In the first ten pages of the letter, Locke talked about his thought of the 1nature of religious faith, the relation of church to salvation of soul, the separation of government from religious, and the structure of church. The core of these questions is the liberty of conscience.
At the beginning, Locke criticized the fact in history that some church of Christ impelled pagans to believe Christ by force. He thinks that compelling way is not valid because the real faith is based on the conviction of mind which is derived from freedom of conscience. Moreover, he believe the coercion from church is not the thing a real church should do, that is, coercion in faith is inconsistent with the spirit of Christianity.
Further, he thinks the coercive force merely belongs to the government whose mission is mainly limited to promote the civil interests and public order, such as citizen's life,freedom of speech,and their belongings. Since the power of government is limited to the public area, the government cannot involve the salvation of soul. Therefore, the division of roles are separate between church and government, one works on the sake of the salvation of soul, the other works on the sake of public interests.
Then, what is the proper way that a church should go? Locke offers his understanding of the structure of a real church and the respective function of section. The way Locke explains the derivation of church is similar to the origination of government although they have absolutely different mission and functions. According to Locke, a church is a result of consent of some relevant people, therefore, he thinks the church is a voluntary society constituted by voluntary members to promote the salvation of soul together. Since the enter onto a church is based on one's consent, the withdrawal is also made by one's own choice. No any coercion should be involved in the promotion of faith.
The next question he will talk is about to what the religious should be?
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