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
the name of the onely begotten Son of God V. 19. This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather then light because their deeds were evil V. 36. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him Mr. Hobbes There is yet behinde a reason whereby I prove that the doctrine of the Gospel is not made Law by Christ or his Apostles The Apostles power was no other then that of our Saviour to invite men to embrace the Kingdome of God which they themselves acknowledged for a Kingdome not presenâ— but to come and they that have no Kingdome can make no Laws Stud. Christ as Mediator before his Resurrection had power of making sâ—ronger Laws then any Soveraigns now upon Earth for he had immediate Commission from God in Heaven He that saw Christ saw him that sent him and whatsoever Christ spake even as the Father said unto him so he spake And he that rejected him was to be condemned by his words at the last day And Christ when his Father sent him was design'd to be a King over Men and Angels and for that purpose he came into the World and he acquired this Kingship by way of Conquest in his resurrection from the dead after which he spake unto his Disciples saying All power is given unto me iâ— Heaven and in Earth Go ye therefore and â—â—ach all Nationâ— baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and loâ— I am with you allwaies unto the end of the World And when he ascended and sate on the right hand of God he was inaugurated into his Heavenly Kingdom and became in truth a Divine Heroe as those amongst the Heathens were in pretence and he at present raigneth be the Earth never so rebellious in the Oeconomie of his Church But to step out of this into our Tenth Place of Discourse if the commands of Christ and his Apostles are not also Laws without the civil Sanction what meaneth the common doctrine in the Scripture of suffering for the sake of Christianitie we are enjoyned to take up the Cross and to follow Christ Blessedness is promised to those who are persecuted for righteousness sake that suffer as Christians and we are taught that the way to preserve our lives is to loose them for a time in the glorious cause of Jesus Such commands and exhortations to dye rather then to obey unchristian injunctions are delivered in vain yea they deserve the name of impious if they be not a royal Law without the stamp and allowance of civil Authoritie It is then in your opinion not only our Priviledge but our duty to save thâ— skin entire and for the sake of outward safety to obey that which is truly Law the Law of our Countrie though we live amongst the Heathens rather then to follow dangerous though Evangelical Counsel Mr. Hobbes You may easily make conjecture of my sense in the present case because I say the disobedient to the civil Powers do violate that which is properly Law We are not obliged to obey any Minister of Christ if he should command us to do any thing contrary to the command of the King or other Soveraign representant of the Common-wealth whereof we are Members and by whom we look to be protected Stud. Were this truth there ought not to have bin any zealous propagation of the Gospel but it should have expired with the Author of it upon the Cross. For the Apostles sinned both against the Law of Nature and Common-wealth in exposing their lives to hazzard by preaching to the Gentiles if it was injustice to gain-say their Pagan Edicts St. Thomas then though armed with Miracles to command assent ought either not to have wandred to the East-Indies or being there not to have preached up a new Religion and what he suffered for that cause was just from the hand of Pagan Authority Mr. Hobbes Into what place soever a man shall come if he do any thing contrary to the Law it is a crime If a man come from the Indies hither and perswade men here to receive a new Religion or teach them any thing that tendeth to disobedience of the Laws of his Country though he be never so well perswaded of the truth of what he teacheth he commits a crime and may be justly punished for the same not only because his doctrine is false but also because he does that which he would not approve in another namely that coming from hence he should endeavour to alter the Religion there Stud. A good man would be desirous of information in matters of the greatest moment from what quarter soever of the Heavens the light shined into his understanding and the question is only of the assurance which the Teacher can give and not of the equity of his Practice But to pass by that enquiry I cannot refrain from asking you though I can guess at your opinion whether every Traveller is bound to profess the Religion of that Country into which he goeth I mean not this of meer prudence and caution of an open countenance and close breast but of actual compliance with all forraign institutions so as to do as men do at Rome or Constantinople or Agra if we were sojourners there Mr. Hobbes To this I shall by and by say somthing particularly but I will now in general terms affirm that whosoever entreth into anothers Dominion is subject to all the Laws thereof unless he have a priviledge by the Amity of the Soveraigâ—s or by special Licence Stud. Seeing then the Romanists depend much upon Opus operatum if you returned but to Paris the prayer of Monsieur Sorbiere would be heard who in his Voyage when he weeded England desired you might become a good Catholick this digression puts me in mind of a saying of B. Andrews who when it was told that some of the Scotch-Clergie were to be made Bishops advised that they should be made Priests First But what great motive is there to this compliance with the civil Power of any perswasion Mr. Hobbes That I hinted just now in saying that by them we look to be protected Stud. As if the favour of our Lord the Prince of glory towards his sincere and faithful patient and undaunted subjects who will not be baffled out of truth nor be ashamed of the Gospel were not of more value then the thin shelter of worldly-power which if it could hide us under Rocks and Mountains could not secure us from the stroke of him who is in the first place to be feared methinks in the competition betwixt danger from men and disobedience to Christ as in the case of such as are commanded by Heathen powers to sacrifice to Daemons it is easie to see on which
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
by the mount of Esau the land of the Philistinâ—s the fields of Ephraim of Samaria Gilead and the Cities of the South and concludes with these words The kingdome shall be the Lords All these places are for salvation and the kingdome of God after the day of judgement upon earth Stud. It is manifest that Isaiah in those places meaneth the salvation from Senacherib the Assyrians wrought by God himself in the daies of Hezekiah whilst the Jews relyed upon Sethon who deceiv'd them hoping that the Asâ—yrians and they weakning each other his strength might be the better promoted against both The Prophecy of Ioel concerneth literally those times when thâ— Caldeans by sword and fire destroyed Ierusalem at which season according to the height of the prophetick style the very face of the heavens by reason of the flames and smoke and streams of blood were alter'd to the amazement of common spectators It seemeth also a type of the destruction of Ierusalem by Titus The saved V. 32. were the captives reserved alive a remnant design'd by God for the continuance of his Church Obadiah is to be understood of the destruction of the Edomites and of the aforesaid salvation from the Assyrians The places in S. Iohn and S. Paul relate to the beginning of the Gospel not to the beginning of the kingdome of glory the Messiah according to the flesh arising from that Nation and the Gospel being first offered to thâ—m You should have done well to have added those other words in St. Iohn V. 21. The hour cometh now is when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father You have for the serving your hypothesis erred most grosly in these your last interpretations of holy writ I cannot but pity you whilst I perceive you in gloriously stumbling when you are just stopping out of this disputation Let no man hereafter honour you with the name of Philosopher who findeth you no happier at the interpretation of Nature then of the holy Bible into the inward sense of which you enter not by any expedite unlocking of its mysteries being resolved to force a way through it to your own novel conceits But at this I am not to be astonished for there is so much learning and so much attention required to the true understanding of divers sections of holy writ that if a man hath not made it much his business to study and meditate about that true and concerning part of Antiquity to compare text with text and reading with reading and sacred history with profane his thoughts will scarce be worth the writing down upon the most neglected piece of paper Good Sir be wise to sobriety handle the Scripture with more reverence and care be not rashly busie in relation to the things of the Altar for there is a burning coal ready always to stick to a profane finger which will endanger somthing of greater price then your reputation Mr. Hobbes You your self have not examined the Scriptures to the bottom therefore you perhaps may be but are not yet a good Divine I would you had but so much Ethicks as to be civil but you are a notable expositor so fare you well and consider what honor you doe to the University of which you have bin a member and what honor you do to Corpus Christi Colledge by your divinity what honor you do to your Degree with the manner of your language take this counsel along with you Think me no more worthy of your pains you see how I have fouled your fingers Stud. Nay if the scene be so changed that we must rail and quarrel instead of debating matters with sober reason it is time to have done the world having long since had enough of passion and impertinent noise ERRATA IN â—pist Ded. lin 6. for owe read ow. pag. 6. lin 11. for extemporanious read extemporary â—n the Table Mr. Hobbes very often printed for Mr. Hobbes's p. 7. l 2. f. doctor r. doctrine l. 21. after trifleth add a period l. 25. f. temperance r. nature p. 9. l. 22. after table add a period p. 12. l. 22. after on earth a comma In the Book p. 4. l. 17. for solicited r. selected l. 30. for Fire r. Five p. 5. l. 19. for Rostius r. Roscius p. 6. l 14 for the Confident r. your Friend p. 10. l. 22. after God a period p. 14. l. 2. for wine r. wind p. 14. in Marg. after part 2. p. add 190. l 14. 21. p. 22. l. 1. l. 22. p. 27. l. 25. p. 33. l. 33. p. 37. l. 6. p. 43. l. 22. l. 29. p. 46. l. 16. p. 47. l. 9. f. Phylosoph c. r. Philosoph c. p. 16. in marg for upp r. hyp p. 17. in marg for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 33. f. lay r. layeth p. 18. marg f. ed Fir. r. ed Ficin f. Necochim r. Nevochim p. 19. in marg for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 f. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 20. in marg for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 23. l. 7. for signifyfie r. signifie p. 24. l. 10. after affirmation a period p. 25. l. 7. f. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 26. l. 3. f. hastily r. harshly p. 28. the colon to be set after what he is p. 29. l. 2. after he is a period l. 5. after nature a period l. 29. after wisdom a period p. 33. l. 29. after Imagination a comma p. 35 l. 33. f. iniquity r. inanitie p. 36. l 12. after celebrate a comma p. 39. l. 7. after but one two points p. 40. l. 24. f. he r. be p. 44. l. 26. f. pranted r. granted p. 45. l. 26. f. Assent r. Ascent p. 46. l. 1. after rest a comma p. 48. l. 9. after â—ramed a comma p. 50 l. 13. f. things r. Kings p. 51. l. 9. after air a period p. 59. l. 8. f. All r. the. p. 62. l. 10. f. be able r. being able p. 72. l. 13. aâ—ter Ghost a comma l. 27. f. ninos sibi r. ni nos tibi p. 73. l. 9. f. humour r. humours p. 76. l. 11 12. most effectually to an Ecclesiastic in a Parenthesis p 78. l 22. blot out do p. 79. l. 32. for to underst r. to be underst p. 83. l. 7. after counter-pressure add a comma p. 90. l. 10. after motions a comma p. 93. l. 5. in the marg f. ipsu r. iâ—sum p. 94. l. 5. blot out in p. 96. â—ult f. should r. I should p. 103. l. 18. l. teaching r. touching p. 108. l. 20. f. men in r. main p. 118. l. 5. f. you r. them p. 127. l. 18 19. of the right printed twice p. 131. l. 21. f. invaded r. minded p. 133. l. 28. â— Epitom r. Epitome p. 134. l. 19. f. Arabes