Selected quad for the lemma: master_n
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A33236
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A brief view and survey of the dangerous and pernicious errors to church and state, in Mr. Hobbes's book, entitled Leviathan by Edward Earl of Clarendon.
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Clarendon, Edward Hyde, Earl of, 1609-1674.
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1676
(1676)
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Wing C4421; ESTC R12286
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180,866
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332
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keep the Protestant Religion from entring into his Disciples to instruct those who were under his charge to be good Subjects to him that seed brought up very little fruit but the Elements of Duty and Allegiance to their absent banished lawful Soveraign were sucked in greedily by them and flourished accordingly In a word these were the men who were look'd upon with esteem and reverence by all the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom who retain'd their affection and duty towards the King entirely in their hearts and thereby the opportunity to perform many notable Services to the King and to give him useful Advertisements and having unquestioned credit in a treacherous and perfidious season when Children betrayed their Fathers Servants their Masters and Friends one another were trusted by all men and so having no farther care for themselves then to live very meanly they became Treasurers and Almoners for all indigent Gentlemen who had served the King or desired so to do and relieved very many of that kind that they might be ready upon a good opportunity to serve his Majesty and not be forced to go to him who had not wherewith to relieve them They discharged the expense of many expresses which were frequently sent to the King and from him which amounted to a great charge and contributed much to the maintenance of those of the Clergy who faithfully attended his Majesties Person and often transmitted such sums of mony to his Majesty himself as were very seasonable supplies to him in great distresses I can have no end and have no temtation to say all this but hold my self obliged to Justice and truth to give this testimony since all the particulars are well known to me having at that time the honor to be in some trust with his Majesty and thereby the full knowledg of what then passed of which there are not now many other witnesses amongst the living And therefore I could not omit this proper season in the close of Mr. Hâ—bbes his Book throughout which he hath made so violent a War upon them without any colour of reason to say that he ows them many acknowledgments but more to God almâ—ghty for the scandal he hath brought upon Religion upon the best constituted Church of the World and upon the most Learned Clergy of any Church and the most irreconcilable to any thing that is erroneous or offensive in the Roman Religion which therefore looks upon them as the only considerable and formidable Enemy they have to encounter I shall not need to take any pains to remove him from the good opinion he had of Independency when he published his Book because pag. 385. it left every man to do what liked him best in Religion as he saies but in truth because Cromwell was then thought to be of that faction But I dare say he did with his heart as well as by his tongue quit that party the very day that the King was proclaimed as he is ready to quit all his other Opinions true or false assoon as the Soveraign power shall please to require him which makes whatever he saies the less to need answering And I shall be less solicitous to deprive the Pope of his new Kingdom of Fairies with the title to which Mr. Hobbes hath gratified him to allay that fear and apprehension which he had endeavoured so much before to infuse into the minds of all Princes of his dangerous greatness and power if at last prove no more then the King of Fairies hath it is less terrible then he represented it to be But since he hath not thought fit to retain that modesty which he professed to have pag. 241. that tho he had proved his Doctrine out of places of Scripture not few nor obscure yet because it will appear to most men a novelty he did but propound it maintaining nothing in this or any other Paradox of Religion but attending the end of that dispute of the sword concerning the autority not yet amongst his Country-men decided by which all sorts of Doctrine are to be approved or rejected and whose commands both in speech and writing whatsoever be the opinions of private men must by all men who mean to be protected by their Laws be obeied notwithstanding which reservation and after he hath seen that dispute of the Sword concerning the autority amongst his Country men decided after he hath seen that Prodigy of Mankind whom he acknowledged to be his Soveraign instituted and adored by him exposed upon the Gallows and his Carcass placed upon the stage that is reserved for the most infamous Traitors and Rebels and all his actions condemned and detested by the whole Nation all which were govern'd and steered exactly by Mr. Hobbes his own Institution and sufficiently shew how insecure they will prove to any man that observes them and after he hath seen his true and lawful Soveraign his disavowed and renounced Soveraign and whose Subjects he had absolv'd from his obedience restored and established with the universal and unexpressible joy of his three Kingdoms and thereby his whole Doctrine with reference to the Ecclesiastical as well as Civil Government disavowed and condemn'd and not exemplarily punished only by his Majesties gracious observation of the Act of Indemnity of which few Subjects have more need it is too malicious an obstinacy and perversness in him still to adhere to his odious Paradoxes both in his Conversation and by private Transcripts which he labors to get printed and was never more solicitous to have his most destructive Doctrines to be published and confirm'd by autority the ill consequence whereof to himself he despises the learning of the Law too much to understand And as he would allow no other right to the Subject in his Liberty or Propriety but what the Soveraigns silence hath permitted in not taking it from him as to dwell where he pleases and educate his Children as he thinks fit and the like so he interprets the present silence of the Law as an approbation of those his monstrous Principles which it knows not how to contradict not considering the while that this silence of the Law cannot be broken but in the loud inflicting those severe punishments upon him as without the shelter of that Soveraigns mercy whom he so much despised and provoked would at once in his ruine discredit all his vain Philosophy and more pernicious Theology and he would find the Successors of Sr. Edward Cooke with whose great ignorance he makes himself so merry learned enough to instruct him in the duty and reverence that is due from all Subjects to the Law and Government And for the better manifestation of the premises having now walked to the end of his fourth part before we take a view of his Review and Conclusion we will observe the same method we did at the end of his two first parts and according to the advice himself gives in his examination of Bellarmines Doctrine lay open his conclusions and Principles
partly wrought our conversion and partly wâ—rketh nâ—w by his Ministers and will continue to work till his coming again And it is very ill Logic to say that because they cannot mis-interpret and pervert Scripture nor preach Rebellion against their natural Soveraign since Christ hath commanded subjection and obedience to them they have therefore no autority to preach at all or interpret the Scripture but must publish whatsoever the King bids them in the Name and as the Commands of God yet even that and all he hath or can say may be true if the cases of Conscience which he hath taken upon him to determine have any dependance upon or affinity with the Christian Faith or common honesty What if the office of Christs Ministers in this World is to make men believe and have Faith in Christ and that they have no power by that title to punish men for not believing or for contradicting what they say doth that defect of power of compulsion abolish that power which he hath given them of instructing and preaching and using the Keys As Christ hath trusted them to do and qualified them with peculiar circumstances to perform those Offices so he hath trusted Soveraign Princes to assist them whil'st they perform their office with integrity or to punish them if they do not with their power of compulsion that their labors may be effectual And Princes are no less obliged to give them that assistance then they are to perform the office of the Apostles and Disciples nor can any Prince think his Soveraignty impair'd by being obliged to take care that the Laws and Precepts of God his Soveraign be punctually submitted to and that they to whom in special manner the publication thereof is committed be not only protected but obeied and reverenc'd whil'st they do their duty or â—urmise that the Word of God stands in need of or can receive any dignity or autority by any thing he can add to it by his Soveraign power God hath left and requir'd them to be Nursing Fathers to his Church and from the time of their being Christians hath communicated his Scripture to them which they have receiv'd and which they are equally bound to obey as their meanest Subject and if they are not good and faithful Nurses the miscarriage of the Children shall be imputed to them There is no cause of jealousie from the Soveraign towards his Subjects which Mr. Hobbes out of his constant good will desires to kindle for there is neither Bishop nor Priest who pretends to any Power or Jurisdiction inconsistent with the Kings Supremacy in Ecclesiastical as well as Temporal matters No man can be made a Bishop but by his appointment and grant No man can be ordained a Priest but by him whom he hath nominated to be a Bishop And if either Bishop or Priest mis-behave themselves to that degree they shall by his autority be degraded and depriv'd and suffer as Lay-men are to do he being no less Soveraign over the Ecclesiastical Persons and Laws then over the Temporal and whoever so become liable are to blame and for ought I know have to answer for somthing besides the departing from their dignity In a word Prelates assume no title of Honor nor pretend to any Jurisdiction that they have not receiv'd from him and therefore deserve to be countenanc'd and supported by him amongst his best and most useful Subjects He is not concern'd if the King forbids him to believe in Christ it is a command of no effect because belief and understanding never follow mens commands but if the King commands him to say that he believes not in Christ he is very ready to obey him pag. 271. Profession with the tongue is but an external thing wherein a Christian holding firmly in his heart the Faith of Christ hath the same liberty which the Prophet Elisha allowed to Naaman the Syrian He would be very much disappointed in the support of his monstrous Impiety if that Text ought to be rendred out of the Original as Dr Lightfoot a man eminently learned in the Hebrew positively saies at ought to be For this thing the Lord pardon thy servant for that when my Master hath gon into the house of Rimmon to worship there and he hath leaned upon my hand that I have also bowed my self in the house of Rimmon for my worshipping in the house of Rimmon the Lord pardon thy servant for tâ—is thing 2 Kings 5. 18. So that he craved pardon for Idolatry past and not begged leave to be Idolatrous for the time to come But admitting the Text to be according to the common Translation it can do Mr. Hobbes no good except he procures the same leave from another who hath as much autority as Elisha had Who doth not know that none of those Examples which were either enjoin'd or permitted to be don by the Divine Autority for some extraordinary end of Providence are for our imitation when they are opposite to the truth and justice and integrity of Gods Precepts He may as well justifie the breach of Faith and down-right Theft and Robbery in his Neighbors by the example of the Israelites borrowing the Jewels and other Goods of the Egyptians or the assassination of an Enemy by the example of Ehuds stabbing of Eglon and many other unwarrantable actions by the example of good men directed by the Spirit of God in the Scripture as maintain his own impiety by the example or permission if there were any of Naaman But if Mr. Hobbes be gratified by not urging the impiety nor the denunciation which St. Iohn pronounced upon him He is Anti-Christ that denieth the Father and the Son 1 John 2. 22. How will he justifie the prevarication and falseness in saying he doth not believe that which in his heart he dâ—th believe Ye shall not deal falsly neither lie one to another was a part of the Levitical Law and by Mr. Hobbes rules a part of the Law of Nature and so must not be violated nor can be controul'd by God himself He knows very well who is the Father of lies tho it may be he doth not enough consider what portion is allotted for his children And if they who said they were Iews and were not but did lie were pronounc'd by St. Iohn to be of the Synagogue of Satan Rev. 3. 9. There is very great danger that he who is a Christian in his heart upon any Kings commands shall profess with his Tongue that he doth not believe in Christ will not be admitted by our Saviour to be of his Church In vain hath the whole current of Scripture endeavor'd to raise such an awful reverence for truth that it hath scarce pronounced more severe Judgments against any Species of sins then against lying He that telleth lies shall not stay in my sight saies the Spirit of God by the Psalmist Psal. 101. 7. He that speaketh lies shall perish saies the same Spirit in the Proverbs Prov. 19. 9. Let him