PHI LOS 0 P H Y . - Classic Works of Apologetics Online

~t8 of Rel;g;~us Establishments,
liberty to contend that the concerns of religion were
excepted out of the social compact; that in an affair
which can· only be transa~cted between God and a
man's own conscience, no c('mmission or authority
was ever delegated to the civil magistrate, or could
indeed be transferred from the person himself to any
other. We, however, who have rejected this theory.,
because we cannot discover any actual contract
between the state and the people, and because we cannot
aJlow an arbitrary fiction to · be made the founda ..
tion of real rights and of real obligations, find our ..
selve.. precluded from this distinction~ [The reason·
Jng which deduces the authority of civil government
from the will of God, and which collects that will
.lrom public expediency alone, binds us to the unre ..
Served conclusion, that the jurisdiction of the magistrate
is limited by no consideration but that o~en-,
eral utilitr : in plainer terms, that whatever be the
~o be regulated, -it is lawful for him to interfere
whenever his interference, in its general tendency,
appears to be conducive to the common interest.
There is nothiiig in the nature of religion, as such,
,which exempts it fr·)m the authority of the legisla­
, tor, when the safety or welfare of the community requires
his interposition. It has been said, indeed,
that religion, pertaining to the interest of a life te
; come, lies beyond the province of dvil g~~rnment,
. the office of which is confined tf) the affairs of this
life. Blit, in reply to this objection, it may be observed,
that when the laws interfere even in religion,
they interfere only with temporals; their effects ter ..
minate, their power operates only upon those rights
'and interests, which confessedly belong to their ill.sposal.
The' acts of the legislature, the edicts of the
\ prince, the sentence of the judge cannot affect my sal.
vation; nor do they, without the most absurd arroi
gance~ pretend to any such power: but they may
, deprive me of liberty, of property, and even of life
\ itself on acco'tnt of my religion ; and however I may
l complain of the injustice of the sentence, by whic .. h 1
\ am condemned, I cannot aUege, that the' magistrate