Читать книгу The History of Persecution - Samuel Chandler - Страница 7

Table of Contents

Religion is a matter of the highest importance to every man, and therefore there can be nothing which deserves a more impartial inquiry, or which should be examined into with a more disinterested freedom; because as far as our acceptance with the Deity depends on the knowledge and practice of it, so far religion is, and must be, to us a purely personal thing; in which therefore we ought to be determined by nothing but the evidence of truth, and the rational convictions of our mind and conscience. Without such an examination and conviction, we shall be in danger of being imposed on by crafty and designing men, who will not fail to make their gain of the ignorance and credulity of those they can deceive, nor scruple to recommend to them the worst principles and superstitions, if they find them conducive or necessary to support their pride, ambition and avarice. The history of almost all ages and nations is an abundant proof of this assertion.

God himself, who is the object of all religious worship, to whom we owe the most absolute subjection, and whose actions are all guided by the discerned reason and fitness of things, cannot, as I apprehend, consistent with his own most perfect wisdom, require of his reasonable creatures the explicit belief of, or actual assent to any proposition which they do not, or cannot either wholly or partly understand; because it is requiring of them a real impossibility, no man being able to stretch his faith beyond his understanding, i. e. to see an object that was never present to his eyes, or to discern the agreement or disagreement of the different parts of a proposition, the terms of which he hath never heard of, or cannot possibly understand. Neither can it be supposed that God can demand from us a method of worship, of which we cannot discern some reason and fitness; because it would be to demand from us worship without understanding and judgment, and without the concurrence of the heart and conscience, i. e. a kind of worship different from, and exclusive of that, which, in the nature of things, is the most excellent and best, viz. the exercise of those pure and rational affections, and that imitation of God by purity of heart, and the practice of the virtues of a good life, in which the power, substance, and efficacy of true religion doth consist. If therefore nothing can or ought to be believed, but under the direction of the understanding, nor any scheme of religion and worship to be received but what appears reasonable in itself, and worthy of God; the necessary consequence is, that every man is bound in interest and duty to make the best use he can of his reasonable powers, and to examine, without fear, all principles before he receives them, and all rites and means of religion and worship before he submits to and complies with them. This is the common privilege of human nature, which no man ought ever to part with himself, and of which he cannot be deprived by others, without the greatest injustice and wickedness.

It will, I doubt not, appear evident beyond contradiction, to all who impartially consider the history of past ages and nations, that where and whenever men have been abridged, or wholly deprived of this liberty, or have neglected to make the due and proper use of it, or sacrificed their own private judgments to the public conscience, or complimented the licensed spiritual guides with the direction of them, ignorance and superstition have proportionably prevailed; and that to these causes have been owing those great corruptions of religion, which have done so much dishonour to God, and, wherever they have prevailed, been destructive to the interests of true piety and virtue. So that instead of serving God with their reason and understanding, men have served their spiritual leaders without either, and have been so far from rendering themselves acceptable to their Maker, that they have the more deeply, it is to be feared, incurred his displeasure; because God cannot but dislike the “sacrifice of fools,” and therefore of such who either neglect to improve the reasonable powers he hath given them, or part with them in compliance to the proud, ambitious, and ungodly claims of others; which is one of the highest instances of folly that can possibly be mentioned.

I will not indeed deny, but that the appointing persons, whose peculiar office it should be to minister in the external services of public and social worship, is, when under proper regulations, of advantage to the decency and order of divine service. But then I think it of the most pernicious consequence to the liberties of mankind, and absolutely inconsistent with the true prosperity of a nation, as well as with the interest and success of rational religion, to suffer such ministers to become the directors general of the consciences and faith of others; or publicly to assume and exercise such a power, as shall oblige others to submit to their determinations, without being convinced of their being wise and reasonable, and never to dispute their spiritual decrees. The very claim of such a power is the highest insolence, and an affront to the common sense and reason of mankind; and wherever it is usurped and allowed, the most abject slavery, both of soul and body, is almost the unavoidable consequence. For by such a submission to spiritual power, the mind and conscience is actually enslaved; and, by being thus rendered passive to the priest, men are naturally prepared for a servile subjection to the prince, and for becoming slaves to the most arbitrary and tyrannical government. And I believe it hath been generally found true by experience, that the same persons who have asserted their own power over others in matters of religion and conscience, have also asserted the absolute power of the civil magistrate, and been the avowed patrons of those admirable doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance for the subject. Our own nation is sufficiently witness to the truth of this.

It is therefore but too natural to suspect, that the secret intention of all ghostly and spiritual directors and guides in decrying reason, the noblest gift of God, and without which even the Being of a God, and the method of our redemption by Jesus Christ, would be of no more significancy to us, than to the brutes that perish, is in reality the advancement of their own power and authority over the faith and consciences of others, to which sound reason is, and ever will be an enemy: for though I readily allow the great expediency and need of divine revelation to assist us in our inquiries into the nature of religion, and to give us a full view of the principles and practices of it; yet a very small share of reason will suffice, if attended to, to let me know that my soul is my own, and that I ought not to put my conscience out to keeping to any person whatsoever, because no man can be answerable for it to the great God but myself; and that therefore the claim of dominion, whoever makes it, either over mine or any other’s conscience, is mere imposture and cheat, that hath nothing but impudence or folly to support it; and as truly visionary and romantic as the imaginary power of persons disordered in their senses, and which would be of no more significancy, and influence amongst mankind than theirs, did not either the views of ambitious men, or the superstition and folly of bigots encourage and support it.

On these accounts, it is highly incumbent on all nations, who enjoy the blessings of a limited government, who would preserve their constitution, and transmit it safe to posterity, to be jealous of every claim of spiritual power, and not to enlarge the authority and jurisdiction of spiritual men, beyond the bounds of reason and revelation. Let them have the freest indulgence to do good, and spread the knowledge and practice of true religion, and promote peace and good will amongst mankind. Let them be applauded and encouraged, and even rewarded, when they are patterns of virtue, and examples of real piety to their flocks. Such powers as these, God and man would readily allow them; and as to any other, I apprehend they have little right to them, and am sure they have seldom made a wise or rational use of them. On the contrary, numberless have been the confusions and mischiefs introduced into the world, and occasioned by the usurpers of spiritual authority. In the Christian church they have ever used it with insolence, and generally abused it to oppression, and the worst of cruelties. And though the history of such transactions can never be a very pleasing and grateful task, yet, I think, on many accounts, it may be useful and instructive; especially as it may tend to give men an abhorrence of all the methods of persecution, and put them upon their guard against all those ungodly pretensions, by which persecution hath been introduced and supported.

But how much soever the persecuting spirit hath prevailed amongst those who have called themselves Christians, yet certainly it is a great mistake to confine it wholly to them. We have instances of persons, who were left to the light of nature and reason, and never suspected of being perverted by any revelation, murdering and destroying each other on the account of religion; and of some judicially condemned to death for differing from the orthodox, i. e. the established idolatry of their country. And I doubt not, but that if we had as full and particular an account of the transactions of the different religious sects and parties amongst the Heathens, as we have of those amongst Christians, we should find a great many more instances of this kind, than it is easy or possible now to produce. However, there are some very remarkable ones, which I shall not wholly omit.