ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with Jonas Proast's account of the content of John Locke's Letter, in particular the arguments for toleration Proast perceives within it, before moving on to consider Proast's response to Locke's 'truth argument'. It will consider Jonas Proast's response to each of Locke's three 'considerations' for toleration, which Locke first presented in A Letter Concerning Toleration, along with some of Locke's rejoinders to Proast. The chapter then covers a number of related themes, including Proast's response to the religious diversity of his own time, before considering Proast's response to Locke's 'consent argument' and 'rationality argument'. In his first response to Locke, Proast does not identify this 'true religion' with the religion of the magistrate. This is despite the fact that it is certainly those who are at odds with the magistrate on matters of religion to whom the 'force' that Proast refers to in the passage above is applied.
