none at all and this without vouchsafing a Reason of such an idle conceit And let Mr. Hobbes say what he can or any one for him this Paragraph tends only to draw wicked or unwary Readers into contempt of Religion and to make a mockery of it which must tend to their Eternal misery and to keep them from that beatifical vision which Mr. Hobbes page 30. without Sence or Reason calls a word of the Schoolmen and unintelligible Mr. Hobbes p. 32. saith That when we believe the Scriptures to be the Word of God we believe the Church or a Prophet except some immediate revelation intervene so far as 't is possible to know what he means He saith That if we believe not the Scriptures the affront is done to the Church or a Prophet and not to God as the not believing the Stories of Livy concerning the gods the affront is done to Livy and not to the gods This is to undermine the Scriptures before he comes to blow them up But let Mr. Hobbes look the 5 th of Ephes. and he shall find that the Church hath handed down the Scriptures to us so united to Christ and the Union so firm there expressed between Christ and the Church that he must needs conclude that any affront done to the Scriptures must necessarily be done to Christ and to God And I do affirm against all the conceited Irreligionists in the World that the Scriptures would have been the Word of God and the Rules of Salvation although our blessed Saviour had not appointed any Church to have handed them down to us not that I say every cavilling Atheist would have assented to them But then as Mr. Hobbes plentifully urges in his Book How shall we know that they are the Word of God And of this I shall say something more hereafter But at present say that I think 't is sufficiently satisfactory to any rational Christian that they are the Word of God because they teach us our misery by sin to which our mortality is so subject our Redemption by Christ and appoint us a Pious and Virtuous way of living here and the way to an happy immortality hereafter Besides what rational Man can suppose that the good and wise God would leave mankind without a guide to a blessed immortality and what guide is there like this So that any Man that is not frantick or resolved to quarrel with every thing other people assent to but must say that God is the Author of them and consequently the disbelief of them is an affront done to God if we deny them and not to Man only And I think good King Iosiah and all Iudah with him believed the Law to be the Word of God and thought the contrary would be an affront to God upon less or at least upon less inviting grounds 2 Kings 21. than we ought now to believe the volume of the Bible to be so But if we believe not the Fables of Livy concerning the gods the affront is only done to Livy and not to his gods for they were no gods at all and so Mr. Hobbes's Example is at best but a fallacy which he is very frequent in and I have so much charity for him as to believe that 't is not always out of design but sometimes caused by his want of a clear Iudgement for Mr. Hobbes cannot but know that a juggling Cock is often hit Mr. Hobbes after a long discourse of the passions the absurdity of which is not worth the answering p. 38. saith That the Scriptures by the Spirit of God in Man mean a Mans Spirit inclined to godliness And for this he cites Exod. 28.3 which is nothing to his purpose though not so much against him as other Texts are As 31. Exod. 3. which saith expresly I have fill'd him with the Spirit of God to work which as Mr. Hobbes saith Is Mans Spirit inclined to godliness And the 51. Psal. 11 12. where David prays That God's Spirit may not be taken from him but that he may be upheld by it is as Mr. Hobbes saith David's own Spirit without doubt David thought it God's Spirit or he would have called it by an other name and I believe David knew as well as Mr. Hobbes how to express himself So to make this Opinion sufficiently ridiculous look Iudges 15. 14. where 't is said The Spirit of the Lord came mightily on Samson and the cords brake and he kill'd the Philistines that is saith Mr. Hobbes Samson's Spirit was inclined to godliness And from hence Mr. Hobbes may raise this Observation That a mans godliness makes him able to pull cords asunder which perchance Mr. Hobbes trusted to when he wrote his Leviathan Mr. Hobbes saith p. 38 39. That all those that our Saviour is said to cast Devils out of were nothing but mad Men. And I will deal plainly with Mr. Hobbes and tell him that none but mad Men think so For was he only mad that was torn by the evil Spirit before he came out of the Man possessed Or were they only mad that were possessed by the Devils 8. Matth. 31. when the Devils spake and after Christ permitted them to go into the herd of Swine and why ran the herd of Swine thereupon into the Sea To this Mr. Hobbes may say That they were mad Swine to do so And in the 12. of Matth. 27. our Saviour saith If I by Beelzebub cast out Devils by whom do your children cast them out Here 't is agreed both by our Saviour and the unbelieving Iews that our Saviour did cast out Devils therefore the Men were something else besides mad out of whom Devils were cast And why Mr. Hobbes should be wiser or undertake to be so than either the Iews or our blessed Lord and Saviour is an hard matter to know except it be that after his labour to bring Religion and the Scriptures into contempt now thinks by a side wind to debase our Saviour in his Miracles whereof one of the most eminent was his casting out Devils before he strike at his Godhead Mr. Hobbes in his tenth Chapter hath much to do with Power and Honour and saith That good success is Power p. 41. and to flatter is to Honour p. 42. and that an action whether just or unjust if great and difficult is Honourable p. 44,45 Of which last I will give an Example If two high-way Men rob six honest Men or a Ruffian ravish a Woman of great Quality 't is Honourable And this I have Mr. Hobbes's warrant for But in short I repeated these last sentences to shew his vain humor Mr. Hobbes saith p. 50. That Ignorance of the causes of Iustice disposeth a Man to make custom and example the rule of his actions and to judge that just or unjust of the punishment or example of which they can produce an example or as the Lawyers which only use this false measure of Iustice call it a precedent Thus far he I thank Mr. Hobbes that whilst
possible that a Being more excellent should understand things in another manner than one that is less excellent 'T is rational to suppose it may Besides the Scriptures expresly ascribe knowledge to God as amongst the rest Amos 3. v. 2. Gal. 4. v. 9. expresly mention God's knowledge And to deny God's knowledge is to deny God that is a Being infinitely wise So that I may truly if not improperly changing the Text of Scripture say that Mr. Hobbes acknowledgeth a God but in words denies him And in the next page to prevent being confused in this matter Mr. Hobbes saith 'T is a dishonour to God to dispute about his Attributes Certainly then Mr. Hobbes is guilty of a greater dishonour to God to deny his Attributes And in p. 192. Mr. Hobbes saith That only those Attributes of God are to be allowed in public worship which the Soveraign ordaineth So now 't is uncertain whether he will allow him any Attributes of perfection in public worship or no for in case the Soveraign prove as bad or worse than Iulian and command Injustice or Ignorance to be those Attributes that are only to be allowed or used for signs of honour as he saith Attributes are no other must be used And now he hath made the honour of God wholly to depend on the will of Man that is the Soveraign yet in this Mr. Hobbes grows a little better for here though before he had denied God his Attributes he gives the Soveraign power to restore God's Attributes to him again But what nonsence is this that a Soveraign that is a Man upon Earth and God Almighty his creature should be said to have power to dispose of God's Attributes who is the commander of all the World This is against the nature of Powers dispoâ—al for he disposeth only that hath the supream Power of disposing And the sence of this is the like Divinity of this as well as of that which follows and that is Mr. Hobbes his interpretation of the Text of Scripture viz. 'T is better to obey God than Man which he saith hath only place in the Kingdom of God by pact and not by Nature That is to say as I suppose that am a little acquainted with his language when a people have made an express covenant with God to obey him as the Israelites did by Moses they ought rather to obey God than Man but all other people over which God hath only a natural Kingdom that have made no particular covenant as none can now a days as Mr. Hobbes said before with God ought to obey Man rather than God So now we may lawfully be Papists Turks Iews Infidels or any thing that Man commands us and this place opens Mr. Hobbes to the life in what I have spoken to before about this matter and so I shall say no more of it in this place Mr. Hobbes p. 195. coming to handle the Nature and Rights of a Christian Commonwealth calls our natural Reason the undoubted Word of God So I thank him that something he allows to be the undoubted Word of God and that God hath not wholly left us without his Word to direct us though Mr. Hobbes would not allow us the Scriptures to be so without Man's approbation But I think Mr. Hobbes had done much better if in this place he had set up the Light within us and thereby turned Quaker to be the undoubted Word of God for then he would have had George Fox of his side Or if he had said our sences had been the undoubted Word of God I should sooner have believed him for that all mankind as we see daily is less apt to err in matters of sence than matters of Reason And according to what Mr. Hobbes saith If a Man's natural Reason tell him that the World is eternal à parte ante and parte post 't is the undoubted Word of God and accordingly to be believed for I suppose Mr. Hobbes will grant that God is to be believed I not remembring that ever Mr. Hobbes hath denied God his Truth though he hath denied him Understanding and Knowledge And by the same argument if the Israelites natural Reason had told them that the Calf brought them out of the Land of Egypt it was to have been believed even by Moses and Aaron And if a Man 's natural Reason should tell him that for gain he might cut his Neighbours throat we ought to believe it for that the Word of God is in every place and part of it to be believed But suppose a Man's natural Reason should tell him that Mr. Hobbes his Leviathan is a Book not only full of Blasphemy but Nonsence and particularly in this Paragraph where he goes with a great deal of other unintelligible matter from calling Reason the Word of God to say Reason is to be made use of in acquiring of peace c. and saying When in Reason there is any thing contrary to God's Word the fault is either in ill interpretation or erroneous ratiocination which makes all he said signifie nothing would Mr. Hobbes admit that this Man's Reason was the Word of God No I believe he would say That there was a fault in this Man's ratiocination as I am sure there is in Mr. Hobbes's in the next page where he saith That God may speak to a Man by Dreams Visions or Inspiration but no other Man is bound to believe it which taken as an universal proposition makes an end of all belief in the Scriptures But of this I have spoken before and referred matters of this nature as well as the knowledge of a true Miracle or Prophet to the Learned Origines Sacrae which I hope any rational or good Man will rather read and regard upon that subject than Mr. Hobbes his Leviathan So little consistent with it self or intelligible by any rational Man besides the Errors and foolish Interpretations of Scripture and particularly of Deut. 13. v. 5. which saith That a dreamer or a Prophet that seeks to make Men revolt from God shall be put to death Mr. Hobbes saith That that place is equivalent to revolt from the King And also his interpretation of the 1. of Gal. 1 8. where Paul saith That he that preacheth any other Gospel let him be accursed that is saith Mr. Hobbes that Christ is King and hence he infers That all preaching against the Power of the King is accursed which let it be as true as it will in it self is such an unreasonable inference that 't is not capable to be more exposed But now I think upon it 't is probable Mr. Hobbes look'd into Scripture to find a Text which may maintain that they were accursed in 1651. that Preached revolting from Oliver's Army or that the said Army who had the Power and consequently was Mr. Hobbes his King which he attended to determin matters of Religion could not settle any thing for Scripture or Religion it pleased or that Preached that any thing ought not to be
Not but that I admit that the fourth Command as to the precise seventh day was ceremonial and is determin'd since the time of our Saviour Mr. Hobbes after he hath denied the personal Divinity of our Saviour now comes to tell us p. 286. That our Saviour nor his Apostles had any power to make Laws and that they that broke any of his dictates did not sin in it but died in their sins not being pardoned for their offences to the Laws of their respective Countries or of Nature And for this he cites Iohn 3.18 which saith They are condemned already not that they shall be condemned saith he And this conceit Mr. Hobbes grounds upon our Saviours saying his Kingdom is not of this World and he that hath no Kingdom saith Mr. Hobbes can make no Laws so our Saviour's precepts obliged not And now one would think Mr. Hobbes might rest satisfied for after as he thought he had robbed Christ of his personal Godhead now he robs him of his Authority to make Laws and so all the wicked in the World are obliged to him for setting them free from the Gospel in case they will but go into any part of the World to live where the Gospel of Christ or his Apostles are not made Canonical by the Law of that Country But in short to answer Mr. Hobbes is to give the true interpretation of the words of our Saviour Ioh. 18.36 where he saith His Kingdom is not of this World which is no more but that he designed not to take away the Romans Iurisdiction in respect of the external acts and punishments of Men but doth it therefore follow that he that was Lord of the whole Earth who Mr. Hobbes said before represented God had no power by his Word and Doctrine to oblige the Consciences of those that submitted to the Truth of them or to leave those without excuse that refused and that under the penalty of eternal Misery And that we may see that he took upon him to make Laws look Ioh. 14. 15. 1 Ioh. 2. 3. 3. 22 24. which all speak of Christ's commands and that it was the token of peoples love and obedience to him that they kept them and in another place Christ saith A new command I give unto you that ye love one another If Christ had no Authority to make Laws why are his words called commands even by him himself For had they been only directions or beseechings he and the Apostles would have stiled them so Nay Mr. Hobbes saith p. 308. That the Command is the stile of a Law So that 't is clear our Saviour had power to make Laws which he executed upon the Consciences of Men which was the Kingdom of Heaven at hand preached of by St. Iohn although he was not pleased to exercise a Temporal Iurisdiction and we may suppose it was to shew the extraordinary Spirituality of his Government in which sence he may be said to be King of the Iews though his Kingdom was not of this World And as to Mr. Hobbes his Text out of Ioh. 3. 18. whereby he would prove that those that obeyed not Christ's commands were not guilty of a sin but were condemned already for sin as he saith against Nature or the Laws of their Country Mr. Hobbes cites so much of the Text and no more than he thinks to his purpose and 't is one of the pitifullest shifts in all his Book for the latter end of the verse saith the words were spoken of Men condemned already for not believing in Christ not for disobeying the Laws of their Country Now who would trust such a juggler that hath the confidence to cite part of a verse to prove that which the residue proves the contrary But hence 't is manifest that wicked Men and Seducers grow worse and worse And now Mr. Hobbes p. 300. falls upon Cardinal Bellarmine and continues battering of him many pages together about the Supremacy of the Pope over the Church I think it might be a greater question and harder to resolve whether Cardinal Bellarmine or Mr. Hobbes was the archer Heretick That making more God's than one and this denying the one only God his Attributes and the existency of two of the Persons in the Godhead That being a Papist and the worshipper of false gods as a Wafer-cake and Pictures Angels and dead People This a worshipper of no God at all a Stock or a Stone when the Soveraign commands or when he shall change a Chistian for an Heathenish soil That being obstinate in his Religion and this ready to change as to external acts when the Soveraign bids him This question I leave to better judgments to decide Mr. Hobbes p. 323. saith That there is nothing in Scripture from whence may be inferr'd the infallibility of the Church If Mr. Hobbes mean the particular Church of Rome I shall agree with him for as to so much as I know of it 't is as full of Errors and unreasonable Tenets as the Quakers or Mr. Hobbes his Book But as to Christ's Church in general I would have Mr. Hobbes look Ephes. 5. 35 36 37. v. and he will find that Christ hath purified his Church that it might be without spot c. that is without Error And in the same Chapter he will find how Christ and his Church are one as a Man and his Wife are and that Christ loves it and cherisheth it which either must be intended in keeping it from Errors or I know not what those Texts signifie For if Christ suffer it to run into Error it will be ruined or run into decay and God will deal with it as he threatned to the particular Churches in the Revelations except they did amend And Christ saith Matth. 16. 18. That the gates of Hell should not prevail against it And 1 Tim. 3. 15. calls the Church the pillar and ground of the Truth Besides many more Texts of this kind but these are sufficient to shew Mr. Hobbes his confidence or ignorance to sâ—y That the Scripture contained nothing in it from whence might be inferr'd the infallibility of the Church see then how dangerous it is to believe Mr. Hobbes Yet from this Position he infers in the next page That Christians do not know the Scriptures to be the Word of God only believe it He might as well have said that Christians do not know that there is a God only believe it and 't is like this he may aim at Or he might have said that I know not having never travell'd thither there is such a place as Spain only believe it One part of this Proposition of Mr. Hobbes is true viz. That the Scriptures are believed to be the Word of God But the ignorance of Mr. Hobbes lies in this That in matters of fact which our senses have not perceived or we have not been at the transaction or institution of the best evidence the thing is capable of that is unquestionable testimony is sufficient to
God's Spirit upon the assumption but sufferr'd it rather to attend the blessed Spirit for the plenitude of them and this is agreeable to all the Interpreters of those Texts that ever I saw except Mr. Hobbes his Leviathan And Mr. Hobbes saith further That in these last mentioned Texts the word Spirit either signifies a real substance which he said before must be a Body or else metaphorically signifies some extraordinary ability This I mention to shew that taking Mr. Hobbes together he calls God the Holy Ghost a Body though hereafter p. 268. he denies him any real existence at all Mr. Hobbes in this Chapter cites many Texts to prove that Angels have Bodies and dimensions as those that went to Lot into Sodom and other like This I shall not dispute with Mr. Hobbes though 't is more probable and agreeable to the opinion of the generality of the World that they assumed Bodies upon those particular occasions by the direction of God Almighty But then with another argument he thinks to make it sure that Angels have Bodies because Hell-fire is prepared for the Devil and his Angels and fire saith he can only work upon a Body I suppose Mr. Hobbes means our fire can only work upon a Body and then mark the strong consequence Ergo God cannot make any other sort of fire that can work upon something not Body Mr. Hobbes might as well have said that if we never had had any fire God could not have made such a thing as fire Nay Mr. Hobbes in this place confesseth That the evil Angels shall not be consumed in this fire and this shews 't is a fire not like ours and so Mr. Hobbes hath answered himself in which faculty he is the happiest Man that I ever knew But to come closer to Mr. Hobbes he I think would be troubled to make out that our fire cannot work upon a thing that is immaterial for it follows not that because it burns wood it will burn nothing that is not in the same manner substantial But after all what is this taking it as Mr. Hobbes would have it that Angels have Bodies and dimensions to prove that the words incorporeal substance imply a contradiction That is in plain English there is no substance but hath a body that is to say the great God of Heaven and Earth though Mr. Hobbes speaks plain only concerning Angels hath a Body and consequently as Mr. Hobbes saith hath dimensions and consequently is finite and not infinite So Mr. Hobbes may in time deny all the Attributes of God for before he hath denied his Knowledge and now his Infinity by direct consequence But whether Mr. Hobbes never thought of this sequel as I have so much charity for him knowing his weakness in other places to believe he never did or whether the Atheism was so gross that Mr. Hobbes durst not speak out plain I shall leave to the Reader to determin Mr. Hobbes now comes to tell what the meaning of the words Kingdom of God signifie in Holy Scripture as he calls it properly which he defines to be p. 217. God's dominion over a people by special contract As the people of Israel were subjects by the special covenant made by God with Abraham as in Gen. 17. whereby Abraham and his Seed were obliged to obey God's positive Law as by an oath of Allegiance for to the Moral Law they were obliged before This I suppose Mr. Hobbes intends for a foundation of God's distinct Kingdom as will appear by and by never distinguish'd from his general Dominion before that ever I heard of neither is there any cause to distinguish it now as he doth by necessary supposition or else all he saith signifies nothing But methinks this is too slender a foundation for such a work and the supposition that is that Abraham and his Seed were not obliged to obey God's positive Law before that special covenant is false For without doubt God's Dominion over the Earth as he is stiled Lord of all the Earth frequently in Scripture puts a duty not only upon all the Seed of Abraham but all the Seed of Adam to obey his positive Law as well as the Moral Law in case that positive Law be appropriated to them either in general or to any of them in particular as the Ceremonial Law was appropriated to the Iews and there needs no special contract to oblige any sort of Men to obey whatever God commands for he is Lord and Creator of all the Earth and the disposer and orderer of all things in it and hath a right to do so which Mr. Hobbes acknowledgeth p. 187. and saith 'T is naturally upon the account of his Power that God reigneth and punisheth the breach of his Laws and this Mr. Hobbes saith without any limitation So before I give a further answer in this Mr. Hobbes must be reconciled to himself But Mr. Hobbes goes on in this his fabrick and after several Texts cited that the Iews were God's peculiar people boldly concludes p. 218. That by the Kingdom of God is properly meant a Commonwealth instituted by consent of those that are to be subject thereto for their Civil Government which properly was a Kingdom wherein God was King and the High Priest his Viceroy And for this thanks to his grace he vouchsafeth a reason which he never did that I remember before for any of his crotchets which is That the Iews in Scripture are called an Holy Nation Now holy saith Mr. Hobbes signifieth that which is God's by special not general right Put this into a Syllogism and let us see how natural the consequence will be By an holy Nation in Scripture is meant a peculiar Nation to God But the Iews are an holy Nation Ergo by the Kingdom of God is properly meant a Commonwealth If Mr. Hobbes had made this Syllogism any one would swear that Mr. Hobbes although he railed against Aristotle had never read him or else not understood him And 't is not less absurd out of a Syllogism than 't is in for what hath an holy Nation which are God's people because they serve him in the way of Piety which respects mainly their future state to do with a Common-wealth and God's being Monarch upon Earth which he hath left in the Creation to the government of Men But Mr. Hobbes p. 218. cites divers Texts of Scripture to confirm his Position of which Texts I shall only answer two which seem to bear most in his advantage and the first is 1 Sam. 12. 12. where 't is said upon the Israelites desiring a King that God was their King Hence Mr. Hobbes collects That God was their King and governed the Civil State of the Commonwealth and that the high Priest was his Viceroy I shall agree with Mr. Hobbes that God so far governed the State of the Commonwealth as to appoint who should govern it but 't is most apparent that he no otherwise govern'd it than by appointing who should govern as
he doth in all Commonwealths for by him King's reign For there was a certain time when there was no King in Israel and God appointed sometimes Iudges Chiefs that is Kings to govern them between which Iudges there was intervals and I would know what temporal Iurisdiction God exercised over them in those intervals or at that time when there was no King Certainly none that we ever read of in holy Writ and 't is reasonable to suppose God exercised none for that the people of Israel were then grievously oppressed and so continued sometimes forâ—y Years before a deliverer rose up which they needed not to have done if God had undertaken the temporal government for that God by his Power was able to have deliver'd them which we see he never did but by a temporal Governor in the time of which Governor the high Priest was not God's Viceroy but rather the Governor 's and the 17. Deut. 9. 12. v. clearly makes the Priest and the Iudge which should then afterwards be different persons and different Emploiments So 't is most apparent that God was no otherwise the temporal King of the Israelites than he was King of all the Earth nor the high Priest as high Priest his Viceroy though the Israelites were his chosen people as to Religious worship And as to the 1 Sam. 8. 7. which Mr. Hobbes cites where God said to Samuel when the people asked a King They have not rejected thee but they have rejected me that I should not rule over them it is no more but that God was angry with them for not taking such a Governor as he was pleased to set over them as Samuel then was and Baruck Ieptha and Samson had been but that they would have one not only of their own choosing but also aâ—ter the similitude of other Nations which God had rejected and had chosen them for his peculiar people and so in that sence they may be said to reject God in that they rejected those he did set over them As to Mr. Hobbes his other places of Scripture I think them nothing to the matter and so I shall pass them over as he saith he doth many more places for this purpose not cited but instead of citing them slily as I think claps his hands at the Clergy p. 219. and saith 'T is a wonder no more notice is taken of this but that it gives too much light to Christian Kings to see their right of Ecclesiastical government To this I will answer for the Clergy of England that those that are not infected with a spice of Popery as I am afraid some such there are God make them fewer or some for want of due consideration always acknowledge the King for supream Head of the Church and by that Title pray for him and not by that sleighty Title of Supream Moderator of the Church and the English Clergy if some few do otherwise are no more to be blamed for this than the English Souldiers were in the blessed Reign of Queen Elizabeth to be blamed in Holland because Stanly and York delivered Towns up to the Spaniard or English Writers because one English Man hath written such a Book as the Leviathan who after his Learned Discourse of the Kingdom of God comes to tell us p. 219. what the Kingdom of Grace is and saith Those are in it that promise obedience to God's government I suppose he means temporal of which he hath been treating before to whom saith he God hath gratis given to be his Subjects hereafter which is called the Kingdom of Glory Now certainly the Kingdom of Grace by all Men before Mr. Hobbes was taken to be God's Spiritual government which he exerciseth in the Hearts of good Men by his commands threats and promises to which if they yield obedience in and through the mercies of our blessed Saviour they are made inheritors of the Kingdom of Glory And what a quibble this is of Mr. Hobbes from the word gratis to change the sence of the Kingdom of Grace I shall refer to any intelligent person Mr. Hobbes coming in his 36. Chapter to treat of â—he Word of God and the Prophets comes to shew what Word signifies in Scripture of which I do think he hath given a true account in several Texts but is not able in any kind of Truth to hold out long For p. 224. he saith That the Word of God in several Texts of Scripture signifies which I never observed in any such words as are consonant to the dictates of right Reason and the first Text he cites is 2 Chron. 35. 22. where 't is said That Iosiah harkned not to the words of Necho from the mouth of God which saith Mr. Hobbes were but the dictates of Reason This is most palpably unreasonable for there was no reason for Iosiah to forbear fighting with Necho the Kings of Iudah having beaten as great Kings as the Kings of Egypt and the Iews being then in a powerful condition when he came into his Country with a great Army So this Text must either be intended that the words of Necho were but what God had told him or that they were revealed to Iosiah to be God's mind by some Prophet which most Interpreters take to be Ieremiah nay Mr. Hobbes himself cites Esdras for this last Interpretation but saith That in this he approves not an Apocryphal writer though before when he had a mind to invalidate the Scriptures by making the Penmen of them uncertain seemed strongly to incline that Esdras was the Penman of them after the Captivity when it might be supposed the certain Truth was lost and that only from the Authority of the Book of Esdras whose Authority or rather Interpretation he here rejects And then Mr. Hobbes goes on to cite several other Texts of Scripture to prove that in Scripture by the Word of God is meant the dictates of Reason or Equity as Ierem. 31. 33. and other places where God saith He will write his Laws in their Hearts Which places by all other Men I think have been interpreted the operation of God's Spirit upon the minds of Men by inclining them to obey his Laws after God had taught them by his Prophets or Ministers And there is no cause to call that reason or the proceed of reason which the Scripture terms the operation of God A Man bringing reason or an aptitude to it into the World and so he doth not that which God effects in him after he is in the World Mr. Hobbes p. 238. saith That a private Man hath Power to believe or not believe Miracles Thought bâ—ing free but saith he when it comes to publick confession the private reason must submit to the publick Now by his Rule though a Man do not believe lying wonders yet he may say he doth if any one will believe Mr. Hobbes In short this is much like his precedent Doctrine of practice and serves to authorise the grossest hypocrisie in the World in case the
make us know and that in such things knowledge and belief are the same As when we say I believe in God the Father Almighty c. It is the same with I know that there is such a person in the Trinity as God the Father and so of the rest of our Creed But when we have not had full testimony and something may be for ought we know undiscovered that may alter the matter then belief and knowledge are no more the same than Is and may be But to make Mr. Hobbes the example in the matter we will suppose that he before a pardon had been indicted of high Treason for indeavouring to subvert by his Book the antient Government of this Nation both in respect of the Subjects subjection to their King and the Peoples properties and twelve Men had been of the Iury in Middlesex none of which we will suppose stood by when he wrote the Book but had testimony all that the matter was capable of to prove that he did write it and thereupon the Iury had found him guilty and Mr. Hobbes had had Iudgment accordingly certainly he would have thought that the belief of the Iury and the knowledge of the Iury in this matter had been the same The case differs not mutato nomine as to the Scriptures for that we believe and know them to be the Word of God they having been delivered to us by unquestionable persons and all the Testimony the thing is capable of But of this I said a little before and to avoid a tedious Discourse shall refer my Reader for a perfect satisfaction to the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet's Origines Sacrae and to one of the Sermons of the Excellent Dr. Tillotson another of our not only Learned but firm Protestant Divines who are the rather to be regarded because they have neither feared to stand the Ire of a cloud full charged with Popery or provided themselves by an halting Sermon a shelter against the rain whose contrary are enough not only to fright Christians from the Altar but to make Men abhor the offerings of the Lord And if any such be that will not repent let them not despair but dye Mr. Hobbes p. 324. saith That the only Article of Faith which the Scripture makes necessary to Salvation is this that Iesus is the Christ. If an other Man had said this I should have taken little notice of it because I should have supposed that he had meant that Christ was the corner Stone and Captain of our Salvation But I doubt Mr. Hobbes saith this to incourage Men in Idleness and Ignorance which the Papists say is the Mother of Devotion And though Mr. Hobbes was so much against Bellarmine in his last Chapter yet he is so much a Papist in this that he may taste of all Errors that he uses but the same saying here that Papists use against Reading of the Scriptures and whether he intend it so far or that the notion was set down by chance is doubtful But 't is plain in our Creed and by the Doctrine of our Church which Mr. Hobbes allows of that there are other points necessary to Salvation besides this As we must believe in God the Father and the Holy Ghost as well as in God the Son and this Mr. Hobbes acknowledgeth in p. 328. only under his own limitations which are hard to be understood But then p. 331. he strains my Faith upon one Article he lays down For he saith That he hath in all his Treatise of Christian Politicks now run through alledged no Text of Scripture but in such sence as is most agreeable to the scope of the Bible which I confess I cannot believe or if he believes himself I shall change my opinion of him and instead of thinking him the grandest Heretick think him the weakest person that ever laid pen to paper or at least that ever had any reputation in the World for so doing except it be admitted me that he is given up to believe a lye in matters of Religion and I pray God he be not Mr. Hobbes after his saying p. 244. That the punishment of the damned should not be everlasting now he comes to p. 343. and goes over it again the fear of the contrary I doubt running in his mind and begins to interpret Scripture concerning the immortality of the Soul in general which he saith may have an other interpretation than is usual and first cites the 12. Eccles. 7. which saith Dust to dust and the Spirit to God that gave it which saith Mr. Hobbes ought to be interpreted That God only knows what becomes of Man's Spirit and not Man and so of another Text he cites Hence he infers That because God only knows what becomes of Man's Spirit that therefore the Spirit of Man lives not after the death of the Body till the resurrection First The Interpretation is expresly against the Text and absurd Secondly The Inference is nonsense for doth it follow that because God knows where the Spirit of Man is that therefore 't is not with God himself It is just as if I should say to a Man you know where your coat is and from thence I should infer that he hath it not upon his back So I hope no Body will much heed his interpretation of Scripture But then p. 345. he tells us That in the resurrection the Righteous shall have glorious and spiritual Bodies and eternal but saith that 't is not manifest by Scripture that the Wicked shall have glorious and spiritual Bodies or that they shall be as the the Angels of God neither Eating nor Drinking nor Ingendring or that their life shall be eternal and so the reprobate saith he shall be in the estate Adam was in after he had sinned and Marry and give in Marriage only shall have no Redeemer I hope now Mr. Hobbes hath perfected his safe bargain he before had begun let his opinions be never so gross as to God and Religion for he shall be still upon Earth and in no worse a condition than Adam was in after his fall and that was for ought we know free from torment or indeed any trouble of mind save fear and only at th time when he heard God in the Garden But Mr. Hobbes hath not I thank him left us so much in the dark for he goes on to the particulars of the future torment which he saith are eating and drinking I suppose he means an appetite to eat and drink when he hath no Money in his pocket and ingendring I suppose he means that he is cruelly afraid of a luxurious Wife or else that he hath been unneighbourly dealt with in his Youth and is afraid of the same hereafter For otherwise cannot I imagin the torment of eating and drinking and ingendring And further he goes on and saith That the wicked shall not always personally be in this torment but dye after a time and their Children shall succeed in the same torments And all this he