Veneration when Genesis was written and this must necessarily be a true and clear Answer because it is expresly said in the forecited text of Exodus that God was not known to the Patriarchs by his Name Iehovah and because also in Exod. chap. 3. v. 13. Moses desired to know God's Name which must have been known to him had it been known to the Patriarchs before him It must therefore be concluded that the faithful Patriarchs were ignorant of this Name of God and that the Knowledge of God is a Gift not a Command It is now time to pass on to the proof of the second Particular That God required from Men by his Prophets no other Knowledge of himself than the Knowledge of his Divine Justice and Love that is those Attributes which Men in a right course of living may in some measure and degree imitate which the Prophet Ieremy in express words declares for chap. 20. v. 15 16. speaking of King Iosiah he saith Did not thy Father eat and drink and do Iudgment and Iustice and then it was well with him he judged the cause of the poor and the needy then it was well with him is not this to know me saith the Lord Nor are those words less clear chap. 9. v. 24. Let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness Iudgment and Righteousness in the Earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. We have a further proof Exod. chap. 34. v. 6. where Moses desiring to see and know God God revealeth no other Attributes to him but such as declare his Divine Justice and Love. Lastly How express in the point are the words of St. Iohn in the fourth Chapter of his first Epistle because no Man ever saw God he maketh God known only by Love and concludes that he knoweth God and God dwelleth in him who hath Charity We see then that Moses Ieremy and Iohn comprize that Knowledge of God which every Man is bound to have in that only wherein we say 't is comprehended namely in believing that God is superlatively just and merciful and the only pattern of a good life The Scripture doth no where give any express and positive definition of God neither doth it prescribe any other Attributes to be imitated and believed by us but those we have named nor are those expresly commended as Attributes so that from all these things we conclude that the intellectual Knowledge of God which considers God as he is in his own Nature and Essence which Nature no Man can by any certain course of life imitate or take for his pattern doth not at all teach a Man how to live well neither doth it concern a Man's Faith or revealed Religion So that a Man may be infinitely mistaken in it and yet not offend God. Let us not wonder then that God apply'd himself to the Imaginations and preconceived Opinions of the Prophets and that faithful Believers had different Opinions of God as by many Instances we have proved in the second Chapter nor let any Man wonder that the Sacred Volumes do every where speak so improperly of God ascribing to him Hands Feet Eyes Ears Mind Local Motion yea Passions of the Mind saying he is Jealous Merciful c. and sometimes set him out as a Judge sitting in Heaven on a Regal Throne and Christ at his Right hand all which is spoken according to the Capacity of the Vulgar whom the Scripture intended to make Obedient but not Learned Of these things whatever ordinary profest Divines have by Reason and Natural Light discovered to be disagreeable to the Divine Nature they will have Metaphorically Interpreted but that which is above their Capacity must be taken Litterally If all things of this kind we meet with in Scripture must be taken and understood Metaphorically then the Scripture was not written for the rude and ignorant common people but for the Learned and especially for Philosophers and if it should be sin piously and in simplicity of Heart to believe those things of God which the Sacred Volumes have in the Letter ascribed to him the Prophets considering the weakness of the common people's Understanding ought to have been very wary and careful what Phrases and Expressions they used and should have clearly and plainly which is no where done declared those Attributes of God which every Man is bound to believe No Man ought to think that Opinions considered absolutely in themselves without respect to a Man's Works have any Piety or Impiety in them but a Man is said to be Godly or Ungodly in his Faith in respect of those Opinions which incline him to Obedience or those that encourage him to Sin and Disobedience so that if a Man tho' he rightly and truly believe be stubborn and disobedient his Faith is evil and on the contrary if a Man believe that which is false and yet live well his Faith is good for the true knowledge of God is not a Precept but a Divine Gift and God never required from Men any other Knowledge than that of his Divine Love and Justice which Knowledge is necessary only to Obedience not to Science CHAP. XIV What is Faith. Who are Believers The fundamentals of Faith stated Faith distinguish'd from Philosophy or Reason TO understand truly what Faith is 't is very necessary to know that the Scripture was fitted and accommodated not only to the Capacity of the Prophets but also to the Understanding of the inconstant mutable vulgar people of the Iewish Nation of which no person can be ignorant that will but a little consider and observe the Scripture He that will take all things which are promiscuously set down in Scripture to be that universal positive Doctrine whereby God is to be known can never rightly discern what was suited to the Capacity of the Iews but not being able to distinguish between Divine Doctrine and the common peoples Opinions must take human Fictions and Fancies for Heavenly Instructions and consequently very much abuse the Sacred Scriptures Authority Who doth not plainly see that this is the cause we have so many Sectaries who maintain their different and contrary Opinions to be all Doctrines and Principles of Faith which they confirm by many Scripture proofs so that 't is become a Dutch Proverb Geen Ketter sonder letter there is no Sectary or Heretick but hath a Text of Scripture to maintain his Opinion The Sacred Books of Scripture were not all written by one person nor for the people of one Age but by divers persons of different dispositions and for the people of several Ages distant in time from one another almost two thousand years by some computations many more We do not charge these Sectaries with impiety for applying the words of Scripture to their own Opinions as heretofore they were suited to Vulgar Capacities it being lawful for every one to apply Scripture to his own Opinions if he find himself
A TREATISE PARTLY THEOLOGICAL And Partly POLITICAL Containing some few DISCOURSES To prove that the Liberty of PHILOSOPHIZING that is Making Use of Natural Reason may be allow'd without any prejudice to Piety or to the Peace of any Common-wealth And that the Loss of Public Peace and Religion it self must necessarily follow where such a Liberty of Reasoning is taken away John Epist. 1 st chap. 4 th v. 13 th Hereby know we that we dwell in God and God in us because he hath given us of his Spirit Translated out of Latin. LONDON Printed in the Year 1689. THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER THE Gentleman that turn'd the following Treatise Written Originally in Latin into English did it at spare Hours only to divert and please himself and therefore cares not who is displeased with his having done it There are certainly some who will pass very severe Censures upon this Treatise but that will not at all concern the Translator who is not bound to make good the Authors Opinions being only obliged to justify that the Version hath truly and faithfully tho' not every where Word for Word render'd the Authors Sense and Meaning Religion and Government being the Subject Matter of the Book 't is easy to guess what Sort of Men are like to decry it but let those who are angry and find fault with it answer it In the mean time the Crape Gown and the Long Robe are both defied to prove there are any Tenets in the whole Treatise half so dangerous or destructive to the Peace and Welfare of human Society as those Doctrins and Maxims are which have of late Years been broached by time-serving Church-men and Mercenary Lawyers for which they justly deserve the hatred and contempt of all Mankind Nothing more needs be said to any Reader than to desire he will deliberately read the Book twice over before he condemn or commend it when that is done whether he like or dislike the Treatise it self or the Translation of it shall be all one to him who never valued himself upon other Peoples Opinions nor did ever think any part of his Reputation depended upon the Iudgment of Fools or Knaves THE PREFACE WEre it in the Power of Men to govern all their Affairs by sure and infallible Councel or could Mankind always live in a constant course of Prosperity there would be no such thing in the World as Superstition but because Men many times fall into straights out of which no Councel can deliver them and by immoderately coveting the uncertain Goods of Fortune miserably Fluctuate between hope and fear those two Passions easily driving the doubtful mind of Man hither and thither render it prone to believe any thing whereas otherwise it is over Confident Proud and Vain-glorious And of this tho' few know themselves there is scarce any Body ignorant Do we not daily see many weak Men during prosperity so wise in their own conceit that they think Councel an Affront but in adversity when they know not which way to turn themselves begging every Bodies Advice and there is not any be it never so vain foolish and absurd which they will not follow upon very light grounds they will also hope the best and presently again fear the worst whatever happens during their fears which puts them in mind of any past good or evil that they think Prognosticates good or bad Fortune and tho' they be a hundred times deceived count it a lucky or unlucky Omen Whatever is strange and unwonted begets their Wonder and looking upon it as a prodigy say it portends almighty God's Anger for the pacification whereof Men given up to superstition but Enemies to true Religion think it horrible Impiety not to make Prayers and Oblations and to that end fancying a Thousand things as if nature it self were as perfectly distracted as they make strange Interpretations of her Meaning This then being the condition of Mankind we find those Persons most addicted to all kind of superstition who greedily desire those things with are uncertain and every one of them especially when they are in danger and cannot help themselves with Vows and Womanish Tears imploring Divine Assistance calling reason because it cannot shew them a certain way to the vanities they desire Blind and human Wisdom Folly but on the contrary believe dreams dotages of the Imagination and Childish Follies to be divine Oracles saying that God despiseth the Wisdom of the Wise and hath not Written his Will in the mind of Man but on the entrails of Beasts and that Ideots Lunaticks and Birds by divine inspiration and instinct can foretel his Decrees so mad hath Fear made Men. And as Superstition hath its Original from Fear so is it kept up and continued by it of which Truth if any Man desire beside what hath been said any particular Examples let him read the 5 th Book and 4 th Decade of Quintus Curtius where he will find Alexander the Great applying himself to Diviners and Prophets when he first began to doubt his Fortune at the Straights of Susa but after the Conquest of Darius never more consulting them till terrified with the revolt of the Bactrians and with the Scythians provoking him to Battle when he lay wounded he returns again to the Folly of human Superstition and commands Aristander to whom he gave much credit to inquire by Sacrifices what was like to be the event of his Affairs and to this purpose many Examples may be produced all which would clearly shew that Men are most troubled with Superstitious Fancies during their Fears and all those things which they have so vainly and religiously rever'd are nothing but the false representations and dotages of a Mellancholly and timerous Mind And Lastly that they who pretend to prediction are much in request with the common People and most feared by Kings and Princes when a Kingdom is in any great distress or calamity but because these things are so vulgarly known I pass them by Fear then being the cause of Superstition it clearly follows that all Men are naturally inclin'd and subject to it whatever others say who think it proceeds from a certain imperfect confused knowledg Men have of a Deity It follows likewise that Superstition must of necessity be very various and inconstant because all ridiculous Follies of the Mind Fits of Frenzy yea Superstition it self cannot be maintained but by Hope Hatred Anger and Deceit it proceeding not from Reason but Passion and that too very violent As therefore Men easily fall into all sorts of Superstition so on the contrary it is very difficult to make them continue in any one kind because the common People being all times alike miserable are never long quiet but still most pleased with that which is new and never yet deceived them which inconstancy hath been the cause of many Tumults and cruel Wars and as Quintus Curtius in his 4 th Book and 10 th Decad hath very well observed nothing so absolutely governs the
Multitude as Superstition Whence it happens that the common People under colour of Religion are sometimes easily induced to adore their Kings and at other times to curse and abhor them as the common Plagues of Mankind Therefore to avoid this mischeif great Pains are taken to adorn and attire Religion whether true or false that it may appear very Grave and Solemn and all Persons pay unto it the highest degree of respect and veneration This hath so luckily succeeded amongst the. Turks who count it a Crime so much as to dispute and have their understandings possest with so many prejudices that there is no place in their Minds left for Reason no not so much as doubt But if it be as indeed it is the great Arcanum and concern of Monarchical Government to deceive the People and to cover Fear by which they are kept in Subjection under the specious name of Religion that so they may fight for Slavery as for their own Safety and think it no Shame but their greatest Honour to spend their Bloud and Lives for the Glory of one single Person so on the contrary in a free Commonwealth nothing can be more mischeivously devised or attempted than to possess Mens Judgments which are free with Prejudices or in any manner to restrain or compel them it being utterly repugnant to Common Liberty As for Seditions stir'd up under pretence of Religion they arise from enacting Laws concerning things meerly speculative and because Opinions are many times Condemned for Crimes and the maintainers and followers of those Opinions seldom Sacrific'd to the public Safety but to the Hatred and Cruelty of their Adversaries But if the Laws of Government would take no Notice of Words and only punish Mens Actions there could never be any lawful pretence for such Seditions nor could Controversies be turn'd into Quarrels Seeing therefore that Men are seldom so happy to live in a Commonwealth where every one is allowed the Liberty of Judging and Worshipping God according to his own Understanding or where nothing is esteem'd dearer and sweeter then Liberty I thought my Undertaking would be neither unpleasing or unprofitable if I could make it appear that such a Liberty may be granted without any danger to Religion or the Peace of a Commonwealth but that all three must stand and fall together And this is the chief thing which in this Treatise I intended to demonstrate to which purpose I thought it necessary in the first place to mark out the chief Prejudices concerning Religion I mean the Footsteps of Antient Servitude and in the next place those Prejudices which relate to the right of Sovereign Power which many with shameless boldness study to Usurp and then to secure themselves amuse the Minds of the Multitude still Subject to Superstition with specious shews of Religion that all may again run into Bondage In what order I make these things manifest I will presently in few words declare but first I will mention the Causes which moved me to write I have often wonder'd that Men who boast themselves Professors of the Christian Religion which consists in Love Peace Moderation and Dealing uprightly with all Men should so unjustly contend and cruelly hate one another by which their Faith is better known then by the forenamed Vertues There is now scarce any Man whatever he be Christian Iew Turk or Heathen that can be known by any thing but his habit and attire by frequenting such a Church by maintaining such an Opinion or by being the sworn Disciple of such a Master but in all other things Mens Lives and Conversations are all alike Searching into the Cause of this Evil I found it proceeded from the common Peoples being perswaded that a very great part of Religion consisted in setting a very high value upon the Service Dignities Offices and Benefits of the Church and in honouring Churchmen with all possible Reverence for so soon as this abuse crept into the Church every Knave had a mind to be a Priest and the desire of propagating Religion degenerated into sordid Avarice and Ambition so that the Temple it self was turn'd into a Theatre where Ecclesiastical Doctors did not Preach but like Orators harangued the People not to instruct but to be admired by them publicly reproaching their Adversaries and venting such new fangled Doctrines as they thought would best please the Multitude From hence necessarily arose those great Contentions Envy and inveterate Hatred which no length of time could asswage T is no wonder then that of the primitive Religion nothing remains but the external worship wherein the People seem rather to Flatter than Adore God Faith is become nothing but credulity and prejudice such as turns rational Men into Brutes by denying them the Liberty of their Judgment to distinguish Truth from Falshood and such as seems purposely invented totally to extinguish the Light of Human Understanding Piety and Religion O immortal God! now consist in absurd Mysteries and they that contemn and reject Human Reason and Knowledge as naturally depraved they forsooth which is strangely irrational must pass for Men divinely illuminated Truly if such Men had but one spark of Divine Light they could not be so superciliously Mad but would learn to Worship God with more Prudence and instead of hating as they now do would love those that differ from them in Opinion and forbearing to prosecute them with so much enmity would rather since they pretend to fear their Salvation more then their own Fortune have pity and compassion upon them Moreover if such Men had any Divine Light it would appear in their Doctrine I confess they pretend they can never enough admire the profound Mysteries of the Scripture yet I cannot perceive they teach any thing but the Speculations of Aristotle and Plato to which that they may not seem followers of the Gentiles they have fitted and accomodated the Scripture and as if it were not enough for these Men to run mad with the Greeks would have the very Prophets also to doat like themselves which clearly shews they never saw the Divinity of the Scripture no not so much as in a dream By how much the more they admire the Mysteries of Scripture so much the more they seem to flatter and sooth Scripture rather than believe it of which likewise another Evidence is that many Men as to the better understanding and finding out the true meaning of Scripture lay it down for a Principal and Fundamental position that the Scripture is of divine inspiration and in every part infallibly true which is the very thing that cannot be made out or proved by any other way but a strict examination and right understanding thereof and do likewise establish it for a rule that in interpreting Scripture which needs no human Glosses the Scripture it self is our best guide When I seriously considered that natural reason was not only contemned but also by many condemn'd for the Fountain of Impiety and human inventions past
the 12 th Verse of the 7 th Chapter of Zachary They made their Hearts as an Adamant Stone least they should hear the Law and the Words which the Lord of Hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former Prophets where Spirit must signifie mercy in this Sense speaketh also the Prophet Haggai Chap. 2. v. 5. Loe my Spirit that is my Grace and Mercy remaineth among you fear ye not Isa. Chap. 48. v. 16. It is said the Lord and his Spirit hath sent me there Spirit may be understood to signifie the Will and Mercy of God or his mind revealed in the Law for the Prophet saith from the beginning that is when he first came to declare Gods Wrath and Judgments against them he spake not in secret from the time that it was published there was I but now I am a Messenger of Joy sent by the Mercy of God to proclaim your restauration it may also as I have already said be taken for the mind and will of God revealed in the Law that is he by the Command of the Law Levit. Chap. 19. v. 17. came to admonish them therefore under the same conditions and in the same manner he warns as Moses did and at last like Moses ends with predicting their restauration but in my Opinion the first Exposition seems the best To return to what was first intended by all these Quotations it is evident that these following plain Phrases of Scripture The Prophets had the Spirit of God. God poured out his Spirit upon Men. Men were filled with the Spirit of God and with the Holy Ghost signifie nothing more then that the Prophets had some particular extraordinary Vertue above other Men and were Persons very Eminent for their constant piety Moreover that they understood the Mind and Will of God for we have shewn that the Spirit in the Hebrew Language signifies both the mind and the purpose and resolutions of the mind yea the Law because it makes known Gods Mind is called the Spirit and Mind of God so that the imagination of the Prophets forasmuch as by it the decrees and purposes of God were revealed may likewise be called the Mind of God and the Prophets may be said to have the Spirit of God now though the Mind and Will of God be Written in our minds and his Eternal purposes and decrees be Engraven on our Hearts and consequently to use the Scripture Phrase we also understand the Mind of God yet because natural Knowledge is common to all Men it is very little esteem'd and the Iews who valued themselves above all other Nations extreamly despised it because it was common to all Mankind Lastly the Prophets were said to have the Spirit of God because Men were altogether ignorant of the Causes of Prophetical Knowledge and did not only admire it but as they did all other strange and unusual things ascribed it to God as the immediate Author of it We may then without any scruple affirm that the Prophets did no other way understand the revelations of God then by the help of imagination that is by the means of words or signs and these either real or imaginary for seeing we find in Scripture no other means beside these it is not lawful to suppose or fancy any other but by what Laws and Rules of Nature it was done I confess I am utterly ignorant I might with others say it was done by the Power of God but it would be little to the purpose and no more then if I should by some unintelligible terms express the form of any thing all things are done by the Power of God for the Power of Nature is nothing but the Power of God and 't is certain that we therefore do not understand the Power of God because we are ignorant of natural Causes and we very foolishly have recourse to the Power of God when we know not the natural Cause of any thing that is when we are ignorant of Gods Power but we have now no need of knowing the cause of prophetical Knowledge for as I have already intimated we only endeavour to find out what the Scripture teacheth us that from thence as from the precepts of Nature we may know our Duty but with the Causes of Scripture-Doctrines we have nothing to do Seeing then the Prophets by the help of imagination understood those things which God revealed there is no doubt but they perceived many things which were beyond the extent of natural understanding for from words and signs many more Ideas may be formed then can be only out of those Principles and Notions upon which all our natural Knowledge is founded Hence it is evident why the Prophets perceived and declared all things parabolically and in dark Speeches and exprest all spiritual things after a corporal manner because that doth better sute with the nature of the imagination neither can we now wonder why the Scripture or the Prophets spake so improperly and obscurely of the Spirit or Mind of God as Numb Chap. 11. v. 17. I will come down and talk with thee there and I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee and put it on them Likewise in the 1 st Book of Kings chap. 22. v. 11. and Zedekiah the Son of Chenaanah made him Horns of Iron and he said thus saith the Lord with these shalt thou push the Syrians till thou hast consumed them Michah saw God sitting Daniel saw him like an Old Man cloathed in white Garments Ezekiel like fire and they who were with Christ descending like a Dove the Apostles like Cloven Tongues and Paul before his Conversion like a great light all which Visions agree with those fancies and imaginations which the vulgar have of God and of Spirits Lastly because the imagination is wandring and unconstant Prophesy did not long continue with the Prophets nor was it frequent but very rare and as there were but very few that had it so likewise 't was very seldom we are now to inquire how the Prophets could be sure of those things which they perceived only by the strength of imagination and not by the certain Principles of mental Knowledge but whatever may be said concerning this Particular ought to be fetcht from Scripture tho' as we have already confest we have no true knowledge of the thing and cannot explain it by its first Causes however what the Scripture declareth concerning the truth and certainty of the Prophets I will shew in the following Chapter wherein I resolve to treat of Prophets CHAP. II. Of Prophets IT appears by the preceding Chapter that the Prophets were not endued with perfection of mind above other Men but only with strength and vivacity of imagination which Scripture-Histories abundantly testify Solomon excell'd all others in Wisdom but not in the gift of Prophesy Heman Darda Kalcoll tho' Men very Wise yet were no Prophets when plain Countrymen who had no Learning yea Women as Hagar Abrahams Maid had that gift which is agreeable both to
Reason and Experience for they who most excel in fancy and imagination are less apt to understand things clearly and they that have excellent understandings have their fancy and imagination not so strong but better kept within compass that it may not be confounded with the intellect those Men therefore who endeavor out of the Books of the Prophets to find the true knowledge of Natural and Spiritual things are extremely mistaken which I purpose to shew at large because the Times Philosophy and the matter it self requires it I will not at all value what superstition babbles to the contrary which hates nothing more then such Men as live good Lives and are lovers of true solid knowledge with shame be it spoken 't is now come to that pass that they who freely confess they have no particular Idea of God and only know him by created Beings of whose Causes they are Ignorant are presently branded with the Name of Atheists To proceed orderly in proving the Point I will shew that there was a difference between the Prophets not only in respect of imagination and temperament of Body but also in respect of the Opinions wherewith they were prepossest so that they never became the more Learned by Prophesy which I will presently more fully make out but I must first speak of the Prophets certainty because it belongs to the Subject of this Chapter and because it contributes somewhat to the Proof of what I design to demonstrate Because simple imagination doth not in its own Nature include certainty as every clear and distinct Idea doth there must necessarily some other thing accompany imagination to make us sure of the things we imagin and that is reasoning whence it follows that Prophesy of it self doth not include certainty because it depends only upon the imagination and therefore the Prophets themselves were not certain of what God revealed by the Revelation it self but by some sign as appears by Abraham Gen. chap. 15. v. 8. And he said Lord God whereby shall I know that I shall Inherit it asking a Sign after he heard the promise without doubt he believed God and did not ask the sign that he might believe but that he might be sure the promise came from God. The same thing more plainly appears by Gideon Judges chap. 6. v. 17 and he said unto him if I have found Grace in thy sight then shew me a Sign that thou talkest with me God said to Moses let this be a sign unto thee Ezechiah who well knew that Isaiah was a Prophet asked a sign of him when he foretold his recovery which shews that the Prophets had always some sign by which they were certain of the things they Prophetically imagined and therefore Moses Deut. chap. 18. v. 22. bids the People ask a sign of any that pretend to Prophesy which sign was to be foretelling some future event Prophesy therefore in this particular gives Place to Natural knowledge which needs no sign but in its own Nature includes certainty but the certainty of Prophesy was not Mathematical but only Moral which also appears by Scripture Deut. chap. 13. Moses warneth the People that if any Prophet should teach them to Worship any other God tho' he confirmed his Doctrine by Signs and Miracles yet the Prophet was to be put to death for Moses goes on and says that God did by Signs and Miracles prove the People whether they loved the Lord with all their heart Christ in like manner warneth his Disciples telling them Math. chap. 24. v. 24. there should arise false Christs and false Prophets and should shew great signs and wonders Ezechiel chap. 14. v. 9. plainly declares that God sometimes deceives Men with false Revelations And if the Prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing I the Lord have deceived that Prophet which Michaiah also testifies of the Prophets of Ahab 1 st Book of Kings chap. 22. v. 21. 22 23. And tho' this shews Prophesy to be a thing somewhat doubtful and uncertain yet it had a great deal of certainty in it for God never deceiveth the Godly and Elect but according to that saying in the 1 st Book of Sam. chap. 24. v. 13. As saith the Proverb of the Ancients wickedness proceedeth from the wicked but my hand shall not be upon thee and as it likewise appears by the History of Abigal and her discourse God useth pious Persons as Instruments of his goodness and wicked Men for Executioners of his wrath this likewise is made Evident by the Case of the Prophet Michaiah for tho' God had decreed Ahab should be deceived by the Prophets he made use of false Prophets but to a good Prophet revealed the Truth of what was to happen and did not hinder the Prophet from foretelling the Truth but still the certainty of the Prophet was but Moral because no Man can justify himself before God nor boast that he is the Instrument of God the Anger of God led David to Number the People whose Piety the Scripture sufficiently declares all Prophetical certainty was founded upon three Particulars First the Prophets did as strongly and with as much vivacity imagin the things revealed as Men waking use to do the things they see Secondly the certainty of the Prophets was confirm'd by a Sign and Thirdly because their Minds were continually inclin'd to Vertue and Justice tho' the Scripture doth not always make mention of the sign yet we ought to believe the Prophets still had a sign for the Scripture doth many times leave out circumstances and conditions and relates things as supposed to be known Moreover it is to be granted that the Prophets who Prophesied nothing new but what was contain'd in the Law of Moses had no need of a sign for example the Prophesy of Ieremy concerning the destruction of Ierusalem needed no sign because 't was confirm'd by the Prophesies of the rest of the Prophets and by the threatnings of the Law but for the confirmation of Hananiahs Prophesy who against all the Prophets foretold the sudden Restauration of the City there was necessity of a sign till the coming to pass of what he predicted should make it good Ierem. chap. 28. v. 9 10. Seing then the certainty of Prophesy which depended upon signs was not Mathematical that is such as necessarily follow'd from the thing apprehended or seen but only Moral and that signs were given to satisfy and convince the Prophet himself it likewise follows that signs were given according to the Opinion and Capacity of the Prophet so that the sign which made one Prophet confident and certain of his Prophesy could not assure another as the signs were different and various so also Revelation it self did vary in every Prophet according to the disposition of his imagination the temper of his constitution or the Opinions wherewith he was prepossest for example if a Prophet were chearful and merry to him were revealed Victories and Peace which cause Mirth and Gladness such things using
to things relating to honesty and good manners we ought to think otherwise I will more exactly and fully prove because 't is a matter of greater moment and from thence will conclude that Prophesy never left the Prophets more Learned but left them in the Opinions wherewith they were prepossest and for that reason in things meerly Speculative no Man is obliged to believe them Many men have very unadvisedly perswaded themselves that the Prophets knew all things within the compass of Human Understanding and tho' some places of Scripture tell us plainly that the Prophets did not know some things yet they are rather willing to confess they do not understand those places of Scripture then yeild the Prophets were Ignorant of any thing or else they endeavour so to wrest the Words of Scripture that they would have it say that which it doth not mean. If either of these be lawful then Farewel to all Scripture for in vain do we endeavour to prove any thing by Scripture if those things which are most clear in it shall be reckon'd amongst those that are obscure and unintelligible or else shall be interpreted as we please For example nothing is more plain then that Iosuah and perhaps he that wrote the Book of Iosuah did belive that the Sun moved about the Earth that the Earth had no motion and that the Sun for some time stood still Yet many because they will not allow of any mutation in the Heavens so expound that Place that it shall not seem to imply any such thing but others who think themselves better Phylosophers because they believe the Eatrh moves and the Sun stands still or at least moves not about the Earth do with might and main endeavour to wrest the Proof of their Opinion out of the same Scripture against its plain Words Indeed at these Men I much wonder is any Man obliged to believe that Iosuah a Souldier was perfectly skill'd in Astronomy and that a Miracle could not be revealed to him or that the Light of the Sun could not remain longer above the Horizon then ordinary unless Iosuah understood the Cause thereof both seem to me ridiculous and I had rather plainly say that Iosuah did not know the true Cause of that continuing Light and that all the Army with him did think that the Sun had adiuvrual motion about the Earth and that it 's standing still that particular Day was the true Cause of its longer shining but did not understand that the great abundance of Hail which the 11 th Verse of the 10 th chap. of Iosuah says was then in the Region of the Air might cause a greater refraction of Light then ordinary or some other thing of like Nature which is not our Business here to inquire In like manner according to the Capacity of Isaiah a Sign was given by the Shadow 's going back upon the Dyal of Ahaz because his Opinion was that the Sun moved and not the Earth and for Parhelij perhaps he never dreamt of any such thing which we may without any scruple maintain for the Sign might really happen and be foretold to the King though the Prophet were ignorant of the true Cause thereof The same may be said of Solomon's Building that if all the measures and Proportions of it were revealed by God they were revealed according to Solomon's Capacity and Opinion for seeing we are not bound to believe that Solomon was an exact Mathematician we may lawfully affirm that he knew not what proportion the Diameter of a Circle ought to bear to the Peripheria or Circumference but thought with the common sort of Workmen that it should be as three to one but if it be lawful to say that we do not understand the Text in the 1 st Book of Kings chap. 7. v. 23. Truly I know not what we can understand from Scripture since there the Building is simply and historically related if it be lawful to suppose the Scripture meant otherwise but for some Reason to us unknown would write in that manner what can follow but a total overthrow of all Scripture and then there is nothing so absurd or wicked which Malice can invent that may not under Scripture Authority be countenanced and committed but what we maintain savors not of Impiety for Solomon Isaiah Ioshua c. tho' Prophets were Men subject to Human Infirmities The drowning of all Mankind by a Deluge was revealed to Noah according to his capacity for he thought no Part of the World was inhabited but Palestine and the Prophets without any prejudice to their Piety might be yea were Ignorant not only of things of this Nature but also of Matters of greater consequence for they discovered very little of the Divine Attributes but had mean and Vulgar Opinions of God to which their Revelations were accommodated as by many Testimonies of Scripture shall be proved so that we may plainly see they were not so much commended for the Excellencies and Sublimity of their Knowledge as for their Piety and constancy of Mind Adam was the first Man to whom God revealed himself Yet he knew not that God was Omnipresent and Omniscient for he hid himself from God and endeavour'd to excuse his Sin to God as if he had been before a Man therefore God was revealed to him according to his Opinion and Capacity that is as one who was not every where and as one Ignorant of Adam's Sin For Adam heard or seemed to hear God walking in the Garden calling and asking Adam where art thou Asking likewise because Adam was ashamed whether he had eaten of the forbidden Tree Adam therefore knew no other Attribute of God then that he was the maker of all things God was revealed to Cain according to his Capacity that is as one ignorant of Human Actions nor did he need any higher Knowledge of God to repent of his Sin. To Laban God revealed himself as the God of Abraham because Laban believed that every Nation had a peculiar God as appears Gen. chap. 31. v. 29. Where he saith to Iacob the God of your Father spoke to me Yesternight Abraham was ignorant of God's Vbiquity and Prescience for as soon as he heard the Sentence against Sodom he prayed that God would not execute it till he knew whether all deserved the Punishment Gen. chap. 18 th v. 24. Peradventure there may be found Fifty righteous within the City Nor was God otherwise revealed to him for in Abraham's imagination God said verse 21 th I will go down now and see whether they have done according to the Cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know God's Testimony of Abraham in Gen. chap. 12. v. 19. Speaks of nothing but Abraham's Obedience and that he would command his Children and his Houshold after him to keep the Way of the Lord and to do Judgment and Justice but says nothing of any extraordinary knowledge or Conceptions that he had of God. Moses did not perfectly
to be understood by Gods calling or Election for since no Man can do any thing but by the predeterminate order of Nature that is according to Gods eternal direction and decree it is a necessary consequence that no Man chuseth for himself any way or manner of living or effecteth any thing but by the particular Will and Calling of God who chose him before others so to live and so to Act. Lastly by fortune nothing else is to be understood but Gods disposing and directing human Affairs by external and unexpected Causes These things premised we return to our first purpose of inquiring what it was for which the Iews are said to be chosen by God before other Nations and to make it out I proceed in this manner All those things which we can honestly and lawfully desire may be referred to these three Heads First to know things by their first and immediate Causes Secondly to Master our Passion and affections and acquire a constant habit of vertue and Lastly to live in Bodily health and safty The means directly conducing to the two first of these heads and which may be consider'd as prime and efficient causes are contained in human Nature so that the obtaining of them is within our Power or cheifly depends upon the Laws only of human Nature and therefore it must be concluded that those gifts are not peculiar to any one Nation but were always common to all Mankind unless we can perswade our selves that Nature first procreated diverse kinds of Men but the means which conduce to our living in health and safty consist cheifly in things external and are therefore called the gifts and goods of Fortune because they depend upon the disposition of outward causes of which we are altogether ignorant so that in this particular the Fool and the wise Man is alike happy or unhappy yet as to secure living and to avoid the injuries both of Men and Beasts human wisdom and diligence may contribute very much reason and experience teach us that to live in safty there is no way so ready and certain as to form Societies Subject to Laws to chuse a convenient part of the Earth for habitation and to unite every individual Person 's strength to preserve the whole Collective Body but to the forming and preserving of Societies no little wisdom and diligence is required and therefore that Society shall be more secure more lasting and less Subject to Fortune and Accidents which is founded and ordered by prudent and careful Men and on the contrary those Societies which are formed and govern'd by Men of gross and mean understandings do for the most part depend upon Fortune and are of no long continuance but where such a Society stands long it owes its duration not to its own but to some other conduct and if it overcome great dangers and the Affairs thereof prosper it cannot but admire and adore Gods disposing and ordering things by external and hidden causes when he doth not Act by human Nature and Understanding seeing whatever happens to such a Society of Men beyond their Expectation and Opinion may be counted a Miracle Nations therefore are distinguisht one from another in respect of Society and Laws under which they live and are govern'd so that the Iewish Nation was not chosen by God before others in respect of their understanding and tranquility of mind but in regard of their association and Fortune by which they arriv'd to that government which lasted so many Years it manifestly appears by Scripture that the Iews excelled other Nations only in the prosperous management of those Affairs which concern'd their Living Securely and that they overcame great dangers only by Gods external Assistance but in other things they were but equal to other Nations and God was alike good to all it is evident as we have proved in the preceding Chapter that the Iews as to their knowledge had very vulgar Notions and thoughts of God and therefore as they were not chosen above others upon the account of their knowledge so neither were they chosen in respect of their vertue and good Life for in that they were but like other Nations and but a very few of them were chosen their calling and election consisted in the temporal felicity and advantages of their government neither can we perceive that God promis'd any more to the Patriarchs and their successors yea by the Law nothing else was promised for a reward to obedience but the continual prosperity of their Government and some other benefits of this Life in case of disobedience and breach of Covenant they were threatned with the ruin of the Government temporal misery and destruction and no wonder for the end of all Society and Government as hath been already and shall hereafter be more fully declared is to live in Happiness and Security But Government cannot subsist without Laws which every Man must obey for when the Members of a Society refuse to be govern'd by the Laws in that very instant the Society is dissolved and the Government destroyed to the Commonwealth of the Iews nothing else could be promised for the constant Observation of their Law but the safety benefits and conveniences of this Life and for their Rebellion no other punishment was prophesy'd but the destruction of their Government the Miseries which would thereupon ensue and perhaps some other Evils which might peculiarly happen to them from the ruin of their Government which was singular and different from others but of these things we need say no more at this time I only add that the Laws of the Old Testament were revealed and prescribed only to the Iews for when God called and chose them to a particular kind of Society and Government they were necessarily to have singular Laws whether God prescribed peculiar Laws to other Nations and revealed himself prophetically to their Law-givers under those attributes which they in their imagination used to ascribe to God I am not certain however it appears by Scripture that other Nations had Governments and particular Laws by the external direction of God to prove which I will only quote two places Gen. chap. 14. v. 18 19 20. where it is said that Melchisedech was King of Salem and the priest of the most high God and that he blessed Abraham which as we may see Numb chap. 6. v. 23. was the Priests Office and Abraham the beloved of God gave to the High Priest the tenth part of all his booty which plainly proves that before God founded the Iewish Nation he constituted Kings and Priests in Ierusalem and prescribed them Laws and Ceremonies but whether he did it prophetically I cannot affirm however I am perswaded that Abraham while he continued there liv'd religiously according to those Laws for Abraham received no particular Religious Rites from God and yet it is said Gen. chap 26. v. 5. that Abraham kept the Commandments Statutes and Laws of God which must necessarily be those of King Melchisedch Malachy
Law which depends upon the necessity of Nature is that which necessarily follows from the very Nature or Definition of any thing and the Law which depends upon the Pleasure of Men and is more properly called Law is that which Men for the greater safety and benefit of Life or for other Causes do prescribe to themselves and others for Example that all Bodies when they hit or dash against other less Bodies do loose so much of their own Motion as they impart to those other less Bodies is the Universal Law of all Bodies which follows from the necessity of Nature so likewise when a Man remembers one thing he is presently mindful of another like it or as soon as he sees them together is a Law which necessarily follows from Human Nature but that Men voluntarily part with or are compell'd to part with that Right which every one hath by Nature and oblige themselves to a certain Rule and Manner of living depends upon the Will and Pleasure of Men and tho' it be absolutely granted that all things by the Universal Laws of Nature are ordain'd to be and Operate according to a certain and determinate Rule yet I say those Laws do depend upon the Pleasure of Men. First because Man as he is a great part of Nature makes and constitutes a part of the Power of Nature and therefore those things which follow from the necessity of Human Nature that is from Nature it self as we conceive it regulated by Human Nature tho' they follow necessarily yet they follow from Human Power wherefore the Sanction of those Laws may very well be said to depend upon the Will of Men because it so depends upon the Power of Mans Mind that the Mind of Man as it apprehends things under the Notion of true or false may nevertheless be clearly understood without those Universal Laws but not without the Law of necessity as I have defined it Secondly I have said those Universal Laws of nature depend upon the Pleasure of Men because we ought to define and explain things by their next and immediate causes and that Universal consideration of Fate and the chaining together of causes can no way help us in the forming and ordering our thoughts concerning particular things that is we know not how things are ordered and tyed together so that it is better yea absolutely necessary for the benefit of Life to consider things as they are possible and so much of Law consider'd absolutely But because the name of Law by Translation is apply'd to natural things and commonly by Law nothing else is meant but a command which Men may or may not perform so that it confines human Power to bounds and limits beyond which it might go and yet commands nothing which it is not able to do therefore Law more particularly defined is that rule and manner of living which Men for some end prescribe to themselves or to others but because very few know the true end of Laws and Men being for the most part incapable of Understanding it do not live according to the dictates of reason therefore Law-givers that they might equally bind all have wisely establisht an end very different from that which necessarily follows from the Nature of Laws namely by propounding to those who keep the Law that which they most love and by threatning the breakers of the Law with that which they most fear and so endeavor as far as 't is possible to rule the multitude as a Horse is govern'd with a Bridle so that Law in its common acceptation is that rule of living which by the Power of others is prescribed to Men and consequently that they who obey Laws are said to live under Law and may be called Servants or Subjects he that giveth to every one his due because he is afraid of the gallows is under the Power of another and being compell'd by the fear of punishment to do what he doth cannot be called just but he that giveth to every one his due because he knows the necessity and the true end and reason of Laws what he doth is free and voluntary and he may therefore be deservedly called a just Man which I suppose to be St. Pauls meaning when he said they that lived under the Law could not be justify'd fy'd by the Law for justice as it is commonly defined is a constant Voluntary resolution of rendring to every Man that which is his due and therefore Solomon Prov. chap. 20. v. 15. saith it is joy to the just to do judgment but the wicked fear Seeing then Law is nothing else but a rule of living which Men for some end prescribe to themselves or to others the Law may therefore be distinguisht into human and divine by Mans Law we understand that rule of living which secures life and the weal public but the Divine Law hath respect only to our cheifest good that is the true knowledge and love of God the reason why I call this Law Divine is in respect of the Nature of our cheifest good which I will with all possible brevity and plainess declare Whereas our better part is our underderstanding it is certain if we seek our own good we ought cheifly to endeavour as much as is possible the perfecting our intellect because in the perfection of that consists our cheifest happiness and since all our knowledge and certainty which removes all doubt depends only upon the knowledge of God because nothing can be or be known without God and because we may doubt of all things while we have no clear and distinct Idea of God it follows that our perfection and cheifest happiness depends only upon the knowledge of God. Moreover since nothing can either exist or be known without God it is certain that all things in Nature in respect of their essence and perfection do imply and express the Notion of God and consequently the more we know natural things the greater and more perfect knowledge we acquire of God because the knowledge of an effect by its Cause is nothing else but knowing the true Nature and Property of the cause so that by how much the more we know natural things so much the more perfectly do we know the being of God who is the cause of all things and all our knowledge that is our cheifest happiness doth not only depend upon but wholly consists in the knowledge of God which consequence is made good by a Mans becomming more or less perfect according to the Nature and perfection of the thing he most loves and so on the contrary He therefore is most perfect who pertakes most of the highest Beatitude and who above all things loves and is most delighted with the intellectual knowledge of God who is the most perfect of all beings Hitherto then our cheifest good and happiness still returns into the knowledge of God the end then of all human actions so far as we have an Idea of him being God the means which this end
would not only exceed the capacity of the vulgar but the understanding of all Mankind for who could possibly retain and comprehend so great a Number of Histories and so many circumstances and parts of Doctrine as might be collected from so many and different Histories truly I cannot be perswaded that those Men who left us the Scripture as we now have it abounded with so much Wit as to be able to find out such a demonstration of its Doctrine much less do I believe that the Doctrine of the Scripture could not have been understood unless we had been told of Isaacs strivings about the digging of Wells of Achitophels Council to Absalon and the Civil Wars between the Children of Iudah and Israel with other Chronicles of like kind or that the Iews who lived in the time of Moses were not so capable of understanding the Doctrine of Scripture by Histories as were the Iews who lived in the time of Esdras of which more hereafter the common People are therefore obliged to know only those Histories which stir up their minds to Devotion Piety and Obedience but they are not competent Judges of those Histories because they are more pleased with the narrations and the unexpected events of things then with the Doctrine it self and for this reason beside the reading of Histories they need Pastors and Ministers in the Church to instruct their weak understanding But not to digress from what we principally design'd to prove we conclude that the belief of Histories whatever they be doth not belong to the Divine Law nor doth of it self make Men happy or blessed nor are Histories profitable except it be in point of Doctrine which is the only thing that makes some Histories therefore contain'd in the Old and New Testament excel those that are profane and common and Scripture Histories mutually compared are more excellent one then another for sound and wholsom Doctrine He then that reads Scripture Histories and in all things gives intire credit to them yet if he follow not their Doctrine and amend his Life it is all one with him as if he read the Alchoran a Comedy or any vulgar History but as we have already said he that never heard of Scripture if his Opinions be true and his Life righteous he is truly blessed and the Spirit of Christ is in him but the Iews are of a contrary Opinion for they say let a Mans Opinions be never so Orthodox and his Life never so vertuous yet if he be guided only by natural Light and not by the Doctrins which are Prophetically revealed to Moses he can never be blessed and happy which Rabbi Maimonides boldly affirms in his Eighth Chapter and Second Law concerning Kings He that receiveth the Seven Commandments and diligently performeth them is one of the Pious among the Nations and Heir of the World to come that is if he receive and Practise them because God in his Law commanded and revealed them by Moses and because those precepts were also given to the Sons of Noah but if he Practise them by the guidance and dictates of natural reason he is none of us nor is he to be thought one of the Pious and Learned of the Nations It was an opinion among the Iews that God gave to Noah seven Commandments and that all Nations were obliged to observe only those seven but that God gave many more Commandments to the Iews that he might make them much happier then other Nations Rabbi Ioseph the Son of Shem Tob in his Book called Kbod Elohim or the Glory of God likewise saith that tho' Aristotle whose Book of Ethicks was in his opinion the best that ever was written had omitted nothing which belonged to that Subject and he himself had diligently Practised all he Writ yet he could not be saved because he embraced those Doctrins he taught as the dictates of reason and not as divine and Prophetical Revelations But these conceits are meer Fopperys grounded neither upon reason or Scripture and need no more confutation then doth the opinion of some Men who maintain that by natural light and reason we cannot know any thing belonging to Salvation a Tenet that cannot be rationally prov'd by Men who do not allow themselves any reason but what is corrupted and depraved and if they boast of any thing above reason 't is meer Folly and far beneath reason as sufficiently appears by their manner of living so that of this we need say no more I will only add this that no Man can be known but by his works and therefore they that abound in the Fruits of Love joy peace long suffering Gentleness Goodness Faith Meekness Temperance c. against whom saith Paul Galat. chap. 5. v. 22. there is no Law whether they be taught by reason or Scripture they are certainly taught of God and are truly blessed CHAP. VI. Of Miracles AS Men use to call that knowledge Divine which exceeds human capacity and understanding so when any thing is done in nature of which the common People know not the cause that they call the Work of God for the vulgar believe Gods Power and Providence do most plainly appear when they see any thing strange and unusual happen in nature contrary to the customary opinion they have of Nature especially when that which happens is for their benefit and advantage and they think the being of a God never more clearly proved then when nature seems not to keep its constant course and therefore conclude that those Men deny the Being and Providence of God who endeavour to explain and understand what they call Miracles by their natural causes They indeed think that while Nature goes on in her wonted course God doth nothing and on the contrary when God Acts the Power of Nature and Natural Causes are idle and at a stand so that they imagin two numerical distinct Powers namely the Power of God and the Power of Nature appointed and directed or as most Men now believe Created by God but what they mean by either or what they understand by God and Nature they know not but fancy Gods Power to be like that of a great King. And the Power of Nature nothing but blind force and violence the Common People therefore call the extraordinary Works of Nature Miracles or the Works of God and partly out of Devotion partly out of a desire to contradict those that love the Study of Natural Sciences they affect being ignorant of Natural Causes desiring to hear of things they do not know and those things which they least know they most admire by taking away Natural Causes and by imagining things out of the order of Nature they think God is most adored when all things are immediately referr'd to his Power and Will neither do they think the Power of God at any time so wonderful as when according to their fancy it conquers and subdues the Power of Nature Which Opinion was first brought into the World by the Iews who to
other Power whatever contrary to Nature that must also be contrary to those first Notions and so be rejected as absurd and against Reason or else we must doubt of our prime Notions and consequently of God and all things else Miracles therefore in what manner soever we apprehend them as they are understood to be Works contrary to the Order of Nature are far from proving God's existence they rather bring it into Question for without Miracles vve may be assur'd of it namely by knovving that all things observe the certain and immutable Order of Nature but granting that to be a miracle vvhich cannot be explained and made knovvn by natural Causes vve ought then either to conclude that it hath natural Causes but such as cannot be found out by Human Understanding or that it hath no immediate Cause but God or his Will but if all things which are effected by Natural Causes are done only by the Power and Will of God we must necessarily at last come to this that whether a Miracle have natural Causes or not it is a Work which cannot be manifested by a Natural Cause that is 't is a Work which exceeds Hnman Capacity and from a Work that exceeds Human Understanding we can understand and collect nothing for whatever we clearly and distinctly understand we do it by the thing it self or some other and that which is clearly and distinctly understood by it self ought to be perfectly known to us therefore by a miracle or any Work exceeding Human Capacity we cannot conceive God's Essence or Existence nor can we absolutely understand any thing of God or Nature but on the contrary when we know all things to be ordained and establisht by God and that the Operations of Nature ncessarily flow from the Essence of God and that the Laws of Nature are the Eternal Decrees and purposes of God it must necessarily be concluded that we so much the better know God and his Will by how much the better we understand and know Natural Things how they depend in their first Cause and how they operate according to the Eternal Laws of Nature So that in Respect of our Understanding with much more Reason are those Works to be called the Works of God and his Will which we clearly and distinctly understand then those of which we are totally ignorant tho' they strangely effect our imagination and cause our wonder because only those Works of Nature which we clearly and distinctly know render our Knowledge of God more sublime and more evidently declare the Will and Decrees of God So that those Men do but trifle who when they do not understand a thing run presently to the Will of God and ridiculously betray their own Ignorance moreover whatever we conclude from miracles yet the Existence of God cannot in any manner be concluded from them for since a miracle is a limited Work and expresseth only a certain and limited Power we cannot from such an Effect conclude the Existence of a Cause whose Power is infinite but only of a Cause whose Power at most is greater then that Effect I say at most because from many concuring Causes there may follow an effect whose Vertue and Power may be less then all the Causes together and yet much greater then the Power of any one of those Causes taken single but because the Laws of Nature As we have already shewn extend themselves to things Infinite being conceived by us under a kind of Eternity and Nature by them proceeds in a certain and unchangeable course so far do those Laws in some measure declare to us the Eternity and Immutability of God and therefore we conclude that neither God's Being or Providence can be known by miracles but may much better be concluded from the fixed and unalterable Course of Nature I speak now of a miracle as it is taken for a Work that is above Human Capacity or believ'd to be so for as it is supposed to be a Work that interrupts or perverts the Order of Nature or is repugnant tc its Laws it is so far from giving us any Knowledge of God that it takes away that which we naturally have and makes us doubt of God and all other things Nor do I know any difference between a thing done contrary to Nature and that which is done above Nature that is as some explain themselves a thing which is not done contrary to the Order of Nature but yet is not effected and produced by Nature for seeing a miracle is not wrought out of Nature but within the Compass of it tho' it be concluded to be above Nature yet it must necessarily interrupt Natures Order which by the Decrees of God we conceived to be fixed and immutable and therefore whatever is done in Nature which doth not follow from the Rules of Nature that must necessarily be repugnant to that Order which God to all Eternity by Universal Laws establisht in Nature and consequently being against Nature and its Laws the believing it must bring all things into doubt and lead us to Atheism So that by what hath been said I hope I have so proved the Second Particular that we may again conclude a miracle whether contrary to Nature or above it to be a meer absurdity and that by a miracle nothing can be understood in Scripture but a Work of Nature which is indeed above Human Understanding or at least believed to be so Before I proceed to the Third Particular I resolve to prove from Scripture that we cannot know God by Miracles indeed the Scripture doth no where Litterally say so but we may conclude it from the 13. Chap. of Deut. Where Moses commands the People to put any Prophet to death who went about to seduce them And tho' the Sign and the Wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee an yet thou shalt not hearken to the Words of the Prophet for the Lord your God proveth you that Prophet shall be put to death From whence it clearly follows that miracles might be done by false Prophets and unless men were fortifyed with the true Knowledge and Love of God they might be induced by miracles to worship false Gods as well as the true Moses adds because the Lord your God proveth you to know whether you love him with all your Heart and with all your Soul. The Israelites notwithstanding all their miracles had no right Notions of God which appears by Experience for in the Absence of Moses they called upon Aron to make them visible Gods who to their Eternal shame made them after so many Miracles done a Calf to represent God. Asaph who had heard of so many miracles yet doubted of God's Providence and had he not at last understood what was true Happiness he had gone out of the right Way Psalm 73. Solomon also in whose time the Iews were in their highest Prosperity believed that all things happened by chance Eccles. Chap. 3. v. 19 20 21. and chap. 9. v. 2 3. The
which the Pharisees affirm they have or such as have a high Priest who cannot err in expounding Scripture and that the Roman Catholics boast of their Popes but seeing we cannot be sure of such a Tradition or the Authority of such a Priest or Pope we cannot build upon either because the Primitive Christians deny the one and the most Antient Sects of the Iews the other And if we consider the Series and Succession of Years which the Pharisees received from their Rabbies by which they carry their Tradition as high as Moses himself we shall find it false as I have proved in another place such a Tradition therefore ought to be much suspected and tho' in our method we are forced to suppose some kind of Iewish Tradition to be sincere and uncorrupt namely the Signification of words in the Hebrew Tongue which we have received from the Iews yet we need not much doubt this tho' we very well may the other for it can be of no Advantage or Use to any Man to change the Signification of any Word tho' it often may be to alter the Sense of a Speech It is also very difficult to be done for he that should endeavor to change the Sense of any Word must necessarily construe all those Authors who have written in that Tongue and used that Word in its common acceptation according to the Genuine Sense of every Author or else must falsify them with a great deal of Caution The ignorant multitude as well as Learned Men are the keepers of a Language but the Learned only preserve the Sense of Speeches and Books and consequently tho' Learned men may change or corrupt the Sense of some scarce Book yet they cannot the Signification of Words beside if any man had a mind to alter the Signification of a Word to which he is accustomed he cannot without a great deal of difficulty do it either in speaking or writing For these and other Reasons I am perswaded it never yet came into any man's head to corrupt a Language tho' many have perverted the Sense of a writer either by changing or misinterpreting his sayings If our method which layeth this for a ground that the knowledge of Scripture is to be drawn only from the Scripture be plain and true then where it is not able to give us the true Sense and Knowledge of Scripture we may well despair of it what difficulty there is of arriving by this method to the true Meaning and Knowledge of the Sacred Volumes or what is further to be desired in it I will now declare The chiefest difficulty in this method is that is requireth a perfect Knowledge of the Hebrew Tongue but how is that to be had the Antient and most skilful Masters in the Hebrew Language have left little to posterity of the Elements and Learning of it we have from them neither Dictionary Grammar or Rhetoric The Iewish Nation hath lost all its Ornaments and Beauty which is no wonder having suffer'd so many Calamities and Persecutions and retains nothing but a few Fragments of their Language and of a few Books for all the names of Fruits Birds Fishes and many other things by the Injury of time are lost So that the Signification of many Names and Words in the Old and New Testament is unknown or very disputable Seeing then all these things and likewise a Dictionary of the Hebrew Phrases and manners of speaking in the Hebrew Language are very necessary to be had because all the Forms of Speech peculiar to the Iewish Nation are forgotten and lost we cannot as we would find out all the Senses of every Sentence in Scripture which according to the customary use of the Language it comprehends and there are many Sayings in Scripture tho' exprest in known words whose Sense nevertheless is obscure and inscrutable and as we have no perfect History of the Hebrew Tongue so the Nature and Constitution of the Language is such and so many Ambiguities spring from it that 't is impossible to frame such a method as shall direct a Man to find out the true Sense of all that is said in Scripture for beside the Causes of Doubt common to all other Languages there are some others in this from whence proceed many uncertainties which causes here to specify I think worth a Man's pains First Obscurity and ambiguity in Scripture is caused sometimes by using the Letters of the same Organ one for another The Iews divided all the Letters of their Alphabet into five Classes or Forms because there are five particular Parts or Instruments of the Mouth used in pronunciation the Lips the Tongue the Teeth the Palate and the Throat for Example Alpha Ghet Hgain He are called Guttural Letters and are without any difference known to us taken one for another El which signifies To is often taken for Hgal which signifies upon and so interchangebly whence it cometh to pass that all the Parts of a Speech are rendred doubtful or are like words which have no Signification The Second cause of ambiguity is the divers and manifold Signification of conjunctions and Adverbs for example Vau promiscuously serves to joyn and disjoyn signifying And but because indeed otherwise then Ki hath seven or eight Significations because although if when even as that burning and so almost all Particles The Third cause of many Ambiguities is because Verbs in the Indicative Mood want the Present the Preterimperfect the Preterpluperfect and the Future tense and others much used in other Languages In the Imparative and Infinitive Mood they want all the Tenses except the Present and in the Subjunctive have none at all and tho' all these defects of Moods and Tenses may with great Elegancy be supplyed by Rules and Principles deduced from the Language yet they have been wholly neglected by the Antient Writers who promiscuously used the Present and Preterperfect tenses for the Future and sometimes the Indicative Mood for the Imperative and Subjunctive which caused great Ambiguity in their Writings beside these three great Causes of uncertainty in the Hebrew Language there remain two other very observable and both of very great moment The first is that the Iews made no use those Letters we call Vowels The Second that they never used in their Writings to distinguish their Words or express their quantity by any Marks or Signs and tho' both Vowels and Marks use to be supplyed by Points and Accents yet we cannot trust to them seeing they were invented and brought into use by modern Men whose Authority is of no great Value The Antients wrote without Points that is without Vowels or Accents as appears by many Testimonies but some of later times brought in both to interpret the Bible as they thought fit so that the Points and Accents which we now have are only Expositions of Men of the present Age whom we ought not to reverence and believe above other Expositors they that are Ignorant of this know not the Reason why the
for us to interpret Scripture for most of the things we meet with in it cannot be deduced from Principles known by natural reason as we have already shewn and therefore the Truth of them cannot be made manifest by the strength of natural reason and consequently the true Sense and meaning of the Scripture cannot appear to us without some other light Moreover if this opinon were true the common People who are ignorant of or at least do not mind Demonstrations would entertain no Scripture but what they received from the Authority or Testimony of Philosophers and consequently ought to suppose Philosophers cannot Err in the interpretation of Scripture which truly would be a new Ecclesiastical Authority and a kind of Priesthood which the vulgar would rather scorn then reverence And tho' our method require the knowledge of the Hebrew Tongue which the vulgar have no time to Study nothing can upon that Score be objected for the common People of the Iews and Gentiles to whom the Prophets and Apostles Preached understood the Language of the Prophets and Apostles and by it understood the meaning of the Prophets tho' not the reasons of the things they Preached which according to the opinion of Maimonides they ought to have known to make themselves capable of understanding the Prophets meaning It doth not follow from the rule of our method that the common People must necessarily rely upon the Testimony of interpreters for I have given an instance of a People that knew the Language of the Prophets and Apostles but Maimonides can never shew me a common People that knew the causes of things which he says was the knowledge whereby the mind of the Prophets was to be understood and as for the common People of these days we have already shewn that all things necessary to Salvation tho' the reasons of them be not known may be easily understood in any Language because they are so common and ordinary and for this knowledge the vulgar do not depend upon the Testimony of interpreters in other things they follow the Fortune of the Learned But to return to a stricter examination of Maimonides opinion first he supposeth that the Prophets did in all things agree one with another and that they were most excellent Philosophers because as he will have it their conclusions were drawn from the Truth of things but this I have proved in my Second Chapter to be false Next he supposeth that the Sense of Scripture cannot be made out by Scripture for as much as it doth not Demonstrate any thing nor doth it prove the things of which it Treats by definition and Primary Causes wherefore according to the opinion of Maimonides the true Sense of Scripture can neither appear or be deduced from Scripture But I have likewise proved this to be false in the present Chapter For I have made it appear both from reason and examples that the Sense of Scripture is found out only by Scripture and to be derived thence even when it speaks of things unknown to us by natural light Lastly Maimonides supposeth that it is Lawful for us according to our preconceived opinions to expound and wrest the Words of Scripture and to deny or change the litteral Sense thereof be it never so express and plain which Liberty is Diametrically opposite to what I have Demonstrated in this and other Chapters and Savors of too much boldness but should I grant him this Liberty what advantage will he get by it none at all for those things which cannot be Demonstrated make up the greatest part of Scripture we cannot by this way make out nor by this rule expound or interpret them when on the contrary by following our method we may explain many things of this kind and as we have already shewn safely dispute of them but those things which are in their own nature perceptible their Sense is easily drawn from the context and as Maimonides method is unprofitable so it takes from the common People all certainty which they and all that follow any other method can by diligent reading have of the Sense of Scripture and therefore we reject it as dangerous useless and absurd as for the forementioned Tradition of the Pharisees we know not that there is any such and as for the Popes Authority I for no other reason deny it but because it wants clear Proof for had they as much Scripture to shew for it as heretofore the Iewish High Priests had for theirs I should be as little concerned that some of the Popes of Rome have been Hereticks and wicked Men as that the High-Priests of the Iews were sometimes as bad and yet by the command of Scripture had still the Power of interpreting the Law as appears by the 17 chap. of Deut. v. 11 12. chap. 33. v. 10. and Mal. chap. 2. v. 7 8. But because the Popes can shew us no such Testimony their Authority is very much to be doubted and that no Man may deceive himself and think that according to the example of the Iewish High-Priests the Catholic Religion also wants a High Priest it is to be observed that the Laws of Moses were the public Laws of the Country and needed a public Authority to maintain them for if every Man have a Liberty of interpreting the public Laws as he pleaseth no Common-wealth can stand but presently dissolves and public Laws become private but in Religion the Case is quite different for seeing Religion doth not so much consist in external Actions as in Truth and Singleness of Heart it is of no Public Power or Authority for Truth and Sincerity of mind is not infused by the command of Laws or by public Authority and no Man can be compell'd by force or by Laws to be made holy nothing but good brotherly Council education and a mans own free judgment can do that Seeing then every Man hath right to think of Religion as he pleaseth and it cannot be imagin'd any Man can part with this right it is in every Mans Power to judge of Religion and consequently to expound and interpret it to himself for as the cheif Power of interpreting Laws and judging of Public Matters resides in the Magistrate upon no other account but because they are public so likewise for the same reason the Supream Authority of explaining and judging of Religion is in every particular Person because it is every private Mans right The Authority then of the Iewish High-Priest to interpret Laws is far from proving the Popes Authority to interpret Religion but rather the contrary that every particular Man hath right to do it So that it is evident our method of interpreting Scripture i. the best for seeing the supream Power of interpreting it ought to be that natural reason which is common to all Men and not any Supernatural light or external Authority this method ought not be so difficult and abstruse that none but acute Philosophers can make use of or Compose it but it must be
difference in Religion and is believed to be pious There was no Reason why their Hatred should decrease for all other Nations did as mortally hate them Let Reason and Experience judge then whether the Liberty of the Subject Devotion towards their Countrey Absolute Power over all Nations against whom their Hatred was not only counted lawful but pious Singularity of Religious Rites and manner of living were not powerful Arguments to perswade the Iews with great Courage and Constancy of Mind to suffer any thing for their Countrey For while Ierusalem stood they would never endure any other Government therefore was it called the Rebellious City Ezra chap. 4. v. 12 15. The second Government which was scarce a shadow of the first after the Priests had usurped the Power of the Princes was with great difficulty destroyed by the Romans as Tacitus tells us in the second Book of his History Vespasian saith he put an end to the Iewish War by the taking of the City Jerusalem an hard and difficult work because of the Peoples Disposition and Obstinacy in their Superstition and because the besieged had Courage and Strength enough to suffer all Extremities Beside all these things which only Opinion made dear and valuable there was another thing in this Government which was a fingular and solid Argument to continue the People in their Obedience and take from them all thoughts of deserting their Countrey and that was Profit which is the Strength and Life of all Humane Actions In this Particular their Advantages were very considerable for Subjects had no where greater Right to any thing they possest The Iewish Subjects had an equal portion of Land and Fields with the Prince and every one was an eternal Lord of his part for if any man forced by poverty sold his Land when the Year of Iubilee came it was to be intirely restored There were likewise other Institutions of this kind so that a fixed Estate could never be perpetually alienated Where could poverty be more tolerable than in a Country where every man 's mutual Charity was that part of his Religion whereby he hoped to purchase the Favour of God who was his King so that the Iews could never live well in any Country but their own and out of it were sure to meet with Injury and Reproach To keep them in their own Country from Civil War and to take away the Causes of Contention their being subject to no Equal but only to God himself contributed very much so likewise did their mutual Love and Charity which was not a little increased by the general Hatred all other Nations had against them Another thing which beyond all that I have mentioned much contributed to keeping the people within the Limits of their Duty was that strict Discipline of Obedience under which they were educated for they were to do nothing but according to positive prescriptions of Law they could not when they pleas'd but only at certain times and in certain Years plow and that but with one sort of Cattel they had likewise prescribed Rules for sowing and reaping and indeed as we have shewn in the Fifth Chapter concerning the Use of Ceremonies their whole course of Life was but a continual practice of Obedience so that being accustomed to it it seemed rather Liberty than Servitude This was the Reason they desired not what was forbidden but that which was commanded At certain times of the Year they were to give themselves up to Mirth Pleasure and Ease not to indulge their own Appetites but to serve God the more chearfully Thrice in a Year they were God's Guests see Deut. chap. 16. v. 16. Every Seventh day of the Week they were to cease from all kind of Labour and take their rest at other set times rejoicing honest Recreations and Feasting were not only allow'd but commanded which above all things prevail upon mens Minds especially that Joy which ariseth from Devotion that is from Love and admiration together Their Worship prescribed on Festival Days being short and various kept them from loathing and weariness To all this add the high Reverence and Veneration they had for the Temple which was still preserved by the particular Worship they were to perform in it and by many things they were to observe and do before it was lawful for any one to enter into it So that even now we cannot without great horror read that abominable wicked act of Manasseh who caused an Idol to be set up in the Temple Nor was the Reverence much less which the People had for the Law which was religiously kept in the Sanctuary so that no Rumors or Discontents among the People were here to be feared for no body could meddle or pass any Judgment in matters of Religion but every man without consulting Reason was to do all things which God by his Answers in the Temple or by the Laws already given commanded them It now then appears under what manner of Government the Iews lived of which I hope I have given a very clear though but brief Account It now remains that we enquire Why the Iews did so often forsake the Law why they were so often conquer'd and why at last their Government was totally destroyed Perhaps some will tell me Their stubborn and rebellious Humour was the Cause That 's but a childish and frivolous Answer Why was this Nation more rebellious than any other was it their Natures Nature doth not make Nations but only individual Persons who are distinguish't and divided into Nations by diversity of Language Laws and Customs From Laws and Customs every Nation acquires a particular Disposition a particular Condition and peculiar Prejudices and Opinions If it must be granted That the Iews were more stiff-necked and rebellious than any other Nation it must be because they had Bad Laws and Evil Customs and it is a certain Truth That if God had decreed their Government should have had a longer continuance he would have given them other Laws and Statutes and another Administration of Government Therefore what can we say more than that God was offended and angry with them not only as Ieremy saith from the building of their City Ierem. chap. 32. v. 31. but from the very time he gave them their Laws which Ezekiel testifies chap. 20. v. 25. saying I gave them statutes which were not good and judgments whereby they should not live and I polluted them in their own gifts in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb that is the first-born that I might make them desolate to the end that they might know I am the Lord. That these Words and the Cause of their Destruction may be rightly understood we are to take notice That God's first Intention was to commit the Administration of all things pertaining to Religion to the First-born not to the Levites as appears Numb chap. 8. v. 17. where God says all the first-born of the children of Israel are mine I
Man's Fidelity to the Commonwealth as his Faith towards God ought to be judged and known only by his Works namely by Charity towards his Neighbour we cannot doubt but that the best Commonwealths will give every Man the same Liberty of Reasoning that they do of Believing I confess by such a Liberty some Inconveniences may sometimes happen But what Wisdom and Prudence can prevent all Inconveniences He that by Laws thinks to prevent all will sooner provoke then amend vicious Men. Inconveniences that cannot possibly be prevented or avoided must be tolerated we must bear with them tho' we suffer by them Of how many Mischiefs are Luxury Drunkenness Envy and Covetousness the Cause Yet these are tolerated because tho' they be Vices it is not in the power of Laws to restrain them How much more then ought Liberty of Judgment to be allowed which is truly a Vertue and should not be supprest No Inconveniences can arise from it which may not as I will prove be avoided by the Authority of the Supreme Magistrate Beside this Liberty is very necessary to the Advancement of Arts and Sciences in which the greatest proficiency is made by those men who have their Judgments free from preoccupation But suppose mens mouths may be stopt and so awed that they shall not dare to utter any thing against the Determinations of the Supreme Power yet 't is still impossible to keep them from thinking what they please and when men think ill of Magistrates there breach of Faith soon follows and nothing is to be expected in such a Commonwealth but abominable Flattery Perfidy and the destruction of all ingenious Arts. 'T is not so easie a matter to keep men from talking the greater care is taken to keep them silent the more many times will they talk Perhaps Covetous men Flatterers and mean-spirited People who place their chiefest Felicity in filling their Bags and their Bellies may hold their Peace but vertuous honest men who have had Liberal Education cannot be silent Such is mens Nature that nothing is a greater Vexation to them than to see those Opinions which they verily believe to be true condemn'd and themselves accounted wicked and sinful for doing that which they think is their Duty both towards God and Man. This makes them detest the Laws and count any seditious Attempts against the Magistrate lawful and just In Laws against Opinions wicked men are seldom concern'd such Laws are commonly made not to restrain bad but to provoke good men and cannot be defended without a great deal of danger to the Government Such Laws are likewise useless for men cannot obey Laws which condemn those Opinions they firmly believe to be true And on the other side they who think those Opinions false take the Laws that condemn them to be be their Privileges wherein they so triumph that afterward the Magistrate if he would is not able to repeal them Lastly The making of such Laws hath often caused great Schisms in the Church for if men did not hope with the general applause of the People to insult over their Adversaries and get Preferment by procuring the Magistrate to favour and the Laws to countenance their Opinions Learned Doctors would quickly leave their fierce Disputes and bitter Contentions Reason and daily Examples tell us That Laws which command what every man must believe and forbid speaking or writing against this or that Opinion are commonly instituted to gratifie or give way to the Passions of those who rather than endure a Baffle from ingenious men will with their stern and morose Authority turn the Peoples Zeal into Fury and hound them on upon whom they please But would it not be much better to suppress the Anger and Rage of the Multitude rather than make Laws against men that love Vertue and Learning and bring the Commonwealth into such a Condition that honest harmless men cannot live in it What can be more mischievous to a Commonwealth than to send Honest men like Rogues into Banishment only because they are of this or that Opinion and cannot dissemble Can any thing be more pernicious than to treat Persons of a free ingenuous disposition like Enemies and for no Crime or Wickedness put them to death making the Scaffold which frights none but Villains a publick Theatre whereon innocent Persons give such Examples of Courage and Patience as turn to the shame and reproach of the Supreme Magistrate's Majesty They that know themselves to be honest never fear Punishment as the wicked do neither will they by base whining Submissions and Recantations endeavour to avoid it Their innocent Minds are not troubled with Guilt or Repentance they do not think it shameful but glorious to die for Liberty and a good Cause To whom can their Death be a Terror The base ignorant Multitude know not why they suffer honest men are their Friends and none but seditious Persons their Enemies and all but base Sycophants and Flatterers are ready to follow their Example That Faith and Honesty then may be in greater esteem than Flattery and Dissimulation that Supreme Magistrates may keep their Power and not be forced to yield to seditious Persons Liberty of Judgment ought to be allowed and men are so to be govern'd that tho' they be of different and contrary Opinions they may however live together in peace and amity Without doubt this way of Governing is best and subject to least Inconveniences seeing it is most agreeable to Mens Nature For in Democratical Government which comes nearest to the State of Nature all covenant to act but not to reason and judge by common Consent my meaning is because all men cannot think the same things they have agreed to make that a binding Law which had most Voices reserving still a Power of repealing that Law when they thought fit And therefore where there is least Liberty allow'd of Judging there men are farthest from their natural State and the Government is full of Force and Violence To make it evident that from this Liberty can arise no Inconveniences which the Supreme Magistrate may not with ease avoid and keep men of contrary Opinions from hurting one another I need not go far for Examples The City of Amsterdam hath to the wonder of all the World and its own great advantage tasted the Fruits and Benefit of this Liberty for in that flourishing Commonwealth and famous City men of all Nations and Religions live together in peace and when they would trust any man with Goods or Money they only desire to know whether he be rich or poor or whether in his Dealing he be a man of his Word or a cheating Knave they never enquire of what Religion or Sect he is neither is that regarded in any Court of Justice there is no Sect so odious but hath the Publick Magistrate's Protection if they do no man wrong live honestly and give every one his Due How great a Schism was there occasion'd not long since by a Controversie in Religion between the Remonstrants and Contra-remonstrants And it appeared by many Examples that Laws made to take away Disputes concerning Religion did much more provoke than pacifie People and made some take the greater Liberty Schisms proceed not from the study of Truth that Fountain of Meekness and Moderation but from an imperious Humour of prescribing to others And therefore they are rather to be counted Schismaticks who damn other mens Writings and stir up the waspish Multitude against them than those that write to Learned men and call nothing but Reason to their aid So that they are truly Disturbers of the Publick Peace who in a Free Commonwealth would take away the Liberty of mens Judgments which ought not to be supprest We have now shewn First That 't is impossible to take away mens Liberty of speaking what they think Secondly That this Liberty may without prejudice to the Rights of Supreme Power be granted to every man and that every man may use this Liberty provided he design no Innovations in the Commonwealth and act nothing against the known establish'd Laws thereof Thirdly That this Liberty which every man may enjoy if he do not break the Publick Peace can cause no Inconveniences which may not easily be restrained or remedied Fourthly That all men may make use of this Liberty without being guilty of any Impiety Fifthly That all Laws made concerning Opinions and Matters meerly speculative are useless and unprofitable Sixthly and lastly we have proved That this Liberty may not only be allow'd without any Danger to Publick Peace Piety and to the Right of Supreme Power but ought to be granted for the Preservation of all these For where there are Endeavours to take away this Liberty and men are arraigned only for Opinions without examining whether they have any evil Intentions there honest men are made Examples and suffer a Martyrdom which doth not at all terrifie but irritates and moves the People to Pity and Revenge Learning and Arts decay Faith is corrupted Flatterers and perfidious Persons are countenanced Adversaries triumph in having their Will and prevailing on the Supreme Powers to embrace their Doctrine which at last inclines them not only to undervalue but usurp their Authority boasting they are God's Elect that their Power is from God but the Magistrate's Authority only from men and consequently the Magistrate's Power subordinate to theirs which absolutely destroys the very Being of all Commonwealths and therefore as I shew'd in the 18 th Chapter a Commonwealths greatest Safety is to place Religion and Piety in the Practice of Justice and Charity and to make things Sacred as much subject to Supreme Power as things Civil and to take cognizance of nothing but mens Actions suffering every man to think what he will and speak what he thinks I have now in this Treatise done what I design'd and I do again sincerely profess That I have written nothing which I do not freely submit to the Examination and Judgment of the Supreme Powers of my Country If they think any thing I have said be contrary to the Laws or Publick Safety thereof I recant it I know my self a man subject to Errors but my chiefest Care hath been to write nothing but what is consonant to Reason to the Laws of my Country and to the Rules of Piety and Good Manners FINIS