Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/232

218 October, 1777, c. 17. gives cogniſance of it to the general court, by declaring, that the juriſdiction of that court ſhall be general in all matters at the common law. The execution is by the writ De hæretico cumburendo. By our own act of aſſembly of 1705, c. 30. if a perſon brought up in the Chriſtian religion denies the being of a God, or the Trinity, or averts there are more gods than one, or denies the chriſtian religion to be true, or the ſcriptures to be of divine authority, he is puniſhable on the firſt offence by incapacity to hold any office or employment eccleſiaſtilal, civil, or military; on the ſecond by diſability to ſue, to take any gift or legacy, to be guardian, executor, or adminiſtrator, and by three years impriſonment without bail. A father's right to the cuſtody of his own children being founded in law on the right of guardianſhip, this being taken away, they may of courſe be ſevered from him, and put by the authority of the court, into more orthodox hands. This is a ſummary view of that religious ſlavery, under which a people have been willing to remain, who have laviſhed their lives and fortunes for the eſtabliſhment of their civil freedom. The error ſeems not ſufficiently eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are ſubject to the coercion of the laws. But our rulers can have no authority over ſuch natural rights only as we have ſubmitted to them. The rights of conſcience we never ſubmitted, we could not ſubmit. We are anſwerable for them to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend to ſuch acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to ſay there