Nor had example been wanting.

The religious freedom of Holland was narrow, as Spinoza had found, but it was still freedom.

Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Massachusetts had all embarked upon admirable experiment; and Penn himself had aptly said that a man may go to chapel instead of church, even while he remains a good constable.
And in 1687, in the preface to his translation of Lactantius, Burnet had not merely attacked the moral viciousness of persecution, but had drawn a distinction between the spheres of Church and State which is a remarkable anticipation of Locke's own theory.
Locke himself covers the whole ground; and since his opinions on the problem were at least twenty years old, it is clear that he was consistent in a worthy outlook.

He proceeds by a denial that any element of theocratic government can claim political validity.

The magistrate is concerned only with the preservation of social peace and does not deal with the problem of men's souls.