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The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience once more briefly debated [...] (Author: William Penn)

Chapter 4

We further say, That Imposition, Restraint, and Persecution are also destructive of the great Priviledge of Nature and Principle of Reason. Of Nature in three Instances:

1. First, If God Almighty has made of one Blood all Nations, as himself has declar'd, and that he has given them both Sences Corporal and Intellectual, to discern things and their differences, so as to assert or deny from Evidences and Reasons proper to each; then where any Enacts the Belief or Disbelief of any thing upon the rest, or Restrains any from the Exercise of their Faith to them indispensible, such Exalts himself beyond his Bounds, Enslaves his Fellow-Creatures, Invades their Right of Liberty, and so perverts the whole order of Nature.

2. Secondly, Mankind is hereby rob'd of the use and benefit of that instinct of a Diety, which is so natural to him, that he can be no more without it, and be, then he can be without the most essential Part of himself; For to what serves that divine Principle in the universallity of Mankind, if men be restricted by the Prescriptions of some Individuals? But if the excellent Nature of it, inclines men to God, not Man; if the Power of Accusing and Excusing be committed to it; if the troubled Thoughts and sad reflections of Forlorn and Dying men, make their tendency that a way only, (as being hopeless of all other Relief and Succour from any external Power or Command) What shall we say? but that such as invallid the Authority of this Heavenly Instinct, (as Imposition and Restraint evidently do) destroy Nature, or that Priviledge which men are born with, and to

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3. All natural Affection is destroy'd; for those who have so little tenderness, as to persecute men that cannot for Conscience sake yield them compliance, manifestly act injuriously to their Fellow-Creatures, and consequently are Enemies to Nature; for Nature being one in all, such as ruin those who are equally intitled with themselves to Nature, ruin it in them, as in Liberty, Property, &c. and so bring the state of Nature to the state of War, the great Leviathan of the times, as ignorantly as boldly does assert.

2. But secondly, We also prove them destructive of the noble Principle of Reason, and that in these eight Particulars.

1. First, In that those who Impose or Restrain are uncertain of the truth and justifiableness of their actions in either of this, their own Discourses and Confessions are pregnant Instances, where they tell us, that They do not pretend to be infallible, only they humbly conceive 'tis thus, or it is not. Since then they are uncertain and fallible, how can they impose upon, or restrain others whom they are so far from assuring, as they are not able to do so much for themselves? What is this, but to impose an uncertain Faith upon Certain Penalties?

3. As he that Acts Doubtfully is Damn'd, so Faith in all Acts of Religion is necessary: now in order to believe, we must first Will; to Will, we must first Judge; to Judge any thing, we must first Understand; if then we cannot be said to Understand any thing against our Understanding: no more can we Judge, Will, and Believe against our Understanding: and if the Doubter be Damn'd, what must he be that conforms directly against his Judgment and Belief, and they likewise that require it from him? In short, that Man cannot be said to have any Religion, that takes it by another mans choice, not his own.

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4. Where men are limitted in Matters of Religion, there the Rewards which are entail'd on the free acts of men, are quite overthrown; and such as superceed that Grand Charter of Liberty of Conscience, frustrate all hopes of Recompence, by rendring the Actions of men unavoidable: But those think perhaps, They do not destroy all Freedom, because they use so much of their own.

5. Fifthly, They subvert all true Religion; for where men believe not because it is True, but because they are required to do so, there they will unbelieve, not because 'tis False, but so commanded by their Superiors, whose Authority their Interest and Security obliege them rather to obey, then dispute.

6. Sixthly, They Delude, or rather Compel people out of their eternal Rewards; for where men are commanded to act in reference to Religion, and can neither be secur'd of their Rewards, nor yet sav'd harmless from punishments; their so acting and believing dispriviledges them forever of that Recompence, which is provided for the Faithful.

7. Seventhly, Men have their Liberty and Choice in external matters; they are not compelled to Marry this Person, to Converse with that, to Buy here, to Eat there, nor to Sleep yonder; yet if men had Power to Impose or Restrain in any thing, one would think it should be in such exteriour Matters; but that this Liberty should be unquestion'd, and that of the Mind Destroy'd issues here, that it does not Unbruit us, but Unman us; for take away Understanding, Reason, Judgment, and Faith, and like Nebuchadnezar, let us go Graze with the Beasts of the Field.

8. Eightly and lastly, That which most of all blackens the Business is PERSECUTION; for though it is very unreasonable to require Faith, where men cannot chuse but doubt,

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yet after all, to punish them for Disobedience, 'tis Cruelty in the abstract; for we demand, Shall men Suffer for not doing what they cannot do? Must they be Persecuted here if they do not go against their Consciences, and punished hereafter if they do? But neither is this all; for that part that is yet most unreasonable, and that gives the clearest sight of Persecution, is still behind, namely, The monstrous Arguments they have to Convince an Heretick with: Not those of old, as Spiritual as the Christian Religion, which were to Admonish, Warn, and finally to Reject; but such as were imploy'd by the Persecuting Jews and Heathens against the great Example of the World, and such as follow'd him, and by the inhuman Papists against our first Reformers, as Clubbs, Staves, Stocks, Pillories, Prisons, Dungeons, Exiles, &c. in a word, Ruin to whole Families, as if it were not so much their Design to Convince the Soul, as to Destroy the Body.

To conclude, There ought to be an Adequation and Resemblance betwixt all Ends, and the means to them, but in this case there can be none imaginable; the End is the conformity of our Judgments and Understandings to the acts of such as require it, the Means are Fines and Imprisonments (and bloody Knocks to boot.)

Now what Proportion or Assimulation these bear, let the Sober judge: The Understanding can never be convinc'd, nor properly submit, but by such Arguments, as are Rational, Perswasive, and Sutable to its own Nature; something that can Resolve its Doubts, Answer its Objections, Enervate its Propositions, but to imagine those Barbarous Newgate Instruments of Clubbs, Fines, Prisons, &c. with that whole Troop of external and dumb Materials of force should be fit Arguments to convince the Understanding, scatter its scruples, & finally, convert it to their Religion is altogether irrational, cruel, and impossible. Force may make an Hipocrite; 'tis Faith grounded upon knowledge, & consent that

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makes a Christian. And to conclude, as we can never betray the honour of our Conformity (only due to Truth) by a base and timorous Hypocrisie to any external Violence under Heaven, so must we needs say, unreasonable are those Imposers, who secure not the Imposed or Restrained from what may occur to them, upon their account; and most inhuman are those Persecutors that punish men for not obeying them though to their utter ruin.