Within the two documents, A Letter Concerning Toleration by John Locke, and The English Bill of Rights, 1689 drafted by act of Parliament, we find a similar subject being presented in two vastly different ways. The common thread running through both pieces, and the fundamental point to illustrating the importance of religion in English civil and political life is the concept of “just and moderate government.”[1] John Locke and Parliament both try for this ideal through different approaches. As to the extent of tensions and problems created by differing religious beliefs in the England of the time, we will be able to examine those difficulties through the efforts of those legal and philosophical minds that created the primary sources.
First, I will discuss the idea of justice, and its dispensing in religious and civil spheres. Locke refers to civil magistrates as those whose duty it is “to secure unto all…the just possession of these things belonging to this life.”[2] Conversely, we can assume that another role of the civil magistrate is to prosecute the infractions incurred against those natural rights, stated by Locke to be “life, liberty and estate.”[3] Locke spends the entire letter detailing the ways in which religion possesses its rights and powers within the religious sphere, while secular governments occupy their authority within the civil sphere. In A Letter Concerning Toleration, there is a tone of understanding due, no doubt, to the religious strife that Locke had seen in his own lifetime, including the English Civil War and its abolition of the Anglican Church’s monopoly on Christian worship in England.[4]
The English Bill of Rights argues that justice can only be served when civil law is carried out under the auspices of Christian (read Protestant) doctrine. Justice, in the eyes of the parliamentary document, is thought of as “[that] demand of their rights [which] they are particularly encouraged by the declaration of his Highness the prince of Orange as being the only means for obtaining a full redress and remedy therein.”[5] In other words, the private legal proceedings adjudicated by the king and the existence of a standing army were characteristics of power hungry Catholics. Parliament saw in James II echoes of the Inquisition and the absolute power of the Pope. Such an imbalance of power was not just to the people. Whereas Locke stresses the justice that is pleasurable when religion and government are separated, the English Bill of Rights, 1689 places the blame for injustice on the head of King James II and the Catholics. It is not entirely ironic that the philosopher proffers a solution, while the governing body only finds a culprit for the problem.
Moderate government is what is ultimately hoped for in Locke’s letter. A single sentence seems to outline the cautious line walked by government: “Only the magistrate ought always to be very careful that he do not misuse his authority to the oppression of any Church, under pretence of public good.”[6] Moderation involves the use of compromise and good judgment. Locke emphasizes that those acts that are crimes against the laws of the land are not to be tolerated, as opposed to the toleration of things that may run counter to another religion’s creed.
The way the English Bill of Rights seeks a moderate government is far more visible than how the document seeks just government. The enumerated rights of freeholders in English society provided a framework for the idea of a government whose sole responsibility is to be the receptacle of common consent. Such a government does not enforce the specific tolerations advocated by Locke, but instead creates a moderation between the right of the sovereign and the rights of the people (all within a Protestant ideal).
These documents illustrate the importance of religion in English civil and political life by both seeking for a “just and moderate government” and relying upon religion as a necessity to do that goal. Parliament sought for a religious (Protestant and Church of England) control of the civil order. Locke wanted a toleration and separation of the mutual rights of civil and religious spheres. While the strivings for this goal were disparate in context, both were, as St. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”[7]
[1] Locke, John. A Letter Concerning Toleration. 1689. http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1651-1700/locke/ECT/toleraxx.htm. The phrase “just and moderate government” is used by Locke in the essay to describe various governing entities throughout the world. He contrasts this with the oppression that leads to “seditions…frequently raised upon pretence of religion.” However, this does not interpret all treason or uprising, and Locke attributes such action to “the common disposition of mankind… who when …under any heavy burthen endeavour naturally to shake off the yoke that galls their necks.”
[2] Ibid.
[3] Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government. Cambridge University Press, 1988, Chapter 2, fraction vi
[4]en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_War
[5]The English Bill of Rights 1689. http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/england.htm
[6] Locke, John. A Letter Concerning Toleration. 1689. http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1651-1700/locke/ECT/toleraxx.htm.
[7] Ephesians 4:3. King James Bible. Cambridge University Press, 1998, p. 1484.
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