“Those among them that have not received our religion do not fright any
from it, and use none ill that goes over to it, so that all the while I
was there one man was only punished on this occasion. He being newly
baptised did, notwithstanding all that we could say to the contrary,
dispute publicly concerning the Christian religion, with more zeal than
discretion, and with so much heat, that he not only preferred our
worship to theirs, but condemned all their rites as profane, and cried
out against all that adhered to them as impious and sacrilegious
persons, that were to be damned to everlasting burnings. Upon his
having frequently preached in this manner he was seized, and after
trial he was condemned to banishment, not for having disparaged their
religion, but for his inflaming the people to sedition; for this is one
of their most ancient laws, that no man ought to be punished for his
religion. At the first constitution of their government, Utopus having
understood that before his coming among them the old inhabitants had
been engaged in great quarrels concerning religion, by which they were
so divided among themselves, that he found it an easy thing to conquer
them, since, instead of uniting their forces against him, every
different party in religion fought by themselves. After he had subdued
them he made a law that every man might be of what religion he pleased,
and might endeavour to draw others to it by the force of argument and
by amicable and modest ways, but without bitterness against those of
other opinions; but that he ought to use no other force but that of
persuasion, and was neither to mix with it reproaches nor violence; and
such as did otherwise were to be condemned to banishment or slavery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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