Note 134 — A REPLY TO THE AFORESAID ANSWER OF MR. COTTON, IN A CONFERENCE BETWEEN TRUTH AND PEACE. (continued 2)
Reading edition
[“It is far from me to say, that it is lawful for civil magistrates to inflict corporal punishments upon men contrary-minded, standing in the same state the Samaritans did. No such thought arose in my heart, nor fell from my pen—that it is lawful for a civil magistrate to inflict corporal punishments upon such as are contrary-minded in matters of religion.” Cotton’s Reply, p. 76. To this Mr. Williams expresses his surprise as to the meaning Mr. Cotton puts upon the words contrary-minded, seeing the whole argument of his book is to show that heretics may be lawfully punished by the civil magistrate. P. 115.]