to them, and are, as a rule, obliged to preach and practise the received and
accepted doctrines.

(18:41) II How dangerous it is to refer to Divine right matters merely
speculative and subject or liable to dispute. (42) The most tyrannical
governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an
inalienable right over his thoughts - nay, such a state of things leads to
the rule of popular passion.

(18:43) Pontius Pilate made concession to the passion of the Pharisees in
consenting to the crucifixion of Christ, whom he knew to be innocent. (44)
Again, the Pharisees, in order to shake the position of men richer than
themselves, began to set on foot questions of religion, and accused the
Sadducees of impiety, and, following their example, the vilest - hypocrites,
stirred, as they pretended, by the same holy wrath which they called zeal
for the Lord, persecuted men whose unblemished character and distinguished
virtue had excited the popular hatred, publicly denounced their opinions,
and inflamed the fierce passions of the people against them.

(18:45) This wanton licence being cloaked with the specious garb of
religion could not easily be repressed, especially when the sovereign
authorities introduced a sect of which they, were not the head; they were
then regarded not as interpreters of Divine right, but as sectarians - that
is, as persons recognizing the right of Divine interpretation assumed by the
leaders of the sect. (46) The authority of the magistrates thus became of
little account in such matters in comparison with the authority of sectarian
leaders before whose interpretations kings were obliged to bow.

(18:47) To avoid such evils in a state, there is no safer way, than to make
piety and religion to consist in acts only - that is, in the practice of