no man ought to proceed further in the interpretation of Scripture than the Soveraign limits So that a Soverâ—ign ought to be either a more exact Divine than ever I heard of in the World to interpret all places of Scripture that a question is demanded of or else of a most exact and quick Iudgment to limit others how far they shall go And suppose a Soveraign prove a fool or like an ill Steersman always turning the boat round uncertain in his resolves who must interpret the matter thenâ— But I shall pass this over without more saying as one of the chances of Mr. Hobbes his fancy Mr. Hobbes p. 263. saith That the end of Our Saviour's câ—ming into the World was to restore unto God the Kingdom cut off from him by the rebellion of the Israelites in the election of Saul So far he hath renounced all Salvation by Christ. But to do him right he saith afterwards That our Saviour had an other imploy and that was to Preach that he was the Messiah and in case the Nation of the Iews should refuse him then to call to his obedience the Gentiles So now he seems only by the accident of the Iews refusal to exclude them from Salvation and by the same accident only to make the Gentiles capable of mercy Now is any thing more plain in the World than that he came into the World to satisfie God's justice for the sins of the World and with intent to bring in the Gentiles as well as the Iews and to make them one sheepfold under himself the great Shepherd And that appears from the first promise of him viz. That the Seed of the Woman should break the Serpents Head that is should take away that misery from the Seed of the Woman which the subtlety of the Serpent had brought upon it and I suppose Mr. Hobbes will not say amidst his new found unreasonable Doctrines That the Gentiles as well as the Iews were not the off-spring of Eve And he was the blood of the everlasting covenant and the great Shepherd of the Sheep spoken of Heb. 13. 20. And Iohn 1.29 he is called the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the World and this was before he was rejected by the Iews And all the Prophesies of our Saviour in the Old Testament express our Saviour's bringing in the Gentiles and the intent of God to do so as Isaiah 49. 22. I will lift up my Hand to the Gentiles and set up my Standard to the People and this was before our Saviour's coming into the World Texts for this I shall cite no more it being a thing so plain against Mr. Hobbes and one would wonder ever such conceits without ground or reason should come into any Man's Head Mr. Hobbes after a great deal of stir about the Trinity and the Unity of that Trinity which is hard to make any thing of or rather impossible by reason his opinion was concealed comes p. 268. to tell us his opinion in these words following viz. To conclude saith he the Doctrine of the Trinity as far as can be gathered directly from the Scripture is in substance this That the God who is always one and the same was the person represented by Moses the person represented by his Son incarnate and the person represented by the Apostles As represented by the Apostles the Holy Spirit by which they spake is God as by Moses the Father is God as represented by his Son that was God and Man the Son is God These are his very words So observe he absolutely denies in this the personal existence of the two last Persons in the Trinity And 't is in short to say as others have said before me that there is but one Person under different conceptions And the inference is direct and natural for saith Mr. Hobbes God was in three respects represented which excludes the real existence of three Divine Persons in the Godhead and only supposeth three Persons that represented this one God not that there are three Persons in the Godhead or that are God for no one is said to represent that is the Person represented Now to illustrate this the King of England is represented by the Lord Deputy of Ireland by the Viceroy of Scotland and by his Governor of the Island of Iersey But still 't is the energy of the one Person of the King that actuates them all and there are not three Persons of the King nor any of those three Persons are the King no more are there three Persons in the Godhead if we will believe Mr. Hobbes who makes the three Persons in the Trinity but three Names to express one only Person of God So 't is all one as if he had said the Son is not God as a distinct Person from the Father but that the only one Person of the Godhead was come into Man or at best had taken the Virgins Son into it or that he had said the Person of the Holy Ghost was not God as a distinct Person from the Father but that the only one Person of God inspired the Apostles So then clearly here is a denial of the two second Persons in the Trinity for if there be only one Person there is not three in the Trinity But Mr. Hobbes in this hath the confidence to say That this his fancy is all that can be gathered from Scripture concerning the Trinity And that he may meet with his match I will say the contrary and I doubt not but my authorities for my opinion will prove better than his It is said in 1 Ioh. 5. 7. There are three bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one So this is clear that the Godhead is three Persons not as 't is represented at three different times upon Earth but as it is three distinct Persons in Heaven So this makes an end of Mr. Hobbes his conceit that there are only said to be three Persons in the Godhead to be made out by Scripture in respect of the three representations upon Earth for they are in this Text said to be three in Heaven and all three are said to be in action that is to bear record which shews they are several and distinct Persons And the 3 d of Titus 4 5 6. v. clearly shews the Trinity of the Persons really existent which Texts are viz. After the love of God our Saviour toward Man appeared By his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost Which he shed on us abundantly through Iesus Christ our Saviour Here is God the Father that saves his people by regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost and 't is through Iesus Christ our Saviour So what can be plainer besides the Scriptures that speak of the descent and mission of the Holy Ghost that the Godhead hath three Persons in it in another manner than as it was represented by Moses for here is God the Father
fully set forth a part that through mercy he saved us and God the Holy Ghost in another manner set forth than represented by the Apostles for this is spoken of the renewing of the Holy Ghost in all believers and Iesus Christ the meritorious cause of our Salvation which he could not have been but as he was both God and Man and Mr. Hobbes calls him so in this Chapter So that Christ as Christ Mr. Hobbes makes meer Man as he stiles him and would make him Chap. 38. though otherwise calls him in this Chapter for he makes himâ— only the representer of God as Moses was and the Holy Ghost Mr. Hobbes saith in effect is nothing for he saith that that denomination was attributed to God as he was represented by the Apostles So that the Holy Ghost was only an Attribute of God But besides all this Mr. Hobbes spoke before upon his reliance upon the Church of England as to matters of Faith and that the Civil Soveraign is to appoint what is to be taught for Doctrine And the Church of England and our Soveraigns have establish'd Athanasius his Creed to be read and as necessary to Salvation to be believed and that Creed as well as the begining of the Litany is expresly against Mr. Hobbes for it saith That there is one Person of the Father another of the Son and another of the Holy Ghost which Creed and Litany speak them in themselves three distinct Persons and as such are prayed to without interesting Moses or the Apostles in the matter and agree to my interpretation of Scripture So for once I hope without boasting I may say I have got the better of Mr. Hobbes Indeed this opinion of his is like the rest of the abominable and damnable whimsies of his own brain and ought to be ranked in the front of them And to give Mr. Hobbes a little over weight I will refer it to any rational Man whether Mark 1. 10. Ioh. 1. 32. do not absolutely shew the distinction of the two second Persons in the Trinity where 't is said That the Spirit of God descended from Heaven like a Dove and abode upon Christ. Now taking Christ to be God as Mr. Hobbes frequently calls him in this Chapter what was the Spirit that abode upon him but a distinct Person in the Godhead and Heb. 3. 7. conjoined to Psal. 95. 7. to which it relates may fully conclude Mr. Hobbes For the former Text saith That the Holy Ghost said To day if ye will hear his voice which last words are the words of the latter Text in the 95. Psalm So 't is apparent that in David's time which I hope Mr. Hobbes will allow to be before the Apostles time there was an Holy Ghost So I will leave Mr. Hobbes in hopes he will live long enough to recant this opinion Mr. Hobbes saith p. 282. That the four first of the ten Commandments were particular to the Israelites but the six latter obliged all mankind being but the Law of Nature I shall agree with Mr. Hobbes as to the six latter that they are but what Nature dictated before But as to the four first I would know a reason why they were not obligatory by the Law of Nature at least secondarily that is to say obligatory by Nature upon all Men that know there was one and only one living and true God as all Men may see there is by the things that he hath made which knowledge makes it as natural as to the three first Commands for us to be bound by those Laws as 't is for a Man naturally to be bound not to injure his neighbour As for Example Is it not as natural for the Creature to worship his Creator and not to set up false gods to deprive him of his honour and not to use his Name irreverently as 't is for a Man not to desire or take that which is an other Mans 'T is more natural if we will believe what Mr. Hobbes said before viz. That by Nature all Men were in an estate of Civil War and might catch what they could and in that state all force and fraud were cardinal Virtues but certainly never was any state or condition so where it was a cardinal Virtue to worship any god but the true one or to be irreverent to his Name But Mr. Hobbes his conceit is good in this place for one thing and that is that after he hath been blaspheming God and taking from him his Attributes and giving Men a toleration as to external acts or confession to acknowledge any thing for God that here he gives a reason for all that he said as to us Gentiles for we may do or say what we will noâ— being Iews in respect of God Almighty for that there is no Law if we will believe Mr. Hobbes to oblige us Gentiles to the contrary The four first Commands not being by the Law of Nature obligatory to any Man and being particular to the Israelites as made at mount Sinai Now the Nature of a particular Law is only to oblige that particular people for whom 't was particularly made and those were the Israelites in this case if Mr. Hobbes be an authentick Author And as to the fourth Command I think though the day be changed yet that in substance is as obligatory as the other three are by the Law of Nature for 't is as natural to set a time a part for the worship of God as 't is to worship him and since God hath limited the Iews a whole day why should not we take that as our pattern For 't is as natural to take God for our pattern in this as in other things Be ye holy as I am holy And we have not only his Command to the Iews for a pattern but his own Example of resting the seventh day and sanctifying it upon the knowledge of which why should it not be natural for Men to keep holy one day in seven For the Law of Nature is twofold either primary without any prerequisite as 't is natural for a thing that hath life to move Or secondary when something is requisite to give liberty to Nature to work as for Example Men love their Children naturally but they must know first that they are their Children before they love them as such For if a Father had never seen his Child from his birth till ten years of age and then should accidentally meet him he would love him no better then any other but after he was acquainted by undoubted circumstances that it was his Child then naturally would result an emanation of affection So after we know that there is only one God and that he hath appointed one day in seven for his service though to another people which day he sanctified and rested upon Gen. 2. 3. why is it not natural for us to serve him all mankind having an inbred awe towards something above them and that on one day in seven according to his example
make us know and that in such things knowledge and belief are the same As when we say I believe in God the Father Almighty c. It is the same with I know that there is such a person in the Trinity as God the Father and so of the rest of our Creed But when we have not had full testimony and something may be for ought we know undiscovered that may alter the matter then belief and knowledge are no more the same than Is and may be But to make Mr. Hobbes the example in the matter we will suppose that he before a pardon had been indicted of high Treason for indeavouring to subvert by his Book the antient Government of this Nation both in respect of the Subjects subjection to their King and the Peoples properties and twelve Men had been of the Iury in Middlesex none of which we will suppose stood by when he wrote the Book but had testimony all that the matter was capable of to prove that he did write it and thereupon the Iury had found him guilty and Mr. Hobbes had had Iudgment accordingly certainly he would have thought that the belief of the Iury and the knowledge of the Iury in this matter had been the same The case differs not mutato nomine as to the Scriptures for that we believe and know them to be the Word of God they having been delivered to us by unquestionable persons and all the Testimony the thing is capable of But of this I said a little before and to avoid a tedious Discourse shall refer my Reader for a perfect satisfaction to the Learned Dr. Stillingfleet's Origines Sacrae and to one of the Sermons of the Excellent Dr. Tillotson another of our not only Learned but firm Protestant Divines who are the rather to be regarded because they have neither feared to stand the Ire of a cloud full charged with Popery or provided themselves by an halting Sermon a shelter against the rain whose contrary are enough not only to fright Christians from the Altar but to make Men abhor the offerings of the Lord And if any such be that will not repent let them not despair but dye Mr. Hobbes p. 324. saith That the only Article of Faith which the Scripture makes necessary to Salvation is this that Iesus is the Christ. If an other Man had said this I should have taken little notice of it because I should have supposed that he had meant that Christ was the corner Stone and Captain of our Salvation But I doubt Mr. Hobbes saith this to incourage Men in Idleness and Ignorance which the Papists say is the Mother of Devotion And though Mr. Hobbes was so much against Bellarmine in his last Chapter yet he is so much a Papist in this that he may taste of all Errors that he uses but the same saying here that Papists use against Reading of the Scriptures and whether he intend it so far or that the notion was set down by chance is doubtful But 't is plain in our Creed and by the Doctrine of our Church which Mr. Hobbes allows of that there are other points necessary to Salvation besides this As we must believe in God the Father and the Holy Ghost as well as in God the Son and this Mr. Hobbes acknowledgeth in p. 328. only under his own limitations which are hard to be understood But then p. 331. he strains my Faith upon one Article he lays down For he saith That he hath in all his Treatise of Christian Politicks now run through alledged no Text of Scripture but in such sence as is most agreeable to the scope of the Bible which I confess I cannot believe or if he believes himself I shall change my opinion of him and instead of thinking him the grandest Heretick think him the weakest person that ever laid pen to paper or at least that ever had any reputation in the World for so doing except it be admitted me that he is given up to believe a lye in matters of Religion and I pray God he be not Mr. Hobbes after his saying p. 244. That the punishment of the damned should not be everlasting now he comes to p. 343. and goes over it again the fear of the contrary I doubt running in his mind and begins to interpret Scripture concerning the immortality of the Soul in general which he saith may have an other interpretation than is usual and first cites the 12. Eccles. 7. which saith Dust to dust and the Spirit to God that gave it which saith Mr. Hobbes ought to be interpreted That God only knows what becomes of Man's Spirit and not Man and so of another Text he cites Hence he infers That because God only knows what becomes of Man's Spirit that therefore the Spirit of Man lives not after the death of the Body till the resurrection First The Interpretation is expresly against the Text and absurd Secondly The Inference is nonsense for doth it follow that because God knows where the Spirit of Man is that therefore 't is not with God himself It is just as if I should say to a Man you know where your coat is and from thence I should infer that he hath it not upon his back So I hope no Body will much heed his interpretation of Scripture But then p. 345. he tells us That in the resurrection the Righteous shall have glorious and spiritual Bodies and eternal but saith that 't is not manifest by Scripture that the Wicked shall have glorious and spiritual Bodies or that they shall be as the the Angels of God neither Eating nor Drinking nor Ingendring or that their life shall be eternal and so the reprobate saith he shall be in the estate Adam was in after he had sinned and Marry and give in Marriage only shall have no Redeemer I hope now Mr. Hobbes hath perfected his safe bargain he before had begun let his opinions be never so gross as to God and Religion for he shall be still upon Earth and in no worse a condition than Adam was in after his fall and that was for ought we know free from torment or indeed any trouble of mind save fear and only at th time when he heard God in the Garden But Mr. Hobbes hath not I thank him left us so much in the dark for he goes on to the particulars of the future torment which he saith are eating and drinking I suppose he means an appetite to eat and drink when he hath no Money in his pocket and ingendring I suppose he means that he is cruelly afraid of a luxurious Wife or else that he hath been unneighbourly dealt with in his Youth and is afraid of the same hereafter For otherwise cannot I imagin the torment of eating and drinking and ingendring And further he goes on and saith That the wicked shall not always personally be in this torment but dye after a time and their Children shall succeed in the same torments And all this he
observed of Mahomet's doctrine for Religion that the Turk teacheth within his Dominions or that a Papist should teach if uppermost So now Mr. Hobbes hath done like a Scholar as he may well think to find a place in the Bible to prevent Preaching against the Alcoran or Mass Yet to do Mr. Hobbes Right after his so many assertions that that only is to be acknowledged as Canonical Scripture which the Civil Soveraign saith is so and that in 1651. he attended the determination of the Sword to decide all Doctrines he saith That he can acknowledge nothing to be Canonical Scripture but that which the Church of England hath commanded to be acknowledged for such and I think there is nothing so near an Orthodox opinion in all his Book but I suppose he meant that he would acknowledge it to be so only until the Sword had at that time determin'd it After Mr. Hobbes had laid down positive general Rules for enervating the Scriptures in saying That the Authority of them depended upon the determination of the Soveraign now in his 33. Chap. he comes to the particulars of the several Books of the Scriptures and hopes there I suppose to compleat the work For he saith That the several Books especially of the Old Testament were not written by those that are commonly supposed to be the Penmen of them but by others a long time after their deaths which if true may raise a scruple to the truth of them only he saith That he supposeth Moses wrote the greatest part of Deuteronomy else that the Old Testament was penned generally by Esdras for which he cites the Apocrypha Esdras the 14 th Chapter and when he hath done so takes it for granted that Esdras penned them after the captivity To answer particularly Mr. Hobbes in this would require a very large Discourse enough to tire out both Me and my Reader besides I think it not worth my while to answer general assertions in matters of fact which are contrary to the general admissions of the most Learned Men with long Discourses but rather content my self with saying that they are not to be credited but rejected Yet to that which Mr. Hobbes is particular in I shall answer particularly He saith The Pentateuch was penned long after Moses death and for this he cites the 12. of Genesis v. 6. which saith That when Abraham passed through the Land to the plain of Moreh the Canaanite was then in the Land Which shews clearly saith Mr. Hobbes that this Book was written after Moses time because the Canaanite was not displaced till after Moses death But if Mr. Hobbes had well considered and look'd into the 7 th verse he would have found that God promised Abraham the Land in which at that time Abraham built an Altar unto the Lord which was as it were a taking possession of the Land and by God's gift he had a better right to it as to futurity than the Canaanite had whereupon Abraham by Faith look'd upon the future time and saw the Canaanite displaced and knew that by force of God's promise the Canaanites antient right to them and their posterity was changed So that the Canaanites as to the succession might be rather said to have had the Land than that they had it and so is the 48. Gen. 21. to be understood Or may not the Text be rationally intended that Moses said this to declare that the Canaanite was then in the Land and not any other people How unreasonable then it is for Mr. Hobbes to change a general supposition at the best but upon a doubtful Text of Scripture and an Apocryphal story I shall refer to any Man that hath his reason and if reason be on my side Mr. Hobbes ought to be so too because he said before that Reason is the Word of God The rest of Mr. Hobbes his Texts to prove this are nothing to the purpose and so I pass them over As to the Pen-men of the Books of the New Testament he determins nothing but saith That they were made Canonical by the Church and that the writers of them were indowed with God's spirit in that they conspire to the setting forth the rights of the Kingdom of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost Let me then ask Mr. Hobbes why they need to be made Canonical and to be approved or rejected by the Soveraign or his reciprocal Word the Sword Mr. Hobbes said p. 38. That the Scriptures by the spirit of God in Man mean a mans spirit inclined to godliness the falsness of which I have upon that page spoken to Now p. 207. he comes to treat of Spirits in general what they aâ—e and saith if I rightly understand him which I think is difficult in so perplex'd a discourse as he makes all over this his 34. Chapter That they are bodies for he saith that substance and body are the same thing And p. 17 53 214. saith That all substances must be bodies and that the words incorporeal substance joined together are unintelligible nonsence and imply a contradiction And so runs on further in his old vein of making positive affirmations contrary to the general received opinion of all Christian Men without giving any reason at all for his so â—aying But to reason the matter a little why are the words incorporeal substance contradictories Why may there not be a substance that hath no Body as well as a substance that hath one For substance is nothing but that which doth substare such and such qualifications as are proper and do belong to the being or nature of the thing in which those qualifications are and without which those qualifications could not be for want of something to support them As we may say that Iron which is a corporeal substance is hard so we may say that a thing of a more subtle existence or substance is intelligent rational or wise For that it may be equally capable to support these as the Iron doth hardness colour or any other qualification Now then to say that body and substance are the same thing is only a positive saying and if the words had been never thought on before might as well signifie variously as the same Then certainly 't is a strange piece of confidence to obtrude such a position upon the World without any possibility of reason which is contrary to the sentiments of all Learned persons that ever I heard of But if Mr. Hobbes ask me what a Spirit is if it be not a Body I must say that I can no more tell the likeness of it than Mr. Hobbes supposing he had never seen by some external obstruction any thing nor spoken with them that had could have told what a like thing an Horse or a grey Hound is things incapable and things obstructed giving the same account of their proceedings But 't is apparent that there is such a thing as a Spirit for our Saviour saith Luke 24. 39. Handle me and see for a Spirit hath
upon the Earth where 't is already And to shew that there is now and was then such a place as Hell look Prov. 15. 11. where 't is said that Hell and destruction are before the eyes of the Lord that is he knows what the wicked there suffer To end this see Mark 9. 44â— 46 48. where 't is said the worm dieth not that is the lash of Conscience and the fire is not quenched speaking of a Man's being cast into Hell So then if the worm dies not the subject of that worm must live that is the wicked person and the fire of Hell is said to be as everlasting For 't is not quenched which must be intended never shall be quenched And to stop Mr. Hobbes his Mouth as to the eternity of punishment and reward look Matth. 25. 46. These shall go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal And that the Soul lives after the death of the Body until the resurrection see Eccl. 12. 7. where Solomon speaking of Man's dissolution saith The dust that is the Body shall return to the Earth and the Spirit to God that gave it And Acts 7. 59. Stephen when stoned said Lord Iesus receive my Spirit These two Texts must be intended of living Spirits for what should God do with dead Spirits which are nothing who is God of the living and not of the dead None of which Texts Mr. Hobbes takes any notice of save that in Mark of the worm not dying To which he saith 't is metaphorically to be understood and this answer would serve for any thing else as well as this I shall pass the rest of Mr. Hobbes his absurdities in this Chapter about these matters save one at the latter end where he jumps again into setting the place of Men's eternal happiness upon Earth and p. 246. cites Isaiah 33. v. 20 21â— 22 23 24. to be full in the matter which is so far from the matter that it is only Scripture to signifie God's destruction of the Assyrians and the Iews deliverance from them But whether the punishment be by fire or without I shall not argue though the Texts say it is which are better authority than ever I heard to the contrary only I hope no Man will venture upon the punishment which is everlasting Matth. 25. 46. presuming upon Mr. Hobbes his assertions to be true Neither do I think any good Man will think the merits of our blessed Lord and Saviour the less for what Mr. Hobbes in this Chapter saith who after he hath been endeavouring to make all Religion a foppery to set up Idolatrous worship to debase our Saviour in respect of his miracles to make the credibility of the Scriptures questionable to deprive God of his Attributes now comes p. 248. to undervalue the sufferings of our Saviour and saith That the sufferings of our Saviour were no satisfaction or price for sin whereby Christ could claim right to a pardon for us from his offended Father but that price that God in mercy was pleased to demand And this he further explains himself in p. 261. I acknowledge that the sufferings of our Saviour were all that God demanded as a satisfaction for sin but when our Saviour had performed what God did require it was an absolute satisfaction And this is clear reason in the transactions of Men when the debt is paid by ones self or an other or that is paid that is required there is a full satisfaction and the prisoner or he that paid the debt may of right claim his discharge So may Christ of right claim a pardon for us from his Father when the satisfaction for sin is paid For although there was no reason that our Saviour should suffer for us but meer mercy as 't was God's mercy to accept of Christ in our stead yet 't is great Reason that when he hath suffered for our sins he should of right claim to have us delivered from the punishment of them And he was the true Scape-goat that carried all our sins into the Land of forgetfulness And Matth. 1. 21. He shall save his people from their sins that is by his merits defend them from his Father's wrath With which Text agrees 18. Matth. 11. 1 Tim. 1. 15. He came to save sinners and multitudes of Texts to this purpose And besides God when he first promised Christ to mankind said That he should break the Serpent's head that is by his own efficacy for he was God as well as Man and that gave power to effect and value to satisfie But Mr. Hobbes his conceit had been good in case that after a sinner had lain in Hell seven years God had said this is enough and had freed him Here 't is true the sinner could not have claimed a right to a pardon for what he had suffered but that suffering was all that God was pleased in mercy to demand for that a sinner can never make a full satisfaction for his sin But here we cannot but suppose God the Father and his Innocent Son as it were making I speak it with reverence a contract The Father as it were saying If you 'l suffer I will take it as a satisfaction for Man's sin And his Son saying I will for he voluntarily laid down his life it was not taken from him and those sufferings God would not dispense with suffer for sinners or in their stead Certainly now he hath suffered he may of right claim a pardon for sinners But as to this matter I wave further Discourse there being so many Treatises upon it Mr. Hobbes p. 250 251. saith That the Israelites obligation to obey Moses was only from their desire and promise at mount Sinai Exod. 20. 18. where they said Speak thou to us and we will hear but let not God speak to us lest we die Certainly any rational Man would wonder at such a fancy when 't is apparent that Moses was God's messenger by the many miracles wrought by his Hands both in Egypt from whence he led them and at the red Sea where they were miraculously saved and the Egyptians drowned and by many other miracles before they came to mount Sinai And upon that account as so apparently sent by God they were bound to obey Moses or disobey God himself and this promise at mount Sinai was only to free them from the terror they had undergone before But that which Mr. Hobbes drives at in this conceit may be to persuade Men that they need not obey any of the Prophets Apostles or Ministers of the Gospel since without their express promise so to do And so further labours to enervate the authority of the Scriptures and Gospel Ministry But as Mr. Hobbes gave Moses a smaller authority in this than one would have expectâ—d so in p. 252. he gives him and all succeeding Monarchs a greater trouble than 't is reasonable to impose upon them For he saith That all Soveraigns are the sole interpreters of God's commands and that