body as he somtimes had but meerly by the framing again and moving of such matter as he is supposed to have wholly consisted of and by the help of which he hath done worthy or shameful acts then either the same man who obeyed or transgressed is not raised up to an estate of reward or punishment or else he is raised with all the parts of matter which conduced to action and appertained to him almost from the cradle to the grave and is therefore in the last day of such dimensions that he may not only equal the antient Gyants of which we read in story but likewise come nigh the bulk of those very mountains which they are said to have heaped up in defiance of Hâ—aven Mr. Hobbes Well whatsoever the essence of man is or whensoever any part of him is supposed to be happy it is most probable that at the last day the place of heaven shall be on earth The kingdom of God in the writings of Divines and specially in Sermons and treatises of devotion is taken most commonly for eternal felicity after this life in the highest heaven which they also call the kingdom of glory and somtimes for the earnest of that felicity sanctification which they term the kingdome of grace but never for the Monarchy that is to say the Soveraign power of God over any subjects acquired by their own consent which is the proper signification of Kingdom To the contrary I finde the Kingdom of God to signifie in most places of Scripture a Kingdom properly so named constituted by the votes of the people of Israel in peculiar manner wherein they chose God for their King by Covenant made with him upon Gods promising them the possession of the land of Canaan Now the Throne of this our King is in Heaven without any necessity evident in Scripture that man shall ascend to his happiness any higher then Gods footstool the earth Stud. There is no need of the consent of men in the right notion of the Kingdom of God for the Lord is King be the people never so unquiet Also there is nothing more frequent in the New Testament then the notion of Gods Kingdom of Grace in the dispensation of the Gospel and of glory in the highest Heavens And for the latter we pray in the second petition of that Form which our Lord taught us and the former we acknowledge in the Doxologie The holy Baptist being the fore-runner of the Christ preached unto the Jews who though they justifi'd themselves at present by the works of the Law yet held repentance necessary to the reception of the Messiah the Doctrine of Penance adding this reason because the kingdom of heaven was at hand and this had been an improper Doctrine if the Messiah as you dream was not to have a Kingdom till after more then sixteen hundred years Our Saviour therefore when he preached as his Fore-runner had done that Doctrine of Repentance he us'd not the same phrase Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand but he said Repent and believe the Gospel that is forsake sin and enter into the Kingdom of the Messiah by Grace Our Lord also in the twelfth Chapter of St. Matthew proveth by his great power over Satan and the Kingdom of darkness that the Kingdom of the Messiah was then come And he declared That Baptism was a Sacrament of entrance and admission into the Kingdom of the Gospel And he receiv'd the Hosannah's of the people who saluted him as that King of Israel who came unto them in the name of the Lord. And when he was asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God should come he answered The Kingdom of God is within you that is it is already come it is amongst you The further manifestation of his Kingdom he foretold in prophesying of his coming to take vengeance on the bloudy Jews by his scourges the Romans in the destruction of Ierusalem the History of which as it standeth in Iosephus if it be duly compared with the predictions of our Lord is sufficient to stop the widest mouth of profaneness and to hold up a powerful light against the dim Ey-balls of the most forsaken Atheists To this the words of St. Mark have relation in the ninth Chapter and first Verse Verily I say unto you that there be some of them that stand here which shall not taste of death till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power Mr. Hobbes Those words alledged by Beza long ago if taken grammatically make it certain that either some of those men that stood by Christ at that time are yet alive or else that the Kingdom of God must be now in this present world But yet if this Kingdom were to come at the Resurrection of Christ why is it said Some of them rather then All for they all lived till after Christ was risen Stud. Christ at his Resurrection had vindicated to himself by way of conquest over Death and Hell this spiritual Kingdom but the manifestation of it in power was displayed in the desolation of the City of Ierusalem And because for instance St. Iohn liv'd to see the triumph of Christ over his bloud-thirsty Enemies though all the Apostles did not there was therefore reason for saying Some of them rather then All. Mr. Hobbes If it be lawful to conjecture at the meaning of the words by that which immediately follows both here and in St. Luke where the same is again repeated it is not unprobable to say they have relation to the Transfiguration which is described in the Verses immediately following And so the promise of Christ was accomplished by way of Vision Stud. You are to look backward and not forward for the words do manifestly relate to those of the eighth Chapter where our Saviour had commanded the embracers of his Gospel to take up the Cross and promised that by their constancie in their Christian Profession they should save their lives whilst others who would endeavour to preserve life by denying the persecuted faith should be destroyed and so it came to pass when Gallus even against the reason of State did raise the Siege before Ierusalem the Christians and convert-Jews escapeing whilst a door was open unto the Mountains and into the City Pella and not remaining 'till Titus some moneths after renewed the Siege After this exhortation to constancie and promise of deliverance our Saviour threatned that he would be ashamed of such who should refuse to confess him before men at his coming in the glory of his Father with his holy Angels which coming with Angels and open rejection of cowardly spirits importing their present claim and his refusal agreeth not to his Transfiguration which was transacted in secret with some of the Disciples and the apparition of Moses and Elias There is therefore reason for Divines to insist upon a kingdome of Christ alreadie come a kingdom of the Gospel neither want they
to profess the faith ibid. That Christ is not to be renâ—unced with the moâ—th that the Magistrates command excuseth not the Apostate of Mat. 10.23 c. 200 201. Of Martyrs their Aera A double sort in Mr. Hobbes 203. Of the words Acts. 4.19 Mr. Hobbes accâ—seth them in effâ—ct of impertinencie 207. Mr. Hobbes remitting Martyrs to heaven falletâ— into the scoff of Julian ibid. Article 11. Concerning the future estate and place of torment 209 c. Mr. Hobbes affâ—rmeth falsly that the Torments are eternal but not to single persons 211. He useth the irresiâ—tible power or mercy of God as they serve his turns this prov'd out of â—is de Cive 213. Against Mr. Hobbes that hell will not be on earth of the vast numbers of people before the floud and in a few years after 215. Mr. â—obbes supposeth devils earthly enemies of Gods Church 217. Of the second death ibid. Whether the wicked shall be annihilated It is prov'd against Mr. Hobbes from Sophocles and Grotius that a miserable life is usually expressed by death 218. Article 12. Concerning the future estate and place of happiness 219 c. Mr. Hobbes denying the immortality of the soul granteth a future estate after the Resurrection by Grace Ibid. It is prov'd that the soul surviveth the body and receiveth immediate recompence 220 221. A full answer to the place of Solomon wrested by Mr. Hobbes to prove that in death nothing remaineth of a man but a carcass 222 223 224. And to those out of Job 227. That although God could raise the body to life yet without the supposition of a substantial Soul the Doctrine of Religion would be prejudiced against Mr. Hobbes 228. Of the Kingdom of God Of the place of Heaven on earth it is prov'd that Christs Kingdom began long ago 230 231. Against Mr. Hobbes that St. Marc. 9.1 refers to the destruction of Jerusalem and not to the Transfiguration of Christ. 232 233. Of the Siege of Jerusalem by Gallus and Titus Ibid. Coelestial bodies in opposition to this gross flesh and bloud confess'd by Athenagoras and St. Hierom they seem unagreeable to an Heaven on earth 234. If a man hath no substantial soul he cannot be the same in the alter'd contexture of a Coelestial body Ibid. It is prov'd from Scripture against Mr. Hobbes that The Heaven shall not be on earth 235. Concerning the Argument of Christ for the Resurrection against the Sadduces 237. The double meaning of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. An answer to 1 Cor. 15.22 alleged by Mr. Hobbes to prove heaven on earth and the blessed to be in the estate of innocent Adam The Interpretation of Crellius and Vorstius 238 239. Of Adams immortality on earth 240. Jerusalem not to be the Metropolis of Heaven 241. Answer to Psal. 133.3 produced unskilfully by Mr. Hobbes 242. Of the New Jerusalem Of Jerusalem above Of the new Jerusalem descending With what it synchronizeth 243. Answers to the places produced out of Isaiah Joel Obadiah St. John St. Paul to prove that The Heaven shall be at Jerusalem on earth at the second coming of Christ. 244 245 246 247. The Conclusion 284. The Editions of such Books of Mr. Hobbes as are cited in this Dialogue ELementa Philosophica de Cive Aâ—â—steroâ— 1647. Humane Nature London 1650. Leviathan London 1651. Objectiones in Renati Des Cartes Meditationes de prima Philosophia Amstel 1654. Of Liberty and Necessity Lond. 1654. De Corpore in English Lond. 1656. Six Lessons to the Oxford-Professors of the Mathematicks Lond. 1656. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or marks of the absurd Geometry Rural Language c. of Dr. Wallis Lond. 1657. Elementorum Philosophiae sectio secunda de Homine Lond. 1658. Mr. Hobbes considered or his Letter to Dr. Wallis concerning the Loyalty Religion Reputation and manners of the Author Lond. 1662. Mirabilia Pecci Lond. Reprinted 1666. THE CREED OF Mr. Hobbes c. The First Part. MR Hobbes of Malmsbury having pretended to furnish the World with Demonstration in stead of talkative and contentious Learning and having particularly attempted to resolve the appearanceâ— of Nature by Principles almost wholly new without any offensive novelty to discover the Faculties Acts and Passions of the Soul of Man from their original Causes to â—uild upon these two foundations the truth of Cases in the Law of Nature and all the undoubted Elements of Government and Society to discourse of God and of the most momentous Articles of Religion in a way peculiar to himself and having done all this with such a confidence as becometh only a Prophet or an Apostle there is certainly no man who hath any share of the Curiosity of this present Age or hath had his conversation amongst Modern Books who yet remaineth unacquainted with his Name and Doctrine Of these the latter hath spread its malignity amongst us too too far and it hath infected some who can and more who cannot read a difficult Author Wherefore it is the business of this little Book to expose this insolent and pernicious Writer to shew unto my Countreymen that weakness of head and venome of mouth which is in the Philosopher who hath rather seduc'd and poyson'd their Imaginations than conquer'd their Reason And in doing this I shall assume the usual and allowed Liberty of feigning a Discourse betwixt Mr. Hobbes and a Student in Divinity as also such Circumstances as gave occasion to the Dialogue after the ensuing manner A certain Divine having allotted one moneth in a year for his Diversion as also for his better information in the Topography of England he chose a while since to become an eye-witness of those Wonders of the Peak of which he had sometimes read with some content in the elegant Prose of Mr. Cambden and heroick numbers of Mr. Hobbes In this Progress he was led at length by his Curiosity to Buxton-Well in such a juncture of time as he esteemed happy For at the same hour with him Mr. Hobbes alighted there together with three or four other persons of no inferiour quality for the old Man being a well-willer to long life and knowing that those Waters were comfortable to the Nerves and very usefull towards the prolongation of health was not unwilling to be a visiter of them The fellow-â—ravellers of Mr. Hobbes had no sooner taken their Foot out of the Stirrop than they were surprized by the Contents of a Letter which a Messenger dispatched after them deliver'd into their hands The business was a matter of great importance and such as admitted of no delay and was very improper for the attendance of Mr. Hobbes who was therefore left by them with much excuse and many expressions of Civility to the sole conversation of the Divine In their Address Mr. Hobbes made his with a stiff posture and a forbidding countenance having no ground of hoping for good usage from Men of that Order upon which he had cast so much of his foulest Ink besides their Christian
life after many hundreds of years Mr. Hobbes A second place is that in St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.22 For as in Adam all dye even so in Christ shall all be made alive Now if as in Adam all dye that is have forfeited Paradise and eternal life on earth so in Christ all shall be made alive then all men shall be made to live on earth for else the comparison were not proper Stud. That Adam if he had remained obedient should have lived eternally upon earth together with all the race of men to have been produced out of his loyns to whom this earth would at last have denyed Elbow-room is a conceit of yours which reason doth not favour For the first man was of the earth earthy he was sustained by corruptible food he was design'd for propagation before his fall which things seem to argue a mortal nature and are by our Saviour excepted from the condition of those who shall enjoy eternal blessedness And though it was said to him that in eating the forbidden fruit he should dye the death that argueth thenceforth a necessity of dying and denyeth not a capableness of dying formerly and though God Almighty could have sustain'd his mortal nature for ever upon earth yet there is as I think no promise of it in Holy Writ and whilst we consider the future estate of blessed men described in Scripture there is some reason for us to believe that he should have rather been translated to an Heavenly Paradise then to have dwelt for ever in the Eden below Neither was it the business of the Apostle in this Text to determine any thing of the place but to set forth the priviledge of Believers by the means of Christ at the last day The meaning of the Apostle who speaketh here of those that are Christs seems no other then this As all who came from Adam were obnoxious to death and could not naturally claim the priviledge of a Resurrection to life eternal So all who believe in the Messiah shall not rot for ever in the grave but be raised up to everlasting happiness To this sense agree both Crellius and Vorstius whom I the rather name to you because they were men of singularity in conceit and such as stepped out of the beaten Road of Divinity which the Orthodox believe the truest and safest way In the Paraphrase of this comparison All of one kinde is answered by All of the other kinde and death by life And therefore there is no impropriety in the comparison though in other particulars the things compared disagree The main scope of the Apostle in setting forth the advantage of Believers at that day by Christ doth justifie the similitude though the place of life be not the same to all the Sons of Adam which was possessed by that Root of mankinde Parables saith Salmeron who wrote of them are like to swords the Hilts and Scabbards of them are variously wrought but it is the Edge whereby they â—o execution Mr. Hobbes Notwithstanding what hath been talk'd I still maintain that the Elect after the Resurrection shall be restored to the estate wherein Adam was before he had sinned and that the place shall be on earth and more particularly at and about Ierusalem Concerning the general salvation because it must be in the Kingdom of Heaven there is great difficulty concerning the place On one side by Kingdom which is an estate ordained by men for their perpetual security against Enemies and want it seemeth that this Salvation shall be on earth for by Salvation is set forth unto us a glorious reign of our King by conquest not a safety by escape and therefore there where we look for Salvation we must look also for Triumph and before triumph for victory and before victory for battle which cannot well be supposed shall be in heaven and it is evident by Scripture that Salvation shall be on earth then when God shall reign at the coming again of Christ in Ierusalem and from Ierusalem shall proceed the Salvation of the Gentiles that shall be received into Gods Kingdom Stud. In this speech of yours there is a threefold error easily confuted and broken in sunder First you say the Elect shall be in the estate of innocent Adam and you would have comparison answer comparison as face answereth face Yet our Saviour saith That the elect shall neither eat drink nor marry Secondly you suppose a War in the estate of the heaven on earth and after that victory the former of which is inconsistent with that uninterrupted peace which the Scripture ascribeth to that estate and the latter is meant of Christ the Captain of our Salvation conquering death in behalf of Believers by dying and arising again and triumphing over death in ascending and reigning at Gods Right-hand Wherefore St. Paul saith O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory And again Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. Neither in the third place do you speak consistently with your self when you mention Ierusalem as the Metropolis of Heaven For blessedness being by you supposed the recovery of the estate lost in Adam the chief seat of it ought by you to have been fixed in the Region of Eden which where it is those Atheists who scoff at the story of Adam may be instructed both in relation to their knowledge and manners by an obscure but yet most learned Geographer and Divine Mr. Hobbes Will you suffer me to proceed in proving that the future estate of Gods subjects shall be upon earth particularly at Ierusalem Stud. You shall not be unseasonably interrupted Mr. Hobbes That it shall be on earth is proved from a third place Rev. 2.7 To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the tree of Life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God This was the Tree of Adams eternal life but his life was to have been on earth Stud. You here mistake as many have done in attempting to unfold the Revelation this Book of Mysteries which representeth Allegorically to our senses the things in Heaven by patterns on earth There is a Paradise not upon earth an entrance into which our Saviour promised to the relenting and believing Malefactor that very day upon the Cross. Besides the meer letter of the Text fixeth the chief Seat of Heaven in Eden not in Ierusalem Mr. Hobbes To my opinion concerning the Heavenly Ierusalem on earth seemeth to agree that of the Psalmist Psal. 133.3 Vpon Zion God commanded the blessing even life for evermore for Zion is in Ierusalem upon earth Stud. This blessing is meant of temporal long life which God promised so especially to the obedient in the Land of Canaan neither cannot it with reason be interpreted of a life eternal for David saith in the last place that God did there command a blessing Besides though Zion was at Ierusalem yet Hermon which is first
named was on the other side of Iordan on the utmost part of the holy Land Eaâ—tward Mr. Hobbes My opinion seemeth again to be confirmed by St. Iohn Rev. 21.2 where he saith I Iohn saw the holy City new Ierusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband And again vers 10. to the same effect as if he should say The new Ierusalem the paradise of God at the coming again of Christ should come down to Gods people from heaven and not they go up to it from earth Stud. Heaven is the Ierusalem above which the Patriarchs sought in contra-distinction to Canaan below of this Ierusalem above St. Paul saith that it is free that is typed by Sarah the free-woman and cannot but be free from Enemies seeing God is the King of it and that it is the mother of us all that is the Gospel came thence immediately by Christ and not as the law by the mediation of an Angel Our original as Christians we owe to heaven and thence are we nourished and preserved by the divine grace and to the revelation of this Ierusalem Christians attain by the preaching of the Gospel which is a dispensation of more clearness and comfort then the Law And the new Ierusalem descending is a type of Heaven in a glorious estate of the Christian Church on earth the commencement of which hath much puzled those who have spent their studies about the great Millenium But this new Ierusalem descended is not to be esteemed the estate of just men made perfect because it is said that the Nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it and also that after the thousand years wherein the Martyrs are thought to raign with Christ in the new Ierusalem below the devil shall be loosed and go out to deceive the Nations and with them as Enemies in battel array to encompass the holy City which things are improperly ascribed to a state of entire joy in the life eternal of the saved in the Ierusalem above If then as Mr. Mede affirmeth and attempteth to prove the new Ierusalem Syncronizeth with the seventh Trumpet or Interval from the destruction of the beast and supposeth afterwards a loosing of Satan it cannot be understood of the highest heaven or the consummate happiness of man Mr. Hobbes There are behind divers places in the Prophets in order to the evading of whose force you will much perplex your understanding and when I have once produced them I shall then have done drawing at my end of this Saw of disputation How good soever the Reason before alleadged may bâ— I will not trust to it without very evident places of Scripture The state of Salvation is described at large Isaiah 33. ver 20 21 22 23 24. Look upon Zion the City of our solemnities thine eyes shall see Ierusalem a quiet habitation a tabernacle that shall not be taken down not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad Rivers and streams wherein shall goe no galley with oars neither shall gallant ship pass thereby For the Lord is our Iudge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us Thy tacklings are loosed they could not well strengthen their maâ—t they could not spread the sail then is the prey of a great spoil divided the lame take the prey and the â—nhabitants shall not say I am sick the people that shall dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity In which words we have the place from whence salvation is to proceed Ierusalem a 〈…〉 the eternity of it a Tabernacle that 〈…〉 be taken down c. the Saviour of it the Lord their Judge their Law-giver their King he will save us the Salvation the Lord shall be to them as a broad mote of swift waters c. The condition of their enemies their tacklings are loose their masts weak the lame shall take the spoyl of them The condition of the saved the inhabitant shall not say I am sick and lastly all this comprehended in forgiveness of sin the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity By which it is evident that Salvation as I said shall be on earth then when God shall reign at the coming again of Christ in Ierusalem and from Ierusalem shall proceed the salvation of the Gentiles that shall be received into Gods kingdom as is also more expresly declared by the same Prophet Chap. 65.20 21. And they that is the Gentiles who had any Jew in bondage shall bring all your Brethren for an offering to the Lord out of all Nations upon Horses and in Charrets and in Litters and upon Mules and upon swift beasts to my holy Mountaine Ierusalem saith the Lord as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord I will also take of them for Priests and for Levites saith the Lord. Whereby it is manifest that the chief seat of Gods kingdom which is the place from whence the salvation of us that were Gentiles shall proceed shall be Ierusalem and the same is also confirmed by our Saviour in his discourse with the woman of Samaria concerning the place of Gods worship to whom he saith Ioh. 4.22 That the Samaritans worshipped they knew not what but the Jews worship what they knew for salvation is of the Jews ex Iudaeis that is begins at the Jews as if he â—hould say you worship God but know not by whom he will save you as we do that know it shall be by one of the tribe of Iudah a Iew not a Samaritan and therefore also the woman not impertinently answered him again We know the Messias shall come So that which our Saviour faith Salvation is from the Iews is the same that S. Paul sayes Rom. 1.16 17. The â—â—spel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth to the Iew first â—nd also to the Greek for therein is the righteâ—â—sness of God revealed from faith to fâ—ith from the faith of the Jâ—w to the faith of the Gentile In the like sense the Prophet Ioel describing the day of judgement Chap. 2.30 31. that God would shew wonders in heaven and in earth blood and fire and pillars of sâ—â—ak the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the Moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come he addâ—th ver 32. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved for iâ— mount Zion and in Ierusalem shall be Salvation And Obadiah ver 17. saith the same Vpon mount Zion shall be deliverance and there shall be holyness and thâ— hâ—use of Jacob shall possess their possessions that is the possâ—ssions oâ— the heathen which possessions he expresseth most particularly in the following verses
Member of the great Community to an orderly behaviour towards God and his Parents as also towards his own Soul and Body in cases which concern and which concern not life death is the Law of Nature Mr. Hobbes The Dictates of Reason concerning Vice and Virtue Men use to call by the name of Laws but improperly for they are but Conclusions or Theorems concerning what conduceth to the conservation and defence of themselves whereas Law properly is the word of him who by Right hath command over others Stud. These Dictates being the Natural Operations of our Minds the Being and undepraved condition of which in right reasoning we owe to God we cannot but esteem them as the voice of God within us and consequently Law wherefore St. Paul calleth the Rule of Natural Conscience amongst the Gentiles the Law written in their Hearts But whence doth it come to pass that self-interest is laid by you as the foundation-stone of the Law of Nature in such sort that nothing is unlawful which conduceth to such preservation For it is commonly taught amongst us that many things are condemn'd by the light of Reason and that we ought not to do evil that good may come on 't but prefer the Law of God in nature before private Utility it being the truest Self-interest to lose the present secular advantage for the future recompence of such as with peril obey God Mr. Hobbes The Reasons of my Opinion are manifest Because it is natural for Man to avoid pain and pursue utility and because in the state of Nature there is nothing unlawful against others For the desires and other passions of Man are in themselves no sin no more are the actions that proceed from those Passions 'till they know a Law that forbids them which till Laws be made they cannot know nor can any Law be made 'till they have agreed upon the person that shall make it Stud. Unless you explain your self concerning this state of Nature which you speak of the way of our proceeding will be darkned by words Mr. Hobbes The natural condition of Mankind may be thus explained Nature hath made Men so equal in the faculties of Body and Mind as that when all is reckoned together the difference between Man and Mâ—n is not so considerable as that one man can thereupon claim to himself any benefit to which another may not pretend as well as he From this equality of ability ariseth equality of hope in the attaining of our ends And therefore if any two Men desire the same thing which nevertheless they cannot both enjoy they become Enemies and in the way to their end which is principally their own conservation and sometimes their Delectation only endeavour to destroy or subdue one another Whereupon some are invited to invade others and from others may fear the like invasion From equality of ability competition ariseth fomented by equality of hope and from thence diffidence of one another And from this diffidence attended with desire of glory in conquering there ariseth a war of every Man against every Man And therefore whatsoever is consequent to a time of War where every Man is enemy to every Man the same is consequent to the time wherein men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invenâ—ion shall furnish them withal In such condition there is no place for industry because the fruit thereof is uncertain and consequently no culture of the earth no Navigation nor use of the Commodities that may be imported by Sea no commodious buâ—ding no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force no knowledg of the face of the earth no account oâ— time no Arts no Letters no Society and which is worst of all continual fear and danger of violent death and the life of man solitary poor nasty brutish and short To this War of every Man against every Man this also is consequent That nothing can be unjust The notions of Right and wrong justice and injustice have there no place Where there is no common power there is no Law whâ—â—â— no Law no Injustice Force and Fraud are in war the two Cardinal Virtues Justice and Injustice are none of the Faculties neither of the Body nor Mind Iâ— they were they might be in a Man that were alone in the World as well as his Senses and Passions They are Qualities that relate to Men in Society not in Solitude It is consequent also to the same condition that there be no propriety no dominion no Minâ— and Thine distinct but only that to be every Man 's that he can get and for so long as he can keep it And this is the ill condition which Man by meer nature is actually placed in though with a possibility to come out of it consisting partly in the Passions partly in his Reason The Passions that encline men to peace are fear of death desire of such things as are necessary to commodious living a hope by their industry to obtain them And Reason suggesteth convenient Articles of Peace upon which Men may be drawn to agreement These Articles are they which otherwise are called the Laws of Nature Stud. It is a very absurd and unsecure course to lay the ground-work of all civil Polity and formed Religion upon such a supposed state of Nature as hath no firmer support than the contrivance of your own fancy Let Ptolemy endeavour a Solution of those appearances which arise from the heavenly Bodies by one sort of Scheme and Tycho by another and Copernicus by a third and let Des-Cartes attempt a fourth for the declaring not only in what manner but by what Efficient Cause the Starrs may move for thus far the interests of Men remain secure not being minded by such remote Models and Hypotheses But when the Temporal and Eternal safety of Mankind is concerned as in the Doctrines of Civil and Moral and Christian Philosophy then are Hypotheses framed by imagination and not by reason assisted with Memory touching the passed state of the World as exceedingly dangerous as they are absurd Wherefore such persons who trouble the World with fancied Schemes and Models of Poliâ—y in Oceana's and Leviathan's ought to have in their Minds an usual saying of the most excellent Lord Bacon concerning a Philosophy advanced upon the History of Nature That such a work is the World as God made it and not as Men have made it for that it hath nothing of Imagination The faithful Records of time give us another account of the Origin of Nations and common Sense whereby one apprehends in another's birth the manner of his own doth sufficiently instruct us in this truth that we are born and grow up under Government Our Parents being before the Institution of Commonwealth absolute Soveraigns in their own Families And as Hicrocles speaketh Gods upon Earth Wherefore Cicero discoursing of the many Degrees of the Society of Men calleth
Wedlock the beginning of a City and as it were the Seminary of a Kingdom So that to talk of such a state of nature as supposeth an Independency of one person upon another is to lay aside not only the History of Moses but also of Experience which teacheth that we are born Infants of Parents for that reason to be obey'd and to put some such cheat upon the World as Nurses are wont in sport to put upon unwary Children when they tell them they started up out of the Parsley-bed And verily some such odd conceit is to be suspected in that Man who says that all is Matter and by consequence that Mankind arose at first out of the fortuitous Concretions of it Epicurus therefore in sequel of that doctrine of his that all things were produced by atoms explained the birth of Man by supposing certain swelling bags or wombs upon the earth which brake at last and let forth Infants nourished by her Juice clothed by her Vapours provided of a bed in the soft grass and he also taught that in the beginning though he knew not when Men wander'd about like Beasts and every one was for himself and that meerly to secure themselves they combin'd into Societies and that those Societies were formed by Pacts and Covenants and that from those Covenants sprang good and evil just and unjust For such a Romance is to be read at large in his Compurgator Gassendus who subjoyneth no Essay of confutation Mr. Hobbes It may peradventure be thought there was never such a time nor condition of War as this now described and I believe it was never generally so over all the World But there are many places where they live so now For the Savage People in many places of America except the Government of small Families the concord whereof dependeth on Natural Lust have no Government at all and live at this day in a brutish manner Stud I am sorry that so much barbarousness being charged upon Mankind so little of the imputation can be fairly taken off Yet that the condition of human nature is not so very rude as you seem to represent it appeareth from many passages in undoubted Story Iustin in his Epitom of Trogus Pompeius describeth the ancient Scythians in such a manner that their Behaviour seemeth to upbraid those People who call themselves The Civilized parts of the World By him we are informed That they had neither Houses nor Enclosures of ground but wander'd with their Cattel in solitary and untilled Desarts That Justice had honour derived to it not from positive Law but from the good natures of the People That no man was more odious amongst them than the Invader of such things as were occupied by another In consideration of which inbred civility the Historian wisheth that the other Nations of the World were followers of the Scythick Moderation after which he thus concludeth It may seem a matter fit to be admired that Nature should bestow that upon the Scythians which the Graecians themsâ—lves though long instructed by the Doctrines and Precepts of Law-givers and Philosophers have not attain'd to and that formed manners should be excelled by uneducated Barbarity But let it be supposed that many brutish Families in America in whose stead you might have rather mentioned the wild Arabes are so many dens of Robbers and live by such prey as their power and wildness can provide for them Yet by this Instance because it is made in Families where Government has place you rather overthrow than prove your supposed state of Nature Wherefore in a note added upon second thoughts to your Book de Cive in order to a Solution of this Argument that the Son killing his Parent in the state of Nature acteth unjustly you subjoin an Answer to this effect A man cannot be understood to be a son in the meer state of Nature seeing as soon as he is born he is under the lawful Power and Government of them to whom he oweth his conservation to wit of his Mother or Father or to him who affords him Provisions of common life It is further to be marked that one Family as it stands separated from another is as one Kingdom divided from the Territories of a Neighbouring Monarch If therefore the state of Nature remaineth in a Family not depending upon another Family in places where there is no common Government then all Kingdoms which have not made Leagues with one another are at this day in the same state Whereas they rather are in a state of defence dictated by prudence and as you say in the posture of Gladiators having their swords pointing and their Eyes fixed on one another than in a state of War prompted by pride and insatiâ—ble ambition And therefore no affront being offered to a foreign Prince before his Invasion he is esteem'd both injurious and unjust whilst for no other reason than his greedy Will he thrusts inoffensive people out of ancient possession I know you esteem all distinct Kingdoms in a state of War in relation to each other and that therefore they have a right if they have a Power of invading but he that consults Grotius in his Book de jure belli Pacis designed chiefly to set forth the Rights not of Domestick but Formsick VVar will not be much of your opinion neither will he easily be reconcil'd to the Practice of the Romans in Petronius Arbiter a Practice to which that of the Spaniards is akin who made foreign Nations to be Enemies as Princes sometimes make their Subjects Traytors for the sake of their Riches Mr. Hobbes I confess that a great Family if it be not part of some Commonwealth is of it self as to the Rights of Soveraignty a little Monarchy whether that Family consist of a Man and his Children or of a Man and his Servants or of a Man and his Children and Servants together wherein the Father or Master is the Soveraign But yet a Family is not properly a Commonwealth unless it be of that power by its own number or by other opportunities as not to be subdued without the hazard of War Stud. In those Places where there is no common Government as of late amongst the West Arabes 'till their acceptance of Muley Arsheid first for their General and then their King a Family may be called a small Kingdom notwithstanding the meanness of its Power because it can as well secure it self against the assaults of another Family as one Kingdom can withstand the Opposition of another For we compare Family to Family and not to a vast Empire against whose mighty numbers it is in vain to make resistance For if want of strength doth render a Family no Commonwealth than by the same reason the Republicks of Athens Corinth Lacedaemon and the rest were properly no Republicks because they were but so many weak and little Members compar'd to the vast Body of the Graecian