Moses who dyed before he came into it Likewise Numbers 21. ver 14. the Writer citeth another more ancient Book Entituled The Book of the Warres of the Lord wherein were registred the Acts of Moses at the Red-sea and at the brook of Arnon It is therefore sufficiently evident that the five Books of Moses were written after his time though how long after it be not so manifest But though Moses did not compile those Books entirely and in the form we have them yet he wrote all that which hee is there said to have written as for example the Volume of the Law which is contained as it seemeth in the 11 of Deuteronomie and the following Chapters to the 27. which was also commanded to be written on stones in their entry into the land of Canaan And this also did Moses himself write and delivered to the Priests and Elders of Israel to be read every seventh year to all Israel at their assembling in the feast of Tabernacles And this is that Law which God commanded that their Kings when they should have established that form of Government should take a copy of from the Priests and Levites and which Moses commanded the Priests and Levites to lay in the side of the Arke and the same which having been lost was long time after found again by Hilkiah and sent to King Iosias who causing it to be read to the People renewed the Covenant between God and them That the Book of Ioshua was also written long after the time of Ioâ—…a may be gathered out of many places of the Book it self Ioshua had set up twelve stones in the middest of Iordan for a monument of their passage of which the Writer saith thus They are there unto this day for unto this day is a phrase that signifieth a time past beyond the memory of man In like manner upon the saying of the Lord that he had rolled off from the people the Reproach of Egypt the Writer saith The place is called Gilgal unto this day which to have said in the time of Ioshua had been improper So also the name of the Valley of Achor from the trouble that Achan raised in the Camp the Writer saith remaineth unto this day which must needs bee therefore long after the time of Ioshua Arguments of this kind there be many other as Iosh. 8. 29. 13. 13. 14. 14. 15. 63. The same is manifest by like arguments of the Book of Iudges chap. 1. 21 26. 6. 24. 10. 4. 15. 19. 17. 6. and Ruth 1. 1. but especially Iudg. 18. 30. where it is said that Jonathan and his sonnes were Priests to the Tribe of Dan untill the day of the captivity of the land That the Books of Samuel were also written after his own time there are the like arguments 1 Sam. 5. 5. 7. 13 15. 27. 6. 30. 25. where after David had adjudged equall part of the spoiles to them that guarded the Ammunition with them that fought the Writer saith He made it a Statute and an Ordinance to Israel to this day Again when David displeased that the Lord had slain VZZah for putting out his hand to sustain the Ark called the place PereZ-VZZah the Writer faith it is called so to this day the time therefore of the writing of that Book must be long after the time of the fact that is long after the time of David As for the two Books of the Kings and the two Books of the Chronicles besides the places which mention such monuments as the Writer saith remained till his own days such as are 1 Kings 9. 13. 9. 21. 10. 12. 12. 19. 2 Kings 2. 22. 8. 22. 10. 27. 14. 7. 16. 6. 17. 23. 17. 34. 17. 41. 1 Chron. 4. 41. 5. 26. It is argument sufficient they were written after the captivity in Babylon that the History of them is continued till that time For the Facts Registred are alwaies more ancient than the Register and much more ancient than such Books as make mention of and quote the Register as these Books doe in divers places referring the Reader to the Chronicles of the Kings of Iuda to the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel to the Books of the Prophet Samuel of the Prophet Nathan of the Prophet Ahijah to the Vision of Iehdo to the Books of the Prophet Serveiah and of the Prophet Addo The Books of Esdras and Nehemiah were written certainly after their return from captivity because their return the re-edification of the walls and houses of Ierusalem the renovation of the Covenant and ordination of their policy are therein contained The History of Queen Esther is of the time of the Captivity and therefore the Writer must have been of the same time or after it The Book of Iob hath no mark in it of the time wherein it was written and though it appear sufficiently Ezektel 14. 14. and Iames 5. 11. that he was no fained person yet the Book it self seemeth not to be a History but a Treatise concerning a question in ancient time much disputed why wicked men have often prospered in this world and good men have been afflicted and it is the more probable because from the beginning to the third verse of the third chapter where the complaint of Iob beginneth the Hebrew is as St. Jerome testifies in prose and from thence to the sixt verse of the last chapter in Hexameter Verses and the rest of that chapter again in prose So that the dispute is all in verse and the prose is added but as a Preface in the beginning and an Epilogue in the end But Verse is no usuall stile of such as either are themselves in great pain as Job or of such as come to comfort them as his friends but in Philosophy especially morall Philosophy in ancient time frequent The Psalmes were written the most part by David for the use of the Quire To these are added some Songs of Moses and other holy men and some of them after the return from the Captivity as the 137. and the 126. whereby it is manifest that the Psalter was compiled and put into the form it now hath after the return of the Jews from Babylon The Proverbs being a Collection of wise and godly Sayings partly of Solomon partly of Agur the son of Jakeh and partly of the Mother of King Leâ—…el cannot probably be thought to have been collected by Solomon rather then by Agur or the Mother of Lemuel and that though the sentences be theirs yet the collection or compiling them into this one Book was the work of some other godly man that lived after them all The Books of Ecclesiastes and the Canticles have nothing that was not Solomons except it be the Titles or Inscriptions For The Words of the Preacher the Son of David King in Jerusalem and The Song of Songs which is Solomon's seem to have been made for distinctions sake then
when the Books of Scripture were gathered into one body of the Law to the end that not the Doctrine only but the Authors also might be extant Of the Prophets the most ancient are Sophoniah Jonas Amos Hosea Isaiah and Michaiah who lived in the time of Amaziah and Azariah otherwise Ozias Kings of Judah But the Book of Jonas is not properly a Register of his Prophecy for that is contained in these few words Fourty dayes and Ninivy shall be destroyed but a History or Narration of his frowardnesse and disputing Gods commandements so that there is small probability he should be the Author seeing he is the subject of it But the Book of Amos is his Prophecy Jeremiah Abdias Nahum and Habakkuk prophecyed in the time of Josiah Ezekiel Daniel Aggeus and Zacharias in the Captivity When Ioel and Malachi prophecyed is not evident by their Writings But considering the Inscriptions or Titles of their Books it is manifest enough that the whole Scripture of the Old Testament was set forth in the form we have it after the return of the Iews from their Captivity in Babylon and before the time of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus that caused it to bee translated into Greek by seventy men which were sent him out of Iudea for that purpose And if the Books of Apocrypha which are recommended to us by the Church though not for Canonicall yet for profitable Books for our instruction may in this point be credited the Scripture was set forth in the form wee have it in by Esdâ—… as may appear by that which he himself saith in the second book chapt 14. verse 21 22 c. where speaking to God he saith thus Thy law is burnt therefore no man knoweth the things which thou hast done or the works that are to begin But if I have found Grace before thee send down the holy Spirit into me and I shall write all that hath been done in the world since the beginning which were written in thy Law that men may find thy path and that they which will live in the later days may live And verse 45. And it came to passe when the forty dayes were fulfilled that the Highest spake saying The first that thou hast written publish openly that the worthy and unworthy may read it but keep the seventy last that thou mayst deliver them onely to such as be wise among the people And thus much concerning the time of the writing of the Bookes of the Old Testament The Writers of the New Testament lived all in lesse then an age after Christs Ascension and had all of them seen our Saviour or been his Disciples except St. Paul and St. Luke and consequently whatsoever was written by them is as ancient as the time of the Apostles But the time wherein the Books of the New Testament were received and acknowledged by the Church to be of their writing is not altogether so ancient For as the Bookes of the Old Testament are derived to us from no other time then that of Esdras who by the direction of Gods Spirit retrived them when they were lost Those of the New Testament of which the copies were not many nor could easily be all in any one private mans hand cannot bee derived from a higher time than that wherein the Governours of the Church collected approved and recommended them to us as the writings of those Apostles and Disciples under whose names they go The first enumeration of all the Bookes both of the Old and New Testament is in the Canons of the Apostles supposed to be collected by Clement the first after St. Peter Bishop of Rome But because that is but supposed and by many questioned the Councell of Laodicea is the first we know that recommended the Bible to the then Christian Churches for the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles and this Councell was held in the 364. yeer after Christ. At which time though ambition had so far prevailed on the great Doctors of the Church as no more to esteem Emperours though Christian for the Shepherds of the people but for Sheep and Emperours not Christian for Wolves and endeavoured to passe their Doctrine not for Counsell and Information as Preachers but for Laws as absolute Governours and thought such frauds as tended to make the people the more obedient to Christian Doctrine to be pious yet I am perswaded they did not therefore falsifie the Scriptures though the copies of the Books of the New Testament were in the hands only of the Ecclesiasticks because if they had had an intention so to doe they would surely have made them more favorable to their power over Christian Princes and Civill Soveraignty than they are I see not therefore any reason to doubt but that the Old and New Testament as we have them now are the true Registers of those things which were done and said by the Prophets and Apostles And so perhaps are some of those Books which are called Apocrypha and left out of the Canon not for inconformity of Doctrine with the rest but only because they are not found in the Hebrew For after the conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great there were few learned Jews that were not perfect in the Greek tongue For the seventy Interpreters that converted the Bible into Greek were all of them Hebrews and we have extant the works of Philo and Josephus both Jews written by them eloquently in Greek But it is not the Writer but the authority of the Church that maketh a Book Canonicall And although these Books were written by divers men yet it is manifest the Writers were all indued with one and the same Spirit in that they conspire to one and the same end which is the setting forth of the Rights of the Kingdome of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost For the Book of Genesis deriveth the Genealogy of Gods people from the creation of the World to the going into Egypt the other four Books of Moses contain the Election of God for their King and the Laws which hee prescribed for their Government The Books of Joshua Judges Ruth and Samuel to the time of Saul describe the acts of Gods people till the time they cast off Gods yoke and called for a King after the manner of their neighbour nations The rest of the History of the Old Testament derives the succession of the line of David to the Captivity out of which line was to spring the restorer of the Kingdome of God even our blessed Saviour God the Son whose coming was foretold in the Bookes of the Prophets after whom the Evangelists write his life and actions and his claim to the Kingdome whilst he lived on earth and lastly the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles declare the coming of God the Holy Ghost and the Authority he left with them and their successors for the direction of the Jews and for the invitation of the Gentiles In summe the Histories and the Prophecies of the old Testament
Examples of Impunity Extenuate Praemeditation Aggravateth Tacite approbation of the Soveraign Extenuates Comparison of Crimes from their Effects Laesa Majestas Bribery and False testimony Depeculation Counterfeiting Authority Crimes against private men compared Publique Crimes what The definition of Punishment Right to Punish whence derived Private injuries and revenges no Punishments Nor denyall of preferment Nor pain inflicted without publique hearing Nor pain inflicted by Usurped power Nor pain inflicted without respect to to the future good Naturall evill consequences no Punishments Hurt inflicted if lesse than the benefit of transgressing is not Punishment Where the Punishment is annexed to the Law a greater hurt is not Punishment but 〈◊〉 Hurt inflicted for a fact done before the Law no Punishment The Representative of the Common-wealth Unpunishable Hurt to Revolted Subjects is done by right of War not by way of Punishment Punishments Corporall Capitall Ignominy Imprisonment Exile The Punishment of Innocent Subjects is contrary to the Law of Nature But the Harme done to Innocents in War not so Nor that which is done to declared Rebels Reward is either Salary or Grace Benefits bestowed for fear are not Rewards Salaries Certain and Casuall Dissolution of Common-wealths proceedeth from their Imperfect Institution Want of Absolute power Private Judgement of Good and Evill Erroneous conscience Pretence of Inspiration Subjecting the Soveraign Power to Civill Lawes Attributing of absolute Propriâ—…ty to 〈◊〉 Dividing of the Soveraign Power Imitatioâ—… of Neighbour Natiouâ—… Imitation of the Greâ—…ks and Romans Mixt Government Want of Mony Monopolies and abuses of Publicans Popular men Excessive greatnesse of a â—…own multitude of Corporations Liberty of disputing against Soveraign Power Dissolution of the Common-wealth The Procuration of the Good of the People By Instrâ—…ction Lawes Against the duty of a Soveraign to relinquish any Essentiall Right of Soveraignty Or not to seâ—… the people taught the grounds of them Objection of those that say there are no Principles of Reason for absolute Soveraigâ—…ty Objection from the Incapacity of the vulgar Subjects are to be taught not to affect change of Government Nor adhere against the Soveraign to Popular men Nor to Dispute the Soveraign Power And to have dayes set apart to learn their Duty And to Honour their Parents And to avoyd doing of Injury And to do all this sincerely from the heart The use of Uâ—…iversities Equall â—…xes Publique Charity 〈◊〉 of Idlenesse Goâ—… Laweâ—… whâ—…t Such as are Necessary Such as are Perspicuous Punishments Rewards Counsellours Commanders The scope of the following Chapters Psal. 96 1. Psal. 98. 1. Who are subjects in the kingdome of God A Threefold Word of God Reason Revelation Prophâ—…y A twofold Kingdome of God Naturall and Prophetique The Right of Gods Soveraignty is derived from his Omnipotence Sinne not the cause of all Affliction Psal. 72. ver 1 2 3. Job 38. v. 4. Divine Lawes Honour and Worship what Severall signes of Honour Worship Naturall and Arbitrary Worship Commanded and Free Worship Publique and Private The End of Worship Attributes of Divine Honour Actions that are signes of Divine Honour Publique Worship consisteth in Uniformity All Attributes depend on the Lawes Civill Not all Actions Naturall Punishments The Conclusion of the Second Part. The Word of God delivered by Prophets is the mainprinciple of Christian Politiques Yet is not naturall Reason to be renounced What it is to captivate the Understanding How God speaketh to men By what marks Prophets are known 1 Kings 22. 1 Kings 13. Deut. 13. v. 1 2 3 4 5. Mat. 24. 24. Gal. 1. 8. The marks of a Prophet in the old law Miracles and Doctrin conformable to the law Miracles ceasing Prophets cease and the Scripture supplies their place Of the Books of Holy Scripture Their Antiquity The Pentaâ—… not written by Moses Deut. 31. 9. Deut. 31. 26. 2 King 22. 8. 23. 1 2 3. The Book of Joshua written after his time Josh. 4. 9. Josh. 5. 9. Josh. 7. 26. The Booke of Judges and Ruth written long after the Captivity The like of the Bookes of Samuel 2 Sam. 6. 4. The Books of the Kings and the Chronicles Ezra and Nehemiah Esther Job The Psalter The Proverbs Ecclesiastes and the Canticles The Prophets The New Testament Their Scope The question of the Authority of the Scriptures stated Their Authority and Interpretation Body and Spirit how taken in the Scripture The Spirit of God taken in the Scripture sometimes for a Wind or Breath Secondly for extraordinary gifts of the Vnderstanding Thirdly for extraordinary Affections Fourthly for the gift of Prediction by Dreams and Visions Fifâ—…ly for Life Sixtly for a subordination to authority Seventhly for Aeriall Bodies Angel what Inspiration what The Kingdom of God taken by Divines Metaphorically but in the Scriptures properly The originall of the Kingdome of God That the Kingdome of God is properly his Civill Soveraignty over a peculiar people by pact Holy what Sacred what Degrees of Sanctity Sacrament Word what The words spoken by God and concerning God both are called God 's Word in Scripture 1 Tim. 4. 1. The Word of God metaphorically used first for the Decrees and Power of God Secondly for the effect of his Word Acts 1. 4. Luke 24. 49. Thirdly for the words of reason and equity Divers acceptions of the word Prophet Praediction of future contingents not alwaies Prophecy The manner how God hath spoken to the Prophets To the Extraordinary Prophets of the Old Testament he spake by Dreams or Visions To Prophets of perpetuall Calling and Supreme God spake in the Old Testament from the Mercy Seat in a manner not expressed in the Scripture To Prophets of perpetuall Calling but subordinate God spake by the Spirit â—…od sometimes also spake by Lots Every man ought to examine the probability of a pretended Prophets Calling All prophecy but of the Soveraign Prophet is to be examined by every Subject A Miracle is a work that causeth Admiration And must therefore be rare and whereof there is no naturall cause known That which seemeth a Miracle to one man may seem otherwise to another The End of Miracles Exo. 4. 1 c. The definition of a Miracle Exod. 7. 11. Exod. 7. 22. Exod. 8. 7. That men are apt to be deceived by false Miracles Cautions against the Imposture of Miracles The place of Adams Eternity if he had not sinned had been the terrestiall Paradise Gen. 3. 22. Texts concerning the place of Life Eternall for Beleevers Ascension into heaven The place after Judgment of those who were never in the Kingdome of God 〈◊〉 having been in are cast out Tartarus The congregation of Giants Lake of Fire Vtter Darknesse Gehenna and Tophet Of the literall sense of the Scripture concerning Hell Satan Devill not Proper names but Appellatives Torments of Hell Apoc. 20. 13 14. The Joyes of Life Eternall and Salvation the same thing Salvation from Sin and from Misery all one The Place of Eternall Salvation 2 Pet. 2. 5. 2 Pet. 3. 13.
among them Westward in all businesse of the Lord and in the service of the King Likewise verse 32. that hee made other Hebronites rulers over the Reubenites the Gadites and the halfe tribe of Manasseh these were the rest of Israel that dwelt beyond Jordan for every matter pertaining to God and affairs of the King Is not this full Power both temporall and spirituall as they call it that would divide it To conclude from the first institution of Gods Kingdome to the Captivity the Supremacy of Religion was in the same hand with that of the Civill Soveraignty and the Priests office after the election of Saul was not Magisteriall but Ministeriall Notwithstanding the government both in Policy and Religion were joined first in the High Priests and afterwards in the Kings so far forth as concerned the Right yet it appeareth by the same Holy History that the people understood it not but there being amongst them a great part and probably the greatest part that no longer than they saw great miracles or which is equivalent to a miracle great abilities or great felicity in the enterprises of their Governours gave sufficient credit either to the fame of Moses or to the Colloquies between God and the Priests they took occasion as oft as their Governours displeased them by blaming sometimes the Policy sometimes the Religion to change the Government or revolt from their Obedience at their pleasure And from thence proceeded from time to time the civill troubles divisions and calamities of the Nation As for example after the death of Eleazar and Joshua the next generation which had not seen the wonders of God but were left to their own weak reason not knowing themselves obliged by the Covenant of a Sacerdotall Kingdome regarded no more the Commandement of the Priest nor any law of Moses but did every man that which was right in his own eyes and obeyed in Civill affairs such men as from time to time they thought able to deliver them from the neighbour Nations that oppressed them and consulted not with God as they ought to doc but with such men or women as they guessed to bee Prophets by their Praedictions of things to come and though they had an Idol in their Chappel yet if they had a Levite for their Chaplain they made account they worshipped the God of Israel And afterwards when they demanded a King after the manner of the nations yet it was not with a 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 judg them in Civill actions but not that they would allow their King to change the Religion which they thought was recommended to them by Moses So that they alwaies kept in store a pretext either of Justice or Religion to discharge them selves of their obedience whensoever they had hope to prevaile Samuel was displeased with the people for that they desired a King for God was their King already and Samuel had but an authority under him yet did Samuel when Saul observed not his counsell in destroying Agag as God had commanded anoint another King namely David to take the succession from his heirs Rehoboam was no Idolater but when the people thought him an Oppressor that Civil pretence carried from him ten Tribes to Jeroboam an Idolater And generally through the whole History of the Kings as well of Judah as of Israel there were Prophets that alwaies controlled the Kings for transgressing the Religion and sometimes also for Errours of State as Jehosaphat was reproved by the Prophet Jehu for aiding the King of Israel against the Syrians and Hezekiah by Isaiah for shewing his treasures to the Ambassadors of Babylon By all which it appeareth that though the power both of State and Religion were in the Kings yet none of them were uncontrolled in the use of it but such as were gracious for their own naturall abilities or felicities So that from the practise of those times there can no argument be drawn that the Right of Supremacy in Religion was not in the Kings unlesse we place it in the Prophets and conclude that because Hezekiah praying to the Lord before the Cherubins was not answered from thence nor then but afterwards by the Prophet Isaiah therefore Isaiah was supreme Head of the Church or because Iosiah consulted Hulda the Prophetesse concerning the Book of the Law that therefore neither he nor the High Priest but Hulda the Prophetesse had the Supreme authority in matter of Religion which I thinke is not the opinion of any Doctor During the Captivity the Iews had no Common-wealth at all And after their return though they renewed their Covenant with God yet there was no promise made of obedience neither to Esdras nor to any other And presently after they became subjects to the Greeks from whose Customes and Daemonology and from the doctrine of the Cabalists their Religion became much corrupted In such sort as nothing can be gathered from their confusion both in State and Religion concerning the Supremacy in either And therefore so far forth as concerneth the Old Testament we may conclude that whosoever had the Soveraignty of the Common-wealth amongst the Jews the same had also the Supreme Authority in matter of Gods externall worship and represented Gods Person that is the person of God the Father though he were not called by the name of Father till such time as he sent into the world his Son Jesus Christ to redeem mankind from their sins and bring them into his Everlasting Kingdome to be saved for evermore Of which we are to speak in the Chapter following CHAP. XLI Of the OFFICE of our BLESSED SAVIOUR WE find in Holy Scripture three parts of the Office of the Messiah The first of a Redeemer or Saviour The second of a Pastor Counsellor or Teacher that is of a Prophet sent from God to convert such as God hath elected to Salvation The third of a King an eternall King but under his Father as Moses and the High Priests were in their severall times And to these three parts are correspondent three times For our Redemption he wrought at his first coming by the Sacrifice wherein he offered up himself for our sinnes upon the Crosse our Conversion he wrought partly then in his own Person and partly worketh now by his Ministers and will continue to work till his coming again And after his coming again shall begin that his glorious Reign over his elect which is to last eternally To the Office of a Redeemer that is of one that payeth the Ransome of Sin which Ransome is Death it appertaineth that he was Sacrificed and thereby bare upon his own head and carryed away from us our iniquities in such sort as God had required Not that the death of one man though without sinne can satisfie for the offences of all men in the rigour of Justice but in the Mercy of
and delivered by God himselfe to Moses and by Moses made known to the people Before that time there was no written Law of God who as yet having not chosen any people to bee his peculiar Kingdome had given no Law to men but the Law of Nature that is to say the Precepts of Naturall Reason written in every mans own heart Of these two Tables the first containeth the law of Soveraignty 1. That they should not obey nor honour the Gods of other Nations in these words Non-habebis Deos alienos coram me that is Thou shalt not have for Gods the Gods that other Nations worship but onely me whereby they were forbidden to obey or honor as their King and Governour any other God than him that spake unto them then by Moses and afterwards by the High Priest 2. That they should not make any Image to represent him that is to say they were not to choose to themselves neither in heaven nor in earth any Representative of their own fancying but obey Moses and Aaron whom he had appointed to that office 3. That they should not take the Name of God in vain that is they should not speak rashly of their King nor dispute his Right nor the commissions of Moses and Aaron his Lieutenants 4. That they should every Seventh day abstain from their ordinary labour and employ that time in doing him Publique Honor. The second Table containeth the Duty of one man towards another as To honor Parents Not to kill Not to Commit Adultery Not to steale Not to corrupt Iudgment by false witnesse and finally Not so much as to designe in their heart the doing of any injury one to another The question now is Who it was that gave to these written Tables the obligatory force of Lawes There is no doubt but they were made Laws by God himselfe But because a Law obliges not nor is Law to any but to them that acknowledge it to be the act of the Soveraign how could the people of Israel that were forbidden to approach the Mountain to hear what God said to Moses be obliged to obedience to all those laws which Moses propounded to them Some of them were indeed the Laws of Nature as all the Second Table and therefore to be acknowledged for Gods Laws not to the Israelites alone but to all people But of those that were peculiar to the Israelites as those of the first Table the question remains saving that they had obliged themselves presently after the propounding of them to obey Moses in these words Exod. 20. 19. Speak thou to us and we will hear thee but let not God speak to us lest we dye It was therefore onely Moses then and after him the High Priest whom by Moses God declared should administer this his peculiar Kingdome that had on Earth the power to make this short Scripture of the Decalogue to bee Law in the Common-wealth of Israel But Moses and Aaron and the succeeding High Priests were the Civill Soveraigns Therefore hitherto the Canonizing or making of the Scripture Law belonged to the Civill Soveraigne The Judiciall Law that is to say the Laws that God prescribed to the Magistrates of Israel for the rule of their administration of Justice and of the Sentences or Judgments they should pronounce in Pleas between man and man and the Leviticall Law that is to say the rule that God prescribed touching the Rites and Ceremonies of the Priests and Levites were all delivered to them by Moses onely and therefore also became Lawes by vertue of the same promise of obedience to Moses Whether these laws were then written or not written but dictated to the People by Moses after his forty dayes being with God in the Mount by word of mouth is not expressed in the Text but they were all positive Laws and equivalent to holy Scripture and made Canonicall by Moses the Civill Soveraign After the Israelites were come into the Plains of Moab over against Jericho and ready to enter into the land of Promise Moses to the former Laws added divers others which therefore are called Deuteronomy that is Second Laws And are as it is written Deut. 29. 1. The words of a Covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Children of Israel besides the Covenant which he made with them in Horeb. For having explained those former Laws in the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy he addeth others that begin at the 12. Cha. and continue to the end of the 26. of the same Book This Law Deut. 27. 1. they were commanded to write upon great stones playstered over at their passing over Jordan This Law also was written by Moses himself in a Book and delivered into the hands of the Priests and to the Elders of Israel Deut. 31. 9. and commanded ve 26. to be put in the side of the Arke for in the Ark it selfe was nothing but the Ten Commandements This was the Law which Moses Deuteronomy 17. 18. commanded the Kings of Israel should keep a copie of And this is the Law which having been long time lost was found again in the Temple in the time of Josiah and by his authority received for the Law of God But both Moses at the writing and Josiah at the recovery thereof had both of them the Civill Soveraignty Hitherto therefore the Power of making Scripture Canonicall was in the Civill Soveraign Besides this Book of the Law there was no other Book from the time of Moses till after the Captivity received amongst the Jews for the Law of God For the Prophets except a few lived in the time of the Captivity it selfe and the rest lived but a little before it and were so far from having their Prophecies generally received for Laws as that their persons were persecuted partly by false Prophets and partly by the Kings which were seduced by them And this Book it self which was confirmed by Josiah for the Law of God and with it all the History of the Works of God was lost in the Captivity and sack of the City of Jerusalem as appears by that of 2 Esdras 14. 21. Thy Law is burnt therefore no man knoweth the things that are done of thee or the works that shall begin And before the Captivity between the time when the Law was lost which is not mentioned in the Scripture but may probably be thought to be the time of Rehoboam when Shishak King of Egypt took the spoile of the Temple and the time of Josiah when it was found againe they had no written Word of God but ruled according to their own discretion or by the direction of such as each of them esteemed Prophets From hence we may inferre that the Scriptures of the Old Testament which we have at this day were not Canonicall nor a Law unto the Jews till the renovation of their Covenant with God at their return from the Captivity and restauration of their Common-wealth under Esdras But from that time
a Power to punish him which is to make a new Soveraign and again for the same reason a third to punish the second and so continually without end to the Confusion and Dissolution of the Common-wealth A Fifâ—…h doctrine that tendeth to the Dissolution of a Common-wealth is That every private man has an absolute Propriety in his Goods such as excludeth the Right of the Soveraign Every man has indeed a Propriety that excludes the Right of every other Subject And he has it onely from the Soveraign Power without the protection whereof every other man should have equall Right to the same But if the Right of the Soveraign also be excluded he cannot performe the office they have put him into which is to defend them both from forraign enemies and from the injuries of one another and consequently there is no longer a Common-wealth And if the Propriety of Subjects exclude not the Right of the Soveraign Representative to their Goods much lesse to their offices of Judicature or Execution in which they Represent the Soveraign himselfe There is a Sixth doctrine plainly and directly against the essence of a Common-wealth and 't is this That the Soveraign Power may be divided For what is it to divide the Power of a Common-wealth but to Dissolve it for Powers divided mutually destroy each other And for these doctrines men are chiefly beholding to some of those that making profession of the Lawes endeavour to make them depend upon their own learning and not upon the Legislative Power And as False Doctrine so also often-times the Example of different Government in a neighbouring Nation disposeth men to alteration of the forme already setled So the people of the Jewes were stirred up to reject God and to call upon the Prophet Samuel for a King after the manner of the Nations So also the lesser Cities of Greece were continually disturbed with seditions of the Aristocraticall and Democraticall factions one part of almost every Common-wealth desiring to imitate the Lacedaemonians the other the Athenians And I doubt not but many men have been contented to see the late troubles in England out of an imitation of the Low Countries supposing there needed no more to grow rich than to change as they had done the forme of their Government For the constitution of mans nature is of it selfe subject to desire novelty When therefore they are provoked to the same by the neighbourhood also of those that have been enriched by it it is almost impossible for them not to be content with those that solicite them to change and love the first beginnings though they be grieved with the continuance of disorder like hot blouds that having gotten the itch tear themselves with their own nayles till they can endure the smart no longer And as to Rebellion in particular against Monarchy one of the most frequent causes of it is the Reading of the books of Policy and Histories of the antient Greeks and Romans from which young men and all others that are unprovided of the Antidote of solid Reason receiving a strong and delightfull impression of the great exploits of warre atchieved by the Conductors of their Armies receive withall a pleasing Idea of all they have done besides and imagine their great prosperity not to have proceeded from the aemulation of particular men but from the vertue of their popular forme of government Not considering the frequent Seditions and Civill warres produced by the imperfection of their Policy From the reading I say of such books men have undertaken to kill their Kings because the Greek and Latine writers in their books and discourses of Policy make it lawfull and laudable for any man so to do provided before he do it he call him Tyrant For they say not Regicide that is killing of a King but Tyrannicide that is killing of a Tyrant is lawfull From the same books they that live under a Monarch conceive an opinion that the Subjects in a Popular Common-wealth enjoy Liberty but that in a Monarchy they are all Slaves I say they that live under a Monarchy conceive such an opinion not they that live under a Popular Government for they find no such matter In summe I cannot imagine how any thing can be more prejudiciall to a Monarchy than the allowing of such books to be publikely read without present applying such correctives of discreet Masters as are fit to take away their Venime Which Venime I will not doubt to compare to the biting of a mad Dogge which is a disease the Physicians call Hydrophobia or fear of Water For as he that is so bitten has a continuall torment of thirst and yet abhorreth water and is in such an estate as if the poyson endeavoured to convert him into a Dogge So when a Monarchy is once bitten to the quick by those Democraticall writers that continually snarle at that estate it wanteth nothing more than a strong Monarch which neverthelesse out of a certain Tyrannophobia or feare of being strongly governed when they have him they abhorre As there have been Doctors that hold there be three Soules in a man so there be also that think there may be more Soules that is more Soveraigns than one in a Common-wealth and set up a Supremacy against the Soveraignty Canons against Lawes and a Ghostly Authority against the Civill working on mens minds with words and distinctions that of themselves signifie nothing but bewray by their obscurity that there walketh as some think invisibly another Kingdome as it were a Kingdome of Fayries in the dark Now seeing it is manifest that the Civill Power and the Power of the Common-wealth is the same thing and that Supremacy and the Power of making anons and granting Faculties implyeth a Common-wealth it followeth that where one is Soveraign another Supreme where one can make Lawes and another make Canons there must needs be two Common-wealths of one the same Subjects which is a Kingdome divided in it selfe and cannot stand For notwithstanding the insignificant distinction of Temporall and Ghostly they are still two Kingdomes and every Subject is subject to two Masters For seeing the Ghostly Power challengeth the Right to declare what is Sinne it challengeth by consequence to declare what is Law Sinne being nothing but the transgression of the Law and again the Civill Power challenging to declare what is Law every Subject must obey two Masters who both will have their Commands be observed as Law which is impossible Or if it be but one Kingdome either the Civill which is the Power of the Common-wealth must be subordinate to the Ghostly and then there is no Soveraignty but the Ghostly or the Ghostly must be subordinate to the Temporall and then there is no Supremacy but the Temporall When therefore these two Powers oppose one another the Common-wealth cannot but be in great danger of Civill warre and Dissolution For the Civill Authority being more visible and standing in the cleerer light
Prophet has spoken it out of the pride of his own heart fear him not But a man may here again ask When the Prophet hath foretold a thing how shal we know whether it will come to passe or not For he may foretel it as a thing to arrive after a certain long time longer then the time of mans life or indefinitely that it will come to passe one time or other in which case this mark of a Prophet is unusefull and therefore the miracles that oblige us to beleeve a Prophet ought to be confirmed by an immediate or a not long deferr'd event So that it is manifest that the teaching of the Religion which God hath established and the shewing of a pâ—…esent Miracle joined together were the only marks whereby the Scripture would have a true Prophet that is to say immediate Revelation to be acknowledged neither of them being singly sufficient to oblige any other man to regard what he saith Seeing therefore Miracles now cease we have no sign left whereby to acknowledge the pretended Revelations or Inspirations of any private man nor obligation to give ear to any Doctrine farther than it is conformable to the Holy Scriptures which since the time of our Saviour supply the place and sufficiently recompense the want of all other Prophecy and from which by wise and learned interpretation and carefull ratiocination all rules and precepts necessary to the knowledge of our duty both to God and man without Enthusiasme or supernaturall Inspiration may easily be deduced And this Scripture is it out of which I am to take the Principles of my Discourse concerning the Rights of those that are the Supream Governors on earth of Christian Common-wealths and of the duty of Christian Subjects towards their Soveraigns And to that end I shall speak in the next Chapter of the Books Writers Scope and Authority of the Bible CHAP. XXXIII Of the Number Antiquity Scope Authority and Interpreters of the Books of Holy SCRIPTURE BY the Books of Holy SCRIPTURE are understood those which ought to be the Canon that is to say the Rules of Christian life And because all Rules of life which men are in conscience bound to observe are Laws the question of the Scripture is the question of what is Law throughout all Christendome both Naturall and Civill For though it be not determined in Scripture what Laws every Christian King shall constitute in his own Dominions yet it is determined what laws he shall not constitute Seeing therefore I have already proved that Soveraigns in their own Dominions are the sole Legislators those Books only are Canonicall that is Law in every nation which are established for such by the Soveraign Authority It is true that God is the Soveraign of all Soveraigns and therefore when he speaks to any Subject he ought to be obeyed whatsoever any earthly Potentate command to the contrary But the question is not of obedience to God but of when and what God hath said which to Subjects that have no supernaturall revelation cannot be known but by that naturall reason which guided them for the obtaining of Peace and Justice to obey the authority of their severall Common-wealths that is to say of their lawfull Soveraigns According to this obligation I can acknowledge no other Books of the Old Testament to be Holy Scripture but those which have been commanded to be acknowledged for such by the Authority of the Church of England What Books these are is sufficiently known without a Catalogue of them here and they are the same that are acknowledged by St. Ierome who holdeth the rest namely the Wisdome of Solomon Ecclesiasticus Iudith Tobias the first and the second of Maccabees though he had seen the first in Hebrew and the third and fourth of Esdras for Apocrypha Of the Canonicall Iosephus a learned Iew that wrote in the time of the Emperour Domitian reckoneth twenty two making the number agree with the Hebrew Alphabet St. Ierome does the same though they reckon them in different manner For Iosephus numbers five Books of Moses thirteen of Prophets that writ the History of their own times which how it agrees with the Prophets writings contained in the Bible wee shall see hereafter and four of Hymnes and Morall Precepts But St. Ierome reckons five Books of Moses eight of Prophets and nine of other Holy writ which he calls of Hagiographa The Septuagint who were 70. learned men of the Iews sent for by Ptoiemy King of Egypt to translate the Iewish law out of the Hebrew into the Greek have left us no other for holy Scripture in the Greek tongue but the same that are received in the Church of England As for the Books of the New Testament they are equally acknowledged for Canon by all Christian Churches and by all Sects of Christians that admit any Books at all for Canonicall Who were the originall writers of the severall Books of Holy Scripture has not been made evident by any sufficient testimony of other History which is the only proof of matter of fact nor can be by any arguments of naturall Reason for Reason serves only to convince the truth not of fact but of consequence The light therefore that must guide us in this question must be that which is held out unto us from the Bookes themselves And this light though it shew us not the writer of every book yet it is not unusefull to give us knowledge of the time wherein they were written And first for the Pentateuch it is not argument enough that they were written by Moses because they are called the five Books of Moses no more than these titles The Book of Ioshua the Book of Iudges the Book of Ruth and the Books of the Kings are arguments sufficient to prove that they were written by Ioshua by the Iudges by Ruth and by the Kings For in titles of Books the subject is marked as often as the writer The History of Livy denotes the Writer but the History of Scanderbeg is denominated from the subject We read in the last Chapter of Deuteronomie ver 6. concerning the sepulcher of Moses that no man knoweth of his sepulcher â—…o this day that is to the day wherein those words were written It is therefore manifest that those words were written after his interrement For it were a strange interpretation to say Moses spake of his own sepulcher though by Prophesie that it was not found to that day wherein he was yet living But it may perhaps be alledged that the last Chapter only not the whole Penâ—… was written by some other man but the rest not Let us therefore consider that which we find in the Book of Genesis chap. 12. ver 6. And Abraham passed through the land to the place of Sichem unto the plain of Moreh and the Canaanite was then in the land which must needs bee the words of one that wrote when the Canaanite was not in the land and consequently not of
a man should say an Incorporeall Body But in the sense of cōmon people not all the Universe is called Body but only such parts thereof as they can discern by the sense of Feeling to resist their force or by the sense of their Eyes to hinder them from a farther prospect Therefore in the common language of men Aire and aeriall substances use not to be taken for Bodies but as often as men are sensible of their effects are called Wind or Breath or because the same are called in the Latine Spiritus Spirits as when they call that aeriall substance which in the body of any living creature gives it life and motion Vitall and Animall spirits But for those Idols of the brain which represent Bodies to us where they are not as in a Looking-glasse in a Dream or to a Distempered brain waking they are as the Apostle saith generally of all Idols nothing Nothing at all I say there where they seem to be◅ and in the brain it self nothing but tumult proceeding either from the action of the objects or from the disorderly agitation of the Organs of our Sense And men that are otherwise imployed then to search into their causes know not of themselves what to call them and may therefore easily be perswaded by those whose knowledge they much reverence some to call them Bodies and think them made of aire compacted by a power supernaturall because the sight judges them corporeall and some to call them Spirits because the sense of Touch discerneth nothing in the place where they appear to resist their fingers So that the proper signification of Spirit in common speech is either a subtile fluid and invisible Body or a Ghost or other Idol or Phantasme of the Imagination But for metaphoricall significations there be many for sometimes it is taken for Disposition or Inclination of the mind as when for the disposition to controwl the sayings of other men we say a spirit of contradiction For a disposition to uncleannesse an unclean spirit for perversenesse a froward spirit for sullennesse a dumb spirit and for inclination to godlinesse and Gods service the Spirit of God sometimes for any eminent ability or extraordinary passion or disease of the mind as when great wisdome is called the spirit of wisdome and mad men are said to be possessed with a spirit Other signification of Spirit I find no where any and where none of these can satisfie the sense of that word in Scripture the place falleth not under humane Understanding and our Faith therein consisteth not in our Opinion but in our Submission as in all places where God is said to be a Spirit or where by the Spirit of God is meant God himselfe For the nature of God is incomprehensible that is to say we understand nothing of what he is but only that he is and therefore the Attributes we give him are not to tell one another what he is nor to signifie our opinion of his Nature but our desire to honor him with such names as we conceiv◅ most honorable amongst our selves Gen. 1. 2. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the Waters Here if by the Spirit of God be meant God himself then is Motion attributed to God and consequently Place which are intelligible only of Bodies and not of substances incorporeall and so the place is above our understanding that can conceive nothing moved that changes not place or that has not dimension and whatsoever has dimension is Body But the meaning of those words is best understood by the like place Gen. 8. 1. Where when the earth was covered with Waters as in the beginning God intending to abate them and again to discover the dry land useth the like words I will bring my Spirit upon the Earth and the waters shall be diminished in which place by Spirit is understood a Wind that is an Aire or Spirit moved which might be called as in the former place the Spirit of God because it was Gods work Gen. 41. 38. Pharaoh calleth the Wisdome of Joseph the Spirit of God For Joseph having advised him to look out a wise and discreet man and to set him over the land of Egypt he saith thus Can we find such a man as this is in whom is the Spirit of God And Exod. 28. 3. Thou shalt speak saith God to all that are wise hearted whom I have filled with the Spirit of VVisdome to make Aaron Garments to consecrate him Where extraordinary Understanding though but in making Garments as being the Gift of God is called the Spirit of God The same is found again Exod. 31. 3 4 5 6. and 35. 31. And Isaiah 11. 2 3. where the Prophet speaking of the Messiah saith The Spirit of the Lord shall abide upon him the Spirit of wisdome and understanding the Spirit of counsell and fortitude and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. Where manifestly is meant not so many Ghosts but so many eminent graces that God would give him In the Book of Judges an extraordinary Zeal and Courage in the the defence of Gods people is called the Spirit of God as when it excited Othoniel Gideon Jephtha and Samson to deliver them from servitude Judg. 3. 10. 6. 34. 11. 29. 13. 25. 14. 6 19. And of Saul upon the newes of the insolence of the Ammonites towards the men of Jabesh Gilead it is said 1 Sam. 11. 6. that The Spirit of God came upon Saul and his Anger or as it is in the Latine his Fury was kindled greatly Where it is not probable was meant a Ghost but an extraordinary Zeal to punish the cruelty of the Ammonites In like manner by the Spirit of God that came upon Saul when hee was amongst the Prophets that praised God in Songs and Musick 1 Sam. 19. 20. is to be understood not a Ghost but an unexpected and sudden Zeal to join with them in their devotion The false Prophet Zedekiah saith to Micaiah 1 Kings 22. 24. Which way went the Spirit of the Lord from me to speak to thee Which cannot be understood of a Ghost for Micaiah declared before the Kings of Israel and Judah the event of the battle as from a Vision and not as from a Spirit speaking in him In the same manner it appeareth in the Books of the Prophets that though they spake by the Spirit of God that is to say by a speciall grace of Prediction yet their knowledge of the future was not by a Ghost within them but by some supernaturall Dream or Vision Gen. 2. 7. It is said God made man of the dust of the Earth and breathed into his nostrills spiraculum vitae the breath of life and man was made a living soul. There the breath of life inspired by God signifies no more but that God gave him life And Job 27. 3. as long as the Spirit of God is in my nostrils is no more then to say as long as I live So
and gave it to the Seventy Elders But as I have shewn before chap. 36. by Spirit is understood the Mind so that the sense of the place is no other than this that God endued them with a mind conformable and subordinate to that of Moses that they might Prophecy that is to say speak to the people in Gods name in such manner as to set forward as Ministers of Moses and by his authority such doctrine as was agreeable to Moses his doctrine For they were but Ministers and when two of them Prophecyed in the Camp it was thought a new and unlawfull thing and as it is in the 27. and 28. verses of the same Chapter they were accused of it and Joshua advised Moses to forbid them as not knowing that it was by Moses his Spirit that they Prophecyed By which it is manifest that no Subject ought to pretend to Prophecy or to the Spirit in opposition to the doctrine established by him whom God hath set in the place of Moses Aaron being dead and after him also Moses the Kingdome as being a Sacerdotall Kingdome descended by vertue of the Covenant to Aarons Son Eleazar the High Priest And God declared him next under himself for Soveraign at the same time that he appointed Joshua for the Generall of their Army For thus God saith expressely Numb 27. 21. concerning Joshua He shall stand before Eleazar the Priest who shall ask counsell for him before the Lord at his word shall they goe out and at his word they shall come in both he aâ—…d all the Children of Israel with him Therefore the Supreme Power of making War and Peace was in the Priest The Supreme Power of Judicature belonged also to the High Priest For the Book of the Law was in their keeping and the Priests and Levites onely were the subordinate Judges in causes Civill as appears in Deut. 17. 8 9 10. And for the manner of Gods worship there was never doubt made but that the High Priest till the time of Saul had the Supreme Authority Therefore the Civill and Ecclesiasticall Power were both joined together in one and the same person the High Priest and ought to bee so in whosoever governeth by Divine Right that is by Authority immediate from God After the death of Joshua till the time of Saul the time between is noted frequently in the Book of Judges that there was in those dayes no King in Israel and sometimes with this addition that every man did that which was right in his own eyes By which is to bee understood that where it is said there was no King is meant there was no Soveraign Power in Israel And so it was if we consider the Act and Exercise of such power For after the death of Joshua Eleazar there arose another generation Judges 2. 10. that knew not the Lord nor the works which he had done for Israel but did evill in the sight of the Lord and served Baalim And the Jews had that quality which St. Paul noteth to look for a sign not onely before they would submit themselves to the government of Moses but also after they had obliged themselves by their submission Whereas Signs and Miracles had for End to procure Faith not to keep men from violating it when they have once given it for to that men are obliged by the law of Nature But if we consider not the Exercise but the Right of Governing the Soveraign power was still in the High Priest Therefore whatsoever obedience was yeelded to any of the Judges who were men chosen by God extraordinarily to save his rebellious subjects out of the hands of the enemy it cannot bee drawn into argument against the Right the High Priest had to the Soveraign Power in all matters both of Policy and Religion And neither the Judges nor Samuel himselfe had an ordinary but extraordinary calling to the Government and were obeyed by the Israelites not out of duty but out of reverence to their favour with God appearing in their wisdome courage or felicity Hitherto therefore the Right of Regulating both the Policy and the Religion were inseparable To the Judges succeeded Kings And whereas before all authority both in Religion and Policy was in the High Priest so now it was all in the King For the Soveraignty over the people which was before not onely by vertue of the Divine Power but also by a particular pact of the Israelites in God and next under him in the High Priest as his Vicegerent on earth was cast off by the People with the consent of God himselfe For when they said to Samuel 1 Sam. 8. 5. make us a King to judge us like all the Nations they signified that they would no more bee governed by the commands that should bee laid upon them by the Priest in the name of God but by one that should command them in the same manner that all other nations were commandcd and consequently in deposing the High Priest of Royall authority they deposed that peculiar Government of God And yet God consented to it saying to Samuel verse 7. Hearken unto the voice of the People in all that they shall say unto thee for they have not rejected thee but they have rejected mee that I should not reign over them Having therefore rejected God in whose Right the Priests governed there was no authority left to the Priests but such as the King was pleased to allow them which was more or lesse according as the Kings were good or evill And for the Government of Civill affaires it is manifest it was all in the hands of the King For in the same Chapter verse 20. They say they will be like all the Nations that their King shall be their Judge and goe before them and fight their battells that is he shall have the whole authority both in Peace and War In which is contained also the ordering of Religion for there was no other Word of God in that time by which to regulate Religion but the Law of Moses which was their Civill Law Besides we read 1 Kings 2. 27. that Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being Priest before the Lord He had therefore authority over the High Priest as over any other Subject which is a great mark of Supremacy in Religion And we read also 1 Kings 8. that hee dedicated the Temple that he blessed the People and that he himselfe in person made that excellent prayer used in the Consecrations of all Churches and houses of Prayer which is another great mark of Supremacy in Religion Again we read 2 Kings 22. that when there was question concerning the Book of the Law found in the Temple the same was not decided by the High Priest but Josiah sent both him and others to enquire concerning it of Hulda the Prophetesse which is another mark of the Supremacy in Religion Lastly wee read 1 Chron. 26. 30. that David made Hashabiah and his brethren Hebronites Officers of Israel
not any where that they who received not the Doctrine of Christ did therein sin but that they died in their sins that is that their sins against the Laws to which they owed obedience were not pardoned And those Laws were the Laws of Nature and the Civill Laws of the State whereto every Christian man had by pact submitted himself And therefore by the Burthen which the Apostles might lay on such as they had converted are not to be understood Laws but Conditions proposed to those that sought Salvation which they might accept or refuse at their own perill without a new sin though not without the hazard of being condemned and excluded out of the Kingdome of God for their sins past And therefore of Infidels S. John saith not the wrath of God shall come upon them but the wrath of God remaineth upon them and not that they shall be condemned but that they are condemned already Nor can it be conceived that the benefit of Faith is Remission of sins unlesse we conceive withall that the dammage of Infidelity is the Retention of the same sins But to what end is it may some man aske that the Apostles and other Pastors of the Church after their time should meet together to agree upon what Doctrine should be taught both for Faith and Manners if no man were obliged to observe their Decrees To this may be answered that the Apostles and Elders of that Councell were obliged even by their entrance into it to teach the Doctrine therein concluded and decreed to be taught so far forth as no precedent Law to which they were obliged to yeeld obedience was to the contrary but not that all other Christians should be obliged to observe what they taught For though they might deliberate what each of them should teach yet they could not deliberate what others should do unless their Assembly had had a Legislative Power which none could have but Civil Soveraigns For though God be the Soveraign of all the world we are not bound to take for his Law whatsoever is propounded by every man in his name nor any thing contrary to the Civill Law which God hath expressely commanded us to obey Seeing then the Acts of Councell of the Apostles were then no Laws but Counsells much lesse are Laws the Acts of any other Doctors or Councells since if assembled without the Authority of the Civill Soveraign And consequently the Books of the New Testament though most perfect Rules of Christian Doctrine could not be made Laws by any other authority then that of Kings or Soveraign Assemblies The first Councell that made of the Scriptures we now have Canon is not extant For that Collection of the Canons of the Apostles attributed to Clemens the first Bishop of Rome after S. Peter is subject to question For though the Canonicall books bee there reckoned up yet these words Sint vobis omnibus Clericis Lâ—…icis Libri venerandi c. containe a distinction of Clergy and Laity that was not in use so neer St. Peters time The first Councell for setling the Canonicall Scripture that is extant is that of Laodicea Can. 59. which forbids the reading of other Books then those in the Churches which is a Mandate that is not addressed to every Châ—…istian but to those onely that had authority to read any thing publiquely in the Church that is to Ecclesiastiques onely Of Ecclesiasticall Officers in the time of the Apostles some were Magisteriall some Ministeriall Magisteriall were the Offices of preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to Infidels of administaing the Sacraments and Divine Service and of teaching the Rules of Faith and Manners to those that were converted Ministeriall was the Office of Deacons that is of them that were appointed to the administration of the secular necessities of the Church at such time as they lived upon a common stock of mony raised out of the voluntary contributions of the faithfull Amongst the Officers Magisteriall the first and principall were the Apostles whereof there were at first but twelve and these were chosen and constituted by our Saviour himselfe and their Office was not onely to Preach Teach and Baptize but also to be Narâ—…yrs Witnesses of our Saviours Resurrection This Testimony was the specificall and essentiall mark whereby the Apostleship was distinguished from other Magistracy Ecclesiasticall as being necessary for an Apostle either to have seen our Saviour after his Resurrection or to have conversed with him before and seen his works and other arguments of his Divinity whereby they might be taken for sufficient Witnesses And therefore at the election of a new Apostle in the place of Judas Iscariot S. Peter saith Acts 1. 21 22. Of these men that have companyed with us all the time that the Lord Iesus went in and out among us beginning from the Baptisme of Iohn unto that same day that he was taken up from us must one be ordained to be a Witnesse with us of his Resurrection where by this word must is implyed a necessary property of an Apostle to have companyed with the first and prime Apostles in the time that our Saviour manifested himself in the flesh The first Apostle of those which were not constituted by Christ in the time he was upon the Earth was Matthias chosen in this manner There were assembled together in Jerusalem about 120 Christians Acts 1. 15. These appointed two Ioseph the Iust and Matthias ver 23. and caused lots to be drawn and ver 26. the Lot fell on Matthias and he was numbred with the Apostles So that here we see the ordination of this Apostle was the act of the Congregation and not of St. Peter nor of the eleven otherwise then as Members of the Assembly After him there was never any other Apostle ordained but Paul and Barnabas which was done as we read Acts 13. 1 2 3. in this manner There were in the Church that was at Antioch certaine Prophets and Teachers as Barnabas and Simeon that was called Niger and Lucius of Cyrene and Manaen which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch and Saul As they ministred unto the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said Separate mee Barnabas and Saul for the worke whereunto I have called them And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them they sent them away By which it is manifest that though they were called by the Holy Ghost their Calling was declared unto them and their Mission authorized by the particular Church of Antioch And that this their calling was to the Apostleship is apparent by that that they are both called Acts 14. 14. Apostles And that it was by vertue of this act of the Church of Antioch that they were Apostles S. Paul declareth plainly Rom. 1. 1. in that hee useth the word which the Holy Ghost used at his calling For hee stileth himself An Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God alluding to the words of
Apostle Simon was surnamed Stone which is the signification of the Syriacke word Cephas and of the Greek word Petrus Our Saviour therefore after the confession of that Fundamentall Article alluding to his name said as if it were in English thus Thou art Stone and upon this Stone I will build my Church which is as much as to say this Article that I am the Christ is the Foundation of all the Faith I require in those that are to bee members of my Church Neither is this allusion to a name an unusuall thing in common speech But it had been a strange and obscure speech if our Saviour intending to build his Church on the Person of S. Peter had said thou art a Stone and upon this Stone I will build my Church when it was so obvious without ambiguity to have said I will build my Church on thee and yet there had been still the same allusion to his name And for the following words I will give thee the Keyes of Heaven c. it is no more than what our Saviour gave also to all the rest of his Disciples Matth. 18. 18. Whatsoever yee shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven And whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven But howsoever this be interpreted there is no doubt but the Power here granted belongs to all Supreme Pastors such as are all Christian Civill Soveraignes in their own Dominions In so much as if St. Peter or our Saviour himself had converted any of them to beleeve him and to acknowledge his Kingdome yet because his Kingdome is not of this world he had left the supreme care of converting his subjects to none but him or else hee must have deprived him of the Soveraignty to which the Right of Teaching is inseparably annexed And thus much in refutation of his first Book wherein hee would prove St. Peter to have been the Monarch Universall of the Church that is to say of all the Christians in the world The second Book hath two Conclusions One that S. Peter was Bishop of Rome and there dyed The other that the Popes of Rome are his Successors Both which have been disputed by others But supposing them true yet if by Bishop of Rome bee understood either the Monarch of the Church or the Supreme Pastor of it not Silvester but Constantine who was the first Christian Emperour was that Bishop and as Constantine so all other Christian Emperors were of Right supreme Bishops of the Roman Empire I say of the Roman Empire not of all Christendome For other Christian Soveraigns had the same Right in their severall Territories as to an Office essentially adhaerent to their Soveraignty Which shall serve for answer to his second Book In the third Book he handleth the question whether the Pope be Antichrist For my part I see no argument that proves he is so in that sense the Scripture useth the name nor will I take any argument from the quality of Antichrist to contradict the Authority he exerciseth or hath heretofore exercised in the Dominions of any other Prince or State It is evident that the Prophets of the Old Testament foretold and the Jews expected a Messiah that is a Christ that should re-establish amongst them the kingdom of God which had been rejected by them in the time of Samuel when they required a King after the manner of other Nations This expectation of theirs made them obnoxious to the Imposture of all such as had both the ambition to attempt the attaining of the Kingdome and the art to deceive the People by counterfeit miracles by hypocriticall life or by orations and doctrine plausible Our Saviour therefore and his Apostles forewarned men of False Prophets and of False Christs False Christs are such as pretend to be the Christ but are not and are called properly Antichrists in such sense as when there happeneth a Schisme in the Church by the election of two Popes the one calleth the other Antipapa or the false Pope And therefore Antichrist in the proper signification hath two essentiall marks One that he denyeth Jesus to be Christ and another that he professeth himselfe to bee Christ. The first Mark is set down by S. Iohn in his 1 Epist. 4. ch 3. ver Every Spirit that confesseth not that Iesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God And this is the Spirit of Antichrist The other Mark is expressed in the words of our Saviour Mat. 24. 5. Many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and again If any man shall say unto you Lâ—…e here is Christ there is Christ beleeve it not And therefore Antichrist must be a False Christ that is some one of them that shall pretend themselves to be Christ. And out of these two Marks to deny Iesus to be the Christ and to affirm himselfe to be the Christ it followeth that he must also be an Adversary of Iesus the true Christ which is another usuall signification of the word Antichrist But of these many Antichrists there is one speciall one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Antichrist or Antichrist definitely as one certaine person not indefinitely an Antichrist Now seeing the Pope of Rome neither pretendeth himself nor denyeth Jesus to bee the Christ I perceive not how he can be called Antichrist by which word is not meant one that falsely pretendeth to be His Lieutenant or Vicar generall but to be Hee There is also some Mark of the time of this speciall Antichrist as Mat. 24. 15. when that abominable Destroyer spoken of by Daniel shall stand in the Holy place and such tribulation as was not since the beginning of the world nor ever shall be again insomuch as if it were to last long ver 22. no flesh could be saved but for the elects sake those days shall be shortened made fewer But that tribulation is not yet come for it is to be followed immediately ver 29. by a darkening of the Sun and Moon a falling of the Stars a concussion of the Heavens and the glorious coming again of our Saviour in the cloudes And therefore The Antichrist is not yet come whereas many Popes are both come and gone It is true the Pope in taking upon him to give Laws to all Christian Kings and Nations usurpeth a Kingdome in this world which Christ took not on him but he doth it not as Christ but as for Christ wherein there is nothing of The Antichrist In the fourth Book to prove the Pope to be the supreme Judg in all questions of Faith and Manners which is as much as to be the absolute Monarch of all Christians in the world he bringeth three Propositions The first that his Judgments are Infallible The second that he can make very Laws and punish those that observe them not The third that our Saviour conferred all Jurisdiction Ecclesiasticall on the Pope of Rome For the Infallibility of his Judgments he alledgeth the Scriptures and
Redemption Church the Lords house Ecclesia properly what Acts 19. 39. In what sense the Church is one Person Church defined A Christian Common-wealth and a Church all one The Soveraign Rights of Abraham Abraham had the sole power of ordering the Religion of his own people No pretence of Private Spirit against the Religion of Abraham Abraham sole Judge and Interpreter of what God spake The authority of Moses whereon grounded John 5. 31. Moses was under God Soveraign of the Jews all his own time though Aaron had the Priesthood All spirits were subordinate to the spirit of Moses After Moses the Soveraignty was in the High Priest Of the Soveraign power between the time of Joshua and of Saul Of the Rights of the Kings of Israel The practice of Supremacy in Religion was not in the time of the Kings according to the Right thereof 2 Chro. 19. 2. After the Captivity the Iews â—…ad no setled Common-wealth Three parts of the Office of Christ. His Office as a Redeemer Christs Kingdome not of this woâ—…ld The End of Christs comming was to renew the Covenant of the Kingdome of God and to perswade the Elect to imbrace it which was the second part of his Office The preaching of Christ not contrary to the then law of the Iews nor of Caesar. The third part of his Office was to be King under his Father of the Elect. Christs authority in the Kingdome of God subordinate to that of his Father One and the same God is the Person represented by Moses and by Christ. Of the Holy Spirit that fel on the Apostles Of the Trinity The Power Ecclesiasticall is but the power to teach An argument thereof the Power of Christ himself From the name of Regeneration From the compariâ—…on of it with Fishing Leaven Seed Fâ—…om the nature of 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 1. 24. From the Authority Christ hath lâ—…st to Civill Princes What Christians may do to avoid persecution Of Martyrs Argument from the points of their Commission To Preach And Teach To Baptize And to Forgive and Retain Sinnes Mat. 18. 15 16 17. Of Excommunication The use of Excommunication without Civill Power Acts 9. 2. Of no effect upon an Apostate But upon the faithfull only For what fault lyeth Excommunication Ofpersons liaable to Excommunication 1 Sam. 8. Of the Interpreter of the Scriptures before Civil Soveraigns became Christians Of the Power to make Scripture Law Of the Ten Commandements Of the Iudiciall and Leviticall Law The Second Law * 1 Kings 14 26. The Old Testament when made Canonicall The New Testament began to be Canonicall under Christian Soveraigns Of the Power of Councells to make the Scriptures Law John 3. 36. John 3. 18. Of the Right of constituting Ecclesiasticall Officers in the time of the Apostles Matthias made Apostle by the Congregation Paul and Barnabas made Apostles by the Church of Antioch What Offices in the Church are Magisteriall Ordination of Teachers Ministers of the Church what And how chosen Of Ecclesiasticall Revenue under the Law of Moses In our Saviours time and after Mat. 10. 9 10. * Acts 4. 34. The Ministers of the Gospel lived on the Benevolence of their flocks 1 Cor. 9. 13. That the Civill Soveraign being a Christian hath the Right of appointing Pastors The Pastor all Authority of Soveraigns only is de Jure Divino that of other Pastors is Jure Civili Christian Kings have Power to execute all manner of Pastoral function * John 4. 2. * 1 Cor. 1. 14 16. * 1 Câ—…r 1. 17. The Civill Soveraigne if a Christian is head of the Church in his own Dominions Cardinal Bellarmines Books De Summo Pontifice considered The first book The second Book The third Book * Dan. 9. 27. The fourth Book Texts for the Infaâ—…ibility of the Popes Judgement in points of Faith Texts for the same in point of Manners The question of Superiority between the Pope and other Bishops Of the Popes â—…mporall Power The difficulty of obeying God and Man both at once Is none to them that distinguish between what is and what is not Necessary to Salvation All that is Necessary to Salvation is contained in Faith and Obedience What Obedience is Necessary And to what Laws In the Faith of a Christian who is the Person beleeved The causes of Christian Faith Faith comes by Hearing The onely Necessary Article of Christian Faith Proved from the Scope of the Evangelists From the Sermons of the Apostles From the Easinesse of the Doctrine From formall â—…ud cleer texts From that it is the Foundation of all other Articles 2 Pet. 3. v. 7 10 12. In what sense other Articles may be called Nâ—…cessary That Faith and Obedience are both of them Necessary to Salvation What each of them contributes thereunto Obedience to God and to the Civill Soveraign not inconsistent whether Christian Or Infidel The Kingdom of Darknesse what * Eph. 6. 12. * Mat. 12. 26. * Mat. 9. 34. * Eph. 2. 2. * Joh. 16. 11. The Church not yet fully â—…reed of Darknesse Four Causes of Spirituall Darknesse Errors from misinterpreting the Scriptures concerning the Kingdome of God As that the Kingdome of God is the present Church And that the Pope is his Vicar generall And that the Pastors are the Clergy Error from mistaking Consecration for Conjuration Incantation in the Ceremonies of Baptisme And in Marriage in Visitation of the Sick and in Consecration of Places Errors from mistaking Eternall Life and Everlasting Death As the Doctrine of Purgatory and Exorcismes and Invocation of Saints The Texts alledged for the Doctrines aforementioned have been answered before Answer to the text on which Beza inferreth that the Kingdome of Christ began at the Resurrection Explication of the Place in Mark 9. 1. Abuse of some other texts in defence of the Power of the Pope The manner of Consecrations in the Scripture was without Exorcisms The immortality of mans Soule not proved by Scripture to be of Nature but of Grace Eternall Torments what Answer of the Texts alledged for Purgatory Places of the New Testament for Purgatory answered Baptisme for the Dead how understood The Originall of Daemonclogy What were the Daemons of the Ancients How that Doctrine was spread How far received by the Jews John 8. 52. Why our Saviour controlled it not The Scriptures doe not teach that Spirits are Incorporeall The Power of Casting out Devills not the same it was in the Primitive Church Another relique of Gentilisme Worshipping of Images left in the Church not brought into it Answer to certain seeming texts for Images What is Worship Distinction between Divine and Civill Worship An Image what Phantasmes Fictions Materiall Images Idolatry what Scandalous worship of Images Answer 〈◊〉 the Argument from the Cherubins and Brazen Serpent * Exod. 32. 2. * Gen. 31. 30. Painting of Fancies no Idolatry but abusing them to Religious Worship is How Idolatry was left in the Church Canonizing of Saints The name of Pontifex Procession of Images Wax Candles and Torches lighted What Philosophy is Prudence no part of Philosophy No false Doctrine is part of Philosophy No more is Revelation supernaturall Nor learning taken upon credit of Authors Of the Beginnings and Progresse of Philosophy Of the Schools of Philosophy amongst the Athenians Of the Schools of the Jews The Schoole of the Graecians unprofitable The Schools of the Jews unprofitable University what it is Errors brought into Religion from Aristotles Metaphysiques Errors concerning Abstract Essences Nunc-stans One Body in many places and many Bodies in one place at once Absurdities in naturall Philosopy as Gravity the Cause of Heavinesse Quantity put into Body already made Powring in of Soules Ubiquity of Apparition Will the Cause of Willing Ignorance an occult Cause One makes the things incongruent another the Incongruity Private Appetite the rule of Publique good And that lawfull Marriage is Unchastity And that all Government but Popular is Tyranny That not Men but Law governs Laws over the Conscience Private Interpretation of Law Language of Schoole-Divines Errors from Tradition Suppression of Reason He that receiveth Benefit by a Fact is presumed to be the Author That the â—…hurch Militant is the Kingdome of God was first taught by the Church of Rome And maintained also by the Presbytery Infallibility Subjection of Bishops Exemptions of the Clergy The names of Saceâ—…dotes and Sacriâ—… The Sacramentation of Marriage The single life of Priests Auricular Confession Canonization of Saints and declaring of Martyrs Transubstantiation Pennance Absolution Purgatory Indulgences Externall works Daemonology and Exorcism School-Divinity The Authors of spirituall Darknesse who they be Comparison of the Papacy with the Kingdome of Fayries