Euphemus delivered there might first hint to you your sandy Politicks for that Athenian Embassadour to the Camarinâ—i amongst other things tending much that way at last plainly told them that to a Governour nothing which was profitable was dishonest or unreasonable which Doctrine because it invites ambitious men to step into Authority when the door is open and mercenary soldiers to decide a dispute not in favour of the right but the most profitable side because it moveth them that are supream to become Tyrants in the exercise of that power which Religion ought to limit though the people may not and to make their passions their chief rules and to govern with Armies rather then Laws or if with both to dy their Flags and to write their Edicts in the blood of whom they please because I say it taketh off all sence of what we call humanity from the supream powers and so not unlike to a Porta Sabina calls in innumerable evils upon such people as are quiet and modest it therefore ought no more to be sucked in by Prince or People then pernicious air in time of common Pestilence Mr. Hobbes Name not Tyranny as a word of reproach for the name of Tyranny signifieth nothing more nor less then the name of Soveraignty be it in one or many men saving that they that use the former word are understood to be angry with them they call Tyrants and I think the toleration of a professed hatred of Tyranny is a toleration of hatred to Common-wealth in general So that here I must say to you Peace down for you bark now at the Supream Legislative power therefore 't is not I but the Laws which must rate you off And now me thinks my endeavour to advance the civil power should not be by the civil power condemned nor private men by reprehending it declare they think that power too great and after what manner I endeavour the advancement of it I think it worth the time to declare to you I shew that the Scripture requireth absolute obedience I teach that the people have made artificial chains called civil laws which they themselves by mutual Covenants have fastned at one end to the lips of that man or Assembly to whom they have given the Soveraign power and at the other end to their own ears that nothing the Soveraign can do to the Subject can properly be called Injustice or injury because every subject is Author of every Act the Soveraign doth That the proprietie of a subject excludeth not the dominion of the Soveraign but only of another subject Stud. Remember Sir the case of Ahab and Naboth unless you suppose it in times of publick necessitie Mr. Hobbes Interrupt me not I teach also that the King is the absolute Representative and that it is dangerous to give such a title to those men who are sent up by the people to carry their Petitions and give him if he permit it their advice That the Soveraign is sole Legislator and not subject to civil laws That to him there cannot be any knot in the law insoluble either by finding out the ends to undo it by or else by making what ends he will as Alexander did with his sword in the Gordian-knot by the Legislative power which no other Interpreter can doe That there is no common Rule of good and evil to be taken from the Nature of the objects themselves but from the Person of the man where there is no Common-wealth or in a Common-wealth from the Person that representeth it or from an Arbitrator or Judge whom men disagreeing shall by consent set up and make his sentence the rule thereof That where there is no law there no killing or any thing else can be unjust That the civil Soveraign is Judge of what doctrines are fit to be taught I also maintain that Soveraigns being in their own Dominions the sole Legislators those books only are Canâ—nical that is Law in every Nation which are established for such by the Soveraign Authority Stud. In some things you are just to the Praerogative of Kings but in others you ought to have remembred the words of our Lord who adviseth us to give to Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods For your cavil at the name Tyrant it is in the sense I us'd it for exercise of unlimited power unbecoming a Prince but I know how very frequently it is misapply'd by those who will call the very bridling of their licentiousness hateful Tyranny and find fault with the law for no other reason but because it is a râ—straint upon their supposed freedome whereas the hedges which the law sets down are to keep them only in the truest and safest way The absolute Princes of Syracuse were called Tyrants though some of them deserved the title of Benefactors and amongst our selves the best of Kings was branded with that ignominious character For that which you have justly said in favour of a Monarch had it bin Printed before Forty eight it might have bin of good effect at least it might have shewed a disposition to promote Loyalty But being published after the Kings Martyrdom and his Sons exile it served the purposes of those people who had then the Militia in their hands For you say that the Rights of a Common-wealth by acquisition are the same with those by Institution or Succession That the power of the Representative whether in one or many cannot without consent be transferr'd forfeited accus'd punish'd and that such a person is Supreme Judge The Parliament therefore ought to have return'd you thanks for ascribing to them the strength of the Leviathan and for keeping their nostrils free from the books of the right Heir and his adherents They ought especially to have given you the thanks of the House for saying I maintain nothing in any Paradox of Religion but attend the end of that dispute of the Sword concerning the Authority not yet amongst my Country-men decided by which all sorts of Doctrine are to be approved or rejected and whose commands both in speech and writing whatsoever be the opinions of private men must by all men that mean to be protected by their Laws be obeyed But notwithstanding all this what you seem to build up on the side of the Soveraign you pull down on the side of the People For whilst you found all upon single Self-interest to the advancement of which all safe means are by you esteemed lawful these specious rights are no longer his then by main force he can keep possession of them That will not be long if great Delinquents call'd in question and miserable people who like such as stake their Cloak in an over-hot day are willing to hazard the life they would be rid of and are easily misled not looking upon the stumbling-blocks in the way but on the light that others carry
and the Successors of the Apostles who could bind them upon the Church with sufficient right though not with outward force propounded them as necessary Rules of life But methinks 't is enough to constitute a Canon to any particular man if he may by any means attain unto a certain belief of any Rule as delivered by Christ without a superadded Decree Ecclesiastical or Civil Mr. Hobbes That the new Testament should in this sense be Canonical that is to say a Law in any place where the Law of the Commonwealth had not made it so is contrary to the nature of a Law For a Law is the Commandment of that Man or Assembly to whom we have given Soveraign Authority to make such Rules for the direction of our Actions as he shall think fit and to punish us when we do any thing contrary to the same When therefore any other man shall offer unto us any other Rules which the Soveraign Ruler hath not prescribed they are but Counsel and Advice which whether good or bad he that is counselled may without injustice refuse to observe and when contrary to the Laws already established without injustice cannot observe how good soever he conceiveth it to be I say he cannot in this case observe the same in his actions nor in his discourse with other men though he may without blame believe his private Teachers and wish he had the liberty to practise their advice and that it were publickly received for Law Stud. Then it seems before the days of Constantine a private man was obliged to be a Jew or a Gentile according to the Civil Authority under which he was and that Christianity did not obligeâ—â—e conversation of any man Mr. Hobbes Christ hath not subjected us to other Laws then those of the Common-wealth that is the Jews to the Law of Moses which he saith Mat. 5. he came not to destroy but to fulfil and other Nations to the Laws of their several Soveraigns Stud. That Christ subjected the Jews to the Laws of Moses considered as such is a saying which relisheth both of ignorance and irreligion It is evident that the very Law of the Ten Commandments obligeth not any Christian man though he be supposed to live under a Jewish Soveraign as delivered by Moses but as the designe of them agreeth with the Law of Nature and of Christ who advanced both Laws and filled them up adding as 't were his last hand to an imperfect Draught And for the Cerâ—monial Law our Saviour came to put an end to it because it was but an estate of expectation and consisted in shadows of good things to come and if he had established that as an enduring Law he had in effect denied himself to be the true Messiah For the sprinkling of the Altar with the bloud of Bulls and Goats after the ancient manner of the Jews importeth manifestly that the effectual Oblation is not yet offered wherefore S. Paul bespeaketh his Galatians after this manner Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Moses himself foretold that our Saviour should arise after him and become a Prophet to be obeyed in whatsoever he taught the people wherefore Caesar Vanin who suffered as an Atheist said in his Dialogues that Moses was not so politic as the Messiah in delivering his Laws because he foretold the abrogation of them whilst Christ propounded his as everlasting Then for Christs subjecting the Gentiles to the Law of their Civil Soveraign of what perswasion soever it is contrary to the great designe of our Saviours coming for amongst the Heathen the worship of false Gods was the Law of their Country It was one of the Laws of the twelve Tables that no man could have a personal Religion but worship â—â—ch Gods and in such manner as the Law of his Country did prescribe And Cicero shews â—ow in his days it was not lawful to worship any sort of Gods lest a confusion should be brought into Religion Hence Augustus traâ—elling in Aegypt would not step out of his way to visit Apis and Caius his Nephew passing through Iudea would not worship at Ierusalem Hence Socrates and Protagoras mainâ—aining opinions disagreeing with the Religion of their Country were condemned and Anaâ—â—arsis also suffered in Scythia for celebrating the Feast of Bacchus by the Forraign Ceremonies of Greece Hence Christ was not registred in the Calendar of the Gods though Tiberius understanding his Divinity from Pontius Pilate gave his suffrage for it because it pleased not the Senate and because saith Tertullian it was an old Decree of Rome that no man should be consecrated for a Deity by the Emperour without their Approbation If then all persons were to be outwardly obedient to the Civil powers they were to worship false Deities Idolatry being then established by a Law but on the contrary it is evident that one main end of our Saviours coming was to destroy the works of the devil and to bring the Gentiles from the worship of Daemons to the service of the true God Idolaters therefore are reckon'd amongst those who shall not inherit the kingdom of Christ and S. Paul wrote so much particularly to the Corinthians and Ephesians of those days when the Powers were Heathen and not merely to such as should read his Epistles in and after the Reign of Constantine and preaching at Athens against the Altar To the unknown God set up no doubt by publicâ— Authority and declaiming against the honour paid to false Gods he lets them understand that the times of the ignorance of the Gentiles God winked at but now he commandet all men everywhere to repent because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom hâ— hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Mr. Hobbes Such discourses are Counsels and not Laws Our Saviour and his Apostles left no new Laws to oblige us in this world but new Doctrine to prepare us for the next the Books of the New Testament which contain that Doctrine until obedience to them was commanded by them that God had given power to on earth to be Legislators were not obligatory Canons that is Laws but onely good and safe advice for the direction of sinners in the way to salvation which every man might take and refuse at his peril without injustice Stud. The Doctrines of Christ avail not at all towards an entrance into his kingdom without obedience to his Laws and besides those of mere Nature he hath left new Laws unto the world such are those of forgiving enemies and against private Revenge those concerning Baptism and his holy Supper concerning Divorce and Polygamy concerning a professing of faith in him as the Messiah
Empire But further Were every man supposed loose even from the yoke of Paternal Government yet in such a state there would be place for the Natural Laws of good and evil For first There is in Mankind an ability of Soul to ascend unto the knowledg of the first invisible Cause by the effects of his Power and Wisdom and Goodness which are conspicuous in all the parts of his Creation I say an ability to know not an actual acknowledgment of the Being of a God For the Acrothoitae are said by Theophrasius to have been a Nation of Atheists as also to have been swallow'd up by the gaping Earth undergoing a Judgment worthy that God whom their Imaginations banish'd out of the World If then there be such ability in the Mind of Man he is capable of sinning by himself in the secretest retirement from the Societies and Laws of his Fellow-creatures either by the supiness of his mind in being secure in Atheism for want of exerting those Powers by exercise which God hath implanted in him or by the ingratitude of his mind by want of Love and Thankfulness to God whom in speculation he confesseth to exist the notion of a Deity including that of a Benefactor Mr. H. I must acknowledg that it is not impossible in the state of Nature to sin against God Stud. A man may also in that state fin by being injurious to himself Mr Hobb Neither is that denied because hec may pretend that to be for his preservation which neither is so nor is so judged by himself Stud. But he may likewise sin with reference to himself in matters wherein no prejudice accrueth to his health or outward safety The Instance may be made in Buggery with a Beaâ—â— which seemeth to be a sin against the order oâ— God in Nature This monstrous Indecency this detestable and abhominable Vice as the Statute calls it is by our Law made Felony without Clergy and this surely in regard it is rather a sin against Nature than Commonwealth it being less noxious to Society to humble than to kill the owners beast the latter of which is but a treâ—pass Lastly In relation to otâ—ers I cannot but judg that one man espying another and not discerniâ—g in him any tokens of mischief but rather of submission if being thus secure unassaulted he rusheth upon him so to display his power and please his tyrannous mind bereaveâ—h him of life he is a murdâ—rer in the account of God Man The reason seemeth unstâ—ained cogent For there is no such neer propriety to a man in any possession as in that of life which a man as to this state can no more forego then he can part with himself neither can the Right be more confirmed to him than his own Peâ—â—â—nality Wherefore in no condition of Mankind can it be forfeited but by his own default or consent But in meer self defence there 's no murther because one life being apparently in hazard it is reason that the assaulted man should esteem his own more dearly than his Enemy's It is eâ—sie to understand on which side to act when it is come to this pass that as the Italians say of War We must either be spectators of other meâ—s deaths or spectacles of our own Moreover it appeareâ—h unto me not altogether improbable that in this feigned state of nature unjust robbery may have place For in this community there being sufficient portions both for the necessity convenience of all men if one shall intrude into the possessiâ—n of another who is contented with a modest share being moved only by ambition wantonness of mind he seemeth to be no other than an unrighteous aggressoâ— For all men being by you supposed of equal righâ— the advantage of pre-occupancy on the one sidâ— do's turn the scale if natural justice holds the ballance For it is in Law an old maxim In pari jure melior est conditio Possidentis Wherefore if any person endeavours by such unnatural practises as I have mention'd to encrease his outward safety or brutish delight he in truth destroyeth by his iniquity more of himself than he can preserve by his ambition and lust And he may be resembled to a rash Seaman who out of presumed pleasure in swimming throws himself headlong into a boisterous Sea temporal delight and preservation by sin being the ready way to bottomless ruin By what hath been said I am induced to believe that there is not only iniquity but injustice too in a meer state of Nature although neither of them be capable of such aggravations or are extended to so many Instances as in that state where men live under Positive Commands For to make Instance not in the lower restraints of fishing fowling hunting but in the more considerable case of promiscuous mixtures such practice seemeth not so much condemned by the Law of Nature as by Custom the commands of Moses Christ Christian Magistrates and heathen Powers For the most holy God would never have begun the World by one Man and Woman whose Posterity must needs be propagated by the mixtures of their Sons Dâ—ughters if what we call Incest had been inconsistent with any immutable Law of Reason Nature Neither would â—e have allowed the Patriarchs in Polygamy if it had been in truth an absolute evil and not rather in some Circumstances of time and place and persons fit and convenient Neither is there in these matters any consent of Nations who have no other instructor besides Nature for the Garamantici married not but engendred as the Monsters at the Springs of Africa And Sâ—leucus gave his own Wife to his son Antiochus then passed it into a Law And Socrates the great pretender to Moral Prudence esteemed it a civility to his Friend to permit his wife to enter into his imbraces Wherefore St. Paul affirming that the taking of the Father's wife was a Forâ—ication not once named amongst the Gentiles is to be understood of those Heathens whose manners conversations he had observed in his Travels And Aelian's Reading or Memory was but narrow when in contemplation of the victorious Sicyâ—â—ians deflouring the Pollenaearian Virgins he cried out These Practices by the gods of Graecia are very cruel and as far as I remember not approved of by the veriest Barbarians And as I think it must be granted to you that such consent of Nations as may seem to argue a common principle whence it is derived is not easily in many cases found by those who look beyond the usages of Europe the Colonies planted by the Europâ—ans For Pagans unless it be in the acknowledgment of God in which most agree do infinitly differ not only from Jews Christians but from one another â—rom their very selves also in process of time And those who liv'd but an hundred years ago before the strange improvement of Navigation and Merchandize could understand but little