satisfaction to find all this in the sequel of our Discourse confirmed to me by experience But whatsoever your behaviour is like to be I cannot but fear having been conversant in your Leviathan that your opinions will deserve reproof I have sometimes heard the substance of them comprized in twelve Articles which sound harshly to men profeâ—â—ing Christianity and they were delivered under the Title of the Hobbist's Creed in such phrase and order as followeth I believe that God is Almighty matter that in him there are three Persons he having been thrice represented on earth that it is to be decided by the Civil Power whether he created all things else that Angels are not Incorporeal substances those words implying a contradiction but preternatural impreâ—â—â—ons on the brain of man that the Soul of man is the temperament of his Body that the Liberty of Will in that Soul is physically necessary that the prime â—aw of nature in the soul of man is that of self-Love that the Law of the Civil Sovereign is the obliging Rule of good and evil just and unjust that the Books of the Old and New Testament are made Canon and Law by the Civil Powers that whatsoever is written in these Books may lawfully be denied even upon oath after the laudable doctrine and practice of the Gnosticks in times of persecution when men shall be urged by the menaces of Authority that Hell is a tolerable condition of life for a few years upon earth to begin at the general Resurrection and that Heaven is a blessed estate of good men like that of Adam beâ—ore his fall beginning at the general Resurrection to be from thenceforth eternal upon Earth in the Holy-Land These Articles as they are double in their number so do they a thousand times exceed in mischievous error those six so properly called bloody ones in the dayes of King Henry the eighth Nay Sir I beseech you set not so uneasily neither prepare to vent your passion for if it shall appear in the pursuit of this disputation that this charge which is now drawn up is false I will not persist in it but be zealous in moving all your slanderers to lay themselves at those Feet of yours at which as you your self have written so very many of our English Gentry have with excellent effect sate for instruction At present I desire to take no other advantage from that presumed Creed than may be derived from the method in which the Articles of it are propounded as also from the particular subjects contained in them without any forestalling assent or dissent of mind For from thence we may fitly borrow both the Heads and the Order of such a discourse as will lead us without confusion throughout all those Opinions with which you are said to have debauched Religion Let us then take our beginning from the first Article that fundamental principle which being removed all real Religion falls to the ground that is to say the Existence of a God Are you then convinced that God is Mr. Hobbs I am For the effects we acknowledge naturally do include a Power of their producing before they were produced and that Power presupposeth something Existent that hath such Power and the thing so existing with power to produce if it were not eternal must needs have been produced by somewhat before it and that again by somewhat else before that till we come to an eternal that is to say the First Power of all Powers and â—â—rst Cause of all Causes and this is it which all men conceive by the name of God Stud. By this argument unwary men may be perhaps deceived into a good opinion of your Philosophy as if by the aids of it you were no weak defender of natural Religion but such as with due attention search your Books they cannot miss a Key wherewith they may decypher those mysterious words and shew that in their true and proper meaning they undermine Religion in stead of laying the ground-work of it Des-Cartes in an Epistle to Father Mersennus makes mention though with much neglect of your opinion concerning a Corporeal God this it seems you had broached in a studied Letter which passed through divers hands about that time when All things Sacred began to be most rudely invaded to wit the commencement of our Civil Wars And in diver Books since that time published you have often insinuated and sometimes directly asserted that whatsoever existeth is material Seing then it is absurd to say that Matter can create Matter it followeth that the effects you speak of in your argument are not to be understood of the very Essences of bodies which in your Book de Corpore you conceive to be neither generated nor destroyed but of those various changes which by motion are caused in nature your sense then amounteth to this impious assertion that in the chain of natural causes subordinate to each other that portion of matter which in one rank of causes and effects for you admit of an eternal cause or of causes being it self eternally moved gave the first impulse to another body which also moved the neighboring Body so forward in many links of succession 'till the motion arrived at any effect which we take notice of is to be called God In the like sense the Atheist Vaninus called nature the Queen and Goddesse of Mortals being as saith a learned Writer a sottish Priest of the said Goddess and also a most infamous sacrifice Mr. Hobbes This principle that God is not incorporeal is the doctrin which I have sometimes written and when occasion serves maintain I say therefore that the world I mean not the Earth only that denominates the lovers of it worldly men but the Universe that is the whole Mass of all things that are is corporeal that is to say body and hath the dimensions of magnitude namely length breadth and depth also every part of body is likewise body and hath the like dimensions consequently every part of the universe is body that which is not body is no part of the â—niverse and because the universe iâ— all that which is no part of it is nothing and consequently no where nor do's it follow from hence that Spirits are nothing for they have dimensions and are therefore really bodies though that name in common speech be given to such bodies only as are visible or palpable that is that have some degree of opacity But for Spirits they call them incorporeal which is a name of more honor and may therefore with more piety be attributed to God himself in whom we consider not what attribute expresseth best his nature which is incomprehensible but what best expresseth our desire to honor him Stud. If every part of body be body not only â—s to us but in it self there seemeth to be such an inexhaustibleness in the least atome as will render it as infinite as the whole Mass of the
before them if these can promote their private good by Sword or Poyson or Mutiny The people if they believ'd that a company of Delinquents joyning together to defend themselves by Arms do not at all unjustly but may lawfully repel lawful Force by Force they would soon be stirred up and suffer none for whom they have respect to be brought to justice For your last particular concerning the Power of the Civil Soveraign in relation to that for which we have assign'd The Ninth place that is to say the Canon of holy Scripture it seeâ—eth a great indignity offered to the Soveraignty of Christ. Upon this occasion I remember a saying of Dr. Weston which would better have become a man in Buff then a Prolocutor of the Convocation After six days spent in hot dispute about Religion in the Reign of Queen Mary he dismissed those of the Reformed way in these words It is not the Queens pleasure that we should spend any longer time in these debates and ye are well enough already for you have the Word and we have the Sword So little of the obligation of holy Writ is perceived by those whose eyes are dazled with Secular Grandeur But before we come to dispute of the power which maketh the Scripture Canon which is as 't were the Main Battle may we not a little breathe and prepare our selves in some lesser Skirmishes touching the Writings of the Old and New Testament Mr. Hobbes If you like that course I am ready to joyn with you First then I take notice that divers historical Books of the Old Testament were not written by those whose names they bear to wit much of the Pentateuch the Books of Ioshuah and Iudges and Ruth and Samuel and Kings and Chronicles Stud. This hath bin long since said and proved by the places which you cite in your Leviathan by the Frenchman who founded a Systeme of Divinity upon the conceit of men before Adam who also by Recantation unravel'd his own Cobweb spun out of his own fancie rather then the true Records of time But this doth not invalidate the truth of those Histories whose sufficient antiquity is by you granted Mr. Hobbes I observe again concerning the Book of Iob that though it appear sufficiently that he was no feigned person yet the Book it self seemeth not to be an History but a Treatise concerning a question in ancient time disputed why wicked men have often prospered in this world and good men have been afflicted and it is the more probable because the whole dispute is in Verse but Verse is no usual stile of such as either are themselves in great pain as Iob or of such as come to comfort them as his Friends but in Philosophy especially moral Philosophy in ancient time frequent Stud. It is not thought that Iob or his Friends but Moses or some other pen'd the History in the form in which we have it But however you here alledge a Reason which proveth the contrary to the purpose you would have it serve for For Poetry exciting the imagination and affections is fittest for painting out the Scene of Tragedy You have surely forgotten Ovid de Tristibus Mr. Hobbes Please your self in replies I will proceed to observe further that as for the Books of the Old Testament they are derived to us from no other time then that of Esdras who by the direction of Gods Spirit â—etrived them when they were lost Stud. That place in the fourth Book of Esdras wherein it is said in his person Thy Law is burnt therefore no man knoweth the things that thou hast done is a very fable For though the Autographa of Moses and the Prophets have been thought to have perished at the burning of Hierusalem yet it is not true that all the Copies were destroyed For the Prophets in the Captivity read the Law And concerning that whole fourth Book it is said by Bellarmine himself that the Author is a Romancer Of the like nature may they seem who talk of the men of the Synagoga magna making Ezra to be a chief man amongst them and ascribing to them the several divisions and sections of the Old Testament even that wherein the Book of Daniel is most absurdly reckon'd amongst the Hagiographa Of that Synagoga magna there is not one word spoken by Iosephus or St. Hierom though both had very fair occasions in some parts of their writings to have intreated of it And the deficiencie of the Jewish story about that time may move us to believe that this was the fiction of modern Rabbies and Morinus thinks he has demonstrated that so it was Mr. Hobbes I note again that the Septuagint who were seventy Learned men of the Jews sent for by Ptolomy King of Egypt to translate the Jewish Law out of the Hebrew into Greek have left us no other Books for holy Scripture in the Greek Tongue but the same that are received in the Church of England Stud. It is not resolved whether they translated any more then the five Books of Moses and whether they turn'd them out of Hebrew Chaldee or the Samaritan Tongue to which latter Pentateuch the translation of the seventy is shew'd by Hottinger to agree most exactly in a very great number of places by him produced in order but there is as great question whether that we have be the true Copy of the Seventy for seeing therein the names of places as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Caphtoâ—im are there rendred not according to the Hebrew but after the manner in which they were call'd in the latter times under the second Temple the antiquity of the Copy of Rome may be suspected Mr. Hobbes Be it also observed that those Books which are called Apocrypha were left out of the Canon not for inconformity of Doctrine with the rest but onely because they are not found in the Hebrew Stud. Here again you erre for by the same Reason some part which is contained in the Canon should have been of old excluded For instance the Book of Daniel is partly written in Hebrew and partly written in Caldee for Daniel had learnt that Tongue in Babylon by the command of the King Neither are all Apocryphal Books to be thought not written in Hebrew for that excellent Book of the Son of Syrach as is manifest by his Preface to it was a translation out of the Hebrew Copy of his Grand-father Iesus The Reason why such Books were not received by the Jews into the Canon was not what you suggest but because they seem'd not written by that kinde of prophesie which they called Ruach Hakkodesh Mr. Hobbes I confess St. Hierom had seen the first of the Maccabees in Hebrew Stud. Neither is that rightly noted For the Book which St. Hierom saw as is thought by Drusius a man profoundly learned in these matters was the first Book of the History of the Hasmonâ—ei whos 's Epoch was of later
date though the names are us'd promisouously amongst the Jews Mr. Hobbes I proceed to note that the Writers of the New Testament lived all in less 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 These Books of which the Copies were not many nor could easily be all in any one private mans hand cannot be derived from a higher time then 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 Books 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 Council 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 Council was held in the 364 year 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 endeavour'd to pass their Doctrine not for counsel and informatition as Preachers but for Laws as absolute Governours and thought such frauds as tended to make the people more obedient to Chrâ—stian 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 onely of the Ecclesiasticks because if they had had an intention so to do they would surely have made them more favourable to their power over Christian Princes and civil Soveraignty then they are Stud. It is plain to those who are versed in the Monuments of the Church that the Books of the New Testament were declared Canon very early though the precise time and place be not so easily known Upon the Enumeration made in the Apostolick Canons we rely not not because that Book is to be esteemed wholly spurious but because this Enumeration is made in the eighty fourth Canon For the first fifty are those for whose antiquity we contend It is true that the whole is call'd Apocryphal by the Council at Rome under Pope Gelasius and it hath been answer'd that they were so called not as if they were not ancient Pieces but because they were not made Nomocanon or Canon-law But doubtless that Council rejected them as spurious Writings numbring them amongst the late and feigned pieces of the Gospel of St. Andrew the Revelation of St. Paul the Books of Og the Gyant of the Testament of Iob of the Daughters of Adam and the like But it hath also condemn'd the works of Tertullian St. Cyprian Arnobius Lactantius and the History of Ensebius and therefore it is not material what writing standeth or falleth before such erroneous Judges Certain it is by other passages in ancient Writers that the New Testament was acknowledg'd to be Canon long enough before the Council of Laodicea The earliest Christian Writers whose Books are derived to our hands abound in â—itations of the New Testament as the undoubted Register of what was done and taught and as the publick Rule Tertullian for example citeth very many places out of every Book which now is contained in the Canon of the New Testament if I except the second of St. Peter And in his fourth Book against Marcion he speaketh effectually to our present purpose If that said he be truâ—st which was â—irst and that be first which â—as from the beginning and that be from the beginning which is derived from the Apostles it is also manifest that that was from the Apostles which is sacred in the Churches of the Apostles Let us see then what milk St. Paul fed the Corinthians with by what rule the Galatians were reformed what the Philippians Thessalonians Ephesians read as also what the Romans preach to whom St. Peter and St. Paul did leave the Gospel sealed with their bloud We have also Churches instructed by St. John For although Marcion hath rejected his Apocalypse yet the succession of Bishops traced to the beginâ—ing will establish him as the certain Author of that Book And he had taught a while before that the Gospel had Apostles and Apostolike men for their undoubted Authors The Books then of the New Testament were received anciently enough as the Writings of such whose names they bare and as the Records of Truth And for the Copies of them they were so widely dispersed that it was as hard to corrupt them all as to poyson the Sea They were before the Council of Laodicea not onely in the hands of Ecclesiasticks but of Christians of any profession and of Heathens also So it appeareth by the reflexions invidiously made on them by Celsies and Hierocles not to name Porphyry who was once of the Jewish then of the Christian Religion and against both at last by foul Apostacy In the persecution of Dâ—ocletian in the beginning of the fourth Century there was an Edict for the delivering up the Copies of the Gospel which for fear was done by divers Christians known by the name of Traditores in Church-History and yet notwithstanding very many Copies were preserved by such good men who valued the other â—tate before this and feared to be blotted out of the Book of life if they should so contribute to the extermination of the Books of Scripture Historians tell us that the number of the Traditores was very great but that the number of such who as the Roman Office saith chose rather to give up themselves to the Executioners then to deliver up holy things to Dogs was almost infinite and amongst these were very many Virgins particularly Crispina Marciana Candida So apparently false it is that the Copies were but few and those few onely in the hands of Ecclesiasticks But in whatsoever hands these Books were and at whatsoever time they were first publickly acknowledged in this I think we agree and Iulian himself confess'd it when Apostate that they are genuine Mr. Hobbes I see not 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 Stud. What hindereth then that we may not at all times do or speak the things contained in them after such manner as we are there directed And that the Scripture should not be a perpetual Canon to every Christian seeing the Laws of Christ are contained in it
the apparatus for sense it self 79 80 81. Difficulties concerning sensation explain'd in the way either of Epicurus or Des Cartes a vindication of him concerning the motion of the Globulâ— 81. It is prov'd that sensation is not made by motion or reaction in meer matter 82 83. That Imagination is not meerly Mechanical 86 87. That memory is not meerly Mechanical 88 to 95 That reason is not Mechanical 96. That the operation of simple apprehension is not Mechanical 97. That universals are neither real things nor meer names 98. That the operation of the mind in framing propositions is not Mechanical 99. Or in deriving conclusions 100. Against Mr. Hobbes that reason is not meerly an apt joyning of Names 102 103. Article 6. Concerning Libertie and Necessitie 104 c. Regius inconsistent with himself Mr. Hobbes consistent and after the manner of the Stoicks in this doctrine 105. Man according to Mr. Hobbes chuseth and refuseth as necessarily as fire burneth ibid. This doctrine refuted by the reasons in the last Article concerning the Soul ibid. Of Bishop Bramhal against Mr. Hobbes Bishop Taylors judgement concerning that work 107. This Doctor chargeth God with all impieties and barbarities committed by men and Mr. Hobbes is not ashamed of the consquence 108 109. Against Mr. Hobbes that Gods permitting of sin is not the same with willing it 110 111 112. Mr. Hobbes doctrine upbraideth all laws 114. The instance of whipping and drowning Nicons Statue 114 115. Against Mr. Hobbes that the will if physically necessary cannot make the action just or unjust 115. Against Mr. Hobbes that men not meerly punished for noxiousness to societie 116. Of the kilâ—ing of Beasts 117. Of the necessity whereby God doth good it differs from Mr. Hobbes 118. Against Mr. Hobbes that mans libertie contradicts not Gods or his omnipotence 119. Nor his Prescience 120. Of a suffâ—cient cause Mr. Hobbes clearly refuted he trifleth of moral and natural efficacy distinct against Mr. Hobbes 125 126. Article 7. Concâ—rning thâ— law of nature Jus Lex not first distinguished by Mr. Hobbes Of the fundamental rule of temperance self-interest 127 128. A description of Mr. Hobbes his state of Nature 129 130. This hypothesis refuted 131. To such models a saying of the Lord Bacoâ—s applyed ibid. Of the Origin of man according to Epicurus 132. Epicurus according to Gassendus teacheth the saâ—e original of just and unjust with Mr. Hobbes 133. An instance out of Justin of the civilitie of the Scythians without Law ibid. All born under government 134 135 136. There may be sin against God and a mans self in the state of nature 137. Some sort of murther and theft in a state of Nature 138. Of promiscuous mixtures usual among the Gentiles 139. Scarce any consent of Nations the chief about the Existence of God 140. What is right reason and when it is the Law of Nature and eternal 142. Concerning the irresiâ—tible power of God as the measure of his actions 144. Article 8. Of the power and right of the Civil Soveraign 147. Laws made in vain if self-interest be the prime Laws The consent of Mr. Hobbes and L.S. in Natures dowry 148 149. Mr. Hobbes doctrine against the Kings Interest 149. Of the Earl of Essex of Oliver ibid. The doctrine of Mr. Hobbes and Mr. White Catholick against the Kings return 150 A place out of Dr. Baily where Oliver is courted 151. Mr. Hobbes saith falsly that no Bishops followed the King out of the Land 152. That Bishop Bramhal did so his advice to the Remonstrants against Socinianism ibid. 153. Mr. Hobbes prov'd to speak falsly when he saith he never wrote against Episcopacy 155. Mr. Hobbes cuâ—â—s zeal â—or the late King malicious 156. He placeth right in present might against the King considering the time 157. His doctrine destructive to Government 161. The scurrility of his friends pref to Liberty and necessity noted ibid. Why the Papists contrary to the interest of the Kings government and why Mr. Hobb's doctrine is not to be tolerated under any Government ibid. That Mr. Hobbes doctrine de Cive is old though bad taught by Euphemus in an Oâ—ation in Thucydides and by others 162. Of Tyranny 163. Of the prerogative of Princes not rightly stated by Mr. Hobbes 165. Article 9. Of the Canon of Scripture and its obligation before Constantine 167. A strange saying of Dr. Westons ibid. Of sacred books not written by those whose names they bear 168. Of the history of Job in verse ibid. That the writing the Canon anew by Esdras is a Fable of the Synagoga magna Bellarmines opinion of Esdras fourth book of the Lxx. 169 170. Why the Apocryphall books were excluded the Canon What books St. Hierom saw under the title of the first of Macc. in Hebrew 171 172. Of the N.T. declar'd Canon before Constanâ— or the Council of Laod. 173. What Pope Gelasius call'd Apocryphâ—l and whâ—t books he condemned ibid. Of the Apostles Canâ—ns 174. A place in Tertullian conâ—â—râ— in tâ—e books of the N. T. ibid. The Copies of the N.T. not few nor all in the hands of Ecclesiasticks prov'd against Mr. Hobbes Of the Traditores in Diocletian's days 175. The N.T. Canon without the civil sanction 176. That Christ subjected not Iews to the laws of Moses 178 179. Nor the Heathens to the Laws of their Country Idolatry there a Law prov'd from the 12 Tables Augusâ—us Caius Cicero Socrates Protagoras Anacharsis The design of Tiberius for the deifying of Christ obstructed by the Senate and that Christ came to destroy present Idolatry 179 180. Of the new laws of Christ. 181. That the commands of Christ and decrees of his Apostles were laws not bare counsels against Mr. Hobbes 184. Of the power of the Church and â—hat Mr. Hobbâ—s throughout his books supposeth there is no power without force 184 185. Of the Societie of the Church 185. It is prov'd that the function Sacerdotal is not to be exercised by the civil Soveraign without ordination though Mr. Hobbes grants to him or any man commissioned by him a right of Ordination Absâ—lution Bapâ—izing Administring the other Sacraments c. 186. Iews and Gentiles condemn'd for unbelief and not meerly for their old sins against Mr. Hobbes who in that matter falsâ—fyes St. John 190. Against Mr. Hobbes that Christ had a kingdom and could make laws 191. Article 10. Concâ—rning profession of Christianity under pâ—rsecution 192 c. Against Mr. Hobbes that in any Country we are not oblig'd to active obedience 194. Of Mr. Hobbâ—s his becoming as Mr. Sorbiere pray'd a good Catholick ibid. That we ought to suffer rather then obey against Christ a saying of Tatâ—anus to that effect of the Graeâ—iâ—ns refusing prostration before the King of Pâ—rsia of the Christians bowing no longer before the Statues of the Emperours when Julian added those of false Gods 195 196 197. Of Naaman's bowing in the Temple of Rimmon 199. Of Faith invisible against Mr. Hobbes that we ought
and the Successors of the Apostles who could bind them upon the Church with sufficient right though not with outward force propounded them as necessary Rules of life But methinks 't is enough to constitute a Canon to any particular man if he may by any means attain unto a certain belief of any Rule as delivered by Christ without a superadded Decree Ecclesiastical or Civil Mr. Hobbes That the new Testament should in this sense be Canonical that is to say a Law in any place where the Law of the Commonwealth had not made it so is contrary to the nature of a Law For a Law is the Commandment of that Man or Assembly to whom we have given Soveraign Authority to make such Rules for the direction of our Actions as he shall think fit and to punish us when we do any thing contrary to the same When therefore any other man shall offer unto us any other Rules which the Soveraign Ruler hath not prescribed they are but Counsel and Advice which whether good or bad he that is counselled may without injustice refuse to observe and when contrary to the Laws already established without injustice cannot observe how good soever he conceiveth it to be I say he cannot in this case observe the same in his actions nor in his discourse with other men though he may without blame believe his private Teachers and wish he had the liberty to practise their advice and that it were publickly received for Law Stud. Then it seems before the days of Constantine a private man was obliged to be a Jew or a Gentile according to the Civil Authority under which he was and that Christianity did not obligeâ—â—e conversation of any man Mr. Hobbes Christ hath not subjected us to other Laws then those of the Common-wealth that is the Jews to the Law of Moses which he saith Mat. 5. he came not to destroy but to fulfil and other Nations to the Laws of their several Soveraigns Stud. That Christ subjected the Jews to the Laws of Moses considered as such is a saying which relisheth both of ignorance and irreligion It is evident that the very Law of the Ten Commandments obligeth not any Christian man though he be supposed to live under a Jewish Soveraign as delivered by Moses but as the designe of them agreeth with the Law of Nature and of Christ who advanced both Laws and filled them up adding as 't were his last hand to an imperfect Draught And for the Cerâ—monial Law our Saviour came to put an end to it because it was but an estate of expectation and consisted in shadows of good things to come and if he had established that as an enduring Law he had in effect denied himself to be the true Messiah For the sprinkling of the Altar with the bloud of Bulls and Goats after the ancient manner of the Jews importeth manifestly that the effectual Oblation is not yet offered wherefore S. Paul bespeaketh his Galatians after this manner Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Moses himself foretold that our Saviour should arise after him and become a Prophet to be obeyed in whatsoever he taught the people wherefore Caesar Vanin who suffered as an Atheist said in his Dialogues that Moses was not so politic as the Messiah in delivering his Laws because he foretold the abrogation of them whilst Christ propounded his as everlasting Then for Christs subjecting the Gentiles to the Law of their Civil Soveraign of what perswasion soever it is contrary to the great designe of our Saviours coming for amongst the Heathen the worship of false Gods was the Law of their Country It was one of the Laws of the twelve Tables that no man could have a personal Religion but worship â—â—ch Gods and in such manner as the Law of his Country did prescribe And Cicero shews â—ow in his days it was not lawful to worship any sort of Gods lest a confusion should be brought into Religion Hence Augustus traâ—elling in Aegypt would not step out of his way to visit Apis and Caius his Nephew passing through Iudea would not worship at Ierusalem Hence Socrates and Protagoras mainâ—aining opinions disagreeing with the Religion of their Country were condemned and Anaâ—â—arsis also suffered in Scythia for celebrating the Feast of Bacchus by the Forraign Ceremonies of Greece Hence Christ was not registred in the Calendar of the Gods though Tiberius understanding his Divinity from Pontius Pilate gave his suffrage for it because it pleased not the Senate and because saith Tertullian it was an old Decree of Rome that no man should be consecrated for a Deity by the Emperour without their Approbation If then all persons were to be outwardly obedient to the Civil powers they were to worship false Deities Idolatry being then established by a Law but on the contrary it is evident that one main end of our Saviours coming was to destroy the works of the devil and to bring the Gentiles from the worship of Daemons to the service of the true God Idolaters therefore are reckon'd amongst those who shall not inherit the kingdom of Christ and S. Paul wrote so much particularly to the Corinthians and Ephesians of those days when the Powers were Heathen and not merely to such as should read his Epistles in and after the Reign of Constantine and preaching at Athens against the Altar To the unknown God set up no doubt by publicâ— Authority and declaiming against the honour paid to false Gods he lets them understand that the times of the ignorance of the Gentiles God winked at but now he commandet all men everywhere to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom hâ— hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Mr. Hobbes Such discourses are Counsels and not Laws Our Saviour and his Apostles left no new Laws to oblige us in this world but new Doctrine to prepare us for the next the Books of the New Testament which contain that Doctrine until obedience to them was commanded by them that God had given power to on earth to be Legislators were not obligatory Canons that is Laws but onely good and safe advice for the direction of sinners in the way to salvation which every man might take and refuse at his peril without injustice Stud. The Doctrines of Christ avail not at all towards an entrance into his kingdom without obedience to his Laws and besides those of mere Nature he hath left new Laws unto the world such are those of forgiving enemies and against private Revenge those concerning Baptism and his holy Supper concerning Divorce and Polygamy concerning a professing of faith in him as the Messiah