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Early Modern · 1689
A Letter Concerning Toleration
John Locke · 1632–1704
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What it is
The care of souls cannot belong to the magistrate, because belief cannot be compelled and a forced profession saves nobody — with atheists and Catholics excepted.
Why it lasted
The most influential argument for toleration in the modern West, and its exceptions show how far even its best advocates still would not go.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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