Page:Essay on the First Principles of Government 2nd Ed.djvu/257

The Dissenters are obliged to this writer for the good-will he seems to bear them, in being an advocate for toleration in general; but I cannot help saying, I think him a very aukward, and inconsistent advocate in the case, and that intolerance would be much more agreeable to his general principles. If it be true, as he says, p. 17. that "a variety of sects has a natural tendency both to weaken the influence of public religion, and to give disturbance to the public peace," how is the magistrate "unqualified, or uncommissioned, to persecute for conscience sake?" Is he not constituted the guardian of the public peace, and must he not use the most effectual means to prevent the disturbance of it? If, "in order to obtain completely the benefits proposed from the union of civil and ecclesiastical authority, all the members of the same common-wealth should be members also of the same church," a conscientious civil magistrate might think it his duty, and well worth his while, to hazard something, with a prospect of insuring so great an advantage; especially