers he thought proper. Hobbes and his followers pufhed this matter home. They fuppofed that, if indeed there were any foul to betaken care of, the care naturally devolved upon the civil magiftrate ; who, by delegation, might transfer it on proper officers, commiffioned by him to model, and bear rule in, a church. And bccaufe fomebody or other at that time clianced to think, that the people were the keepers of the king's Gonfcience t : he, who, above all things, loved contradiction, would needs have it that the king was the keeper of the people's.
On the other hand, did the care of the religious Jociety natural'y extend to the body and its concerns, then would the fate run the rifque of becoming dependent-, and a creature of the church. For rtligious fociety having the nobleft province, the care of fouls ; and the mofl: extenfive, when the care of bodies is joined to it; and pretending for the mofl part, and fometimes really having, a divin.\
* Venn dominatum efle penes Reges, non autem penes Sacerdotes — in Legibus Ecclefi-il'tiLis locum non habere fummum imperium, in quo rrdo iiiperandi & paiendi id exit;ir, lit fubditi dominorum mandatis cedant, quemadmodum Apofloli difertiffime docueriiru — Dominus Ecclefiafticam poteftatem &: regiam componendo, Apollolos allo- cutus h.ec verba prorulir, " Re-es gentium dominantui' conim, vos autem noa •' fic." Marca, in prjefatiorie Jecunda. F, T,
\ S<t^ ilie. Story of the Earl of Strafford,
while
36 OFACIVILAND Book I.
while the ftate has only a human original; as greatly as the fpiridial excels the corporal I and the ivhok is more than a ^<7r/ ; ^nd divine authority is above human^ fo high would men deem the religious fociety to be above the civil: and that fuperiority which the church would thus affume "as of right, fhe would find within herfelf a power to maintain. For the care of bodies neceffarily implies an inherent coercive power in whatever fociety that care is found.
And, in efFed, thefe conclufions have been long ago reduced to praftice under the Chrijlian religion. For the church of Rome having entertained this extenfive idea of a religious fociety, (he has, confentaneoufly thereto, exalted the chair apoJloUc far above the thrones of mere earthly potentates*; of whom fhe has required and received homage ; and once bid fair for making that homage •univerfal. For (he would perfuade us, as it fliould feem, that when 'Jefia faid, His kingdom ivas not of this ivorldy that he had before transferred it, with the keys of the other, to St. Peter.
But this, however, is worthy our obfervation, that, as different ways as the Hobbei/i and Papijl look, in fpeculation, they tend to the fame point in pradlice. For though the one would have the magiftrate difcharge his office only as executioner of the church ; and the other authorizes him to ufe his power as the maker and creator of it ; yet they equally concur in teaching it to be his right and office to domineer over confcience. What they differ in, is only a point of ceremony.
II. We come now, in the fecond place, to (hew that this inde- pendent religious fociety, hath not, in and of itself, ant COERCIVE POWER OF THE CIVIL KIND -f ; its inherent jurifdidion being in its nature and ufe entirely different from that of the ftate. For if, as hath been proved, civil fociety was inflituted for the
* See note [F], at the end of this Book.
f Hoc pracipuum eft difcrimen inter canon iim decreta & Leges publicas, quod ilia unicuiqiie Chriftiano felicitatem oeternam parent, & ad eum finem inftrumenta accom- modata fubminiftrent ; h^EC vero reipublicse pacem &: Ciigulonim civium, quatenu* funt partes rcipublicx, promoveant, &c. Marca, 1. ii. c. lo. F. T.
attainment
Chap. 5. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 57
attainment of one fpecies of good, all other good, requlfite to human happinefs, being to be attained without it ; and that civil fociety attains the good for which it was ordained by the fole means of coercive power, then it follows, that the good which any other kind of fociety feeks may be attained without that power : confe- quently, coercive power is unneceflary to a religious fociety. But that means, which is tifPieceJfary for the attainment of any end, is, likewife, unjii ; in all cafes, but in that where fuch means are rendered unneceflary by theufe of other means of the fame kind or fpecies. But religious fociety attains its end by means of a different kind; therefore coercive power is not only unneceflary, but unfit. Again, ends in their nature different can never be attained by one and the fame means. Thus in the cafe before us, coercive power can only influence us to outward practice ; by outward praftice only is the good, which civil fociety aims at, immediately effected ; therefore is coercive power peculiarly fitted to civil fociety. But the good which religious fociety aims at cannot be efFe£led by outward pra£lice ; therefore coercive power is altogether unfit for that fociety,
I. But it may be objeded, " That though indeed outward practice doth not affcft religion, as it is the object of each individual, yet it does affecSt a religious fociety ; fahation of fouls being the end of religion, but purity of worffip the end of religious fociety : now purity of worfhip is affeifled by outward pra£lic&; and to outward praftice is coercive power fitly applied."
To this I reply, that purity of ivorfjip is the immediate end of religious fociety, and fahation of fouls the ultimate end thereof. Confider then religious fociety, with regard to its ultimate end, and all we have faid above of the unfitnefs of coercive power ftill holds good. Confider it with regard to its immediate end, purity of worfhip ; and then, indeed, there will appear no unfitnefs in the application of coercive power. Thus we gain by the obje£lion, a conceflion, wliich we mufr otherwife have demanded, as the foun- dation of a claim, we always referved to ourfelves, to make in favour of religious fociety, which is, that it hath in itfelf the
Vol. IV. I power
53 OFACIVILAND Book T.
power of expelling refratSlory members from its body ; or, in other words, a right of excommunication. Nor is this recalling any thing, we had before given up : for if excommunication may be properly called a coercive power, it is yet no coercive power of the civil kind, or what the ftate could exercife ; the fole power here confefl'ed not to be inherent in a church. It only then remains ta prove, that this power is vfefuUy and necejfarily applied, — that it is- all ivhich religious fociety fands in fieed of — and that more is unft and unjujl.
As the immediate end of religious fociety is purity of woriliip j and as a necelliiry means of preferving that purity is uniformity of ivorjjyip ; which cannot be maintained but by expelling from the community all who refufe to comply with what is publickly efta- blifhed, therefore this power of ex-pulfion in every religions fociety is moji ft and ifejul. But we go further, and fay, that every kind of fociety, whatever be its end or means, muft neceflarily, as it is a fociety, have this power of expulfion : it is a power infeparable from the very being of fociety, which can fubfifl: only in the con- formity of the will of each natural member to the will of that artificial body which fociety produces : this being violated, as it muft be unlefs all contraveners be expelled, the fociety diHolves, and falls back again into nothing. Juft as would be the cafe of the natural body, (hould not nature, whofe condud focieties, in this cafe, imitate,* evacuate noxious and malignant humours.
But then, fecondly, this fo ufeful and neceflary power is all which a religious fociety fands in needs of. For by the exercife of this power, conformity in belief and worfhip is preferved ; which fecuring the eflence and end of a church, is all that is neceflary to the well-being of Society.
' In the lafl: place, more coercive power than this is both unfit and un- juf to be exercifed by a religious fociety. That it is tmfit appears from hence : the immediate end of religious fociety being purity of worfliip, it requires outward conformity, to whatis publickly eftabliflied : and, at the fame time, its ultimate end being the falvatiou of fouls, it
requires
Chap. 5. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 59
requires likewlfe that this outward conformity be accompanied with a fuitable difpofition of mind ; but any further power than fwipk expulfion tends naturally to make a divorce between thefe two things. For fuch further poweryi?rc^j, more or lefs, to o?//w^r^ compliance with the community ; but as the will cannot at the fame time be forced, here is likely to be only outward compliance, without an inward difpofition fuitable thereunto: fo that by this means the ultimate end of religious fociety becomes defeated : further power therefore than fimple expulfion is unfit. That further power is imjujiy appears from hence : by the law of nature every man hath a right of worfhipping God according to his own confcience. Now when it fo happens that a member of a religious fociety cannot con- fcientioufly join in the public worfhip, and be on that account expelled by the fociety, in order to preferve its efTence and end, fuch member is fo far from being debarred, by that expulfion, of his right of worfhipping God according to his own confcience, that he is thereby put into a way of exercifing his right without mo- lefl:ation. But if any further power be allowed, either of keeping fuch member within the fociety againfl his will ; or of annexing, to expulfion, any mul£l on his perfon, goods, or reputation ; in fuch cafe, the right of nature is fcandaloufiy violated * : a force being put upon his confcience, either by direcl reflraint, or by obliquely biafllng the determination of his will. All coercive power therefore, other iViznJimple expulfion. Is unjufl.
2. But it will be again urged perhaps, that, in thus removing one objedion, we have made way for another; which is, "That by granting a coercive power to the church, for fuch (they will fay) is the right of excommunication, we deflroy the argument of her independency by the law of nations, founded on her having no coercive power ; which power clafliing with the fl:atc's, brings in
* Cum ergo & Chriftiis & Apoftoli, quo loco explicant ecclefiaftica; poteftatis cen- furiquc vim Aimmam, nihil de adimendis temporalibus juribus aiit rebus cdicant fatis proftdo conllat non id ad poteflatein Ecclefiafticam pertinere. Bortuet, I, v. c. 23. F. T.
I 2 xia
6q OFACIVILAND Book I.
aa imperium in imperio ; to remove which, that law prefcribes her dependency." This too admits an eafy folution. We fay that civil fociety having no right to reward any of its members by admiffion into a religious focietj ; and no right to punifh by ex- cluding from it ; the church's exercile of this power can never poffib'.y clafh with the flats ; and confequently the argument for its independency ftill holds good.
We are now come round ; and have at length proved, what in the beginning of this chapter had been aflerted, that religious
SOCIETY HATH NO COERCIVE POWER OF THE CIVIL KIND: for We
have (hewn that this power of expulfion from a religious fociety, is not a power which the ftate can exercife.
Nor doth the denial of a coercive power make the church an ener- vated, defencelefs body, expofed either to the injuries of thofe without, or to the infults of thofe witliin : it hath ftill all the power and authority, that, as a religious body, it can exercife ; all that is necelfary to preferve it a regular well-ordered fociety; ii> which are rites and ceremonies, miniflers with degrees of fubordi;- nation, and judiciary aflemblies : for the power of conHituting a difcipline and a formulary of communion,, both enforced by excom- munication, will flill remain unto it. What hath made fome men apprehend fad confequeuces. from the church's being thus left without the guard of coercive power, is their feeing it fland po{^ feffed of fome advantages, by them fuppofed eirential to a church, which coercive power only can fecure. But thefe may be eafed of their apprehenfions by being told, that thofe advantages are only adventitious *, and beftowed upon it by the flate, in confequence o£
an.
* Nempe utriufque poteftatis fanfta focietas poftulabat, ut altera alterius munia ia fpeciem ufurparet, ex jure quo amici amicorum rebus luuntnr — Qiio demonftratur non efle femper pro vero innatoque Eccltfiae jure reputandum id quod ea egerit, habueiit, decreverit, tncentibus Regibus ; fed diligentiirime fecernenda quae a Chriflo conceffa flint, ab lis quae Regum autoritate, confenfii, permiffu, conniventia, filentio denique Jufl'erit aut habuerit. — Ac tamen fi nullse conceffiones producuntiir, valere tamen ea. omnia ex conceffione tacita facile demonftrabunt. Quid ita ? Quia fcilicet ipfa rerum-
natura
CffAP. 5- RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 6f
an Union; and as the ftate granted thefe, it granted coercive power likewife to defend them ; and that, when the unkn is diflblved,. they both fall together, without any effential damage to the church, as a Religious Society.
Thus have we endeavoured to eftablifli thefe iivo great ejfet.tlal Chara5lers of a Religious Society, its Independejjcy, and its Disclaim of coercive power : where, it is worth obferving, that the arguments employed to prove that each of thefe charafVers do indeed belong to it, are ftrongly inforced by the neceflary connexion there is between them. For admit the Religious Society to be in- depetidentj and you invincibly deftroy all pretence to coercive power %. becaufe coercive power introduces an imperium in Imperio, which is- removed only by deftroylng the independency. Admit again, thaD Religious Society has no coercive power, and you luperfede all the ftate's claim of dependency : a claim folely founded on the evil of an imperium in imperio, which evil can arife no otherwife than by tl>e church's exercife of an inherent coercive power : and yet thefe plain, and almoft felf-evident, principles have had i^o ill reception^ in the world, that They have been overlooked and neglected; while two very differL-nt fyftems of church-government have divided the general fuffrage between them. Different, I fay, not only from what is here delivered and explained, but from each other j yet agreeing in this, to make an unnatural divorce between the two eflenti-.il characters, which are here (hewn to have an infeparable conncdllon in nature, mdef'enJency and no coercive pozver : the one giving to the church this independency together with coercive power; and the other ftripplng and depriving it of both one and the other.
I. The flrft of thefe fyflems is that of the high-church cler- gy*, which contends for the abfolute independency of the church
jiatiira docer ecclefiaftica non nifi per Ecclefiam haberi pofle. Sic iibi Ecclefia feudos ndimit, conctdit, aut aliud quid ex civili poteftate decerpit ; ea civiljs poteftatis conffiifioi.e l.-ltem tacita accepta referemus. Boffuet, Defenfio Declarationis, &c, 1. viii. c. 4. F. T.
• See note [G], at tlic end of this Book,
with
62 OFACIVILAND Book t
with all the prerogatives and powers it is found to ftand poffefled of, under an eftablifhment. If this error be not fufficiently deteded already, the fhewing, as I ihall do in the next book, how the church became pofl'efled of feveral of its prerogatives and powers, now legally enjoyed by it, will abundantly expofe it. 1 will only obferve, that this model, if indeed it be not the true popish iVftem a little difgnifed, is infinitely more irrational than that : Becaufe a church with inherent coercive power, which, with a falfe modelly, flops at mere independency, obtrudes a fcheme attended with all the evil of an imperium in imperio; when going one flep further, and taking the flate into pupilage and proteftion, would efFeilually remove it. Backwards or forwards this fyftem mull needs go : for a church fo circumftanced, in order ta avoid that evil, muft fall into the ftat^ ; or the ftate into it. This the court of Rome plainly faw ; and therefore chofe the better part. And a pretence was not wanting. For an inherent coercive power, in the church, neceffarily implying a care of bodies, as one of the ends of that fociety (for to bodies only can coercive power be rationally applied) all ftates when employed in this care, might be fairly underflood as only doing journey-work for the church. Thus that refined court chalked out no idle plan of power, when, together with the brute thunder of the valicatty it forged real fetters for the prollirate and fervile West *.
II. The other fyflem is that invented by, and (I wifh I could fay) peculiar to the enemies of our holy faith ; at the head of which ftand the two famous authors of the Rights of the Christian Church, and of the Independent Whig. The true defign of thefe books is evidently this, to perfuade us that the Chriftian and all other cliurches, in their natural ftate, without coercive power, are creatures of the civil magiflrate. For while the pretended drift be to fhew from whence an Eftablilhed Church receives its coercive powers, the arguments they employ conclude
See note [H], at the end of this Book,
again ft
Chap. 5. R E L I G I O U S S O C I E T Y. 6^
againft a church's natural independency in any condition what- foever. But it is curious to oblerve the different routs this noble- pair of athletes have taken to arrive at the fame place :
The author of the Rights comes firfl.
Aty quum (ifplcias trijlenty frugi cenfeas.
He hath taken up the argument of Hobbes ; and afFecfls the ten- dered: concern for the good and happinefs of the ftate. So that whenever a church comes in his way, he falls upon it with the old ' battery of mperlum hi imperio. But, in this, lels honefl: than that unlucky philofopher. Hobbes * owned tiie tendency of his argu- ment ; and inforced it for the fake of that very tendtncy. But this^ writer feems willing you fhould believe that it concludes only agaiufl^ a High Church Clergy.
The Writer of the Independent Whig, who appears to have more vivacity than his formal brother, is for quicker difpatch. His ready road led him on to the dtlirudion of all Church Officersy and the very being of a Af/«3^'^' : which that he might the eafier bring, about, he has repreftnted all public rites, and afl'embhes for wor* ihip, as impertinent ; by (hewing the natural inefficacy of prayer for obtaining our petitions ; which again (for, to do him juftice, he is very confequential), he eftablifhes on the doSlrine oj fate. This he well faw would bring on a thorough dependency : a dependency that was like to laft ; as being produced by the deftruiflion of the fociety itfelf. And yet, after all this, he hath the honeft confi- dence to talk of the church as of zjociety. But a fociety without officers degrees of iubordination, and powers adapted to its nature, being as iuconfillent, unintelligible an idea as a houle withovit walls, root, or apartments ; \\& muft conclude that he who fo talks, intends to give us a fociety in words, but to deprive us of it in reality.
In earned:, I do not know a greater infult ever put on the un- derrtandings ot men than by thefe two writers ; while it was pre-
• See note [I], at the end of this Book,
fumed
64 O F A C I V I L, ^f. Book I.
fumed that the gloom of equivocation, which fpreads Itfelf through the formal chapters of the one ; and the glare of puerile declama- tion, that tinfels over the trite ejfays of the other., could hide their true end from the obfervation of thofe whofe deflruflion thev were confpiring. For, as Tully fays of the two aflaflin gladiators, Par ejl iwprobilaSy eadon impudentici, gemina audacia ; ©" ubi, ^irifes, inuha audaoler, multa improbey multa perjidiose fa£ia videtis, ibi SCELUS quoque hi ere inter ilia tot Jlaghia putatote'*.
Let the reader then but attentively confider what hath been here faid of the different natures of civil and religious fociety, and he will need nothing more than the plain principles, deduceable from thence, to unravel all the (illy fophiftry which makes up the bulk of thefe two famous performances ; though the firfl of them, the parent of the other, hath impofed upon a great writer f ; and, as it is pretended, was planned by the affiiftance of one ftill greater |.
On the whole, how different foever thefe High-church and Free- thinking fyftem-makers would have their notions thought from Popery and hifidelityf they are unavoidably drawn, by the alacrity of their own heavinefs, into the very centers of Malmjhury and KGine ; from whence indeed they derived their birth ; but are, I know not how, ungracioufly afhamed of their progenitors.
* Orat. pro Sex. Rof. Amer. f Le Clerc. J Mr. Locke.
NOTES
I ^5 1
NOTES TO BOOK T.
P. 30. j]Aj. 'T^HIS will aid us to refolvc a doubtful queftion ; namely, -^ Whether a bavijhed man be a fubjed of the Jiate from which he hath been been expelled ? Hobbes and Puffendorf hold the negative ; and Tuliy, with the excellent Lord Chancellor Hyde, the affirmative. The former, in fupport of their opinion, fay, that, by the very a<ft ot expul- iion, the ftate gives up and renounces all right of fubje(flion : the latter only appeal to the pradtice of focieties ; the reafon of which pra(flice, as here given, feems to determine the queftion in their favour.
P. 37. [B3. Whoever reads what is here faid of the different views and ends which God and men had in inftituting the two feveral communities. Civil and Religious, cannot but be furprifed at the extreme ignorance or iv\?XXtntionoi J.J. Roujeaii, Citizen of Gefieva, who, in his Contm^ Social, fpeaking of the means employed by the ancient law-givers to procure fub- miffion to their laws, concludes his obfervations in thefe words — " II re " faut pas, de tout ceci, conclurre avec Warburton que la politique et " la religion aient, parmi nous, un object commun; mais, dans I'origine " des nations I'une fert d'inftrument a I'autre." p. 59. " But from all this " we are not to conclude with Warburton, that civil policy and religion *' have, amongft us, one common object j but in the origin of nations, *' one was made an inftrument to the other." — Now this whole chapter of the Alliance is written for no other purpofe than to prove that Civil Policy and Religion had not one common object, but two, entirely different and diftinft. The very thing which poffibly mifled him (viz. the title of my book, The /llliance between Church and State) had he duly attended to it, would have fet him right : for the word Alliance, whtn ulcd, as here.
Vol. IV. K in
66 O F A C I V I L A N D Book 1.
in a civil fenfe, and applied to Church and State, fhewsthat, in my opinion. Policy and Religion had not one common object: becaufe an Alliance between two communities implies the independency of each : but had the Church and State one ccmu.on ohjs£l, this would deftroy the independency of one, in order to avoid, what of necefCty mufl be avoided, an imperium in imperio. If Mr. Roufleau, by the common object held by Warhtrton, means, the good of inankind, he either trifles or prevaricates. In this fenfe, all the ordinances of God, all the legitimate inftitutions of man, have one common ohjc6i. The confequence of all this is, that either Warburton or RoufTeau was here upon a fubjedt which he did not underftand. Yet this is the man who fays to Chrillophe de Beaumont Archeveque de Paris, " Monfeig- *' neur, J'ai cherche la veiite dans les livres; je n'y ai trouve que le men- ♦' fonge & L'erreur — C'efl fouvent un petit mal de ne pas entendre un •' auteur qu'on lit : mais e'en eft un grand quand on Ic refute, et un tres •• grand quand on le diifame."
But if this writer be confequent, the principle, that Civil Policy and Reli- gion have one common obje3, is his own : for he holds, that though the Magiftrate ought to tolerate Religions already introduced and fpread abroad in the community, yet he is under no obligation to fufFer new ones to be introduced ; and that in policy he Ihould not do it. — " Quant aux *' religions une fois etablies ou tolerees dans un pays, Je crois qu'il eft in- " jufte et barbate de les y detruire par la violence, et que le fouverein fc " fait tort a lui-meiBe en maltraitant leurs feftateurs. II eft bien different ♦< d'embraffer une religion nouvelle, ou de vivre dans cette ou Ton eft: " ne ; k premier cas feul ejl puniffable. On ne doit ni laifler etablir une " divcrfite de cultes, ni profcrire ceux qui font une fois etablis." Now if M. Roufleau fays this upon principles, and does not merely copy Bollng- broke, as Bolingbroke is copied by Voltaire, he muft needs efpoufe the opinion which he falfly charges upon the Author of the Alliance, that Civil Policy and Religion have one common ebjed, for this opinion making- Religion a Creature of the State, fhemay always be fo treated as beft ferves the ends of the civil magiftrate.
p. 41. [C]. From hence we may colledt how pernicious it would be to Society, and how deftruftive of its end, to multiply the ufe of oaths to in- ferior purpofes : for if the fandlion of ;m oath be the great fundamental cement of civil fociety, and the multiplying of them dorh unavoidably tend
to.
Notes. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 6;
todiflblve (as it is clear it does) all their force and effic;icy, fuch miilaken politics muft prove very fatal to the (late. Hence too we may fee, ic would be as bad policy, in a contrary extreme, to difpenle with the reli- gion of an oath in matters of higheft moment, out of indulgence to tender confciences. But that which ibews fuch indulgence to be pernicious to fociety, fliews the claim to it to be vain and ill founded ; there being no exemption, on pretence of confcience, from the neceflary demands of fociety. And for politicians to let one part of their fellow- citizens loofe from the religion of an oath on the moft indifpenfable occafions, and to tye up the reft fo clofely by it, and even for trifles, looks as if they had the fame notion of the moral world, that certain philofophers have had of the natural: and that the quantum of oaths in fociety was like the quantum of motion in the univerfe, always to be kept the fame : and a want in one place to be made up by an abundance in another.
P. 46. [D]. It is very true that the new modeling ecchjiajl'tcal Govern- ment was the principal point debated in that famous difpute : but then the Puritans contended for that Reformation on principles that equally con- cluded for a Reformation in the Civil likewife : and this Mr. Hooker well underftood, when he took fo much pains to overthrow their fundamental maxim, the bead iheorem, as he calls it, of their fcheme : — That the fcrip- ture of God is in fuch fort the rule of human a£iions that /imply whatfoever we -do and are not by it directed thcreuiiio, the fame is fin. Now who fees not that this principle purfued, brings on, direftly and neccffarily, a Refor- mation of the civil government upon Jewilh ideas ? The very error of the reformed minifters of that time. This, as we fay, was not hid from the penetration of this great man- The reafon (fays he, in his preface), zvhcre' •with you zvould peyfuade that Scripture is the only rule to frame all our adions byy are in every rtfpcB as effcHual for proof , that the fame is the only law ivbereby tc detennine all our Civil Controverfies : and therefore to root it out for ever was the main reafon, I fuppofe, why, in a particular difpute, he goes fo far back as to give a long account of the original of laws in gene- ral, their feveral kinds, and their diftinft and contrary natures. — But the beft comment on this puritan principle are their a£lions, when in power. They once had that power. — Their ufc of it is well known.
P. 47. [E]. After all this, one would not have expeded to find the fol- lowing paragraph, in the fourth volume of the late bifliop of London's
K 2 Sermons,
68 OFACIVILAND Book L
Sermons, as the laft refult of his thoughts on this qucfllon, though they were the firft in which he had been brought up. — "If the father of a " FAMILY has his authority from God, and rules not only over his own *' children, but the fervants and creatures of the Aknighty, and ought " therefore to have a concern for God and religion ; is the cafe of the " MAGISTRATE different ? Are not his fubjefts alfo the fervants and creatures " of God ? And is he not the minifter and vicegerent of God, and there- " fore bound, in the first place, to have a regard to his honour, who *' is the common mafter of him and his fervants." p. 377, 378.
All this is fo loofely exprefled, that without returning to the bifliop's original principles, one can hardly divine what he would be at. For did any msgiftrate, who believed a God and his government, ever hefitate to- have in ihefirjl place a regard to God's honour? Our duty tO'God ever taking place of the two other branches of morality, thofe which regard our neigh- bour and ourfelves. Or did any fubject ever quarrel with the magiftrate on account of that preference ? We mufl: conclude therefore, that the bifhop, in this paragraph, would infinuate (far, at this time of day, no man, who had regard to his own charadter, would venture to do more) that religion, as fuch, is poperly ivithin the jurifdiSlion of the magijirate, as fuch. A long contefted queftiou; and which, this chapter is employed to confute.
Taking this to be the biihop's meaning, let us fee how he fupports his pofition. The father of a family (fays his lordlhip) having his author r:ty from God, to rule not only over his own children but the fervants and crea- tures of the Almighty J. ought to have a ccncern for God\and religion. The ma- gistrate's commission IS THE ih^u. I. therefore the magijlrate is in the firfl place to take care of their religion. The argument, we fee, fuppofes, that the office oi father and magijlrate is the fame, and derived from the fame root and original. If this be not true, the argument falls to the oround. But no man, unlefs he be. a follower of Folmar, and a maintainer ef the dit'ine hereditary right of kings, will pretend to fay that paternity and MOKARCHY are equally derived from the fame fource. Thofe who have exploded the doctrine of pajfi-ve obedience and non-rcftflance tell ano- ther ftory. They fay, that fathers and. patriarchs muft remain fathers and patriarchs ; and can never either ripen or degenerate into kings, as coming from a very different ftock : that thefe latter arofe from compadl:, and were the creatures of the people : that the will of God, difcoverable by
natural
Nores. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 69
natural reafon, gave the immediate right to fathers ; and that the will of man, difcoverable by human adtions, gave the immediate right to kings : that both, indeed, are the ordinance of God, as all things are which have a natural tendency to better and improve humanity. But, to infer from thence, that the rights annexed to one ordinance of God belong to another of his ordinances, (though of quite a different nature and original,) is illogical and inconclufive. Nay even fuppofing that />rt/^r«;'/'j and monarchy were both the ordinance of God in the fame and fupreme fcnfe of an ordi- nance, immediately and extraordinarily revealed from God, It would bv no means follow, that the offices of father and of kir.g were the fame ; nor confequently the adminiftration of thofe offices. The Engliffi monarch, by the felf-fame ordinance^ commiffions a chief-juflice and a captain-general. Has the chief juftice therefore a right to prefide in a court-martial, or the captain-general, in the king's bench ? With juft as much reafon as tlie fupreme laagiftrate diredts and orders the religion of God's creatures, amongft his fubjcds, becaufe a father of a family diredts and orders the religion of God's cvealures, a.mongll his children. As in God's houfe in heaven there are many manfions for tliofe who deferve them ;. fo in God's houihold here on earth there are many offices for thofe who are capable of difcharging them j in which, each has his difllndt, and not one common bufinefs, though the end of all be the fame, the benefit of mankind. Bat tofuppofe this end may be befl: obtained by each fociety's aiming at all the good they are, by any means, capable of promoting, is fo idle a fancy, that it would be the ready way to do no good at all. Since each fociety: would clafti with another, and all of them remain unfit for what they undertake.
P. 56. [F]. In the quarrel between Boniface the Vlllth and Philip the Fair of France, concerning the bounds of civil and ecclefiaftical jurifdic- tion, the Pope roundly affirms that to deny the temporal to be fubjedl to xhtfpiritual is falling into the Manichcan herefy, or the admiffion of its tzuo principles. But his hollnefs might truft to his logic at a time when the learning of the whole body of the French nobility was in fo deplorable a flatc, that the College of Cardinals, writing to them on this occafion in Latin, advifes them (with a true Irifli kindnefs) to get fome honell man to tranflate the letter, for them, into French.
P. 61.
70 OFACIVILAND Book].
P. 6 1. [G]. Archbifliop Laud maj' be called the father of this fedt ; and though he made a norable ufe of the King's iupremacy to carry on his fchemr s, yet that he held the fupremacy to be no better than an ufur- pation, appears pretty plainly from thefe words of his diary, where fpeak- ing of his having procured the Lord High Treafurer's Staff for Juxton, Kifliop of London, he goes on thus — No churchman had it fince Hen.VlL time. I pray Cod blefs him, to carry it fo that the church may have honour, and the king and the Jiate Jervice ami contentment by it. And now if the
CilURCH WILL NOT HOLD UP THFM5ELVES UNDER GoD I Can do nO tnorC.--~
A remarkable paffage in Sir Philip Warwick, who wrote altogether in fa- vour of Laud and his party, will juftify the interpretation I have put on thefe words of the diary. — " He [Laud] was a great affertor of church-autho- •' rity, inftituted by Chrifl: and his Apoftles and as primitively praftifed ; " (which notwithftanding he really and freely acknowledged fubjeft unto *' the fecular authority ;) therefore he carefully endeavoured to preferve the " jurifdidlion zvhich the church anciently excrcifed, before the fecular autho- " rily owned her. At leaft fo much thereof as the law of this our realm *' had applied to our circumftances ; which our common lawyers dayly " ftruck at." Memoires, p. 79.
P. 62. [H]. The Saracen Califes, from fovereign princes, became, as their empire decayed, only fovereign pontiffs. The Roman Popes, frojii fovereign pontiffs, became, as their religion degenerated, fovereign princes. The reafon of this contrary rout was this. Chriftianity, as it degenerated, partook more and more of the fpirit of Mahometanifm : but IMahometanifni never admitted of the fpirit of Chriftianity ; which feparates the two cha- rafters of prince and priest; affigns to each his diftindt province; and gives to each his lawful due.
P. 63. [I]. Hobbes is commonly fuppofed to be an enemy to all reli- gion, efpecially the Chrrfian. But it is obfcrvable, that in his attacks upon it (if at leaft he intended his chapter of the Chrijlian Common-wejlth in the LEVIATHAN, for an attack) he has taken direft contrary meafures from thofe of Bayle, Collins, Tyndal, Bolingbroke, and all the other writers a"-ainft Revelation, They endeavoured to fliew the gospel-system as un- reafonahle as their extreme malice could make it -, he as reafonabk as his admirable wit could reprefem it. The fchcmes of church discipline likewife, which they and he feverally recomniended, were by an odd fa- tality
Notes. RELIGIOUS SOCIETY. 71
talky as different as their reprefentations of the Doctrine ; but in^the reverfe as to their qualities. They, all of them contended for the mofl un- bounded toleration : He, for the moft rigorous conformity. He feems, in- deed, to have formed his plan of ecclefiajlical government before he turned his thoughts to the Cbrijliaii dotirine : and therefore as his politics had in- forced an abfolute fubmiffion to the Civil Magiflrate in fpirituals, he contrived, in order to make it go down the better, to make the objeft of this fubmiffion as reafonable as poffible. Whereas the others, begin- ning with the Chriftian do^rine, which they aimed to render as abfurd as polTible, very equitably contrived to make it fit eafy on their followers, by a licentious kind of toleration deftruftive of all Church Difcipline,
BOOK
[ 73 1
BOOK II.
O F A N
Established Church.
C H A P. I.
Of the Nature of that Union between Church and State, which produces a Religion ejlahlijloed by Law.
HAVING now difpatched the firft part of this enquiry, and (hewn,
I. The Origin of Civil Society ; the natural deficiency of its plan ; and how the influence of religion only can fupply that defed :
II. How all natural and moral good, and confequently this of Religion to the State, may be improved by human art and con-
v-* trivance ; together with the necefiity there is oi feeking this im- provement : And,
III. As the finding it depends on an exa£t knowledge of a civil and of a Religious Society, their difin^ natures and ends have been ihewn and explained :
Vol. IV^. L Wc
/4 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book IL
We are at length enabled to difcover how this improvement is ta be brought about.
For having, by a dlligeut enquiry, found,
I. Firft, 'Thf.t the care of Civil Society extends- only to the Boay and its concerns; and the cure of Religions Society only to the Soul; it necefiarily follows, that the civil magiftrate, if he will improve this natural influence of Religion by human art and contrivance, muft feek fome Union or Alliance with the Church. For his office not extending to the care of fouls, he hath not, ia himfelf,- power to inforce the influence of religion : and the church's pro- vince not extending to the body, and confequently being without coercive power, fhe has not, in herfelf alone, a power of applying that influence to civil purpofes. The conclufion is, that their joint powers niuft co-operate, to apply and inforce the influence of reli- gion, in fuch a manner as may beft ferve the true Interefls both of church and flate. But they can never a6t conjointly but in u?jion and alliance *.
II. Secondly, Having found, that each fociety isjovereign, and in- dependent on the other, it as neceffarily follows, that fuch union can be produced only by free convention and mutual com- pact : becaufe whatever isfovereign and independent can be brought to no adl without its own confent : but nothing can give birth to a
free convention, but a feiife of mutual wants which may be fupplied, or a view of mutual benefits which may be gained, by it. Such, then, is the nature of that Union which produceth a Church by Law established; and which is indeed.no other than a politic
♦ Arabas poteftates, ecclefiafticam et civilem, ita efle divino numine conftitutaj, ut in fuo gene re & ordine unaquaque fub uno Deo proxime coUocata prima ac fuprema fit : collate vero invicem, focine foederatseque funt — ergo ambse poteftates fupremae ac piincipes in fuo ordine, conjunftaeque St anilcte, non una alteri per fcfe fubdita, fubor- dinataque eft — fatis cnim claruit duas quidem poteftates effe oportere, ecclefiafticam & civilem, qiias principales ac fiipremx, & tannen focix, conjunflsE & arnicas, ne focietas humana diftrahatiir. Mutuam fibi operam ('n.bent, pra;ftantque, & fcfe miituo non tan- tiim adjuY.int, venim etiam temperant. Boffiiet, 1. v. c.31,32, &!■ H. f . T.
league
CriAP.r. OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 75
league and alliance for mutual Jupport and defence. For the ftate not having the care of fouls, cannot, of itfclf, inforce the influence of religion; and therefore fceks aid of the church: and the churcii having wo coercive poiver (tlie confequence of its care not extending to bodies) as naturally ^ixt?, for protection to the fate--. This being of the nature of that alliance which Grotius calls, Foedus inae- QUALE. " Inaequale foedus ffiys he J hie intelligo quod ex ipfa vi ** pa£lionis manenteni prcehdionem quandam alteri donat : Hoc eft *' ubi quis tenetur alterius imperium ac majefta-tem confervare UT
*' POTENTIORI PLUS HONORIS, INFERIORI PLUS AUXILII DEFE- *' RATUR-f-'"
From whence it is feen, that, were thofe common notions true, which we have been at fo much pains to confute, concerning the nature of a church Tind. fate, there could be neither room nor motive for this alliance. Were they not independent on each other, there could be no room ; becaufe^r^^^t;;; of%vill, the very eflence of this alliance, would be wanting on one part ; and had the fate the care of fouls, or the church the care of bodies, there could be no mutual motive; for, in the firft cafe, the ftate, by Its own authority, might apply religion to civil purpofes : in the latter, the church, having, in confequence of the care of bodies, an inherent coercive power, might, by its authority, provide for its own fecurity.
An Alliance then, hy free convention, being in its n^\.xxvefucb that each party muft have its motives for contradting ; our next enquiry will be, firft,
I. What thofe motives were, which the ftate had iotfeeVing, and the church for accepting the offers of an Union. And, fecondly,
* tixc extant prseclara Arnulfi Lexovenfis Epifcopi verba, " Dignitas ecclefiaflica *' regiam provehit potius quam adimit dignitatem, et regalis dignitas ecclefiaflicam con- •* fervare potius confuevit quam tollere libertatem. Equidem quafl quibufdam fibi " invicem complexibus dignitas ecclefiaftica & regalis concurrent ; cum nee reges falu- " tem fine ecclefia, nee ccclefia pacem fine proteftione regia confequatur." Marca, 1. ii. c. 12. F. T.
t Dc Jure Belli & Pac, Lib. i. cap. iii. §21.
L 2 II. What
76 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book II.
II. What were the mutual benefits and advantages anling there- from.
By xh&frji part of which enquiry, we hope to make it appear, That this alliance was indispensably necessary for se- curing THE WELL being AND HAPPINESS OF CIVIL SOCIETY :
And by the fecondy That no common right of man, civil op religious, is impeached BY IT. To demonftrate iv.bicb is one of the principal ends of this difcourfe.
CHAP. II.
Of the Motives the State had to feek, and the Church to accepty
an Alliance,
THE motives the magiilrate had to feek this alliance were thefe :
I. To preferve the effence and purity of Religion.
II. To Improve its ufefulnefs, and apply [its influence in the befi: manner.
HI. To prevent the mlfchief which, in its natural independent ftate, It might occafion to civil fociety.
I.
I. The Magiftrate was induced to feek it,
I. jis the necejfary means of prefer vlng the very being of Religion. For though, as hath been Ihewn, Religion conflitutes a Society; and that this fociety will indeed, for fome time, fupport Religion, which, without it, would foon vanlfh from amongil: men : yet, if we confider, that this fociety is made up of the fame indivi- duals which compofe the civil ; anddeftltute likewife of all coercive power J we muft needs fee, that a fociety, thus abandoned to its
owa
Chap.2. of an established CHURCET. 77
own fortune, without fupport or protedlon, would, in no long time, be fwallowed up and loft. Nor can we reafonably hope that this danger might be averted, by that inherent power, we have fhewn, to be in the ftate of retraining the oppugners of the three fundamental principles of natural religion; becaufe that power could only prevent thefe principles from being diredlly depraved or fub- v^rted ; not from gradually decaying and falling into oblivion. Of this opinion was an able writer, whofe knowledge of human nature will not be difputed : " Were it not, fays he, for that fenfe of *' virtue which is principally preferved, fo far as it is preferved, by *' NATIONAL FORMS AND HABITS of Religion, men would f007l *' lofe it all, run wild, prey upon one another, and do what elfe the •' worft of favages do *."
2. But of whatever ufe an alliance may be thought, for pre- fervlng the bei7ig of religion ; the neceflity of it, for preferving its PURITY, is very evident. For if truth and public utility coincide, the nearer any religion approaches to the truth of things, the fitter that religion is for the fervice of the flate. That they do coincide, that is, that truth is produdive of utility, and utility indicative of truth, may be thus proved. That truth is preclusive of utility, appears from the nature of the thing. Obferving truth, is adting as things really are : He who adls as things really are, raufk gain his end ; all difappointment proceeding from adling as things are not ; juft as in reafoning from true or falfe principles the conclufion which follows mufl: be, as the principles, neceflarily right or wrong. But gaining the end of adling is utility or happi- nefs ; difappointment of the end, hurt or mifery. If then truth produce utility, the other part of the propofition, that utility indi- cates truth, follows of courfe. For not to follow, fuppofes two different kinds of general utility relative to the fame creature, one proceeding from truth, the other from falfliood ; which is impof- fible; becaufe the natures of thofe utilities mufl then be different;
* WolIalloQ's Religion of Nature Delioeated, p. 174.
that
7? OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. BockII.
that is, one of them mufl:, and, at the fame tinne, rnuft not, be viiilitv. Wherever then we find universal utility, we may certainl}' know it for the p-robuct of truth, which truth it in- dicates. Let us then confider the danger which religion runs, of deviating from truth, when left, in its natural ftate, to itfelf. In rhefe circumftances, the men of higheft credit are fuch as are famed for greatefl: lanctity. This fanclity hath been generally un- derllood to be then moft perfefl when moft eftranged from the world, and all its habitudes and relations. But this being only to be acquired by leceflion and retirement from human affairs ; and that feceflion rendering man ignorant of civil fociety, of its rights and interefts ; in place of which will fucceed, according to his natu- ral temper, the deftrucflive follies either of fuperflition or fanaticifm ; we muft needs conclude that Religion, under fuch dire£lors and reformers (and God knows thefe are too commonly its lot) will deviate from truth ; and confequently from a capacity, in propor- tion, of ferving Civil Society. I wifh I could fay, we had not fatfl to fupport this fpeculation. The truth is, we have feen, and yet do fee, Religious Societies, fome grown tip, and continuing unfup- ported by, and tmmnted with the flate ; others that, when fup- ported and united, have by ftrange arts brought the ftate into fub- jeclion, and become its tyrants and ufurpers ; and thereby defeated all the good that can arife from this alliance ; fuch focieties, I fay, we have feen, whofe religious dodrines are fo little ferviceable to civil government, that they can profper only on the ruin and de^- flruilion of it. Such are thofe which teach the fan6lity of celibacy and afceticifm; xhefniuhtefsofJefenJiveivcv, oi capital punijljincnts^ and even oi civil magifiracy itfelf.
On the other hand, wlien religion is in alliance with the {late, as it then comes under the magiftrate's diredion, thofe holy leaders having neither credit nor power to do mifchief, its purity mufl needs be reafonably well fupported and preferved *. For,
* Imminuta efiet libertas ecclcfise, fi a prlncjpurn fecularium imperio libera, ab epif- popis j.ni(],ua fervitute premerfitur. Marca, 1. iii, c. i. F. T.
truth
Chap. 2. OF AN ESTABLISHED CHU RC H. 79
truth and public utility coinciding, the civil magiftrate, as fuch, will fee it for his interefl to feek after, and promote truth in re- ligion : and, by means of public utility, which his office ena- bles him fo well to underftand, he will never be at a lofs to know where fuch truth is to be found. So that it is impoffible, under this civil influence, for religion ever to deviate far from truth ; always fuppofing (for on fuch fuppofition this whole theory pro- ceeds) a legitimate government, or civil policy efiablifhed on the principles of the natural rights and liberties of mankind. For an unequal and unjuil: government, which feeks its own, not public utility, will always have occafion for error ; and fo mull: corrupt religion both in principle and pracllce, to ferve its own wrong interelts *.
II. Secondly, the magiftrate was induced to feek this alliance as the necejfary means of improving the ufejuhiefs ; and of applying the in- Jluence of religion to its fewice. And this an alliance doth by feveral ways.
I. By bejiowiug additional reverence and veJieration on the perfon of the c/w7 magistrate, and on the laws ofthejlate. For in this alliance, where the religious fociety is taken under the protecSlioij of the ftate, the fupreme magiftrate, as will be fliewn hereafter, IS acknowledged head of the religion. Now nothing can be ima- gined of greater efficacy for fecuring the obedience of the people. Thofe two confummate nnaftersin politics, Arijiotle and Machiavel-f, thought it of fo great, as to be fufficient to gain reverence and fe- curity to a tyrant. What then muft we fuppofe its efficacy on a
* See note [A], at the end of this Book.
■f- "EriJi T« «7f«5 Ta; Ssi; ^ai»ej6ai aii (ms^x^otlix, ita^i^iyluf, Jrloy te yap psSSilat to iirxiCv Ti ■ara^ziSftov ltto rii/ Toiarajy, lay Sits-iSxt/JiOtx vo^ii^HJiv t'jxi to> x^p(oflx xj ^^oy1»^;i» t^v 9tS». Ktx. I •Ti^eXiiJsffii Jiriar, w;o-iifif«»;)(;B{ tjjoli j^TB^Sja,-. Polit. lib. V, c, 12. — Et non ii cofa piill ne- eeffarii a pare re d'havere, che qiiefta ultima qualita [religione] perche gli huomini in «nifcriale giudicano piu a gli occhi che alls inani, perche tocca k vedere a ciafcuno a fcntire a pachi. Del Principe, cap, xviii,
legitimate
To OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book II.
iegitlmate niaglftrate * ? The fame veneration will extend Itfelf over the laws likewile. For while fome of them are employed by t-Iie flate for the fupport of the church ; and others lent to the church to be employed in xhQ,Jcrvice cf the Jlate, and all of them enafted by a legijlature in ivhkh church-men have a confiderable JJoare ; all thefe things, as we fhall fee prefently, being amongft the condi- tions of (7/7/i7'.c^ ; laws^ under fuch direction, muft needs be obeyed with the greateft reverence.
2. By lending to the church a coaSiive power. It may be remem- bered that, in fpeaking of the innate defeats in the plan of civil fo- ciety, we obferved, that there were feveral forts of duties which civil laws could not inforce : fuch as the duties of imperfect ob- ligation; which, a religious fociety, when endowed with co^c- tive power to invigorate the influence of religion, is capable of exading; and sucu likewife of the duties of perfect obliga- tion, whofe breach is owing to the intemperance of the fenfual appetites. The fevere prohibition of which threatens greater and more enormous evils. For while thefe unruly paflions overflow, the flopping them in one place is caufing them to break out with greater violence and diforder in another. As the rigorous punifli- ment of fornication hath been generally feen to give birth to unna^ tural lufl:6. The effectual correftion therefore of fuch evils muft be begun by moderating and fubduing the paflions themfelves. But ihis^ civil laws are not underfl:ood to prefcribe ; as punlfilng tiiofe paflions, only when they have rifen into aci : and not re- warding the attempts to fubdue their firfl: irregular motions. It mufl be a tribunal regardii^g bad intentions as criminal, which can moderate and regulate the pafl!ions. And this is no other than the tribunal of religion. When this is done, a coaftive power of the civil kind may have a good effed ; but not till then. And
* Cives in officio fiio erga fe & crga prlucipem religionis cultu, veluti vinculo qnodam, adftringnntiir, \iC de Romanis obfcrvavit Auguftiiuis. Marca, 1, ii. c. lo, \, T.
who
Chap. 2. OF AN ESTABLISPIED CHURCH. 8i
who (b fit to apply this coadtive power in fuch cafes, as that fociety which fitted and prepared the fubjecl for its due reception and ap- plication * ? Again, we have obferved, that the (late pnniflies de- viations from the rule of right, as cflmes only ; and not as they Tsxtfuch deviations ; nor as they T^xejins : and on that firft idea pro- portions its punilhments : by which means fome very enormous deviations from the rule of right, which do not immediately afFedt fociety, and fo not confidered as criminal^ are overlooked by the civil tribunal. Yet thefe being, mediately^ pernicious to the ftate, it is for its interefts that they fhould be brought before fome capa- ble tribunal. But befides the civil there is no other than the eccle- liaftical endowed with coadtive power. Hence may be inferred the true and only end and iifc of spiritual courts. A church- tribunal then, with coadlive power, being neceflary in all thele cafes ; and a religious fociety having, in itfelf, no fuch power, it muft be borrowed from the ftate : but a ftate, as we (hall fee, cannot lend it, without danger, but on the terms of an alliance: a ftate therefore will be induced to feek this alliance, in order to improve the natural efficacy of religion,
j. By conferring on the Jl ate the application of this efficacy of re- ligion ; and by putting it under the magijirate' s direBion. There are peculiar jundlures when the influence of religion is more than ordi- nary ferviceable to the ftate ; and thefe the civil magiftrate beft knows. Now while a church is in its natural ftate of independency, it is not in his power to improve thofe conjundlures to the ad- vantage of the ftate, by a timely application of religion ; but when the alliance is made, and confequently the church under his direc- tion, he hath then authority to prefcribe fuch public exercifes of religion, in fuch manner, and at fuch feafons, as he finds the exi- gencies of ftate require f-
* See note [B], at the end of this Book.
f See the fcandalous fquabbles between the cisil magiftrate and the church, con- cerning the exercifc of this power, in the hiftories of the frefyterlan church of Scotland,
Vol. IV. M 4. Bv
82 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book IL
4. By engaging the church to appl^ its utmofi endeavours in the fa-' vice of thejiate. For an alliance laying an obligation on the ftate to protedt and defend the church, and to provide a fettled maintenance for its miniflers, fuch benefits muft needs produce the highefl: attachment to the benefador ; which will be fhewn from motives both of gratitude and interell:, in the moft zealous labours for the fervice of civil government *.
III. Lajily, the magijlrate ivas in/iiiced to feek this alliance as the only means of preventing the mifchiefs that the church, in its natural independent condition, might occafion to civilfociety. i. For, in this lituation, the church having, of Itfelf, a power of aflembling for religious worfliip, fadlious men may conveniently, under that cover, hatch and carry on defigns againft the peace of fociety ; and the in- fluence which popular and leading men gain over the confciences of fuch affemblies, by the frequency of public harangues, may eafily ripen thefe contrivances into a£l ; when flrengthened with the fpecious pretext of religion. That unhappy prince, Charles I, ■when he was now become better infl:ru<5ted by misfortunes, and able enough to underfland, that the interefl: of his country and his own were the fame, delivers himfelf in thefe words : " Touching
♦ the government of the church by bifhops, the common jealoufie
♦ hath been, that I am earneft and refolute to maintaine it, not fo ' much out of piety, as policy, and reafon of ftate. Wherein
♦ fo far indeed reafon of ftate doth induce me to approve that go- ' vernment above any other, as I find it impoflible for a prince to ' preferve the ftate in quiet, unlefs he hath fuch an influence upon ' churchmen ; and they fuch a dependence on him, as may befi:
♦ refl:raine the feditious cxorbitancies of minifters tongues ; who
♦ with the keys of heaven, have fo far the keys of the peoples
* Carolus Magnus, proeter caufas pietatis, motus etiam fuit ad diflribiienda liberali inanu bona ecclefiis ob utilitatem reipublica;, exiflimans nimirum epifcopos fanftiiis obfervaturos fidem promiffam. Marca, 1. viii. c. ig. F, T.
« hearts,
Chap. 2. OF AN ESTAB L I SHE D CHURCH. B3
** hearts, as they prevail much by their oratory to let in, or fliut *' out, both peace and loyalty *." Now all thefe evils are fpeedlly remedied by this alliance. For now the civil magiflrate being be- come protedor of the church, and, coufequently, fupreme head and diredtor of it, the miniftry is much in his power ; that mutual dependency between the clergy and people, fo pernicious to the ilate, being, by means of a fettled revenue, broken and deftroyed. He admits and excludes to the exercife of their fundion as he fees fit ; and grants it to none but fuch as give a previous fecurity for their allegiance to the ftate. By which means, all that power and influence, which the minifters and leaders in a church had over it before the alliance, as the protestors of religion, is now drawn off from them, and placed, more properly, in the civil magiflrate f. The view of thefe mifchiefs, from a church in its natural ftate of independency, fo terrified Hobhes and his followers, that they denied there ever was fuch a ftate; for that the magiflrate had a natural right of dominion and fupremacy over the church, as his fervant and creature ; which was arguing juft as reafonably as that community would adl, who, alarmed at the growing power of a neighbour, from which a likely mifchief might be fufpected, fhould endeavour, on a principle of right, to bring that people which gave them umbrage under vaflalage. Whereas reafon and juftice both point out a different remedy, which is to obviate the mifchief by league and alliance. The fame fiiould be done in the affair before us : and were not men unreafonably prejudiced againll: a church, they would fee the cafes to be exactly alike. Indeed when there is, during the independency of two different focieties com- pofed of one and the fame people, a natural and direct tendency,
♦ EIKfiN BASIATKH, chap. xvii.
t Ex hoc tuitionis & patrocinii jure quod reges exercent, illud coirmodi in eccle- fiam totamque rempublicam Chriltianam rediindat, lit €cclefiafHca & civilis poteflas amico & perpetiio fcederc invicem conjunftae mutiiis auxiliis ad comprimendos im- proborum conatus & juvanda bonoium iludia inter fe confpirent, Marca 1. ii, c. i^. F. T.
M 2 ia
84 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book IL
in the legitimate exercife o^one dominion, to the damage of the other, then the law of nations prefcribes the lefs to be dependent on the greater. But as rehgious fociety hath been (hewn to have nothing in the legitimate exercife of its fovereignty that can clalh with civil power, though it be, indeed, fo hable to be abiifed* as to make it of infinite intereft to the ftate to prevent the abufe, we conclude, that its dependency on- the flate, the only means of preventing the evil, can be brought about no otherwife than by an alliance between the two focieties, on the footing of Tifree convention.
But fecondly, as a Hobbeian claim would be nnjuft in itfelf, fo would the profecution of it be mifchievous to civil liberty. To ex- change that temperate, conditional fubordination of the clergy, hers laid down, for the flavifli dependency which Hobbes and his fol- lowers prefcribe, would prove a very ill bargain for the ftate. An entire independency of the clergy might in time, indeed, overturn a free government ; but fo, more certainly, would a flavifh depen- dence. The noble author of The Jlccount of Denmark, faw clearly the deftrudive confequences of both thefe conditions, where, in the conclufion of his book, he delivers himfelf in thefe words : " It " hath been a great miftake amongft us tliat the PopiJJ} religion is ** the only one of all the Chrijlian feds proper to introduce and " eftablilh flavery in a nation ; infomuch that popery and flavery *' have been thought infeparable. — I (hall make bold to fay, that " other religions have fucceeded as effedually in this defign as ever «« Popery did. — For in Dentnark, as well as other proteflant coun- •' tries in the north, through the entire dependence of the clergy upon ** the prince, through their principles and dodrine, which are thofe *' of unlimited obedience, through the authority they have with *' the common people, &c. flavery feems to be more abfolutely *' eftablilhed than it is in France." If then, in the opinion of this famed politician, an abfoluie independence and an abjolute dependence
* See note [C], at the end of this Book.
are
Chap. 2. OF A N ESTABLISHED CHURC M. 85
are equally pernicious to fociety, what remains, but to confefs that the clergy's condition in allimice, which takes off their indepen- dency, and makes them the free fuhjccls, but not the tools of civil power, is that very circumftance in which only they can be ufeful to fociety, in the manner they were defined by God and nature. What obligations, therefore, lye on every lover of his country to proteft from imio'vatiofis our prefent happy conftitution, which hath actually placed the clergy in this very condition ; from which the churches of the mrih and foutb have £0 fatally deviated, though, into contrary extremes !
2. Another mifchief there is in this wiaUied condition of the church, flill more certain and fatal, whenever more than one re- ligion is found in a ftate. For, in thefe latter ages, every feci,. thinking Itfelf alone the true church, or, at leaf!:, the moH perfeSI^ is naturally pufhed on to advance its own fcheme upon the ruins of the reft ; and where argument fails, civil foxver is made to come in ; as foon as ever a party can be formed in the public adminiftra- tion : and we find they have been but too fuccefsful in perfuadinjr the magiftrate that his interefts are much concerned in thefe reli- gious differences. Now the moft efFeftual remedy to thofe dange- rous and ftrong convulfions, into which ftates ere fo frequently throwa by thefe flruggles, is an alliance', which ejlablifies one church, and gives a full toleration to the rejl*-, only keeping fecta- ries out of the public adminijlration ; from a heedlefs admiffion into which, thefe diforders have arifen.
Having now fhewn the principal motives which induced the ftate tojeek an alliance with the church :
II.
We come next to confider the motives which the church had to accept it. For, this being, as we obferved, a free convention; unlefs the church, as well as ftate, had its views of advantage, no
* See note [D], at the end of this Book,
alliance
S6 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book II.
elliance could have been formed. To difcover thefe motives, we mulT: recoiled what hath been faid of the nature and end of a reli- gious fociety ; for the benefits adapted to that nature and end, muft be her legitimate motive : but if fo, this benefit can be no other than SECURITY from all exterior violence. The flate in- deed could not juftly offer it, had an alliance never been made. But this is no reafon why the church fhould not think it for her intereft to fecure her natural right by compact, any more than that one ftate fliould not bind another, in the fame manner, nor to do it violence, though that other were under prior obligations, by the law of nature and nation?, to abilain.
But, by this alliance between the two focleties, the flate doth more ; it not only promifeth not to injure the church confederated, but to ferve it ; that is, to proteft it from the injuries of other religious focleties, which then exift, or may afterwards arlfe in the flate. How one religious fociety may be injurioufly atfedled by .mother, we have fhewn juft before : how great thefe Injuries may prove, will be (hewn hereafter. It mufl: needs then be the firll: care of a church, and a reafonable care, to preferve herfelf, by all lawful ways, from outward violence. A ftate then, as we have faid, in order to induce the church's acceptance of this offer, muft propofe fome benefit to her, by it ; and becaufe this is the only legitimate benefit the church can receive, it muft propofe this\ which, there- fore, being confiderable, will be the church's motive for alliance.
There are only two other confiderations which can be deemed motives: The one, to engage thejlate to propagate the ejlahlijlied re- ligion hy force : and the other, to bejloiv honours, riches, and powers upon it. Now, on recurring to the nature and end of the two fo- cleties, the Jirjl motive will be found imjuft ; and the fecond, ini' pertinent. It is unjujl m the church to require the engagement ; be- caufe the peforming it would be violating the natural right every man hath of worfhipplng God according to his own confcience : It Is unjujl in the ftate to engage In It ; becaufe, as we have (hewn,
its
Chap.2. of an established church. «7
its jurifdidion extendeth not to opinions : it is impertinent In a chuich to aim at riches, honours, powers ; becaufe thefe are things which, as a Religious Society, (he can neither ufe, nor profit by. To imagine thele fit accommodations for fuch a fociety, is as fenlual a fancy as theirs who were for building fumptuous tabernacles for the three great meffengers of God, at the Transfiguration. It is very true, that thefe things which, for the fake of the ftate, fol- lowed an alliance, might be in the private views of ambitious church- men, when that alliance was projected ; and might not a little help forward the completion of It. But what motives the clergy of a church might have, is nothing to the purpofe of our enquiry ; we are only to confider what the church had, which, as a Religious Society, confifts of the whole body of the community, both laity and clergy * : and her motive, we liay, could not be riches, ho- nours, and power, becaufe they have no natural tendency to promote the ultimate end of this fociety, Jahaiion of fouls ; or the immediate end, purity of zvorftiip. We conclude therefore, th;it the only legitimate motive fhe could have, ivas fecurity a?id protcSiion from outward violence. This the Reader would do well to keep in mind, becaufe much will be found to depend upon It, in the fequel of this difcourfe.
On thefe /sw/^fj/ inducements then, was formed this free alli- ance ; which gave birth to a Church by Law established : and thefe being lo prevalent, we are not to wonder that the civil communities of all ages had an Established Religion, which was under the more immediate protection of the civil maglftrate ; and fo, diflinguiflied from thofe that were only tolerated. How clofely thefe two interefls were united in the E7jptian policy, which afterwards became the model of civil wifdom to the refl of mankind, is notorious to all who are the leaft acquainted with an-
* — Longe a propofito aberrant, qui ecclefiam clero coercent. Latior eft illius fio-- nificatio qui Laicos ipfumque regem cornprehendit, — Eccleiia; corpus quod ex ficlelium omnium compage conftituitur, in duas pritcipuas perfonas, facerdotalem fcilicet & re«. giam, divifum eft, Marca, I. ii, c, i, F. T.
tiquity^
88 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. BookII.
tlquity. Nor were the polite republics of Rome and Athens lefs Iblicitous for the common interefts of the two focieties than that fage and powerful monarchy, the nurfe of arts and virtue. But au Fjlablified TForJJjip, as we fay, Is the univerfal voice of nature, anxl not confiaed to certain ages, people, or religions. That great voyager, and fenhble obferver of the various manners of men, yohn Bapt'i/l Taverniery fpeaking of the kingdom of Tunquin, fays, " I *' come now to the political defcription of this kingdom, under " which I comprehend the Religion, which is almofi: every ivhere *' in concert ivhb the civil government for the mutual fupport of each ** other *." It is true, there are exceptions to this, as there are to all the general pra(5lices of mankind. Ovington tells us, p. 278. that, amongft the Bannians of India, this alliance is not between religion and the ftate, but between Religion and Trade; every profeflion differing from another as much in its modes of worfhip, as in its ways of traffic. The enemies of our alliance may perhaps improve upon this hint ; for as unwilling as they feem to be, that the church (hould profit by an alliance with the flate, they would not, I fuppofe, be averfe to trade's profiting by an alliance with the church. — Now, if the foregoing account may explain the true origin of this general pradlice, the praSiice, we prefume, will corroborate what hath been faid of the force of the motives here delivered ; the wifefl and mofl experienced law-givers, as we fee, concurring to a£l upon them.
But when I fay that all regular policied ftates had an eflabliped religion, I mean no more than he would do, who, deducing civil fociety from its true original, fhould, in order to perfuade men of the benefits it produces, afhrm, that all nations had a civil policy. For as this writer could not be fuppofed to mean, that every one inflituted a free flate, on the principles of public liberty ; which
* Je viens a la defcription politique de ce royaume, dans b.quelle je comprens la relio'ion, qui eft ^''f/^a? entousheux Je concert avcc le gouvernemcnt civil pour Vaffuy rcci- froque de I'uti £5* tk I'auire, Relation Nouvelle de la Royaume de Tuniuin, cap. x. a la iin.
yet
Chap.2. of an established church. 89
yet was the only foclety he purpored to prove was founded on truth, and producVive of public good ; uecaufe it is notorious, thi\t the far greater part of civil policies are founded on different principles, or abufed to different ends ; fo neither would I be underftood to mean, when I fay all nations concurred In inaking this alliance^ that they all exadlly difcriminated the natures, and fairly adjufted the rights of the two focieties, on the principles here laid down ; though an ejiablifiwent refulting from this cilcrimination and ad- juftment be the only one 1 would be fuppofed to recommend. On the contrary, I know this union has been gener::illy made on mif- taken principles ; or, if not fo, hath degenerated by length of time ; whence it hath come topafs, that the national religion in the Pagan World hath been moft commonly a (lave to the ftate ; and in the; Chriftian, the ftate fometimes a (lave to the church. And, as it was fufficient for that writer's purpofe, that thofe focieties, good or bad, proved the fenfe all men had of the benefits refulting from civil policy in general, though they were oft miftaken in the means; fo it is for ours, that this univerfal concurrence in the two focieties to unite^ fhews the itwit mankind had of the ufefulnefs of fuch au union. And laftly, as that writer's fpeculative principles are not the lefs true on account of the general deviation from them in the actual forming of civil focieties ; fo may not thefe plain principles of alliance^ though fo few ftates have fuffered themfelves to be di- rected by them in praftice ; nor any one before, that I know of, delivered them in fpeculation : efpecially if, as in that cafe, fo in thh^ we can derive fuch mijiake and degeneracy from their caufes. It would draw me too far out of my way to explain diftindly the caufes of the miJlake ; and the Intelligent reader, who carefully at- tends to the whole of this difcourfe, will not be at a lofs to dif- cover the moft confiderable of them ; fome of which I have already hinted at ; and others, I may poffibly, in the fequel, take occafiou to mention. As for the degeneracy^ it hath been obferved, that x\\Q alliance is of the nature of the Foedera iNiEQUALiA : Now, Vol. IV. ' N the
90 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. BookII.
the common effedl of fuch, Grotius informs us of, in thefe words : Interim veriim eji acc'i^ere plerumqiie^ ut qui fuperior eji mfxdere, si is
POTEN'TIA MULTUM ANTECELLAT, PAULATIM IMPERIUM PRO- PRIE DICTUM VSURPET : PR^SERTIM SI FOEDUS PERPETUUM SIT *.
CHAP. III.
Of the reciprocal Terms and Conditions of this Alliance,
AS, from the natures of the two focieties, we difcovered what kind of union only they could enter into ; fo from their natures, together with the motives they had in uniting, may be de- duced, by neceflary confequence, the reciprocal Terms and Con- ditions of this union.
From the mutual motives inducing thereunto, it appears, that iS\t ^xtTX preliminary and fundamental article oi alliance is this,
THAT THE CHURCH SMALL APPLY ITS UTMOST INFLUENCE IN THE SERVICE OF THE STATE; AND THE STATE SHALL SUPPORT AN1> PROTECT THE CHURCH.
I. But, to enable the two parties to perform this agreement, there muft: needs be a mutual communication of their re- spective POWERS. For the province of each fociety being natu- rally diftinft and different, each can have to do in the other's, only by mutual conceflion -j-.
* De Jure Belli & Pacis, lib. i. cap. iii. § 21..
t Hx ambse poteftates inter fe ut duo apices comparantur. His fiia in utraque
fubftantia, terrena fcilicet & cceltfli, affignantur officia, Es ut princijies fuoque in
ordine fupremae fociali tantum foedere conjunguntur, non altera alteri in fuis quidem
rebus fubditur : & quo jure regi perniittitur, ut fuper animarum falute, fed ex canonum
au<ftoritate, decernat ; eodtm jure pcrmlttitur pontifici, ut delinquentes etiam pcenis
tempuralibus, fed fortiifi lege, ncn innata fibi poteflate, coerceat. Boffiict, 1. vi. c. 29.
F. T,
2. But
Chap. 3- OF AN E STAB LI SHE D C HURC M. 91
2. But again, thefe focieties being likevvlfe as naturally indepen- dent one on the other, a mutual concefiion cannot be fafely made unlefs one of them give up its independency to the other. From whence arifes what Grotius, we fee, calls Manens Prjelatio ; which, in his Fcediis incequak, the more powerful foclcty hath over the lefs, by the ceihoi of its independency.
Now from the two conclufions, which neceffiirlly fpring from this fundamental article of iinim^ we deduce all the terms, condi- tions, mutual grants, and conceffions *, which complete this al- liance.
For, from this obligation on the church to apply its influence to the fervice of theflate^ proceed a settled maintenance for the
MINISTERS OF RELIGION, and an ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION
with coaSive power ; which things introduce again, on the other fide, the DEPENDENCY OF THE Clergy on the State. And from the ftate's obligation tofupport and protect the churchy proceeds the Ecclesiastical Supremacy of the Civil Magistrate ; which again introduceth, on the other hand, the right of Churchmen
to a share in THE LEGISLATURE.
Thus are all thefe rights and privileges clofely Interwoven, and mutually connecled by a neceflary dependence on one another. We have here, in a fuccinft manner, ceiuced each of them in the order in which they reciprocally arife : but the importance of the fubjeft requiring a more minute examination into the reafon and foundation of each grant and privilege, we fhall go over them again in a different order ; and put together all that belong to the Church under one head ; and all that belong to the State under
• Chriftianae politis antifntes a fiimmo jure recedebant, ut Concordia; litarent. Attamen cum remiflio ilia nifi certis limitibus concludatur, in abjeilionis viti\im defcif- cat, neceflarii funt rcgtilae quEdatii, intra quas prudenti.i, quse omnino in his negotiis adhiberi debet, fe contineat. Porro regulseilisin eorum axiomatum cognitione confti« tuta funt, qua communi utrinfque reipublica fiiffragio funt rccepta ; ex aequo & bona unitatis &; Concordia; alendsc (liulio, ex utraque parte quamplurima rcmilla. Marca, io prafatione fecunda. F. T.
N 2 another t
92 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book II.
another : the firft order beuig the propereft for a general view ; the fecoud for a particulars but both neceffary, to give a true idea of that mutual connexion with, and neceffary dependence on, one another.
Let us then examine,
I. What the Church receives from the State.
II. What the Church gives to it.
Which will prefent us with a new view of the two focieties as they appear under an eJiabUJlmient ; and leave nothing wanting to enable us to judge perfedly of their natures.
I.
L What the Church receives from the State by this alliance, is, I. Firft, A PUBLIC ENDOWMENT FOR ITS MINISTERS *. a fepa- rate and certain fhare of the national property being afligned for the maintenance and fupport of the clergy ; portioned out into dif- tind benefices ; and collated to by the ftate. The reafons of this endowment are : i. To render the religious foclety, whofe aflif- tance the ftate fo much wants, more firm and ftable. 2. To invite and encourage the clergy's beft fervlce to the ftate, in rendering thofe committed to their care, virtuous. But, 3. and principally, in order to deftroy that mutual dependency, between the clergy and people, which arifes from the minifter's fupport by voluntary contribution ; the only maintenance that could be claimed or giveiv before the two focieties were allied ; which dependence, we have fhewn to be produdtive of great miichiefs to the ftate. Add to all this, that as the clergy are then under the fovereign's diredlon, and confequently become a public order in the ftate, it is but fit and decent, that a public maintenance ftiould be provided for them. Which moft nations have done by way of tythes.
From this account of a public and fixed provifion for the clergy,., may be deduced thefe corollaries.
I. T^hat'-
Chap.3' of an established church. 93
1. T^hat though the payment of tythes to the JewiJI) pr'iejlhood JJiould give the Chrijiian Clergy no right to them, tillbefotvedby the f over eign^ yet the example of this mode oftrovijion, under the Mofaic Oeconomy, may be fairly and properly urged by Chrijiian minijiers infa'vcur of them as a proper civil donation. Under the Mofaic oeconomy, God hiinfelf made the union between church and ftate ; as he had before planned the form of civil government. From his very choice of the Hebrew people we may colleft, that his difpenfation to them was as well relative to the reft of mankind as to themfelves. Now as amongft the various ends which he had for eredling that fociety, we rauft conclude, one was to teach mankind, by his example in the Horeb Contract, to form civil policies on the principles of natural right and public liberty ; fo we may be equally aflured, that one of his ends in uniting the twofocieiies, was to give them the fame gene^ ral lefibn of «/«/!?« snd alliance : If an union, in general, then con- fequently all thofe fundamental terms of union which arife (not from the peculiar nature of the Jewifti church and ftate, but) from the common nature of a civil and a religious fociety united, muft be intended Jikewife for our imitation. But a fixed maintenance in the Mofaic oeconomy, for the priefts, being one of thofe funda- mental terms which depends not on the frame of that peculiar policy, but, of a church and ftate in general, we may fairly con- clude, that the mode of it by tythes, as a mode in itfelf equitable, is not improper for our imitation. For though the eftablifhment of this mode of prcvifiou in Judea confers no divine right, yet it ftrougly fupports every civil conjhtutional appointment of them,
2. A Second Corollary is, 'that it is absurd in any rnnnber of the ejlablifjed church to fufpeSl, that a fettled revenue may be injurious to the jl ate, as making the clergy too powerful : and that it is unjust in any -who are tjot of the ejiablifjed church to refufc payment of tythes, on pretence of their contributing to the maintenance of opinions different
from their own. The fufpicion of church-men is abfurd \ becaufe it appears, from what we have but now obferved, that this policy
hatb
94 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book II.
hath a very contrary effect. ; a fettled maiiUenance deftroyhig that mutual dependency between clergy and people, from whence only can nrife the power of churchntien to do mifchief. In the church of Rome, befides the endowed clergy, there are feveral orders of religious which poffel's nothing, but depend on the charity of the people. And yet, for many ages, theCc ivem and Notches of a cor- rupted church got all the power and influence of churchmen to themfelves, from the endowed clergy, notwithflanding the immen- (ity of their polTeiiions. And the ftate throve accordingly. — The refufal of diflenters is unjr/Ji ; becaufe this maintenance is not aflign- ed by the public for xhc fupport cf opinions^ but for the ufe and fer- vice of the Jlate, as fuch. With as good reafon, therefore, might they refufe to pay other taxes which. In their feveral applications, are for the fame civil purpofe. The difference is only accidental : Church-officers happen to have religious opinions ; and civil officers^ fometimes, have none *.
3. A Third Corollary is : That as a fixed and public maintenance ■ began with an efi.ibliJJ.ed church, fo it mujl end with it. For the members of a church uneftabli(hed have no right, let their affo- ciation, for that purpofe, be as extenfive as it will, to fupport their minifters by an appropriated endowment. All they can do for them is by voluntary contribution ; a fixed maintenance being folely in the power of the ftate to beftow, both as it is a common tax, and as it requires a public fanftion for its exaction : and the ftate could neither wifely nor jufily affix a fettled maintenance on the clergy of a church with which it was not in alliance. Not wifely, becaufe the advantage in breaking the dependency between clergy and people, which the flate gains by a fixed maintenance, would be greatly over-balanced by the inconvenience of giving fo confiderable a (hare of its property to a fociety independent of It. Not jufi/y, becaufe no contribution to a public maintenance could be lawfully- demanded of thofe who are not members of an uneftabliflied church
* See note [El, at the end of this Book.
fo
Chap.3- of an established church. gs
{o pretending. For in this cafe it would indeed be for maintenance of opinions^ which they think erroneous ; and to which no man can be obliged to contribute ; as all men juftly may, to that which, by CGvenant and compaEl^ is exprcfsly dire£led to promote the good of that civil policy of w^hich they are members.
II. The fecond privilege the church receives from this alliance is, a place for her Juperior members in the court of leg'Jlature ; which, with us, is THE Bishops Seat in Parliament. For as it ne- ceflarily follows (as we (hall fee prefeiitly) from that fundamental article of alliance of the State's fupportitig and protesting the Chwchy that the church muft, in return, give up its independency to theflate, whereby the flate becomes empowered to determine in all church- matters, fo far as relates to it as a fociety ; as this, I fay, necefla- rily follows, the church muft needs have its fuperior members in the Court of legijlature, to prevent that power, which the flate receives in return for the protection it affords, from being perverted to the church's injury : for the church's giving up its independency to the ftate, without referving fome fhare in the legiflature, would be making itfelf, inftead of a fuhjeSt, a Jlave, to the flate. Befides, without thefe ecclefiaftics, no laws could be reafonably made in the court of legiflature concerning the church ; becaufe no free man, or body, can be boui>d by laws to which they have not given their confent. So that as the church, when fhe entered into al- liance, cannot Ju/lly, we mufl prefume (lie did not willingly give up her independency, without the rel'ervation of fuch a privilege. This fhews the neceiTity of their (itting and adling in the legiflature, in all affairs ecckffiical. That they fhould a£t too, when they are there, like the other members, in civil matters, is very ufeful to the community : as giving additional fanftion to its laws, when the people fee that church and flate have concurred in their fiiaifting.
From this account of the grounds and original of this privilege- may be deduced the following corollaries ;
I. " That
96 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. BookII.
1. '* That churchmen who fit iu the higher houfe of l^giflature " In confequeuce of this alliance, are to be conlidered firfl:, not as *' REPRESENTATIVES indeed, but yet as Guardians of the *' CHURCH : the qualification for the exercife of this office being *' their baronies. Tliey are in the fecond place to be confidered as " Barons like the other members of that houfe." For not to al- low that bifliops fit as guardians, would be to take away the mod ufeful, and even the rteceffary end of their fitting, ivh'rch is, to iVJtcb over the interejls of the church. Befides, this office implies, that the church flill continues a diJiinSi, though an allied fociety ; whereas to fit only as barons fuppofes the church not only united to, but incorporated with, and dijfolved in, the state, while lay fees alone are feen to give one and the fame privilege both to the lecular and fpiritual lords.
2. " That yet, notwithfianding, thefe churchmen (though they *' fit as guardians as well as barons') do not, on the other hand, by " virtue of this alliance, conftitute or compofe any diftinft or third '* estate in parliament." For this would be attended with all the mifchiefs of a contrary extreme, by putting the allied church ngain in poffeffion of its independency, while it had a negative on the afts of the flate. And this evil, which no management could pre- vent, fo neither could time Itfelf remedy : for the union, which is in its nature diflblvable, would by churchmen's fitting as a third ejiate become perpetual ; every eftate of legiflature being effential to that government whereto it belongs. But whatever is eflentialcau never be feparated or taken away, without a change in the govern- ment itielf.
Thefe are the two extremes fo hurtful both to religion and civil government, fo defirudive of that benefit which a rightly formed alliance is fitted to produce. Yet the common fyfiem hath joined tilt fe two difcordant parts together ; and made the bifhops, at once, guardian-barons and a diJlinSl ejiate.
3. A Third corollary is, " That as the bifhops' right to fit in " parliament began with the alliance, fo it muft end likewife with
" It."
chap.3. of an established church, 97
*' it." It hath been (hewn that the biHiops fit there, ne quid eccle- fa detrhncnii capiat : For the church, by this alliance, having given up its fupremacy to the ftate, which had now, whenever the grant fliould be abufed, opportunities to do her injury, the principal churchmen are placed in a court of leglflature, as watchmen to pre- vent the mifchief, and to give the church's fentiments concernlnff laws ecclefiaftical. But when the alllajice is broken, and the eflab- lifhment difiblved, the church recovers back its ibprernacy, and from thenceforth the ftate lofing the means of injuring, by having no longer a right of making laws for the exterior government of it the church hath no longer a pretence of having guardians m the legiflature : nor will the biftiops' baronies remain, to keep them there ; for thefe tenures will exift no longer than while the church continues ejlablijl.ed; it being part of that public maintenance which the ftate affigns to the clergy of a church in alliance : and which on the diflblution of that union, reverts back again to the ftate. So neither the office nor title ol guardian-barons remaining, bifhops of the univerfal church have no further bufinefs in any particular civil court of legiflature.
Having thus, in a fummary way, confidered the nature of that ftation which churchmen hold in parliament, as it is de ture deducible from the principles of this theory, I fliall now, the fub- jecl being both important and curious, confider it de facto under the feveral forms it affumed, as the Constitution kept improv- ing and refining, till it arrived to that perfedion, in which we hope long to enjoy it.
What I have to obferve on the fubjedl will be beft digefted in a refolutlon of thefe three queftions.
I. Whether the biftiops in parliament now make one of the ESTATES there?
II. Whether they be barons of parhament ?
III. Whether they be peers of parliament \
Vol. IV. O I. As
98 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. BookII.
I. As to the firfl queftlon, it hath been held as a conftitutional point, by many of great name, amongd: which are Lord Chancellor Hyde, Bifhop Stillingfleet, and Archbifhop Wake, that the Bifliops even now compofe an ejlate in parliament. " Learned and unbinfled " men (fays the firft of thefe eminent perfons), wlio know the *« frame and conftitution of the kingdom, know that the bifhops «* are no lefs the reprefentative body of the clergy than the Houfe " of Commons is of the people *." And again, fpeaking of the Bifliops' expulfion from their houfe, he fays, "They who loved ♦' the church, and were afraid of fo great an alteration as the taking *' away one of the three ejlatcs^ of which the parliament is com-
*' pounded, were infinitely provoked +•" He who looks no
further than into the prefent face of the conflitution, will wonder how fuch a dodtrine ever came to be received ; fmce every circum- fiance relating to, and, at prefent, attendant on, the bilhops' feat in parliament, manifefts the falfehood of it. They have no negative voice, which is effential to an estate: they have wo fepar ate houfe for confultation, which hath been long the eftabliflied uiage of an estate: they are not in numbers fufficient, on t\\Q feudal fyftem, to conftitute an estate.
If we would knaw from whence this venerable error hath arifen ; for venerable it is both for the antiquity of it, and for the eminence of thofe who hold it v we muft go up to the very cunabula of the Englifh conflitution.
As in the infancy of letters there was no accurate feparation of fcience ; fo in the infancy of the Northern Policy there was no dif- tinft feparation of ESTATES.
Till the Norman Conquefl, the bishop and the alderman fat together on the bench, in one common judicatory. William made a fit rnd proper feparation of the magiflracy, as the terms of an alliance^ between the two focieties, require. Which, had it not been for an accident of the times, the accumulating fuperflition.
» Hift. of the Rebellion, B. iv,
t Life of Edward ead of Clarendon, p, toi, loi, Svo edit.
and
Chap. 3- OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 99
and the rapacious fplrit of ufurpatlon in the church of Rome, would have been of great advantage to the community, by marking out and afcertaining the proper bounds and limits of each society. For churchmen were very improper miniflers of the crown, to judge in caufes merely civil, both from the peculiar nature of their office, and the implied prohibition of tlieir mafter ; who himfelf difclaims gll temporal jurifdidion. Befides, the pradice of the bishop's fitting with the ALDERMAN rendered the original of the former's coercive power^ there exercifed in a coequality, very doubtful and uncertain. As the AldermarCs authority was feeu to be from the Jlate, men would be naturally milled to think that the hi/hop's was from the church ; at a time too, when churchmen allowed fo little to the civil magiftrate ; whereas all coercive power being derived from the flate, and to be exercifed only for its ufe, it is of the higheft: mo- ment not to have it mifunderftood. From henceforward the CHURCH became, in a more juft and proper fenfe than before, one
OF THE THREE ESTATES OF THE REALM. But it WaS HOt till
long after that they became, as properly, an estate in Par- liament.
For, though the bifhops and prelates fat in Parliament as barons, and as guardians of the church, in fpiritual matters, even from the Conqueft, yet it was not till the twenty-third year of Edward L that churchmen conftituted an estate in Parliament. They and the Commonalty receiving this quality or condition of eftates together, from the mode of granting their aids in Parliament ; which was by taxing themfelves diftindly ; and fupporting themfelves in this right (as appears from all the records) by the exertion of a negative voice ; a privilege which conftitutes, and is eflential to an ejlate in Parliament *. And the way of fummoning the clergy thi- ther,
* When the EJ!atti General of France, a body mod refembling our PtrUaments, had received its moft perfeft form and ftability under John II, his famous declaration concerning its nature and rights (which fome have compared to the Magna Charta of his nannefake, King of England) begins with an inviolable law, that nothing pro-
O * pofe4
loo OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book 11.
tber, as an efate, was by adding the framun'tentes claufe to the biftiop's writ : in confequence of which, the whole body of the clergy appeared, partly in perfon, and partly by proxy ; the bi- fhops, prelates, and thtprocuralores clcri, compofing this ejlate. But as their principal and almofl only bufinefs was granting fublidies to the crown, it happened, as much on this account, as becaufe the tkree efiotcs fat all together in one place, that the exercife of their tiegathe, otherwife than in ecclefiaftical matters, is not fo clearly delivered down to us. For, till the latter end of Edward III. the cftates of Parliament fat together in one houfe. Till then, they debated in common and granted apart : as now, they fit apart and grant in common.
But againft this account of the first estate, it may be ob- jefted, " That even while the clergy gave feparate aids in Parlla. ment, the lower clergy, at times, were not fummoned." I an- fwer, that this makes nothing againft their quality of an ejlate ; for in thofe irregular feafons of the conftitution, the Commons thcmfelves were fometimes neglected, as in the nineteenth year
of Edward III.
It may be further objedled, that, " according to this fyftem, the SECOND ESTATE, confifting of the temporal peers, fliould have taxed themfelves, feparately from the third, confifting of the Commons; in the manner of the first." This is true. And in fa£l they fometimes did thus tax themfelves : though fometimes they did not : and there was fufficient reafon for both thefe prac- tices. The PROPERTY of the kingdom might be confidered in two lights, as feparated either by their different tenures ; or by their fuppofed different originals. When confidered in the firft light,, the tenures of the Lords and Commons were fo very unlike, that it was no wonder they fhould (as they fometimes did) grant
pofed there fliould be held of validity that had not the concurrence of three orders, of the Clergy, Nohla, and Cemmom, and that the concurrence of any two only Ihould not bii.d tUe third, which had refufed it's confent.
their
Chap. 3- OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. loi
their fubfidies feparately and diftin£t from one another. But when PROPERTY was confidered according to its fuppofed original^ one part founded in human right, and the other in divine, it then di- vided itfelf into lay property ssidi clerical', and the property of the Lay Lords and the Commons fell into one of the divifions. Hence they found it reafonable to tax themfelves together. But, as was eflential to ejiafes, the Lords and Commons had a negative on one another, in the common propofal.
Thus was this change in the conftltution (by the addition of 7i clerical ejflate in parliament ) filently and infenfibly introduced. It returned as filently and infenfibly to its former model, by a gra- dual and unperceived exclusion of this ejlate. For the clergy, in that corrupt feafon of religion, ever aiming at an independency on the civil magiftrate, began, In good time, to break in upon this new ejlablijlmient ', firll: by contriving, for the fake of pretended re- gularity, to have their grants in Parliament confirmed in their SYNODS. This was eafily indulged them, being confidered only as a matter of form. When they had fo foon gained their point, it was not long ere they grew fccupulous and uneafy about grant- ing at all in Parliament', and contended warmly for having this bufinefs carried, in the iirft inftance, into their Synods. But this ■was a more ferious matter. Our kings did not care to trufi: church- men out of their fight ; and the wifeft of themfelves began to forefee how it might effeft their new quality of an ejiate in parlia- ment. So this pretenfion, for a time, was coolly pufhed. But the frequent and urgent neceffities of the crown (of which they never failed to make their advantage) encouraged them, at fuch jundtures, to urge this laft demand with frefh vigour : and the monarch, in fuch ftraits, was more intent to get their fubfidies, than to watch over their encroachments : fo that this, likewife, was occafionally fuffered ; as in eafier times, it was occafionally de- nied. However, the clergy having been fo far fuccefsful in their aims, as always to coiifirm, and fometimes to gioe, their fubfidies in lynod, the crown found it neceflary that thefe church-ajfemblies
fhould
I02 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book II.
fliould be evei" at hand to attend parliament, left fcruple or pre- tence (hould afford this jfirjl ejiate a handle to retard the public lup- plies : and therefore at the lame time that the Parliament-writs were ifiued, a writ of fummons was now dlrecled to the clergy, to affemble in fynod, under the new name of a Convocation, as they now treated of civil matters ; to diftinguifh it from a proving cial fynod, which treated only of jpirituaL And to manlfeft more clearly the change in the nature of thefe ecclefiaftical aflemblies, from the time of Edward II. provincial Parliamentary writs were iffued to the two arch-bifhops, or in a vacancy to the prior and chapter, requiring them to fend their mandates to the clergy of the province, to fummon them to Convocation, to qjjift in the difficult and urgent necejjities of the church and realm. On which account, doubtlefs, it was, that in after-times thefe Convocations were thought to be irregular if aflembled out of Parliament-time : and the opi- nion appears to be founded. But the clergy were able fencers. They knew as well how to take advantage of an adverfary (for fuch they almoft always efteemed the civil power) when he was on, as when he was off his guard. The Convocation now conftantly fitting in Parliament-time, it gave them a pretence more obftinately than before to infift on always granting their fubfidies in Convo- cation ; fmce that affembly was always at hand to enable them to ferve the crown with expedition.
How fooa they fucceeded in this likewife, may be guefl'ed at, fi-om what pafled in parliament fo early as the fourth year of Ri- chard II. The Commons having offered a certain fum, on condi- tion the clergy would give their proportion ; the churchmen bravely anfwered, That their grants never had been nor ought to be made in parliament. Without doubt, applauding themfelves for their dexterity in fecuring the honour of their word, by giving the name of g''ant, to the confirmation of it. A covering, flight as it was, yet fultlng, well enough, this fummer-feafon of the church. But the prelates of thofe times never obtained a favour, which they .did not employ for a ftep to procure a greater. Thus we
have
GiiAP. 3- OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 103
have feen how they ul'ed the indulgence, oi fotne times confirming their grants in Convocation, to extend their claim of .■liv:iys Cju- firming them : And, from this latter allowance, how tluy wcie en- couraged to afk the privilege oi fome times m. iking their grants ill Convocation : which when imprudently connived at, they pro- ceeded, in a little time, to claim the right of always making them' there. With what fuccefs they accomplKhed all this may be fceii above, where they declare, as if they had ingroffcd to themftlves. the gift of memory as well as languages, that their grants hnvjr bad been, nor ought to be made in parliaments
But, fo the clergy granted, the indigent monarch was little de- licate about the manner how. He thought he had fully fecured the main point, by always fummoniiig a Convocation along with a parliament. But he was out in his reckoning : the clergy were not to be fo ferved. They appear to have been ill at eafe while labouring inider this badge of civil dependency, the neceflity of granting when the other ejlates did. They therefore at length aflumed, not only, that they ought to grant no where out of' Con- vocation, but that, in it, they Ihould grant but when they them- felves pleafed, as their own conlent, they pretended, was neceffary to bring this Convocation together. In the weak reign of Richard II. Courtney, archbifliop of Canterbury, plainly tells the Kino- himfelf — Credimus qtiodClerus convocarl non valeant, nifi Jcripfimus pro eodem *. By a dextrous pafs of hand, trying to eflablifh this ufurped right on a former contefted one ; by counfounding the new provin- cial Convocation, called for civil matters, with the old provincial Jynods, convened only for fpiritual.
It is true, that by this condud, they loft as much of their hgd ground 011 one fide, as they had gained of their ufurped, on the orher. For when they had poffeffed themfelves of the power of granting only in Convocation ; and claimed to affemble that Convocation when they themfelves thought fit, they had no longer
• See note [F], at the end ofthis Book,
a pre-
104 OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCH. Book II.
a pretence of being an ejiate in parliament . But their canonifls had warned them of the danger of parting with any thing they had once got. So that trufting to what flood them in more ftead than their own cleikfhip, the ignorance of the laity, when in the fourth year of Richard II. they had, as we have feen, affirmed in vekbo SACERDOTis, that their grants never had been, nor ought to be, made in parliament, and thereby fairly abohflied their eJlateJJ.np In parlia- ment, they did not fcruple, in the twenty-firil: of the fame reign, — to pray the King, thatjince divers judgments ivere undo7ie heretofore for that the clergy were not prefent, they might appoint Jome common proBor ivith fufficient authority for that purpofe. They confided in their logic, and were not deceived. They defire they may be fliill acknowledged an ejlate in parliament, becaufe they had been one, HERETOFORE. And the demand was granted : for what rottr/ could refifl: the force of fuch an argument ?
By what hath been faid, the reader may now underhand, that fince the time of Edward I. there have pafl'ed three periods, in the courfe of which, the clergy exercifed this right of taxing them- felves. The firft was when they did it in Parliament only. The fecond, when they did it fometimes in Parliament and fometimes in Convocation. The third, when they did it in Convocation only. Under the two firft they were, without all queflion, a civil eftate in Parliament : under the lafl, a civil ejlate only in Convocation, which they continued to be all the time they taxed themfelves in that place. But wlien they had given up this right to the com- munity, they ceafed to be a civil eftate even in Convocation: and from thenceforth were no other than reprefentatives of the church in ^^I'^xx fynods for fpiritual matters. And in quality of a civil efiate, were reduced back to what they were before the time of Edward I. AN ESTATE OF THE KINGDOM. Very properly diftinguiflied from an efiaie in parliament or in convocation, notwithftanding bi- fliop Stillingfleet's reafoning to the contrary : Who fays, — " That «' then the three fate!) ae not represented In parliament.^* For this is a millake. No efate can fit in parUament but for
their
Chap. 3. OF AN ESTABLISHED CHURCFI. 105
their TEMPORALS : and the clergy, fince they ceafed to