partly wrought our conversion and partly wâ—rketh nâ—w by his Ministers and will continue to work till his coming again And it is very ill Logic to say that because they cannot mis-interpret and pervert Scripture nor preach Rebellion against their natural Soveraign since Christ hath commanded subjection and obedience to them they have therefore no autority to preach at all or interpret the Scripture but must publish whatsoever the King bids them in the Name and as the Commands of God yet even that and all he hath or can say may be true if the cases of Conscience which he hath taken upon him to determine have any dependance upon or affinity with the Christian Faith or common honesty What if the office of Christs Ministers in this World is to make men believe and have Faith in Christ and that they have no power by that title to punish men for not believing or for contradicting what they say doth that defect of power of compulsion abolish that power which he hath given them of instructing and preaching and using the Keys As Christ hath trusted them to do and qualified them with peculiar circumstances to perform those Offices so he hath trusted Soveraign Princes to assist them whil'st they perform their office with integrity or to punish them if they do not with their power of compulsion that their labors may be effectual And Princes are no less obliged to give them that assistance then they are to perform the office of the Apostles and Disciples nor can any Prince think his Soveraignty impair'd by being obliged to take care that the Laws and Precepts of God his Soveraign be punctually submitted to and that they to whom in special manner the publication thereof is committed be not only protected but obeied and reverenc'd whil'st they do their duty or â—urmise that the Word of God stands in need of or can receive any dignity or autority by any thing he can add to it by his Soveraign power God hath left and requir'd them to be Nursing Fathers to his Church and from the time of their being Christians hath communicated his Scripture to them which they have receiv'd and which they are equally bound to obey as their meanest Subject and if they are not good and faithful Nurses the miscarriage of the Children shall be imputed to them There is no cause of jealousie from the Soveraign towards his Subjects which Mr. Hobbes out of his constant good will desires to kindle for there is neither Bishop nor Priest who pretends to any Power or Jurisdiction inconsistent with the Kings Supremacy in Ecclesiastical as well as Temporal matters No man can be made a Bishop but by his appointment and grant No man can be ordained a Priest but by him whom he hath nominated to be a Bishop And if either Bishop or Priest mis-behave themselves to that degree they shall by his autority be degraded and depriv'd and suffer as Lay-men are to do he being no less Soveraign over the Ecclesiastical Persons and Laws then over the Temporal and whoever so become liable are to blame and for ought I know have to answer for somthing besides the departing from their dignity In a word Prelates assume no title of Honor nor pretend to any Jurisdiction that they have not receiv'd from him and therefore deserve to be countenanc'd and supported by him amongst his best and most useful Subjects He is not concern'd if the King forbids him to believe in Christ it is a command of no effect because belief and understanding never follow mens commands but if the King commands him to say that he believes not in Christ he is very ready to obey him pag. 271. Profession with the tongue is but an external thing wherein a Christian holding firmly in his heart the Faith of Christ hath the same liberty which the Prophet Elisha allowed to Naaman the Syrian He would be very much disappointed in the support of his monstrous Impiety if that Text ought to be rendred out of the Original as Dr Lightfoot a man eminently learned in the Hebrew positively saies at ought to be For this thing the Lord pardon thy servant for that when my Master hath gon into the house of Rimmon to worship there and he hath leaned upon my hand that I have also bowed my self in the house of Rimmon for my worshipping in the house of Rimmon the Lord pardon thy servant for tâ—is thing 2 Kings 5. 18. So that he craved pardon for Idolatry past and not begged leave to be Idolatrous for the time to come But admitting the Text to be according to the common Translation it can do Mr. Hobbes no good except he procures the same leave from another who hath as much autority as Elisha had Who doth not know that none of those Examples which were either enjoin'd or permitted to be don by the Divine Autority for some extraordinary end of Providence are for our imitation when they are opposite to the truth and justice and integrity of Gods Precepts He may as well justifie the breach of Faith and down-right Theft and Robbery in his Neighbors by the example of the Israelites borrowing the Jewels and other Goods of the Egyptians or the assassination of an Enemy by the example of Ehuds stabbing of Eglon and many other unwarrantable actions by the example of good men directed by the Spirit of God in the Scripture as maintain his own impiety by the example or permission if there were any of Naaman But if Mr. Hobbes be gratified by not urging the impiety nor the denunciation which St. Iohn pronounced upon him He is Anti-Christ that denieth the Father and the Son 1 John 2. 22. How will he justifie the prevarication and falseness in saying he doth not believe that which in his heart he dâ—th believe Ye shall not deal falsly neither lie one to another was a part of the Levitical Law and by Mr. Hobbes rules a part of the Law of Nature and so must not be violated nor can be controul'd by God himself He knows very well who is the Father of lies tho it may be he doth not enough consider what portion is allotted for his children And if they who said they were Iews and were not but did lie were pronounc'd by St. Iohn to be of the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 3. 9. There is very great danger that he who is a Christian in his heart upon any Kings commands shall profess with his Tongue that he doth not believe in Christ will not be admitted by our Saviour to be of his Church In vain hath the whole current of Scripture endeavor'd to raise such an awful reverence for truth that it hath scarce pronounced more severe Judgments against any Species of sins then against lying He that telleth lies shall not stay in my sight saies the Spirit of God by the Psalmist Psal. 101. 7. He that speaketh lies shall perish saies the same Spirit in the Proverbs Prov. 19. 9. Let him
between us and what I had said to many who I knew had inform'd him of it and which indeed I had sent to himself upon the first publishing of his Leviathan I thought my self eveâ— bound to give him some satisfaction why I had entertained so evil an opinion of his Book When the Prince went first to Paris from Iersey and My Lords Capel and Hopton stayed in Iersey together with my self I heard shortly after that Mr. Hobbes who was then at Paris had printed his Book De Cive there I writ to Dr. Earles who was then the Princes Chaplain and his Tutor to remember me kindly to Mr. Hobbes with whom I was well acquainted and to desire him to send me his Book De Cive by the same token that Sid. Godolphin who had bin kill'd in the late War had left him a Legacy of two hundred pounds The Book was immediately sent to me by Mr. Hobbes with a desire that I would tell him whether I was sure that there was such a Legacy and how he mighâ— take notice of it to receive it I sent him word that he might depend upon it for a truth and that I believed that if he found some way secretly to the end there might be no public notice of it in regard of the Parliament to demand it of his Brother Francis Godolphin who in truth had told me of it he would pay it This information was the ground of the Dedication of this Book to him whom Mr. Hobbes had never seen When I went some few years after from Holland with the King after the Murder of his Father to Paris from whence I went shortly his Majesties Ambassador into Spain Mr. Hobbes visited me and told me that Mr. Godolphin confessed the Legacy and had paid him one hundred pounds and promised to pay the other in a short time for all which he thank'd me and said he owed it to me for he had never otherwise known of it When I return'd from Spain by Paris he frequently came to me and told me his Book which he would call Leviathan was then Printing in England and that he receiv'd every week a Sheet to correct of which he shewed me one or two Sheets and thought it would be finished within little more then a moneth and shewed me the Epistle to Mr. Godolphin which he meant to set before it and read it to me and concluded that he knew when I read his Book I would not like it and thereupon mention'd some of his Conclusions upon which I asked him why he would publish such doctrine to which after a discourse between jest and earnest upon the Subject he said The truth is I have a mind to go home Within a very short time after I came into Flanders which was not much more then a moneth from the time that Mr. Hobbes had conferred with me Leviathan was sent to me from London which I read with much appetite and impatience Yet I had scarce finish'd it when Sir Charles Cavendish the noble Brother of the Duke of Newcastle who was then at Antwerp and a Gentleman of all the accomplishments of mind that he wanted of body being in all other respects a wonderful Person shewed me a Letter he had then receiv'd from Mr. Hobbes in which he desir'd he would let him know freely what my opinion was of his Book Upon which I wished he would tell him that I could not enough wonder that a Man who had so great a reverence for Civil Government that he resolv'd all Wisdom and Religion it self into a simple obedience and submission to it should publish a Book for which by the constitution of any Government now establish'd in Europe whether Monarchical or Democratical the Author must be punish'd in the highest degree and with the most severe penalties With which answer which Sir Charles sent to him he was hot pleased and found afterwards when I return'd to the King to Paris that I very much censur'd his Book which he had presented engross'd in â—â—llam in a marvellous fair hand to the King and likewise found my judgment so far confirmed that few daies before I came thither he was compell'd secretly to fly out of Paris the Justice having endeavour'd to apprehend him and soon after escap'd into England where he never receiv'd any disturbance After the Kings return he came frequently to the Court where he had too many Disciples and once visited me I receiv'd him very kindly and invited him to see me often but he heard from so many hands that I had no good opinion of his Book that he came to me only that one time and methinks I am in a degree indebted to him to let him know some reason why I look with so much prejudice upon his Book which hath gotten him so much credit and estimation with some other men I am not without some doubt that I shall in this discourse which I am now engaged in transgress in a way I do very heartily dislike and frequently censure in others which is sharpness of Language and too much reproching the Person against whom I write which is by no means warrantable when it can be possibly avoided without wronging the truth in debate Yet I hope nothing hath fallen from my Pen which implies the least undervaluing of Mr. Hobbes his Person or his Parts But if he to advance his opinion in Policy too imperiously reproches all men who do not consent to his Doctrine it can hardly be avoided to reprehend so great presumtion and to make his Doctrines appear as odious as they ought to be esteemed and when he shakes the Principles of Christian Religion by his new and bold Interpretations of Scripture a man can hardly avoid saying He hath no Religion or that he is no good Christian and escape endeavouring to manifest and expose the poison that lies hid and conceled Yet I have chosen rather to pass by many of his enormous sayings with light expressions to make his Assertions ridiculous then to make his Person odious for infusing such destructive Doctrine into the minds of men who are already too licentious in judging the Precepts or observing the Practice of Christianity The Survey of Mr. Hobbes's Introduction IT is no wonder that Mr. Hobbes runs into so many mistakes and errors throughout his whole discourse of the nature of Government from the nature of Mankind when he laies so wrong a foundation in the very entrance and Introduction of his Book as to make a judgment of the Passions and Nature of all other Men by his own observations of himself and believes pag. 2. that by looking into himself and considering what he doth when he do's think opine reason hope fear c. and upon what grounds he shall thereby read and know what are the thoughts and passions of all other men upon the like occasions And indeed by his distinction in the very subsequent words pag. 2. between the similitude of passions and the similitude of the object
precious words unvaluable and of no signification a better Philosopher then he and one who understood the rules of Government better having lived under just such a Soveraign as Mr. Hobbes would set up I mean Seneca will be believed before him who pronounces Errat siquis existimat tutum esse ibi Regem ubi nihil à Rege tutum est Securitas securitate mutua paciscenda est And he go's very far himself towards the confessing this truth when he is forced to acknowledg pag. 96. That the riches power and honor of a Monarch arise only from the riches strength and reputation of his subjects for no King can be rich nor glorious nor secure whose Subjects are either poor or contemtible which assertion will never be supported by saying that that condition shall be made good and preserv'd to them by the justice and bounty of the Soveraign For riches and strength and reputation are not aëry words without a real and substantial signification nor do consist so much in the present enjoying especially if it shall depend upon the casual pleasure of any man as in the security for the future that being a mans property that cannot be taken from him but in that manner and by those Rules as are generally looked upon as the fundamentals of Government And when he is transported by his passion and his appetite and for making good his Institution to cancel and tread under foot all those known obligations and make the precious terms of Property and Liberty absurd and insignificant words to be blown away by the least breath of his monstrous Soveraign without any violation of justice or doing injury to those he afflicts I say when he is thus warmed by the flame of his passions which he confesses pag. 96. alwaies dazles never enlightens the understanding he is so puzled by his own notions that he make himself a way out by distinctions of his own modelling and devising and so he is compell'd to acknowledg that tho his illimited Soveraign whatsoever he doth can do no injury to his Subjects nor be by any of them accused of injustice yet that he p. 90. may commit iniquity tho not injustice or injury in the proper signification which is far more intelligible then the Beatifical vision for the obscurity and absurdity whereof he is so merry with the Scholemen As Mr. Hobbes his extraordinary and notorious ignorance in the Laws and constitution of the Government of England makes him a very incompetent judg or informer of the cause or original of the late woful calamities in England of which he knows no more the every other man of Malmesbury doth and upon which there will be other occasion hereafter to inlarge so his high arrogance and presumtion that he doth understand them makes him triumph in the observation and wonder that so manifest a truth should of late be so little observed that in a Monarchy he that had the Soveraignty from a descent of six hundred years was alone called Soveraign had the title of Majesty from every one of his Subjects and was unquestionably taken by them for their King was notwithstanding never considered as their Representative that name without contradiction passing for the title of those men which at his command were sent up by the People to carry their Petitions and give him if he permitted it their advice which he saies pag. 95. may serve as an admonition for those that are the true and absolute Representative of a People which he hath made his Soveraign to be to take heed how they admit of any other general Representative upon any occasion whatsoever all which is so unskilful and illiterate a suggestion as could not fall into the conception of any man who is moderately versed in the principles of Soveraignty And if Mr. Hobbes did not make war against all modesty he would rather have concluded that the title of the Representative of the people was not to be affected by the King then that for want of understanding his Majesty should neglect to assume it or that his faithful Counsel and his Learned Judges who cannot be supposed to be ignorant of the Regalities of the Crown should fail to put him in mind of so advantageous a Plea when his fundamental rights were so foully assaulted and in danger But tho the King knew too well the original of his own power to be contented to be thought the Representative of the People yet if Mr. Hobbes were not strangely unconversant with the transactions of those times he would have known which few men do not know that the King frequently and upon all occasions reprehended the two Houses both for assuming the Style and appellation of Parliament which they were not but in and by his Majesties conjunction with them and for calling themselves the Representative of the People which they neither were or could be to any other purpose then to present their Petitions and humbly to offer their advice when and in what his Majesty required it and this was as generally understood by men of all conditions in England as it was that Rebellion was Treason But they who were able by false pretences and under false protestations to raise an Army found it no difficult matter to perswade that Army and those who concured with them that they were not in rebellion The Survey of Chapter 19. I Shall heartily concur with Mr. Hobbes in the preference of Monarchy before all other kind of Government for the happiness of the people which is the end of Government and surely the people never enjoied saving the delight they have in the word Equality which in truth signifies nothing but keeping on their hats Liberty or Property or received the benefit of speedy and impartial Justice but under a Monarch but I must then advise that Monarch for his greatness and security never so far to lessen himself as to be considered as the peoples Representative which would make him a much less man then he is His Majesty is inherent in his office and neither one or other is conferred upon him by the people Let those who are indeed the Deputies of the people in those occasions upon which the Law allows them to make Deputies be called their Representative which term can have no other legitimate interpretation then the Law gives it which must have more autority then any Dictionary that is or shall be made by Mr. Hobbes whose animadversion or admonition will never prevail with any Prince to change his Soveraign Title for Representative of the people and much the less for the pains which he hath taken pag. 95. to instruct men in the nature of that Office and how he comes to be their Representative I cannot leave this Chapter without observing Mr. Hobbes his very officious care that Cromwell should not fall from his greatness and that his Country should remain still captive under the Tyranny of his vile Posterity by his so solemn Declaration that he who is in possession
never break the peâ—ce but only sometimes awake the War which to use his own commendable expression is pag. 8. like â—anding of things from one to another with many words making nothing understood The Survey of Chapter 22. I Should pass over his two and twentieth Chapter of Systemes Subject Political and Private which is a title as difficult to be understood by a literal translation as most of those to any Chapter in Suarez as few Congregations when they meet in a Church to pay their devotions to God Almighty do know that they are an irregular systeme in which besides vulgar notions well worded every man will discover much of that which he calls signs of error and misreckoning to which he saies page 116. all mankind is too prone and with which that Chapter abounds and will require no confutation but that I find and wonder to find mention of Laws and Letters Patents Bodies Politic and Corporations as necessary Institutions for the carrying on and advancement of Trade which are so many limitations and restraints of the Soveraign power and so many entanglements under Covenants and Promises which as they are all declar'd to be void it is in vain to mention I did not think Mr. Hobbes had desir'd to establish trade or any industry for the private accumulation of riches in his Common-wealth For is it possible to imagine that any Merchant will send out Ships to Sea or make such a discovery of his Estate if it may be either seized upon before it go's out or together with the benefit of the return when it comes home If trade be necessary to the good of a Nation it must be founded upon the known right of Propriety not as against other Subjects only but against the Soveraign himself otherwise trade is but a trap to take the collected wealth of particular men in a heap and when it is brought into less room to have it seized on and confiscated by the omnipotent word of the King with less trouble and more profit And if any Laws Letters Patents Charters or any other obligations or promises can oblige the Soveraign power in these cases which refer to trade and foreign adventures why should they not be equally valid for the securing all the other parts and relations of Propriety However whatsoever rigor Mr. Hobbes thinks fit to exercise upon the Nobility and Gentry of the Nation he must give over all thoughts of trade if he doth not better provide to secure his Merchants both of their liberty and propriety It is a good observation and an argument for the preference of Monarchy before any other form of Government in that where the Government is popular and the depressing the interest and reputation of particular Subjects is an essential policy of that Government yet in the managing the affairs of their Colonies and Provinces at a distance from them they chuse to commit the same to a single person as they do the Government and conduct of their Armies which are to defend their Government which is a tacite implication if not confession that in their own judgment they think the Monarchical the best form of Government But he might have observ'd likewise that in all those Monarchical Commissions at what distance soever there are limits and bounds set by referring to instructions for the punctual observation and performance of what that State or Government hath bin bound by promise and contract to perform which hath the same force to evince that the performance of promises and conditions is very consistent with Monarchical Government for the hazards that may arrive from thence may be as dangerous to that Government if it be at a great distance as upon any supposition whatsoever yet is never left to the discretion of a Governor It is a wonderful latitude that Mr. Hobbes leaves to all his Subjects and contradictory to all the moral precepts given to the World and to all the notions of Justice that he who hath his private interest depending and to be debated and judg'd before any Judicatory may make as many Friends as he can amongst those Judges even by giving them mony as if tho it be a crime in a Judg to be corrupt the person who corrupts him may be innocent because he thinks his own cause just and desires to buy justice for mony which cannot be got without it and so the grossest and most powerful Bribery shall be introduc'd to work upon the weakness and poverty and corruption of a Judg because the party thinks his cause to be just and chuses rather to depend upon the affection of his Judg whom he hath corrupted then upon the integrity of his cause and the justice of the Law But he doth not profess to be a strict Casuist nor can be a good observer of the Rules of moral honesty who believes that he may induce another to commit a great Sin and remain innocent himself Nor is he in truth a competent Judg of the most enormous crimes when he reckons pag. 56. Theft Adultery Sodomy and any other vice that may be taken for an effect of power or a cause of pleasure to be of such a Nature as amongst men are taken to be against Law rather then against Honor. The Survey of Chapter 23. I Should with as little trouble have passed by his twenty third Chapter of his Public Ministers and the fanciful Similies contain'd therein not thinking it of much importance what public or private Ministers he makes for such a Soveraignty as he hath instituted but that I observe him in this place as most luxurious Fancies use to do demolishing and pulling down what he had with great care and vigilance erected and establish'd as undeniable truth before And whereas he hath in his eighteenth Chapter pag. 91. pronounced the right of Iudicatory of hearing and deciding all Controversies which concern Law either Civil or Natural or concerning Fact to be inseparably annexed to the Soveraignty and incapable of being aliened and transferred by him and afterwards declares That the judgments given by Iudges qualified and commission'd by him to that purpose are his own proper Iudgments and to be regarded as such which is a truth generally confess'd in this Chapter against all practice and all reason he degrades him from at least half that Power and fancies a Judg to be such a party that if the Litigant be not pleased with the opinion of his Judg in matter of Law or matter of Fact he may therefore pag. 125. because they are both Subjects to the Soveraign appeal from his Judg and ought to be tried before another for tho the Soveraign may hear and determine the Cause himself if he please yet if he will appoint another to be Judg it must be such a one as they shall both agree upon for as the Complainant hath already made choice of his own Judg so the Defendant must be allow'd to except against such of his Judges whose interest maketh him suspect them
of such a nature in his Reign by Lanfranke the Archâ—B of Canterbury who had the greatest credit and autority with him as cannot be parallell'd by the like don or permitted in any State and impossible to be don or permitted in any State that was in any degree subject to the Pope which was the Canonization of a Saint There being at that time very great fame of Aldelmus who first brought in the composition of Latine verse into England and besides his eminent Piety had so great a faculty in singing that by the music of his voice he wrought wonderful effects upon the barbarous and savage humor of that People insomuch as when they were in great multitudes engag'd in a rude or licentious action he would put him self in their way and sing which made them all stand still to listen and he so captivated them by the melody that he diverted them from their purpose and by degrees got so much credit with them that he reduc'd them to more civility and instructed them in the duties of Religion into which tho they had bin baptiz'd they had made little enquiry He lived a little before the time of Edward the Confessor and the general testimony of the Sanctity of his Life and some miracles wrought by him which it may be were principally the effects of his Music being reported and believ'd by Lanfrank Edicto sancivit ut per totam deinde Angliam Adelmus inter eos qui civibus coelestibus ascripti erant honoraretur coleretur as by the authors neerest that time is remembred and at large related by Harps-Field in his Ecclesiastical History of England without any disapprobation Nor is it probable that Lanfrank who was an Italian born and bred in Lombardly and of great reputation for learning and piety would have assum'd that autority if he had believ'd that he had intrenched upon the Province of the Bishop of Rome The truth is Canonizations in that age were not the chargeable commodities they have since grown to be since the Pope hath engross'd the disposal of them to himself and it is very probable that the Primitive Saints whose memories are preserv'd in the Martyrologies very erroneously were by the joint acknowledgment of the upon the notorious sanctity of their lives and of their deaths not by any solemn declaration of any particular autority of Rome otherwise we should find the Records of old Canonizations there as well as we do of so many new But of so many of this Nation who suffer'd in the ten first persecutions under the Roman Governors more then of any other especially if St. Vrsula and her Eleven thousand Virgins be reckon'd into the number there is no other Record but of the daies assign'd for their Festivities And in their whole Bullarium which for these latter hundred years so much abounds in Canonizations the first that is extant is of Vldricke Bishop of Ausburg by Iohn the Fifteenth Anno Nine hundred ninety three in a very different form and much different circumstances from those which are now used Finally if the Popes inhibition or interposition could have bin of any moment in that time of William the Conqueror he would have bin sure to have heard of it when he seiz'd upon the Plate and Jewels of all the Monasteries and laid other great impositions upon the Clergy which they had not bin accustom'd to and of which they would have complain'd if they had known whither to have addressed their complaints The two next Kings who succeeded him and reigned long for Henry the First reigned no less then five and thirty years wore not their Crowns so fast on their heads in respect of the juster title in their Brother Robert as prudently to provoke more enemies then they had and therefore they kept very fair quarter with Paschal who was Pope likewise many years and were content to look on unconcern'd in the fierce quarrels between the Emperour and him for he was very powerful in France tho not in Italy And Anselme the Arch-bishop of Canterbury had great contests with them both upon the priviledges of the Clergy and had fled to Paschal to engage him in his quarrel yet the Pope pretended to no jurisdiction in the point but courteously interceded so far with Henry the First on the behalf of Anselme that he made his peace with the King but when he afterwards desir'd to send a Legate into England the King by the advice of the Bishops and Nobles positively refus'd to admit him And whosoever takes a view of the constitution of Christendom as far as had reference to Europe at that time how far the greatest Kingdoms and Principalities which do now controul and regulate that ambition were from any degree of strength and power that Italy was then crumbled into more distinct Governments then it is at present that France that is now intire was then under the command of very many Soveraign Princes and the Crown it self so far from any notable superiority that the King himself was somtimes excommunicated by his own Bishops and Clergy without and against the Popes direction and somtimes excommunicated and the Kingdom interdicted by the Pope even whilst he resided in France and in Councils assembled by them there as in the Council of Clermont that Spain that is now under one Monarch was then divided into the several Kingdoms of Castile Arragon Valentia Catalonia Navarr and Leon when the Moors were possess'd of a greater part of the whole then all the other Christian Kings the whole Kingdom of Granada with the greatest part of Andoluzia and Estremadura and a great part of Portugal being then under the Dominion of those Infidels that Genmany was under as many Soveraign Princes as it had names of Cities and Provinces and that England which hath now Scotland and Ireland annex'd to it was then besides the unsettlement of the English Provinces upon the contests in the Norman Family without any pretence to the Dominion of Wales at least without any advantage by it I say whosoever considers this will not wonder at the starts made by many Popes in that Age into a kind of power and autority in many Kingdoms that they had not before and which was then still interrupted and contradicted and that when Alexander the Third came to be Pope who reigned about twenty years he proceeded so imperiously with our Henry the Second upon the death of Thomas Beckett even in a time when there was so great a Schism in the Church that Victor the Fifth was chosen by a contrary party and by a Council called at Pavia by the Emperour there own'd and declar'd to be Canonically chosen and Alexander to be no Pope who thereupon fled into France so that if our King Henry the Second had not found such a condescention to be very suitable to his affairs both in England and in France it is probable he would have declin'd so unjust and unreasonable an imposition I am afraid of giving
him which have proved very mischievous to them Of the condition of King Iohn we need not speak whose Usurpation Murders and absence of all Virtue made him fit to undergo all the reproches and censures which Pope Innocent the Third exercis'd him with when he usurped upon France with equal Tyranny The succeeding Kings no sooner found it necessary to expel or restrain that power which the Popes had so inconveniently bin admitted to and which they had so mischievously improv'd but the Universities not only submitted to but advanced those Acts which tended thereunto as appears by the Writings of Occam and other Learned men in the University of Oxford in the Reigns of those Kings both Edward the First and Edward the Third in which times as much was don against the power of the Pope as was afterwards don by Henry the Eighth himself And the Gallican Church would not at this time have preserved their liberties and priviledges to that degree as to contemn the power of the universal Bishop if the University of the Sorbone had not bin more vigilant against those incroachments then the Crown it self So far have the Universities bin from being the Authors or promoters of those false doctrines which he unjustly laies to their charge And I presume they will be as vigilant and resolute to preserve the Civil Autority from being invaded and endangered by their receiving and subscribing to his pernicious and destructive principles which his modesty is induced to believe may be planted in the minds of men because whole Nations have bin brought to acquiesce in the great mysteries of Christian Religion which are above reason and millions of men have bin made to believe that the same body may be in innumerable places at one and the same time which is against reason and therefore he would have the Soveraign power to make his Doctrine so consonant to reason to be taught and preached But his Doctrine is fit only to be taught by his own Apostles who ought to be looked upon as Seducers and false Prophets and God forbid that the Soveraign powers should contribute to the making those principles believed which would be in great danger to be destroied if it were but suspected that they affected to have that power which he would have to belong to them And such Princes who have bin williâ—g to believe they have it have bin alwaies most jealous that it should be known or thought that they do believe so since they know there would be a quick determination of their power if all their Subjects knew that they believed that all they have doth in truth belong to them and that they may dispose of it as they please Pag. 168. He saies a Common-wealth hath many diseases which proceed from the poison of Seditious doctrines whereof one is That every private man is Iudg of good and evil actions which is a doctrine never allow'd in any Common-wealth the Law being the measure of all good or evil actions under every Government and where that Law permits a liberty to the Subject to dispute the commands of the Soveraign no inconvenience can arise thereby but if the Soveraign by his own autority shall vacate and cancel all Laws the Common-wealth must need be distracted or much weakned Mr. Hobbes will have too great an advantage against any adversary if he will not have his Government tried by any Law nor his Religion by any Scripture and he could never think that the believing that pag. 168. whatsoever a man doth against his conscience is sin is a Doctrine to civil Society repugnant if he thought any of the Apostles good Judges of Conscience who all upon all occasions and in all actions commend themselves to every mans conscience 2. Cor. 4. 2. as also Our rejoicing is this the Testimony of our conscience 2 Cor. 1 12. and throughout the whole New Testament the conscience is made the Judg of all we do And if Mr. Hobbes had not so often excepted against Divines for being good Judges in Religion I could tell him of very good ones who are of opinion that it is a sin to do any thing against an erroneous conscience which is his own best excuse that he will not depart from his own judgment which is his conscience how erroneous soever it is But this liberty of Conscience is restrain'd only to those Cases where the Law hath prescribed no rule for where the Law enjoins the duty no private conscience can deny obedience In case of misperswasion it looks upon the action as sinful in him and so chuses to submit to the penalty which is still obedience or removes into another Climate as more agreeable to his constitution If Mr. Hobbes proposes to himself to answer all extravagant discourses or private opinions of seditious men which have no countenance from public Autority he will be sure to chuse such as he can easily confute All sober men agree that tho Faith and Sanctity are not to be attain'd only by study and reading yet that study and reading are means to procure that grace from God Almighty that is necessary thereunto And himself confesseth that with all his education discipline correction and other natural waies it is God that worketh that Faith and Sanctity in those he thinks fit So that if he did not think men the more unlearn'd for being Divines it is probable that there is very little difference between what those unlearned Divines and himself say upon this point saving that they may use inspiring and infusing which are words he cannot endure as insignificant speech tho few men are deceiv'd in the meaning of them If all Soveraigns are subject to the Laws of Nature as he saies they are because such Laws are divine and cannot by any man or Common-wealth be abrogated they then are oblig'd to observe and perform those Laws which themselves have made and promised to observe for violation of faith is against the Law of Nature by his own confession Nor doth this obligation set any Judg over the Soveraign nor doth any civil Law pretend that there is any power to punish him it is enough that in justice he ought to do it and that there is a Soveraign in Heaven above him tho not on Earth The next indeed is a Doctrine that troubles him and tends as he saies pag. 169. to the dissolution of a Common-wealth That every private man has an absolute propriety in his goods such as excludes the right of the Soveraign which if true he saies p. 170. he cannot perform the Office they have put him into which is to defend them both from Foreign Enemies and from the injuries of one another and consequently there is no longer a Common wealth And I say if it be not true there is nothing worth the defending from Foreign Enemies or from one another and consequently it is no matter what becomes of the Common-wealth Can he defend them any other way then by their own help with
explanations descriptions and definitions to several words and terms which in themselves have no difficulty as disturbs the whole Analogy of Scripture and exposes those expressions which are dictated by the spirit of God in his light and comical interpretations to the mirth of those who are too much inclin'd to be merry with the Scripture and to the scandal of all men who are piously affected and look upon the Sacred Writings with that devotion that becomes them And upon these foundations with much more confidence then any of the Primitive Fathers of the Church assum'd to themselves he proceeds to the interpretation of several Texts of Scripture in a diferent sense from what those Fathers and all other men but himself have understood them to signify I shall not therefore as I said wait upon him in the particular Survey of his glosses upon and interpretations of the several Texts of Scripture with which he is bold not only for my own incompetency in those high Mysteries but because I am not sure that it is a work fit for the most accomplish'd person in the knowledg of Tongues and the most difficult points of Divinity to undertake and to argue and contend with him upon and to answer his vain and light conceptions lest the sobriety and gravity of Scripture be too much exposed to the critical Licence of Grammarians or the greater licentiousness of petulant and profane Persons who chuse the Scripture for both the matter and the language for the argument of their common and loosest discourses which exorbitancy is much propagated since the publication of Mr. Hobbes his Writings And therefore it may be fitter for a general disapprobation and discountenance by the Soveraign power or Ecclesiastical autority as a discourse which introduces a corruption of manners in the minds of men and exposes Religion to the irreverent examination of dissolute persons and prostitutes the sacred mysteries of our Faith the Incarnation of our blessed Lord and Saviour the Trinity the Sacraments the precious pledges of our Salvation to a Philosophical and Mathematical inquisition and under the notion of translating proper and significant words and terms in the understanding whereof all Learned men have agreed into vulgar and common Language which no terms of any Art ever admitted hath in truth traduced the whole Scheme of Christianity into Burlesque and rais'd conceptions of it very much inferiour to the sublime importance of that profession which must carry us to Heaven It will hardly be believed that Mr. Hobbes intended to advance the estimation and resignation that is due from mankind to the everlasting word of God when he took such impertinent pains to enquire Cha. 36. and examine what the word of God is and to exercise his fancy in many inferences deductions and distinctions upon several texts of Scripture where that expression the word of God is used and in the understanding whereof there was never before any difficulty conceiv'd to be And there could no benefit accrue to the People by communicating a criticism to them whereby they must believe pag. 223. that God spake these words and said are less Gods words then I am the Lord thy God as if the last could have a due efficacy and regard if they all are not understood to be spoken by him In which kind of unnecessary Learning and curiosity he seems to recreate himself upon all the Texts of Scripture which he thinks fit to apply to his use and in which he takes much pains to mend many expressions in Scripture for the impropriety of Speech without accusing the translation as these words of Eliah to God 1 Kings 18. 36. I have don all these thy words which he saies are instead of which I suppose he means would be better pag. 223. I have don all these things at thy word and the like upon many other sayings of the Prophets Since after all his learned examination and careful ratiocination and too light a mention of the several parts of Scripture and the Authors thereof he is at last compell'd to confess that p. 204. he sees not any reason to doubt but that the old and new Testament as we have them now are the true Registers of those things which were don and said by the Prophets and Apostles p. 205. and that it is believ'd on all hands that the first and original Author of them is God it is to be wish'd that he had chosen rather to have acquiesc'd under the modest and prudent resolution of his third Paragraph of this Chapter that when any thing is written in the Scripture too hard for our examination we are bidden to captivate our understanding to the words and not to labour in sifting out a Philosophical truth by Logic of such mysteries as are not comprehensible nor fall under any rule of natural Science because he saies very well p. 195. that it is with the mysteries of our Religion as with wholsome pills for the sick which swallowed whole have the virtue to cure but â—hewed are for the most part cast up again without effect I say it is great pitty that he had not rather rested under that sober consideration then embark'd himself in the two next Chapters in a Sea of new and extravagant interpretations of several texts of Scripture without any other autority then of his own ungovern'd fancy which can only amuse men with the novelty into impertinent enquiries or dispose them to believe that he hath not that reverence to the Scripture or adoration of the Author of it that would become him to have The Survey of Chapters 35 36. WHEN he had exercis'd his unruly fancy and imagination upon making it as doubtful what is Scripture and the sense and meaning thereof as difficult as he was able to do he proceeds in the two next Chapters the thirty fifth and thirty sixth to the examination of the true signification of many words terms and expressions us'd in all Theological discourses what the meaning of Kingdom of God of Holy and Sacred of the Word of God and of Prophets is upon the interpretation of which there hath never yet bin any doubt made or controversy amongst Christians And after the whole foundation of Christian Religion is laid upon the Word of God and so often mention throughout the Scripture of several particular words spoken by God and with such declaratory circumstances that he is said to have spoken face to face and as a man speaks to his friend as he did to Moses Mr. Hobbes takes great pains to make it believ'd that he never spake at all and then we can have none of his words in which whatever other intention he hath he declines his own rule which he had prescrib'd in the foregoing Chapters to captivate his understanding to the words and not to labour in sifting out a Philosophical truth by Logic of such mysteries as are not comprehensible nor fall under any Rules of natural Science Nor is it probable that he had
of the torments and tormentors methinks it should be thought a matter of that consequence as is more fit to be confuted by censure and chastisement then by refelling the Arguments of his presumtion In the mean time as he professes to find nothing in Scripture that makes it apparent to him that the soul is immortal and a living creature independent upon the body so he seems much pleased with the mortality of the whole human Nature which Iob complains of There is hope of a tree but man dieth and wasteth away yea man giveth up the ghost and where is he Man lieth down and riseâ—h not till the heavens be no more Job 14. 7 12. From whence he seems to conclude if his very woâ—ds do not make it plain that the soul as well as the bodâ— is buried in the grave at least till the resurrection This monstrous liberty and license in forming a new Faith for himself without any Soveraign advice or approbation a Faith never before own'd or avowed by any Christian may make men wonder why he is so severe against Atheists whom he will not allow pag. 186. to be Subjects in the Kingdom of God nor they that believe not that God hath any care of the actions of man kind because they acknowledg no word for his nor have hope of his rewards or fear of his threatning They he saies that believe there is a God that governs the World and hath given precepts and propounded rewards and punishments to man-kind are Gods Subjects all the rest are to be understood as enemies whereas in truth there is very little difference between a man that understands no Precepts of his and him who believes those to be his Precepts or his Permissions which are contrary to his Commandments or between those who have no hope of his reward or fear of his threatnings and those who believe and perswade others to believe that the rewards which he hath propounded are of much less value then they are esteemed to be and the punishment which he threatens to be less terrible and of shorter duration then they are understood and take upon them to suspend the inflicting of any punishment at all upon the greatest sinner until the end of the World by the mortality of the Soul equal to that of the Body and so to undergo no farther trouble till they are again united in the Resurrection and even then not to be in so ill a condition as most men apprehend which is a consolation wicked men stand not in need of and which no Christian Casuist before Mr. Hobbes ever presum'd to administer And he may find for the support of his Atheists who should not be so churlishly abandon'd by him as many pregnant Arguments against Christianity and as rationally pressed and as many Texts of Scripture as well of the New as the Old Testament as appositely urg'd to maintain their Doctrine as any which are made use of by him for the propagation of his Opinions little less dangerous He is the first man since Virgil accompanied Aeneas thither that hath taken pains so accuratly to rescue and vindicate Hell from the prejudice that men might have to it from some expressions they find in Scripture relating to it which he endeavors by his Interpretations to make not altogether so severe as they are generally understood to be And least any apprehension of the bottomless pit should too much amuse men he do's assure them from his Art in which he would be thought to excel pag. 243. That in the Globe of the Earth which is not only finite but also compar'd to the heighth of the stars of no considerable magnitude a pit without a bottom that is a hole of infinite depth is a thing the proportion of Earth to Heaven cannot bear which perfection of Science enabled him to discover that if Adam had not eaten of the Apple he had bin immortal and had he never died of which he makes not the least question he should not then continually have procreated his kind pag. 239. for if immortals should have generated as man-kind doth now the Earth in a small time would not have bin able to afford them place to stand on Besides there being other places of Scripture which he cites to imply that the place of Hell is under water so besides the comfort that is in the uncertainty they need the less fear the bottomless pit and he doth at last free them from the waters too and the company that makes the waters the more unpleasant St. Iohn thought he had terrified some Classes of sinners to the purpose when he declar'd That they should have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone Apoc. 21. 8. But for their comfort Mr. Hobbes assures them pag. 243. that all that is but a Metaphorical expression and signifies not any certain kind or place of torment and gives them another Text to raise their spirits That death and hell were cast into the lake of fire pag. 243. that is he saies abolish'd and destroied as if after the day of Iudgment there shall be no more dying nor no more going into Hell which must be very comfortable Doctrine to those whom he had before secur'd till that time by the not existence and nothingness of the Soul after its dissolution from the Body So that he had don well that there might some fear still have remain'd in them to have told them That it is the opinion of very Learned Men that the day of Judgment it self is to last one thousand years That the darkness which St. Matthew attributes to it and which makes the most beautiful place the less pleasant may not make them think Hell a worse place then in truth it is he tells them that tho the Translation hath rendered it into utter darkness the Original will not bear it pag. 243. and do's not signifie how great but where that darkness is to be namely without the habitation of Gods elect In the careful Inquisitions which he makes into the torments of Hell and into the Tormentors he finds the Devil hath wrong don him by not having his names of Satan Devil and Abaddon translated into English by which he conscientiously doubts that men imagining them to be proper names of Demons may be seduc'd to believe the Doctrine of Devils which was the Religion of the Gentiles whereas those hard words are not proper Names but Appellations which only set out the office and quality as Satan only signifies the Enemy Devil accuser Abaddon the Destroier So that Heaven being to be after the Resurrection upon the Earth which he saies he hath shew'd by Scripture that it is like to be pag. 244. Hell must likewise be upon the Earth too and so by Satan is meant any earthly Enemy of the Church and that the torments of Hell which are express'd in Scripture by weeping and gnashing of teeth by the worm of conscience fire where the worm dies not and the fire
is not quenched and by shame and everlasting contemt do but metaphorically signifie p. 244. a grief and discontent of mind from the sight of the eternal felicity of others and that they are to suffer such bodily pains and calamities as are incident to those who not only live under evil and cruel Governors but have also for Enemy God Almighty But as to the duration of the bodily pains tho the Scripture is clear for an universal Resurrection pag. 244. yet there is no promise to any reprobate of an eternal life without which he can never undergo an eternal punishment Nor can a second death be ever applied to those that can die but once he saies pag. 245. tho the fire prepared for the wicked is an everlasting fire and the fire shall be unquenchable and the torments everlasting it cannot therefore be inferr'd that he who shall be cast into that fire or be tormented with those torments shall endure and resist them so as to be eternally burn'd and tortur'd and yet never be destroied nor dâ—e And tho there be many places that affirm everlasting â—ire and torments into which men may be cast successively one after another for ever yet he finds none that affirms there shall be any eternal life therein of any individual Person but to the contrary an everlasting death which is the second death And then he cites the Text in the Revelations whereby he saies pag. 245. it is evident that there is to be a second death of every one that shall be condemn'd at the day of Iudgment after which he shall die no more It cannot be denied but that he hath taken extraordinary pains on the behalf of Hell and it may be presum'd effectually in making it believed pag. 243. that the fire thereof is neither everlasting nor unquencheable and that the terribleness thereof hath proceeded chiefly from the hard words it hath bin describ'd by valley of Hinnon Geâ—enna Tophet which have puzled and perplex'd mens imaginations for want of comprehension what those terms could imply and which seem'd the more formidable in that they had not found and so might be thought incapable of any translation and therefore he hath don them the favor to inform them of the worst that they can signifie and above all for their comfort hath brought the place and situation of it to be upon the Earth which is so well known to them that they need have no other apprehensions of it then they find reason for And for the manifestation of that important truth he doth not so much depend upon the Texts of Scripture which he hath cited to that purpose as that he saies he hath already proved out of divers evident places of Scripture in his thirty fifth Chapter pag. 219. That the Kingdom of God is a civil Common-wealth where God himself is Soveraign by virtue first of the old and since of the new Covenant which he saies doth sufficiently prove that after the coming again of our Saviour in his Majesty and Glory to reign actually and eternally the Kingdom of God is to be on Earth all which refers to that Institution by pact which by his Covenant with Abraham and the renewing thereof afterwards by Moses at Mount Sinai invested God by their chusing him to be their King with a more peculiar Dominion then he had over any other Nation because it was by their own consent and Covenant whiâ—h he saies pag. 217. is an addition to his ordinary title to all Nations and that this continued till by their demanding a King when Saul was given to them they rejected God that he should not reign over them I must rely upon the Readers memory or his reflâ—xion to judg whether what hath bin said in answer upon that Chapter and before doth not weigh down the imagination both of the original and subsequent Covenant and Contract And for their rejection of God Almighty from being their King upon the election of Saul besides Gods own particuâ—ar choice of his Successor Fill thine horn with oil and go I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite for I have provided me a King among his Sons 1 Sam. 16. 1. his grace and favor and concernment for thâ—t People was equally eminent and notorious from that time as it had bin from the time of Abraham to that of Saul nor were their rebellions and murmurings greater after then they had bin before and then those two Imaginations of his having place only in his own brain most of his Discourse in this his third part falls to the ground with them and is of no signification When he hath made Hell much more easie at least in a pleasanter Region and the pains thereof less durable to all those who will chuse to go thither he is as solicitous to undeceive men in the high estimate they have made of the joies of Heaven and tells them pag. 245. that to be saved which is salvation is to be secur'd either respectively against special evils or absolutely against all evil comprehending want sickness and death it self And least we should think that this salvation contains some wonderful delight which we cannot comprehend because we know not the scene upon which it shall be shew'd he is fully of opinion pag. 246. that this salvation must be on Earth for by salvation is set forth unto as a glorious reign of our King by conquest not a safety by escape and therefore there where we look for salvation we must look also for triumph and before triumph for victory and before victory for battel which cannot well be suppos'd to be in Heaven However tho the reason seems very good to him he is so modest that he will not trust to it without very evident places of Scripture and thereupon how positive soever he is against the literal understanding such places in Scripture which seem to imply an ascending into Heaven and condemns them all to be Metaphorical Expressions now that he may humble our salvation down to the earth he will have all those places of the Prophets which he chuses to be understood literally by which he saies it is evident pag. 246. that Salvation shall be on Earth then when God shall reign at the coming again of Christ in Ierusalem and from Ierusalem shall proceed the salvation of the Gentiles that shall be receiv'd into Gods Kingdom And then with equal confidence he mentions other Texts out of the New Testament which he saies are clear pag. 247. that salvation and the Kingdom of God after the day of Iudgment must be upon Earth whereas he saies He cannot find any Text that can probably be drawn to prove any ascension of the Saints into Heaven which he seems to think would be a presumtion and that since Gods own Throne is in Heaven and the Earth is but his foot-stool it would not seem suitable to the dignity of so great a King that his Subjects should have any place as high as his Throne or higher
immortality upon Earth will be secur'd if the Earth be to be destroied by Fire as many Learned Men do beâ—ieve is clearly foretold in Scripture is worthy of his care to enquire and consider But these extravagancies and the greater in the next Chapter in his description and definition of the Trinity I shall leave to Divines to refute and to the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to convince him by information or to reform him by chastisements without making any observation that how little power or jurisdiction soever he allows to other Officers and Ministers he reserves to himself autority to determine the highest Points And whereas our Saviour himself professes that he hath laid down his life bin sacrific'd for the sins of the whole world he takes upon him to contract the number who are to receive any benefit thereby only to that of the Elect. And he is less to be understood when he positively declares pag. 263. the end of Christs coming to be that he might restore unto God by a new Covenant the Kingdom which had bin cut off by the rebellion of the Israelites in the election of Saul which dream still possesses him to that degree that he seems to think the conversion of the Gentiles to be merely accidental the restoring that peculiar Kingdom to his Father by a new Covenant being the great end of his coming and in case that Nation should generally refuse him then to call to his obedience such as should believe in him of the Gentiles whereas his coming was equally for the one as for the other and in truth was promis'd to the other before the Iews became the chosen People of God if the Promise made to Adam after his fall had any prospect towards our Saviour of which few men make doubt I cannot but observe some ingenuity if it had bin perfect ingenuity it would have amounted to a clear retractation in his declaring so freely and by so many instances that as our Saviour himself declar'd That his Kingdom is not of this World so that he never exercis'd any Soveraign Jurisdiction in it contrary to what he more magisterially publish'd in his twentieth Chapter when his business being to prove the absolute and illimited power of Kings over their Subjects and all that they have he quotes several Texts out of the Old and New Testament in which the simple obedience of Subjects to their Soveraign is enjoin'd and then concludes with an instance of our Saviours judgment in the point pag. 108. That the Kings word is sufficient to take away any thing from any Subject when there is need and that the King is judg of that need for saying that our Saviour himself as King of the Iews commanded his Disciples to take the Ass and Asses Colt to carry him into Ierusalem saying Go into the Village c. Matth 21 2 3. he adds as if they had bin the â—ords of our Saviour They will not ask whether his necessity be a sufficient title nor whether he be judg of that necessity but acquiesce in the will of the Lord. If Mr. Hobbes had bin a consciencious vindicator of Truth and intended by his reason and autority only to have mended the understanding of men when he had reformed his own in a matter of great importance and of which he had made so ill use he would have given some satisfaction to those he may have seduc'd and since he now discovers pag. 262 263. that the Kingdom of Christ is not to begin till the general Resurrection and that Christ whilst he was on Earth had no Kingdom in this World this forty first Chapter ought in conâ—cience to have bin a retractation of what he had said in the twenty precedent and therefore he may forgive those who too reasonably suspect that his design is rather to perplex and disturb and seduce men then to enlighten and inform them and that he assigns the errors in every Chapter to do as much mischief as they can and retracts none of them least the confessing himself to be once deceiv'd may lessen his power to deceive any more The Survey of Chapter 42. HAving then left his Discourse of the Trinity to be censur'd by those who are more competent considerers of those high Mysteries with the matter of his former Chapter and of which it had more properly bin a part for after the having degraded our Saviour to those low and insignificant Offices the bare-fac'd denying the Trinity might naturally have follow'd which he makes to be no Mystery at all and to contain as many Persons as any body will assign to it rather then those which an Article of the Christian Faith makes necessary to be believ'd and which he denies with more affectation then was don by Arius or Macedonius or any of those Heresies which succeeded and were the spawn of their poison And no doubt he hath gratified the Pope abundantly whom he hath otherwise endeavored to provoke in procuring such a Book that denies a vital part of Christianity to be printed and dispersed in a Protestant Kingdom which it could not have bin if the Governors and Over-seers of the Church had ever perused or taken notice of it the defect whereof hath permitted it to receive too much countenance in Popish Countries likewise We proceed to take a view of his Ecclesiastical Power in which he declares his judgment and opinion not only of Church Jurisdiction but upon the matter of all things which concern Religion in the Church that is the Profession of the Christian Faith I do first observe that he confesses pag. 267. that the Ecclesiastical power was left by our Saviour in the hands of the Apostles and that it remained in them and in those who were ordained by them those hundreds of years before there were any Christian Soveraigns and I will confess with him that our Saviour left no external ordinary coercive power to them or with them but only a power to proclaim the Kingdom of Christ and to perswade men to submit themselves thereunto and by Precepts and good Counsel and the terrors of the Lord to teach them that have submitted what they are to do that they may be receiv'd into the Kingdom of God and by the censures of the Church chastise and discipline offenders all which cannot be don but by publishing and explaining the Scriptures And therefore except Mr. Hobbâ—s will take from them that which himself acknowledges that Christ gave and left to them or prove that Christ took it from them and assign'd it to other perâ—ons they must still have a power to publish the Scripture and to interpret it and are obliged to declare and teach the Doctrine of Christ before the Doctrine of the King which office he hath thought fit only to commit to them and trust them with not remembring how much more he had assign'd to them in the beginning of his last Chapter where he saies pag. 261. that our Saviour when he was upon the earth
believe what he will he shall perish for speaking lies And if he will believe St. Paul he will not find the heart to be the seat that comprehends all Christian Religion but that the tongue hath a very necessary part assign'd to it to perform If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Iesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved Rom. 10. â— Salvation would be gotten at too cheap a rate if believing would serve the turn and men might speak and do what they find most convenient Words are actions in his own judgment and to be punish'd with the same severity Our Saviour had provided very ill for the propagation of his Faith if he had left a latitude for men to deny him in their words so they confessed him in their hearts How many Converts would that secret and reserv'd belief and confession have produc'd Confession with mouth as it is the more generous so it is the more avowed and declar'd way of doing God service He cannot confess him with his mouth that doth not believe him in his heart and he doth believe him in his heart to no purpose that will not confess him with his mouth A man cannot be a true Christian without both There may be some men who may be possessed with as much fear as Mr. Hobbes and as good Courtiers as he in submitting to the commands of their Soveraign of what kind soever but I have not heard that any man doth so frankly own it as he doth and the expedient that he hath found might have saved many hundred thousand lives of the Christians in the primitive persecution when the greatest part of them were not required with their mouth to deny Jesus Christ but to acknowledg Iupiter or Venus or Apollo according to the Religion of the Climate to be Gods and to worship them which after they were Christians they could not do so that their Martyrdom was that they chose to lose their lives with the most terrible circumstances of Torment rather then they would lie and say that they believ'd them to be Gods when they knew they were not so and the Church hath never doubted of their being Martyrs very precious in the eies of God But we shall have occasion to resume this argument of Martyrs again very shortly But it is not reasonable to believe or expect that those or any other Texts of Scripture can make any impression upon Mr. Hobbes when he is able to save himself harmless from that determination and declaration of our Saviour Who so dâ—nieth me before men I will deny him before my Father which is in Heaven by saying roundly that whatsoever a Subject is compell'd to do in obedience to his Soveraign and doth it not in order to his own mind that action is not his but his Soveraigns nor is it he that in this case denieth Christ before men but his Governor so that he is well content to shift of his own damnation to his Soveraign But that this distinction will not serve his turn is evident to all but the Casuists of his own faith and t will concern him to find a better way to defend himself for committing Adultery Theft Murder or any other wickedness God hath forbidden if his Soveraign commands him then he hath taught any other men who believe his doctrine and who deserve more satisfaction from him for depending upon his reason I know no difficulty in resolving his case of conscience concerning his Mahometan in a Christian Common-wealth nor can doubt but that he which is a true Mahometan and believes that Mahomet will not permit him to be present at the divine Service in a Christian Church which I do not think the Mahometans restrain'd from out of their own Country no more then the Jews who make no scruple to be present at Common Praier or Mass if it be attended with any convenience looking upon themselves only as being present in the company not at the devotion Yet I say if he believes it he doth well not to obey his Soveraigns commands and is much the honester men in avoiding the doing against conscience however erroneous it may be Nor will any part of that tragical inference follow that then any private man may disobey their Princes in maintenance of any Religion true or false there being other trials for the punishment of those then the bare word and command of the Prince There are two conclusions which reasonably result from Mr. Hobbes his Axiome and which may prove beneficial to him the first is that we may believe that he doth not himself believe one word in his Book that we find fault with for writing is at least as external a thing as speaking and therefore keeping his heart right he might have the same liberty the Prophet gave to Naaman and write what his Soveraign Cromwell commanded him or what he discern'd would be so acceptable to him that it would procure him his protection which ought to have the same force with him as his command The other is that when ever he shall be commanded by the King or required by any Court of Law which is the voice of the King to retract and recant whatever is condemned in this Book he will cheerfully and with a better conscience renounce them all and write an other Book more reasonably in the confutation of his errors in this But then he is upon an other disadvantage which is very grievous to an honest man that when he makes that recantation no man will believe that it is the thoughts of his heart but only his profession with the tongue which being but an external thing he doth signify his obedience to that autority to which he is Subject without any remorse for the wickedness of his former writing The truth is this licence which he avows how odious and impious soever hath in it self likewise so much of levity and extreme weakness that a man may depart a little from his gravity in answering it and wonder why he did not make use of a Text of Euripides englisht in Hudibras who is much a graver writer and far better Casuist as an autority to support his doctrine Oaths are but words and words but wind Too feeble instruments to bind c. He knows well that in the custom of speaking worse cannot be said of any man then that he is ready to say any thing he is bid and the natural judgment upon him is that no man believes any thing he saies Error is naturally pregnant and the more desperate it is the more fruitful Mr. Hobbes well foresaw that the latitude he assum'd to himself could not consist with the courage of the blessed Martyrs of the Christian Faith who had laid down their lives rather then they would with their tongue which would have saved their lives deny their Saviour or say they did not believe in him upon the command of what Emperour of Soveraign
soever Nor could it reasonably be expected that a man who is so declared an Enemy to Martyrdom should entertain a great reverence or esteem for the persons of Martyrs and therefore it cannot be wondred at that he very resolutly chargeth that glorious company whose memory every Christian Church celebrates with extraordinary devotion with want of Wit and understanding and with loss of their labour and boldly determines by his Prerogative of interpreting words according to his definitions and Etymologies whatever the constant and general acceptation hath bin that because Martyr signifies a witness pag. 272. and a witness must have seen what he testifies and the fundamental Article of Christian Religion being that Iesus was the Christ therefore that none can properly be called Martyrs of Christ but those that convers'd with him and saw him before and after his Resurrection and that whosoever did not so can witness no more then what others said and are therefore but witnesses of other mens testimony and are but second Martyrs or Martyrs of Christs witnesses And yet for fear that they might yet have too much honour he doth as imperiously declare that pag. 273. none can be a Martyr of the first or second degree who have not a warrant to preach Christ come in the flesh and who are not sent to the conversion of Infidels for that no man is a witness to him that already believes and therefore needs no witness but to them that deny or doubt or have not heard it And even to those that there is one only Article which to die for meriteth so honourable a name and that Article is that pag. 272. Iesus is the Christ. But a man maintaining every Doctrine which he himself draws out of the History of our Saviours life or out of the Acts or Epistles of the Apostles is very far from being a Martyr of Christ or a Martyr of his Martyrs whereas whoever hath laid down his life for the testimony of any Christian verity or rather then he would deny any such hath alwaies bin inserted in the number of the Martyrs by the judgment of the universal Church If Mr. Hobbes had bin conversant in the determination of matters upon the testimony of witnesses he would have known that in cases of the greatest importance it is not alwaies necessary that the witness must have bin present and have seen what he testifieth or else his testimony is not good They are very compâ—â—ent witnesses who declare what they have heard from others the question being only whether what they say be true which often appears to be more unquestionable by the testimony of what others saw and declar'd then what they saw or heard themselves and the truth of all matters of fact would be quickly lost or dangerously suspected if the death of half a dozen persons who were present could render the truth without evidence So that he could not in this assertion have any purpose to discountenance any other sort of witnesses but only Martyrs And I must complain of his extreme undervaluing his Readers in endeavouring to perswade them from St. Peters proposing or enjoining after the death of Iudas that the rest of the Apostles should ordain one to be a Martyr a witness with them of Christs Resurrection of those men who had accompanied with them all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst them beginning from the baptism of Iohn c. which he saies makes it manifest pag. 272. that he which is to be a witness of the truth of the Resurrection of Christ must be some Disciple thâ—t conversed with him and saw him before and after his Resurrection and consequently must be one of his original Disciples that none else could be a Martyr He would have too just reason to upbraid the breeding in the Universities if there be any Novice in Logic there who can be imposed upon by such Argumentations They who are deluded by him have not passed through that course Education It is true that the method in which our Saviour chose to work the conversion of men was by matters of fact which he submitted to the examination of the senses and which was don in the sight of the Sun that there might be no want of witnesses His greatest miracles were don in the greatest company whom he had made Judges as well as witnesses of what they saw When he changed the Water into Wine it was at a Wedding which in that time and in that Country was alwaies celebrated in the presence of a great multitude and with notable Festivity These people saw the Water poured out and in the drinking found it to be excellent Wine better then the Wine that was first brought into the room and the evidence of so many witnesses could not but make the miracle believed which he expected not should be believed upon a less testimony When he rais'd the dead to life it was alwaies in the presence of them who had seen them living and dead the same eies which saw them die and sometimes buried saw them likewise rise from the dead and eat and drink and perform all the functions of life as other men The whole people saw his Passion and were witnesses of all the circumstances of it and all his Disciples and many other were witnesses of and conversed with him after his Resurrection And to supply all possible defects after his Ascension which was in the view likewise of many witnesses he sent the Holy Ghost upon them who taught and them who believed and which was a miracle little inferior to the rest he gave many of his witnesses so long a life to publish what they had seen and known that it is made a question whether Christianity be farther spread at present then it was before the death of all the Apostles And then they all for we may say St. Iohn suffer'd death tho he out-lived it sealed with their blood the truth of what they had preach'd and publish'd And afterwards the Scripture being likewise publish'd and abundantly attested there needed no more Martyrs of the History but only for the doctrine and they are no less Martyrs who suffer death rather then they will commit a Sin against which our Saviour hath pronounced damnation then they who assert his Passion and Resurrection And as hath bin said before the greatest number of the Primitive Martyrs were never question'd about the History of our Saviour of which the Persecutors had never particularly heard but were condemn'd for renouncing their Religion in which they had bin bred and denying those to be Gods who were worshipped as such by that Country for which Mr. Hobbes hath obliged himself to have no reverence and however they are challeng'd and made to be Martys for that Religion which now assumes the Soveraignty over all Religion there was not one amongst them who ever heard of any of those opinions which are since grown up between Christians nor suffer'd for any thing but what all the
Christians at present in the world do believe And the Martyrdom of all who have since suffer'd death for the maintenance of any particular opinion hath consisted only in that they would not deny what in truth they believ'd or pretend to believe what they thought apparent to be false which is not therefore to be condemn'd because Mr. Hobbes is resolv'd to decline it In this Rapsody of extravagant notions he proceeds to the dissecting the Commission granted by our Saviour to the Apostles and with the licence of a Grammarian translates the terms of their Commission to make their office of as little autority as he wishes it to be He saies Preaching signifies nothing pag. 273. but what a Crier or Herald or other Officer useth to do publicly in proclaiming a King and a Crier he saieth hath not right to command any man that teaching is the same thing with Preaching but to teach that Iesus was Christ and risen from the dead is not to say that men are bound after they believe it to obey those that tell them so against the commands of their Soveraign but that they shall do wisely to expect the coming of Christ hereafter in patience and faith with obedience to their present magistrate All which signifies nothing if it doth not signify that where ever Idolatry is the Religion of the Soveraign what ever they do believe themselves they are to practice Idolatry still and to perform all the Rites of Infidells till the coming of Christ himself to justify their conversion And this no question is his meaning to which I shall apply no other answer then the stating his proposition And if there could remain any doubt since that meaning is so very bad that it could not be his he will quickly remove that doubt in the Survey he takes of Baptism and the obligation thereof He saies that pag. 274. Baptism in the name of the Fathâ—r and of the Son and of the Holy-Ghost is dipping in their names you shall rarely find him call them three Persons for the incongruity it would introduce in Philosophy The meaning of which words of Baptism is this He that is baptized is dipped or washed as a sign of becoming a new man and a Loyal Subject to that God that was represented by Moses and to Iesus Christ his Son God and man that hath redeem'd us and shall in his human nature represent his Fathers Person in his eternal Kingdom after the Resurrection and to acknowledge the doctrine of the Apostles who being assisted by the spirit of the Father and the Son he tells us often that Spirit signifies nothing but mind were left for guides to bring us to that Kingdom to be the only and assur'd way thereunto And so that you may not suspect him to be a better Christian then he is he hath taken the pains to let you know again the little esteem he hath of the Trinity This being our promise in Baptism and the autority of Earthly Soveraigns being not to be put down 1. Cor. 25. 22 23 24. till the day of judgment for that he saiâ—s is p. 274. expresly affirmed by St. Paul it is manifest that we do not in Baptism constitute an other aâ—tority over us by which our externall actions are to be govern'd in this life but promise to take the doctrine of the Apostles for our direction in the way to life eternal So that the greater moiety of the world being according to the computation made by the Learned men mere Heathen men and Pagans and much the greater part of the other moiety being Mahometans no account being taken of the Jews neither the one or the other however they may in their hearts believe the doctrine of the Apostles are bound to make profession outwardly of the Christian Religion before the second coming of our Saviour to judgment except their own Soveraigns command them so to do And in all these ravings he hath Texts of Scripture at hand which he perverts and interprets to his own ends contrary to the genuine sense and indeed to the whole Analogy of Faith and Scripture as any man must conclude who examines them and the interpretation which hath bin alwaies made of them before Mr. Hobbes A man would imagine that he had bin contented that the Apostles and their Successors should enjoy some dignity and prerogative when he confesses that pag. 274. the end of Baptism is remission of Sins and to baptize is to declare the reception of men into Gods Kingdom and to refuse to baptize is to declare their exclusion and that the power to declare them cast out or retained in it was given to the Apostles and their Substitutes and Successors But he quickly humbles them from this exaltation and since no man can judg the secret thoughts of the heart he saies pag. 275. the Apostles and their Successors were to follow the outward marks of repentance which appearing they had no autority to deny absolution Besides they alwaies were and are but ministerial they have nothing to do to judg of pag. 275. the truth of repentance that belongs to the assembly of the faithfull the judgment belonging to them and only the publication of it to the Apostle or Pastor of the Church as Prolocutor after the Assembly had first heard the cause and determin'd it So that it seems St. Peter was a little too presumtious in undertaking to know the heart of Anâ—nias and Saphira and in pronouncing so severe a judgment upon them without so much as asking the advice of the Assembly I shall not accompany him in his disquisition upon Excommunication the use and effects of it upon whom it is to be exercis'd and for what faults or the conditions which are requisite to make men liable to it and whether the Teacher of Christian doctrine may as a master in any Science abandon his Disciples that obstinately continue in an unchristian life but he cannot say the excommunicate have wrong because they are not obliged to obey in all which he mingles great errors with some truth well expressed and the errors being of a less magnitude then those he is usually guilty of I shall not particularly insist upon them But I cannot but observe his close design to make the foolishness of Preaching of no effect by his absolving their Auditory from any kind of obligation to believe them which he would not attemt to do if he had less autority then from the Apostles themselves Acts 17. 3. 3. For from Saint Pauls behaviour in the Synagogue in Thessalonica pag. 280. when some of them believed and others did not believe he finds the reason was that St. Paul came to them without any legal Commission came only to perswade them and reasoned with them out of the Scriptures which were well known to the Iews and believed by them to be the word of God And the reason why when they all believed the Scripture they did not all alike believe him was that some approved
can In the other part he doth but repete what he hath formerly and in other places said of Eternal Life and Everlasting Death being a professed adversary to Eternity and of the Immortality of the Soul which by no means he allows to all which somewhat hath likewise bin said before And I shall add no more then what himself saies of some Popes applying some places of Scripture to prove their autority over Kings and Princes that it was not arguing from Scripture but a wanton insulting over Princes so in truth he doth not so much argue from as insult upon the Scripture by perverting and applying it to unnatural significations which never occurred to any man but himself and will be best answered by that autority which ought to controul such presumtuous undertakers For why should any particular man enter into dispute with him on the behalf of the Immortality of the Soul of the Eternity of the joies of Heaven and the Everlastingness of the pains of Hell as if they were points in Controversy when no Christian Church in the world makes or admits the least doubt to be made of either Nor can any man imagine why he leads us into this his Kingdom of Darkness but that he may resume again all those arguments which lie scatter'd through the several Chapters of his Book and which can never prevail whilst there is any light to direct the understanding by He renews his particular dream of pag. 335. Gods peculiar Kingdom over the Iews only which ceased and was determin'd by and in the election of Saul which he saies he hath proved at large in the thirty fifth chapter as he believes he had don every thing that he hath once affirm'd how weakly or erroneously soever and from the not understanding this or not comprehending that from that time of Saul God hath bin without a Kingdom and we are not under any other Kings by pact but our civil Soveraignsâ— men he saies are fallen in the error that the present Church is Christs Kingdom But what argumentation can a man hold with him who from the not understanding or believing that dissolution of Gods Kingdom in the election of Saul which no body ever heard of but from him deduces the Popes challenging to be vicar general of Christ in the present Church the introduction of Purgatory and Transubstantiation and all other errors in the Church of Rome which he takes great pains to confute and would perswade us to believe that the imagination of the Immortality of the Soul is the only ground and foundation of the general error of Eternal Life and Everlasting Death which makes him so solemnly endeavour to prove the nullity of either by so many Texts of Scripture which can never be difficult for him to do in this and any other particular that occurs to him to prove whilst he may take upon him to pervert the current sense and interpretation of some Texts in Scripture to his own purpose and to wrest and torture words to comply with his extravagant Wiâ— and Logic and when he cannot decline the taking notice of other Texts which manifestly controul his unnatural glosses he may acquiesce in a confession that they are very hardly to be reconcil'd with the doctrine received pag. 347. nor he saies is it any shame to confess the profoundness of the Scripture to be too great to be sounded by the shortness of human understanding which being prudently and modestly consider'd in the beginning of this Chapter or rather in the beginning of his Book might have saved the labour and the reproch of most of the Texts of Scripture which he hath unwarily or absurdly quoted from the beginning and which presumtion and method he continues to the end of his Book And as I have formerly said if a diligent peruser of the whole doth mark what himself saies in one place that will fully answer what he affirms in another his Book would need no other refutation As to that part of his most material argument against the Everlastingness of Hell fire in this Chapter that pag. 345. it seems very hard to say that God who is the Father of mercies that doth in Heaven and Earth all that he will that hath the hearts of all men in his disposal that worketh in men both to do and to will and without whose free gift a man hath neither an inclination to good nor repentance of evil should punishments transgressions without any end of time and with all the extremity of torture that men can imagine or more All which will not require nor can receive a fuller answer then he himself prescribes when he will establish the utmost extent of arbitrary power in his instituted Soveraign He saies pag. 153. it is reason that he which do's injury without other limitation then that of his own will should suffer punishment without other limitation then that of his will whose Law is thereby violated And so I shall keep him no longer company in his Kingdom of Darkness The Survey of Chapter 45. I Should not presume to except against so many of Mr. Hobbes his definitions but that pretending to so much plainness and perspicuity and having declared the necessary use of definition to be for the setling the signification of words without which he saies pag. 15. a man that seeks precise truth will find himself entangled in words as a bird in lime twiggs the more he struggles the more belimed and observing that rule for the most part throughout the first parts of his Book except where he found it necessary for his own purpose sometimes to perplex and belime his Readers yet in the two last parts supposing that he hath enough captivated them to believe any thing he saies he takes more care to fit his definitions for the support of his assertions then that his assertions may naturally result from the integrity of the definitions Especially since he hath gotten into his Kingdom of Darkness he takes less care to illustrate the instances and similies he thinks fit to use and so good Philosophers may comprehend what he means he is content to leave his less knowing Readers involved and puzled amongst hard words with which they have not used to keep company As he begins this Chapter with the definition of Sight which will not make any man see the farther or the better pag. 352. That sight is an imagination made by the impression on the Organs of sight by lucid bodies either in one direct line or in many lines reflected from Opaque or refracted in the passage through Diaphanous â—oâ—ies which produceth in living creatures in whom God hath placed such Organs an imagination of the object from whence the impression proceedeth It may be doubted that many of his friends who have given too much credit to all he saies may have found themselves in this definition entangled in words as a bird in Lime twiggs And if it were necessary in this place to tell them what Sight is