all manner of revenge, even after repeated provocations and multiplied
injuries, how much more ought they who suffer nothing, who have had no
harm done them, forbear violence and abstain from all manner of
ill-usage towards those from whom they have received none! This
caution and temper they ought certainly to use towards those. who mind
only their own business and are solicitous for nothing but that
(whatever men think of them) they may worship God in that manner which
they are persuaded is acceptable to Him and in which they have the
strongest hopes of eternal salvation. In private domestic affairs,
in the management of estates, in the conservation of bodily health,
every man may consider what suits his own convenience and follow
what course he likes best. No man complains of the ill-management of
his neighbour's affairs. No man is angry with another for an error
committed in sowing his land or in marrying his daughter. Nobody
corrects a spendthrift for consuming his substance in taverns. Let any
man pull down, or build, or make whatsoever expenses he pleases,
nobody murmurs, nobody controls him; he has his liberty. But if any
man do not frequent the church, if he do not there conform his
behaviour exactly to the accustomed ceremonies, or if he brings not
his children to be initiated in the sacred mysteries of this or the
other congregation, this immediately causes an uproar. The
neighbourhood is filled with noise and clamour. Everyone is ready to
be the avenger of so great a crime, and the zealots hardly have the
patience to refrain from violence and rapine so long till the cause be
heard and the poor man be, according to form, condemned to the loss of
liberty, goods, or life. Oh, that our ecclesiastical orators of
every sect would apply themselves with all the strength of arguments
that they are able to the confounding of men's errors! But let them
spare their persons. Let them not supply their want of reasons with
the instruments of force, which belong to another jurisdiction and
do ill become a Churchman's hands. Let them not call in the
magistrate's authority to the aid of their eloquence or learning, lest
perhaps, whilst they pretend only love for the truth, this their
intemperate zeal, breathing nothing but fire and sword, betray their
ambition and show that what they desire is temporal dominion. For it
will be very difficult to persuade men of sense that he who with dry
eyes and satisfaction of mind can deliver his brother to the
executioner to be burnt alive, does sincerely and heartily concern
himself to save that brother from the flames of hell in the world to
come.

  In the last place, let us now consider what is the magistrate's duty
in the business of toleration, which certainly is very considerable.

  We have already proved that the care of souls does not belong to the
magistrate. Not a magisterial care, I mean (if I may so call it),
which consists in prescribing by laws and compelling by punishments.
But a charitable care, which consists in teaching, admonishing, and
persuading, cannot be denied unto any man. The care, therefore, of
every man's soul belongs unto himself and is to be left unto
himself. But what if he neglect the care of his soul? I answer: What
if he neglect the care of his health or of his estate, which things
are nearlier related to the government of the magistrate than the
other? Will the magistrate provide by an express law that such a one
shall not become poor or sick? Laws provide, as much as is possible,
that the goods and health of subjects be not injured by the fraud
and violence of others; they do not guard them from the negligence
or ill-husbandry of the possessors themselves. No man can be forced to
be rich or healthful whether he will or no. Nay, God Himself will
not save men against their wills. Let us suppose, however, that some
prince were desirous to force his subjects to accumulate riches, or to
preserve the health and strength of their bodies. Shall it be provided
by law that they must consult none but Roman physicians, and shall
everyone be bound to live according to their prescriptions? What,
shall no potion, no broth, be taken, but what is prepared either in
the Vatican, suppose, or in a Geneva shop? Or, to make these
subjects rich, shall they all be obliged by law to become merchants or
musicians? Or, shall everyone turn victualler, or smith, because there
are some that maintain their families plentifully and grow rich in
those professions? But, it may be said, there are a thousand ways to
wealth, but one only way to heaven. It is well said, indeed,
especially by those that plead for compelling men into this or the
other way. For if there were several ways that led thither, there
would not be so much as a pretence left for compulsion. But now, if
I be marching on with my utmost vigour in that way which, according to
the sacred geography, leads straight to Jerusalem, why am I beaten and
ill-used by others because, perhaps, I wear not buskins; because my
hair is not of the right cut; because, perhaps, I have not been dipped
in the right fashion; because I eat flesh upon the road, or some other
food which agrees with my stomach; because I avoid certain by-ways,
which seem unto me to lead into briars or precipices; because, amongst
the several paths that are in the same road, I choose that to walk
in which seems to be the straightest and cleanest; because I avoid
to keep company with some travellers that are less grave and others
that are more sour than they ought to be; or, in fine, because I
follow a guide that either is, or is not, clothed in white, or crowned
with a mitre? Certainly, if we consider right, we shall find that, for
the most part, they are such frivolous things as these that (without
any prejudice to religion or the salvation of souls, if not
accompanied with superstition or hypocrisy) might either be observed
or omitted. I say they are such-like things as these which breed
implacable enmities amongst Christian brethren, who are all agreed
in the substantial and truly fundamental part of religion.

  But let us grant unto these zealots, who condemn all things that are
not of their mode, that from these circumstances are different ends.
What shall we conclude from thence? There is only one of these which
is the true way to eternal happiness: but in this great variety of
ways that men follow, it is still doubted which is the right one. Now,
neither the care of the commonwealth, nor the right enacting of