In the state of nature every man is, under God, judge and sole judge of his own rights and of the injuries done him. The natural liberty of man, by entering into society, is abridged or restrained, so far only as is necessary for the great end of society, the best good of the whole. The Roman Catholics or Papists are excluded by reason of such doctrines as these, that princes excommunicated may be deposed, and those that they call heretics may be destroyed without mercy besides their recognizing the Pope in so absolute a manner, in subversion of government, by introducing, as far as possible into the states under whose protection they enjoy life, liberty, and property, that solecism in politics, imperium in imperio, leading directly to the worst anarchy and confusion, civil discord, war, and bloodshed. The only sects which he thinks ought to be, and which by all wise laws are excluded from such toleration, are those who teach doctrines subversive of the civil government under which they live. Locke has asserted and proved, beyond the possibility of contradiction on any solid ground, that such toleration ought to be extended to all whose doctrines are not subversive of society. And it is now generally agreed among Christians that this spirit of toleration, in the fullest extent consistent with the being of civil society, is the chief characteristical mark of the Church. ![]() In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practised, and, both by precept and example, inculcated on mankind. “Just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty,” in matters spiritual and temporal, is a thing that all men are clearly entitled to by the eternal and immutable laws of God and nature, as well as by the law of nations and all well-grounded municipal laws, which must have their foundation in the former. ![]() When men enter into society, it is by voluntary consent and they have a right to demand and insist upon the performance of such conditions and previous limitations as form an equitable original compact.Įvery natural right not expressly given up, or, from the nature of a social compact, necessarily ceded, remains.Īll positive and civil laws should conform, as far as possible, to the law of natural reason and equity.Īs neither reason requires nor religion permits the contrary, every man living in or out of a state of civil society has a right peaceably and quietly to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. ![]() ![]() These are evident branches of, rather than deductions from, the duty of self-preservation, commonly called the first law of nature.Īll men have a right to remain in a state of nature as long as they please and in case of intolerable oppression, civil or religious, to leave the society they belong to, and enter into another. Natural Rights of the Colonists as Men.Īmong the natural rights of the Colonists are these: First, a right to life Secondly, to liberty Thirdly, to property together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |