The Library
1577 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
201–300
2 works
12 March 295
Latin
Anonymous
A twenty-one-year-old conscript at Theveste refuses the lead seal of enlistment. The proconsul points out that there are Christians serving in the imperial bodyguard right now; Maximilian answers that they know what is good for them, and that he cannot do evil. His father takes the body home.
298
Latin
Anonymous
A centurion at Tingis throws down his belt, vine-staff, and weapons in front of the legionary standards during the emperor's birthday sacrifice, and says that from now on he serves Jesus Christ the eternal king and stops soldiering for the emperors.
1101–1200
1 work
c. 1141–1144
Latin
Bernard of Clairvaux · 1090–1153
Which parts of a monastic rule bind absolutely, which may be dispensed, and what a monk owes an abbot who commands something foolish but not sinful.
1201–1300
2 works
c. 1235–1253
Latin
Robert Grosseteste · c. 1168–1253
Correspondence of a reforming bishop, including a refusal to install the pope's nephew in an English benefice on the grounds that the order was contrary to the gospel.
1256–1259
Latin
Quaestiones Disputatae de Veritate
Thomas Aquinas · 1225–1274
Twenty-nine questions from public disputations on truth, knowledge, conscience, providence, and the human mind's grasp of God.
1401–1500
1 work
1402
Latin
Jean Gerson · 1363–1429
Lectures on what makes an act sinful, on the binding force of human law, and on when a Christian's conscience may resist an ecclesiastical command.
1501–1600
3 works
1523
German
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
God rules the world through two governments, spiritual and temporal, and no prince has authority over the soul — heresy cannot be beaten down with iron.
lectures 1531; published 1535
Latin
Martin Luther · 1483–1546
Luther's own favourite among his books, on Christian freedom, the uses of the law, and the conscience that must learn to look away from itself.
1554
Latin
Sebastian Castellio · 1515–1563
An anthology of passages against persecution — from the fathers, from Luther, even from Calvin's own early work — published under a pseudonym after Servetus was burned.
1601–1700
4 works
1612
English
Thomas Helwys · c. 1575–c. 1616
An argument that the king has no authority over conscience, and that heretics, Turks, Jews, and whomsoever ought not to be punished for their religion.
1647
English
Jeremy Taylor · 1613–1667
An argument that few doctrines are clear enough to justify coercion, that the Apostles' Creed suffices for communion, and that error held honestly is not damnable.
1686–1688
French
Pierre Bayle · 1647–1706
A refutation of the text used to justify forced conversion, arguing that an erring conscience binds as much as a correct one and must therefore be left free.
1689
Latin
John Locke · 1632–1704
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.
13 of 1577 works