Gods word By the same means he may prove that Aristotle's Logick or Hippocrate's Aphorisms are the undoubted word of God for in them is nothing contrary to it But was not Peter's reason contrary to Gods word when he would have disswaded Christ from suffering whereas all the prophets had spoken that Christ ought to have suffered those things and to enter into his glory Luke 24. 26. And no less weak is his argument cap. 32. by which he will prove that divine dreams are not of force to win belief from any man that knows dreams are for the most part natural and may proceed from former thoughts c. He may as well infer that the pen-men of the Holy Scriptures are not of force to win belief from us seeing the prophet saith All men are lyers what if it had said that men for the most part are lyers there had been less reason to have inferred that the pen-men of Scriptures were such and yet Mr. Hobbs will infer that because dreams are for the most part natural therefore divine dreams are of no credit that such dreams are of force sufficient to win belief is plain by the dreams of Ioseph Iacob's son and Ioseph the husband of Mary with divers others in Scripture cap. 33. He is troubled that Moses before his death should write that he died that his Sepulcher was not known to this day but in this he troubles himself needlessly for he writes of his death and sepulcher by anticipation which is an usual way of writing amongst some besides the Jewish tradition is that Iosua wrote that last chapter of Deuteronomy long after the death of Moses Cap. 33. So he is troubled about the words of Moses Gen. 12. 6. which are And the Canaanite was then in the land Hence he infers that Moses wrot not that book but one who wrot when the Canaanite was not in the land for Moses dyed before he came to it but I say that if the Canaanite was not in the land when he wrot these words The Canaanite was then in the land he wrot a lye but indeed Moses wrot the History and writes no waies absurdly in showing that the Canaanite was then in the land but purposely to let us see the condition of Gods children in this life who though they have right to all they enjoy yet the wicked keep them under and they live in fear still of their enemies as Abraham did of the Canaanites who domineered in that land which Abraham received from God and at the same time he receiv'd it such like exceptions he makes against some other writers of the old Testament but they are of no moment or validity therefore I will spend no paper nor time in their refuration In his thirty fourth chapter he tells us That there is no real part of the universe which is not also a body and that bodies are called substances because subject to various accidents and that an incorporeal substance is as if a man should say an incorporeal body If there were no real parts of the universe but bodies then the universe were not universe but an imperfect system as dâ—ficienâ— in the most noble of all created entitiesâ— to wit incorporeal substances but God made the world perfect consisting both of material and immaterial substances such are Angels and Mens souls which are neither corporeal in their beeing nor operation for if they were corporeal they must be mortal and corruptible and compounded at least of matter and form they must be also quantitative local by circumscription and movable by physical motion all which are absurd and if a substance be the same that a body is then he must make God corporeal for he is a substance now to say that a thing is called substance because subject to changes is vain for substances are so called because they subsist by themselves and not in another entity as accidents do besides accidents may be called subjects because one accident may be the subject of another as the superficies of a wall is the subject of colours but accidents can never be called substances for they cannot subsist of themselveâ— By the spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters Gen. 1. 2. He will have to be meant a winde because if God himself were understood then motion must be attributed to him and place I know in this he follows Tertullian's opinion but the Church hath constantly held that there is meant not a winde but the spirit of God by which place they both prove the mystery of the Trinity the first person being expressed by the word Eloâ—â—m the second by the word Berisheth or Beginning and the third by the word Ruah or Spirit they also by the same place prove the dignity and power of baptism in the waters of which Sacrament the Spirit moveth as in the beginning and indeed it is childish to think that a winde should be there meant for what use could there be of a winde then before the creatures were produced And wheras he is afraid to ascribe motion and place to God it seems he hath not well observed the Scripture phrase which ordinarily speaketh of God Anthropopathos as if he were a man therefore he is said sometimes to speak to see to hear to discend to laugh to be angry to greet to rejoyce and in this History of the Creation he is said to speak to bless to walk in the Garden to examine Adam to condemn the Serpent c. Now whereas Mr. Hobbs saith that the spirit here mentioned is the same that is spoken of Gen. 8. 1. I will bring my Spirit upon the Earth He is mistaken and misalledgeth the words for thus it is written And God made a winde to pass over the Earth for winde in Scripture is never called the Spirit of God The spirit then that dried up the waters of the flood was the same that afterwards divided the red Sea for Moses and the Israelites to pass through to wit a drying winde which God had raised He saith The word Ghost signifieth nothing but the imaginary inhabitants of the brain But there he is also mistaken for it signifieth a real immaterial substance which we call from the Latin word Spirit and so it was alwaies used by the Saxons and at this day Gheest and Gheist in low and high Dutch do signifie the same thing or spirit Cap. 34. When Christ walked on the waters the Disciples thought they had seen a spirit or fantasm which Mr. Hobbs will have to be an aerial body But I wonder who ever saw an aerial body the two grosser Elements are visible to us but not the two superior by reason of their subtilty and purity And he is deceived also in saying That the delusions of the brain are not common to many at once For I have observed that divers men together have seen imaginary castles temples armed men and such like apparitions in the clouds Now Spirits or Angels have been
Adam had not sinned he had had an eternal life on earth And hence he infers That life eternal which Christ hath obtained for his Saints shall be on earth because the Apostle saith as in Adam all dye even so in Christ shall all be made alive for else the comparison were not proper The comparison is not between the two places of heaven and earth but between the two persons of Adam and Christ and between the two lives the one earthly which Adam lost by introducing mortality and the other heavenly which Christ hath purchased by overcoming mortality and as this place fails him so doth that other Psal. 133. 3. Upon Sion God commanded the blessing even life for evermore And Rev. 21. 2. I Iohn saw the holy City New Jerusalem comming down from God out of heaven And Acts 1. 11. This same Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven shall so come as you have seen him go up into heaven And Mat. 22. In the resurrection they are as the Angels of God in heaven for they neither marry nor are given in marriage What sober minded man will conclude from these places that our eternal hapiness shall be on earth and not in heaven For when David speaks of life for evermore in Sion he means a lasting happiness which accompanies concord among brethren for the Hebrew word Holam in Scripture signifieth a continuance for some time but not eternity In Exod. 21. 6. The servant whose ear was bored is said to serve his master for ever that is so long as he liveth and not everlastingly Samuel is said to appear before the Lord and there to abide for ever 1 Sam. 1. 22. Will any infer hence that Samuel was to continue in his office for all eternity The Perpetuus Dictator at Rome continued not for ever though he is called perpetual So then life for evermore in Sion is a long continuing happiness and yet Sion in Scripture is divers times taken for heaven where is onely true and eternal life As impertinent is that place which he alledgeth 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 saith he was the tree of Adams eternal life but this life was to have been on earth But he is quite out of the way for the Paradise mentioned here is that which Christ speaks of to the good thief Thou shalt be this day with me in Paradise that is in heaven for earthly Paradise was destroyed by the flood and so was the tree of Life which might for some time have prolonged Adams age by supplying the decay of the radical moysture but could not have continued it for ever only our blessed Saviour the true tree of life here mention'd can protract our life into eternity now that Paradise was destroyed by the flood is plain by Moses Gen. 6. saying that the flood rose higher fifteen cubits then the highest mountains Besides if Paradise had been to continue what need was there to build an Ark for Noah and his family seeing they could have been saved in Paradise and so the other creatures likewise And whereas he saith That the New Jerusalem when Christ comes again shall come down to Gods people from heaven and not they go up to it from earth Is ridiculous for Rev. 21. 2. by the New Ierusalem coming down from God is meant the Church of Christ whose original calling protection and happiness is from God so that this is not a proper but a tropical discent The Church is called Ierusalem there and elsewhere because she is or ought to be the City of Peace and as Ierusalem of old was the place of Gods worship and of his peculiar presence so is the Church now which is called new as having cast off the old man and old ceremonies is renewed in the spirit of her minde and is regenerate by water and the spirit So he sheweth his vanity when he proves out of Acts 1. 11. That Christ shall come down to govern his people eternally here and not take them up to govern them in heaven For in that place there is no mention of his government here on earth nor of the eternity thereof but onely that he shall return after the same manner that he went up that is to say gloriously riding on the clouds and attended by Angels Now if any man would know the reason or end of Christs second coming he shall finde in Daniel 2. Mat. 25. and other places of Scripture that it is not to erect an earthly Kingdom which shall continue for ever but as the Apostle saith to render vengeance to the wicked and to us that are afflicted peace Or as it is in our Creed to judge the quick and the dead so then he shall not return as an earthly Prince to set up his throne here on earth which is his foot-stool but as a Judge in his circuit who having condemned some and absolved others returns again to the place of his residence But he says cap. 38. That there is neither Scripture nor Reason to prove that after the resurrection men are to live eternally in heaven What then will he say to these passages Mat. 5. Great is your reward in heaven Christ would have said great is your reward on earth if he had purposed to erect an earthly kingdom So Mat. 6. we are advised to lay up our treasures not on earth but in heaven this were to no purpose if we were to live eternally on earth not in heaven So Ioh. 14. I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there you may be I pray was it not to heaven that Christ went to prepare that place is not heaven his Fathers house where there are many mantions Earth is never called his house nor are the Saints said here to have an house or habitation but to sojourn as in Tents Heaven is the house where we must dwell if we will beleeve St. Paul who was caught up into this house who speaks not by hearsay but by knowledge for we know saith he that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. Why did St. Paul desire to be dissolved and be with Christ Phil. 1. if he was to enjoy Christ upon earth onely he should rather have desired to be dissolved that Christ might be with him on earth then he to be with Christ in heaven Enoch was translated and Elijah was caught up into heaven to assure us of our right and habitation there for this cause our Saviour opened heaven at his Baptism and after his Resurrection ascended thither to take possession thereof for us and it is fit that where the Head is there the body should be where the King keeps his residence thither his servants should repair Where should the children dwell but in their Fathers house now
to the Scribes and Pharisees because they sit in Moses chair But then Christ should have wronged the Roman Governors in whom he acknowledged kingly power by paying tribute and by submitting himself to be judged by them Their sitting then in Moses chair doeth not imply kingly power but their power in expounding the law of Moses And it is as weak an inference to say that Christ is not King of his Church Because he would not divide the inheritance between the two brethren or because he came to save the world not to judge it For dividing of inheritances belonging not to Christs spiritual kingdom neither was it the end of Christs comming to judge that is to condemn the world for the Greek word signifieth both but to save it for his name was Jesus a Saviour because he came to save his people from their sins And no less weak is this reason The time of Christs preaching is called regeneration therefore it is no kingdom Regeneration is not the time but the fruit and effect of Christs preaching and so far is regeneration from being inconsistent with Christs Kingdom that our Saviour tells us in plain tearms except we be regenerate we cannot enter into the Kingdom of God Iohn 3. In his two and fortty chapter he broacheth a strange wheemsie concerning the blessed Trinity in saying That God who hath been represented that is personated thrice to wit by Moses by Christ and by the Apostles may properly enough be said to be three Persons as represented by the Apostles the holy Spirit by which they spake is God as represented by Christ the Son is that God as represented by Moses and the high Priests the Father is that God Hence the names of Father Son and Holy Ghost 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 c. Here is strange stuffe For first The word Person in the Trinity was never taken by Divines for a Visard a personating or representation but for a peculiar way of subsisting therefore by the Greek Church the word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} was used till wanton and idle wits began to â—aise differences about that word and then {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} was used answering to the Latine word Persona and is defined thus {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} by Iustin Martyr and Damâ—sâ—en an eternal or unbeginning manner of an eternal existing so that in the same essence there is a threefold way of subsisting The Fathers existence is from himself the Sons from the Father the Spirits from both so in man there is the soul the intellect and will these three are but one essence yet differently subsisting the soul of it self the intellect from the soul and the wilâ— from both Secondly if personating or representing makes the persons in the Trinity it will follow that there have been and are more then three persons nay I may truly say innumerable for God hath been represented not onely by Moses but by Iosuah also and his successors by Aaron the high Priest and all his successors by all Judges also and Kings who are therefore called gods there must be then as many persons as there have been personatings or representations and in this respect the Trinity may be called a Legion or rather innumerable persons Thirdly Why should God be called the Holy Spiâ—â—â— as he was represented by the Apostles rather then by being personated by Moses or by Christ his reason is because the Apostles spoke by the Spirit I pray did not Moses and Christ speak by the same Spirit St. Peter saith that the holy men of old spake as the Spirit moved them Or why is God by him called Father as he was represented by Moses rather then as he was represented by Christ Was there more Paternity in Moses then in any other man or in Christ who by Isaiah is called the everlasting Father Or why is he called Father as personated by the high Priests Fâ—uâ—thly It is untrue what he saith that the nâ—â—es of Father Son and Holy Ghost are never used in the old Testament For Psal. 89. which contains not only a prophesie of Solomâ—n but also of Christ it is thus written He shall cry unto me thou art my Father Psal. 89. 26. and Isa. 9. he is called the everlasting Father So Psal 2. Christ is called Son Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee And Isa. 9. For unto us a Son is given So the third Person or Spirit is mentioned The Spirit of God moved upon the Waters Gen. 1. Now that this was no winde as some have thought is plain because air was created afterwards and this Spirit is said to move or by moving to cherish the waters but the winde is an enemy to the waters both in regard of its siccity and impâ—tuosity neither is the winde ever called the Spirit of God as we have shewed already So Ioel. â— I will pour my Spirit upon all flesh And Zach â—â— I will pour upon the house of David and the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication But he saith that these names are not used in the signification of the God-head but he is deceived for when the child Christ is called the everlasting Father by Isaiah this cannot be in signification of his humanity for how can a little child be an everlasting Father but in respect of his God-head He saith Cap. 42. If the Supreme King have not his regal power in this world by what authority can obedience be required to his Officers This is not to be doubted but the Supreme King hath his regal power in this world for this cause he tells his Apostles after his resurrection That all power was given to him in heaven and in earth therefore he sends them abroad into all nations of this world teaching them to observe all things which he had commanded them Matth. 28. If then he hath regal power in the world why should not his Officers be obeyed 'T is true Christs Kingdom is not of this world will it therefore follow that it is not in this world For if in this world he subdueth the nations to his Scepter by the sword of his word if he leads captivity captive if he giveth gifts unto men if he prescribe laws and punisheth the offendors shall we not say he hath Kingly power in this world if the Kings and Potentates of the earth have submitted their scepters to his Heraulds have received his yoak and have placed his cross upon their crowns in sign of subjection is he not their Supreme King whose dominion here is called the Kingdom of grace his other Kingdom in the next world shal be the kingdom of glory which M. Hobs confounds with this of grace as for the coercive or commanding power of Ministers which he
calls him the miracle of nature his works the gift of God and a principal organ of God for enriching the world with so much excellent learning and that they are ungrate wretches who do not acknowledge it but will rail against him â—or it P. Martyr sheweth that Aristotles pains were profitable his artisice great his industry excellent and his rules most notable Zanchie saith that he is of all Philosophers the most excellent and that his method is most clear 〈◊〉 calls him with admiration a man of men the onely Eagle of Philosophy whose stile is fraughted with Attick eloquence and that they who write or speak against him are dunces silly people and such whose books are fit for nothing but for the fire Scaliger calls such barbarous wits Rats Kites Crows Ravens Owles and Bats To conclude I would have Mr. Hobbs take notice that I have no quarrel against him but against his tenets I honor his worth and learning but dislike his opinions I know not his person but I know and respect his parts if there be any thing amiss in these my Animadversions for we are all apt to mistake I shall thank him if he will set me right and inform me better for I never had so great an opinion of my self as not to yeeld to reason and such as are able to convince my understanding The God of truth direct us all into the way of truth Amen FINIS The Contents of each Chapter controverted INTRODUCTION THe world was not made by art or nature Lifeâ— is not the motion of the limbs Chap. 1. The object causeth sensation not sense Fancy and sense different Colour figured nothing Sensible qualities are not motions Motion produceth not motion Outward and inward senses distinct Fancy not the same in waking and dreaming men Chap. 2. A natural appetite in things inanimate but without knowledge Imagination is not decaying sense Memory and imagination different Chap. 3. Things future have a being Prophesie is not guessing No absurdity to say the soul is all in all and all in every part To be born no act of the minde Some faculties are not acquired Universalities are not names Truth in things as well as in names Geometry not the oÌ„nely Science Chap. 3 4. Phylosophy how Pedantry Chap. 5. Many things infused besides bodies Extension how a body Colour is in bodies and sound in the air A living creature is generical The nature of a thing is its definition Tropes and figures are not absurd speeches Chap. 6. Animal and voluntary not the same Contempt and hatred not the same Superstition and Religion not the same Faith and Imagination not the same The will is a rational appetite Chap. 7. Belief is not opinion To have faith in to trust to and to beleeve a man not the same What is to beleeve in God Our belief is not in the Church Chap. 8. Devils Demoniacks and mad-men not the same Schoole terms and Suarez intelligible Chap. 10. Pitty is not dishonour Lasting good fortune is no sign of Gods favour Ambition is not honorable nor covetousness Injustice with power is not honourable Goodness no less honorable then greatness Chap. 11. Felicity consisteth not in desire Chap. 12. Felicity is in injoying Phylosophy a supporter of the Church The want of it the cause of confusion and contradictions Chap. 15. All men are not equal by nature Some are naturally fit for service Some for Dominion Inequality necessary Chap. 16. Christ did not personate God Chap. 18. Covenants are not bare words nor do all depend on the sword Princes may but should not be injurious to their subjects Men indy injure themselves Injury Iniquity and Injustice the same thing Chap. 20. Kings and Tyrants different how Samuel describeth a King Moses a Tyrant Chap. 21. David did injury to Uriah How he offended against God onely Freedom is not the same under a Monarchy and Democracy Aristotles reason why under Democracy there is more liberty then under a Monarchy Chap. 28. Mr. Hobbs contradicts himself concerning the power which Subjects give to their Soveraigns Pride is no cause of submission to government but of Rebellion rather Chap. 49. The danger of acting against conscience is no presumption but a duty to judge of good and evil Faith is not attained by reason and study but by infusion and inspiration Faith is a miracle An account may be given of inspired faith Prophesie and Faith not the same Faith may stand with civil obedience Princes are subject to their own laws How every private man hath a property in his good Chap. 31. The subjects of hope love and fear often confounded God is not a name of relation Natural reason and the word of God different Reason must be subject to faith Our natural reason cannot purchase justice peace and religion Natural reason is sometimes contrary to Gods word Divine dreams are of force to win belief Chap. 33. How Moses's words are to be understood concerning his own Sepulcher And the Canaanite in Abraham's time being in the land Gen. 12. Chap. 34. Spirits are real parts of the universe though not corporeal Why substances are so called The spirit that moved on the waters was not a winde The word Ghost what it signifieth Aerial bodies not visible delusions may be seen by many at once How spirits are in a place Angels are not fancies or dreams Why called gods Why they appeared in mans shape The Dove and fiery tongues were not Angels Why Angels are distinguished by names How evil Angels suffer by fire How we shall be like the Angels in the resurrection Faith excludes reason Chap. 31. Divers places of Scripture mis-alleadged by Mr. Hobbs for his earthly kingdom and refuted What Holam is and Paradise and the new Jerusalem There is reason and authority to prove our happiness in heaven Divers places of Scripture expounded to this purpose and Mr. Hobbs his texts brought to the contrary refuted The souls immortality proved by Scripture Chap. 38. Christ proves as well the souls immortality as the resurrection of the body to the Saduces The souls immortality proved by Scripoure A place in Job explained The opinion of Christs earthly kingdom and the souls sleep are old heresies Hell is in the lower parts of the earth How the Prophetical speeches concerning Christs Kingdom are to be understood We shall ascend higher then Gods foot-stool Chap 41. Christ hath not been all this while since his resurrection without a Kingdom Differring of punishments and rewards here no argument that Christ hath no Kingdom What it is to sit in Moses's chair Other places of Scripture expounded Chap. 42. The blessed Trinity vindicated and proved out of the old Testament Christs Kingdom is in this world though not of this world Dissimulation in religion condemned The Apostles made laws and had power to command Disobedience a great sin Minister and servant the same thing Princes why shepherds their baptism doth not authorise them to preach Urim and Thumâ—im given to Aaron not to Moses The Romans had the legislative power over the Iews Excommunication a punishment Christs Kingdom is spiritual though the subjects are cloathed with flesh In Common-wealths there is a dependance as well as a coherence Heresie what it is and who be Hereticks Chap. 45. Our faith depends not upon mans reputation and authority Chap. 44. Devils and Fantasims or Idols are not the same Christs Kingdom here is the Kingdom of Grace The soul how immortal The wicked live eternally The tree of life Life sometimes called death The soul how taken in Scripture The Scripture is plain for the souls immortality Ghost-walking what it is Eternal torments no dark doctrine Christs Transfiguration was not the Kingdom of God Solomons words Eccles. 12. 7. and Eccles. 3. 21. concerning the soul expounded And Eccles. 3. 19. Enoch's translation Better be dead then live in misery Abraham's soul is alive actually That the torments of the wicked are eternal proved Man shall not be in the same condition after the resurrection that Adam was after his fall Chap. 45. Devils which Christ cast out were not diseases Angels and Mens souls are not corporeal spirits Christs temptation in the desart was real and no vision Exorcisms useful in the Church how Many possessed in these latter times It was Satan and not a treacherous intention that entered into Judas Chap. 46. Mr. Hobbs taxed for his exorbitant speeches against Aristotle and the other Phylosophers Men are not frighted from obedience by separated essences Graces are inspired or poured into us Inspiration excludeth not obedience to the laws The tearms definitive and circumscriptive distinguished The soul is all in every part of the body Incorporeal substances capable of torment Metaphysick not repugnant to natural reason proved by divers maximes Quantity increaseth and decreaseth with the matter What St. Paul means by vain Phylosophy God is no wales the author of injustice or sin The appetite of the State and of private men is not the same Aristotle vindicated from calling kingly or any other government but popular tyrannical How these words of Aristotle are to be understood Men should not govern but the laws Mr. Hobbs his new Tenent rejected Chap. 47. Romanists and Presbyterians do not hold that the Kingdom of glory is in this world Pontifex Maximus at Rome above the civil State Aristotle Phylosophy and School-Divinity vindicated Mr. Hobbs is censured for slighting Aristotle who is highly commended and his obtrectators reproved by divers eminent Protestant writers FINIS Part 1â— cap. 1. Part. 1. cap. â— Part 1. cap. 3. Part 1. cap. 3. 4. Part 1. cap. 5. Part 1. cap. 6. Part 1. cap. 8. Part 1. cap. 10. Part 1. cap. 11. Part. 1. cap. 12. Part. 1. cap. 15. Part. 1. cap. 16. Part 2. cap. 18. Part 2. cap. 21. Part 2. cap. 21. Part. 1. cap. 21. Part 2. cap. 28. Part. 2. cap. 29. Cap. 31. Part 3. cap. 32. cap. 34. cap. 38. cap. 41 cap. 4â— Cap. 44.