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* LIBERTINES. 190 LIBERTY. appeared. (2) A party in (jLUova, opponents of Calviu, were also called Libertines, but they had only the name in common with the above. These Libertines were in general the opponents of the policy and theology Calvin strenuously enforced and defended; but they were formidable enough to raise an insurrection in Geneva on ilay Jo, 1555. Their leaders being e.xiled or imjjrisoned, the power of the party was broken. (3) This name in England was given to the early Anabaj)- lists about the middle of the sixteenth century. fc^ee AXABAPTISTS. LIB'ERTY. A city and the county-seat of Clay County, AIo., 14 miles northeast' of Kan- sas City; on the Chicago, Milwaukee and Saint Paul and the Hannibal and .Saint Joseph rail- roads (Map: Missouri, U 2). It is the .seat of the Liberty Ladies' College (non-sectarian), opened in 1800. and of the William .Jewell Col- lege (Baptist), opened in l.S4!l. The city has considerable trade in the farm produce and live stock of the adjacent region, anil some manufac- tures, principallv of Hour. Poi)ulation. in ISUO, 25.38: in UlOO, 2407. LIBERTY, Claim of. See Claim. LIBERTY, Religiols. The inherent right of the individual to form his religious opinions according to the dictates of his owii conscience, and to give outward expression to them in the form of public worship independently of all restraint or coercion upon the part of the State, it includes more than mere freedom of conscience, whidi in reality is beyond the control of the civil power. It inchnlcs also more than mere toleration, which simjily concedes for the time the right of tha individual to worship as he pleases — a concession which implies the supe- riority of an established chtirch and which may be withdrawn at the will of the sovereign grant- ing il. Religious liberty implies the equality of all in the matter of worshi]). while the ])rin- ciple upon which toleration is granted denies this idea. Religious lil)erty is frc(|uently char- acterized as one of the absolute, inalienable, or natural rights of the individual, while toleration is a concession emanating from the benevolence of the sovereign. Among the nations of antiquity the idea of religious liberty was almost totally lacking. In Egypt. Assyria, Babylon. Persia, and Syria the individual was subject to the will of the King in religious as in civil matters. In the Roman Empire worship of the State religion was obliga- tory upon every subject. The Christian religion was tolerated merely by many of the emperors during the early centuries of the Cliristian Era. There were spasmodic persecutions by Xero, Doniitian, Hadrian, and others, but it was not until the reign of Diocletian that a determined effort was made to exterminate the Christian religion. By his order all Christian assemblies were forbidden : all churches were to be de- stroyed: all Christian books to be burned: and all Christians who refused to adopt the State religion were to suffer death. Early in the fourth century a formal act of toleration was granted to the Christians by the Emperor Galerius. but it was expressly enacted that they were to respect the religion of the State. This Avas soon followed by the conversion of the Emperor Constantine. and his promulgation, irt 313. of the celebrated Edict of ililan. which granted the fullest toleration of religious worship to all persons. This uas shortly followed by an edict prohibiting heathen worship and establish- ing Christianity as the Stale religion of the Empire. Throughout the Middle Ages the question of religious liberty scarcely arose. The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church were unquestioned and its authority universally recognized in most of the countries of Europe. But when the Albigenses in Southern Erance refu.sed to accept the Catholic doctrines, they were con- demned as heretics and the sect exterminated. To prevent recurrences of a similar kind, decrees were issued by the sovereigns of Western Europe against all who refused to accept the Christian faith as understood by the 'Catholic hierarchy. Where the domination of the Papal autliority was displaced, as in England under Henrys N'llL, it was superseded by the royal authority, not less intolerant. Thus we find Henry l]. per- secuting those who, on the one hand, acknowl- edged spiritual allegiance to the Pope, and those, on the other hand, who, while acknowledging Henry's supremacy as head of the English Church, yet denied certain of the Roman dogmas. Nor did the Reformation introduce the principle of religious liberty into Europe. Eor, while the ProtestiMil denied the authority and nuich of the doctrines of Rome, he nevertheless insisted upon unity of faith as essential to the integrity of the State, .ccording to the maxim Ciiju.i regio. ciijus reliyio. it was the right and duty of the prince to choose a religion for his subjects and require them to worship it. It followed that it was his duty to root out heresy and punish non-C(mformists. Thus Servetus' was burnt at the stake in Cicneva. which was under Calvin's control, for denying the doctrine of the Trinity; the Covenanters were hunted down and slain because they could neither accept E))iscopacy nor the Xational Kirk: and the Pilgrims emi- grated to the wilds of America because they would not conform to the Anglican faith. The theory which then obtained was that, religion and morality being the basis of the State, it became the first duty of a wise prince to estab- lish a national religion, and it was believed that the existence of two religions in the State would endanger its security. Strangely enough, those who fled to America to escape religious persecution brought with them the Old World ideas of religious intolerance. Everywhere in Xew England except in Rhode Island dissent from. the 'established order' of worship was looked upon as sedition against the State and sin against Ood. .Jesuits. Baptists, and Romish priests were punished by imprison- ment or banishment, while several Quakers were publicly hanged on Boston Common. Practically the same policy was followed in the colonies planted in the South. The Puritan insisted upon conformity because he wished to make the State a religious unit: the Cavalier required it because the Church was a part of the civil polity. In the Colony of Rhode Island State and Church were absolutely divorced from the first, and the individual left entirely to the teachings of his own («nscience. In the Catholic Colony of Mary- land religious toleration existed for a while, ex- cept as to .Tews. Jlohammodans, and other non- Christians: but eventually the Church of England was established by law. In New York and New Jersey strenuous efforts were made by the Eng-