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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	covenant_n	old_a	testament_n	1,680	5	9.6229	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86417	Philosophicall rudiments concerning government and society. Or, A dissertation concerning man in his severall habitudes and respects, as the member of a society, first secular, and then sacred. Containing the elements of civill politie in the agreement which it hath both with naturall and divine lawes. In which is demonstrated, both what the origine of justice is, and wherein the essence of Christian religion doth consist. Together with the nature, limits, and qualifications both of regiment and subjection. / By Tho: Hobbes.; De cive. English	Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679.; Vaughan, Robert, engraver.	1651 (1651)	Wing H2253; Thomason E1262_1; ESTC R202404	220,568	406

not having any other Gods for in that consists the essence of the Covenant made with Abraham by which God requires nothing else but that he should be his God and the God of his seede Also the Precept of keeping holy the Sabbath for the Sanctification of the seventh day is instituted in memoriall of the six dayes Creation as appeares out of these words Exod. 31. ver 16 17. It is a perpetuall Covenant meaning the Sabbath and a signe betweene me and the Children of Israel for ever for in sixe dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed Of the third kind are the Politique judiciall and Ceremoniall lawes which onely belong'd to the Jewes The lawes of the fi●st and second sort written in Tables of stone to wit the Decalogue was kept in the Ark it selfe The rest written in the volume of the whole Law were laid up in the side of the Arke Deut. 3. ver 26 For these retaining the faith of Abraham might be chang'd those could not XI All Gods Lawes are Gods Word but all Gods Word is not his Law I am the Lord th● God which brought thee out of the Land of Aegypt is the word of God 〈…〉 is no Law Neither is all that which for the better deolaring of Gods Word is pronounc't or written together with it instantly to be taken for Gods Word For Thus saith the Lord is not the voice of God but of the Preacher or Prophet All that and onely that is the word of God which a true Prophet hath declar'd God to have spoken Now the writings of the Prophets comprehendng as well those things which God as which the Prophet himselfe speaks are therefore called the word of God because they containe the word of God Now because all that and that alone is the Word of God which is recommended to us for such by a true Prophet it cannot be knowne what Gods Word is before we know who is the true Prophet nor can we beleeve Gods Word before we beleeve the Prophet Moyses was beleev'd by the People of Israel for two things His Miracles and his Faith for how great and most evident Miracles soever he had wrought yet would they not have trusted him at least he was not to have beene trusted if he had call'd them out of Aegypt to any other worship then the worship of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob their Fathers For it had beene contrary to the Covenant made by themselves with God In like manner two things there are to wit supernaturall Praediction of things to come which is a mighty miracle and Faith in the God of Abraham their deliverer out of Aegypt which God propos'd to all the Jews to be kept for marks of a true Prophet He that wants either of these is no Prophet nor is it to be receiv'd for Gods word which he obtrudes for such If Faith be wanting he is rejectin these words Deut. 13. ver 1 2 3 4 5. If there arise among you a Prophet or a dreamer of dreams and giveth thee a signe or a wonder and the signe or the wonder come to passe whereof he spake unto thee saying Let us goe after other Gods c. That Prophet or that dreamer of dreames shall be put to death If Praediction of events be wanting he is condemn'd by these Deut. 18. ver 21 22. And if thou say in thine heart how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken When a Prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to passe that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously Now that that is the word of God which is publisht for such by a true Prophet and that he was held to be a true Prophet among the Jewes whose faith was true and to whose praedictions the events answer'd is without controversie but what it is to follow other Gods and whether the events which are affirm'd to answer their praedictions doe truly answer them or not may admit many controversies specially in praedictions which obscurely aenigmatically foretell the Event such as the praedictions of almost all the Prophets are as who saw not God apparently like unto Moyses but in darke speech●s and in figures Numb 12. ver 8. But of these we cannot judge otherwise then by the way of naturall reason because that Judgment depends on the Prophets interpretation and on its proportion with the Event XII The Jewes did hold the booke of the whole Law which was called Deuteronomie for the written word of God and that onely forasmuch as can be collected out of sacred history untill the Captivity for this booke was deliver'd by Moyses himselfe to the Priests to be kept and layd up in the side of the Ark of the Covenant and to be copyed out by the Kings and the same a long time after by the authority of King Josiah acknowledg'd againe for the Word of God 2 Kings 23. ver 2. But it is not manifest when the rest of the books of the Old Testament were first receiv'd into Canon but what concernes the Prophets Isaiah and the rest since they foretold no other things then what were to come to passe either in or after the Captivity their writings could not at that time be held for Prophetique by reason of the Law cited above Deut. 18. ver 21 22. Whereby the Israelites were commanded not to account any man for a true Prophet but him whose Prophecies were answer'd by the events And hence peradventure it is that the Jew● esteem'd the writings of those whom they slew when they Prophesied for Prophetique afterward that is to say for the word of God XIII It being known what Lawes there were under the old Covenant and that Word of God receiv'd from the beginning we must farthermore consider with whom the authority of judging whether the writings of the Prophets arising afterward were to be receiv'd for the Word of God that is to say whether the Events did answer their praedictions or not and with whom also the authority of interpreting the Lawes already receiv'd and the written Word of God did reside which thing is to be trac't through all the times and severall changes of the Commonwealth of Israel But it is manifest that this power during the life of Moyses was intirely in himselfe for if he had not been the Interpreter of the Lawes and Word that office must have belong'd either to every private person or to a congregation or Synagogue of many or to the High-Priest or to other Prophets First that that office belong'd not to private men or any Congregation made of them appeares hence that they were not admitted nay they were prohibited with most heavy threats to heare God speake otherwise then by the means of Moyses for it is written Let not the Priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord lest

and motion In the second we would have beene conversant about imagination Memory intellect ratio●ination appetite Will good and Evill honest and dishonest and the like what this last Section handles I have now already shewed you Whilest I contrive order pensively and slowly compose these matters for I onely doe reason I dispute not It so happen'd in the interim that my Country some few yeares before the civill Warres did rage was boyling ●ot with questions concerning the rights of Dominion and the obedience due from Subjects the true forerunners of an approaching War And was the cause which all those other matters deferr'd ripen'd and pluckt from me this third part Therefore it happens that what was last in order is yet come forth first in time and the rather because I saw that grounded on its owne principles sufficiently knowne by experience it would not stand in need of the former Sections I have not yet made it out of a desire of praise although if I had I might have defended my selse with this faire excuse that very few doe things laudably who are not affected with commendation but for your sakes Readers who I perswaded my selse when you should rightly apprehend and throughly understand this Doctrine I here present you with would rather chuse to brooke with patience some inconveniences under government because humane affairs cannot possibly be without some then selfe opiniatedly disturb the quiet of the publique That weighing the justice of those things you are about not by the perswa●ion and advise of private men but by the Lawes of the Realme you will no longer suffer ambitious men through the streames of your blood to wade to their owne power That you will esteeme it better to enjoy your selves in the present state though perhaps not the best then by waging Warre indeavour to procure a reformation for other men in another age your selves in the meane while either kill'd or consumed with age Farthermore for those who will not acknowledge themselves subject to the civill Magistrate and will be exempt from all publique burthens and yet will live under his Jurisdiction and looks for protection from the violence and injuries of others that you would not looke on them as fellow Subjects but esteeme them for enemies and spies and that yee rashly admit not for Gods Word all which either openly or privately they shall pretend to bee so I say more plainly if any Preacher Confessor or Casuist shal but say that this doctrin is agreeable with Gods word namely That the chief ruler nay any private man may lawfully be put to death without the chiefes command or that Subjects may resist conspire or covenant against the supreme power that ye by no means beleeve them but instantly declare their names He who approves of these reasons will also like my intention in writing this book Last of al I have propounded to my self this rule through this whole discourse First not to define ought which concerns the justice of single actions but leave thē to be determined by the laws Next not to dispute the laws of any government in special that is not to point which are the laws of any country but to declare what the laws of all countries are Thirdly not to seem of opinion that there is a lesse proportion of obedience due to an Aristocraty or D●mocraty then a Monarchy for though I have endeavoured by arguments in my tenth Chapter to gain a belief in men that Monarchy is the most commodious government which one thing alone I confesse in this whole book not to be demonstrated but only probably stated yet every where I expresly say that in all kind of Government whatsoever there ought to be a supreme and equall power Fourthly not in any wise to dispute the positions of Divines except th●se which strip Subjects of their obedience and shake the foundations of civill government Lastly lest I might imprudently set forth somewhat of which there would be no need what I had thus written I would not presently expose to publique interest wherefore I got some few copies privately disperst among some of my friends that discrying the opinions of others if any things appeared erroneous hard or obscure I might correct soften and explain them These things I found most bitterly excepted against that I had made the civill powers too large but this by Ecclesiasticall Persons that I had utterly taken away liberty of conscience but this by Sectaries that I had set Princes above the civil Laws but this by Lawyers wherefore I was not much moved by these mens reprehensions as who in doing this did but do their own business except it were tye those knots somewhat faster But for their sakes who have a litle been staggered at the Principles themselves to wit the nature of men the authority or right of nature the nature of compacts and contracts and the originall of civill government because in finding fault they have not so much followed their Passions as their common sense I have therefore in some places added some annotations whereby I presumed I might give some satisfaction to their differing thoughts Lastly I have endevoured to offend none beside those whose Principles these contradict and whose tender mindes are lightly offended by every difference of opinions Wherefore if ye shall meet with some things which have more of sharpnesse and lesse of certainty then they ought to have since they are not so much spoken for the maintenance of parties as the establishment of peace and by one whose just grief for the present calamities of his country may very charitably be allowed some liberty it is his only request to ye Readers ye will deign to receive them with an equall mind The Index of the Chapters under the titles of LIBERTY CHAP. I. OF the State of men without civill society 1 CHAP. II. Of the Law of nature concerning contracts 16 CHAP. III. Of the other Lawes of nature 34 CHAP. IV. That the Law of nature is a divine Law 58 EMPIRE CHAP. V. OF the causes and first Originall of civill government 73 CHAP. VI. Of the right whether we consider it in an Assembly or in one Person 〈◊〉 which he hath who is endued with supreme authority 82 CHAP. VII Of the three kindes of government Democraty Aristocraty and Monarchy 100 CHAP. VIII Of the right which Lords and Masters have over their Servants 126 CHAP. IX Of the rights which Parents have over their children and of a Kingdome Paternall 173 CHAP. X. A comparison of the three kinds of government each with other according to the inconveniences of each one 146 CHAP. XI The places and examples of Scripture concerning the right of government which make for proof of the foresaid Doctrines 165 CHAP. XII Of the inward causes which dissolve all civill government 172 CHAP. XIII Of the duties of those men who sit at the Helm of State 189 CHAP. XIV Of Lawes and Sinnes 208 RELIGION CHAP. XV. OF Gods government by

after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to doe justice and judgement unlesse his children and his houshold were supposed to be obliged to yeeld obedience unto his Commands VII Hence it followes that Abrahams subjects could not sinne in obeying him provided that Abraham commanded them not to deny Gods Existence or Providence or to doe somewhat expresly contrary to the honour of God In all other things the word of God was to be fetcht from his lips only as being the Interpreter of all the Lawes and words of God For Abraham alone could teach them who was the God of Abraham and in what manner he was to be worshipped And they who after Abrahams death were subject to the Soveraignty of Isaac or Iacob did by the same reason obey them in all things without sin as long as they acknowledged and profest the God of Abraham to be their God for they had submitted themselves to God simply before they did it to Abraham and to Abraham before they did it to the God of Abraham againe to the God of Abraham before they did it to Isaac In Abrahams subjects therefore To deny God was the only Treason against the Divine Majesty but in their posterity it was also Treason to deny the God of Abraham that is to say to worship God otherwise then was instituted by Abraham to wit in Images * made with hands as other Nations did which for that reason were called Idolators And hitherto subjects might easily enough discern what was to be observed what avoyded in the Commands of their Princes In Images made with hands In the 15. Chap. 14. Article There wee have shewed such a kinde of worship to be irrationall but if it be done by the command of a City to whom the written word of God is not known nor received we have then shewed this worship in the 15. Chap. art 18. to be rationall But where God reigns by way of Covenant in which it is expresly warned not to worship thus as in the Covenant made with Abraham there whether it be with or without the Command of the City it is ill done VIII To goe on now following the guidance of the holy Scripture The same Covenant was renewed Gen. 26. vers 3 4. with Isaac and Gen. 28. vers 14. with Iacob whote God stiles himselfe not simply God whom nature doth dictate him to be but distinctly the God of Abraham and Isaac afterward being about to renew the same Covenant by Moysos with the whole People of Israel Exod. 3. v. 6. I am saith h● the God of thy Father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Afterward when that People not only the freest but also the greatest enemy to humane subjection by reason of the fresh memory of their Ae gyptian bondage abode in the wildernesse near mount Si●ai that anti●●t Covenant was propounded to them all to be renewed in this manner Exod. 19. ver 5. Therefore if yee will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant to wit that Covenant which was made with Abraham Isaac and Iacob then shall yee be a peculiar Treasure unto me above all People for all the earth is mine and yee shall be to me a Kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation And all the People answered together and said All that the Lord hath spoken will we doe vers 8. IX In this Covenant among other things we must consider well the appellation of Kingdom not used before for although God both by nature by Covenant made with Abraham was their King yet owed they him an obedience and worship only naturall as being his subjects religious such as Abraham instituted as being the Subjects of Abraham Isaac Iacob their naturall Princes For they had received no word of God beside the naturall word of right reason neither had any Covenant past between God and them otherwise then as their wils were included in the will of Abraham as their Prince But now by the Covenant made at mount Sinai the consent of each man being had there becomes an institutive Kingdome of God over them That Kingdom of God so renowned in Scriptures and writings of Divines took its beginning from this time and hither tends that which God said to Samuel when the Israelites asked a King 1. Sam. 8. 7. Yhey have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them and that which Samuel told the Israelites 1. Sam. 12. 12. Yee said unto me nay but a King shall reign over us when the Lord your God was your King and that which is said Jer. 31. vers 31. I will make a new Covenant c. Although I was an husband unto them And the doctrine also of Judas Galil●us where mention is made in Ioseph Antiq. of the Iewes 18. Book 2. Chap. in these words But Judas Galilaeus was the first authour of this fourth way of those who followed the study of wisdome These agree in all the rest with the Pharisees excepting that they burn with a most constant desire of liberty beleeving God alone to be held for their Lord and Prince and will sooner endure even the most exquisite kinds of torments together with their kins folks and dearest friends then call any mortall man their Lord. X. The Right of the Kingdome being thus constituted by way of Covenant let us see in the next place what lawes God propounded to them now those are knowne to all to wit the Decalogue and those other as well judiciall as ceremoniall lawes which we find from the 20. Chap. of Exodus to the end of Deuteronomie and the death of Moyses Now of those lawes deliver'd in generall by the hand of Moyses some there are which oblige naturally being made by God as the God of nature and had their force ever before Abrahams time others there are which oblige by vertue of the Covenant made with Abraham being made by God as the God of Abraham which had their force even before Moyses his time by reason of the former Covenant but there are others which oblige by vertue of that Covenant onely which was made last with the people themselves being made by God as being the Peculiar King of the Israelites Of the first so●t are all the Precepts of the Decalogue which pertaine unto manners such as Honour thy Parents thou shalt not Kill thou shalt not commit Adultery thou shalt not Steale thou shalt not ●eare false witnesse thou shalt not Covet For they are the Lawes of n●…e Also the precept of not taking Gods name in vaine for it is a part of naturall worship as hath beene declar'd in the foregoing Chap. Art 15. In like manner the second Commandement of not worshipping by way of any Image made by themselves for this also is a part of naturall Religion as hath beene shewed in the same Article Of the second sort is the first Commandment of the Decalogue Of

insomuch as the interpretation we speak of is the same with the power of defining in all manner of controversies to be determined by sacred Scriptures Now we must shew that that power belongs to each Church and depends on his or their authority who have the Supreme command provided that they be Christians for if it depend not on the civill authority it must either depend on the opinion of each private Subject or some forraigne authority but among othe● reasons the inconveniencies that must follow private opinions cannot suffer its dependance on them of which this is the chiefe that not onely all civill obedience would be taken away contrary to Christ his praecept but all humane society and peace would be dissolved contrary to the Lawes of nature for seeing every man is his owne interpretet of Scripture that is to say since every man makes himselfe judge of what is pleasing and displeasing unto God they cannot obey their Princes before that they have judg'd whether their commands be conformable to the Word of God or not And thus either they obey not or they obey for their owne opinions sake that is to say they obey themselves not their Soveraigne civill obedience therefore is lost Againe when every man followes his owne opinion it 's necessary that the controversies which rise among them will become innumerable and indeterminable whence there will breed among men who by their own naturall inclinations doe account all dissention an affront first hatred then brawles and warres and thus all manner of peace and society would vanish We have farthermore for an example that which God under the old Law required to be observed concerning the book of the Law namely that it should be transcribed and publiquely us'd and he would have it to be the Canon of Divine doctrine but the controversies about it not to be determined by private Persons but onely by the Priests Lastly it is our Saviours Prec●pt that if there be any matter of offence between private Persons they should hea●… the Church Wherefore it is the Churches duty to define controversies it therefore belongs not to private men but to the Church to interpret Scriptures But that we may know that the authority of interpreting Gods Word that is to say of determining all questions concerning God and Religion belongs not to any forraign Person whatsoever we must consider first what esteem such a power carries in the mindes of the subjects and their civill actions for no man can be ignorant that the voluntary actions of men by a naturall necessi●y doe follow those opinions which they have concerning good and evill Reward and Punishment whence it happens that necessarily they would chuse rather to obey those by whose judgement they beleeve that they shall be eternally happy or miserable Now by whose judgement it is appointed what Doctrines are necessary to salvation by their judgement doe men expect their eternall blisse or perditidition they will therefore yeeld them obedience in all things Which being thus most manifest it is that those subjects who believe themselves bound to acquiesce to a forraign authority in those Doctrines which are necessary to salvation doe not per se constitute a City but are the subjects of that forraign power Nor therefore although some Soveraign Prince should by writing grant such an authority to any other yet so as he would be understood to have retained the civill power in his own hands shall such a Writing be valid or transferre ought necessary for the retaining o● good administration of his command for by the 2. Chap. 4. art●● no man is said to transferre his Right unlesse be give some proper sign declaring his Will to transferre it but he who hath openly declared his will to keep his Soveraignty cannot have given a sufficient sign of transferring the means necessary for the keeping it This kinde of Writing therefore will not be a sign of Will but of Ignorance in the contractors We must consider ne●t how absurd it is for a City or Soveraign to commit the ruling of his Subjects consciences to an enemy for they are as hath been shewed above in the 5. Chap. 6. artic in an hostile state whosoever have not joyn'd themselves into the unity of one Person Nor contradicts it this truth that they doe not alwayes fight for tr●ces are made between enemies It is sufficient for an hostile minde that there is suspition that the Frontiers of Cities Kingdomes Empires strengthned with Garisons doe with a fighting posture and countenance though they strike not yet as enemies mutually he hold each other Lastly how unequall is it to demand that which by the very reason of your demand you confesse belongs to anothers Right I am the Interpreter of Scriptures to you who are the Subject of anothers Realme Why By what Covenants past between you and me By Divine authority Whence knowne Out of holy Scripture Behold the Book read i●… in vain unlesse I may also interpret the same for my self That interpretation therefore doth by Right belong to me and the rest of my private fellow-subjects which we both deny It remains therefore that in all christian Churches that is to say in all christian Cities the interpretation of sacred Scripture depend on and derive from the authority of that man or Councell which hath the Soveraign power of the City XXVIII Now because there are two kindes of controversies the one about spirituall matters that is to say questions of faith the truth whereof cannot be searcht into by naturall reason such are the questions concerning the nature and office of Christ of rewards and punishments to come of the Sacraments of outward worship and the like the other about questions of humane science whose truth is sought out by naturall reason and Syllogismes drawne from the Covenants of men and definitions that is to say significations received by use and common consent of words such as are all questions of Right and Philosophy for example when in matter of Right it s questioned whether there be a Promise and Covenant or not that is nothing else but to demand whether such words spoken in such a manner be by common use and consent of the Subjects a Promise or Covenant which if they be so called then it is true that a Contract is made if not then it is false that truth therefore depends on the compacts and consents of men In like manner when it is demanded in Philosophy whether the same thing may entirely be in divers places at once the determination of the question depends on the knowledge of the common consent of men about the signification of the word entire for if men when they say a thing is entirely●…somewhere doe signifie by common consent that they understand nothing of the same to be elsewhere it is false that the same thing is in divers places at once that truth therefore depends on the consents of men and by the same reason in all other