the hearty belief of it he may with his mouth renounce it out of a tender regard to flesh and bloud To proceed in this Argument there is yet remaining another objection to which I know not what answer can be by you returned It is the Argument used by St. Peter and St. Iohn to the Rulers of the people and Elders of Israel when by menaces they urg'd them to desist from the propagation of the holy Gospel Whether it be right said those Apostles in the sight of God to hearken unto you more then unto God judge ye Mr. Hobbes If the command of the Civil Soveraign be such as that it may be obeyed without the forfeiture of life eternal not to obey it is unjust but if it be such as cannot be obeyed without being damned to eternal death then it were madness to obey it All men therefore that would avoid both the punishments that are to be in this world inflicted for disobedience to their earthly Soveraign and those that shall be inflicted in the world to come for disobedience to God have need to be taught to distinguish well between what is and what is not necessary to eternal Salvation Now all that is necessary to Salvation is contained in two Vertues Faith in Christ and Obedience to Laws Now our Saviour Christ hath given us no new Laws but counsel to observe those we are subject to that is to say the Laws of Nature and the Laws of our several Soveraigns and for Faith The Vnum necessarium onely Article of Faith which the Scripture maketh simply necessary to Salvation is this That Jesus is the Christ. Having thus shown what is necessary to Salvation it is not hard to reconcile our obedience to God with our obedience to the civil Soveraign who is either Christian or Infideld If he be a Christian he alloweth the belief of this Article that Jesus is the Christ and of all the Articles that are contained in it or are by evident consequence deduced from it which is all the Faith necessary to Salvation and because he is a Soveraign he requireth obedience to all his own that is to all the Civil Laws in which also are contained all the Laws of Nature that is all the Laws of God for besides the Laws of Nature and the Laws of the Church which are part of the Civil Law for the Church that can make Laws is the Common-wealth there be no other Laws Divine And when the civil Soveraign is an Infidel every one of his own subjects that resisteth him sinneth against the Laws of God And for their Faith it â—s internal and invisible they have the Liâ—ense that Naaman had and need not put themselves into danger for it But if they do they ought to expect their reward in Heaven â—nd not to complain of their lawful Soveraign In the mean time they are to intend to obey Christ at his coming but at present they are bound to obey the Laws of that Infidel King all Christians are bound in Conscience â—o to do Thought is free but when it comes to confession of Faith the private Reason must submit to the publick that is to say to Gods Lieutenant Stud. Instead of the resolution of this Queâ—y when we are to obey God rather then man you shew that we may very well do both together and so â—ndirectly you accuse the Apostles of falshood or folly in their suggestion And here again you repeat your errors that Christ hath not made any new Laws and that the Faith of a Christian is intire without or contrary to profession and you suppose what the experience of the World refuteth that Infidel Kings command not sometimes against the Laws of Nature Also whilst here you remit the Martyrs scoffingly to heaven for a reward you fall unawares into the mock of Iulian the Apostate who amidst his persecution us'd this taunt It becometh not you Christians to enjoy any thing in this world for your Kingdom is in Heaven But if such persons as suffer for Christianity shall be rewarded in Heaven their constancie then was noble and excellent whilst they chose trouble rather then base compliance and those who inflicted evils on them for doing what God approved were unjust If then you remit the Martyrs to Heaven you send the civil Soveraigns who shed the bloud of the Apostles for disobedience to their unrighteous Edicts to a place of less refreshment Mr. Hobbes You have made your instance in the Apostles of whose Martyrdom I approve because of their Commission For others who hazard their lives for Christianity I praise them not he that is not sent to preach the fundamental Article but taketh it upon him of his private Authority though he be a witness and consequently a Martyr either primary of Christ or secondary of his Apostles or their Successors yet is he not obliged to suffer death for that cause because being not called thereto 't is not required at his hands nor ought he to complain if he looseth the reward he expecteth from those that never set him on work None therefore can be a Martyr neither of the first nor second degree that have not a warrant to preach Christ come in the Flesh that is to say none but such as are sent to the conversion of Infidels Stud. Every Member of the Christian Society is bound to profess the Gospel as hath been proved and therefore a private man though he hath not right not having Commission to exercise the Offices of a Priest yet hath he a command to own the truth when he is adjur'd to confess of what faith he is not onely in relation to Christianity in general but also in relation to the Doctrines of Moment in it which sometimes the Christian Powers do erre in And every person will with readiness make such profession notwithstanding the terrours of the Civil Sword who hath sworn in his heart and tongue Allegiance unto Christ who is sincere in his Religion who valueth his soul more then his body who is heartily perswaded of a life or death eternal the latter of which is Our eleventh Subject Mr. Hobbes The maintainance of civil Society depending on Justice and Justice on the powâ—r of life and death and other less rewards and punishments residing in them that have the Soveraignty of the Common-wealth it is impossible a Common-wealth should stand where any other then the Soveraign hath a power of giving greater rewards then life and of inflicting greater punishments then death Now seeing eternal life is a greater reward then the life present and eternal torment a greater punishment then the death of Nature it is a thing worthy to be well considered of all men that desiâ—e by obeying Authority to avoid the calamities of confusion and Civil War what is meant in holy Scripture by life eternal and torment eternal Stud. What is then to be understood by eternal Torment if we aright interpret the Holy
remaining Matter neither do I apprehend how there can ever be made a true beginning of the Theory of Nature if after the utmost resolution of matter it be impossible to descend to the very root of Bodies which Root I would name a Physical Monad if you would not use your standing weapons of reproach Jargon nonsense absurd and insignificant speech But I will pursue this perplexing Argument no further because we must not loose sight of our main Subject touching the Corporeity of God which is affirmed by you in this place without the least offer of a Reason which in good earnest were a very vain attempt for if All be matter seeing God is infinite and every where and Body cannot be at the same time in the same space with body both which by you are also granted then by the name of God we must understand the universe Then whatsoever we see or whatsoever we move towards the same is Jupiter and such an opinion if it once break in upon our belief it will make a way there by which a million of absurdities may follow after it and that I may not seem to deceive by a general assertion I will here repeat a few of them It will follow thence that All the actions of God proceed by unavoidable compulsion from the mechanic Laws of moving and moved Matter That some parts of the Deity perceive what others do not there being in divers bodies divers Re-actions in which you place the nature of conception in organized matter and must also allow the same in that which hath neither brain nor heart if you will admit of perception every where in Your Deity That if any parts of matter be perfectly at rest then such parts of the Deity suppose of Gold Lead or Marble are without understanding and thus in opposition to the Sovereign God whose being and knowledge are no where excluded you have set up a Baal of your own of which one part is asleep in the depth of Rest and the other is in a journey hurried by motion It will also follow from this principle of yours that Idolatry which you somwhere condemn as sinful is no crime it being no other than an amicable officiousness in one part of the Deity towards the other if the Universe be God and here a saying of Athenagoras comes in fit time into my mind and it is to this effect If God and Matter be the same thing under differing appellations we are impious if we deny to Stones and Trees to Gold and Silver divine honor Lastly if the Universe be God then Cain and Cham and Pharaoh and Herod and Pilaâ—e and Iuda and that I may say it with sufficient emphasis the Teacher also of this doctrin is part of the Deity Mr. Hobbes This is all error and railing that is stinking wine such as a Jade le ts fly when he is too hard girt upon a full Belly Stud. This nasty metaphor is widely misplaced whilst instead of saying that I am hard girt you should have confess'd your self for that 's the truth to have been galled to the quick For my self â— was not intemperate in my passion but zelous in the truth but your language is both foul and unjust and to allude further to the beast you speak of you therefore boggle and foam because of a sudden there is too much Light let in upon you but laying aside this reviling humor which is common not with ingenious Phylosophers but with people of poor and evil education let me with calmness be informed of those Reasons upon which you so confidently support your self in maintaining the materiality of God Mr. Hobbes Before I repeat my Reasons I wilâ— let you understand that I have expresly taught iâ— My Leviathan that those Phylosophers who said the World or the Soul of the World waâ— God speak unworthily of him and denied his Existence for by God is understood the Cause of the World and to say that the World is God is to to say there is no cause of it that is no God Stud. In this you are at agreement with me but seem to contradict your self for here you deny that the World is God and elsewhere you defend it most pertinaciously that All is Body which 〈◊〉 it be then as hath been said the whole is God if he existeth seeing nothing that is can give bounds unto his inâ—inite nature and Body can be a neighbour to Body but not an Inhabitant In some places you write down and in others you dash out your fancy of a corporeal God you have said that whatsoever is is Body you have also written that to attribute to God parts or totality is not honour because they are attributes only of things finite and now methinks you should not be so impatient of contradiction from others seeing you swallow it without straining in your own Books But from this diversion please to return unto those promised Reasons wherewith you are wont to manage this Argument of the materiality of our Creator Mr. Hobbes In this I will comply with you and my care it is and labour to satisfie the judgement and reason of mankind And first what kind of attribute I pray you is immaterial or incorporeal substance Where do you find it in the Scripture Whence came it hither but from Plato and Aristotle Heathens who mistook those thin inhabitants of the brain they see in sleep for so many incorporeal men and yet allow them motion which is proper only to things corporeal Do you think it an honour to God to be one of these And would you learn Christianity from Plato and Aristotle But seeing there is no such word in the Scripture how will you warrant it from natural reason Neither Plato nor Aristotle did ever write of or mention an incorporeal spirit for they could not conceive how a spirit which in their language was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in ours a wind could be incorporeal Stud. In this first Endeavour for a Reason I cannot style it there are many things which appear to me absurd You tell us that the Attribute of Incorporeal was borrowed from the Heathens Plato and Aristotle and yet almost in the same breath you say that neither of them did ever write of or mention an incorporeal spirit You reproach us as learning Christianity in stead of which you ought to have used the more proper term of Natural Theology from such Heathens and thereby you seem to herd with that ignorant multitude who of late decry'd all humane Learning upon pretence that it was heathenish and prophane as if the Pearl of Wisdome and Reason were so besmear'd by the usage of the Heathens as to be rendred unfit for the touch and service of a Christian Philosopher You again are too too much in their humour whilest you require expresâ— mention of a term in holy Scripture and upon the supposed silence of it reject the
consequent to plurality of representers that there be a plurality of persons though of one and the same substance Stud. You surprize me here with such an explication of the Trinity as has not been invented by any Heretick of the unluckiest wit for these sixteen hundred years And now I am guided after the manner of the multitude whose curiosity leads them to see the deformed births and mishapen effects of miscarrying nature rather than to contemplate the Master-pieces of the Creation it is not so much the goodness as the prodigiousness of this novel doctrine which enticeth me to consider it And in truth this conception of a Trinity seems to me more a Monster than the head of Cerberus that is death it self which head would have been call'd four-fold if the fourth part of the world America had been then discover'd but this conception as will by and by appear may multiply it self an hundred fold and be rather a Century than a Trinity There is also in it this inconvenience that before the dayes of Moses you must affirm one only natural person to have been in the divine nature Mr. Hobbes There was but one from whence we may gather the reason why those names Father Son and Holy Spirit in the signification of the Godhead are never used in the Old Testament for they are Persons that is they have their names from representing which could not be till divers men had represented Gods Person in ruling or in directing under him Our Saviour both in teaching and reigning representeth as Moses did the person of God which God from that time forward but not before is called the Father Stud. Where is now your will to pay a reverence to the Law by whose Authority you are taught in the first Article of the Church of England that there be three persons of one substance power and eternity But you will say that your Leviathan was published in those dayes when the King by your doctrine was no King when the Parliament having the supreme strength had for that very reason the reason which you give and I may consider in its assigned place the sovereign Right by which they preferred their own Ordinances and the Constitutions of the Assembly to the Canons and Articles of the Convocation And indeed you have told us in that Book that you submitted in all Questions whereof the determination dependeth on the Scriptures to the interpretation of the Bible authorized by the Commonwealth whose Subject you were that is to say to the Annotations of the Assembly of Divines wherein no doubt you might have read the Doctrine of an eternal Trinity asserted seeing in their shortest Catechism 't is not omitted But Law and Scripture like the servants of an hard and selfish Master are used by you whilest they have strength to serve your purpose but when you cannot work your design by them they are cast off with utter neglect But to proceed you your self together with the Law have affirmed Jesus to be God-man and Arrius granted to him a duration before the world and Eusebius who had some favour for the Arrian Doctrine supposeth him often to have appeared before and under the times of the Law And a very late Writer who has not fear'd in his Rhapsodie of Ecclesiastick Stories to deny the Eternal God-head of Christ hath yet maintained it to he very dangerous to deny his Pre-existence There were then and it follows from the sense of your own confession at least two natural persons of the Father and of Christ before this world was founded Further if every one representing the Person of God in ruling or directing under him addeth a person to the God-head then may it be thence concluded as Enjedinus speaks in relation to Pope Alexander who would infer three persons from the three Attributes of Fecit dixit benedixit at the beginning of Genesis that there are not only three but six hundred For all Civil Powers are Representatives of the King of the Universe and you your self affirm that any Civil Sovereign is Lieu-tenant of God and representeth his person To speak with propriety Moses was rather a Mediator betwixt God and the People who were under a Theocracy and not a Sovereign on earth And Saul who was appointed them in the place of God whom in their unreasonable wishes out of an apish imitation of the Heathen Models they had deposed seems the first Person representing God among the Iews It is also to be noted that the Apostles were Representers not strictly of Gods Person but of Christ God-man from whom they received commission in his name to teach and baptize after all power was given to him Wherefore the Bishop of Rome has presumed to call himself rather falsly than improperly the servant of the servants of God and Vicar of Christ. But if you are not willing to multiply Persons in the Godhead by the number of Vicegerents but chuse to understand this three-fold representation of a three-fold state of People under Moses Christ and the Apostles which yet is an evasion not at all suggested by you even by this artifice you will not find a back door open out of which you may escape For besides that the Apostolical times are but the continuation of the state begun by Christ and that the Reign of Christ at his second coming will be a state perfectly new we must remember that there were two states before the dayes of Moses the one to be computed from Adam who in most eminent manner represented God being appointed by him Universal Monarch of the Earth the other from the Revelation made to Abraham who may be said the first person with whom God made a formal Covenant Sealed by the Rite of Circumcision and by Promises guarded from violation Again whereas you have affirmed that the names of Father and Son in the signification of the God-head are never used in the Old-Testament therein you consulted not your Concordance For seeing Christ is called the Son in the second Psalm the cor-relative Father is as directly pointed out as if the very name had in Capital Letters been written down Neither do I here create by my Fancy as is the manner of such who deal in Allegories of Scripture a mystical sense because the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews ha's expounded the words of our blessed Lord and not of David Saint Matthew likewise ha's made the same interpretation if Iustin Martyr was not deceived either by his memory or by oral Tradition or a spurious Copy for in stead of those words from Heaven at the baptism of Jesus This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased he ha's in two places affirmed the voice to have been this Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee Mr Hobbes Let us not labor any longer in a particular sifting of such mysteries as are not comprehensible nor fall under any rule of natural
Euphemus delivered there might first hint to you your sandy Politicks for that Athenian Embassadour to the Camarinâ—i amongst other things tending much that way at last plainly told them that to a Governour nothing which was profitable was dishonest or unreasonable which Doctrine because it invites ambitious men to step into Authority when the door is open and mercenary soldiers to decide a dispute not in favour of the right but the most profitable side because it moveth them that are supream to become Tyrants in the exercise of that power which Religion ought to limit though the people may not and to make their passions their chief rules and to govern with Armies rather then Laws or if with both to dy their Flags and to write their Edicts in the blood of whom they please because I say it taketh off all sence of what we call humanity from the supream powers and so not unlike to a Porta Sabina calls in innumerable evils upon such people as are quiet and modest it therefore ought no more to be sucked in by Prince or People then pernicious air in time of common Pestilence Mr. Hobbes Name not Tyranny as a word of reproach for the name of Tyranny signifieth nothing more nor less then the name of Soveraignty be it in one or many men saving that they that use the former word are understood to be angry with them they call Tyrants and I think the toleration of a professed hatred of Tyranny is a toleration of hatred to Common-wealth in general So that here I must say to you Peace down for you bark now at the Supream Legislative power therefore 't is not I but the Laws which must rate you off And now me thinks my endeavour to advance the civil power should not be by the civil power condemned nor private men by reprehending it declare they think that power too great and after what manner I endeavour the advancement of it I think it worth the time to declare to you I shew that the Scripture requireth absolute obedience I teach that the people have made artificial chains called civil laws which they themselves by mutual Covenants have fastned at one end to the lips of that man or Assembly to whom they have given the Soveraign power and at the other end to their own ears that nothing the Soveraign can do to the Subject can properly be called Injustice or injury because every subject is Author of every Act the Soveraign doth That the proprietie of a subject excludeth not the dominion of the Soveraign but only of another subject Stud. Remember Sir the case of Ahab and Naboth unless you suppose it in times of publick necessitie Mr. Hobbes Interrupt me not I teach also that the King is the absolute Representative and that it is dangerous to give such a title to those men who are sent up by the people to carry their Petitions and give him if he permit it their advice That the Soveraign is sole Legislator and not subject to civil laws That to him there cannot be any knot in the law insoluble either by finding out the ends to undo it by or else by making what ends he will as Alexander did with his sword in the Gordian-knot by the Legislative power which no other Interpreter can doe That there is no common Rule of good and evil to be taken from the Nature of the objects themselves but from the Person of the man where there is no Common-wealth or in a Common-wealth from the Person that representeth it or from an Arbitrator or Judge whom men disagreeing shall by consent set up and make his sentence the rule thereof That where there is no law there no killing or any thing else can be unjust That the civil Soveraign is Judge of what doctrines are fit to be taught I also maintain that Soveraigns being in their own Dominions the sole Legislators those books only are Canâ—nical that is Law in every Nation which are established for such by the Soveraign Authority Stud. In some things you are just to the Praerogative of Kings but in others you ought to have remembred the words of our Lord who adviseth us to give to Caesar the things that are Caesars and unto God the things that are Gods For your cavil at the name Tyrant it is in the sense I us'd it for exercise of unlimited power unbecoming a Prince but I know how very frequently it is misapply'd by those who will call the very bridling of their licentiousness hateful Tyranny and find fault with the law for no other reason but because it is a râ—straint upon their supposed freedome whereas the hedges which the law sets down are to keep them only in the truest and safest way The absolute Princes of Syracuse were called Tyrants though some of them deserved the title of Benefactors and amongst our selves the best of Kings was branded with that ignominious character For that which you have justly said in favour of a Monarch had it bin Printed before Forty eight it might have bin of good effect at least it might have shewed a disposition to promote Loyalty But being published after the Kings Martyrdom and his Sons exile it served the purposes of those people who had then the Militia in their hands For you say that the Rights of a Common-wealth by acquisition are the same with those by Institution or Succession That the power of the Representative whether in one or many cannot without consent be transferr'd forfeited accus'd punish'd and that such a person is Supreme Judge The Parliament therefore ought to have return'd you thanks for ascribing to them the strength of the Leviathan and for keeping their nostrils free from the books of the right Heir and his adherents They ought especially to have given you the thanks of the House for saying I maintain nothing in any Paradox of Religion but attend the end of that dispute of the Sword concerning the Authority not yet amongst my 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 that mean to be protected by their Laws be obeyed But notwithstanding all this what you seem to build up on the side of the Soveraign you pull down on the side of the People For whilst you found all upon single Self-interest to the advancement of which all safe means are by you esteemed lawful these specious rights are no longer his then by main force he can keep possession of them That will not be long if great Delinquents call'd in question and miserable people who like such as stake their Cloak in an over-hot day are willing to hazard the life they would be rid of and are easily misled not looking upon the stumbling-blocks in the way but on the light that others carry
date though the names are us'd promisouously amongst the Jews Mr. Hobbes I proceed to note that the Writers of the New Testament lived all in less then an age after Christs Ascension and had all of them seen our Saviour or been his Disciples except St. Paul and St. Luke and consequently whatsoever was written by them is as ancient as the time of the Apostles But the time wherein the Books of the New Testament were received and acknowledged by the Church to be of their writing is not altogether so ancient These Books of which the Copies were not many nor could easily be all in any one private mans hand cannot be derived from a higher time then that wherein the Governours of the Church collected approved and recommended them to us as the Writings of those Apostles and Disciples under whose names they go The first Enumeration of all the Books both of the Old and New Testament is in the Canons of the Apostles supposed to be collected by Clement the first after St. Peter Bishop of Rome But because that is but supposed and by many questioned the Council of Laodicea is the first we know that recommended the Bible to the then Christian Churches for the Writings of the Prophets and Apostles and this Council was held in the 364 year after Christ. At which time though ambition had so far prevailed on the great Doctors of the Church as no more to esteem Emperours though Christian for the Shepherds of the people but for Sheep and Emperours not Christian for Wolves and endeavour'd to pass their Doctrine not for counsel and informatition as Preachers but for Laws as absolute Governours and thought such frauds as tended to make the people more obedient to Chrâ—stian Doctrine to be pious yet I am perswaded they did not therefore falsifie the Scriptures though the Copies of the Books of the New Testament were in the hands onely of the Ecclesiasticks because if they had had an intention so to do they would surely have made them more favourable to their power over Christian Princes and civil Soveraignty then they are Stud. It is plain to those who are versed in the Monuments of the Church that the Books of the New Testament were declared Canon very early though the precise time and place be not so easily known Upon the Enumeration made in the Apostolick Canons we rely not not because that Book is to be esteemed wholly spurious but because this Enumeration is made in the eighty fourth Canon For the first fifty are those for whose antiquity we contend It is true that the whole is call'd Apocryphal by the Council at Rome under Pope Gelasius and it hath been answer'd that they were so called not as if they were not ancient Pieces but because they were not made Nomocanon or Canon-law But doubtless that Council rejected them as spurious Writings numbring them amongst the late and feigned pieces of the Gospel of St. Andrew the Revelation of St. Paul the Books of Og the Gyant of the Testament of Iob of the Daughters of Adam and the like But it hath also condemn'd the works of Tertullian St. Cyprian Arnobius Lactantius and the History of Ensebius and therefore it is not material what writing standeth or falleth before such erroneous Judges Certain it is by other passages in ancient Writers that the New Testament was acknowledg'd to be Canon long enough before the Council of Laodicea The earliest Christian Writers whose Books are derived to our hands abound in â—itations of the New Testament as the undoubted Register of what was done and taught and as the publick Rule Tertullian for example citeth very many places out of every Book which now is contained in the Canon of the New Testament if I except the second of St. Peter And in his fourth Book against Marcion he speaketh effectually to our present purpose If that said he be truâ—st which was â—irst and that be first which â—as from the beginning and that be from the beginning which is derived from the Apostles it is also manifest that that was from the Apostles which is sacred in the Churches of the Apostles Let us see then what milk St. Paul fed the Corinthians with by what rule the Galatians were reformed what the Philippians Thessalonians Ephesians read as also what the Romans preach to whom St. Peter and St. Paul did leave the Gospel sealed with their bloud We have also Churches instructed by St. John For although Marcion hath rejected his Apocalypse yet the succession of Bishops traced to the beginâ—ing will establish him as the certain Author of that Book And he had taught a while before that the Gospel had Apostles and Apostolike men for their undoubted Authors The Books then of the New Testament were received anciently enough as the Writings of such whose names they bare and as the Records of Truth And for the Copies of them they were so widely dispersed that it was as hard to corrupt them all as to poyson the Sea They were before the Council of Laodicea not onely in the hands of Ecclesiasticks but of Christians of any profession and of Heathens also So it appeareth by the reflexions invidiously made on them by Celsies and Hierocles not to name Porphyry who was once of the Jewish then of the Christian Religion and against both at last by foul Apostacy In the persecution of Dâ—ocletian in the beginning of the fourth Century there was an Edict for the delivering up the Copies of the Gospel which for fear was done by divers Christians known by the name of Traditores in Church-History and yet notwithstanding very many Copies were preserved by such good men who valued the other â—tate before this and feared to be blotted out of the Book of life if they should so contribute to the extermination of the Books of Scripture Historians tell us that the number of the Traditores was very great but that the number of such who as the Roman Office saith chose rather to give up themselves to the Executioners then to deliver up holy things to Dogs was almost infinite and amongst these were very many Virgins particularly Crispina Marciana Candida So apparently false it is that the Copies were but few and those few onely in the hands of Ecclesiasticks But in whatsoever hands these Books were and at whatsoever time they were first publickly acknowledged in this I think we agree and Iulian himself confess'd it when Apostate that they are genuine Mr. Hobbes I see not any reason to doubt but that the Old and New Testament as we have them now are the true Registers of those things which were done and said by the Prophets and Apostles Stud. What hindereth then that we may not at all times do or speak the things contained in them after such manner as we are there directed And that the Scripture should not be a perpetual Canon to every Christian seeing the Laws of Christ are contained in it
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