their Kings could not personally officiate as a Priest in the Temple because all men that could not derive their Pedigree from Aaron were counted profane and unclean which is now no Obstacle in a Christian Common-wealth for in these days the Priesthood not being entailed upon any particular Family but requiring only some particular Qualifications Kings or Supream Magistrates cannot be barred from medling with Matters belonging to Religion upon any account of profaneness but all is in their power and no body but by their authority or allowance hath any Right to officiate in the Church for the Power of chusing Ministers of setling the Church of stating and determining the Doctrines thereof prescribing Religious Rites and Ceremonies judging of Mens Piety and Manners the power of excommunicating and receiving again into the Church and of providing for the poor are all in the Supream Magistrate and these things are not only true but likewise very necessary not only for the good of Religion but also for the safety of the Commonwealth for all men know how much the People esteem and depend upon the Power and Authority of those whose Function is accounted Sacred they having an absolute Dominion over their Minds He then that endeavours to deprive the Supream Magistrate of this Power goes about to share and divide or else usurp the Government from whence must necessarily arise such Contention and Discords as were heretofore between the Kings and Iewish High Priests which could never be appeased If this Power be taken away from Supream Magistrates how can they determine of Peace or War or of any other Business if they must be obliged to follow other Mens Opinions by whom they are to be taught what is good or evil That Power is Supream and there can be none greater which hath the Right of declaring and determining what is Piety what Impiety and what in Religion is lawful or unlawful All Ages have been sensible how many Mischiefs such a Power in any but the Supream Magistrate hath produced I will give you but one Example As soon as such a Power was granted to the Pope or Bishop of Rome by degrees he became Superiour to all Kings and at last ascended to so high a pitch of earthly Dominion that whatever Kings or Emperours have since done to lessen it hath been to no purpose but they have rather much encreased it and that which no Monarch ever effected by Fire and Sword Church-men have been able to do only with their Pen which is a plain proof of the Pope's Power and a convincing Argument to perswade Supream Powers to keep that Authority he pretends to in their own hands If we consider the Observations I have made in the preceding Chapter we shall find that the residing of this Power in the hands of Supream Magistrates is very much for the Benefit and Advancement of Religion and Piety for as I have already declared the Prophets themselves though fill'd with Divine Power and Vertue yet because they were but private men the great Liberty they took in admonishing reproving and upbraiding the People did rather provoke than amend them who notwithstanding patiently submitted to the Reproof and Chastisement of their Princes Besides Kings themselves because they had not the power of judging and determining Matters of Religion many times forsook the true Religion and most of their People with them which hath likewise upon the same account often happen'd in Christian Governments But here perhaps some will ask if Supream Powers should chance to be wicked who shall then have the Power and Authority of vindicating and maintaining Religion and Piety And who shall then be the Interpreters of it I ask them on the other side What if Priests and Ecclesiasticks grow wicked and impious must they continue Interpreters of Religion and God's Word If they that have Supream Power should do whatever they please whether they do or do not meddle with Religion all things without doubt both Sacred and Civil are like to be in a very ill Condition but in much worse when private men shall seditiously pretend to a Divine Right of defining and defending all chings which concern or in any wise pertain to Religion The denying of this Power to Supream Magistrates must necessarily cause very ill Consequences for they will in all probability as did the Iewish Kings who had not this Power absolutely grow wicked and ungodly and from that which is but uncertain and contingent will follow most certain Mischief and Ruin to the Government If then we have any regard either to the Just Right of Supream Power to the safety of Government or the advancement of Religion and Piety we must grant that the regulating and determining all things concerning Religion and the Worship of God depends upon the Decrees of the Supream Power and that such only are Ministers of God's Word who are authoriz'd by the Supream Magistrate to teach and instruct the people in those principles of Religion and Piety which they that have the Supream Power think most likely to procure the publick Good of the Common-wealth I have now no more to do but to declare the Cause why in Christian Governments there hath been so much dispute about this Power when in the Iewish Commonwealth it never that I know came into controversie It is little less than a Wonder that a thing so necessary and profitable should still be a Question and the Subject of continual Cavil and that Supream Magistrates should never be able to exercise this Power without contention and without fear of danger and prejudice to Religion If the Cause of this could not be found out I would confess all I have said in this Chapter to be meer Theoretical Speculative Notions of no use but any person that will but look back and consider the beginnings of Christian Religion may easily discover the Cause of this Controversie They that first taught Christian Religion were not Kings but private persons who contrary to the Will and Commands of those in Supream Power whose Subjects they were preached in private Churches or Congregations and instituted Forms of Worship without any respect had or account given to the Government and likewise regulated and determined all things relating to Religion Though Christian Religion after many years began to be profest in Commonwealths by those that had the Supream Power yet the Ecclesiasticks who instructed Emperours and Kings in the Christian Religion were without any difficulty still acknowledged Teachers and Interpreters of God's Word Pastors of the Church and God's Ministers but that Christian Kings and Princes might not afterwards assume any such Authority to themselves Churchmen very warily provided against it by forbidding the Chief Ministers and the High Priest of the Church to marry by multiplying the Doctrines and Tenets of Religion to a prodigious number and by so confounding them with Philosophy that it was absolutely necessary for the Chief Interpreter and Judge of Religion to be a Philosopher as
just or unjust pious or impious And then I conclude that that Right is best maintained and the Government most safe where every Man hath free liberty to think and speak what he thinks These are the things Philosophical Reader which I offer to thy examination believing they will be acceptable to thee for the Excellency and Utility of the Subject as well of the whole Book as of every single Chapter to which many things might be added but to this Preface I do not intend the Dimensions of a Volum the chief things in it are sufficiently known to Philosophers to others I care not to commend this Treatise because I have not the least hope they will like it I know how fast those Prejudices stick which the mind of Man hath embraced under the form of Religion I known also 't is as impossible to root out Superstition as Fear out of the Minds of the common People whose constancy is but contumacy and are never to be govern'd by Reason but always rashly praise or dispraise The Vulgar therefore and all of like Affections with them I do not invite to read these things I had rather they should contemn the Book then be troublesome by making perverse Constructions of it as they use to do of all other things not profiting themselves but hindring others who would reason more like Phylosophers did they not think Reason ought to be but a Hand-maid to Divinity To Men of that Opinion I think this Work extreamly useful but because many have neither mind or leisure to read these things I am forced here as well as in the end of the Treatise to declare I have written nothing which I do not willingly submit to the Examination and Judgment of the chief Rulers of my Country For if they shall think any thing I say repugnant to the Laws or public Peace of it I willingly unsay and recant it I know my self a Man Subject to Mistake but I have taken the greatest Care I could not to Err and particularly that whatever I write may in all things be consonant to the Laws of my Country and agreeable to Piety and good Manners A TABLE Of the several CHAPTERS CHAP. I. OF Prophesy CHAP. II. Of Prophets CHAP. III. Of the calling of the Jews and whether the Gift of Prophesy were peculiar only to the Jews CHAP. IV. Of the Divine Law. CHAP. V. The reason why Ceremonies were instituted of the belief of Scripture-Histories why and to whom it is necessary CHAP. VI. Of Miracles CHAP. VII Of the Interpretation of Scripture CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Pentatenk the Books of Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel and the Kings were not Written by the Persons whose Names they bear and then inquires whether those Books were Written by several Persons or by one only and by whom CHAP. IX Whether Hesdras did perfectly finish those Books and whether the Marginal Notes found in the Hebrew Copies were but diverse readings CHAP. X. The rest of the Books of the Old Testament are examined in the same manner as the forementioned CHAP. XI Whether the Apostles Writ their Epistles as Apostles and Prophets or only as Doctors and Teachers and what is the Office of an Apostle CHAP. XII Of the true Original Hand Writing or Text of Scripture why Scripture is called Holy and why the Word of God Lastly that the Scripture so far as it contains the Word of God is derived to us pure and uncorrupted CHAP. XIII What is Faith who are the faithful what are the Fundamentals of Faith Faith distinguisht from Philosophy CHAP. XIV Divinity no Hand-maid to Reason nor Reason to Divinity upon what ground we believe the Authority of Sacred Scripture CHAP. XV. How Commonwealths came to be founded of every Mans Natural and Civil Right of the Right of Supreme Powers CHAP. XVI No Man can transfer or part with all his particular Right to the Supreme Power nor is it necessary that he should Of the Commonwealth of the Jews what it was while Moses lived and what after his Death before they chose Kings and of the Excellency of it lastly what were the Causes why so Divine a Commonwealth perished and could not subsist without Seditions CHAP. XVII Certain Political Maxims Collected out of the Commonwealth and Histories of the Jews CHAP. XVIII That Religion and all things relating to it are subject to no other Power but that of the Supreme Magistrate that the external Form of Public Religious Worship ought to be accommodated to the Peace of the Common-wealth if we would rightly obey God. CHAP. XIX That in a free Commonwealth it is lawful for every Man to think as he pleaseth and to speak what he thinks CHAP. VIII Sheweth that the Pentateuk the Books of Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel and the Kings were not Written by the Persons whose Names they bear and then inquires whether those Books were Written by several Persons or by one only and by whom CHAP. IX Whether Hesdras did perfectly finish those Books and whether the Marginal Notes found in the Hebrew Copies were but diverse readings CHAP. X. The rest of the Books of the Old Testament are examined in the same manner as the forementioned CHAP. XI Whether the Apostles Writ their Epistles as Apostles and Prophets or only as Doctors and Teachers and what is the Office of an Apostle CHAP. XII Of the true Original Hand Writing or Text of Scripture why Scripture is called Holy and why the Word of God Lastly that the Scripture so far as it contains the Word of God is derived to us pure and uncorrupted CHAP. XIII Shews that Scripture teacheth nothing but what is very plain intending nothing but Mens Obedience neither doth it teach or declare any other thing of the divine Nature then what a Man may in a right Course of Life in some degree imitate CHAP. XIV What is Faith who are the faithful what are the Fundamentals of Faith Faith distinguisht from Philosophy CHAP. XV. Divinity no Hand-maid to Reason nor Reason to Divinity upon what ground we believe the Authority of Sacred Scripture CHAP. XVI How Commonwealths came to be founded of every Mans Natural and Civil Right of the Right of Supreme Powers CHAP. XVII No Man can transfer or part with all his particular Right to the Supreme Power nor is it necessary that he should Of the Commonwealth of the Jews what it was while Moses lived and what after his Death before they chose Kings and of the Excellency of it lastly what were the Causes why so Divine a Commonwealth perished and could not subsist without Seditions CHAP. XVIII Certain Political Maxims Collected out of the Commonwealth and Histories of the Jews CHAP. XIX That Religion and all things relating to it are subject to no other Power but that of the Supreme Magistrate that the external Form of Public Religious Worship ought to be accommodated to the Peace of the Common-wealth if we would rightly obey God. CHAP. XX. That in a free Commonwealth it
know that God was Omniscient and that Human Actions were govern'd by his Decrees for tho' God told him Exod. chap. 3. v. 8. That the Israelites would hearken to his Voice yet Moses doubted and said in the 1 st verse of the 4 th chapter What if they will not believe me nor hearken to my Voice And therefore God was revealed to him as indifferent and ignorant of Mens future Actions for he gave unto him two Signs and said Exod. chap. 4. v. 8 9. And if it shall come to pass they will not believe thee nor hearken to the Voice of the first Sign they will believe the Voice of the latter Sign but if they will not believe the latter Sign then take of the Water of the River c. And indeed if a Man will without prejudice consider the Opinions of Moses it will clearly appear that Moses thought God a Being that always was is and ever shall be and therefore called him Iehovah which in Hebrew expresseth those three times of existing but of his Nature he declared no more then that he was very merciful kind and very jealous as appears in many Places of the Pentateuch He believed and taught also that this Being was so different from all other Beings that he could not be exprest by the likeness of any other visible Thing that he was invisible not because he thought beholding him was in it self impossible but only in respect of Human Frailty he thought also that this Being was in regard of his own Power single and but one he allow'd that there were other Beings which by the Order and Command of God were God's Substitutes and Vicegerents that is Beings to whom God gave Power and Authority to govern Nations to provide for and take care of them but Moses declared the Being which the Iews were bound to worship to be the most high God that is in the Hebrew Phrase the God of all Gods therefore Moses in his Song Exod. chap. 15. v. 11. saith who is like unto thee O Lord amongst the Gods and Iethro Exod. chap. 18. v. 11. saith Now I know that the Lord is greater then all Gods that is I must acknowledge with Moses that Iehovah is greater then all Gods and of Singular Power but whether Moses believed that the Beings which were God's Vicegerents were created by God may be doubted since he said nothing that we know of their Creation or Original Another of Moses's Doctrines was that this being out of a Chaos Gen. chap. 1 st v. 2. brought this Visible World into Form and Order furnished Nature with the Seeds of all things and therefore hath absolute Power and Authority over all things as it is Deut. chap. 10. v. 14 15. And by that absolute Power chose the Iewish Nation for himself and appointed a Particular Place of the Earth for their Habitation Deut. chap. 4. v. 19. and chap. 32. v. 8. But other Nations and Countries he left to the care of other Gods substituted by him and therefore God was called the God of Israel and the God of Ierusalem 2 d. Book of Chron. chap. 32. v. 19. And other Gods were called the Gods of the Nations For this Reason the Jews believed that the Country which God chose for them required a particular and different worship of God from that of other Countries nor would they suffer the worship of other Gods or any worship proper to other Countries to be exercised amongst them it was believed that the People whom the King of Assyria brought into the Country of the Iews were devoured by Lyons because they knew not the manner of the worship of the God of the Land 2 d. Book of Kings chap. 17. v. 24 25. It is the Opinion of Aben Ezra that Iacob upon this Ground when he was about returning into his own Country commanded his Sons to put away the Gods of the Land in which they were and prepare themselves for a new Way of Worship Gen. chap. 35. v. 23. David told Saul because he was by Persecution compell'd to forsake his Country that he was driven out from the Inheritance of the Lord and sent to serve other Gods 1 st Book of Sam. chap. 26. v. 19. Lastly Moses believed that God had his Habitation in the Heavens Deut. chap. 33. v. 26 Which was a frequent Opinion among the Heathen Now if we carefully observe the Revelations of Moses we shall find them fitted and suited to those Conceptions and Opinions which he had of God because he believed that God's Nature was Gracious Merciful Longsuffering c. Therefore according to this Opinion and these Attributes was God revealed to him Exod. chap. 34. v. 6 7. Where it is declared why God appeared to him also Exod. chap. 20. v. 4 5. In Exod. chap. 33. v. 18. We read that Moses desired to see God but because Moses as hath been already said had formed in his imagination no Likeness or Figure of God and as I have already shewed God was not revealed to the Prophets but according to the disposition of their Fancy and Imagination therefore God appeared to him under no Image or Similitude and the Reason of it was because 't was repugnant and contrary to the imagination of Moses but other Prophets Isaiah Ezekiel and Daniel testify that they saw God. Moses was answered by God in the 20 th Verse of the 33. Chap. of Exod. thou canst not see my Face and because Moses believed that God was visible that is it imply'd no contradiction in the Divine Nature to be so else he had never made such a request therefore God also answer'd no Man shall see my Face and live giving a Reason suitable to Moses's Opinion for God did not say that his Divine Nature was in it self invisible and impossible to be seen as indeed it is but that it could not be seen because of human Weakness and Frailty After the Israelites had worshipt the Golden Calf that God might reveal to Moses the Israelites should become like other Nations God tells him Exod. Chap. 33. v. 2 3. that he would send an Angel that is a Being who instead of the supreme Being should take care of the Israelites but that he himself would be no more in the midst of them and from this Moses was to conclude that the Israelites were thenceforth not to be beloved by God any more then other Nations who were committed to the care of Angels or other Beings as appears by the 16 th Verse of the Chapter Lastly because Moses believed that God dwelt in Heaven therefore was God revealed as descending from Heaven upon Mount Sinai and Moses that he might speak with God ascended the Mount which he needed not to have done had he thought God to be in all places The Israelites knew very little of God tho' he was revealed to them as was sufficiently manifested by their bestowing on a Calf the Honour and Worship due to God and by saying to that Calf these be thy Gods
the sacking of the City when the Iews were carried Captives into Babilon and were not for ought we know divided into Sects they presently neglected Ceremonies bid farewel to the whole Law of Moses forgot the Laws of their own Country as superfluous and mixed themselves with the rest of the Nations as appears out of Esdras and Nehemiah therefore without doubt the Iews after their Government was dissolved were no more bound by Moses's Law then they were before they became a Commonwealth for while they lived among other Nations before their going out of Egypt they had no peculiar Law nor were obliged to any but the Natural Law observing also the Laws of the Country and the Nation where they lived which were not repugnant to the Divine Natural Law the Patriarchs indeed offer'd Sacrifices to God but that was because they were from their Infancy accustomed so to do it being the Practice of all Men from the time of Enoch to offer Sacrifices to incite and testify their Devotion the Patriarchs therefore offered their Sacrifices neither as Men Commanded by any Divine Precept or Instructed by the Universal Law of Nature but only because it was the Custom of that time and if they did it by any Command that Command was no other then that of the Commonwealth wherein they lived and which as I have shewn in the 3 d. Chapter where I spoke of Melchisedek they were bound to obey Having justified my Opinion by Scripture-Authority I will next from general Principles very briefly shew why Ceremonies were useful to Establish and Preserve the Iewish Commonwealth Society is not only convenient but absolutely necessary to living securely from the danger of Enemies and likewise for the quicker and more easy dispatch of human labour and business for unless Men mutually assist one another they must want both time and means so far as 't is possible to preserve themselves all Men are not equally fit for all things nor is every one able to procure those things of which he singly stands in need no individual Person hath time or strength enough to Plow Sow Reap Grind Bake Boyl Weave Knit and do very many other things necessary to support Life not mentioning Arts and Siences which perfect and make human nature happy we see that those People who live Barbarously without any Policy lead miserable bruitish lives and do not come by those necessaries and sorry Houshold-stuff which they have without helping one another if Men were so constituted by Nature that they would desire nothing but what right reason dictates Societies would need no Laws and only to instruct Men in the precepts of Morality would be sufficient to make them with a free and constant mind do whatever should be for the public Good but 't is far otherwise with human Nature all men indeed seek their own Good and Advantage not according to the Dictates of right Reason but according to their own peculiar Lusts and hurryed with the violence of their own Affections without regard to any thing else believe that to be good which they ardently desire This is the reason why no Society of Men can subsist without Government Force and Laws to moderate and restrain unbridled Passions and Affections but down right compulsion is intollerable to human Nature and therefore Seneca the Tragedian says Empires maintain'd by force last but a little while mild Governments endure longest what Men do out of fear they do against their Will never considering the utility or necessity of what they do but only take care to avoid capital Punishment yea they can hardly refrain from rejoycing at the losses and misfortunes of their Rulers and tho' they themselves suffer by it cannot forbear wishing and doing them all the mischief they are able but above all things Men are impatient of obeying and being govern'd by their equals and lastly nothing is more difficult than to deprive Men of that Liberty which they once enjoy'd From all which it follows that all Societies if it be possible should be govern'd by their own general assemblies that so no Body may be Subjected to his equal but where the reins of Government are in the hands of a few or one single Person there that single Person ought to have extraordinary qualifications above others or at least should endeavour to make the People think so and in every government such Laws ought to be made as are likely to incline Men to do their duty not for fear of punishment but in hope of reward Moreover because obedience consists in executing the commands of those that rule it follows that in a Society where the ruling Power is in the Collective Body of the People and Laws are made by general and common consent there is no such thing as obedience and tho' the Laws be increased or diminished yet still the People remain free because they are not Subject to the Authority of another but Act by their own voluntary universal agreement and consent but 't is quite contrary where a single Person governs for there all are Subject to whatever he commands so that unless the People have been always educated under such absolute government it will be very difficult for a Monarch to make new Laws or to take away any liberty from the People which they have formerly enjoy'd These things being thus generally considered we now come to the Common-wealth of the Iews who when they went first out of Egypt were not obliged to the Laws of any other Nation so that they might then constitute and enact what Laws and Statutes they pleased and fix themselves and their government in any part of the World they had a mind to possess but being a stupid People and by long servitude depraved in their understanding they were unfit to make good and prudent Laws or to govern themselves by their own democratical Authority without a Superior the Power of governing was therefore to be put into the hands of a single Person who was to command the rest and compel them by force who was likewise to prescribe and interpret Laws This Power Moses easily obtain'd because he excell'd all others in divine Vertue and Power which Power he perswaded the People by many Testimonies Exod. chap. 14. v. 31. and chap. 19. v. 9. was given him by God being thus qualify'd he made and prescribed Laws to the People but took special care that the People might do their duty not so much out of fear as of their own free will which he did upon two considerations First because the Peoples obstinate and Rebellious Nature would not endure continual compulsion Secondly because there was an approaching War which was like to succeed better by encouraging then by threatning the Soldiers every one endeavoring by his valor rather to get Reputation then avoid Punishment for this reason also Moses by Gods command introduced Religion into the Common-wealth that Devotion more then fear might incline them to obedience Lastly he obliged them by many
for us to interpret Scripture for most of the things we meet with in it cannot be deduced from Principles known by natural reason as we have already shewn and therefore the Truth of them cannot be made manifest by the strength of natural reason and consequently the true Sense and meaning of the Scripture cannot appear to us without some other light Moreover if this opinon were true the common People who are ignorant of or at least do not mind Demonstrations would entertain no Scripture but what they received from the Authority or Testimony of Philosophers and consequently ought to suppose Philosophers cannot Err in the interpretation of Scripture which truly would be a new Ecclesiastical Authority and a kind of Priesthood which the vulgar would rather scorn then reverence And tho' our method require the knowledge of the Hebrew Tongue which the vulgar have no time to Study nothing can upon that Score be objected for the common People of the Iews and Gentiles to whom the Prophets and Apostles Preached understood the Language of the Prophets and Apostles and by it understood the meaning of the Prophets tho' not the reasons of the things they Preached which according to the opinion of Maimonides they ought to have known to make themselves capable of understanding the Prophets meaning It doth not follow from the rule of our method that the common People must necessarily rely upon the Testimony of interpreters for I have given an instance of a People that knew the Language of the Prophets and Apostles but Maimonides can never shew me a common People that knew the causes of things which he says was the knowledge whereby the mind of the Prophets was to be understood and as for the common People of these days we have already shewn that all things necessary to Salvation tho' the reasons of them be not known may be easily understood in any Language because they are so common and ordinary and for this knowledge the vulgar do not depend upon the Testimony of interpreters in other things they follow the Fortune of the Learned But to return to a stricter examination of Maimonides opinion first he supposeth that the Prophets did in all things agree one with another and that they were most excellent Philosophers because as he will have it their conclusions were drawn from the Truth of things but this I have proved in my Second Chapter to be false Next he supposeth that the Sense of Scripture cannot be made out by Scripture for as much as it doth not Demonstrate any thing nor doth it prove the things of which it Treats by definition and Primary Causes wherefore according to the opinion of Maimonides the true Sense of Scripture can neither appear or be deduced from Scripture But I have likewise proved this to be false in the present Chapter For I have made it appear both from reason and examples that the Sense of Scripture is found out only by Scripture and to be derived thence even when it speaks of things unknown to us by natural light Lastly Maimonides supposeth that it is Lawful for us according to our preconceived opinions to expound and wrest the Words of Scripture and to deny or change the litteral Sense thereof be it never so express and plain which Liberty is Diametrically opposite to what I have Demonstrated in this and other Chapters and Savors of too much boldness but should I grant him this Liberty what advantage will he get by it none at all for those things which cannot be Demonstrated make up the greatest part of Scripture we cannot by this way make out nor by this rule expound or interpret them when on the contrary by following our method we may explain many things of this kind and as we have already shewn safely dispute of them but those things which are in their own nature perceptible their Sense is easily drawn from the context and as Maimonides method is unprofitable so it takes from the common People all certainty which they and all that follow any other method can by diligent reading have of the Sense of Scripture and therefore we reject it as dangerous useless and absurd as for the forementioned Tradition of the Pharisees we know not that there is any such and as for the Popes Authority I for no other reason deny it but because it wants clear Proof for had they as much Scripture to shew for it as heretofore the Iewish High Priests had for theirs I should be as little concerned that some of the Popes of Rome have been Hereticks and wicked Men as that the High-Priests of the Iews were sometimes as bad and yet by the command of Scripture had still the Power of interpreting the Law as appears by the 17 chap. of Deut. v. 11 12. chap. 33. v. 10. and Mal. chap. 2. v. 7 8. But because the Popes can shew us no such Testimony their Authority is very much to be doubted and that no Man may deceive himself and think that according to the example of the Iewish High-Priests the Catholic Religion also wants a High Priest it is to be observed that the Laws of Moses were the public Laws of the Country and needed a public Authority to maintain them for if every Man have a Liberty of interpreting the public Laws as he pleaseth no Common-wealth can stand but presently dissolves and public Laws become private but in Religion the Case is quite different for seeing Religion doth not so much consist in external Actions as in Truth and Singleness of Heart it is of no Public Power or Authority for Truth and Sincerity of mind is not infused by the command of Laws or by public Authority and no Man can be compell'd by force or by Laws to be made holy nothing but good brotherly Council education and a mans own free judgment can do that Seeing then every Man hath right to think of Religion as he pleaseth and it cannot be imagin'd any Man can part with this right it is in every Mans Power to judge of Religion and consequently to expound and interpret it to himself for as the cheif Power of interpreting Laws and judging of Public Matters resides in the Magistrate upon no other account but because they are public so likewise for the same reason the Supream Authority of explaining and judging of Religion is in every particular Person because it is every private Mans right The Authority then of the Iewish High-Priest to interpret Laws is far from proving the Popes Authority to interpret Religion but rather the contrary that every particular Man hath right to do it So that it is evident our method of interpreting Scripture i. the best for seeing the supream Power of interpreting it ought to be that natural reason which is common to all Men and not any Supernatural light or external Authority this method ought not be so difficult and abstruse that none but acute Philosophers can make use of or Compose it but it must be
Supernatural Illumination to fit and apply Religion which they had before confirm'd by Signs to every Man 's ordinary Capacity that it might be readily embraced nor was Supernatural Assistance necessary to mind Men of it the design and end of all the Epistles is to teach and admonish Men to live that kind of life which every one of the Apostles judg'd best to confirm and establish them in Religion and here we are to remember what was said a little before That the Apostles were not only enabled to preach the History of Christ and confirm what they preach'd by Signs as Prophets but had also Power and Authority to admonish and instruct Men in that way which every particular Apostle thought best both which gifts Paul mentions in his 2 d Epist. to Timothy chap. 1. v. 11. Whereunto I am appointed a Preacher and an Apostle and teacher of the Gentiles Likewise in his 1 st Epist. to Timothy chap. 2. v. 7. Whereunto I am ordain'd a Preacher and an Apostle I speak the truth in Christ and lie not a teacher of the Gentiles in Faith and Verity which Texts clearly prove both his Offices of Apostle and Doctor but his Authority to warn and instruct whomsoever and whensoever he pleas'd he expresly declares in his Epistle to Philemon verses the 8 th and 9 th Tho' I might be much bold in Christ to enjoyn thee that which is convenient yet for loves sake I rather beseech thee whence we are to note that if those things which Paul was to command Philemon had been receiv'd from God by Paul as a Prophet and which as a Prophet he ought to have commanded him then it had not been lawful for Paul to change that Command of God into Intreaties it must therefore be necessarily understood that Paul here speaks of the liberty of Warning and Admonishing which he had as a Teacher and not as a Prophet Tho' it be not clearly prov'd that every Apostle might chuse that way of teaching which he himself thought best but only that they were both Prophets and Teachers by vertue of their Apostleship yet Reason tells us that whoever hath Power and Authority to teach hath also Power and Liberty to chuse his own way of doing it but because it will be more satisfactory to prove by Scripture that every Apostle chose his own particular way of teaching Consider what Paul himself saith in his Epistle to the Romans chap. 15. v. 20. So have I strived to preach the Gospel not where Christ was named lest I should build upon another mans foundation if every one of the Apostles made use of the same way of teaching and all built Christian Religion upon the same Foundation what reason had Paul to call those Foundations another Mans It must necessarily be concluded that every one built Religion upon a several Foundation and it was with the Apostles as it is with other Doctors who having a peculiar method of teaching desire alway to teach those who are perfectly ignorant and never learnt of any other Master If we carefully read over the Epistles we shall find that the Apostles did agree concerning Religion it self but differ'd about its Foundations To establish Men in Religion and to prove that Salvation depended only upon the Grace and Mercy of God Paul's Doctrine was that no Man ought to boast of his Works but only of his Faith and that no Man could be justify'd by Works but only by Faith Rom. chap. 3. v. 27 28. By Paul also was preached the whole Doctrine of Predestination but Iames on the other side in his Epistle declares that a Man is justify'd by Works and not by Faith only Iames chap. 2. v. 24. and in few words gives a brief account of Religion not at all concerning himself with any of Paul's Disputations Without doubt the Apostles building Religion upon several Foundations hath been the original cause of all those Controversies and Schisms wherewith the Church was in the Apostles time hath been ever since and for ever will be troubled unless Religion be purg'd and separated from all Philosophical Speculations and reduced to those few and plain Doctrines which Christ taught his Followers which was impossible to be done by the Apostles themselves because Men then knew not the Gospel and because the novity of its Doctrine should not offend their Ears they as near as possible suited and fitted it to the Genius and Disposition of Men in that time as appears by the 1 st Epist. to the Corinth chap. 9. v. 19 20. and was built upon the most known Foundations and receiv'd Principles of those times therefore none of the Apostles philosophiz'd so much as Paul who was called to preach to the Gentiles the rest preaching to the Iews who were despisers of Philosophy likewise apply'd themselves to their Genius see the Epist. to the Galath chap. 2. from the 11 verse forward and preach'd Religion strip'd naked from all Philosophical Speculations How happy likewise would our times be could we see Religion freed from all Superstition CHAP. XII Of the true Original Hand-writing of the Divine Law why Scripture is called Holy and why the Word of God Lastly That the Scripture as it contains the Word of God is derived down to us pure and uncorrupted THey that look upon the Bible however it be as a Letter sent from Heaven by God to Man will certainly exclaim and say I am guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost in maintaining that the Word of God is faulty maimed adulterated and contradictory to it self that we have but fragments of it and that the Original Writing of the Covenant which God made with the Iews perish'd but I doubt not would they well consider the thing it self they would cease their exclamations for Reason as well as the Opinion of the Prophets and Apostles plainly declares That the Eternal Word and Covenant of God and true Religion is written in Mens Hearts that is imprinted by God upon the Mind and Understanding of mankind which is that true Hand-writing of God which he sealed with the Idea of himself that is the Image of his own Divine Nature Religion was first deliver'd to the Iews as a written Law because they were at that time in their Understanding little more than Children but afterwards Moses Deut. chap. 30. v. 6. and Ieremy chap. 31. v. 33. prophesied that in time to come God would write his Law in their Hearts so that the Iews and among them chiefly the Zaduces always contended for their Law written in Tables which others did not who had it engraven on their Hearts He then that considers this will find nothing in what I have said contrary to God's word or that will weaken Faith and Religion but rather as I have shewed toward the end of the tenth Chapter what will confirm and strengthen both Had not that been my intention I had been altogether silent upon this Subject and to avoid disputes would have freely granted that there
Foundation and proper Subject of Philosophy Nor ought we to be troubled or concerned if after we have found out the true sense of the Scripture the Scripture in some places seem repugnant to Reason for whatever of that kind we meet with in the Bible and of which Men may without any breach of Charity be ignorant doth not at all concern Theology or the Word of God and consequently of such things a Man may without sin think what he pleaseth and therefore we positively conclude that Reason is not to be accommodated to Scripture nor Scripture to Reason But seeing the fundamental point in Divinity of Mens being saved only by Obedience cannot be demonstrated by Reason to be true or false it may by way of Objection be then asked Why then do we believe it If we do it blindly without Reason we act like Fools without Judgment if on the other side we say this Fundamental Tenet may be proved by Reason then Divinity is a part of Philosophy and cannot be sever'd from it To this I answer That I do clearly confess this Fundamental Doctrine of Theology cannot be made out by Natural Reason at least no Man that I know hath ever done it therefore Revelation was absolutely necessary in the case but yet we may make use of our Judgment and Reason that what hath been revealed may with a moral certainty be believed by us I say with moral certainty for it is not to be expected that we can have any greater assurance than the Prophets themselves had to whom the Revelation was first made and who had no more than a moral certainty as we have shewed in the second Chapter of this Treatise They therefore are in a very great error who endeavour to prove the Authority of Scripture by Mathematical Demonstration for the Authority of the Bible depends upon the Authority of the Prophets and consequently can be proved by no stronger argument than the Prophets made use of to perswade the people of theirs Our certainty of the Scriptures Authority can be grounded upon no other Foundation than that whereon the Prophets founded their Certainty and Authority and we have already shewn the certainty of the Prophets consisted in three particulars First In a clear and lively imagination Secondly In a Sign Thirdly and principally in a Mind inclined and devoted to Justice and Vertue nor could they give any other evidences of their Authority either to the people to whom they spake in their own persons by word of mouth nor can any other be given to us to whom they speak by their Writings the lively imagination of the Prophets was an Argument only to themselves and therefore all our assurance concerning Revelation doth and must consist only in the other two particulars namely in a Sign and in the Doctrine The eighteenth Chapter of Deuteronomy commands the people to obey that Prophet who in the name of the Lord gave them a true Sign but if he prophesied any thing that was false tho' it were in the Name of the Lord he was to be put to death as he was who endeavoured to seduce them from the true Religion tho' he confirm'd his Prophesie with Signs and Miracles as appears in the 13 th Chapter of Deuteronomy whence it follows that a true Prophet was to be known from a false by his Doctrine and by a Miracle both together for such a one only Moses declareth to be a true Prophet and commanded the people to believe him without any fear of being deceived But he declared those to be false Prophets and guilty of Death who foretold any thing that was false tho' it were in the Name of God or he that preached false Gods tho' he wrought true Miracles We then are oblig'd to believe the Scripture that is the Prophets upon account only of their Doctrine confirm'd by Signs because we see the Prophets above all things commend Justice and Charity and intended nothing else because with a sincere Mind without any guile or deceit they declared that Men by Faith and Obedience should be made happy and confirm'd this their Doctrines with Signs We therefore conclude and perswade our selves that when they prophesied they did neither dote or speak unadvisedly in which Opinion we are the more confirm'd when we consider that all their Moral Doctrines did perfectly agree with Reason for it is very observable that the Word of God in the Prophets is exactly consonant to the Word of God within us so that I say again we are as much assured of these things by the Scripture as the Iews were by the Prophets preaching to them viva voce for we have proved in the end of the second Chapter that the Scripture as to its Doctrine and the principal Histories thereof is derived down to us uncorrupted and therefore this Fundamental Doctrine of Scripture and Theology ought with good reason to be embraced by us tho' it cannot be proved by Mathematical Demonstration It is very great folly not to believe a thing which hath been confirmed by so many Testimonies of the Prophets and which is so great a comfort to those who have but ordinary portions of Reason which is so beneficial to the publick and which may without any danger or loss be believed We can give no reason for our doubting or unbelief but our not having Mathematical Demonstration to prove it as if nothing could contribute to living vertuously and prudently but that which is absolutely and apparently true in which there is not the least shadow or doubt and as if there were nothing of chance and uncertainty in our Actions I confess they who think Philosophy and Divinity contradictory one to another and therefore conclude one of them ought to be dethroned and subjected to the other do very well to build Divinity upon a sure Foundation and endeavour by Infallible Demonstration to support it yet I cannot but condemn those that make use of Reason to destroy Reason and by Certain Reason endeavour to prove there is no certainty in Reason while they are demonstrating the Verity and Authority of Theology and strive to deprive Reason of its power they subject Theology to the Empire of Reason and allow it no other splendor than what it borrows from Natural Light If they boast of relying upon the Internal Testimony of the Holy Spirit and say they make use of Reason only to convert Infidels we ought not to believe them because 't is evident that the Holy Spirit beareth witness to nothing but good Works which Paul Galath 5. 22. therefore calls the fruits of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is nothing else but that Tranquility of Mind and Peace of Conscience which ariseth in us from doing good But of the truth and certainty of things meerly speculative no other Spirit but Reason beareth witness Reason only can challenge the power of judging what is true they that pretend to any other Spirit whereby to make themselves certain what is true maintain
Society is called Democracy which is a general Assembly of men who in fellowship have Soveraign right to all things within their Power from whence it follows that Supream Power is bound by no Law but all ought to obey it in all things which obedience every one did in express words or tacitly and by implication promise when he transfer'd all his own Power of defending himself that is all his own natural right upon the Society So that if any men intended to keep any thing to themselves at the same time they ought to have provided and taken care for the defence and safe keeping thereof but if they did not nor could do it without dividing and consequently destroying the Government and Commonwealth that ought to be accounted an absolute submission of themselves to the will of the Supream Power which being done absolutely and not only upon necessity but likewise for very good reasons unless we will declare our selves Enemies to the Commonwealth and act contrary to Reason which perswades us to defend the Commonwealth with our utmost power we are bound to obey all the Commands of the Supream Power be they never so absurd for even those Reason commands us to obey that of two evils we may chuse the least Consider likewise how easily every one may run into the danger of submitting himself absolutely to the Will and Arbitrary Power of another for as we have shewn Supream Powers have no longer right of commanding what they will than they can keep that Power for as soon as they lose it they lose likewise the right of commanding all things and that right falls to him or them that can get and keep it therefore it very rarely happens that Supream Powers command harsh and unreasonable things for it very much concerns them to look to themselves to keep their Power to mind the publick good and order all things by the Rules of Reason No violent Governments saith Seneca ever stood long It is observable that in Democratical Governments severe and unreasonable Commands are never much to be feared for 't is almost impossible that the major part of an Assembly if it be great should agree in that which is unreasonable and absurd the Foundation and End likewise of that Government being only to avoid the mischiefs of boundless Appetite and to keep Men as much as may be within the compass of Reason that they may live together in Peace and Amity which Foundation once taken away down falls the whole Fabrick against which Ruin to provide is the duty of the Supream Power The Subjects part is to obey and acknowledge nothing else to be right but what is declared to be so by the Supream Power But some may think that by this Rule I make Subjects Servants or Slaves because they account him a Servant who acts by Command and him free who only obeys his own Will which is not absolutely true for he that gives himself up to his own pleasure and desires and neither sees or does what is for his own good is indeed the greatest of Slaves and he only is free who of his own accord lives according to the dictates of Reason Acting by Command which is Obedience doth in some sort take away Liberty but 't is the account upon which a Man acts that makes him a Servant for if the end of the action be wholly and solely for the benefit of him that commands without any advantage to the Agent then the Agent is a Servant and unprofitable to himself but in a Commonwealth or Government where the welfare of all the People and not of him that governs is the principal and Supreme Law he that in all things obeys the Supreme Power is not an unprofitable Servant to himself but is to be counted a Subject and therefore that Commonwealth is counted freest where the Laws are sounded upon most Reason for there every Man when he will may be free in living with his own intire consent according to the Rules of Reason Tho' Children are bound to obey all the Command of their Parents yet they are not Servants for the Commands of Parents tend chiefly to the good of their Children and therefore we acknowledge there is great difference between a Servant a Son and a Subject who are thus defined A Servant is he who is bound to obey the Commands of his Master which respect only the Masters benefit A Son is he that by his Parents Command doth that which is for his own good And a Subject is he who by the Command of the Supreme Power doth that which is for the good of the Publick and consequently as he is one of that Body for his own benefit By what I have said I think I have clearly shewn what is the Foundation of Democratical Government of which before all others I chuse to treat because it seems most natural and comes nearest to that freedom and liberty which Nature allows every Man for in Democratical Government no Man so transfers his own Natural Right to another as for ever after to be excluded from consultation but only transfers it upon the major part of the Society of which he still makes one and upon this all remain as they were before in their natural estate equal Moreover I purposely treated of this Government because it best suited with my Intention which was to speak of the benefit of Liberty in a Commonwealth I will therefore have nothing to do with the Foundations of other Powers nor to know their Right is it necessary to know whence they had and often have their Original that is too manifest From what I have declared where ever the Supreme Power is whether in one person in few or in all 't is certain that they have the Soveraign right of commanding what they will and whoever either willingly or by compulsion transfers to another the Power of defending himself he hath clearly parted with his Natural Right and consequently must resolve to obey him that hath it in all things which he continues obliged to do as long as the King the Nobles or the People can preserve the Supreme Power which they received which was the first Foundation of transferring Natural Right of which I need say no more The Foundations and Right of Government being laid open it is easie to determine what is private civil Right what is Injury or Wrong what is Justice what Injustice in a Civil State. Lastly Who is a Confederate or Ally who is an Enemy and what is Treason By private civil Right no other thing can be understood but every Man 's keeping and preserving himself in the state wherein he is which Liberty is limited and determined by the Decrees and Dictates of the Supreme Power and defended by the sole Authority thereof for after every one hath transferr'd to another his right of living according to his own Will which only bounded his own power I mean his liberty of defending himself he is then obliged to live
according to his Will to whom he hath parted with that Liberty and from him only must expect Protection Injury or Wrong is when a Citizen or Subject is compell'd to suffer loss or damage from another contrary to Civil Right and the Decrees of the Supreme Power for there can be no such thing as Wrong or Injury any where but in a Civil State nor can any wrong be done to Subjects by the Supreme Power which may lawfully do whatever it pleaseth and therefore hath place only amongst private persons who by Law are obliged not to offend one another Justice is a constant resolution of giving to every one that which by the Law rightly interpreted belongs to him Justice and Injustice are sometimes called Equity and Iniquity because they that are appointed to end Suits and Differences are bound not to have any respect to persons but to look upon all as equals and equally to defend every Man's right neither envying the rich nor despising the poor Confederates are Men of two Cities or Societies who to avoid the danger and inconveniencies of War or for any other advantage and benefit mutually covenant not to offend or hurt one another but in case of necessity to assist and help one another both preserving their own Power and Dominion This League or Contract will so long continue firm and binding as the consideration of danger or profit upon which it was founded continues because no person covenants or is oblig'd to perform his contracts unless it be in hope of some good or fear of some evil which being the Foundation of all Contracts take away that Basis Experience tells us they all fall to the ground For tho' divers Empires and Governments do mutually covenant not to do any thing to the prejudice or hurt of one another yet 't is always the endeavour of both to hinder one another from growing too powerful neither do they believe one anothers promises unless they be fully satisfied that the End of their agreement be for the benefit of both nor is there any wrong in the case for who but a Fool ignorant of the right of Supreme Power will give credit to the words or promises of him who having Supreme Power hath right to do what he will and who is obliged by no other Law but the publick safety and benefit of the people under his Government we likewise observe that Religion and Piety signify very little for who ever hath the Supreme Power cannot without consequent mischief keep his Promises which prove prejudicial and destructive to his People and Government or that he cannot perform them without breaking Faith with his Subjects by which Faith he is principally obliged and which usually with Oaths he solemnly and religiously promiseth to keep An Enemy is one that liveth out of the Commonwealth and neither as a Confederate or Subject will own its Power or Government for 't is not the hatred of a Commonwealth but its Right and Power which maketh a Man an Enemy for the Power of a Commonwealth over him who will by no kind of Contract own its Power is the same that it hath over him who doth it harm because it hath right to compel him one way or other to yield and submit to it or confederate with it Lastly Treason in Subjects or Citizens is only where they have by express or imply'd Contract transferr'd all their right to the City or Commonwealth and that Subject is counted guilty of Treason who endeavours to usurp the right of the Supreme Power to himself or transfer it upon another I say he that but endeavours it for if none were to be condemned till after the commission of the fact the punishment would many times come too late therefore I say positively he that by any means goes about to usurp or take away the right of the Supreme Power making no difference whether the Commonwealth shall be a gainer or loser by it upon what account soever he attempted or did it yet he hath committed Treason and is justly condemned which every one also acknowledgeth to be just in War for if a Souldier keep not his station but without his General 's knowledge or command assaults the Enemy tho' he beat him and did it very advisedly yet doing it of his own head he deserves death having violated his own Oath and his Geneneral's Authority Now tho' Subjects do not see that their case and a Souldiers is alike yet in truth the reason is the same in both sor seeing the Commonwealth ought to be governed defended and preserved by the Counsel only of the Supreme Power and all have absolutely covenanted that this right shall reside only in the Supreme Power if any Man shall at his own Will and Pleasure without the knowledge of the Supreme Council make any publick attempt which would certainly prove very advantageous to the Commonwealth yet having violated the right of the Supreme Power he is lawfully and deservedly condemned Now to clear all scruples if any Man ask Whether maintaining that a Man in his Natutural State hath Natural Right to live according to the Laws and Dictates of his own Appetite be not flatly contrary to the revealed Law of God Seeing every Man whether he have or have not the use of Reason is equally obliged by God's Command to love his Neighbour as himself and therefore we cannot without being very injurious do any harm to another and live according to our own Lusts. This Objection is easily answered for if we consider only the state of Nature that state and Nature it self were before there was any Religion for by Nature no Man knows that there is any obligation upon him to obey God nor can he come to the knowledge of it by Reason but whoever knows it must know it only by Revelation confirm'd with Signs and therefore before Revelation no body was bound by the Divine Law of which every Man must be necessarily ignorant The state of Nature then and the state of Religion must not be confounded but considered apart and as we have proved by Paul's Authority the state of Nature is understood to be without Religion without Law without sin or wrong doing Nor do we consider the state of Nature as before and without the revealed Law of God in respect of Ignorance only but in respect also of that freedom and liberty in which all Men were born for if Men by Nature were bound by the Law of God or if God's Law were by Nature a Law there was no need of God's making a Covenant with Men and obliging them by Oath and Contract It must therefore be absolutely granted that God's Law took place from the time that Men by an express Covenant with God promised to obey him in all things by which Covenant and Promise they did as it were depart from their natural freedom and transferr'd their natural right upon God in like manner as we have declared is done in a Civil State. But of this I
Violence might without danger be practis'd on Subjects which I believe cannot enter into any Mans thoughts so that it must be granted that every Man retains much of his own Right which still depends upon no bodies will but his own Now that it may be rightly understood how far the right of Government extends it self it is to be observed That the Power of Government doth not precisely consist in its being able to compel men by fear but also in all other means whereby it is able to make men obey its Commands for 't is not the Reason of obeying but actual Obedience that makes a man a Subject Upon what account soever a man resolves to perform the Commands of Supreme Power whether for fear of punishment for hope of benefit for love of his Country or any other affection yet still he acts by the Command of the Supreme Power though it be upon deliberation with himself It is not therefore to be concluded That a man who doth any thing by his own counsel and deliberation acts by his own Power and not by the Authority of the Government for being obliged by love or forced by fear he still of his own accord acts to avoid some evil Either there must be no such thing as Authority and Power over Subjects unless it did necessarily extend it self to all things which make men upon deliberation submit to it and consequently whatever a Subject doth agreeable to the Commands of the Supreme Power whether he do it for fear love or which is more frequent for hope and fear together or out of reverence which is composed of fear and admiration on or for any other Reason yet he still acts not by his own Power but by the Authority and Power of the Government And hence it is very evident that Obedience doth not so much respect external Actions as the inward Consent and Submission of the Mind and he is most under the Power of another who with a willing mind deliberately resolves to execute all his Commands That Power is always greatest which reigns over the hearts of Subjects but if they should be accounted most powerful who are most feared how potent must they be who are govern'd by Tyrants who commonly dread nothing so much as their own Subjects Though there cannot be so great a Command over mens Minds as there may be over their Tongues yet the Minds of men are in some kind under the Dominion of Supreme Power because it can several ways bring it so about that a very great part of the People shall believe love and hate whatever the Supreme Power pleaseth And though this be not effected by the direct Commands of the Supreme Power yet Experience tells us 't is often done by the Authority that is by the direction of that Power So that we may without any difficulty conceive how men may believe love hate despise and be carried away with any other Passion to which the Authority of the Supreme Power pleaseth to incline them But though upon this very account we may conceive the Right and Power of Government to be very large yet 't is impossible that any Dominion should be so great and absolute that he or they who have it should be able in all things to do what they please therefore as I have already said it is not my intention to shew how to form a Government that shall be perpetual but my purpose is only to take notice of those things which Moses by Divine Revelation declared were most likely to preserve and perpetuate a Commonwealth We shall then see what those things are which for the benefit and safety of a Commonwealth are to be granted to Subjects by the Supream Power Reason and Experience tell us That the safety and preservation of Government depends chiefly upon the fidelity of Subjects and their Courage and Constancy in executing the Commands of the Supream Power but the way of teaching Subjects to be constantly faithful and couragious is not so easily found out because Governours as well as the governed are Men and not caring for Labour are still prone to Lust. They think securing Government to be an impossible Work who have tried the mutable Humours of the Multitude which is never ruled by Reason but by their own Passions and Affections ready for all rash Attempts easily debauched by Covetousness and Luxury every single man thinks he knows all things and judgeth every thing to be just or unjust right or wrong as it makes for his profit or loss Pride makes him scorn to be governed by his Equals still envying another man's better Reputation or greater Fortune which is never equal desires and rejoyceth in his Neighbours Misfortunes There is no need of more Instances all know how mens Minds are agitated and possest and to what Mischeif men are hurried headlong by dislike of their present Condition by desire of Change by Rage and contemptible Poverty To prevent all these things and to constitute a Government wherein there shall be no place left for fraud and so to order all things that all People of what Disposition soever shall prefer the publick good before their own private benefit is the great difficulty The Necessity of preserving and securing Government hath much busied mens heads but it hath been hitherto impossible to put Supreme Power into a condition of being less in danger or in less fear of Subjects than of Enemies Witness the Roman Commonwealth never conquer'd by its own Enemies but often opprest and overthrown by its own Citizens and especially in that Civil War of Vespasian against Vitellius as may be seen in the Fourth Book of Tacitus where he describes the miserable condition of the City of Rome Alexander the Great saith Quintus Curtius in the End of his Eighth Book did more fear the Fame of a Subject than an Enemy because he was afraid his own People might ruine his Greatness Distrusting his own Fate he thus bespake his Friends Let it be your care only to preserve me from the Treachery and Conspiracy of my own People and then no hazards in the War shall put me in fear Philip was more secure in the Front of Battel abroad than in the Theatre at home he oft-times avoided the force of his Enemies but he could not escape the violence of his own Friends and if you consider the End of other Kings you shall number more that have been slain by their own Subjects than by any Forreign Power See Quintus Curtius lib. 9. § 6. This was the Reason why Kings who were Usurpers to secure themselves and their Dominion endeavour'd to perswade the People they were descended from the Immortal Gods because they thought if their Subjects did not take them for Men like themselves but believed them to be Gods they would be the better contented to deliver themselves up to their Power and Government Augustus perswaded the Romans that he was descended from AEneas the Son of Venus one of their Deities he
promise to obey all that God should say to them but all that God should speak to Moses See Deut. c. 5. v. 25 26 28. so that now none but Moses became the giver and interpreter of Gods Laws and consequently was the Supreme Judg over whom no Man had power he only was Gods Vicegerent among the Jews in him resided the Supreme Majesty seeing he only had the power of consulting God of returning Gods Answers to the People and compelling the People to obey them I say he only for if any Man during the Life of Moses had preached any thing in the name of God though he were a true Prophet yet he had been a guilty Usurper see Numb c. 11. v. 27 28. And here we ought to observe that though the People chose Moses yet they had not the power of Electing any Successor in his place for at that very time when they transfer'd their Right and Power of consulting God upon Moses and promis'd to receive from him Gods answers they lost all their power and whoever Moses declared should be his Successor him were they bound to accept as chosen by God himself and had Moses chosen one who was to have as Moses himself had the whole Administration of the Government namely the Power of consulting God alone in his Tent and consequently the Power of making and abrogating Laws of making War and Peace sending Embassadors appointing Judges chusing a Successor and ordering all other things that belong to Supreme Power the Government had been perfectly Monarchical and there had been no other difference between the Jewish and other Monarchies but this that other Monarchies are or should be Govern'd according to Reason by Gods Decree of which the Monarch is ignorant but the Jewish Monarchy by Gods Decree revealed only to the Monarch which difference doth not at all diminish but increase the Monarchs Power and Dominion over all but the condition of the Subjects in both Monarchies is the same For the Subjects in both being ignorant of Gods Decree do absolutely depend upon the Mouth of the Monarch and he only is to declare what is right and what is wrong And if the People believe that the Monarch is to command nothing but by the will of God revealed to him in that very respect they are not the less but the more subject to him Now Moses did not chuse any such Successor but left Successors who were so to Administer the Government that it could not be called Popular Aristocratical or Monarchical but rather Theocratical For the Power of Interpreting Laws and Communicating Gods Answers to the People was in one Person and the Right and Power of Administring the Government according to the Laws already explain'd and according to the Answers already made known was in another See Numb c. 27. v. 21. But that these things may be clearly understood I will in order declare in what manner the Government of the Jews was Administred First The People were commanded to build a House which was to be God's that is the Palace of the Supreme Majesty of that Government and this was not to be built at any particular Persons cost but the publick charge of all the People that the House where Counsel was to be asked of God might be Publick and Common to all The Levites were the Courtiers or Officers of this Divine Palace of these the Chief next to God after the King was chosen Aaron the Brother of Moses whose Legitimate Sons succeeded him He as next to God was the chief Interpreter of the Divine Laws return'd the Answers of the Divine Oracle and made Supplications to God for the People had he herewith had the commanding Power there had nothing wanted of his being an absolute Monarch but that Power he had not and the whole Tribe of Levy was so far excluded from having any hand in the Administration of government that they were not allow'd to possess with the rest of the Tribes any Lands in their own right upon which they might live but were to be maintain'd and relieved by the rest of the People as a Tribe dedicated to God. The Militia was chosen out of the rest of the twelve Tribes they were commanded to invade the Country of the Canaanites to divide their Lands into twelve parts and to distribute the parts amongst the Tribes by Lot. Ioshua was elected General and Chief Commander of the Militia who only in future Affairs and Emergencies had the power of consulting God not as Moses had alone in his Tent or in the Tabernacle but by the High-Priest to whom only God gave his Answers The power of passing those Answers which were deliver'd to the High-Priest into Laws and the power of compelling the People to obey them the Manner and Means of executing those Commands the choice of the Militia or the choice of those that should chuse it of sending Embassadors in his own name the whole power of making and carrying on War depended absolutely and solely upon the Will of Ioshua into whose power and place no body did ever lawfully succeed nor was there ever any other chosen unless by God himself the Peoples affairs not requiring any such choice but all matters of Peace and War were under the direction and government of the Princes of the Tribes All from twenty years old to sixty were commanded to bear Arms the Army was formed only out of their own People who did not swear Fidelity to the General or Chief-Priest but to God and Religion and were therefore called the Lords Host and God by the Jews the Lord of Hosts For this reason the Ark of the Covenant upon which depended Victory or the loss of their Battels was always carryed in the midst of the Army that the People beholding as it were their King might fight with their utmost courage and strength From these Commands of Moses to his Successors we conclude that he chose Administrators or Ministers of State but none that had absolute Power for he gave to no body the sole power of Consulting God when he pleas'd and consequently not the Authority which he himself had of making and abrogating Laws of making War or Peace of chusing Officers for the Temple or in any of the Cities all which do properly belong to him that hath Supreme Power The Chief Priest indeed had power of interpreting the Laws and returning Gods Answers to the People but not as Moses when he pleas'd but only when he was called upon by the General or Supreme Council to do it On the other side the General of the Army and the Councils could consult God when they pleas'd but could not receive God's Answers from any but the High Priest and therefore what God said by the Mouth of the High Priest was not a Law and Decree as it was in the Mouth of Moses but only Answers and when those Answers were received by Ioshua and the Council then had they the force of Laws and Decrees Moreover the
High Priest who receiv'd Answers from God had nothing to do with the Militia nor had he any share in the Government and on the other side they that were possest of Lands had no power to make Laws The Chief Priest Aaron and his Son Eleazer were both chosen by Moses but when Moses was dead no man had the power of chusing the High Priest but the Son still succeeded the Father The General of the Army was also elected by Moses not by the Power of the High Priest but took upon him the Generalship or Supreme Power by vertue of that Authority which Moses gave him and therefore when Ioshua dyed the High Priest chose no body into his place nor did the Princes ask Council of God concerning a new General but every one commanded the particular Militia of his own Tribe and all the Princes jointly together had the same power over the whole Army that Ioshua had and it seems there was no need of a General unless when they were to fight against an Enemy with joint Forces of which there was constant occasion and necessity in Ioshua's time when they had no fixed place of abode and all things were in Common But after all the Tribes were by right of Conquest possest of Lands which they were commanded to keep and divide amongst themselves and Property began then there was no more need of a General because the several Tribes by that division became not only fellow Subjects but Confederates they were in respect of God and Religion fellow-Subjects but in respect of one Tribes power over another no more than Confederates In all particulars that of the Jews publick Temple excepted like the States of the seven United Provinces for the division of that which is common into parts is nothing else but every Mans possessing his own part and the rest quit the right which they had to it Moses therefore chose the Princes of the Tribes that after the Land and the Government was divided every one might take care of his own part that is that the Prince of every Tribe should by the High Priest ask Council of God concerning the Affairs of his own Tribe that he should command the Militia of his own Tribe build and fortifie Cities appoint Judges in every City fight against the Enemies of his own Tribe and have the absolute Power of Peace and War within his own Tribe nor was he obliged to acknowledge any other Judge over him but God or a Prophet whom God should expresly send and if he departed from the Worship of God the rest of the Tribes were to account him no Subject but fight against him as a publick Enemy that had violated the Faith of the Covenant made with God of which in Scripture we have several Examples When Ioshua was dead the Children of Israel without any new General asked Counsel of God and when they understood that the Tribe of Iuda was first to assault the Enemy Iuda agreed only with his Brother Simeon to go up with united Forces and fight the Enemies of both their Lots in which agreement none of the rest of the Tribes were comprehended See Iudges c. 1. v. 1 2 3. But every Tribe as that Chapter declares fought separately against its own particular Enemy and spared the Lives of whom they pleased though they were commanded upon no terms to spare any but to extirpate all for which Sin they were indeed reproved but never called to account for it When the Tribes made War one upon another and medled with one anothers Affairs in assaulting the Benjamites it was because they had justly offended the rest of the Tribes by breaking the common Bond of Peace so that none of their Confederates could safely venture themselves amongst them This was the reason the rest of the Tribes invaded the Benjamites in a hostile manner and after the fighting of three several Battels having conquer'd them by right of War put all Nocent and Innocent to the Sword which they afterward repented too late That which I have said of the Power of every particular Tribe is by these Examples confirm'd But some body will perhaps ask who chose the Successor of the Prince of every particular Tribe I find nothing certain in Scripture concerning it but seeing every Tribe was divided into Families and the eldest were the Heads of every Family I suppose of these Heads the eldest did by Right succeed him that was Prince of these Seniors or Elders Moses chose the Seventy that were to assist him who with him were the supreme Council and after the Death of Ioshua had the Administration of the Government By Elders often in Scripture and amongst the Iews are meant Judges but this particular not being much to our purpose it is sufficient that I have proved no person after Moses's Death executed all the Offices of Supreme Power for since all things did not depend upon the pleasure and will of one single person nor upon the Decrees of the Council or People but some things were done by one Tribe others by another by the equal Power and joynt Authority of every one it evidently follows that from the Death of Moses the Government was neither Monarchical Aristocratical or Popular but as I have said Theocratical First because the Temple was the Palace of the Government and upon that account only all the Tribes were Fellow-Citizens Secondly Because all the Citizens or Subjects were to swear Fidelity and Allegiance to God their Supreme Judge to whom only they promised to yield Obedience And lastly Because the Chief Commander or General when there was occasion was to be chosen by none but God which Moses in the Name of God expresly prophesied to the People Deut. 17. 15. which likewise appears by the Election of Gideon Sampson and Samuel and therefore it is not to be doubted but the rest of their faithful Captains were chosen in the same manner though it be not set down in their History These things being thus laid open it is time to enquire how this Con by poverty sold his Land when the Year of Iubilee came it was e who did govern as of those that were governed that neither the Subjects should become Rebels nor the Governours Tyrants They that have Supreme Power or the Administration of Government when they wickedly oppress and abuse their Subjects they still endeavour to make the People believe that all their Actions are just and legal which may be easily done when the Interpretation of the Law depends only upon them 'T is this that makes them take so much Liberty of doing what their Desires dictate and think much of their Prerogative lost when the power of interpreting the Laws is in any but themselves or when the Laws are so perspicuously and clearly interpreted that there can be no doubt or dispute concerning them The Iews therefore were very much secured against the Oppression and Injustice of their Princes by Moses giving the power of interpreting the Laws to the
Levites Deut. chap. 21. v. 15. who had no administration or part in the Government with the rest but all their Honour and Fortune depended upon their truly and rightly interpreting the Law. Moreover all the people were commanded once in every seven years to assemble together in one place where the High Priest read and expounded to them the Laws and likewise every particular person was obliged constantly with great care to read over the Book of the Law See Deut. chap. 21. v 9. and chap. 6. v. 7. The Princes and Rulers therefore for their own sakes were to take good heed that they did all things according to the known Prescription and Rules of the Law if they expected any Honour from the People who would then reverence them as God's Ministers and Vicegerents otherwise they must expect the Universal Hatred of the People which was a sort of Divine Vengeance Another thing which very much bridled the Exorbitant Power and Lust of their Princes was their Militia's being formed out of their own People none from Twenty to Sixty excepted it not being in the Prince's Power to levy or keep in Pay any Forreign Forces This I say was a thing of great Consequence for Princes cannot possibly oppress their Subjects without Forces in continual Pay and Princes fear nothing so much as the Power of their own armed Subjects by whose Valour Labour and Expence of Blood the Glory and Liberty of a Kingdom is purchast and secured Therefore Alexander when he was to fight a second Battel against Darius hearing Parmenio give Advice which did not please him Quintus Curtius in his Fourth Book says Alexander would not check Parmenio again though he had upbraided Alexander more bitterly than was expedient but fell upon Polyperchon who was of Parmenio's Opinion Nor could Alexander oppress the Liberty of the Macedonians which he most feared till after he had out of the Prisoners he took formed Troops that out-numbred his own People that being done he did what he pleas'd being before restrain'd by the Liberty which the best of his own Subjects enjoy'd And if this Liberty of Armed Subjects in other Governments be a Bridle to Princes who ascribe to themselves the Glory of all Victories it was certainly a much greater Curb to the Princes of the Iewish Tribes whose Soldiers fought not for the Glory of their Prince but the Glory of God and ventur'd no Battles till they received an Answer from God. What is more to be observed is That all the Princes of the Iews were associated and linked together by a Religious Covenant so that if any one forsook the publick Religion and offer'd to violate every man's Divine Right they might justly account him a publick Enemy and destroy him Thirdly Another thing which kept the Iewish Princes within bounds was the fear of a New Prophet For if any man of an unblameable Life and Conversation could by some certain signs prove himself a Prophet that Prophet had presently Right to the supreme Power in the same manner that Moses himself had by Revelation and not as the Princes who were to consult God by the High Priest and without doubt such Prophets could easily make the Oppressed People of their Party and by some little signs perswade them to what they pleas'd But when Justice was duely administred the Prince could make such timely provision that the Prophet should so far submit to his Judgment as to be strictly examined whether his Life and Conversation were good Whether the signs of his Mission were true And lastly Whether that which he prophesied in the Name of the Lord were agreeable to the Religion and Laws of the Country If the Signs he gave failed or if his Doctrine were new he might by the Authority of the Prince be justly condemn'd or else approved and received Fourthly The Prince could not claim the Power of governing upon the account of being more Nobly descended than others but had Right to it only by Seniority of Age and Merit Lastly The Princes and all the Army had as much Reason to desire Peace as War for the Militia being composed only of Iewish Subjects the same persons that were Soldiers managed Affairs in times of Peace he that was a Commander in the Field was in the Tribunal a Judge and he that was a General in the Camp was a Prince in the City Therefore none could desire War for Wars sake but only to enjoy Peace and to defend their Subjects Liberties Perhaps the Prince abstain'd as much as was possible from Innovations that he might not attend and wait on the High Priest which he might think beneath his Dignity So much for the Reasons which kept the Princes within bounds Let us now see what kept the People to their Duty The Principles of the Government will make this clear for whosoever considers them will find they begot so much Affection in the Hearts of the People that it was impossible any man should think of betraying or deserting his Countrey but must be so much affected with it that he would suffer any Extremities rather than be subject to any other Forreign Government For after they transferr'd their Power upon God acknowledging their Kingdom to be the Kingdom of God and believed they only were the Children of God and all other Nations God's Enemies believing their mortal Hatred against them to be Piety See Psal. 139. v. 21 22. They could abhor nothing more than swearing Fidelity and promising Obedience to Strangers nor could any thing be thought so execrable and abominable as betraying their Countrey that is the Kingdom of that God they worship'd It was counted an horrible Offence to go out of their Countrey to live because they would not celebrate the Worship of God to which they were strictly obliged any where but in their own Land which was therefore called the Holy Land and every part of the Earth beside esteemed by them profane and unclean Therefore David being forced by Saul to fly his Country complains in these words 1 Sam. chap. 26. v. 19. If they be the children of men that have stirred thee up against me cursed be they before the Lord for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord saying go serve other Gods. This was the Reason which is very worthy Observation that no Iewish Subject was ever condemn'd to Banishment He that sins deserves to be punish't but his punishment oughr not to be a sin The Affection which the Iews had for their Countrey was not simply Love but Piety which with their Hatred to other Nations was so augmented by their daily Worship that it became natural to them for their daily Worship was not only different from but absolutely contrary to that of all other Nations and was the Reason they did not only live unmixt but separate from them Continual Reproach must necessarily beget perpetual Hatred and there is no Hatred so great and lasting as that which is grounded upon
sanctified them for my self But after all the People the Levites only excepted had worshipped the Golden Calf they were defiled and rejected and the Levites who sided with Moses as appears Exod. chap. 32. v. 20 27. were chosen into their room Deut. chap. 10. v. 8. The Lord separated the tribe of Levi to stand before the Lord to minister him and to bless his Name Which change when I seriously consider it makes me think of those Words in Tacitus Illo tempore non fuisse Deo curae securitatem illorum fuisse ultionem At that time God took more care to be revenged upon them than to preserve them God was so extreamly incensed against them that though Laws usually provide for the Safety Honour and Security of People yet the Laws which God gave the Iews were with a purpose to punish and be revenged upon them so that their Laws were not Laws that is the Peoples Safety but their Plague and Pnnishment Consider how many things the People were bound to give to the Priests and Levites beside the Money that was to be pay'd for the Redemption of the First-born Consider likewise that the Levites were only permitted to come near whatever was accounted holy which continually minded the People of their Uncleanness and Repudiation with which 't is very likely the Levites might often reproach them for amongst so many thousand Levites no question but there were some troublesome pragmatical Fellows who provoked the People and the People on their part to be quit with the Levites narrowly watched and pryed into their Actions who being but Men were subject to many failings and miscarriages which as is usual were charged upon the whole Function and at last especially when Provisions were dear in all probability the People grew weary of maintaining so many lazy idle and hated persons who were no Kin at all to them No wonder then when the People were at ease and publick Miracles ceased if they who were in Authority became remiss and the covetous incensed Minds of the People grew careless and neglecting the Divine Worship of which they began to be suspicious and ashamed desired a new 'T is likewise possible that the Princes to keep the Commanding Power still in their own hands might court the People to take part with them against the Priest and bring in a new Religion But had the duration and security of the Government been designed when it was first instituted things might have gone well if all the Tribes had had equal Honour and Power for who would have violated the Sacred Right of his Kindred They would rather for Piety and Religion's sake have maintained their Parents Brothers and Kinsmen seeing from them they were to receive the Interpretation of the Law and the Divine Oracles The Tribes would have been tied in a stricter Bond of Amity if all had had equal Power of administring in the Temple at least there had been less fear of Discord if the Election of the Levites had not been grounded upon the Wrath and Vengeance of God But as I have already said God was very angry with them and that I may again use Ezekiel's Expression he polluted them with their gifts in the redemption of their first-born that he might destroy them This appears by their Histories for as soon as the People began to be idle in the Wilderness many not of the meanest sort began to be offended with the Choice of this Tribe believing that Moses did not act by God's Command but did all things as he himself pleased because he made choice of his own Tribe above all the rest and made a perpetual Settlement of the Priesthood upon his own Brother So that a Tumult being rais'd they tell Moses and Aaron that all the Congregation were every one of them holy and that they lifted themselves up above all the Congregation of the Lord. No Reason could appease them but they were all miraculously destroy'd which occasion'd a Universal Sedition amongst all the People who believed that they who perished were not destroyed by God's Judgment but by some Trick of Moses after which followed a great Plague which made the People weary of their Lives This was the end of the Sedition but not the beginning of any Amity or Affection and God told Moses Deut. chap. 33. v. 21. that he knew the imagination the people went about even before he had brought them into the Land which he sware and Moses a little after Verse 27. saith to the People I know thy rebellion and thy stiff neck behold while I am yet alive with you this day ye have been rebellious against the Lord and how much more after my death And as all the World knows so it happened great Changes all manner of Licentiousness Luxury and Idleness made them grow daily worse and worse till being often beaten by their Enemies they brake their Holy Covenant and desired a Mortal King. The Temple became his Palace and the Tribes casting off the Divine Law and the Priesthood his Subjects The Electing of a King was a great occasion of new Seditions to reign precariously or suffer any Power to controll theirs was intolerable to their Kings They who from private Men were elected to the Throne were contented with the Dignity conferr'd upon them but when their Sons came by Right of Succession to the Crown they began by degrees to make Alterations that the Supreme Power might reside only in them which Power they had not so long as the Power of the Laws was not in their hands but were interpreted and kept by the High Priest in the Sanctuary So that the Kings were still subject to the Laws and had not Authority enough to abrogate the Old or make New. Moreover the Levites had power to keep the Kings as well as the Subjects under the Notion of being profane persons from medling with Sacred Matters Lastly Because all the power of their Kings depended upon the pleasure of any one who was accounted a Prophet of which they had an Example in Samuel who with great Boldness and Liberty commanded Saul to do what he pleas'd and for one Offence only transferr'd the Kingdom upon David which indeed made the Government perfectly precarious To avoid this their Kings consecrated other Temples that they might have no more need of consulting the Levites and enquired after others to prophesie in opposition to those who were accounted true Prophets But yet they could never compass their Ends for the Prophets were still ready watching their opportunity till a Successor came and then the Prophets by their Divine Power did sometimes set up some Famous and Worthy Person who being displeas'd with the King did under pretence of vindicating Religion endeavour to usurp the Supreme Power or some part thereof But neither this way could the Prophets compass their Ends for though they took away the Tyrant yet the Causes of Tyranny still remain'd and they did with a great Effusion of the Subjects Blood only
purchase another new Tyrant So that there was no end of their Discords and Intestine Wars and the Causes of violating God's Law were still the same which could never end but with the Total Destruction of the Common-Wealth We have now seen how Religion began in the Iewish Common-Wealth and how the Government might have been perpetual if the Just Wrath of God would have permitted it to continue But because it would not therefore it perished I have here spoken only of their First Government the Second being but a Shadow of their First seeing they were still under the Power of the Persians After they obtained their Liberty of Cyrus the High Priests became their Princes by usurping the Supreme Authority the Priests having as great a Mind to the Crown as to the Mitre Of this Second Government I need say no more Whether their First Government as it was conceived Durable or Religious be a Pattern that may be followed will appear in the next Chapter For the Close of all I desire it may be particularly observed That by what hath been declared in this Chapter it is evident That Divine Right or Religion had its Beginning and Rise from a Covenant or Contract without which there is no Right but that of Nature and therefore the Iews were not obliged by any Precept of Religion to shew any Kindness towards any other Nations who were not concerned in the Covenant but only to those of their own Common-Wealth CHAP. XVIII Certain Political Maxims Collected from the Government and Histories of the Jews Commonwealth THough the Government of the Jews as it hath been describ'd in the preceding Chapter might have been perpetual yet 't is an Example that cannot now be follow'd nor is it advisable to put it in practice for if any Men would transfer their power upon God they ought to do it as the Jews did by an express Contract or Covenant so that not only the mind of them that transfer their power but also the Will of God upon whom the power is transfer'd ought to be known but God hath revealed by the Apostles that the Covenant of God shall no more be written with Ink nor in Tables of Stone but shall by his Spirit be written in our Hearts That form of Government under which the Jews lived might be very useful and convenient for them who lived alone without any foreign Trade or Commerce who kept themselves within their own Territories and separated themselves from all the rest of the World but 't is in no wise fit for People that live by trading with others and consequently it is to very few people that the Jewish government can be of any use or advantage but though it be a pattern that cannot be follow'd in all things yet there were in it many things very worthy of our observation and which are fit to be put in practice Because my intention is not to treat expresly of Government I will pass many things by and only take notice of those that make for my purpose Namely That it is not repugnant to the Kingdom of God to make Majesty Elective that is to chuse the Person or Persons who shall have the Supream Power of Government for after the Iews transferr'd their Power upon God they delivered the Supream Power of Governing to Moses who thereby had in God's Name the sole Authority of making and abrogating Laws of chusing sacred Ministers and likewise the sole power of teaching judging and punishing and though the Priests were Interpreters of the Law yet they had no power at all to judge the People nor to excommunicate any person for none could do that but the Judges and Princes who were chosen out of the People as appears Ioshua chap. 6. v. 26. where Ioshua adjured the people not to rebuild Iericho Iudges chap. 21. v. 18. where the Elders of the Congregation appointed what Women the Benjamites should marry to propagate their Tribe and 1 Sam. chap. 14. v. 24. where Saul commanded the People not to eat any food till Evening If we consider the Histories and Successes of the Iews we shall find other things very well worth our Observation First That there were no different Sects of Religion amongst them till after the Priests in the Second Government usurped the Supream Authority and the Power of making Laws To make their Authority lasting they took upon them the Power which the Princes had and at last would be called Kings The Reason is apparent for in the First Government nothing was made Law by the High Priest because he had no power of decreeing any thing his Business was only to return those Answers to the Princes and Council which were given by God So that at that time their High Priests could not desire to make new Decrees but only to do that which was their known Duty for they had no other way to preserve their Liberty against the Princes but by keeping the Laws free from Violation and Corruption but after the Priests got power of medling with matters of Government and of Priests became Princes then every one as well in Religion as other Affairs would have all things determin'd by the Pontifical Authority daily making Decrees which they would have to be as Sacred as the Laws of Moses so that Religion degenerated into horrible Superstition the true Sense and Interpretation of the Law was corrupted and the Priests after the Restauration attempting to get the Supream Power into their hands to gain the People so soothed and flatter'd them that they approved of all they did were it never so wicked and made Interpretations of Scripture suitable to their Humours and Practices which Malachy in express Words testifies reproving the Priests of his own time in this manner Mal. chap. 2. v. 7 8. The Priest's lips should preserve knowledge and they should seek the law at his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts But ye are departed out of the way ye have caused many to stumble at the law ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi saith the Lord of hosts And so goes on in reproaching them with interpreting the Law as they pleased with their respecting of persons and taking no heed to walk in God's ways It is certain that though the Priests were never so cautious and wary yet they were narrowly observed by the wiser sort who taking notice of the Priests Boldness declared That the People were not bound to the Observation of any Laws but those that were Written and that all Decrees made by the Priests which the deceived Pharisees chosen as Iosephus tells us out of the meanest of the People called the Tradition of their Fathers were not at all obligatory nor to be obey'd Without all doubt the High Priest's flattering the People the Corruption of Religion and the Multiplication of Laws became a great occasion of those Disputes and Controversies which could never be ended for when men in the heat of Superstition begin to quarrel and
supreme Magistrates on one side or other concern themselves in the Dispute the Controversie never ends and there is a necessity of dividing into Sects In the Second place it may be observed That the Prophets who were but private persons sometimes by the great Liberty they used in admonishing reproving and reproaching the People did rather provoke than make them better who notwithstanding would with much greater patience receive correction and instruction from their Kings Yea the Prophets were sometimes intolerable to very pious good Kings by arrogating a Power of judging what was well and what ill done and sometimes by reproving Kings to their faces if they suffer'd any thing to be publickly or privately done which was contrary to their Judgment Asa who was by the Testimony of Scripture a good King imprison'd Hanani the Prophet see 2 Chron. chap. 16. for too boldly reproving and reproaching him for the League he made with the King of Syria Beside this Example there are others which shew That the Liberty the Prophets took did sometimes more hurt than good I need not instance the Civil Wars which were occasioned by the Prophets pretending to the Supream Power A Third thing fit to be observed is That during the time the People governed there happened but one Civil War which being ended the Victors had so much compassion for the Conquer'd Party that their whole care and study was how to restore them to their former Power and Dignity But after the People not accustomed to Kings had changed the Form of their Government into Monarchy there was no end of their Civil Wars they fought such fierce and bloody Battels as almost exceed Belief for in one Battel which is hardly credible Fifty Thousand Israelites were slain by the men of Iudah and in another the Israelites slew a very great number though not specified of the men of Iudah took the King himself Prisoner demolish'd a great part of the Walls of Ierusalem and to shew that the Rage of War hath no Moderation they destroy'd the Temple sack't the City laden and glutted with the Spoils and Blood of their Brethren taking Hostages they leave the King in his almost ruin'd Kingdom and more secured by the Weakness than the Faith of the King of Iudah's Subjects laid down their Arms. The men of Iudah in a few years after recovering strength come again into the Field and fight another Battel wherein the Israelites were again Victors killing an Hundred and Twenty Thousand of the Men of Iudah and carried away Captives Two Hundred Thousand of their Wives and Children with a very great Booty so that consumed by these and other Battels mention'd in Scripture they at last fell a prey to their Enemies Before they had Kings they sometimes lived in perfect peace Forty Years together and once which is scarce credible Fourscore Years without any Forreign or Domestick War but after they were governed by Kings and fought not for Peace and Liberty but the Glory of their Monarch we find them continually embroil'd the Reign of Solomon only excepted whose Wisdom and Vertue better appear'd in Peace than in War the desire of reigning at last became so excessive that their Kings sometimes waded to the Throne in Blood. Lastly During the Government of the People the Laws remain'd in their first purity and were constantly observed for before Kings came in there were very few Prophetsâ— but after the Election of Kings the Prophets grew very numerous We read Obadiah hid at one time an Hundred in a Cave to save their Lives We likewise find the People were often deceived with False Prophets the People before Kings had the Government being as there was occasion sometimes haughty and sometimes humble did when they were in Calamity forsake their evil ways sought God restored the Laws and by these means freed themselves from danger and distress but their Kings whose haughty Minds cannot without shame stoop obstinately persisted in their Sins and Vices till the Commonwealth was utterly destroyed By all this it clearly appears First How dangerous it is both to Religion and Government to put the Power of making Laws and governing into the hands of Priests and that it is much safer to restrain them from medling in any Business till their Counsel be ask'd and to keep them from preaching and teaching New Doctrines and Opinions Secondly It is very dangerous to judge and determine of things meerly speculative by Scripture or to make any Laws concerning Opinions which are or may be in themselves disputable That Government is very Tyrannical where Opinions are counted Crimes 't is a sign the angry Multitude are Masters Pilate to gratifie the incensed Pharisees commanded Christ to be crucified It was usual with the Pharisees when they had a mind to put Worthy Persons out of their Places and Offices of Dignity to ask Questions concerning Religion this made them accuse the Sadduces of Impiety According to the Example of the Pharisees base and abominable Hypocrites under pretence of Zeal for Religion persecute and traduce honest worthy vertuous men whom for that Reason they envy and by publickly inveighing against their Opinions stir up the People against their Persons This unworthy Practice because it is cloaked with Religion can hardly be restrained where the Supreme Powers have introduced any Sect whereof they themselves were not Authors for then the Sectaries not the Supream Powers are accounted Interpreters of the Divine Law that is the Supream Power makes Sectaries Interpreters of Scripture and then the Magistrates Authority signifies little with the People who have great Veneration for their Teachers to whose Doctrine and Decisions they think even Kings ought to submit To avoid all these Mischiefs nothing can be safer for a Commonwealth than to place all Religion and Piety only in Works that is only in the Exercise of Justice and Charity and for Matters of Opinion to leave every Man free to his own Judgment But of this Particular more largely hereafter Thirdly We see how necessary it is for the good both of Religion and Government to fix the Right and Authority of determining even in things pertaining to God and Religion and of judging what is right and what is wrong in the Supream Powers for if the power of judging Mens Actions could not without great danger to Religion and Government be allow'd to the Prophets much less ought it to be granted to Men who can neither prophesie or do Miracles But of this Particular I will speak expresly in the next Chapter Fourthly and lastly We see how dangerous it is for People never accustomed to Kingly Government and have Laws accordingly framed to chuse a Monarch for as the People cannot endure such a Government so Kingly Authority cannot brook Laws or any Rights and Priviledges of the People Establish't by any others of less Authority and a King will have very little mind to maintain Laws wherein the Peoples Interest was more intended and provided for than his own for
in maintaining such Laws he will think himself rather the Peoples Servant than their Master A New Monarch will make it his business to make New Laws framing the Rules of Government to his own purpose and will reduce the People to such a Condition that they shall not be able with as much ease to unmake as make a King. But here I cannot pass by another Observation which is That it is a very dangerous thing to take away the Life of a King though it be evident to all the World he is an Absolute Tyrant Because when a Nation is accustomed to Kingly Authority and hath been governed only by it they will scorn and contemn any Authority that is less and when they have taken away one Tyrant they will be necessitated as heretofore the Prophets were to chuse another in his room who must be a Tyrant whether he will or no for how can he behold his Subjects Hands stain'd with Royal Blood and approve the Fact which was but a president to shew how they might likewise deal with him If he will be a King and will have the People acknowledge his Power and not be his Judge he must unless he intend to reign precariously first revenge the Death of his Predecessor and make the People an Example that they may not dare to commit the like Parricide upon him But how can he revenge upon the People the Death of a Tyrant unless he first defend the former Tyrant's Cause approve his Actions and consequently tread in his steps Hence it comes to pass that people may indeed change but never destroy a Tyrant or turn ancient Monarchical Government into any other form Of this the People of a Kingdom not far from us have given the World a fatal Example who under colour and form of Law and Justice took away their King's Life and when he was gone they could do no less than change the form of Government but after much Blood spilt it came to this pass at last that another person was set up not by the Name of King as if all the Quarrel had been for nothing but a Name who could not possibly stand unless he destroyed the Royal Line and all that were suspected to be the last King's Friends He disturb'd the Quiet of Peace which breeds Rumors with new Wars that thereby he might divert the Minds of the People from reflecting upon the King's Murder but the Nation at last finding they had done nothing for the publick good by putting to Death their Lawful King and by changing the Government had brought themselves into a Condition worse than they were in before they resolved to return from whence they had strayed nor were they quiet till they saw all things restor'd to their former state Perhaps some will object the Example of the People of Rome who with much ease rid themselves of a Tyrant but their Example I think makes good my Opinion for though the People of Rome could easily destroy a Tyrant and change their form of Government because the Power and Right of chusing a King and his Successor was in the People and because the People amongst whom were many criminal and seditious persons were not accustomed to Kings for of Six they kill'd Three yet still they did nothing but in the place of one Tyrant chuse many who kept them always embroil'd in Foreign and Civil War till the Government under another Name as it did lately in England fell again to a Monarch but the States of Holland never that we know had Kings but only Earls or Counts upon whom the Supream Power was devolved for the States by their Declaration publisht in the time of the Earl of Leicester make it evident That they still reserved to themselves the Power and Authority of minding those Counts of their Duty and likewise kept continually in their own hands the power of maintaining their own Authority and defending their Subjects Liberty in case those Counts did at any time abuse their power the States had still Authority to restrain and punish them that they could do nothing without their Consent and Approbation Whence it clearly follows that the Right of Supream Power and Majesty always resided in the States which Power the last Earl endeavouring to usurp the States could not possibly be thought guilty of any Revolt or Rebellion when they did only restore their almost lost Government to its Pristine State These Examples fully prove That ancient Forms of Government ought to be preserved and cannot without great danger of total ruine be changed CHAP. XIX Religion and all things pertaining to it are subject to no other Power but that of the Supream Magistrate Publick External Forms of Religious Worship ought to be accommodated to the Peace of the Commonwealth WHen I said That they only who have the Supream Power have Right to all things and that all things depend upon their Decrees I meant things Sacred as well as Civil that is Supream Magistrates are the Supream Heads Judges and Interpreters of all things both in Church and State which is the particular Point I intended to treat of in this Chapter because there are many who will not allow Supream Civil Magistrates to have any power over things Sacred nor will they own them to be Judges or Interpreters of God's Law but with strange Boldness accuse and traduce them yea sometimes as heretofore Ambrose did the Emperor Theodosius Excommunicate them out of the Church But as it will appear in the end of this Chapter these Men have a mind to divide and share the Government or get it wholly into their own hands I will first shew That Religion hath the Force of a Law only from their Decrees who have the Supream Power and that all External Religious Worship and Outward Practice of Piety ought to be suited and accommodated to the Peace of the Common-wealth That is so ordered and regulated as may make most for the Quiet thereof and consequently ought to be determin'd and settled by the Supream Power to whose Judgment in all Causes Sacred and Civil we ought to submit But that I may not be mistaken I speak only of the outward Worship and Exercise of Religion and Piety and not of Piety it self and the inward Worship of God or of the Means whereby the Mind is internally disposed to worship God in sincerity for the inward Worship of God and Piety it self is in every man 's own power as we have shewn in the end of the Seventh Chapter which power no man can transfer upon another It appears by the Fourteenth Chapter what I mean by the Kingdom of God where I shew That he fulfilleth the Law of God who exerciseth Justice and Charity because God hath commanded it from whence it follows That the Kingdom of God is where Justice and Charity have the force of a Law and Precept I think there is little difference whether God teach us the Practice of Justice and Charity by Natural Light or
power of the Divine Law depends upon the Decrees of the Supream Magistrate it follows that the Supream Powers are Interpreters of it Upon what account we shall presently declare but first we will shew That the External Worship of God and the Exercise of Piety if we will rightly obey God ought to be perform'd and regulated in such a manner as may best suit with and is most likely to preserve the Peace of the Commonwealth Certainly a Man's Piety and Love to his Country ought to be very great for take away Government farewel all hope of benefit or safety all things are presently in a perillous Condition and the Reign of Rage and Impiety fills all Peoples Minds with Terror and Confusion Whence it must follow that what good soever I do to my Neighbour if it be destructive to the Commonwealth may be counted Impiety and on the other side any hurt done to my Neighbour for the preservation of the Commonwealth ought to be accounted Charity for Example if a Man strive with me for my Coat it is very great Charity in me to give him my Cloak also but where this may endanger the safety of Government it is much greater Charity to bring that Man to Justice though I know he will be condemn'd to death Manlius Torquatus is celebrated in Story for preferring the Peoples Publick Safety before his own Son's Life If then Publick Safety be above all Laws and all Laws both Divine and Humane have a special regard to it if it likewise be the Office and Duty only of the Supream Power to determine what is for the Publick Safety of Government and to command whatever it thinks is so 't is a necessary consequence that no body but the Supream Power ought to determine in what manner a Man ought to shew his Love to his Neighbour that is in what manner he is bound to obey God. So that now we understand why and upon what ground the Supream Powers are Arbiters and Interpreters of Religion and that no body can rightly obey God if he do not accommodate the Publick Practice of Piety whereto every man is obliged to the publick benefit and peace of the Commonwealth by observing all Commands of the Supream Powers for seeing we are all bound to practice Piety towards all men none excepted and to do no man any Injury it follows That it is not lawful for any man to do good to one if thereby he hurt another much less if he thereby endanger the Commonwealth and no person can according to God's Command practice Charity towards his Neighbour unless his Religion and Charity be so regulated as to promote the Publick Good. Now no private man can know what is for the Publick Good unless it be by the Decrees and Laws of the Supream Power whose business it is to take care of the Commonwealth and therefore no man can rightly practice Piety and obey God unless he be obedient to the Decrees and Determinations of the Supream Power which is verified by common practice for it is not lawful for any Subject to help or assist any Man whom the Supream Power hath judged worthy of Death or declared to be a publick Enemy Though the Iews were commanded to love their neighbours as themselves Levit. chap. 19. v. 8. yet if any man had offended against the Commands of the Law they were bound to make it known to the Judge and in case he were condemned to Death to kill him Deut. 13. 8 9. and 17. 7. That the Iews might preserve their Liberty and keep their Lands in their own possession it was necessary as we have shewn in the Seventeenth Chapter to accommodate their Religion to their Government and separate themselves from other Nations It was therefore said Love thy neighbour but hate thine enemy Matth. chap. 15. v. 43. But after they lost their Government and were carried away Captives to Babylon then Ieremy bid them seek the peace of that City And because Christ knew they were to be scattered and dispersed into all parts of the World he taught them the Practice of Charity to all Mankind in general which evidently proves That Religion was always accommodated to the publick benefit of the Common-wealth If any man ask me by what Right or Authority the Disciples of Christ who were but private persons could preach Religion I say they did it by Vertue of that Power they received from Christ against unclean Spirits See Matth. chap. 10. v. 1. I have in the end of my Sixteenth Chapter expresly declared That all men are bound to keep Faith with a Tyrant unless it be such a one against whom God hath by Revelation promis'd his particular assistance and therefore none can take Example from the Apostles unless he have also power to do Miracles which appears by what Christ said to his Disciples Matth. chap. 10. v. 28. Fear not those who can kill the body Had this been said generally to all men Government would be to no purpose and those Words of Solomon not at all to be regarded Prov. chap. 24. v. 21. My son fear God and the King. We must therefore conclude That the Authority which Christ gave his Disciples was in a particular manner given only to them and ought not to be drawn into example by others I value not the Reasons which are urged against this Opinion by them that would have the Civil Power to be in the Civil Magistrate but all things pertaining to Religion in the Power of the Church their Reasons are so frivolous they need no refutation yet I cannot chuse but take notice how mightily those men are deceived who to maintain pardon the Expression their seditious Humour urge the Authority of the High Priest among the Iews who say they was the sole Administrator of all things that were sacred and concern'd Religion But those men may remember the High Priests received that Power from Moses who as we have proved was the person that had the Supream Power and by whose Command or Decree the High Priest could at any time be divested and deprived of his Power for Moses did not only chuse Aaron but also his Son Eleazer and his Nephew Phineas and gave them power to exercise the Pontifical Office and though the Priests always kept that power yet nevertheless were they still but the Substitutes of Moses that is of the Supream Power for as we have made it appear Moses chose no Successors but so distributed all his own Offices that they who came after him seemed but such Deputies as administer the Government for absent not deceased Kings In the second Government the High Priests were indeed the Supream Magistrates but that was after they had usurped the Regal Power but before that Usurpation the Priests always depended upon the Decrees of the Supream Power and their Kings had absolute power over all things pertaining to Religion as shall appear by what will be said towards the End of this Chapter 'T is true
well as a Divine and to busie himself in unprofitable Speculations fit only to take up private mens time who have nothing else to do But it was far otherwise in the Iewish Commonwealth for their Church began with their Government and Moses who was the Supream Magistrate taught the people Religion setled their Forms of Worship and chose their Priests This was that which made Kingly Authority so much esteemed by the People and put the Right and Power of all things pertaining to Religion into the hands of Supream Magistrates for though after the Death of Moses no Man governed so absolutely as he did yet the Right and Power of determining all things concerning Religion as well as other Affairs still remained as we have already proved in the Prince and the People to be instructed in Religion and Piety were no more bound to go to the High Priest than they were to the Chief Iudge Deut. chap. 17. v. 9 11 12 Thou shalt come to the Priests the Levites and to the Chief Iudge that shall be in those days to enquire and he that will not hearken unto the Priest or unto the Iudge that man shall die Though the Kings had not power equal to that of Moses yet the Priests and Levites were appointed and ordered to do what the Kings thought fit for as it appears in 1 Chron. chap. 28. v. 11 12. King David order'd how the Temple should be built according to a Model he prescribed and as it appears in the 23 d Chapter of the same Book David out of all the Levites chose twenty four thousand to set forward the building of the Temple six thousand to be Officers and Iudges four thousand to be Porters and four thousand to praise the Lord upon musical Instruments he likewise divided the Levites into companies and set Rulers over them which Companies were to serve and wait in their turns For other particulars I refer the Reader to the 28 th Chapter of the 2 d Book of Chron. v. 13. where it is said That King Solomon commanded Offerings to be made according as Moses instituted And ver 14. it is said That Solomon according to the order of David his Father appointed the Courses of the Priests and Levites to their Service and Charges and ver 15. the Historian saith They departed not from the Commandment of the King given to the Priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the Treasures By all which by other Histories of their Kings it is evident that the whole Exercise of Religion and all the Service that concerned it depended only upon their King's Command And tho' their Kings had not as Moses had the Power of chusing the High-Priest or of consulting God without him or of condemning the Prophets that prophesy'd in their Reigns the Prophets having power to chuse a new King and to pardon any that had taken away a King's Life yet I say the Prophets themselves had no power to call any King to an account for breaking the Laws or in any judicial manner and form to proceed against or condemn him And therefore if there had been no Prophets who by particular Revelation could pardon the killing of a King Kings in the Jewish Commonwealth must have had absolute Power over all things both Sacred and Civil as Supreme Powers have in these our Days who have no Prophets nor are obliged to receive any being in no wise bound by the Laws of the Jews Commonwealth And this Power tho' our Kings marry they absolutely have and may keep if they do not suffer Doctrines and Articles of Religion to be multiplied or mingled and confounded with Arts and Sciences CHAP. XX. In a Free Commonwealth it should be lawful for every Man to think what he will and speak what he thinks WEre it as easie to command Mens Minds as it is their Tongues all Supreme Powers would reign securely and no Government would be Violent or Tyrannical For then every Man would live according to the Will of those in Supreme Power and would think every thing true or false good or evil just or unjust according to their Determinations and Decrees But it is impossible as we have observed in the beginning of the 17 th Chapter that any Man's Mind or Thoughts should be in another Man's power because no Man can transfer or be compelled to transfer his natural Right of Reasoning and Judging of Things upon any other Man And therefore that Government is counted Tyrannical which would reign over Mens Minds and Supreme Powers do their Subjects wrong and deprive them of their just Right when they command them to receive or reject according to their Prescriptions whatever they declare to be true or false and positively appoint what Opinions and Notions Men in their Devotions shall have of God which is a thing wholly in a Man 's own power and from which no Man tho' he would can part I confess a Man's Judgment may be so many ways prepossest that tho it be not directly and absolutely in another Man's power yet it may have such a dependence on him as to be thought very much at his dispose but in spite of all that Art can do Men will abound in their own Sense and there will for ever be as many diversities of Opinions as there are of Palats Tho' Moses not by Craft but by Divine Power had so prepossest the Minds of his People that they believed he said and did all things by Divine Inspiration yet he could not escape ill Reports and sinister Interpretations much less then can other Monarchs Were the thing possible it might rather be done in Monarchical than in Democratical Government which is managed by an Assembly of all or the greatest part of the People and the Reason I think is obvious Tho' Supreme Powers have right to all things and are believed to be Interpreters both of Law and Religion yet they could never keep Men from judging of things according to their Reason and Capacities nor from being this or that way affected They may indeed account all men Enemies who do not in all things absolutely think as they do but we do not here dispute of their Power but of what is most convenient and profitable I grant that Supreme Powers may Reign Tyrannically and put Subjects to death for very slight Causes if they please but all Men will deny that this can be done with Reason or Prudence because it will prove dangerous and destructive to the Government Yea it may be denied that Supreme Magistrates have absolute Power and consequently have not absolute Right to do such things as these because we have proved that the Right of Supreme Magistrates is determined by their Power If then no Man can part with this Liberty of Judging and Thinking what he will but every Man by the Sovereign Right of Nature is Master of his own Thoughts Supreme Powers in any Commonwealth can never hope for Success in prescribing to Men of different
Opinions Limits and Rules for what they shall say For if Wise-men cannot keep silence much less can the ignorant Multitude hold their peace it being all Mens Infirmity tho' never so much Secresie be required to make others privy to their Counsels And therefore that Government is Violent where every Man is deny'd the Liberty of saying and declaring what he thinks and that Government is moderate and well ordered where such a Liberty is allow'd 'T is true and no Man can deny but that Supreme Magistrates may be injur'd and offended by Words as well as Deeds and tho' it be impossible wholly to take away this Liberty from Subjects yet on the other side it will be pernicious to put no Restraint upon it So that now my Business is to shew how far this Liberty without any danger to the Peace of the Commonwealth or prejudice to the Right of Supreme Power may and ought to be allow'd which was as I have hinted in the beginning of the 16 th Chapter my chief Intention and Design From the Fundamentals of Government which I have already explain'd it clearly follows That the ultimate End of Government is not to domineer and keep Men in fear and Subjection but to free Men from Terror that every Man may as far as 't is possible live securely that is may still retain his natural Right of subsisting and acting without hurting himself or any other person I say The End of Government is not to turn Rational Men into Beasts or walking Engines but to suffer both their Souls and Bodies to do each their proper Duties allowing them the free Use of Reason that they may not by Hatred Envy Anger or Deceit become Enemies to one another So that the End of Publick Government is indeed Liberty and to the forming of a Commonwealth it is absolutely necessary that the Power of making Laws and Decrees should be either in all in some or in one single Person For seeing in every Man's Opinion tho' it be free there is difference and variety and every Man is apt to believe that he knows all things 't is impossible to make them all of one mind or to agree in their Discourse So that they can never live peaceably unless every one part with his power of doing what his own Mind prompts him to But tho' every one part with the power of doing what he pleases yet he doth not part with his power of Reasoning and Judging so that tho' he cannot without offence act or do any thing against the Decrees or Determinations of the Supreme Powers yet he may freely think judge and consequently speak provided in what he simply speaks or teacheth there be Reason and no crafty malicious Design through Hatred or Revenge to make by vertue of his own Authority Innovation in the Commonwealth For example If a Man think a particular Law contrary to right Reason and therefore fit to be repealed yet if he submit his Opinion to the Judgment of the Supreme Power whose Right it is to make and repeal Laws and in the mean time do nothing contrary to the Tenor of that Law he deserves well of the Commonwealth as doth every good Subject But if on the contrary he speak against that Law purposely to accuse the Magistrate of Injustice and to render him odious to the People or if he seditiously endeavour to abrogate that Law in spite of the Magistrate he is a rebellious Disturber of the Publick Peace We see then upon what ground every Man without prejudice to the Peace of the Gommonwealth or to the Right of Supreme Powers may speak and teach what he thinks if he leave them the power of regulating Mens Actions and do nothing contrary to their Decrees tho' he sometimes do contrary to that which in his own Opinion and Judgment he thinks to be good which notwithstanding he may with a good Conscience yea ought to do if he will be accounted a good Subject For as I have already shewn Justice depends upon the Decrees of the Supreme Power and no Man can be said to be Just unless he live according to the known Laws Piety as I have declared in the preceding Chapter chiefly consists in the practice of things which preserve the Peace and Tranquillity of the Commonwealth which cannot possibly be preserved if every Man should live as he pleaseth And therefore 't is Impiety in any Subject to act contrary to the Decrees of the Supreme Power because were it lawful for every Man so to do the total Ruine of the Commonwealth must necessarily follow No Man can be said to act against the Dictates of his own Reason who submits to the Decrees of the Supreme Power because every Man by the persuasions of his own Reason resolved to part with his Right of Living according to his own Will And this is proved by practice for in Councils compos'd of the Supreme or Subordinate Powers it seldom happens that any thing is decreed or determin'd by the universal Consent and general Vote of all the Members yet the Results of those Counsels whatever they be are always accounted as much the Decrees of those who voted against as of those that voted for them So that by the very Principles of Government we see that without any wrong done to the Rights of Supreme Power a Man may use the Liberty of his own Judgment And 't is very easie from the Fundamentals of Government to determine what Opinions in a Commonwealth are to be accounted Seditious namely those which directly nullifie and destroy the Covenant whereby every Man obliged himself to part with his Right of Living according to his own Will. For example If any Man think the Supreme Power is subject to some other Power that a Man ought not to perform his Promises or that it is lawful for every Man to live as he pleases These and the like Opinions render a Man seditious because they are directly repugnant to the foresaid Covenant not barely because they are his Judgment and Opinion but because such Opinions have in them a great deal of Crime and Guilt For even by so thinking a Man tacitly breaks all the Bonds of that Fidelity which he promised to the Supreme Power Therefore other Opinions which contain no actual Breach of the Covenant no Revenge no Anger c. are not to be accounted Seditious unless it be in a Commonwealth where Reason is depraved and where ambitious and superstitious Men are grown to such a heighth that they cannot endure those that are honest or ingenuous but will have the People think their Authority greater than the Supreme Magistrate's I do not deny but that there may be some Opinions which tho' they seem to intend nothing but simply to argue and judge what is true and what false yet they may be very maliciously propounded and divulged Of these we spoke in the 15 th Chapter but so that Reason nevertheless should remain free Lastly If we seriously consider that every
Man's Fidelity to the Commonwealth as his Faith towards God ought to be judged and known only by his Works namely by Charity towards his Neighbour we cannot doubt but that the best Commonwealths will give every Man the same Liberty of Reasoning that they do of Believing I confess by such a Liberty some Inconveniences may sometimes happen But what Wisdom and Prudence can prevent all Inconveniences He that by Laws thinks to prevent all will sooner provoke then amend vicious Men. Inconveniences that cannot possibly be prevented or avoided must be tolerated we must bear with them tho' we suffer by them Of how many Mischiefs are Luxury Drunkenness Envy and Covetousness the Cause Yet these are tolerated because tho' they be Vices it is not in the power of Laws to restrain them How much more then ought Liberty of Judgment to be allowed which is truly a Vertue and should not be supprest No Inconveniences can arise from it which may not as I will prove be avoided by the Authority of the Supreme Magistrate Beside this Liberty is very necessary to the Advancement of Arts and Sciences in which the greatest proficiency is made by those men who have their Judgments free from preoccupation But suppose mens mouths may be stopt and so awed that they shall not dare to utter any thing against the Determinations of the Supreme Power yet 't is still impossible to keep them from thinking what they please and when men think ill of Magistrates there breach of Faith soon follows and nothing is to be expected in such a Commonwealth but abominable Flattery Perfidy and the destruction of all ingenious Arts. 'T is not so easie a matter to keep men from talking the greater care is taken to keep them silent the more many times will they talk Perhaps Covetous men Flatterers and mean-spirited People who place their chiefest Felicity in filling their Bags and their Bellies may hold their Peace but vertuous honest men who have had Liberal Education cannot be silent Such is mens Nature that nothing is a greater Vexation to them than to see those Opinions which they verily believe to be true condemn'd and themselves accounted wicked and sinful for doing that which they think is their Duty both towards God and Man. This makes them detest the Laws and count any seditious Attempts against the Magistrate lawful and just In Laws against Opinions wicked men are seldom concern'd such Laws are commonly made not to restrain bad but to provoke good men and cannot be defended without a great deal of danger to the Government Such Laws are likewise useless for men cannot obey Laws which condemn those Opinions they firmly believe to be true And on the other side they who think those Opinions false take the Laws that condemn them to be be their Privileges wherein they so triumph that afterward the Magistrate if he would is not able to repeal them Lastly The making of such Laws hath often caused great Schisms in the Church for if men did not hope with the general applause of the People to insult over their Adversaries and get Preferment by procuring the Magistrate to favour and the Laws to countenance their Opinions Learned Doctors would quickly leave their fierce Disputes and bitter Contentions Reason and daily Examples tell us That Laws which command what every man must believe and forbid speaking or writing against this or that Opinion are commonly instituted to gratifie or give way to the Passions of those who rather than endure a Baffle from ingenious men will with their stern and morose Authority turn the Peoples Zeal into Fury and hound them on upon whom they please But would it not be much better to suppress the Anger and Rage of the Multitude rather than make Laws against men that love Vertue and Learning and bring the Commonwealth into such a Condition that honest harmless men cannot live in it What can be more mischievous to a Commonwealth than to send Honest men like Rogues into Banishment only because they are of this or that Opinion and cannot dissemble Can any thing be more pernicious than to treat Persons of a free ingenuous disposition like Enemies and for no Crime or Wickedness put them to death making the Scaffold which frights none but Villains a publick Theatre whereon innocent Persons give such Examples of Courage and Patience as turn to the shame and reproach of the Supreme Magistrate's Majesty They that know themselves to be honest never fear Punishment as the wicked do neither will they by base whining Submissions and Recantations endeavour to avoid it Their innocent Minds are not troubled with Guilt or Repentance they do not think it shameful but glorious to die for Liberty and a good Cause To whom can their Death be a Terror The base ignorant Multitude know not why they suffer honest men are their Friends and none but seditious Persons their Enemies and all but base Sycophants and Flatterers are ready to follow their Example That Faith and Honesty then may be in greater esteem than Flattery and Dissimulation that Supreme Magistrates may keep their Power and not be forced to yield to seditious Persons Liberty of Judgment ought to be allowed and men are so to be govern'd that tho' they be of different and contrary Opinions they may however live together in peace and amity Without doubt this way of Governing is best and subject to least Inconveniences seeing it is most agreeable to Mens Nature For in Democratical Government which comes nearest to the State of Nature all covenant to act but not to reason and judge by common Consent my meaning is because all men cannot think the same things they have agreed to make that a binding Law which had most Voices reserving still a Power of repealing that Law when they thought fit And therefore where there is least Liberty allow'd of Judging there men are farthest from their natural State and the Government is full of Force and Violence To make it evident that from this Liberty can arise no Inconveniences which the Supreme Magistrate may not with ease avoid and keep men of contrary Opinions from hurting one another I need not go far for Examples The City of Amsterdam hath to the wonder of all the World and its own great advantage tasted the Fruits and Benefit of this Liberty for in that flourishing Commonwealth and famous City men of all Nations and Religions live together in peace and when they would trust any man with Goods or Money they only desire to know whether he be rich or poor or whether in his Dealing he be a man of his Word or a cheating Knave they never enquire of what Religion or Sect he is neither is that regarded in any Court of Justice there is no Sect so odious but hath the Publick Magistrate's Protection if they do no man wrong live honestly and give every one his Due How great a Schism was there occasion'd not long since by a Controversie in Religion between the Remonstrants and Contra-remonstrants And it appeared by many Examples that Laws made to take away Disputes concerning Religion did much more provoke than pacifie People and made some take the greater Liberty Schisms proceed not from the study of Truth that Fountain of Meekness and Moderation but from an imperious Humour of prescribing to others And therefore they are rather to be counted Schismaticks who damn other mens Writings and stir up the waspish Multitude against them than those that write to Learned men and call nothing but Reason to their aid So that they are truly Disturbers of the Publick Peace who in a Free Commonwealth would take away the Liberty of mens Judgments which ought not to be supprest We have now shewn First That 't is impossible to take away mens Liberty of speaking what they think Secondly That this Liberty may without prejudice to the Rights of Supreme Power be granted to every man and that every man may use this Liberty provided he design no Innovations in the Commonwealth and act nothing against the known establish'd Laws thereof Thirdly That this Liberty which every man may enjoy if he do not break the Publick Peace can cause no Inconveniences which may not easily be restrained or remedied Fourthly That all men may make use of this Liberty without being guilty of any Impiety Fifthly That all Laws made concerning Opinions and Matters meerly speculative are useless and unprofitable Sixthly and lastly we have proved That this Liberty may not only be allow'd without any Danger to Publick Peace Piety and to the Right of Supreme Power but ought to be granted for the Preservation of all these For where there are Endeavours to take away this Liberty and men are arraigned only for Opinions without examining whether they have any evil Intentions there honest men are made Examples and suffer a Martyrdom which doth not at all terrifie but irritates and moves the People to Pity and Revenge Learning and Arts decay Faith is corrupted Flatterers and perfidious Persons are countenanced Adversaries triumph in having their Will and prevailing on the Supreme Powers to embrace their Doctrine which at last inclines them not only to undervalue but usurp their Authority boasting they are God's Elect that their Power is from God but the Magistrate's Authority only from men and consequently the Magistrate's Power subordinate to theirs which absolutely destroys the very Being of all Commonwealths and therefore as I shew'd in the 18 th Chapter a Commonwealths greatest Safety is to place Religion and Piety in the Practice of Justice and Charity and to make things Sacred as much subject to Supreme Power as things Civil and to take cognizance of nothing but mens Actions suffering every man to think what he will and speak what he thinks I have now in this Treatise done what I design'd and I do again sincerely profess That I have written nothing which I do not freely submit to the Examination and Judgment of the Supreme Powers of my Country If they think any thing I have said be contrary to the Laws or Publick Safety thereof I recant it I know my self a man subject to Errors but my chiefest Care hath been to write nothing but what is consonant to Reason to the Laws of my Country and to the Rules of Piety and Good Manners FINIS