Animad-versions upon such particulars as may in my judgment produce much mischief in the World in a Book of great Name and which is entertain'd and celebrated at least enough in the World a Book which contains in it good Learning of all kinds politely extracted and very wittily and cunningly disgested in a very commendable method and in a vigorous and pleasant Style which hath prevailed over too many to swallow many new Tenets as Maximes without chewing which manner of diet for the indisgestion Mr. Hobbes himself doth much dislike The thorough novelty to which the present Age if ever any is too much inclin'd of the work receives great credit and autority from the known Name of the Author a Man of excellent parts of great wit some reading and somwhat more thinking One who has spent many years in foreign parts and observation understands the Learned as well as modern Languages hath long had the reputation of a great Philosopher and Mathematician and in his Age hath had conversation with very many worthy and extraordinary Men to which it may be if he had bin more indulgent in the more vigorous part of his life it might have had a greater influence upon the temper of his mind whereas age seldom submits to those questions enquiries and contradictions which the Laws and liberty of Conversation require and it hath bin alwaies a lamentation amongst Mr. Hobbes his Friends that he spent too much time in thinking and too little in exâ—â—â—ising those thoughts in the company of other Men of the same or of as good faculties for want whereof his natural constitution with age contracted such a morosity that doubting and contradicting Men were never grateful to him In a word Mr. Hobbes is one of the most ancient acquaintance I have in the World and of whom I have alwaies had a great esteem as a Man who besides his eminent parts of Learning and Knowledg hah bin alwaies looked upon as a Man of Probity and a life free from scandal and it may be there are few Men now alive who have bin longer known to him then I have bin in a fair and friendly conversation and sociableness and I had the honor to introduce those in whose perfections he seemed to take much delight and whose memory he seems most to extol first into his acquaintance In all which respects both of the Author and the work it cannot reasonably be imagined that any vanity hath transported me who know my self so incompetent for the full disquisition of this whole work which contains in it many parts of Knowledg and Learning in which I am not conversant and also the disadvantage that so many years have passed since the publication of this Book without any thing like an answer to the most mischievous parts of it as to Civil Government at least I had seen none such till after I had finished this discourse which was aâ— Montpelier in the moneth of April One thousand six hundred and seventy where I wanted many of those Books which had bin necessary to have bin carefully consulted and perused if I had propos'd to my self to have answer'd many of those Scholastic Points which seem to me enough expos'd to just cenâ—ure and reproch and which I did suppose some University Men would have taken occasion from to have vindicated those venerable Nurseries from that vice and ignorance his superciliousness hath thought fit to asperse them with I do confess since that time I have read several Answers and Reflexions made by Learned Men of both the Universities in English and in Latine upon his Leviathan or his other works published before and after which several Answers though they have very pregnantly discover'd many gross errors and grosser over-sights in those parts of Science in which Mr. Hobbes would be thought to excel which are like to put him more out of countenance then any thing I can urge against him by how much he values himself more upon being thought a good Philosopher and a good Geometrician then a modest Man or a good Christian have not so far discouraged me as to cause me either to believe what I had thought of and prepared before to be the less pertinent to be communicated or at all to inlarge or contract my former conceptions though probably many things which I offer are more vigorously urg'd and expressed in some of the other Answers Notwithstanding all which his Person is by many received with respect and his Books continue still to be esteem'd as well abroad as at home which might very well have prevailâ—d with those before 〈◊〉 Arguments to have 〈◊〉 pretending to see farther into them then other Men had don and to discover a malignity undiscerned that should make them odious But then how prevalent soever these motives were with me when I reflected upon the most mischievous Principles and most destructive to the Peace both of Church and Staâ—e which are scatter'd though 〈◊〉 that Book of his Leviathan which I only take upon me to discover and the unhappy impression they have made in the minds of too many I thought my self the more oblig'd and not the less compâ—tent for those animadversions by the part I had acted for many years in the public Administration of Justice and in the Policy of the Kingdom And the leasure to which God hath condemn'd me seems an invitation and obligation upon me to give a testimony to the World that my duty and affection for my King and Country is not less then it hath ever bin when it was better interpreted by giving warning to both of the danger they are in by the seditious Principles of this Books that they may in time provide for their Security by their abolishing and extirpating those and the like excesses And as it could not reasonably be expected that such a Book would be answer'd in the time when it was published which had bin to have disputed with a Man that commanded thirty Legions for Cromwel had bin oblig'd to have supported him who defended his Usurpation so afterwards men thought it would be too much ill nature to call men in question for what they had said in ill times and for saying which they had a plenary Indulgence and Absolution And I am still of opinion that even of those who have read his Book and not frequented his Company there are many who being delighted with some new notions and the pleasant and clear Style throughout the Book have not taken notice of those down-right Conclusions which overthrow or undermine all those Principles of Government which have preserv'd the Peace of this Kingdom through so many Ages even from the time of its first Institution or restor'd it to Peace when it had at some times bin interrupted and much less of those odious insinuations and perverting some Texts of Scripture which do dishonor and would destroy the very Essence of the Religion of Christ. And when I called to mind the good acquaintance that had bin
the Soveraignty by making Tribunes by which Machiavel saies their Government was the more firm and secure and afterwards by introducing other Magistrates into the Soveraignty Nor were the Admissions and Covenants the Senate made in those cases ever declared void but observed with all punctuality which is Argument enough that the Soveraign power may admit limitations without any danger to it self or the People which is all that is contended for As there never was any such Person pag. 88. of whose acts a great multitude by mutual Covenant one with another have made themselves every one the author to the end he may use the strength and means of them all as he shall think expedient for their peace and common defence which is the definition he gives of his Common-wealth So if it can be supposed that any Nation can concur in such a designation and divesting themselves of all their right and liberty it could only be in reason obligatory to the present contractors nor do's it appear to us that their posterity must be bound by so unthrifty a concession of their Parents For tho Adam by his Rebellion against God forfeited all the privileges which his unborn posterity might have claimed if he had preserved his innocence and tho Parents may alienate their Estates from their Children and thereby leave them Beggars yet we have not the draught of any Contract nor is that which Mr. Hobbes hath put himself to the trouble to prepare valid enough to that purpose by which they have left impositions and penalties upon the Persons of their posterity nor is it probable that they would think themselves bound to submit thereunto And then the Soveraign would neither find himself the more powerful or the more secure for his contâ—â—â—tors having covenanted one with another and made themselves every one the author of all his actions and it is to be doubted that the People would rather look upon him as the Vizier Basha instituted by their Fathers then as Gods Lieutenant appointed to govern them under him It is to no purpose to examine the Prerogatives he grants to his Soveraign because he founds them all upon a supposition of a Contract and Covenant that never was in nature nor ever can reasonably be supposed to be yet he confesses it to be the generation pag. 87. of the great Leviathan and which falling to the ground all his Prerogatives must likewise fall too and so much to the dammage of the Soveraign power to which most of the Prerogatives are due that men will be apt to suppose that they proceed from a ground which is not true and so be the more inclined to dispute them Whereas those Prerogatives are indeed vested in the Soveraign by his being Soveraign but he do's not become Soveraign by vertue of such a Contract and Covenant but are of the Essence of his Soveraignty founded upon a better title then such an accidental convention and their designing a Soveraign by their Covenants with one another and none with or to him who is so absolutely to command them And here he supposes again that whatsoever a Soveraign is possessed of is of his Soveraignty and therefore he will by no means admit that he shall part with any of his power which he calls essential and inseparable Rights and that whatever grant he makes of such power the same is void and he do's believe that this Soveraign right was at the time when he published his Book so well understood that is Cromwel liked his Doctrine so well that it would be generally acknowledged in England at the next return of peace Yet he sees himself deceived it hath pleased God to restore a blessed and a general peace and neither King nor People believe his Doctrine to be true or consistent with peace How and why the most absolute Soveraigns may as they find occasion part with and deprive themselves of many branches of their power will be more at large discovered in another place yet we may observe in this the very complaisant humor of Mr. Hobbes and how great a Courtier he desir'd to appear to the Soveraign power that then govern'd by how odious and horrible a usurpation soever in that he found a way to excuse and justifie what they had already don in the lessening and diminution of their own Soveraign power which it concern'd them to have believ'd was very lawfully and securely don For they having as the most popular and obliging act they could perform taken away Wardships and Tenures he confesses after his enumeration of twelve Prerogatives which he saies pag. 92. are the rights which make the essence of the Soveraignty for these he saies are incommunicable and inseparable I say he confesses the power to coin mony to dispose of the estates and persons of infant heirs and all other Statute Prerogatives may be transferred by the Soveraign whereas he might have bin informed if he had bin so modest as to think he had need of any information that those are no Statute Prerogatives but as inherent and inseparable from the Crown as many of those which he declares to be of the Essence of the Soveraignty But both those were already entred upon and he was to support all their actions which were past as well as to provide for their future proceedings If Mr. Hobbes had known any thing of the constitution of the Monarchy of England supported by as firm principles of Government as any Monarchy in Europe and which enjoied a series of as long prosperity he could never have thought that the late troubles there proceeded from an opinion receiv'd of the greatest part of England that the power was divided between the King and the Lords and the House of Commons which was an opinion never heard of in England till the Rebellion was begun and against which all the Laws of England were most clear and known to be most positive But as he cannot but acknowledg that his own Soveraignty is obnoxious to the Lusts and other irregular passions of the People so the late execrable Rebellion proceeded not from the defect of the Law nor from the defect of the just and ample power of the King but from the power ill men rebelliously possessed themselves of by which they suppressed the strength of the Laws and wrested the power out of the hands of the King against which violence his Soveraign is no otherwise secure then by declaring that his Subjects proceed unjustly of which no body doubts but that all they who took up arms against the King were guilty in the highest degree And there is too much cause to fear that the unhappy publication of this doctrine against the Liberty and propriety of the Subject which others had the honor to declare before Mr. Hobbes tho they had not the good fortune to escape punishment as he hath don I mean Dr. Manwaring and Dr. Sibthorpe contributed too much thereunto For let him take what pains he will to render those
judgment of all Lawyers were excluded and all establish'd Laws contradicted so we may well look for a worse of Christian Politics when the advice of all Divines is positively protested against and new notions of Divinity introduc'd as rules to restrain our conceptions and to regulate our understandings And as he hath not deceiv'd us in the former he will as little disappoint us in the latter But having taken a brief survey of the dangerous opinions and determinations in Mr. Hobbes his two first parts of his Leviathan concerning the constitution nature and right of Soveraigns and concerning the duty of Subjects which he confesses contains doctrine very different from the practice of the greatest part of the world and therefore ought to be watched with the more jealousy for the novelty of it I shall not now accompany him through his remaining two parts in the same method by taking a view of his presumtion in the interpretation of several places of Scripture and making very unnatural deductions from thence to the lessening the dignity of Scripture and to the reproch of the highest actions don by the greatest Persons by the immediate command of God himself For if those marks and conditions which he makes necessary to a true Prophet and without which he ought not to be believed were necessary Moses was no true Prophet nor had the Children of Israel any reason to believe and follow him when he would carry them out of Egypt for he concludes from the thirteenth Chapter of Deuâ—eronomy and the five first verses thereof pag. 197. that God will not have Miracles alone serve for Argument to prove the Prophets calling for the works of the Egyptian Sorcerers tho not so great as those of Moses yet were great Miracles and that how great soever the Miracles are yet if the intent be to stir up revolt against the King or him that governeth by the Kings Autority he that doth such Miracles is not to be consider'd otherwise then as sent to make trial of their Allegiance for he saies those words in the text revolt from the Lord your God are in this place equivalent to revolt from the King for they had made God their King by pact at the foot of Mount Sinaâ— whereas Moses had no other credit with the People but by the Miracles which he wrought in their presence and in their sight and that which he did perswade them to was to revolt and withdraw themselves from the obedience of Pharaoh who was during their abode in Egypt the only King they knew and acknowledged So that in Mr. Hobbes's judgment the People might very well have refused to believe him and all those Prophets afterwards who prophesied against several of the Kings ought to have bin put to death and the Argumentation against the Prophet Ieremy was very well founded when the Princes said unto the King Ier. 38. 4. We beseech thee let this man be put to death for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war when he declar'd that the City should surely be given into the hands of the King of Babylon But Mr. Hobbes is much concern'd to weaken the credit of Prophets and of all who succeed in their places and he makes great use of that Prophets being deceiv'd by the old Prophet in the first of Kings when he was seduced to eat and drink with him Whereas he might have known that that Prophet was not so much deceiv'd by an other as by his own willfulness in closing with the temtation of refreshing himself by eating and drinking chusing rather to believe any man of what quality soever against the express command that he had received from God himself What his design was to make so unnecessary an enquiry into the Authors of the several parts of Scripture and the time when they were written and his more unnecessary inference that Moses was not the Author of the five Books which the Christian World generally believe to be written by him tho the time of his death might be added afterwards very warrantably and the like presumtion upon the other Books he best knows but he cannot wonder that many men who observe the novelty and positiveness of his assertions do suspect that he found it necessary to his purpose first to lessen the reverence that was accustom'd to be paid to the Scriptures themselves and the autority thereof before he could hope to have his interpretation of them hearken'd unto and received and in order to that to allow them no other autority but what they receive from the Declaration of the King so that in every Kingdom there may be several and contrary Books of Scripture which their Subjects must not look upon as Scripture but as the Soveraign power declares it to be so which is to shake or rather overthrow all the reverence and submission which we pay unto it as the undoubted word of God and to put it in the same scale with the Alcoran which hath as much autority by the stamp which the Grand Signior puts upon it in all his Dominion and all the differences and Controversies which have grown between the several Sects of Mahometans which are no fewer in number nor prosecuted with less animosity between them then the disputes between Christians in matter of Religion have all proceeded from the several glosses upon and readings of the Alcoran which are prescribed or tolerated by the several Princes in their respective Dominions they all paying the same submission and reverence to Mahomet but differing much in what he hath said and directed and by this means the Grand Signior and the Persian and the petty Princes under them have run into those Schisms which have given Christianity much ease and quiet This is a degree of impiety Mr. Hobbes was not arrived at when he first published his Book de Cive where tho he allowed his Soveraign power to give what Religion it thought fit to its Subjects he thought it necessary to provide it should be Christiaâ—â— which was a caution too modest for his Leviathan Nor can it be preserved when the Scriptures from whence Christianity can only be prov'd and taught to the people are to depend only for the validity 〈◊〉 upon the will understanding and autority of the Prince which with all possible submission reverence and resignation to that Earthly power and which I do with all my heart acknowledg to be instituted by God himself for the good of mankind hath much greater dignity in it self and more reverence due to it then it can receive from the united Testimony and Declaration of all the Kings and Princes of the World With this bold Prologue of the uncertain Canon of Scripture he takes upon him as the foundation of his true ratiocination pag. 207. to determine out of the Bible the meaning of such words as by their ambiguity may he saies render what he is to infer upon them obscure and disputable And with this licence he presumes to give such unnatural
between us and what I had said to many who I knew had inform'd him of it and which indeed I had sent to himself upon the first publishing of his Leviathan I thought my self eveâ— bound to give him some satisfaction why I had entertained so evil an opinion of his Book When the Prince went first to Paris from Iersey and My Lords Capel and Hopton stayed in Iersey together with my self I heard shortly after that Mr. Hobbes who was then at Paris had printed his Book De Cive there I writ to Dr. Earles who was then the Princes Chaplain and his Tutor to remember me kindly to Mr. Hobbes with whom I was well acquainted and to desire him to send me his Book De Cive by the same token that Sid. Godolphin who had bin kill'd in the late War had left him a Legacy of two hundred pounds The Book was immediately sent to me by Mr. Hobbes with a desire that I would tell him whether I was sure that there was such a Legacy and how he mighâ— take notice of it to receive it I sent him word that he might depend upon it for a truth and that I believed that if he found some way secretly to the end there might be no public notice of it in regard of the Parliament to demand it of his Brother Francis Godolphin who in truth had told me of it he would pay it This information was the ground of the Dedication of this Book to him whom Mr. Hobbes had never seen When I went some few years after from Holland with the King after the Murder of his Father to Paris from whence I went shortly his Majesties Ambassador into Spain Mr. Hobbes visited me and told me that Mr. Godolphin confessed the Legacy and had paid him one hundred pounds and promised to pay the other in a short time for all which he thank'd me and said he owed it to me for he had never otherwise known of it When I return'd from Spain by Paris he frequently came to me and told me his Book which he would call Leviathan was then Printing in England and that he receiv'd every week a Sheet to correct of which he shewed me one or two Sheets and thought it would be finished within little more then a moneth and shewed me the Epistle to Mr. Godolphin which he meant to set before it and read it to me and concluded that he knew when I read his Book I would not like it and thereupon mention'd some of his Conclusions upon which I asked him why he would publish such doctrine to which after a discourse between jest and earnest upon the Subject he said The truth is I have a mind to go home Within a very short time after I came into Flanders which was not much more then a moneth from the time that Mr. Hobbes had conferred with me Leviathan was sent to me from London which I read with much appetite and impatience Yet I had scarce finish'd it when Sir Charles Cavendish the noble Brother of the Duke of Newcastle who was then at Antwerp and a Gentleman of all the accomplishments of mind that he wanted of body being in all other respects a wonderful Person shewed me a Letter he had then receiv'd from Mr. Hobbes in which he desir'd he would let him know freely what my opinion was of his Book Upon which I wished he would tell him that I could not enough wonder that a Man who had so great a reverence for Civil Government that he resolv'd all Wisdom and Religion it self into a simple obedience and submission to it should publish a Book for which by the constitution of any Government now establish'd in Europe whether Monarchical or Democratical the Author must be punish'd in the highest degree and with the most severe penalties With which answer which Sir Charles sent to him he was hot pleased and found afterwards when I return'd to the King to Paris that I very much censur'd his Book which he had presented engross'd in â—â—llam in a marvellous fair hand to the King and likewise found my judgment so far confirmed that few daies before I came thither he was compell'd secretly to fly out of Paris the Justice having endeavour'd to apprehend him and soon after escap'd into England where he never receiv'd any disturbance After the Kings return he came frequently to the Court where he had too many Disciples and once visited me I receiv'd him very kindly and invited him to see me often but he heard from so many hands that I had no good opinion of his Book that he came to me only that one time and methinks I am in a degree indebted to him to let him know some reason why I look with so much prejudice upon his Book which hath gotten him so much credit and estimation with some other men I am not without some doubt that I shall in this discourse which I am now engaged in transgress in a way I do very heartily dislike and frequently censure in others which is sharpness of Language and too much reproching the Person against whom I write which is by no means warrantable when it can be possibly avoided without wronging the truth in debate Yet I hope nothing hath fallen from my Pen which implies the least undervaluing of Mr. Hobbes his Person or his Parts But if he to advance his opinion in Policy too imperiously reproches all men who do not consent to his Doctrine it can hardly be avoided to reprehend so great presumtion and to make his Doctrines appear as odious as they ought to be esteemed and when he shakes the Principles of Christian Religion by his new and bold Interpretations of Scripture a man can hardly avoid saying He hath no Religion or that he is no good Christian and escape endeavouring to manifest and expose the poison that lies hid and conceled Yet I have chosen rather to pass by many of his enormous sayings with light expressions to make his Assertions ridiculous then to make his Person odious for infusing such destructive Doctrine into the minds of men who are already too licentious in judging the Precepts or observing the Practice of Christianity The Survey of Mr. Hobbes's Introduction IT is no wonder that Mr. Hobbes runs into so many mistakes and errors throughout his whole discourse of the nature of Government from the nature of Mankind when he laies so wrong a foundation in the very entrance and Introduction of his Book as to make a judgment of the Passions and Nature of all other Men by his own observations of himself and believes pag. 2. that by looking into himself and considering what he doth when he do's think opine reason hope fear c. and upon what grounds he shall thereby read and know what are the thoughts and passions of all other men upon the like occasions And indeed by his distinction in the very subsequent words pag. 2. between the similitude of passions and the similitude of the object
are the notable instances by which Mr. Hobbes hath by his painful disquisition and investigation in the hidden and deep secrets of Nature discover'd that unworthy fear and jealousie to be inherent in mankind pag. 63. That the notions of right and wrong have no place that Force and Fraud are the two cardinal Vâ—rtues that there is no propriety no dominion no mine or thine distinct but that only to be every mans that he can get and for so long as he can keep it and this struggle to continue till he submits to the servitude to which he hath design'd him for his comfort and security Mr. Hobbes would do very much honor to Aristotle and repair much of the injury he hath don to him if he can perswade men to believe pag. 59 that the bringing in his Philosophy and Doctrine hath bin a cause to take away the reputation of the Clergy and to incline the People to the reformation of Religion and yet he hath more autority for that then for most of his Opinions tho it may be he doth not know it For in the year a thousand two hundred and nine Aristotles Metaphysics which had bin lately brought from Constantinople were condemn'd and forbidden to be read by a Council in Paris upon a supposition or apprehension that that Book had contributed very much to the new Heretical opinions of the Albigenses So far the French Clergy of that Age concurred in opinion with Mr. Hobbes but we may much more reasonably conceive that it hath bin illiterateness stupid ignorance and having never heard of Aristotle that may at any time have brought contemt upon the Clergy and tho men may too unreasonably it may be adhere to Aristotle in some particulars and so may be reasonably contradicted yet no man of the Clergy or Laity was ever contemned for being thought to understand Aristotle Indeed Mr. Hobbes may easily refute Aristotle and all who have writ before or since him if he be the Soveraign Magistrate not only to enact what Laws he pleases and to interpret all that were made before according to his pleasure but to adopt them to be the Laws of Nature which he declares pag. 79. to be immutable and eternal And we have great reason to watch him very narrowly when his Legislative fit is upon him least he cast such a net over us knit by what he calls the Law of Nature or by his Definitions that we be deprived of both the use of our liberty and our reason to oppose him He is very much offended with Aristotle for saying in the first Book of his Politics That by Nature some are fit to command and others to serve which he saies pag. 77. is not only against reason but also against experience for there are very few so foolish that had not rather govern themselves then be governed by others Which Proposition doth not contradict any thing said by Aristotle the Question being Whether Nature hath made some men worthier not whether it hath made all others so modest as to confess it and would have required a more serious Disquisition since it is no more then is imputed to Horses and other Beasts whereof men find by experience that some by nature are fitter for nobler uses and others for vile and to be only Beasts of burden But indeed he had the less need of reason to refute him when he had a Law at hand to controul him which he saies is the Law of Nature pag. 77. That every man must acknowledg every other man for his equal by nature which may be true as to the essentials of human Nature and yet there may be inequality enough as to a capacity of Government But whatever his opinion is we have Solomons judgment against him Insipiens erit servus sapientis Prov. 11. 29. And many Learned men are of opinion that the Gibeonites who by the help of an impudent lie found the means to save their lives were a People by nature of low and abject spirits fit only to do the low and mean services for which they were prepared And some of the Fathers believe That when the Patriarch Iacob in his dying Prophesie of Issachar declar'd Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens And he saw that rest was good and the land that it was pleasant and bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant unto tribute Gen. 49. 14. 15. Iacob foresaw that in that Tribe there would be depressio intellectus and that they would be only fit to servants And 't is very true that Aristotle did believe that Divine Providence doth shew and demonstrate who are fit and proper for low and vile offices not only by very notable defects in their understandings incapable of any cultivation but by some eminent deformity of the body tho that doth not alwaies hold which makes them unfit to bear rule And without doubt the observation of all Ages since that time hath contributed very much to that Conclusion which Mr. Hobbes so much derides of Inequality by nature and that Nature it self hath a bounty which she extends to some men in a much superior degree then she doth to others Which is not contradicted by seeing many great defects and indigencies of Nature in some men wonderfully corrected and repair'd by industry education and above all by conversation or by seeing some early blossoms in others which raise a great expectation of rare perfection that suddainly decay and insensibly wither away by not being cherished and improved by diligence or rather by being blasted by vice or supine laziness those accidents may somtimes happen do not very often and are necessary to awaken men out of the Lethargy of depending wholly upon the Wealth of Natures store without administring any supply to it out of their industry and observation And every mans experience will afford him abundance of examples in the number of his own acquaintance in which of those who have alwaies had equal advantages of Education Conversation Industry and it may be of virtuous Inclinations it is easie to observe very different parts and faculties some of quick apprehension and as steady comprehension wit judgment and such a sagacity as discerns at distance as well as at hand concluding from what they see will fall out what is presently to be don when others born and bred with the same care wariness and attention and with all the visible advantages and benefits which the other enjoied remain still of a heavier and duller alloy less discerning to contrive and fore-see less vigorous to execute and in a word of a very different Classis to all purposes which can proceed from no other cause but the distinction that Nature her self made between them in the distribution of those Faculties to the one with a more liberal hand then to the other Did not all the World at that time and hath it not ever since believed that Iulius Cesar had from nature a more exalted Spirit and Genius then
their own hands and it is a marvellous thing that any man can believe that he can be as vigorously assisted by people who have nothing to lose as by men who defending him defend their own Goods and Estates which if they do not believe their own they will never care into what hands they fall Nor is the Soveraign power divided by the Soveraigns consenting that he will not exercise such a part of it but in such and such a manner and with such circumstances for he hath not parted with any of his Soveraignty since no other man can exercise that which he forbears to exercise himself which could be don if he had divided it And it is much a greater crime in those who are totally ignorant of the laws to endeavour by their wit and presumtion to undermine them then that they who are learn'd in the study and profession of the Law do all they can to support that which only supports the Government Much less is the Soveraign power divided by the Soveraigns own communicating part of it to be executed in his name to those who by their education and experience are qualified to do it much better then he himself can be presumed to be able to do as to appoint Judges to administer Justice to his people upon all the pretences of right which may arise between themselves or between him and them according to the Rules of the Law which are manifest to them and must be unknown to him who yet keeps the Soveraign power in his hands to punish those Deputies if they swerve from their duty To the mischiefs which have proceeded from the reading the Histories of the ancient Greeks and Romans I shall say no more in this place then that if Mr. Hobbes hath bin alwaies of this opinion he was very much to blame to take the pains to translate Thucydâ—des into English in which there is so much of the Policy of the Greeks discovered and much more of that Oratory that disposes Men to Sedition then in all Tullies or Aristotles works But I suppose he had then and might still have more reason to believe that very few who have taken delight in reading the Books of Policy and Histories of the ancient Greeks and Romans have ever fallen into Rebellion and there is much more fear that the reading this and other Books writ by him and the glosses he makes upon them in his conversation may introduce thoughts of Rebellion into young men by weakning and laughing at all obligations of conscience which only can dispose men to obedience and by perswading Princes that they may safely and justly follow the extent of their own inclinations and appetites in the Government of their Subjects which must tire and wear out all Subjection at least the cheerfulness which is the strength of it by lessening the reverence to God Almighty which is the foundation of reverence to the King and undervaluing all Religion as no otherwise known and no otherwise coustituted then by the arbitriment of the Soveraign Prince whom he makes a God of Heaven as well as upon the Earth since he is upon the matter the only author of the Scripture it self the swallowing of all which opinions must be the destruction of all Government and the ruine of all obedience Tho most of his reflexions are reproches upon the Government of his own Country which he thinks is imperfectly instituted yet he cannot impute the doctrine of killing Kings whether Regicide or Tyrannicide to that Government nor the unreasonable distinction of Spiritual and Temporal jurisdiction to rob the Soveraign of any part of his Supremacy and divide one part of his Subjects from a dependance upon his justice and autority God be thanked the Laws of that Kingdom admit none of that doctrine or such distinctions to that pernicious purpose Nor do the Bishops or Clergy of that Kingdom however they are fallen from Mr. Hobbes his grace use any style or title but what is given or permitted to them by the Soveraign power And therefore this Controversy must be defended by those who justly lie under the reproch of the Church of Rome who it may be consider him the less because tho they know him not to be of theirs they think him not to be of any Religion The power of levying Mony which depending upon any general assembly he saies pag. 172. endangereth the Common-wealth for want of such nurishment as is necessary to life and motion shall be more properly enlarg'd upon in the next Chapter when I doubt not very wholsome remedies will be found for all those diseases which he will suppose may proceed from thence but t is to be hoped none will chuse his desperate prescriptions which will cure the diâ—ease by killing the Patient He concludes this Chapter after all his bountiful donatives to his Soveraign with his old wicked doctrine that would indeed irreparably destroy and dissolve all Common-wealths That when by a powerful invasion from a foreign Enemy or a prosperous Rebellion by Subjects his Soveraign is so far oppressed that he can keep the field no longer his Subjects owe him no farther assistance and may lawfully put themselves under the Conqueror of what condition soever for tho he saies pag. 174. The right of the Soveraign is not extinguished yet the obligation of the members is and so the Soveraign is left to look to himself There are few Empires of the World which at some time have not bin reduc'd by the strength and power of an outragious Enemy to that extremity that their forces have not bin able to keep the field any longer which Mr. Hobbes makes the period of their Subjects Loyalty and the dissolution of the Common wealth yet of these at last many Princes have recover'd and redeem'd themselves from that period and arrived again at their full height and glory by the constancy and vertue of their Subjects and their firmly believing that their obligations could not be extinguish'd as long as the right of their Soveraign Monarch was not So that there is great reason to believe that the old Rules which Soveraignty allwaies prescribed to it self are much better and more like to preserve it then the new ones which he would plant in their stead because it is very evident that the old subjection is much more faithful and necessary to the support and defence of the Soveraignty then that new one which he is contented with and prescribes which he will not only have determin'd as to any assistance of his natural Soveraign tho he confesses pag. 174. his right remains still in him but that he is obliged so strictly obliged that no pretâ—nce of having submitted hâ—mself out of fear can absolve him to protect and assist the Vsurper as long as he is able So that the entire loss of one Battel according to his judgment of subjection and the duty of Subjects shall or may put an end to the Soveraignty of any Prince in Europe And this
is one of the grounds and principles which he concludes to be against the express duty of Princes to let the People be ignorant of If Mr. Hobbes had a Conscience made and instructed like other mens and had not carefully provided that whilst his judgment is fix'd under Philosophical and Metaphysical notions his Conscience shall never be disturb'd by Religious speculations and apprehensions it might possibly smite him with the remembrance that these excellent principles were industriously insinuated divulged and publish'd within less then two years after Cromwels Usurpation of the Government of the three Nations upon the Murder of his Soveraign and that he then declar'd in this Book pag. 165. that against such Subjects who deliberately deny the autority of the Common wealth then and so established which God be thanked much the major part of the three Nations then did the vengeance might lawfully be extended not only to the Fathers but also to the third and fourth generation not yet in being and consequently innocent of the fact for which they are afflicted because the nature of this offence consists in renouncing of subjection which is a relapse into the condition of War commonly called Rebellion and they that so offend suffer not as Subjects but as Enemies And truly he may very reasonably believe surely more then many things which he doth believe that the veneme of this Book wrought upon the hearts of men to retard the return of their Allegiance for so many years and was the cause of so many cruel and bloody persecutions against those who still retain'd their duty and Allegiance for the King And methinks no man should be an Enemy to the renewing war in such cases but he who thinks all kind of war upon what occasion soever to be unlawful which Mr. Hobbes is so far from thinking that he is very well contented and believes it very lawful for his Soveraign in this Paragraph of cruelty to make war against any whom he judges capable to do him hurt The Survey of Chapter 30. MR. Hobbes having invested his Soveraign with so absolute Power and Omnipotence we have reason to expect that in this Chapter of his Office he will enjoin him to use all thâ— autority he hath given him and he gives him faiâ— warning that if any of the essential Rights of Soveraignty specified in his eighteenth Chapter which in a word is to do any thing he hath a mind to do and take any thing he likes from any of his Subjects be taken away the Common-wealth is dissolv'd and therefore that it is his office to preserve those Rights entire and against his duty to transfer any of them from himself And least he should forget the Rights and Power he hath bestowed upon him he recollects them all in three or four lines amongst which he puts him in mind that he hath power to leavy mony when and as much as in his own conscience he shall judg necessary and then tells him that it is agaist his duty to let the People be ignorant or mis-informed of the grounds and reasons of those his essential Rights that is that he is oblig'd to make his Leviathan Canonical Scripture there being no other Book ever yet printed that can inform them of those rights and the grounds and reason of them And how worthy they are to receive that countenance and autority will best appear by a farther examination of the Particulars and yet a man might have reasonably expected from the first Paragraph of this Chapter another kind of tenderness indeed as great as he can wish of the good and welfare of the Subject when he declares pag. 175. That the office of the Monarch consists in the end for which he was trusted with the Soveraign power namely the procuration of the safety of the People to which he is obliged by the Law of Nature and to render an account thereof to God the Author of that Law But by safety he saies is not meaâ—â— a bare preservation but also all other contentments of life which every man by lawful industry without danger or hurt to the Common-wealth can acquire to hâ—mself Who can expect a more blessed condition Who can desire a more gracious Soveraign No man would have thought this specious Building should have its Foundation after the manner of the foolish Indians upon sand that assoon as you come to rest upon it molders away to nothing that this safety safety improv'd with all the other contentments of life should consist in nothing else but in a mans being instructed and prepar'd to know that he hath nothing of his own and that when he hath by his lawful industry acquir'd to himself all the contentments of life which he can set his heart upon one touch of his Soveraigns hand one breath of his mouth can take all this from him without doing him any injury This is the Doctrine to be propagated and which he is confident will easily be receiv'd and consented to since if it were not according the principles of Reason he is sure it is a principle from autority of Scripture and will be so acknowledg'd if the Peoples minds be not tainted with dependance upon the Potent or scribled over with the opinions of their Doctors One of the reasons which he gives why his grounds of the rights of his Soveraign should be diligently and truly taught is a very good reason to believe that the grounds are not good because he confesses pag. 175. that they cannot be maintain'd by any Civil Law or terror of legal punishment And as few men agree with Mr. Hobbes in the essential Rights of Soveraignty so none allows nor doth he agree with himself that all resistance to the rights of the Soveraignty be they never so essential is Rebellion He allows it to be a priviledg of the Subject that he may sue the King so there is no doubt but that the Soveraign may sue the Subject who may as lawfully defend as sue and every such defence is a resistance to the Soveraign right of demanding and yet I suppose Mr. Hobbes will not say it is Rebellion He that doth positively refuse to pay mony to the King which he doth justly owe to him and which he shall be compell'd to pay doth resist an essential Right of the King yet is not guilty of Rebellion which is constituted in having a force to support his resistance and a purpose to apply it that way And as the Law of Nature is not so easily taught because not so easily understood as the Civil Law so I cannot comprehend why Mr. Hobbes should imagine the Soveraign power to be more secure by the Law of Nature then by the Civil Law when he confesses That the Law of Nature is made Law only by being made part of the Civil Law and if the Civil Law did not provide a restraint from the violation of Faith by the terror of the punishment that must attend it the obligation from the Law
carefully observes those Precepts in the understanding whereof every man of all parties agrees Nor hath he therein gratified the Pope himself who is willing to embrace all encroachments by which he may be a gainer and uses his faculty of interpreting to purposes monstrous enough yet he pretends not to make what he pleases Canonical Scripture If the Clergy whose learning is approved and whose manners are blameless are not fit to instruct the People whither shall they repair for information There may be some ignorant men amongst them who themselves need to be instructed and yet there is a Classis of men who may learn much even from them if they are honest men And there may be some seditious amongst them who maliciously pervert the Scripture and corrupt those who should be taught by them but as there are Laws very strict for the punishment of such so none are more glad to see those punishments inflicted or forwarded to promote it then the venerable part of their own order whose known abilities ought not to be prejudic'd nor their integrity suspected for the infamy of the other God was never well serv'd nor the King religiously obeied when and where the Clergy was despis'd or undervalued Mr. Hobbes is so much delighted with his institution by Covenant that he will not suffer God himself to have a Dominion over the Children of Israel pag. 217. but under an institution by pact which he saies is an addition to his ordinary title to all Nations Indeed that their obligations to his Divine Majesty were increased by his communication of himself and his gracious promises to them above other Nations is very true but that he should thereby have a greater dominion over them then he had over the whole Earth besides is not easy to be understood tho he makes that assumtion the ground-work of the greatest part of his discourse and ratiocination contain'd throughout this his Third part Only whereas the security of his Soveraign consists only in the Covenants between the people to one another without any obligation from the Soveraign to them this Soveraignty which he hath provided for God Almighty is more perfect and depends upon the Covenant which God himself first entred into and then the Contract entred into on their part like the sealing the Counter-part which he draws up as formally between them as he did the transferring and assigning each others right in the former establishment and all this Transaction he makes good by the express words of Scripture No man can now blame him for wishing for such a Soveraign who would take the Bible from every other body and put it into his hand with a Commission to interpret it But till he had gotten that delegation he should have forborn making such a story out of the 17 of Genesis 7. 8. pag. 216. of a Covenant on Gods part and I know not what contract and promise on Abrahams part that must constitute a neerer relation and give God a greater power over them then he had before whereas there was nothing like a promise from God to Abraham of the Land of Canaan for an everlasting possession in the 17 of Genesis which he had not made to him many years before He might have found the Original promise in the 12 Chapter when God commanded him to go out of his Country and from his Kindred and then premis'd to make of him a great Nation to bless them that blessed him and to curse them that cursed him and which was greater then all the rest that in him should all the Families of the Earth be blessed Abraham makes no reply but upon the command left his Country and departed from Haran when he was seventy five years old and took his journy towards the Land of Canaan and passed through the Land unto the place of Sichem unto the plain of Moreh and the Canaanite was then in the Land Which expression so natural to the relation and History he thinks ground enough for him to deny that Moses was author of the Book of Genesis because that expression he saies pag. 200. must be the words of one that wrote when the Canaanite was not in the Land which is an inference without shadow of reason When he was in the Land of Canaan God appear'd to him again and said Vnto thy Seed will I give this Land And he was then by a famine driven into Egypt and so much time passed that when he return'd towards Bethel from whence he went into Egypt his riches were so much increased that Lot and he were compelled to part that they might have more room to live in And then God appear'd again to Abraham and said Lift up thine eies and look from the place where thou art c. For all the Land which thou seest to thee will I give it and to thy Seed for ever when he had yet no seed After his Sacrifice he appear'd to him again and it is said made a Covenant with Abraham saying no more upon the matter then he had promis'd before only describing the extent of the Land that he would give to his Seed from the river of Egypt to the great river the river Euphrates What did God promise more to Abraham and what farther Covenant was entred into between them in this 17. Chap. when Mr. Hobbes dates the Covenant when Abraham was ninety nine years old then he had don four and twenty years before and what did Abraham do more then he had don before towards any contract on his part It is true that God enjoined him that every man-child amongst them should be circumcis'd which is his pag. 217. old Covenant And it is true Abraham and his Seed did so punctually observe that injunction that the omission thereof was never imputed to them and so could not be the cause of any of the calamities they sustain'd afterwards for four hundred years in Egypt or after their deliverance when their miseries at worst little exceeded what they may be thought to have suffer'd there Where he found that Dialogue between God and Abraham that makes the Covenant mutual other men know not There is no inconvenience nor would it be incongruous to suppose that Abraham upon such an immense benefit and honour promised to him by God and so often repeted to him did make some humble acknowledgment and promise of duty and obedience on his part And it appears he did whatsoever he was commanded and assoon as he was commanded he left his Country to live amongst strangers enjoin'd circumcision and observ'd all that he was commanded to obtain a great reward that his Posterity was to receive five hundred years after but for any man to digest this obedience into a style and method of words to no other end but to establish a new extravagant fancy of his own and that he may thereby create a peculiar Kingdom for God more then his illimited power over the universe had intitled him to and put a new interpretation
the commandment of God that which in the name of God was commanded him in a dream or vision and to deliver it to his Family and cause them to observe the same Yet notwithstanding this great addition tho Abraham and all the Soveraigns who succeeded him were qualified to govern and prescribe to their Subjects what Religion they should be of and to tell them what is the word of God and to punish all those who should countenance any doctrine which he should forbid from which he concludes that pag. 250 as none but Abraham in his family so none but the Soveraign in a Christian Common-wealth can take notice what is or what is not the word of God Yet I say neither that nor the renewing the same Covenant with Isaac and afterwards with Jacob he saies now did make that people the peculiar People of God but dates that Privilege which before he dated from the Covenant with Abraham to begin only from the renewing it by Moses at the mount Sinai by which he corrects his former fancy by a new one as extravagant upon the peoples contract in those words which he had mention'd before without that observation and gloss that he makes upon it nor did God at that time promise more to them by Moses then he had before as expresly promis'd to Abraham Isaac and Iacob This shall suffice to what he hath so often urg'd or shall hereafter infer from the Covenant with Abraham and by Moses and of the peculiar dominion over that People by vertue of that Contract Nor will I hereafter enlarge any more upon their pretended rejection of God when they desir'd a King which he now confirm's by a new piece of History or a new Commentary upon the Text by his Soveraign power of interpreting for he saies pag. 254. that when they said to Samuel make us a King to judg us like all the Nations they signified that they would no more be govern'd by the commands that should be laid upon them by the Priest in the name of God and consequently in deposing the High Priest of Roial autority they deposed that peculiar Government of God pag. 255. And yet he confesses in the very next page that when they had demanded a King after the manner of the Nations they had no design to depart from the worship of God their King but despairing of the justice of the Sons of Samuel they would have a King to Iudg them in civil actions but not that they would allow their King to change the Religion which was recommended to them by Moses By which he hath again cancell'd and demolish't all that power and jurisdiction which he would derive to all Soveraigns from that submission and contract which he saies they made at Mount Sinai for he confesses that they had no intention that the King should have autority to alter their Religion and then it passed not by that contract And thus when his unruly invention suggests to him an addition to the Text or an unwarrantable interpretation of it it alwaies involves him in new perplexities and leaves him as far from attaining his end as when he began It is upon his usual presumtion that from the 17. Chapter of Numbers he concludes that after Moses his death the supreme power of making war and peace and the Supreme power of judicature belonged also to the High Priest and thus Ioshuah was only General of the Army whereas no more was said in that place to Eleazar then had bin before said to Aaron his Father to perform the Priestly Office nor doth it ever appear that Eleazar offered to assume the Soveraignty in either of the cases but was as much under Ioshuah as Aaron had ever bin under Moses God appear'd unto Ioshuah upon the decease of Moses and deputed him to exercise the same charge that Moses had don As I was with Moses so will I be with thee This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth that thou maiest observe to do all that is written therein Then Ioshuah commanded the Officers of the People Josh. 1 2. 5 8 10. The people made another covenant with Ioshuah All that thou commandest us we will do and whither soever thou sendest us we will go As we hearkned unto Moses in all things so will we hearken unto thee Whosoever doth rebel against thy Commandment and will not hearken to thy words in all that thou commandest him shall be put to death ver 16 17 18. And the Lord said unto Joshuah this day will I magnify thee in the sight of all Israel as I was with Moses so will I be with thee And thou shalt command the Priests c. Josh. 3. 7 8. All the orders and commands to the Priests were given by Ioshuah Joshua built an Altar to the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal He wrote upon the stones a copy of the Law He read all the Law the cursings and the blessings c. Josh. 8. 30 32 34. Ioshuah divided the Land and when any doubtful cause did arise they repair'd to him for judgment And when the two Tribes and the half returned to the other side of Iordan where Moses had assign'd their portions it was Ioshuah who blessed them and sent them away There is no mention of any Soveraignty of Eleazar What the jurisdiction of the High-Priest was and whether the Office was limited or any way suspended during the time of the Judges is not otherwise pertinent to this discourse then as it contradicts Mr. Hobbes in which where it is not necessary I take no delight and therefore shall not enlarge upon those particulars The Survey of Chapter 41. MR. Hobbes hath committed so many errors in the institution and view which he hath made of all Offices hitherto that there was reason to believe he would have the same presumtion if he came to handle the Office of our Saviour himself and I think he hath made it good when he allows no other autority or power to our Saviour even when he comes in the glory of his Father with his Angels to reward every man according to his works Matâ—h 16. 27. then pag. 260. as Vice-gerent of God his Father in the same manner that Moses was in the Wilderness and as the High Priests were before the Reign of Saul and as the Kings were after it which is degrading him below the model of Socinus and in no degree equal to the description of his Power in Scripture yet large enough if the end of his coming was no other then he assigns and the Office he is to manage no greater then he seems to describe p. 264. the giving immortality in the Kingdom of the Son of man which is to be exercis'd by our Saviour upon Earth in his human nature which seems to be much inferior to that inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away which St. Peter assures us is reserved in Heaven for us 1 Pet. 1. 4. And how his
believe what he will he shall perish for speaking lies And if he will believe St. Paul he will not find the heart to be the seat that comprehends all Christian Religion but that the tongue hath a very necessary part assign'd to it to perform If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. â— Salvation would be gotten at too cheap a rate if believing would serve the turn and men might speak and do what they find most convenient Words are actions in his own judgment and to be punish'd with the same severity Our Saviour had provided very ill for the propagation of his Faith if he had left a latitude for men to deny him in their words so they confessed him in their hearts How many Converts would that secret and reserv'd belief and confession have produc'd Confession with mouth as it is the more generous so it is the more avowed and declar'd way of doing God service He cannot confess him with his mouth that doth not believe him in his heart and he doth believe him in his heart to no purpose that will not confess him with his mouth A man cannot be a true Christian without both There may be some men who may be possessed with as much fear as Mr. Hobbes and as good Courtiers as he in submitting to the commands of their Soveraign of what kind soever but I have not heard that any man doth so frankly own it as he doth and the expedient that he hath found might have saved many hundred thousand lives of the Christians in the primitive persecution when the greatest part of them were not required with their mouth to deny Jesus Christ but to acknowledg Iupiter or Venus or Apollo according to the Religion of the Climate to be Gods and to worship them which after they were Christians they could not do so that their Martyrdom was that they chose to lose their lives with the most terrible circumstances of Torment rather then they would lie and say that they believ'd them to be Gods when they knew they were not so and the Church hath never doubted of their being Martyrs very precious in the eies of God But we shall have occasion to resume this argument of Martyrs again very shortly But it is not reasonable to believe or expect that those or any other Texts of Scripture can make any impression upon Mr. Hobbes when he is able to save himself harmless from that determination and declaration of our Saviour Who so dâ—nieth me before men I will deny him before my Father which is in Heaven by saying roundly that whatsoever a Subject is compell'd to do in obedience to his Soveraign and doth it not in order to his own mind that action is not his but his Soveraigns nor is it he that in this case denieth Christ before men but his Governor so that he is well content to shift of his own damnation to his Soveraign But that this distinction will not serve his turn is evident to all but the Casuists of his own faith and t will concern him to find a better way to defend himself for committing Adultery Theft Murder or any other wickedness God hath forbidden if his Soveraign commands him then he hath taught any other men who believe his doctrine and who deserve more satisfaction from him for depending upon his reason I know no difficulty in resolving his case of conscience concerning his Mahometan in a Christian Common-wealth nor can doubt but that he which is a true Mahometan and believes that Mahomet will not permit him to be present at the divine Service in a Christian Church which I do not think the Mahometans restrain'd from out of their own Country no more then the Jews who make no scruple to be present at Common Praier or Mass if it be attended with any convenience looking upon themselves only as being present in the company not at the devotion Yet I say if he believes it he doth well not to obey his Soveraigns commands and is much the honester men in avoiding the doing against conscience however erroneous it may be Nor will any part of that tragical inference follow that then any private man may disobey their Princes in maintenance of any Religion true or false there being other trials for the punishment of those then the bare word and command of the Prince There are two conclusions which reasonably result from Mr. Hobbes his Axiome and which may prove beneficial to him the first is that we may believe that he doth not himself believe one word in his Book that we find fault with for writing is at least as external a thing as speaking and therefore keeping his heart right he might have the same liberty the Prophet gave to Naaman and write what his Soveraign Cromwell commanded him or what he discern'd would be so acceptable to him that it would procure him his protection which ought to have the same force with him as his command The other is that when ever he shall be commanded by the King or required by any Court of Law which is the voice of the King to retract and recant whatever is condemned in this Book he will cheerfully and with a better conscience renounce them all and write an other Book more reasonably in the confutation of his errors in this But then he is upon an other disadvantage which is very grievous to an honest man that when he makes that recantation no man will believe that it is the thoughts of his heart but only his profession with the tongue which being but an external thing he doth signify his obedience to that autority to which he is Subject without any remorse for the wickedness of his former writing The truth is this licence which he avows how odious and impious soever hath in it self likewise so much of levity and extreme weakness that a man may depart a little from his gravity in answering it and wonder why he did not make use of a Text of Euripides englisht in Hudibras who is much a graver writer and far better Casuist as an autority to support his doctrine Oaths are but words and words but wind Too feeble instruments to bind c. He knows well that in the custom of speaking worse cannot be said of any man then that he is ready to say any thing he is bid and the natural judgment upon him is that no man believes any thing he saies Error is naturally pregnant and the more desperate it is the more fruitful Mr. Hobbes well foresaw that the latitude he assum'd to himself could not consist with the courage of the blessed Martyrs of the Christian Faith who had laid down their lives rather then they would with their tongue which would have saved their lives deny their Saviour or say they did not believe in him upon the command of what Emperour of Soveraign
Representative of the Church and so the Teachers he elects are elected by the Church which was all the title they had from the time of the Apostles to the time of the Soveraigns becoming Christian from which time he is the true Representative of the Church as well as of the State pag. 299. and from this consolidation of the right Politic and Ecclesiastic in Christian Soveraigns he saies it is evident that they have all manner of power over their Subjects that can be given to man and may make such Laws as themselves shall judg fittest for the government of their own Subjects both as they are the Common-wealth and as they are the Church But as his Civil Soveraign rejects his Institution and knows he hath much a better title to his power then he could have by pretending to be the Representative of the People so his Christian Soveraign will as much reject the being Representative of the Church knowing that he hath a better title by being Soveraign to govern his Clery and all Ecclesiastical persons in his own Dominions and for suppressing all seditious and erroneous Doctrines which may disturb the Peace or discredit the Integrity of the Church then such a Representation would give him And they are little beholding to him for deriving their Supremacy Ecclesiastical from the Heathen Princes since few Heathen Soveraigns ever pretended to have the supreme or indeed any power or autority in what concern'd the service and worship of their God the direction and government whereof appertain'd to Magistrates and Ministers assigned for that Sacred Province as the Great Turk himself as hath bin said before doth not give Laws but receives advice and the interpretation of the Mufty in whatsoever Mahomet hath enjoin'd to be don But let the title be what it will he will be sure that his Soveraign shall have a power as unlimitted in all Ecclesiastical affairs as in Civil and not only to give what Religion he thinks fit and to allow what Book he pleases for Scripture to his Subjects but that he may himself if he pleases perform all the Functions himself in Religion pag. 287. as to baptize administer the Sacrament of the Lords Supper consecrate Temples and Pastors to Gods service And he saies the reason is evident why they do it not which is no other but that they have somwhat else to do However he is sure they may be literal Pastors of their own Subjects in their own persons and have autority to Preach to Baptize to administer the Sacrament of the Lords Supper and to consecrate both Temples and Persons to Gods service which he doth not grant out of the high qualifications which he believes to be inherent in the power and person of a King but from the low esteem he hath of those Offices and Mysteries of Religion For fore-seeing the objection that those administrations by the testimony of all Antiquity require the imposition of such mens hands as by the like imposition successively from the time of the Apostles have bin ordain'd to the like Ministry he removes that difficulty by offering a prospect of the original and use of the Imposition of Hands and instructs us from the perpetual custom and usage in all Nations of Imposition of Hands as well in Civil as in Sacred occasions as well in inflicting punishment as in conferring Honors and Dignities as in the condemnation of him who blasphemes the Lord all that heard him shall lay their hands upon his head and that all the Congregation should stone him And when Iairus his daughter was sick he did not desire our Saviour to heal her but to lay his hands upon her that she might be healed And they brought little Children up to him that he might lay his hands upon them c. And the reason is he saies pag. 298. as in the case of the Blasphemer where the witnesses laid their hands upon the guilty persons rather then a Priest or Levite or other Minister of Iustice because none else were able to design or demonstrate to the eies of the Congregation who it was that had blasphemed and ought to die so in other things it is natural to design any individual thing rather by the hand to assure the eies then by words to inform the ear in matters of Gods public service All which and many other Texts of which he never finds want to any purpose must signifie if they signifie any thing that the Imposition of hands that venerable circumstance that hath bin from the beginning of Christianity and where ever it is professed applied to all Ecclesiastical Functions is to no other purpose but to point out the person that all the people may know who is the person that is ordained but the person of every Soveraign Prince is too notorious and perspicuous to need any such demonstration and therefore he may Baptize Preach and Consecrate and do all other Offices without it To all which I shall suspend any farther answer until he can prevail with one Christian Prince to assume and exercise the power he so frankly confers upon him or one Christian Subject willing to receive those Honors and Graces from their Royal Hands I have waited upon Mr. Hobbes into Cardinal Bellarmine's Quarters and I will not interpose and disturb him there in the Controversie he hath with him which takes up the remainder of his forty second Chapter more then to say that he takes upon him to answer that Book of Bellarmine which of all that ever he writ is most easie to be answer'd having less of Reason and Learning in it and having few Assertors and being generally condemn'd among the Papists themselves and particularly by the Colledg of Sorbone the fairest Representers of the Doctrine of the Church of Rome and in answering of which he hath said nothing new nor so substantially as many others have don as he must confess if he reads William Berkeley the Father of Iohn He contends with â—ellarmineâ—or â—or some Texts of Scripture which he saies conclude for his Soveraign upon which the other would establish the supreme autority of the Pope and which in truth cannot be applied with any colour to either of them And he cannot take it ill that I have and shall take the same method in answering many of his Arguments which he himself thought fit to do before he would enter upon any particular disquisition of those of the Cardinals by laying open the consequences of his Doctrine pag. 314. that Princes and States that have the Civil Soveraignty in their several Common-wealths may bethink themselves whether it be convenient for them and conducing to the good of their Subjects of whom they are to give an account at the day of Iudgment to admit the same which way of exposing his whole Book is without doubt the best way of answering it I shall only add that as it was unreasonably undertaken by Bellarmine to establish a title that depends upon matter of Fact by arguments from