The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Introduction
• Of the Nature and Qualification of Religion, In Reference to Civil Society, &c.
• §i.
• §2.
• §3.
• §4.
• §5.
• §6.
• §7.
• §8.
• §9.
• §10.
• §11.
• §12.
• §13.
• §14.
• §15.
• §16.
• §17.
• §18.
• §19.
• §20.
• §21.
• §22.
• §23.
• §24.
• §25.
• §26.
• §27.
• §28.
• §29.
• §30.
• §31.
• §32.
• §33.
• §34.
• §35.
• §37.
• §38.
• §39.
• §40.
• §41.
• §42.
• §43.
• §44.
• §45.
• §46.
• §47.
• §48.
• §49.
• §50.
• §51.
• §52.
• §53.
• §54.

§41.

Churches do not alter their nature of being a Colledge. Out of what has been laid down, it appears first of all, that, if a Prince or whole Commonwealth, do receive the Doctrine of Christ, the Church does thereby not receive any other Alteration, as to her natural Constitution, but that, whereas she was formerly to be considered only as a private Society or Colledge, yet such a one as being subordinate to the Law, and therefore to be cherished by the Higher Powers, who had no legal Right to disturb, prosecute or destroy it; She now being put under the particular Protection of her Sovereigns, enjoys a greater share of Security, and is beyond the reach of the Persecutions of the Infidels. Notwithstanding this, the Church is thereby not exalted from a Colledge to a State, since, by the receiving of the Christian Religion, the civil Government does not undergo any Alteration or Diminution; On the contrary, Sovereigns loose nothing of their legal Rights, neither are Subjects in any wise absolved from their Duties and Obligations. For it implies a contradiction, that a double Sovereignty, and two different sorts of Obligations in the Subject should be lodged in one and the same Commonwealth. It is a frivolous Objection, that the Church and civil Government have different Ends and Objects, not repugnant to one another; For, from thence is not to be inferred, that the Church must be a State, or that the Christian Religion cannot be propagated, maintained or exercised, without the Church assume the same Power that belongs to the civil Government. In these places therefore, where the whole People and the Prince profess the Christian Religion, the Commonwealth receives the Church into its Protection, and, tho’ strictly united, there is no collision or emulation betwixt them, nor does either of them receive any prejudice in their respective Rights, but without the least Interference with one another, the Church remains a Colledge, whereof the Prince, and all the Subjects are now become Members. So, that each Subject, besides the Person he represented in the State, has assumed that of a Christian, and in this respect is esteemed a Member of the Church. Neither is every one to be considered in the Church according to the Station or Dignity he bears in the Commonwealth, but, these Qualifications are, as it were, laid aside there, and he is only regarded as a Christian. So, that the General of an Army cannot claim any Prerogative to himself in the Church beyond the private Centinel. And it is past all doubt, that one and the same Man may represent several Persons, according to the several Functions and Obligations belonging to him.