alwaies did and ever will manifest the testimony and doctrine of the Gospel to be divine and that is the Holy-Ghost who by his powerful working upon the hearts of men seriously attending to this truth whereby a great change both inwardly in their hearts and outwardly in their lives is wrought doth mightily confirm it And those who find and feel in themselves the effects of sanctification and heavenly comfort can no waies doubt but are assured that God was in the Prophets and Apostles and did speak by them Besides when we consider 1. That the more we understand them the more excellency of wisdom we find in them 2. That these positives are agreeable and no waies contrary to pure morals 3. That they conduce effectually to holiness and eternal life 4. That they were approved received by the best men in the world and sealed with the blood of many Martyrs we must needs be fully satisfied that they are not false feigned fantastick conceits of deluded men and not only so but all these things may perswade any rational man to try upon practise whether they be divine or no. And this never any did but found the Apostles Doctrine to be of God If we had nothing but the universal and perpetual agreement and tradition of the Church of all places and times affirming the Scripture to be the Word of God it were sufficient to produce in a rational man a greater measure of belief then any Book or History in the world can possibly require or deserve For this universal testimony of the best in several parts of the world at such a distance as that they in their time neither heard of nor knew one another makes it more credible then any humane History can be But to return unto Mr. Hobbs I say its possible and not impossible to know the divinity of the testimony or declaration immediately but not of the revelation or matter revealed Yet that such a revelation and such a thing revealed there was is known in some measure by consequence And the divine Authority of this testimony may be infallibly known and that by natural reason yet by it as elevated and more perfected by outward representation and inward sanctification And the matter of the revelation to another together with the manner may be believed though not known For when we once know that God hath revealed it we believe the thing revealed to be true though by artificial and intrinsecal arguments we cannot prove it to be so For the testimony of God may be evident though the thing testified be hidden and above our reason The Conclusion is That we may have an infallible knowledge of the positive Laws of God so far as to know that they are from him and are his Laws and that without particular revelation that they were revealed to another T. H. If the divine positive Law be not against the Law of nature and he undertake to obey it he is bound by his own act to obey it but not bound to believe it For mans belief and interiour cogitations are not subject to the commands but only to the operations of God ordinary or extraordinary Faith of supernatural Law is not a fulfilling but only an assenting to the same it s not a duty but a gift c. G. L. His second question was how a man can be bound to obey supernatural positive Laws whereof he hath no particular revelation that they were revealed to others declaring them To this he answers 1. It must not be against the Law of nature which is the Law of God And its true that the Law of nature is the Law of God and this is a good rule For the positive Laws of God are not contrary to his pure moral Laws which have an intrinsecal rectitude in them 2. He further adds that if he undertake to obey a supernatural positive Law of God he is bound to obey it but not believe it This is very obscure and very absurd For 1. To undertake to obey it seems to be a promise to obey it and this is a voluntary Obligation whereby a man may bind himself to obey it as a divine Law or as no Law or if as a Law yet not as a Law of God and then he doth not obey as he ought to do 3. It is absurd To obey it as a positive Law of God and not believe it to be a Law of God For if he neither know nor believe it to be a Law of God he cannot obey it as a Law of God His obedience is no obedience unto God 4. Whereas it s said That faith is not subject to Gods command it s not a duty it s a gift this must needs be a gross errour For though the active power whereby a man is enabled to believe a divine positive truth be the gift of God yet the exercise of this power and the acts thereof are subject to the Law of God Other wise positive unbelief of a supernatural divine positive Law sufficiently declared and proposed could be no sin It s true that some affirm that the first and natural acts of the soul are not subject to any Law yet these do grant that all practical operations and such assent unto divine truths is be subject unto Law That faith is a duty is apparent because God commands it approves it rewards it and reproves and punisheth unbelief That we may the better understand the drift of this Author in this discourse he produceth the examples of Abraham and Moses declaring positive Laws of God upon revelation made of them which the posterity of Abraham were to obey upon their declaration and thence concludes T. H. That it is manifest and sufficiently appeareth that in a Common-wealth a subject who hath no certain and assured revelation particularly unto himself concerning the will of God is to obey for such the command of the Common-wealth G. L. But 1. It was formerly made manifest that neither Abraham nor Moses were Soveraigns much less Common-wealths 2. A Soveraign civil may declare something to be a Law of God and yet it may be no such thing and declare against a Law and yet it may be and many times it so falls out to be a Law of God and in neither of these cases is the subject bound to obey his Soveraign 3. If that which is declared for a positive Law divine be sufficiently attested especially by Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost by undoubted history and universal tradition the matter be agreeable to the Law of nature tends to practise of piety being practised is conducing to an higher degree of holiness and justice and by experience constantly found to be accompanied with rare and excellent effects tending to mans inward and real happiness it is to be believed and obeyed as a divine Law though all the Soveraigns in the world declare against it If a subject do accept the Religion established by the civil Laws of his Countrey he is free from
because God hath said it That the place is not this earth we have some reason to think because our Saviour ascended into heaven and whilest he was on earth made intercession for us saying Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am John 17.14 And to comfort the hearts of his Disciples sad and troubled because he said he must leave them he useth these words In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also John 14.23 If eternal life shall be enjoyed on earth why need Christ ascend to heaven there to prepare a place for us and when he shall return from thence why will he not stay here and leave us on the earth and never trouble himself with any translation of us into any other place where he shall ever abide and we be ever with him Hell in Scripture and as we understand God in that Book to teach us is an estate directly contrary to eternal life And we believe that it is a most miserable condition of such as shall suffer eternal punishments and that in some certain place and our chiefest imployment in this life is to use all means whereby we may be freed from that condition and enjoy the contrary Concerning the particular ubi and distinct place we do not as we need not much trouble our selves To prove that both eternal rewards are to be enjoyed and eternal torments to be suffered perpetually on earth he doth most wofully wrest and abuse several places of Gods Book and with so little solidity of judgement that children may answer him And because this eternal life is prepared by God for such as are by reason of their sin in danger of hell and eternal death therefore in Scripture it s sometime called salvation and also redemption which is a freedom and deliverance from all the evil consequents and effects of sin one and the principal whereof is to be deprived of eternal bliss which consists in full communion with our God Yet the consummation of both these conditions is reserved by God for the world to come which will follow the universal resurrection The times of the Gospel in respect of the Law may be called the world to come and so some understand the words of the Apostle to the Hebrews 2.5 where we read that God hath not unto Angels subjected the world to come c. This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sometimes it s taken for the time following the resurrection and final judgement as Mark 10.39 Luke 18.30 This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemption is taken in another sense for the expiation of sin upon satisfaction made by Christ unto his heavenly Father as supreme Judge who accepted his death as a sufficient penalty to avert his wrath and procure his mercy for all such as should believe on him In this Chapter he hath imposed upon many places of Scripture a sense never intended and this may be evident to any that can and will examine the places according to the originals and the context And he drives at this to deprive Christ of his regal power which at the right hand of God he now doth exercise and to invest civil powers with it till such time as he hath brought Christ from heaven that he may here on earth begin his personal raign Sr. Thomas Mores Vtopia is somewhat rational this discourse is void of reason and so much the more unsufferable as the matter is so sublime and this sacred Book of God so much profaned by him CAP. VIII Of the third Part And the 39. of the Book Of the significations of the word Church in Scripture IN the former Chapter he turned heaven and hell into the earth and in this he hath transformed the Church which is a spiritual politie into a civil State and that will easily appear from his definition of this excellent and divine Society T. H. A Church is a company of men professing Christian Religion united in the person of one Soveraign at whose command they ought to assemble and without whose authority they ought not to assemble G. L. Many are the significations of the word Ecclesia in the Scriptures of the New Testament as it is applyed to Christians which he hath in part yet not fully observed Yet amongst them all from the beginning to the end of the New Testament its never found to be taken in this sense for as he hath not so he cannot alledge one place where it so signifies This definition is such as never any gave before you can read it in no Author neither can you prove it out of Scripture Only the first words seem to have something of a description but it s no perfect explication of the quiddity and nature of the Church Christian For that is a society or community of persons who believe in Jesus Christ and subject themselves unto him as their Lord and King A bare profession will not make a man a subject of this spiritual Kingdom A sincere profession of that faith which is seated and rooted in the heart comes up higher and is more fit to express the being of a Member of this Church This Church as Catholick or Universal subject unto Christ is like a similar body and therefore the parts may bear the name of the whole as the Church of Corinth the Church of Ephesus and the Church in such an house Some part of this Church is under a form of discipline to be exercised in foro exteriori as the School-men and Casuists use to speak some parts are not so happy For this is not of the Essence of a Church It s not of the being though it tends to the well-being of the same Some of these are subject unto a civil Soveraign who is a Christian some are not For as a Christian State may have Heathen or Mahumetan subjects so Christians may be under the civil power of an Heathen or Mahumetan Prince Both these therefore to be under a form of discipline and subject to a Christian civil power are but accidental and these accidents are separable and often actually separated and therefore I know no reason why they should be part of a perfect desiâ—â—tion or so much as mentioned in it This may be sufficient for to discover the vanity of the man and the absurdity of the definition Yet notwithstanding his definition be faulty I for my part do grant that Jus religionis ordinandae doth belong to all Civil Governors and powers But with limitation 1. That no Soveraign hath power to order maintain and promote any Religion but that which is instituted from heaven 2. That they must not intermeddle with it for to order it further then its ordinable by the sword which cannot reach Religion and
Common-wealths be absolute in their own territories immediately under God or subject to one Vicar of Christ c. Whereas neither civil Soveraigns nor Popes can make the Scripture to be Law but all Christians are bound to believe the Scriptures to be the Law of God upon better grounds then civil laws or Ecclesiastical Canon or else they cannot be saved by them CAP. III. Of the third Part And 34. of the Book Of the signification of Spirit Angel Inspiration in the Book of holy Scriptures A Great part of his discourse in this division of his Book is spent in the explication of certain words and terms much used in the Scriptures and as he informs us the reason of this labour is to take away the ambiguity of the words that his inferences from them may be more clear and distinct Yet he hath done it in that manner that he hath perverted the genuine sense of Gods Word and so much as in him was made it more obscure and which is worse hath falsifyed the same These terms have been examined and explained far better by more learned men which I desire the ignorant to consult and advise with least they be seduced from the truth For Mr. Hobbs in this particular work as in others is not to be trusted But let us hear him T. H. Substance and body signifie the same thing and therefore substance incorporeal when they are joyned together destroy one another as if a man should say an incorporeal body G. L. The signification of words whereby we signifie our minds to others is of great consequence and without the distinct knowledge of the several significations of one and the same words we can neither understand the Scriptures nor any other rational Author This signification of words is either proper and Grammatical or Tropical and Rhetorical Of some words we have lost the proper sense and therefore must understand them according as they are most usually taken in the best Authors These words Body and Substance wherewith he begins his Scripture Lexicon are sometimes taken in the same sense to signifie the same thing yet neither properly nor most usually We find some of the antient Divines affirming Angels to be bodies and bodily creatures yet by body they meant substance and yet did acknowledge them to be Spirits And for my part I cannot be perswaded that either Angels or souls rational are pure forms as some nay many Peripateticks do affirm Yet they may be spirits and this nature better expressed by the word Spirits then the word Bodies And the vanity and presumption of this man is very much who would perswade us that incorporeal substance is a contradiction Some have observed that the word Guf in Arabick and Rabbinical Authors signifies 1. A body 2. A person 3. The substance or principal of a thing yet no rational man will hence conclude that body and substance are the same The next word he undertakes to explain is Spirit of which he saith T. H. That the proper signification of Spirit in common speech is either a subtile fluid invisible body or a Ghost or other idol or phantasm of the imagination But for Metaphorical significations there be many c. G. L. One word hath but one proper signification according to the first imposition therefore it s not true that there be three proper significations of this word and as for the improper there may be and are many and the same not only Metaphorical but Metonymical Ironical and Synechdochical Yet he hath observed seven distinct senses of the word Spirit in the Scripture But he fearfully abuseth some of those places alledged by him doth not reach the multitude of the significations of the same in that holy Book much less doth he reduce them into any Grammatical Rhetorical or Natural method If any man will but search the Scriptures he shall find the word Spirit therein to signifie above twenty several things The original Concordances will make this apparent to an intelligent Reader if he look but in the word Ruach which the Septuagint express and turn by 14. several Greek words the first whereof is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirit which is used by them most frequently by far yet so as that by that one word they signifie many things And this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus we find in the New Testament about 360. times and in many places is very differently taken The Latine use the word Spiritus in 15. several senses at least By which it doth appear that this part of the Chapter cannot be read by Schollars but with disdain and scorn and especially when he writes T. H. Other significations of Spirt I find nowhere any and where none of these can satisfie the sense of the word in Scripture the place falleth not under humane understanding c as where God is said to be a Spirit G. L. He had said that sometime the word is taken for the disposition or inclination of the mind and then infers these words when he doth not tell us whether these be proper significations usual in common speech as the three former were or they be Metaphorical If he mean that besides the three proper and these two he finds none his observation and so his learning in this kind is very poor But whereas he will not have the place of Scripture where it s used in another sense to fall under our understanding he is absurd For the place where it s said by our Saviour that God is a Spirit may be and is understood though we have no demonstrative or intuitive knowledge of the Deity in it self There is a great difference between a word and the thing signified by the word The word may be perfectly understood though the thing be not and we may know something of the thing by some measure of knowledge though we do not perfectly know it with the most perfect knowledge Christ by these words did teach us something and if he did how can it be said that the place falleth not under our understanding For there is nothing teachable which is not intelligible And by that place we may easily understand that God is a far more perfect and excellent substance or being then any inanimate or irrational body can possibly be The next term to be explained is that of Angel whereof he saith T. H. There is no place in the Old Testament or New from whence we can conclude that Angels are any thing permanent and incorporeal or created or any thing but an extraordinary manifestation of Gods power especially by dream or vision and the Angel Gabriel was nothing but a supernatural phantasm Yet from my feeble understanding was by the plain texts of the New Testament extorted an acknowledgement and belief that there be Angels substantial and permanent G. L. Much to this purpose in this part of the Chapter we may read And in this particular he most wofully perverts several texts of Scripture eludes the plain sense
interpretation of the word Holy is not usual and at all times very Katachrestical For he can instance in no place where it s properly so taken except it be wrested from the intended sense The meaning of the words Sacred and Sacraments are known to children out of ordinary Catechisms and therefore I forbear any further discourse concerning them CAP. V. Of the third part the 36. of the Book Of the word of God and of Prophets T. H. THe word of God or man may be understood sometimes of the speaker sometimes of the subject as the book of Chronicles hath the Title Verba Dierum for the acts done in such times So in the Scriptures many times the word of God is not that which is spoken by God but concerning God c. G. L. This is the substance though not the very words of the Author in the beginning of this Chapter yet we may observe in Scripture according to the Heb e. v and the Greek That Dabar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Raema signifie things as well as words and that the word of God is either verbum Dei or verbum de Deo or both or verbum quod est Deus There is an usual distinction of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an inward or outward word An outward word whereby we speak to others or an inward word whereby we speak unto our selves This inward word is either of things or acts out of our selves or of acts or operations in our selves or our own being and essence Now the word of God which is God is his word in himself of himself And this term Word signifying the eternal Son of God and the Messias is taken out of the Chaldee Paraphrast as many expressions of the New Testament are And some learned men have observed that the Chaldee Paraphrast took that term from the Prophet Esay 40.8 The word of our God shall stand for ever as also the Title of Messias from Daniel 9.25 Of this word of God it s written John 1.1 In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and ver 14. The word was made flesh Yet if we may believe Mr. Hobbs this word is the purpose of God and then the sense is the purpose of God is God and the purpose of God was made flesh and the purpose of God dwelt amongst us and we saw the glory of this purpose as of the onely begotten Son of God This is his cursed and blasphemous gloss upon these blessed Texts of Scripture whereupon depends so much our faith and eternal salvation If any man would give an accurate account of the several significations of the word of God as it s used in Scripture he ought diligently to observe how oft it s used in Scripture consider the Context and drift of those places where it s read examine the originals and find out first the Proper signification secondly the Tropical and also distinguish them The reason why we say the Scripture is the word of God written is 1. Because it was revealed by God and the writers thereof were infallibly directed And this is the most proper signification yet secondly by a Metonymie it s so called because it principally speaks of God and he is the subject of it to which all particulars may be some ways referred or reduced But let no man that loves the truth hearken unto this man least he be seduced For with some truths he mixeth abominable Errours T. H. The name of Prophet in Scripture signifies sometimes a Prolocutor sometimes a Predictor c. G. L. In the rest of this Chapter he informs us 1. Of the several senses and significations of the word Prophet 2. Of the several distinct kinds of them 3. Of Rules how to try Prophets And his end is to make a civil soveraign Christian the supreme and infallible Judge Prophets in Scripture are true or false for false Prophets have the name True are extraordinary ordinary Extraordinary are such as either were Penmen of the Scripture or such only as whose Prophesies are related in Scripture These Prophets he divides into supreme and subordinate Yet the Prophets extraordinary as such can admit of no such distinctions Amongst the supreme he reckons Moses the high Priests Kings Yet the high Priests were neither supreme nor Prophets except very rarely That God did make use of the Priest with the Vrim and Thummim in giving his answers did not make the Priest a Prophet in proper sense That David and Solomon were Prophets seems peculiar to them That some of the Kings also called for the Priest to consult with God according to the ordinary way Instituted by God who promised to give answer so as he did to no people in the world it could neither make Kings or Priests supreme Neither did Solomon take the Priesthood from Abiathar but for his treason suspended him ab offi io That the Christian Soveraign should now be the supreme Prophet in whose Judgement all their subjects must acquiesce is to be derided and rejected as a thing which neither can be proved or approved CAP. VI. Of the third part The 37. of the Book Of Miracles SOmething he hath taught his Reader that had not learned so much before concerning the nature and end of Miracles And in this particular he is more Orthodox then in other points That Miracles are immediate works of God we believe and such as wherein he doth not make use of natural causes for to do them Neither can any created cause reach them These are not ordinary works of God neither are they usually done but seldom and upon some special occasion and for some special end This end in general is the same with that of all his works and that is the manifestation of his glory yet in a more special manner to awaken mens sleepy minds and stir up attention to perswade and confirm the truth of those Doctrines which are above the reach of reason by this perswasion to work faith and conversion These Miracles are works either of judgement or mercy and do really differ and far excell all enchantments strange works done by natural causes delusions of the Devil and such like which seem to be Miracles and are not any such thing And they are never done to confirm an errour or perswade the doing of evil For his Almighty power is the immediate cause of them and is exercised according to the counsel of his will and subservient alwaies and only to his truth and glory CAP. VII Of the third Part. And the 38. of the Book Concerning eternal life hell salvation the world to come and redemption THAT there is eternal life we believe as also that it is an excellent glorious blessed estate and the same to be enjoyed by certain persons c. in some certain place and that there shall be no end either of the persons or estate or the enjoyment we are fully perswaded
Chrstianity but per accidens so far as the persons who are Christians are subject to the civil power And this care of the Magistrate may do much good not only in preventing all tumults and seditions about Religion as prejudicial to the peace of the State and suppress them but also protect the servants of Christ and promote Christianity very much And in this respect only I conceive Soveraigns to be in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Civil supreme Governors From the definition formerly given he concludes T. H. That because in all Common-wealths that assembly which is without warrant from the civil Soveraign is unlawful that Church also which is assembled in any Common-wealth that hath forbidden them to assemble is an unlawful assembly G. L. There is a diffecence between warrant permission and prohibition Acts 15. we read of a Church-assembly at Jerusalem yet without any warrant from the Roman Emperour and the same did debate determine engross and publish certain binding Canons yet I hope he dare not dictate it to be unlawful though it had been forbidden Permission perhaps they had warrant they had none There are actions and such as God commands and civil Governors forbid yet the prohibition of man cannot make void the command of God For we must obey God rather then man But he tells us T. H. That temporal and spiritual Government are but words brought into the world to make men see double and mistake their lawful Soveraign G. L. As Government the thing signified by the word is a real act so spiritual and temporal Government are two not words but things really different For there is a temporal Government which is not spiritual and spiritual which is not temporal And though he will not give us leave yet we will take it to distinguish between Church and State temporal and spiritual man and Christian For he knows and that certainly there be men who yet are no Christians States which are not Churches and temporal things which are not spiritual And those things which not only may be but actually are separated in existence must needs be really distinct The rule is infallible as its evident And he that will confound these may build a Babel but no orderly society And it s a fault to make that which is double to seem single as well as make that which is single appear to be double CAP. IX Of the third Part. The 40. of the Book Of the rights of the Kingdom of God in Abraham Moses the high Priests and the Kings of Judah HItherto Mr. Hobbs hath abused his Reader in the explication of certain words and terms used in Scripture and hath bewrayed his gross ignorance and abominable errours And as though he had laid a sure foundation whereon to ground his following discourse or at least made way for it he proceeds to prove out of the said holy writings of the Old Testament the absolute power of Christian Soveraigns and States both in matters of Religion and Civil Government And this is so done that there is little fear least any intelligent Reader should he deceived or perswaded by him because there is so great a distance between his premises and the conclusion that no wit of man is able to see the connexion or the illative force of them For he argues That because Abraham in his family Moses in Israel the high Priests after Moses in the times of Judges and the Kings from Saul to the captivity had the supreme power Civil and Ecclesiastical therefore all Christian Governors supreme have the same For this is the substance of this Chapter Yet 1. Abraham was but the Master of a family Moses a Mediator between Israel and God retaining the supreme power both temporal and spiritual in his own hands not only in his time but in the raign of Judges and the Kings The high Priests did only ask counsel of God by the Vrim and Thummim and declared it to the Rulers The Kings had no power Legislative at all but only executive according to the Laws of God they had no right unto the Sacerdotal power For Vzziah usurping that of offering Incense was smitten with leprosie Therefore his Assumption is notoriously false 2. Abraham Moses and some of the Kings were extraordinary Prophets and immediately inspired Such are not Christian Soveraigns Neither can they from God in difficult and perplexed cases receive counsel of God by Vrim and Thummim 3. Suppose all these had been invested with supreme power Civil and Ecclesiastical as they were not yet it doth not follow that therefore Christian Soveraigns are so His consequence therefore is no consequence but false 4. Here it s to be observed That no example can be drawn from the Government of Israel either under Moses or Judges or Kings because that Government all along was extraordinary And as no State Christian is bound to follow it so no State can parallel it And its in vain for Divines or any other writers to argue from that particular form of politie to any other in the world Some general Rules and practises therein may be made use of for the reproof or reformation of Government in other States His innovations and particular false glosses upon several texts are not worthy confutation CAP. X. Of the third part the 41 of his Book Of the office of our blessed Saviour THey who desire to obtain eternal salvation by Christ Jesus must know both who he is and what he hath both suffered and done for them Jesus Christ as Saviour and Redeemer for person is the eternal Son of God for Natures he is God and Man yet so that these two Natures remain distinct one from the other yet personally united For Office he is Prophet Priest and King and such he is made as man by Commission from his Heavenly Father He was Initiated at his Baptism after which time he began to exercise his three-fold power And 1. Of a Prophet to manifest that he was their Saviour and to perswade men to believe in him 2. He performed some acts of a King in making Laws and Officers 3. He acted as a Priest at his death by offering up himself that great sacrifice first by inffering and dying on earth secondly by entring the Holy place of Heaven and presenting himself as slain and so obtained eternal Redemption After his consecration finished upon the Resurrection he was made a compleat Priest for ever after the Order of Melchizedeck Upon his Resurrection he was more selemnly setled in his Throne as universal and eternal King And then in a more glorious manner began to act 1. As Prophet to teach not onely Jews but Gentiles and that not onely by his word but by his Spirit powred down from Heaven upon all flesh 2. As a Priest interceding by vertue of his blood 3. Of a King in all the acts of government in his Universal Kingdom By his sacrifice offered on earth and presented in Heaven he satisfied Gods justice offended by the
Chapter is The Ministers of State which by some in Latine are called Officiales in English Officers and by the same generally is understood the same with these who are stiled and that very fitly Publick Ministers of the Soveraign Power For in all acts of civil Government the principal agent is the Soveraign the instrumental or ministerial are Officers who are therefore called by some instrumenta majestatis vicaria which words imply much and contain in some sort the definition of the Author For they imply 1. That the Soveraign is the principal agent 2. That they represent the Soveraign 3. That they are but his instruments and act by power derived from him The difference between them and the Soveraign is 1. That they are essentially and properly but subjects and accidentally Officers 2. That though they have power and the same is the Soveraigns yet as in him its original supreme universal in respect of the whole state in them it is derivative subordinate particular or but a part and particle of it 3. That whatsoever the Soveraign acts is valid immediately in it self but what they act is only good and valid as they are one person with him and make his will their rule and principle and do all things in his name The reason why there must be Officers in every State and that of necessity is given because no Soveraign whether one person or more can see all things with his own eyes hear all things with his own ears do all things with his own hands or be present and acting in every place where he ought to act This is proper to God who yet useth the Ministry both of men and Angels in the Government of the world but not out of any necessity but because it s his will and pleasure There be two parts of Politicks the 1. Constitution which disposeth the supreme power in a certain subject whether one or more and determines the rights both of the Soveraign and subject The 2. Administration which is the exercise of that power In which Administration the first act is legislation and this is the proper place to speak of Laws concerning the Administration as different from those of the Constitution the next is the making of Officers for the execution of these Laws This is the method and here is the proper handling of this subject These Officers are either extraordinary or ordinary Extraordinary are such as are trusted with power for a time limited in some extraordinary exigency of the State as the Dictators amongst the Romans Ordinary are such as are usual in all States and they are either such as by which the Soveraign acts and deals with forrein States or within his own Dominions The former are Embassadors Agents Messengers Heralds Intelligencers These Embassadors are constant and legier or temporary occasional They represent Majesty and act according to the Laws of Nations The Officers within the Soveraigns Dominions are either for war or peace For war either by Sea or Land hence Jus Nauticum Militare and these are for defence and act also according to the Laws of Nations For peace and they are either for counsel or judgement or execution or the revenue Hence Councellers Judges Sheriffs Treasurers and all their servants or subordinate Agents and Assistants Amongst these there is a subordination till we come to some general Officer in every several kind next unto the Soveraign How to reduce the Officers of this or any other State unto these heads is not my work and many have made this reduction in several Common-wealths The general rules of these Officers are many and may be read in several Authors As 1. Any man fitly qualified may be forced to do service for his Countrey 2. To avoid confusion and charge they are to be reduced to a certain number and order The number should be according to the necessity of the State 3. No Officer should be trusted too long with great and transcendent power 4. They should be fitly qualified and advanced for desert and no other reason 5. Some should be superintendents over others within a certain precinct and also generall visitors selected of purpose to enquire into the carriage of all the rest at certain set times The Roman Censors had some power in this kind but no Jurisdiction As the Visitors of China are said to have In this Chapter Mr. Hobbs seems to make Ministers of the Gospel such as the Apostle Eph. 4.11 calls Pastors and Teachers to be publick Ministers and Officers civil yet though they be subject to the civil Soveraign as well as other men yet as Ministers they derive their power from Christ by the Church and not from any civil Governors as shall be made good hereafter CAP. VIII Of the Second Part the Twenty fourth of the Book Of nutrition and procreation of a Common-wealth TWO things only in this Cap. I question the 1. Concerning the original of propriety The 2. Concerning a standing revenue of the Crown The 1. he deriveth from the Soveraign in manner as followeth T. H. Propriety in all kinds of Common-wealths belongs to the Soveraign power And again propriety is the act only of the Soveraign who distributes to every man his own by Law and this distribution is first of Land as of the Land of Promise by Eleazer and Joshua c. G. L. This is the summe and brief substance of many more words and cannot be true For 1. we find propriety of goods and lands in several families which are of no Common-wealth 2. The Constitution of any Common-wealth doth presuppose this propriety without which there can be no buying selling exchanging stealing restitution otherwise the eighth Commandment Thou shalt not steal could not be a Law of nature nor bind any man except in a Common-wealth and so before a Common-wealth be instituted in a Community or people there could be no sin in stealing 3. All that may be granted in this point is That the Soveraign may preserve and regulate propriety both by Laws and Judgements Yet the Author makes all men brutes nay wild and ravenous beasts and birds of prey until they have made themselves slaves unto some absolute Soveraign and such they must be either beasts by the Law of nature or slaves by the Laws of a civil State 4. As for his instance in the Land of Canaan divided by lots to be chosen before Eleazer the high Priest and Joshua the general its impertinent and false For 1. Israel before it was molded into a Common-wealth had propriety in their goods 2. The propriety of that Land was at the first and continued in God for they were but Gods Tenants in a special and peculiar manner so as no people in the world was therefore no man could alienate nor morgage beyond the year of Jubilee at which time God seemed to renue their Leases after the Jubilee-Sabbath 3. When they had in common conquered and taken possession of the Land it was theirs so far as