are in force it is most fitly to be denoted by the Title of Right Intervenient among those Nations And in fine so far as the same Caesarean Right is by some single Nations receiv'd into their Forum or Court of Judicature it is to be named the Civil Right of some Nations or their Domestick Right From this consideration of the nature various notions and differences of Right we may easily be able to distinguish betwixt those two things which many learned Writers confound using the words Right and Law promiscuously For from the Premisses it may be collected that Right consisteth in liberty of doing or not doing But Law obligeth to do or not to do and therefore Right and Law differ as Liberty and Obligation which about the same thing are inconsistent Hence we may define Natural Right to be the Liberty which every man hath of using according to his own will and pleasure his power to the conservation of his Nature and by consequence of doing all things that he shall judge to be conducive thereunto Understanding by Liberty what that word properly signifies Absence of external impediments And Natural Law to be a Precept or General Rule excogitated by reason by which every man is prohibited to do that which he shall judge to tend to his hurt harm or wrong By Nature all Wise men understand the Order Method and Oeconomy instituted and established by God from the beginning or Creation for Government and Conservation of the World All the Laws of Nature therefore are the Laws of God And that which is called Natural and Moral is also Divine Law as well because Reason which is the very Law of Nature is given by God to every man for a rule of his Actions as because the Precepts of living which are thence deriv'd are the very same that are promulged by the Divine Majesty for Laws of the Kingdom of Heaven by our most blessed Lord Iesus Christ and by the Holy Prophets and Apostles nor is there in Truth any one Branch of Natural or Moral Law which may not be plainly and fully confirm'd by the Divine Laws delivered in Holy Scripture as will soon appear to any man who shall attentively read and consider what our Master Hobbs hath with singular judgment written in the 4 th Chapter of his Book de Cive where he confirms all the Laws of Nature by comparing them singly with Divine Precepts given in the Old and New Testament Whoever therefore desires clearly to understand the Reasonableness Equity Justice and Utility of Moral Laws and the true Causes of the Obligation under which he is to observe them in order to his Felicity as well in this life as in that which is to come ought most seriously and profoundly to consider the Divine Laws or Precepts recorded in that Collection of Sacred Writings call'd the Bible Which I though of Learning inferiour to so Noble an undertaking and subject by the Nature of my Profession and Studies to various Distractions every day yet resolve with my self to attempt according to the Module of my weak understanding not for Information of Others but for my own private satisfaction CHAP. II. God's Sovereign Right to Dominion over all things in the World THat God is by highest Right Soveraign Lord and Monarch of the Universe having in himself most absolute power both of Legislation and of Iurisdiction is sufficiently manifest even from this That He is sole Author and Creator of the World and all things therein Contain'd and doth by His most wise Providence perpetually Conserve and Sustain them And that He only can relax or remit the Obligation under which His Subjects are to observe the Laws by Him given for their Regimen and to whom He pleaseth pardon the Violation of them is no less manifest from His very Supremacy So that it belongs not to the right of any Mortal Ruler either to command what God forbids or to forbid what God commands The reason is because as in Natural causes the Inferiour have no force against the efficacy of the Superior so it is in Moral also Upon which reason St. Austin seems to have fixt his most discerning Eye when teaching that the Commands of Kings and Emperors so far as they contradict any Divine Command cannot impose an Obligation to Obedience advances to his conclusion by the degrees of this Climax or Scale If the Curator commands somewhat it is not to be done if the Proconsul forbids Herein we contemn not the Power but choose to obey the Higher Again if the Proconsul bid one thing and the Emperor injoin the contrary without doubt you must give obedience to the Emperor Therefore if the Emperor exact one thing and God another what is to be done God is certainly the greater Power give us leave O Emperor to obey Him From the same reason that most wise Emperor Marcus Aurelius also said the Magistrates judge private men Princes the Magistrates and God the Princes And Seneca the Tragedian Quicquid à vobis minor extimescit Major hoc vobis Dominus minatur Omne sub regno graviore regnum est For his sense is Deum esse supra omnes summates hominum Regum timendorum in proprios greges Reges in ipsos imperium est Iovis This Monarchy of God is double Natural and Civil By the Natural is to be understood the absolute Dominion which from the Creation he hath exercis'd and at this day doth exercise over all men Naturally or by right of His Omnipotency By the Civil I understand that which in the Holy Scriptures is most frequently named The Kingdom of God and which is most properly call'd Kingdom because constituted by consent of the Hebrew Nation who by express pact or covenant chose God to be their King He promising to give them possession of the land of Canaan and they promising to obey him in all things But this Kingdom being by Divine Justice for the disobedience and many rebellions of that perverse people long since extinct they now remain in the same state of subjection with all other Nations namely under the Natural Empire of the Universal Monarch God But what is worthy our more serious remark and consideration tho the Common-wealth of the Hebrews the form of whose Government may be most properly call'd a Theocraty for the Supreme Ruler and President was not Moses but Almighty God Himself hath been so many Ages past dissolv'd yet the most excellent Positive Divine Laws principally those comprehended in the Decalogue upon which that Empire was founded have lost nothing of their Sanction and Original force but still continue Sacred and Obligatory not only to the posterity of the Hebrews but also to all the Sons of Men of what Nation soever Which the Learned Cunaeus hath de rep Hebraeor cap. 1. with singular judgment observ'd in words of this sense The Laws of other Nations inventions of humane Wit are enforced only by penalties which by time or
through the sloath of Governors lose their terror but the Iewish Ordinances being the decrees of the Eternal God not weakned by either continuance of time or softness of the Judges remain still the same and when the Ax and the Scourge are no longer fear'd mens minds are nevertheless kept in awe by Religion And as the Stability of these Laws given by Moses whom God had consituted His Representative and Vicegerent in the promulgation of them to the People of Israel is by Cunaeus rightly referr'd to the Eternity and Immutability of the Divine decrees so is it Lawful for us to assert the Vniversal Extent of them from this reason that the Divine Law of the Decalogue is an Explication of the Law Natural written in the mind of every individual man from the beginning though we must at the same time acknowledge that the very giving the same in Precept to the Iews added a new Sanction and Obligation to the former so that the Iew doing the contrary not only offended in doing an act simply vitious but also in doing an act strictly for bidden because as St. Paul speaks Rom. 11. 23. by the transgression of the Law he dishonoureth God That this different Obligation of Laws Natural and Divine may be yet more clearly understood we observe that the determining of human actions ariseth either from their own Nature as to Honour and Worship God is due to lye unlawful of it self or from the Positive Divine Law Those of the former sort are referr'd to the Law Natural Those of the Latter are such as have been prescribed by God some to single persons namely to Abraham Isaac Iacob Moses and other servants of God among all People to Israel alone God prescribed many Positive Laws pertaining to their Religion which was the same with their Politie To all mankind some things were commanded for a time as the observation of the Sabbath presently after the Creation as many of the most Learned think the Law of not eating bloud or the strangled after the floud Others to last for ever as the institutions of Christ concerning Excommunication Baptism the Supper c. if there be any more of that kind So that one and the same vitious action is more or less offensive to God according to the determination of it to be so by Positive Law or by meer light of reason i. e. by Law Natural Because though both Laws be Divine yet the Obligation of the former is double of the later single Having thus Briefly indeed but plainly asserted Gods Right to the Monarchy of the whole World distinguish'd His Natural Dominion from His Civil defined what is Law Natural what Positive Divine and shewn the difference betwixt that and this as to their Obligation it seems to me that I have not only prevented all such erroneous conceptions which otherwise might arise either from Ambiguity of the words Right Dominion Government Law and Obligation or from Confusion of various Notions of single things But also laid the Corner Stone as it were of the little structure I propose to my self to erect in order to the stronger defence of my mind against allurements to do evil i. e. to violate any of God's Laws For in this illaborate exercise of my pen I have no other end or design but this to investigate and examine the perfect Concordance betwixt the Laws of Nature and Positive Divine Laws principally those of the Decalogue to the end that being at length fully convinced of the double Obligation incumbent on me not to transgress any one of the latter sort I may in the little remnant of my days do my best devoir to live more inoffensively both toward God and toward Men. For certainly who is throughly conscious of the justice equity and decency of Religious Duties will be so much the more solicitous to perform them because the more the understanding is illuminate by the rays of Truth and Evidence by so much the less prone it is to be imposed upon by the specious pretexts of Passions and by consequence the more apt to direct its Handmaid the Will in the right way to Felicity which consists in the Knowledge Love and Veneration of God As for Method the work in which my thoughts are at present versed will be in bulk so little I need not be over curious what Form to give it the Materials so few I need not be solicitous in what Order to range them to the best advantage Without affectation therefore of ornament from either of those two things and without farther amusing my self with variety of distinctions many times of more subtilty than use I will content my self with tracing as faithfully as I can the footsteps of Time or to speak a little more plainly reciting and considering the various Moral Laws whether meerly Traditional or Written given by God first to Noah and his little Family when soon after the Deluge they began to replenish the Earth with Inhabitants and then to Moses when he constituted and established the most Admirable Common-wealth of the Hebrews in the same order in which they are said to have been delivered and breifly comparing them singly with the Laws of Nature it being as I just now profest my chief scope in this Disquisition to find the Concordance betwixt these and those CHAP. III. Of the Precepts of the Sons of Noah in general I Begin from the Moral Laws which according to the Tradition of the Talumdic Masters were given to Noah and his Sons soon after the Floud and which are thence named Praecepta Noachidarum Which before I recite three things not altogether unworthy to be noted for our more facile understanding of their authority and extent are to be Premis'd The first that by the Patronymie Noachidae the Rabbins unanimously understand all Nations besides the Hebrews who affect rather to be call'd Abrahamidae from the Father of all the Faithful Abraham The second that the same Rabbins firmly believing and confidently teaching that there hath been no Age wherein these Precepts have not obtained therefore take them for the Natural and Common Right of all men Whence we may receive a glimps of Light whereby to discern both what they thought of the Religion of the Ancients before the Law and upon what condition it was lawful for Strangers to reside in the Land of Israel after the Law For while the Hebrews were sui juris i e. lived under no Laws but those of their own Republick within their territory no dwelling was permitted to any Idolatrous Gentile But the Stranger who in the presence of three men had taken upon himself the seven Precepts of the Sons of Noah and promised to observe them was held to be Proselytus Domicilii and tho' he were neither Circumcised nor Baptized might nevertheless as a Sojourner dwell among the Hebrews The third that tho' in the Mishna or Collection of ancient Traditions made by Rabbi Iehuda surnamed Hakadosh the Saint who lived
and the Portenta Veneris or unnatural lusts are also strictly prohibited But there was nothing of necessity that in so brief a Decalogue all the crimes that were afterward to be interdicted should be mentioned when it was enough that those were toucht upon that might most hurt either piety or human society So there is no mention made of wounds inflicted but of murder which of all kinds of violence offer'd to the bodies of men is the greatest In these words therefore is properly comprehended both the Wife that yields the use of her body to any other man besides her Husband and the man that polutes anothers Wife Both are condemned to suffer death Levit. 20. 10. Which punishment the Christian Emperors Constans and Constantius long after introduced into the Roman Empire as appears from the Theodosian Code Nor is this capital punishment to be thought more severe than Equity requires if we well consider that Common-wealths arise from and are conserv'd by marriages that their very foundations are shook by Adultery that conjugal love is converted into mutual hatred that inheritances are alienated to a spurious issue while the right Heir is supplanted that whole houses are fill'd with reproaches and feuds which descend to posterity and not seldom break forth into publick miseries and destruction Of these dire mischiefs and a hundred other too many to be here in this brief and desultory discourse particularly mentioned sad and tragical examples occur in almost all Histories whether ancient or modern and the consideration of them made Epicurus in the Moral Sentences ascribed to him to say What evil doth it not draw upon a man to desire to have to do with a Woman whose company is interdicted to him by the Laws Doubtless a wise man must be deterred from admitting such a design into his thoughts if not by the manifest injustice thereof yet at least by the great solicitude of mind requisite to obviate the many and great dangers that threaten him in the pursuit of it it being found true by daily experience that those who attempt to enjoy forbidden Women are frequently rewarded with wounds death imprisonment exile and other grievous punishments Whence it comes that for a pleasure which is but short little and not necessary to nature and which might have been either otherwise enjoy'd or wholly omitted men too often expose themselves to very great pain danger or at best late and bitter repentance CHAP. VIII The Seventh Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not Kill THat in the Books of our time this Precept hath been unduly placed after that against Theft Philo Tertullian and others clearly shew Philo saith truly That he who commits Homicide is guilty also of Sacriledge in that he violates the Image of God and then he most hainously sins against Society to which all Men are born and which cannot consist if Innocency be not safe from Violence Since Nature hath instituted a certain Cognation betwixt us it is a genuine consequence saith Florentinus most wisely that for one man to lye in wait for the blood of another is a high Crime against the Law of Nature Then again he that assumes to himself that power over the Life of another how nocent soever which the Law attributes only to the Judge violates the Civil Laws So that Homicide is a Crime against the Majesty of God against the Law of Nature and against the Laws of Humane Society or Civil Government But by the Verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Kill is here signified not every act by which the Life of another is taken away but the unlawful Act which is wont to be the sense of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He hath Murder'd What therefore is done in defence of Life or Chastity is exempt from this Law by that of Exod. 22. 2. and Deut. 22. 26. So are other Killings that the Law permits as the Killing of him that attempts to seduce to the Worship of strange Gods Deut. 25. 6 7 8. And the Killing of an Homicide is permitted to the Revenger of Blood who was the next of Kin to the person slain The same is to be said also of those who have receiv'd from God a special mandate to Kill some Peoples or Men. For there is no injury in what God commands who hath by highest right most Absolute Dominion of the Life and Death of all Men even without cause Given Of the Right of Zealots deriv'd from the Example of Phineas the Son of Eleazar Numb 25. 11. we have formerly spoken in Art 6. of Chap. 6. of the former part of this Disquisition CHAP. IX The Eighth Precept explained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not Steal UNder the Name of Theft is comprehended all subduction or taking away of the Goods of another whether it be done by force or by fraud Society to which as was just now said all Men are born cannot subsist unless every Mans Possessions be in safety He therefore that either by open Violence or by privy Stealing takes any thing from a private Man at the same time both wrongs him by invading his Propriety and hurts the Common-wealth by dissolving the common Ligament or bond of it which is the safety of every Mans private Right or Propriety Nor is it to be doubted but he that indulges to himself that licence would if he could invade all things of all Men and by open Force make the Common-wealth his own For Injustice strengthned by Power becomes Tyranny Therefore The Seeds of so great and pernicious an evil were to be early oppress'd and the diligence of all Men to be excited to Labours by Faith made to them that they should quietly keep possess and enjoy whatsoever they by their honest Pains Art and Industry acquired To admit Theft saith Paul the learned Roman Lawyer is prohibited by Law Natural And Vlpian saith that Theft and Adultery are by Nature shameful and odious By the Mosaic Law the Panishments of Theft were various according to the quality and valour of the things stolen and some other Circumstances But Theft of the most precious thing of a Man which the Latines call Plagium was punish'd with Death Exod. 21. 16. and Deut. 24. 7. Which Abenesdras in his Notes upon this Precept will have to be understood only de Puero of a Boy or Child that cannot speak Theft of a Man was interdicted also by the Roman Law F. F. de furtis 37. 60. So it is by our Law which makes it Felony CHAP. X. The Ninth Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thou shalt not speak against thy Neighbour a false Testimony NEighbour here is an Israelite of the same Country as appears from Exod 11. 13. and Levit. 19. 18. Where it is said Thou shalt not stand against the Blood of thy Neighbour Which according to the Interpretation of the Masters is Thou shalt not stand an idle Spectator when an Israelite one of thy
and Index of what is Lawful and what Vnlawful This is consider'd in a twofold sense first as it is Obligative or binding and then it is called also Preceptive or Commanded or secondly as it is only Permissive and then it is named also Concessive In the former sense it takes place in those things that are commanded or forbidden as to give every man his due not to swear falsly c. In the later it is found in those things whereof the use is neither commanded nor forbidden but yet notwithstanding permitted as in the act of Buying Selling Manumission in the conditions of Contractors used to be added to their Contracts and in others of that kind But both these kinds of Right belong either to all Mankind universally that is to all Nations or not to all That which belongs to all Mankind or all Nations is again distinguish'd into Natural and Divine The Natural is that which is manifest from the light of mans natural reason or the right use of his faculty of understanding and inferring elegantly defined by Tertullian Lib. de corona Militis to be Lex communis in publico Mundi naturalibus tabulis Scripta and call'd by the two best of all the Greek Historians Thucidides Lib. 4. and Polibius Lib. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 communia hominum jura and by Iurisconsults Ius Gentium Primaevum The Divine that which hath been ordain'd and declar'd by Divine Oracles committed to writing in the Holy Bible And this as well as the Natural deserves to be acknowledged to be Ius Gentium Vniversale seu omnium Commune Because all the Laws of Nature are the Laws of God Himself because his Positive or Written Laws are no other but Sanctions or Explications of His Unwritten or Natural and because whatsoever is Obligatory in either Natural or Divine Universal Right either from the Nature of the thing it self or rather from the auctority of the Author of Nature is by all men held to be immutable Whence that Maxime so often asserted by Philosophers Theologues Jurisconsults Iura Naturalia esse immutabilia Which cannot be truly said of Right Permissive whether Natural or Divine extending to all Mankind For that this is variously mutable according to the judgment of Governors is manifest to every man of common sense even from the name Permissive and from dayly experience which teaches that Permissive Right admits Obrogations Abrogations Temperaments and Limitations i. e. Mutations Whereas the Obligatory tho' it admit indeed of Increments or Additions namely such by which it may be either more firmly or more decently observed yet admits no Mutations by which its force or vertue may be in the least diminished From the Additions of Obligatory Right and the Mutations of Permissive there hath risen up that other Right which being of less extent belongs not to all Nations or to Mankind Universally but only to some parts of it and is wont rightly enough as being put or founded whether by God or by men to be call'd Positive and sometimes also Civil and an additament of right reason natural This Positive Right may with good reason be distinguished into that which is proper and singular to some one Nation or People coalescent into a Society such long ago was that Patria potestas among the Romans and that which was in use at Athens mention'd by Demosthenes in Orat. contra Aristocratem and that which is common to many Nations Which is again distinguish'd into that to the observation whereof more Nations than one are at once equally and in common obliged and that under which many Nations live not at the same time equally and from any common Obligation but singly and by accident Of this triple Species of Positive Right the first may conveniently be term'd Right simply Civil as pertinent to some one City or Commonwealth The Second Common Right of many Nations because of the communion of obligation The third Civil or Domestick Right of some or many Nations because the Obligation under which they are is only domestick and civil to each of them singly not common to all For example the twelve Tables brought from Athens to Rome obtain'd to be of equal force in both Nations the Attic and the Roman But from no communion of Obligation or Conjunction of Peoples The Right of those Tables therefore might much more commodiously have been call'd the Civil Right of these Nations than simply the Right of Both because this later phrase indicates a Communion But as for the Common Right of more than one Nation founded upon communion of Obligation this likewise is to be parted into two branches viz. that which is Imperative to many Nations or Peoples and that which is Intervenient By Imperative we mean that Right of Nations which is or ought to be observ'd by many Nations or Peoples otherwise subject to divers Governments and Soveraign Powers from an Obligation common indeed to every one of them and equal but deriv'd from the Command either of God or of Man Such was the Right of the Dolopes Magnetes Phthiotae Thessali and other peoples of Graecia who by a common Obligation receiv'd from the Command of Acrisius King of the Argives were under the jurisdiction of the Great Amphictyonic Council at Athens Such also was the singular Right of War by God prescrib'd not only to the Hebrews but to the Canaanites too with whom they were to make War For both Nations were obliged though diversimodè by the Authority of the Imperant And when divers Nations convene in like manner into the same Right by the Authority and Command of the Pope of Rome that is to be call'd an Imperative Right of those Nations But we call the Intervenient Right of Nations that which ariseth not from an Empire common to many but from intervenient pact or use of Customs and is wont to be call'd Ius Gentium Secundarium Heads of this Right are remarkable in the Right of demanding satisfaction for injury of proclaiming War of Embassies of Captives of Hostages of Leagues of Commerces and other like things usually intervenient among divers Nations For what Right soever in these things is made up of the Additions that have come to the Universal Obligative Right of Nations and of the Mutations that have come to the Universal Permissive Right among divers Nations all that and not more deserves the name of either Imperative or Intervenient The rest 't is evident retains the name of the Universal or most ancient Right of Nations The Caesarian Right also which is so much insisted upon in the above-mention'd Heads of Intervenient Right when they come to be discuss'd by Jurisconsults so far forth as it agrees with the Universal Right of Nations whether Natural or Divine is also to be put under the same name But so far as the Heads and some Decrees of it which are not of Universal Right are made use of from the consent of some Nations with whom they
lawful to raise such Pillars Altars Monuments c. at his pleasure provided he did it not in Cultum Extraneum within the Promis'd Land lest from such example encouragement might be taken for Idolatry it was no more permitted to the Stranger than to an Israelite either to set up a Statue or plant a Grove or make Images or do any other thing of that kind no not meerly for ornament sake as Mr. Selden hath truly observ'd De Iure Naturali Gentium lib. 2. c. 6. The Rabbins hold a Humane Image protuberant to be unlawful but not that which is made in plano flat or in concavo in a hollow Of Caelestial bodies neither prominent nor plane made for ornament were lawful but made for teaching or learning as in Diagrams Astronomical and the like they were permitted Other figures as well an Israelite as a Noachid might form as they pleas'd Of the same respect is that interdict Deut. 7. 26. Non inferes quidpiam ex idolo in domum tuam Thou shalt not bring as our Translation renders it an abomination into thy house which the Iewish Masters thus interpret To have use and enjoy an image made only for ornament was Lawful the same being part of domestick furniture but one made by a Gentile for worship sake was not to be admitted into promiscuous use with other utensils nor was it permitted either to possess or to sell Victims Oblations Vessels instruments consecrated to idolatrous uses Nor was any thing whose use had been interdicted to be retain'd but either burned or broken in pieces and thrown into the Air River or Sea nay the very ashes or coals thereof were an abomination But an Idol it self if melted or broken in pieces and applied to common uses by a Gentile before it came into the possession of an Israelite might be kept and among other utensils commodious to life used because the liquation comminution and application thereof to common uses by the Gentile was a manifest Resecration or Solution of the Religion of it and the Idol being once resecrate all furniture and utensils belonging to it are so too But whatsoever has not been made by Man as a Mountain Fountain River four-footed Beast and other Terrestrial things the works of Nature tho' worship'd as an Idol the use and possession thereof was not prohibited A Grove or Tree planted by a Gentile for Worship or only to shadow or adorn an Idol was so abominable that to an Israelite it was unlawful either to shelter himself from heat cold rain or wind under the boughs of it or to pass through it if there were any other way or to eat the Eggs or Young of Birds building their nest in the branches of it to bring home the wood for building instruments of agriculture or fewel or to eat any bread or meat dress'd with fire made of the wood or to wear cloth woven with a shuttle of the wood or to make use of the ashes And yet the use of herbs growing there was not unlawful because the soil it self was unpoluted Now of all these things whatever was unlawful to an Israelite to do or possess the same was equally unlawful to a Proselyte of the House And this is a Summary of the most learned Rabbins exposition of this first Precept against Extraneous Worship or Idolatry CHAP. V. The second Precept Of Malediction of the Most Holy Name or Blasphemy SO agreeable is this Interdict to the Law of Nature or Light of Reason that even the old Egyptians themselves tho' overspread with the Leprosie of Polytheism acknowledged themselves under a most strict Obligation punctually to observe it as may be inferr'd from hence that Hermippus in the life of Pythagoras whose doctrines were all deriv'd from Egypt among many other Statutes of that Sect concerning the Soul's purification c. sets down this for one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to abstain from all Blasphemy To the Israelites God expresly gives the same Lev. 22. 32. Keep my Commandments and do them I am the Lord ye shall not prophane my Holy Name that I may be sanctified in the midst of the Children of Israel Now among the Hebrews a more diligent observation of the Law is call'd Sanctification of the Divine Name and on the contrary to perpetrate any thing against the Law is call'd Prophanation of it as Mr. Selden hath out of the Princes of their Rabbins judiciously remark'd de Iure Natur. Gent. lib. 2. cap. 10. The more notable Interdicts of Idolatry Homicide Unlawful Coition were not to be violated tho' to avoid the danger of imminent Death for of a less danger no account is made In time of publick persecution life was not to be redeem'd by violation of any Law At another time it was sufficient to violation of the Law to obey the person impellent by menaces of Death rather than to be kill'd at least if the act turn'd to the emolument of the impellent as where work was to be done for him upon the Sabbath or if ten or more Hebrews were not present To a sick man it was lawful to eat things prohibited to deliver himself from death Farther a sin against more establish'd customs or manners and humane society tho' not against the Law is a Prophanation of the Holy Name Nor is such Prophanation in any case observ'd to have been fully remitted to any man before the very moment of death according to that of Isai. cap. 22. ver 14. This iniquity shall not be purged from you till ye die This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pollution or Prophanation of the Divine Name seems to be call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Apostle Rom. 2. 24. but is not that which is interdicted to the Noachid here in this second Precept and Naaman the Syrian cleans'd from the Leprosie 2. of Kings c. 5. v. 18. is brought for an Example The difference is clearly shewn by Mr. Selden de Iur. Nat. Gent. lib. 2. cap. 11. whose words therefore I here faithfully translate The Blasphemy or Malediction by this Precept forbidden is that most Horrible Wickedness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Execration of the Divine Name when any reproach and audacious contumely is openly and maliciously thrown forth against God such as was cast forth by those most impious miscreants the son of Shelomith Levit. 24. and Rabshakeh's Kings 2. ch 18. v. 30. Also when the Divine Majesty is understood to be knowingly and proudly denied from the consequence of any Act or Profession as when any man not from Ignorance but out of Malapertness and Pride professeth and endeavors to perswade others that Idolatry is to be imbraced this man tho' he hath himself worship'd no Idol denies God by consequence and is to be held a Blasphemer And against this most execrable impiety is turned the edge of that Sacred Law Numb 15. 30. But the Soul that doth ought presumptuously or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an high hand whether he
from Ius Noachidarum not from that of the Hebrews which required Exod. 22. 1. Five-fold Four-fold or Double restitution to be made If the Person convict were not able to give the satisfaction required he was by Sentence pronounced in Court adjudged to servitude of the Actor or Plaintiff until his Service should equal the Price of the Theft but the restitution Double Quadruple or Quintuple was to be expected from his more Prosperous Fortune after his Servitude Nor was a Woman sold for her Theft Neither was a Man convict of Theft adjudged in Servitude to a Proselyte whether of Iustice or of the House much less to a Gentile but only to an Hebrew who was Obliged to give Food Raiment and a House not only to him but to his Wife and Children too who notwithstanding were not the Masters Servants but when the Husbands and Fathers Servitude was ended went away with him And all this by Virtue of that Law in Exod. 21. 3. To an Hebrew Servant Adjudged by Sentence of Court who had by a lawful Wife fulfill'd the Command of Multiplication it was permitted to have Carnal Conversation with a Maid-Servant that was a Canaanite that the Master might be enriched by the Children born of her provided he were not kept apart from his Legitimate Wife and Children and that but one Maid-Servant were Conjoin'd to one Man-Servant not to two or more Other causes of Servitude there were also among the Hebrews If thy Brother Compell'd by Poverty shall sell himself to thee c. Levit. 25. 39. If any shall have sold his Daughter for a Servant c. Exod. 21. 7. These Addictions or Sales were not permitted but in Case of extream Poverty when the Seller had nothing left not so much as a Garment and that his life was to be sustain'd by the Price agreed on This selling of a Daughter is understood only of a Minor nor without hope of her Marriage to the Emptor or to his Son without Espousals she obtain'd her Liberty Gratis when first the Signs of Puberty appear'd upon her Also an Hebrew was made a Servant Privately that by his Addiction or Sale he might not lose his Dignity together with his Liberty Now from this Permission of an Israelite reduced to extream want to sell himself or his Child for Sustenance lest he should die of Hunger it is sufficiently manifest that from the very Law of Nature obtaining among the Hebrews it was not Lawful to steal for even the greatest necessity To exercise Vsury was more than once forbidden by the Hebrew Law and the Lender upon Vsury was compell'd by sentence of Court to restore to the Debtor what he had receiv'd for the Loan of Mony as a thing taken away by stealth Deut. 23. 20. To a Stranger thou maist lend upon Vsury to thy Brother thou shalt not lend upon Vsury To steal the Goods of a Gentile was no less unlawful than to steal from an Israelite but to take Usury of a Gentile was permitted of which the Contract arises from the Consent as well of the Receiver as of the Giver For neither from Natural Right was it unlawful to lend upon Usury By the Statutes of their Fore-Fathers as Mr. Selden de Iure Nat. Gent. lib. 6. c. 11. delivers an Hebrew was guilty of Theft who made any Gain to himself by Playing at Dice Cockal Tables or committing Wild or Tame Beasts or Fowls to fight together to make sport for the Spectators For they judged no Gain to be honest that arose from a Contract depending upon Fortune But it was not Theft if a Iew contending with a Gentile won the Prize or Wager tho' that also as a thing Inutile or Unprofitable to Humane Society were prohibited By the same Ancient Right he also was a Thief who so bred up and taught Doves or other Birds or Beasts Wild or Tame as that they should fly or go abroad and alluring or decoying others of the same kind bring them home to the gain of their Owner nor was it lawful to go a Fowling after Pigeons in a place inhabited or within Four Miles thereof because Pigeons were reckoned among the Goods of other Men and were nourished by the Owners either for Sacrifices or for food Nor was it lawful for any man to build a Dove-House in his Field unless he had Ground of his own lying round about it of Fifty Cubits extent every way CHAP. IX The sixth Precept Of Judgments or Administration of Iustice in Courts of Iudicature and of Civil Obedience FRom this Natural Precept the Masters saith Maimonides Hal. Melak c. 9. acknowledge that the Rulers ought to Constitute Judges and Prefects in every City and Town both to judge all Causes pertaining to the Six Precepts of the Sons of Noah and to admonish the People of their observation of them And so indeed the Mosaic Law also at length commanded Deut. 16. 18. Iudges and Officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates c. In many other places also Juridical Prefectures are commanded to be constituted according as the Civil Societies of Men require Many and memorable things indeed hath that most Excellent Interpreter of Eastern Antiquities Mr. Selden written of the Councils or Assemblies of the Ancient Hebrews in that interval of time that preceded the giving of the Holy Law on Mount Sinai But to me I confess it doth not from thence appear that any one of the Patriarchs before Moses exercised Jurisdiction in Foro in Court much less constituted Juridical Prefectures in Cities and Towns The Family of the Hebrews descending from Sem to Abraham lived in Mesopotamia nor is it constant from the Scripture whether it were at that time sui Iuris or under the Laws of the Neighbour Nations The Grand-Children of Abraham were toss'd to and fro in continual Peregrination until at length they sate down in Egypt where they were so far from living by Laws and Customs of their own that they groan'd long under a most cruel Servitude Common-wealth of Hebrews there was none Tribunal or Court of Judicature they had none till after their deliverance from the Egyptian Bondage Then and not till then it was that the People of God being greatly multiplied and divided into Twelve Tribes the Precept concerning Judgments was given in Mara Exod. 18. 25. Among the Traditions of the Masters we find mention'd often the House of Iudgment of Methusalem also of Sem and Eber which yet are not to be taken for Juridical Prefectures but for Schools Witness Maimonides More Neboch part 2. c. 39. Who saith The Wise Men speak of the Prophets that were before Moses the House of Judgment of Eber the House of Judgment of Methusalem that is the School of Methusalem All those were Prophets and taught Men after the manner of Preachers or Doctors Nor is it otherwise said of Abraham Gen. 18. 19. I know him that he will command his Children and Houshold after him and they
to Divine Worship as Sacrifices Oblations Incense expresly declined by the Angel that appear'd to Manoah Iudg. 13. 16. and mentioned in Daniel 2. 46. Secondly if we solemnly Vow or Swear by them or beg of them those things which by God's Command ought to be petitioned for from God alone or now under the new Covenant from God and Christ such are Remission of Sins the Holy Spirit Eternal Life For this is as Philo rightly observes Aequalia dare inaequalibus qui non est inferiorum honos sed superioris depressio nor is it less than crimen laesae Majestatis summae High Treason against the Divine Majesty to give His Honour to His Ministers To petition Superiors principally Kings and Princes who are Presidents of human Peace and Conservators of every private Mans Right and Propriety for such things as are in their power to grant is not against this Law Nor are we by the same forbidden to honour them by kneeling or prostrating our bodies in their presence where Custom of the Place or Nation requires those signs of respect and reverence for this is Civil not Divine Honour Nathan prostrated himself before David only as he was King 1 Kings 1. 23. and the Writer of Illustrious Lives saith in Conon necesse est si in conspectum veneris venerari te regem quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 illi vocant The Greeks instead of that word often put 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 procumbere to lye down flat upon the ground in token of Submission and Veneration Livy speaking of certain Embassadors of the Carthaginians saith More adorantium accepto credo ritu ex ea regione ex qua oriundi erant procubuerunt He means from the Phenicians Neighbours of the Hebrews whose Custom of yenerating their Kings in this manner Euripides in Phoeniss thus expresses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Supplex te Rex venerans genibus Patrio advolvor de more tuis But if this prostration of the body be in any Nation used only in Divine Worship then is the case quite alter'd and to use it in honour of the King himself will be unlawful For this very reason the Grecians who were not accustomed to prostrate themselves unless in Sacris refus'd to venerate the King of the Persians in that manner and some Macedonians tho' eminent in the Army and Court of Alexander the Great could not either by flattery or terror be brought to prophane the Religious gesture of Procumbency by using it before him even when he affected to be thought a God Particularly Callisthenes and Polypercon the former of whom in the close of his free Oration to Alexander fear'd not to say non pudet Patriae nec desidero ad quem modum Rex mihi colendus sit discere the other openly derided one of the Persians that from veneration of the same Mighty King lay with their Faces upon the ground jeeringly advising him ut vehementius caput quateret ad terram as Curtius lib. 8. cap. 5. relates There were times when the Christians thought it not alien from their Religion to humble themselves by such prostration before the Statues and Images of Emperors But after Iulian had commanded that Images of false Gods should be added to his own Images the more Prudent of the Christians held themselves obliged in conscience to suffer the worst of torments rather than to fall down before them as Gregorius Nazianzenus hath recorded And hither may we refer that of Tertullian to Scapula Colimus ergo Imperatorem sic quomodo nobis licet ipsi expedit ut hominem à Deo secundum quicquid est à Deo consecutum solo Deo minorem Hitherto we have enquir'd what Gods are falsely and without just cause so called and who are sometimes not without cause named Gods and how far these of the latter sort may without offence of the Most High God be honour'd It remains only that we enquire what is the Grand Scope or Principal Design of this first Precept The most Learned Iew Philo and the Christians following him rightly call this Precept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Empire of One or also 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the destruction of a multitude of Gods For no doubt is to be made but that the chief purpose of this Law is to extirpate Polytheism and that too as Maimonides wisely observes not for God's sake for what benefit can he receive from humane worship but for Man's whose felicity consisteth only in this that he be advanced from things sensible to that Insensible God from things subject to decay and destruction or such as had a beginning to that Eternal Ens. Nor is any thing so useful as the belief of one God to conjoin and bind Men together in Peace and Mutual Amity Whence that memorable Sentence of the Greek Author of the Book de Monarchia l. 1. Amatorium vehementissimum vinculum insolubile benevolentiae atque amoris cultus unius Dei Whereto he adds for confirmation or that he might inculcate the same as a Maxime of perpetual truth and universal too Causa concordiae summa maxima de uno Deo persuasio a quo velut fonte procedit amicitia firma insolubilis hominibus inter se. To this great verity Tacitus seems to have had respect when speaking of the Religion of the Iews he saith Honor Sacerdotii firmamentum potentiae assumitur For if the honour of the Priesthood be the Grand Sanction of the Power and Authority of the Civil Magistrate in all Common-wealths as is confest by that common Axiom sublato sacerdotio tollitur simul Lex and Religion be the Basis upon which the honour of the Priesthood stands which is by all Men acknowledg'd and the persuasion of One God be the firmest fundament of Religion which cannot be denied then it will of necessity follow that the perswasion of One God is the firmament of Empire because the strongest ligament whereby the minds of Men are combin'd and disposed to live both in obedience to Governors and in peace and mutual amity among themselves Admirable therefore is the Goodness shewn by God to the Israelites in this that having selected them before all other Nations to be his peculiar People and being now about to constitute a new form of Government or Republick wherein Himself was to preside He gave them this first Precept as the fundamental Law upon which the stability of their Empire and their Felicity was to depend and to which the Light of Nature or Right Reason would oblige them to assent For the Agnition of One Eternal Infinite Omnipotent God is to a considering Man without much difficulty of thoughts inferrible from any one of these subsequent reasonings 1. He that from any natural effect whatever which he hath seen shall reason to the next cause thereof and thence proceed to the next cause of that cause and then immerge himself profoundly into the order of
causes will at length find with the Philosophers of clearest understanding that there is one first Mover i. e. one Eternal Cause of all things which all Men call God and this without all cogitation of his own fortune the solicitude whereof both begets fear of evil to come and averts the mind from the inquisition of natural causes and at the same time gives occasion of imagining many Gods 2. God is necessarily or by Himself and whatsoever is so is consider'd not as it is in genere but in actu and in actu things are single Now if you suppose more than one God you shall find in singulis nothing wherefore they should be necessarily or by themselves nothing wherefore two should be believ'd to be rather than Three or Ten rather than Five Add that the multiplication of singular things of the same kind is from the fecundity of Causes according to which more or fewer things are bred out of them but of God there is neither original nor any cause And then again in divers singulars there are certain singular proprieties by which they are distinguish'd among themselves which to suppose in God who by his Nature necessarily is is not necessary 3. Nor can you any where find signs of more than One God For this Whole University makes One World in the World is but one Sun in Man also but One mind governs 4. If there were Two or more Gods acting and willing freely they might will contrary things at the same time and consequently one might hinder the other from doing what he would but to imagine it possible for God to be hinder'd from doing what He wills is to imagine Him not to be God Evident therefore and necessary it is that there is but One God Evident it is also that the Israelites were under a double obligation to obey this Precept One from God's express Command the other from the Light of Nature which alone is sufficient to teach Men both that there is but One God properly so call'd and that to Him alone all Divine Worship is due CHAP. III. The Second Precept explicated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Thou shalt not make to thy self any graven Image c. IN Greek Writers the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is often used to signify 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an apparition or ostent but in the Sacred Books we no where find it used in that signification but always of the same with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 graven and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Image or Effigies and therefore St. Ierom translates it sometimes Idolum sometimes Sculptile then Imago and in other places Simulacrum So the Calf made in Horeb is by St. Luke Act. 7. 41. call'd an Idol and they that worship'd it are by St. Paul 1 Corinth 10. 7. call'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idolaters And the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers exactly to the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereby is signifi'd Worship alien from the Law not that an Idol signifies any thing of evil per se as some think but because after the Law there was no more evident sign of distinction betwixt the Pious and the Superstitious than this that all these had graven Images those had none And therefore tho' the Greek version renders not word for word yet the sense is plainly enough express'd Nor did the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worshippers of many Gods only make and set up Images to them but thought also that by Magical rites some certain Ethereal Spirit was brought down into those Images as may be seen both in the Dialogue of Trismegistus whoever he was that impos'd that mighty name upon himself with Asclepius and in Maimonides in many places of his Book intituled Ductor dubitantium as also in Abenesdras upon this Precept The same is noted by Tertullian l. de Idololatria in these words Rapere ad se Daemonia omnem Spiritum immundum per consecrationis obligamentum and in l. de spectaculis he saith that Demons operate in Images and Minutius Felix Isti impuri Spiritus sub statuis imaginibus consecratis delitescunt That such were the Images which in Iacob's History are named Teraphim is the opinion of Abenesdras Maimonides and Kimchi tho' the word it self be of good and bad signification indifferently and is sometimes as in Iudg. 17. 5. and Hosea 3. 5. taken for Cherubins Such also was the Gamaheu or little Image that Nero had or at least was willing Men should believe he had by the suggestions whereof he pretended to be premonished of things to come as Suetonius relates That many Images telesmatically made forsooth and erected have been vocal yea and Oraculous too many grave Writers have made no scruple to affirm and Maimonides parte 3. cap. 29. Ductor dubitant tells us That he had read two Books of speaking Images These Authors perhaps had from others heard of such Statues and believ'd what they had heard to be true but to me I freely profess it seems more probable that either they gave credit too easily to fabulous relations or that the relators themselves had been imposed upon by frauds and impostures of Heathen Priests speaking in and pronouncing enigmatick Oracles from the hollow of Statues to delude the Credulous and at the same time propagate the honour of the False Gods represented by those Idols than that evil Demons should as it were animate a Statue and cause it to express articulate Sounds without vocal Organs And as for Memnon's Statue or Colossus made of black Marble set up in that magnificent Temple of Serapis in Thebes and for the Musick it made upon the striking of the beams of the Sun upon it so much celebrated by ancient Writers as well Latine as Greek certainly it was meerly a piece of Art a kind of pneumatic Machine contrived by the Theban Priests Men of not vulgar skill in Astronomy and all other Philosophical Sciences Athanasius Kircher I remember in his Oedipus Aegyptiacus Tom. 2. according to his usual credulity conceives it was a Telesme or made by Talismanic Art and that the Devil was conjur'd within the hollow of it to perform that Effect because it continued Musical for so long a time namely to the days of Apollonius Tyaneus which from the first Erection of it was about Eleven hundred Years But yet he shews that such a Musical Statue may be made by Mathematical and Natural contrivance upon the ground of Rarefaction saying Magnam enim vim in natura rerum rarefactionem obtinere nemo ignorat and subnecting various other pneumatical devices among the Aegyptians in their Temples But whether it were the Devil or the Priest that spake in those Consecrated Statues or whether the vulgar in all Ages easie to be gull'd by Men of more Learning and cunning were only deluded into a belief that they spake certain it is however that the opinion of some Spirit or other included within them so far advanced their
were bitten were ex genere Chersydrorum a kind of Water Serpents grown more venenous by heat and thirst and so truly Seraphim i. e. ardentes and exurentes and that they were not bred in the place call'd Phunon where the Brazen Serpent was Erected but brought thither vi quadam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Divine Power to punish the Contumacious people hath been amply proved by the Many-tongued Bochartus in Hierozoici parte posteriori l. 3. c. 13. to whom we owe all the knowledge we have acquired of the various kinds of Animals mentioned in the Holy Bible As for Solomon's adding the Images of Oxen and Lions to the Brazen Laver either he did it by secret intimation or suggestion from God or as Iosephus judges and other Learned Iews it was his first step toward the Idolatry to which after he arrived When we said that Graven Images of Animals were by this Law forbidden we comprehend also Images of the Caelestial Luminaries because they too have their Motions not Animal indeed but Regular and Periodick For that not the Coelestial Orbs but the Stars and Planets are moved in Caelo Liquido in the AEthereal spaces or Firmament is the most ancient Opinion of the Hebrews as the Gemara teaches at the beginning of Genesis saying Orbes fixi sed sidera mobilia And they expressed in Figure either the form of some single Planet as of the Sun Moon Saturn call'd the Star of your God Remphan or Rephan in Act. 7. 43 Lucifer Jupiter c. or some whole Constellation made up of many Stars and by men fancied to resemble a Man or brute Animal or Serpent or other Living Creature Wherefore Images of this kind also fall under the interdiction of this Law It appears nevertheless that the Images and Figures here interdicted are in the number of things in their own Nature neither good nor evil but indifferent and consequently not unlawful and which are prohibited only for caution of some Evil that may arise from the abuse of them And that very many things interdicted in the Mosaic Law are indeed by their own nature or per se 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indifferent but directly opposed by God to the Institutes of the AEgyptians Phoenicians Arabians to the end that the Hebrews might be kept the more remote from Polytheism or the Worship of many Gods is prudently observ'd by Maimonides But besides this Caution there is another excellent use of this interdict of Images viz. to admonish men that God is most remote from our sight and other senses The Invisible God is not to be Worshiped by Images Symbols or Representations Ye saw not saith Moses any similitude in the day wherein the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire lest perhaps being deceived ye might make to your selves any graven Image And Seneca Nat. Quaest. 8. 30. could say of God Effugit oculos cogitatione visendus est Also Antiphanes the Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. God is not seen by Eyes He is like to no man whence no man can know him by an Effigies And that this was the reason of this Law is intimated both by Philo when de-Legatione he said Eum qui inaspicuus est in simulacro aut fictili opere ostendere nefas and by Diodorus Siculus when he said of Moses Imaginem statuit nullam quòd non crederet Deum homini esse similem And by Tacitus Iudaei mente solâ unumque numen intelligunt Prophanos qui Deûm imagines mortalibus materiis in speciem hominum effingunt For the same reason Halicarnensis and Plutarch Affirm That Numa caus'd all Images to be remov'd out of the Roman Roman Temples Quod non sanctum ratus assimulare meliora pejoribus neque ad Deum accedi aliter posse quà m cogitatu And Varro hath left upon Record That the Romans for more than One hundred and seventy Years from the building of their City Worshipped the Gods sine simulacro adding that if that wise Custom had been continued to his days the Gods would have been observed more Religiously and alledging the Example of the Jewish Nation to attest that his Sentence and at length concluding That they who first set up Images of Gods for the People took away fear from their Cities and put Error in the place of it What therefore shall we say of Pictures or Forms of Animals made in flats or cut in hollows are they also by this Precept forbidden or not Certainly this place cannot be interpreted to condemn them That not all Pictures were Prohibited may with good reason and assurance too be inferr'd from the Ensigns of the Hebrews bearing a Man a Lyon a Bull an Eagle c. Some Pictures are indeed forbidden but in other places namely all those which Idolaters used in their Superstitious and detestable Worship Levit. 26. 1. To which may be adjoyn'd the Figures cut or engraven upon Metals and believ'd to be of Power after their Consecration with certain Magical Words and Ceremonies to defend Men and Cities from Invasion of Enemies Scorpions Lyons Serpents and other hurtful Animals commemorated copiously by Maimonides Ductor Dubitant part 3. cap. 37. Which Opinion the Graecians following call'd such Magical Figures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfect Works whence comes the corrupt word of the Arabians Talisman signifying the same thing Others call them as we have before hinted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Principles or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Traditions of Elements Of these frequent Examples occur in the Constantinopolitan History in the posthume Works of Scaliger in Gaffarel and in our Mr. Gregories opuscula That we may come now to the Christians they have believ'd themselves to be oblig'd neither by other Laws of the Hebrews indeterminately nor by that of having no Graven Images of living Creatures For such Images and Statues both of Emperors and of private Men renowned for Learning and Wisdom have been in most Cities extant among them and are so at this day without danger of Idolatry and therefore without offence And as for Figures painted or engraven since these were not without difference interdicted even to the Hebrews they have used them more freely as the Figure of a Shepherd in a Cup or Chalice mention'd in Tertullian assures us Nay they abstain'd not from the Figure of our Saviour Christ after the Emperors became Christians witness these Three ancient Verses written by Prudentius Christus purpureum gemmanti textus in auro Signabat labarum clypeorum insignia Christus Scripserat ardebat summis crux addita crist is Christs Figure of bright Gold on Purple born Did the Imperial standard long adorn Drawn upon shields for Arms his picture stood And on their crests was rais'd a Cross of Blood The same excellent Poet in passione Cassiani hath transmitted to Posterity that in the Monuments of Martyrs was express'd in Figures the manner of their Martyrdom and what they had
to the Ephesians To the Third of not swearing or vowing by Gods holy Name in vain they refer whatever we are taught in the New Testament concerning the great Reverence due to the Divine Name in Matth. 6. 9. so great that out of respect thereunto we ought to abstain from all swearing unless in matters highly pertaining to the honor of God as in Matth. 5. 34. and Iames 5. 12. To the Fourth of keeping holy the Sabbath they refer the Christians certain hope of a most tranquil and happy life to come assured by that in Hebrews 4. from the First verse to the 11 th Whereof a certain tast is in the mean time given in that peace of Conscience which St. Paul so justly preferrs to all other enjoyments in this transitory life when Romans 5. 1 2. he saith Being justified by faith we have peace with God c. To the Fifth commanding honour to be given to Parents the Christians refer all the Evangelical Mandates of giving civil honour and obedience within the limits of Divine Commands to Kings and Governours and all that are put in Authority under them Such are given in Rom. 13. from verse 1. to 8. in 1 Tim. 2. 1 2 and 3. in 1 Pet. 2. 13. Of obedience to Masters in Ephes. 6. 3. and Coloss. 3. 22. Of honour and obedience to Husbands in 1 Corinth 11. 3. 1 Coloss. 3. 18. in 1 Pet. 3. 1 and 2. in 1 Tim. 2. 12. in Tit. 2. 9. Also to Pastors or Ministers of the Gospel in 1 Tim. 5. 17. in Hebr. 13. 17. and in 1 Pet. 5. 5. and to others of Eminent quality in Rom. 13. 7 and 8. To the Sixth by which Adultery is prohibited are accounted the Evangelic Interdicts against all sorts of unnatural lusts all scortation or whoring all uncleanness and polution Venereal of whatsoever kind or degree such as are promulged in St. Matth. 15. 19. in Mark 7. 21. in Acts 15. 20. in Rom. 1. 19. in 1 Cor. 6. 13. and 2 Cor. 12. 21. in Gal. 5. 19. in Ephes. 5. 3. in Coloss. 3. 3. in 1 Thess. 4. 3. and 2 Thess. 2. 3. Also all Divorces unless in the case of Adultery as in Matth. 5. 32. and 19. 9. To the Seventh interdicting Homicide are referr'd all animosities anger hatred and malice the seeds of fights and murders condemned and forbidden in Matth. 5. 22. 43 44 45. and the following comma's in Eph. 4. 31. in Coloss. 3. 8. in 1 Tim. 2. 8. in Iames 1. 20. in 1 Ep. of Iohn 3. 15. and in other places of the New-Testament To the Eighth against Theft are reduced those most equitable Precepts by which Christians are not only forbidden to infer any damage loss or detriment upon others but obliged on the contrary to do good to all men even to their enemies to the best of their faculties and power Such we find in Matth. 5. 44. in Luke 6. 35. in 1 Cor. 6. 7. and 8. in 2 Cor. 7. 2. in 2 Coloss. 3. 25. in Ephes. 2. in 1 Pet. 4. 18. in Rom. 5. 14. in Galat. 5. 22. in 2 Thess. 1. 11. Under the Ninth by which it is made criminal to give a false Testimony are listed the Precepts by which we are commanded to shun all falshood lying and deceit in speech and to be highly studious of veracity and faith in all conversation and transactions Such are recorded in Iohn 8. 44. Ephes. 4. 24 25 26. 1 Iohn 2. 21. Coloss. 3. 9. Rom. 3. 4. 1 Tim. 1. 10. 1 Cor. 5. 8. The Last prohibiting Concupiscence is by Christians so far extended as that no permission is to be indulged to the motions of the mind that sead to unlawful counsels designs and actions but that they ought to be checkt and extinguished so soon as we perceive them to arise within us as appears both from the places already cited in 5 th Art of the Chapt. next precedent and in Mark 4. 19. Gal. 5. 24. 1 Pet. 2. 11. And this Mortification of our sensual appetites is what the Holy Scripture intends by crucifying killing and putting off the old man in Coloss. 3. 5. and 9. Rom. 6. 6. Ephes. 4 22. and what Lactantius l. 6. c. 18. adviseth when he saith Priùs tamen quà m commotio illa prosiliat ad nocendum quoad fieri potest maturius sopiatur The Three allurements of these sensual Motions are Pleasure Pride Riches in the judgment of St. Iohn 1 Epist. 2. 16 and 17. To whom Philo consenting deduceth all Sins and Mischiefs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from one fountain viz. the desire either of Money or of Honour or of pleasure To conclude the Sum of all the hitherto recited Precepts of the Mosaic somewhat more obscurely indeed and with many shadows intermixt but of the Evangelical most openly and brightly is no more but this that God be loved above all things and that every man be loved as our selves This is the sole scope as of the Law and the Prophets so also of the Gospel Witness Psal. 15. Esai 32. 15. Mich. 6. 8. Matth. 22. 37 38 39 40. Mark 12. 30 31. Luke 10. 27. Rom. 13. 8 9 10 and 11. 1 Cor. 8. 3. and 13. 2. Gal. 5. 14. 1 Tim. 1. 5. 1 Pet. 1. 22. Iam. 2. 8. 1 Iohn 2. 10. and 3. 17. and 4. 7 8 9. and 2. 12. 20. By this Love faith is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 operating Gal. 5. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perfect Iam. 2. 22. Without it and the works thereof it is a dead Faith Iam. 2. 20. This Love therefore let us pray to God to give unto and increase in us for His Sons sake by the Holy Spirit Amen From this Harmony of the Mosaic and Evangelic Laws I might take occasion to enquire also into the things in which these differ from and excel those and thence to shew how incomparably more noble in it self and more agreeable to the Spiritual Nature and proper affections of a Rational Soul the Christian Religion is than the Iudaic or any other hitherto known in the World Which would not be difficult to me to do since various Arguments offer themselves to every considering man from the excellency of the Reward by God Himself promised and infallibly assured to all true and sincere Professors of Christianism viz. eternal Life and immutable Felicity after a joyful Resurrection from the singular Sanctity of its Doctrine and Precepts as well concerning the true and most congruous Worship of God in Spirit and from pure Love as concerning all the Offices of Humanity due from us to our Neighbour though our Enemy the Mortification of all sensual Lusts and unjust desires nay the contempt of all temporal goods in comparison with eternal from the Divine Virtues inculpable life miraculous works patient sufferings and certain Resurrection of Christ the Author of it and in fine from the wonderful Propagation thereof whether we consider the infirmity simplicity and obscurity of the Men that in the first times
Protestants Fol. Dr. Hicks's Sermon at the Act at Oxford Quarto Before the Lord Mayor Peculium Dei Quarto Notion of Persecution Quarto Dr. Hicks Sermon before the Lord Mayor Ian. 30. at Bow-Church 1682. Dr. Sharp's Sermon before the Lord Mayor Quarto Sermon at the Spittle York-shire Feast Quar. Sermon before the House of Commons April 11. 1679. At the Election of the Lord Mayor 1680. Dr. William Smith's Unjust Mans Doom and Discourse of Partial Conformity Octavo Two Assize Sermons Octavo Two Sermons on the 3 d. of May 29 th of May. Lent Sermon Quarto Dr. Thorp's Sermon before the Lord Mayor Quarto Dr. Woodrof's Sermon before the Lord Mayor Quarto Mr. Williams's Sermon before the L. 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Smith's Sermon concerning the Doctrine Unity and Profession of the Christian Faith Preached before the University of Oxford With an Appendix concerning the Apostles Creed Quarto 1682. Mr. Lamb's Sermon before the Lord Mayor Feb. 5. 1682. Dr. Calamy's Sermon preached before the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Citizens of London at Bow-Church on the 29. of May. 1682. Prosecution no Persecution or the Difference between suffering for Disobedience and Faction in a Sermon upon Phil. 1. 29. Preached at Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk on the 22. of March 1681. by Nath. Bisbie D. D. Article 1. Right defined and 2. distinguished into Preceptive and Concessive 3. What is Right Natural and What Divine 4. What is right Positive or Civil 5. Civil right either peculiar to one Nation or common to many Nations 6. Right common to many Nations subdivided into Imperative and Intervenient 7. Right distinguish'd from Law 8. Natural Right and 9. Natural Law defined 10. That all the Laws of Nature are the Laws of God 1. God's Right to the absolute Monarchy of the World 2. His Dominion over men Natural and Civil 3. The Stability of His Positive Divine Laws given to the Iews and Universal extent of the same 4. The difference betwixt Law natural positive Divine as to their Obligation 5. The importance of the Premisses design of the subsequent Discourse 6. The Method and Heads of the same Article 1. Three Preliminaries concerning these Precepts 2 Various opinions of the Rabbines concerning the number of these Precepts Article 1 What was understood to be Extraneous Worship by the Egyptians and what by the Hebrews 3. That the interdict of Idolatry given to the Hebrews seems to have respect to the manifold Idolatry of the Egyptians 3. Egyptian Polytheism contagious to the Hebrews and therefore obviated by one general interdict 4. The setting up of Pillars Statues c. Why forbidden by Moses to the Hebrews tho' not unlawful to the Stranger unless used to Idolatry 5. The Mosaic Law concerning Idols explicated Article 1. Blasphemy forbidden among the Egyptians 2. What was blasphemy to the Hebrews 3. Blasphemy and Idolatry equal crimes and always to be punished by Excision Arti. 1. Homicide prohibited to the Egyptians and other Gentiles by Law Natural and after to the Israelites by the Mosaic 2. Exposing of Infants and procuring of Abortion also Interdicted 3. Punishment of wilful Murder in the Common-wealth of the Hebrews 4. Right of Asyle in casual Homicide 5. How far an Aggressor was to be resisted by a by-stander in defence of the assaulted 6. Homicide in what cases permited and whence arose the Right of Zealots 7. That the Law de Anathemate gave the Hebrews no right to devote their children or servants to death and therefore that the Daughter of Iephtha was made not a victim but a Nun. 1. Incest Adultery Sodomy and Bestiality interdicted by the Law of Nature 2. Before the Mosaic Law marriage of the Brother with the Germane not with the Uterine Sister permitted why 3. Lacedemonian Law permitting marriage with Uterine Sisters not with Germane 4. Marriage with both Uterine and Germane Sister lawful among the Egyptiane 5. and Persians 6. Marriages interdicted to the Israelites 7. The Right of Marrying with the Brothers Widow most ancient and confirm'd by Moses 8. The same used by the Egyptians 9. The Hebrew Women unmarried free to humble themselves to
whom they pleased before the Law 10. The Right of Divorce instituted by Moses 11. Polygamy permitted to the Hebrews both before and after the Law 12. The Hebrews not permitted to lie or marry with Gentiles not Proselytes 13. Eunuchs Bastards excluded from Matrimony with Israelites 14. The Right of Proselytes and Libertines 15. The Maid-Servant not permitted to Marry before she was made absolutely Free by Redemption or Manumission 16. Nor the Man-Servant until the Christians gave them jus Conjugii Article 1. Theft Interdicted among the Egyptians whose Singular Law concerning Robbery is recited 2. Theft of what kind soever forbidden also to the Sons of Noah by Law Natural and 3. By the Mosaic to the Hebrews 4. Fraudulent removing of ancient Land-marks Theft 5. Punishment of various frauds among the Egyptians 6. All fraud even in words unlawful to the Hebrews 7. The difference betwixt the Right of an Hebrew and of a Gentile as to pilfering things of small Value 8. Satisfaction for damage always to be made by the Mosaic Law and to whom 9. The Law of restoring things lost explicated 10. An unequal Price unlawful 11. Punishment of Theft Capital not from the Law of the Hebrews but from that given to the Sons of Noah 21 The Mosaic Interdict of Theft deduced from Law Natural 13. Vsury unlawful to the Hebrews among themselves lawful to the Gentiles 14. Gain from Games unlawful to an Hebrew Artic. 1. The administration of Justice by Iudges prescribed first by Natural Law after by the Mosaic 2. Courts Iuridical not constituted before Moses 3. The contrary not evident from the Traditions of the Rabbins nor from the Scripture 4. Nor from the Example of Simeon and Levi and of Iudah in the cause of Thamar 5. The Right of a Gentile in the Common-wealth of the Hebrews as to Judgments in foro Article 1. Eating of Blood Interdicted first to Noah and after to the Israelites 2. The reason of this Interdict 3. The Law against eating of any thing that died of it self and of any Member torn off from an Animal alive and the reason thereof 4. Examples of such cruelty carnage in Bacchanals Article 1. The Mosaic Law of all written Laws the most ancient 2. Moses the Wisest of all Law-givers 3. The Writers design method in the eâ—suing explication of the Decalogue 4. Why God is here call'd The Lord. 5. That the Law was given not immediately by God Himself but by an Angel in the Name of God 6. Why the Angel that pronounced the Law said I am the Lord c. 7. Why the Writer of the Law saith all these Words 8. God's peculiar Right to the Title of Supream Lord of the Israelites 9. The Preface to a Law ought to be brief and full of Authority 10. Why God in these Precept chose the number Ten. 11. Why the Law was given in the Wilderness 12. Why it is here said Thy in the singular number Article 1. Why it is here said Other Gods beside me 2. Gods distinguish'd into two Classes 3. The Celestial Luminaries the first false Gods 4. Kings and Queens deified after death the Second false Gods 5. Whence it was that Brutes came to be worship'd as Gods 6. Honor due to good Angels and what 7. Signs of honour proper to God not to be exhibited to good Angels 8. Civil Veneration of Kings not unlawful 9. Extirpation of Polytheism the principal design of this Precept 10. The Unity of God manifest by the Light of Nature Article 1. In what sense the word Idol is always used in holy Scripture 2. That Idolatry was founded upon an opinion that Images Magically consecrate were animated by Daemons and therefore vocal 3. Teraphim used chiefly for Divination 4. Teraphim how made 5. Of what Materials 6. What were the Silver Shrines of Diana of the Ephesians 7. Why graven Images of Animals were by God interdicted to the Hebrews 8. That God reserv'd to himself a right of exception to this Law from the Instances of the Cherubims and of the Brazen Serpent Erected by His Command 9. Images of the Stars also interdicted by this precept and that to prevent Polytheism 10. to admonish men That the Invisible God cannot be represented by Images 11. What Pictures fall under this interdict 12. That the Christians have not thought themselves indeterminately obliged by this Law 13. What is here signified by Adoration of Images 14. Different Opinions of Christians about honour exhibited to Saints before their Images Pictures 15. The true sense of the Word Idolatry 16. Private Men among Christians ought not to pull down Idols * 17. That God revenges Idolatry only to the third and fourth Generation and that by delivering up the Posterity of Idolaters into miserable Servitude 18. Who are properly said to hate God 19. Why God is here said to shew mercy unto Thousands 20. Who are by God call'd Pious and who Righteous Men. Article 1. Why it is here said the Name of the Lord not my Name * 2. Perjury interdicted chiefly by this Precept and 3. Threatned to be severely punish'd by God Himself 4. The Sanctity of an Oath 5. Why God threatneth to revenge Perjury by Punishments inflicted by Himself Article 1. The precept of keeping holy the Sabbath distinguish'd from the precept of resting from Labour upon the Sabbath as by the causes so also by the times 2. The different interpretations of Grotius and Selden of the word Remember reconciled 3. Testimonies of the Sabbath observ'd anciently by Gentiles also 4. Why the primitive Christians held their Assemblies upon the Sabbath day 5 The Lords day not Surrogated into the place of the Sabbath 6. why the Greeks and Latins use the word Sabbata not Sabbatum 7. Labour upon Six days of the Week not commanded but only permitted 8. Why God fixed the Sabbath upon the Seventh day 9. Why he by many words inculcated this Precept 10. Who are to be understood here by Thy Son and thy Daughter 11. Humanity of Masters towards Servants here intimated 12. Some goodness and mercy to be exercised also toward Brutes by this Precept 13. Who is here meant by The Stranger that is within thy gates * 14. Why the Stranger was by this Law obliged to abstain from Labour upon the Sabbath 15. Why God made the Universe in Six days 16. What is to be understood by His resting upon the Seventh day * 17. How the true Seventh or Sabbatical day was first made known to the Hebrews 18. The honour of the number Seven deriv'd from the Aegyptian Mathematicians 19. The Septenary number of days observ'd by Gentiles in their Feasts 20. The Number Seven of solemn respect in the Mosaic Rites in other Mysteries 21. The weekly Circle of Days deriv'd by the Aegyptian Astrologers from the Seven Planets 22. Bede's reason why in the planetary denomination of the Seven days of the week the natural order of the Planets was not observ'd 23. Why Saturn was made Lord of the Seventh day 24. The Antiquity of the planetary denomination of the Seven days and conclusion of this chapter Article 1. That this Precept was anciently observed by the Egyptians the Pythagoreans and 2. the Athenians 3. Honour and reverence given by the Egyptians even to the dead bodies of their Parents 4. Other Nations also honour'd Parents 5. Excellency and usefulness of this Law 6. The right of Mothers to honour and reverence from their Children 7. Children by this Law obliged to relieve their Parents in want 8. Longaevity the reward of filial reverence 9. The Penalty added to this Law Article 1. Murder a Crime against God Nature and Civil Laws 2. Exempts from this Law Article 1. Theft injurious to private Men and hurtful to the Public * 2. The necessity and utility of this interdict 3. Theft of a Man capital among the Hebrews Article 1. Who is here to be understood by Neighbour 2. The form of Adjuration used by the Hebrew Judges to Witnesses and to the Accused 3. False Testimony a hainous Crime 4. The Punishment of a False Witness among the Hebrews Article 1. What is here meant by Concupiscence according to the interpretation of the Hebrew Masters 2. Acts indirectly tending to the gratification of lusts interdicted by this Precept 3. As also the simple purpose to fulfil them 4. Concupiscence without effect no Sin according to the judgment of the Rabbins 5. But condemn'd by the Christians who are obliged to purity of mind 6. Not to covet any thing that belongs to another the Sum of all Moral Precepts