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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. |
"This law was made by Utopus, not only for preserving the public peace, |
which he saw suffered much by daily contentions and irreconcilable heats, |
but because he thought the interest of religion itself required it. He |
judged it not fit to determine anything rashly; and seemed to doubt |
whether those different forms of religion might not all come from God, |
who might inspire man in a different manner, and be pleased with this |
variety; he therefore thought it indecent and foolish for any man to |
threaten and terrify another to make him believe what did not appear to |
him to be true. And supposing that only one religion was really true, |
and the rest false, he imagined that the native force of truth would at |
last break forth and shine bright, if supported only by the strength of |
argument, and attended to with a gentle and unprejudiced mind; while, on |
the other hand, if such debates were carried on with violence and |
tumults, as the most wicked are always the most obstinate, so the best |
and most holy religion might be choked with superstition, as corn is with |
briars and thorns; he therefore left men wholly to their liberty, that |
they might be free to believe as they should see cause; only he made a |
solemn and severe law against such as should so far degenerate from the |
dignity of human nature, as to think that our souls died with our bodies, |
or that the world was governed by chance, without a wise overruling |
Providence: for they all formerly believed that there was a state of |
rewards and punishments to the good and bad after this life; and they now |
look on those that think otherwise as scarce fit to be counted men, since |
they degrade so noble a being as the soul, and reckon it no better than a |
beast's: thus they are far from looking on such men as fit for human |
society, or to be citizens of a well-ordered commonwealth; since a man of |
such principles must needs, as oft as he dares do it, despise all their |
laws and customs: for there is no doubt to be made, that a man who is |
afraid of nothing but the law, and apprehends nothing after death, will |
not scruple to break through all the laws of his country, either by fraud |
or force, when by this means he may satisfy his appetites. They never |
raise any that hold these maxims, either to honours or offices, nor |
employ them in any public trust, but despise them, as men of base and |
sordid minds. Yet they do not punish them, because they lay this down as |
a maxim, that a man cannot make himself believe anything he pleases; nor |
do they drive any to dissemble their thoughts by threatenings, so that |
men are not tempted to lie or disguise their opinions; which being a sort |
of fraud, is abhorred by the Utopians: they take care indeed to prevent |
their disputing in defence of these opinions, especially before the |
common people: but they suffer, and even encourage them to dispute |
concerning them in private with their priest, and other grave men, being |
confident that they will be cured of those mad opinions by having reason |
laid before them. There are many among them that run far to the other |
extreme, though it is neither thought an ill nor unreasonable opinion, |
and therefore is not at all discouraged. They think that the souls of |
beasts are immortal, though far inferior to the dignity of the human |
soul, and not capable of so great a happiness. They are almost all of |
them very firmly persuaded that good men will be infinitely happy in |
another state: so that though they are compassionate to all that are |
sick, yet they lament no man's death, except they see him loath to part |
with life; for they look on this as a very ill presage, as if the soul, |
conscious to itself of guilt, and quite hopeless, was afraid to leave the |
body, from some secret hints of approaching misery. They think that such |
a man's appearance before God cannot be acceptable to Him, who being |
called on, does not go out cheerfully, but is backward and unwilling, and |
is as it were dragged to it. They are struck with horror when they see |
any die in this manner, and carry them out in silence and with sorrow, |
and praying God that He would be merciful to the errors of the departed |
soul, they lay the body in the ground: but when any die cheerfully, and |
full of hope, they do not mourn for them, but sing hymns when they carry |
out their bodies, and commending their souls very earnestly to God: their |
whole behaviour is then rather grave than sad, they burn the body, and |
set up a pillar where the pile was made, with an inscription to the |
honour of the deceased. When they come from the funeral, they discourse |
of his good life, and worthy actions, but speak of nothing oftener and |
with more pleasure than of his serenity at the hour of death. They think |
such respect paid to the memory of good men is both the greatest |
incitement to engage others to follow their example, and the most |
acceptable worship that can be offered them; for they believe that though |
by the imperfection of human sight they are invisible to us, yet they are |
present among us, and hear those discourses that pass concerning |
themselves. They believe it inconsistent with the happiness of departed |
souls not to be at liberty to be where they will: and do not imagine them |
capable of the ingratitude of not desiring to see those friends with whom |
they lived on earth in the strictest bonds of love and kindness: besides, |
they are persuaded that good men, after death, have these affections; and |
all other good dispositions increased rather than diminished, and |
therefore conclude that they are still among the living, and observe all |
they say or do. From hence they engage in all their affairs with the |
greater confidence of success, as trusting to their protection; while |
this opinion of the presence of their ancestors is a restraint that |
prevents their engaging in ill designs. |
"They despise and laugh at auguries, and the other vain and superstitious |
ways of divination, so much observed among other nations; but have great |
reverence for such miracles as cannot flow from any of the powers of |
nature, and look on them as effects and indications of the presence of |
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