JC mi CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF E, T. Paine Cornell University Library JC153.H68 L6 1881 olin 3 1924 030 436 525 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://archive.org/cletails/cu31924030436525 LEVIATHAN Published by JAMES THORNTON, OXFORD. LONDOV I ^'-^iPKIN, MARSHALL, AND Co. \ HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND Co. LEVIATHAN, THE MATTER, FORME, AND POWER COMMON-WEALTH ECCLESIASTIC ALL AND CIV ILL. BY THOMAS HOBBES, Of Malmesbury. eoJ>les safety) its Busine ss_e ; Counsellor s, \)Y ^ho'Ci^ all things needfull for it to know, are suggested unto it, are the Me77iory ■ Equity and Lawes, an artificiall Reason and Will; Concord, Health ; Sedition, Sicknesse ; and Civill war. Death, Lastly, the Pacts and Covenants, by which the parts of this Body Politique were at first made, set together, and united, resemble that Fiat, or the Let us make man, pronounced by God in the Creation. To describe the Nature of this Artificiall man, I will consider First, the Matter thereofs and the Artificer ; both which is Man. Secondly, How, and by what Covenants it is made ; what are the Rights and just Power or Authority of a Soveraigne ; and what it is that preserveth and dissolveth it. Thirdly, what is a Christian Common-wealth. Lastly, what is the Kingdomt c^ Dtlrkness. Concerning thfe fiirst, there is a saying much usurped of late. That Wisedome is acquired, not by reading of ^(;(7/Jj-, but of Afen. Consequently whereunto, thbse persons, that for the most part can give no other proof of being wise, take great delight to she\v what they think they have read in men, by uncharitable censures of bne anothfer behind their backs. But there is another saying not of late understood, by which they might learn truly to read one another, if they would take the pains; and that is, Nosce teipsum, Read thy self: which was not meant, as it is now used, to countenance, either the barbarous state of men in power, towards their inferiors ; or to encourage men of low degree, to a sawcie behaviour towards their betters ; But to teach us, that for the similitude of the thoughts, and Passions of one man, to the thoughts, and Passions of another, whosoever looketh into The INTRODUCTION. into himself, and considereth what he doth, when he does think, opine, reason, hope,feare, &c, and upon what grounds ; he shall thereby read and know, what are the thoughts, and Passions of all other men, upon the like occasions. I say the similitude of Passions, which are the same in all men, desire, feare, hope, &c ; not the similitude of the objects of the Passions, which are the things desired, feared, hoped, &c : for these the constitution individuall, and particular education do so vary, and they are so easie to be kept from our know- ledge, that the characters of mans heart, blotted and con- founded as they are, with dissembling, lying, counterfeiting, and erroneous doctrines, are legible onely to him that searcheth hearts. And though by mens actions wee do dis- cover their designe sometimes ; yet to do it without comparing them with our own, and distinguishing all circumstances, by which the case may come to be altered, is to decypher without a key, and be for the most part deceived, by too much trust, or by too much diffidence; as he that reads, is himself a good or evil man. But let one man read another by his actions never so per- fectly, it serves him onely with his acquaintance, which are but few. Hfe that is to govern a whole Nation, must read in himself, ndt this, 6i that particular man ; but Man-kind . which though it be hard to do, harder than to learn any Language, or Science ; yet, when I shall have set down my own reading orderly, and perspicuously, the pains left another, i will be onely to consider, if he also find not the same in i himself. For this kind of Doctrine, admitteth no other Demonstration. Chat. Part I. Chap. I. OF MAN. CHAP. I. Of Sense. Oncerning the Thoughts of man, I will consider 3 them first Singly, and afterwards in Trayne, or dependance upon one another. Singly, they are every one a Representation or Apparence, of some quality, or other Accident Of a body without us ; which is commonly called an Object. Which Object worketh on the Eyes, Eares, and other parts of mans body ; and by diversity of working, produceth divfetsity of Apparences. The Originall of them all, is that which we call Sense; (For there is no conception in a mans hiind, which hath not at first, totally, or by parts, been begotten upon the organs of Sense.) The rest are derived from that originall. To know the naturall cause of Sense, is not very necessary to the business now in hand ; and I have else-where written of the same at large. Nevertheless, to fill each part of my present method, I will briefly deliver the same in this place. The cause of Sense, is the Externall Body, or Object, which presseth the organ projper tb each Sense, either imme- diatly, as in the Tast and Touch; or inediately, as in Seeing, Hearing, and SmeUing: which pressure, by the mediation of Nerves, and other strings, and membranes of the body, continued inwards to the Brain, and Heart, causeth there a re- sistance, or cotinter-pressure, or endeavour of the heart, to deliver itself: which endeavour because Outward, seemeth to be somematterwithout. And this j««OT/«^,or_/a;«0', is that which men czS^iSense; andconsisteth.as to the Eye, ma.LigJit, or Colour figured; To ih&Y.zxt,va.z. Sound ; To the Nostril!, in an Odour; To the Tongue and Palat, in a Savour; And to the rest of the body, in Heat, Cold, Hardnesse, Softnesse, and such other qualities, Parti. Of MAN. Chaj,. i. qualities, as we discern by Feeling. All which qualities called Sensible, are in the object that causeth them, but so many several motions of the matter, by which it presseth our organs diversly. Neither in us that are pressed, are they any thing else, but divers motions ; (for motion, produceth nothing but motion.) But their apparence to us is Fancy, the same waking, that dreaming. And as pressing, rubbing, or striking the Eye, makes us fancy a light ; and pressing the Eare, produceth a dinne ; so do the bodies also we see, or hear, produce the same by their strong, though unobserved action. For if those Colours, and Sounds, were in the Bodies, or Objects that cause them, they could not bee severed from them, as by glasses, and in Ecchoes t)y reflection, wee see they are ; where we know the thing we see, is in one place ; the apparence, in another. And though at some certain distance, the reall, and very object seem invested with the fancy it begets in us ; Yet still the object is one thing, the image or fancy is another. So that Sense in all cases, is nothing els but originall fancy, caused (as I have said) by the pressure, that is, by the motion, of externall things upon our Eyes, Eares, and other organs thereunto ordained. But the Philosophy-schooles, through all the Universities of Christendome, grounded upon certain Texts of Aristotle, teach another doctrine ; and say. For the cause of Vision, that the thing seen, sendeth forth on every side a jjisibk species (in English) a visible shew, apparition, or aspect, or a being seen ; the receiving whereof into the Eye, is Seeing. And for the cause oi Hearing, that the thing heard, sendeth forth an Audible species, that is, an Audible aspect, or Audible being seen; which entring at the Eare, maketh Hearing. Nay for the cause of Understanding also, they say the thing Understood sendeth forth intelligible species, that is, an intelligible being seen; which comming into the Understand- ing, makes us Understand. I say not this, as disapproving the use of Universities : but because I am to speak hereafter of their office in a Common-wealth, I must let you see on all occasions Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 2. occasions by the way, what things would be amended in them ; amongst which the frequency of insignificant Speech CHAP. II. Of Imagination. '"T^ Hat when a thing lies still, unlesse somewhat els stirre 1 it, it will lye still for ever, is a truth that no man doubts of. But that when a thing is in motion, it will eternally be in motion, unless somewhat els stay it, though the reason be the same, (namely, that nothing can change it selfe,) is not so easily assented to. For men measure, not onely other men, but all other things, by themselves : and because they find themselves subject after motion to pain, and lassitude, think every thing els growes weary of motion, and seeks repose of its own accord ; little considering, whether it be not some other motion, wherein that desire of rest they find in themselves, consisteth. From hence it is, that the Schooles say, Heavy bodies fall downwards, out of an appetite to rest, and to conserve their nature in that place which is most proper for them ; ascribing appetite, and Knowledge of what is good for their conservation, (which is more than man has) to things inanimate, absurdly. When a Body is once in motion, it moveth (unless something els hinder it) eternally ; and whatsoever hindreth it, cannot in an instant, but in time, and by degrees quite extinguish it : And as wee see in the water, though the wind cease, the waves give not over rowling for a long time after ; so also it happeneth in that motion, which is made in 5 the internall parts of a man, then, when he Sees, Dreams, &c. For after the object is removed, or the eye shut, wee still retain an image of the thing seen, though more obscure than when we see it. And this is it, the Latines call Imagination, from the image made in seeing; and apply the 2. Parti. Of MAN. Chap. the same, though improperly, to all the other senses. But the Greeks call it Fancy ; which signifies apparence, and is as proper to one sense, as to another. Imagination therefore is nothing but decaying sense ; and is found in men, and many other living Creatures, as well sleeping, ^s waking. The decay of Sense in men waking, is not the decay of the motion made in sense ; but an obscuring of it, in such manner, as the light of the Sun obscureth the light of the Starres ; which Starrs do no less exercise their vertije by which they are visible, in the day, than in the night. Buf because amongst many stroaks, which our eyes, eares, and other organs receive from externall bodies, the predominant: onely is sensible ; therefore the light of the Sun being pre^ dominant, we are not affected with the action of the Starrs. And any object being removed from our eyes, thoiigh the impression it made in us remain ; yet other objects more present succeeding, and working on us, the Imagination of the past is obscured, and made weak ; as the voyce of a man is in the noyse of the day. From whence it followeth, that the longer the time is, after the sight, or Sense of any object, the weaker is the Imagination. For the continuall change of mans body, destroyes in time the parts which in sense were moved : So that distance of time, and of place, hath one and the same effect in us. For as at a great distance of place, that which wee look at, appears dimme, and with- out distinction of the smaller parts; and as Voyces grow weak, and inarticulate : so also after great distance of time, our imagination of the Past is weak ; and wee lose (for example) of Cities wee have seen, many particular Streets ; and of Actions, many particular Circumstances. This de- caying sense, when wee would express the thing it self, (I mean fancy it selfe,) wee call Imagination, as I said before : But when we would express the decay, and signifie that the Sense is fading, old, and past, it is called Memory. So that Memory. Imagination and Memory, are but one thing, which for divers considerations hath divers names. Much memory, or memory of many things, is called Ex- perience. 8 Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 2. perience. Againe, Imagination being only of those things, which have been formerly perceived by Sense, either all at once, or by parts at severall times ; The former, (which is the imagining the whole object, as it was presented to the sense) is simple Imagination ; as when one imagineth a man, or horse, which he hath seen before. The other is Com- pounded; as when from the sight of a man at one time, and of a horse at another, we conceive in our mind a Centaure. So when a man compoimdeth the image of his own person, with the image of the actions of an other man ; as when a man imagins himselfe a Hercules, or an Alexander, (which happeneth often to them that are much taken with reading of Romants) it is a compound imagination, and properly but a Fiction of the mind. There be also other Imagina- 6 tions that rise in men, (though waking) from the great im- pression made in sense : As from gazing upon the Sun, the impression leaves an image of the Sun before our eyes a long time after ; and from being long and vehemently attent upon Geometricall Figures, a man shall in the dark, (though awake) have the Images of Lines, and Angles before his eyes : which kind of Fancy hath no particular name ; as being a thing that doth not commonly fall into mens dis- course. The imaginations of them that sleep, are those we call Dreams. Dreams. And these also (as all other Imaginations) have been before, either totally, or by parcells in the Sense. And because in sense, the Brain, and Nerves, which are the ne- cessary Organs of sense, are so benummed in sleep, as not easily to be moved by the action of Externall Objects, there can happen in sleep, no Imagination ; and therefore no Dreame, but what proceeds from the agitation of the inward parts of mans body ; which inward parts, for the connexion they have with the Brayn, and other Organs, when they be distempered, do keep the same in motion; whereby the Imaginations there formerly made, appeare as if a man were waking; saving that the Organs of Sense being now be- nummed, so as there is no new object, which can master and Parti. Of MAN. Chap. i 9 and obscure them with a more vigorous impression, a Dreame must needs be more cleare, in this silence of sense, than our waking thoughts. And hence it cometh to passe, that it is a hard matter, and by many thought impossible to distinguish exactly between Sense and Dreaming. For my part, when I consider, that in Dreames, I do not often, nor constantly think of the same Persons, Places, Objects, and Actions that I do waking ; nor remember so long a trayne of coherent thoughts, Dreaming, as at other times ; And because waking I often observe the absurdity of Dreames, but never dream of the absurdities of my waking Thoughts ; I am well satisfied, that being awake, I know I dreame not ; though when I dreame, I think myself awake. And seeing dreames are caused by the distemper of some of the inward parts of the Body ; divers distempers must needs cause different Dreams. And hence it is, that lying cold breedeth Dreams of Feare, and raiseth the thought and Image of some fearfull object (the motion from the brain to the inner parts, and from the inner parts to the Brain being reciprocall :) And that as Anger causeth heat in some parts of the Body, when we are awake ; so when we sleep, the over heating of the same parts causeth Anger, and raiseth up in the brain the Imagination of an Enemy. In the same manner ; as naturall kindness, when we are awake causeth desire ; and desire makes heat in certain other parts of the body ; so also, too much heat in those parts, while wee sleep, raiseth in the brain an imagination of some kindness shewn. In summe, our Dreams are the reverse of our waking Imagi- nations ; The motion when we are awake, beginning at one end ; and when we Dream, at another. The most difficult discerning of a mans Dream, from his Appari- tioTis or waking thoughts, is then, when by some accident we observe Visions. not that we have slept : which is easie to happen to a man full of fearfull thoughts; and whose conscience is much troubled ; and that sleepeth, without the circumstances, of going to bed, or putting off his clothes, as one that noddeth in a chayre. For he that taketh pains, and industriously layes Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 2. layes himself to sleep, in case any uncouth and exorbitant fancy come unto him, cannot easily think it other than a Dream. We read of Marcus Brutus, (one that had his life given him by lulius Ccesar, and was also his favorite, and notwithstanding murthered him,) how at Philippi, the night before he gave battell to Augustus Casar, hee saw a fearfull apparition, which is commonly related by Historians as a Vision : but considering the circumstances, one may easily judge to have been but a short Dream. For sitting in his tent, pensive and troubled with the horrour of his rash act, it was not hard for him, slumbering in the cold, to dream of that which most affrighted him ; which feare, as by degrees, it made him wake ; so also it must needs make the Appa- rition by degrees to vanish : And having no assurance that he slept, he could have no cause to think it a Dream, or any thing but a Vision. And this is no very rare Accident : for even they that be perfectly awake, if they be timorous, and supperstitious, possessed with fearfull tales, and alone in the dark, are subject to the like fancies ; and believe they see spirits and dead mens Ghosts walking in Church-yards ; whereas it is either their Fancy onely, or els the knavery of such persons, as make use of such superstitious feare, to passe disguised in the night, to places they would not be known to haunt. From this ignorance of how to distinguish Dreams, and other strong Fancies, from Vision and Sense, did arise the greatest part of the Religion of the Gentiles in time past, that worshipped Satyres, Fawnes, Nymphs, and the like ; and now adayes the opinion that rude people have of Fayries, Ghosts, and Goblins ; and of the power of Witches. For as for Witches, I think not that their witchcraft is any reall power; but yet that they are justly punished, for the false beliefe they have, that they can do such mischiefe, joyned with their purpose to do it if they can : their trade being neerer to a new Religion, than to a Craft or Science. And for Fayries, and walking Ghosts, the opinion of them has I think been on purpose, either taught, or not confuted, to keep Parti. Of MAN. Chap. 2. 11 keep in credit the use of Exorcisme, of Crosses, of holy Water, and other such inventions of Ghostly men. Never- thelesse, there is no doubt, but God can make unnaturall Apparitions : But that he does it so often, as men need to feare such things, more than they feare the stay,.or change, of the course of Nature, which he also can stay, and change, is no point of Christian faith. But evill men under pretext that God can do any thing, are so bold as to say any thing when it serves their turn, though they think it untrue ; It is the part of a wise man, to believe them no further, than right reason makes that which they say, appear credible. If this superstitious fear of Spirits were taken away, and with it, Prognostiques from Dreams, false Prophecies, and many other things depending thereon, by which, crafty ambitious persons abuse the simple people, men would be much more fitted than they are for civill Obedience. And this ought to be the work of the Schooles : but they rather nourish such doctrine. For (not knowing what Imagination, or the Senses are), what they receive, they teach : some saying, that Imaginations rise of themselves, and have no cause : Others that they rise most commonly from the Will; and that Good thoughts are blown (inspired) into a man, by God ; and Evill thoughts by the Divell : or that Good thoughts are powred (infused) into a man, by God, and Evill ones by the Divell. Some say the Senses receive the Species of things, and deliver them to the Com- mon-sense ; and the Common Sense delivers them over to the Fancy, and the Fancy to the Memory, and the Memory to the Judgement, like handing of things from one to another, with many words making nothing understood. The Imagination that is raised in man (or any other Under- ° - \ J ^tandifjg. creature indued with the faculty of imagmmg) by words, or other voluntary signes, is that we generally call Understand- ing; and is common to Man and Beast For a dogge by custome will understand the call, or the rating of his Master; and so will many other Beasts. That Understanding which is peculiar to man, is the Understanding not onely his will ; but 12 Parti. Of MAN. Chap. i. but his conceptions and thoughts, by the sequell and con- texture of the names of things into Affirmations, Negations, and other formes of Speech : And of this kinde of Under- standing I shall speak hereafter. CHAP. III. Of the consequence or T R a Y n E of Imaginations. BY Consequence, or Trayne of Thoughts, I understand that succession of one Thought to another, which is called (to distinguish it from Discourse in words) Mentall Discourse. When a man thinketh on any thing whatsoever, His next Thought after, is not altogether so casuall as it seems to be. Not every Thought to every Thought succeeds indifferently. But as wee have no Imagination, whereof we have not for- merly had Sense, in whole, or in parts ; so we have no Transition from one Imagination to another, whereof we never had the like before in our Senses. The reason whereof is this. All Fancies are Motions within us, reliques of those made in the Sense : And those motions that immediately succeeded one another in the sense, continue also together after Sense : In so much as the former comming again to take place, and be praedominant, the later followeth, by co- herence of the matter moved, in such manner, as water upon a plain Table is drawn which way any one part of it is guided by the finger. But because in sense, to one and the same thing perceived, sometimes one thing, sometimes another succeedeth, it comes to passe in time, that in the Imagining of any thing, there is no certainty what we shall 9 Imagine next ; Onely this is certain, it shall be something that succeeded the same before, at one time or another. rra.v«^ »/ This Trayne of Thoughts, or Mentall Discourse, is of two 1 rtoitgtits . _ unguided. sorts. The first IS Vnguided, without Designe, and. mcons\.3.nt- Wherein there is no Passionate Thought, to govern and direct Pa-rt-i. Of MAN. Chap. Z- 13 direct those that follow, to it self, as the end and scope ot some desire, or other passion : In which case the thoughts are said to wander, and seem impertinent one to another, as in a Dream. Such are Commonly the thoughts of men, that are not onely without company, but also without care of any thing ; though even then their Thoughts are as busie as at other times, but without harmony ; as the sound which a Lute out of tune would yeeld to any man; or in tune, to one that could not play. And yet in this wild ranging of the mind, a man may oft-times perceive the way of it, and the dependance of one thought upon another. For in Discourse of our present civill warre, what could seem more impertinent, than to ask (as one did) what was the value of a Roman Penny ? Yet the Cohaerence to me was manifest enough. For the Thought of the warre, introduced the Thought of the delivering up the King to his Enemies; The Thought of that, brought in the Thought of the delivering up of Christ ; and that again the Thought of the 30 pence, which was the price of that treason : and thence easily followed that mali- cious question; and all this in a moment of time; for Thought is quick. The second is more constant ; as being regulated by some Tray-ne of desire, and designe. For the impression made by such regulated. things as wee desire, or feare, is strong, and permanent, or, (if it cease for a time,) of quick return : so strong it is some- times, as to hinder and break our sleep. From Desire, ariseth the Thought of some means we have seen produce the like of that which we ayme at ; and from the thought of that, the thought of means to that mean; and so continually, till we come to some beginning within our own power. And because the End, by the greatnesse of the impression, comes often to mind, in case our thoughts begin to wander, they are quickly again reduced into the way : which observed by one of the seven wise men, made him give men this prsecept, which is now worne out, Respicefinem ; that is to say, in all your actions, look often upon what you would have, as the thing that directs all your thoughts in the way to attain it. The H PM't I. Of MAN. Chap. 3. Remem- brance. Prudence. The Trayn of regulated Thoughts is of two kinds ; One, when of an effect imagined, wee seek the causes, or means that produce it : and this is common to Man and Beast. The other is, when imagining any thing whatsoever, wee seek all the possible effects, that can by it be produced ; that is to say, we imagine what we can do with it, when wee have it Of which I have not at any time seen any signe, but in man onely ; for this is a curiosity hardly incident to the nature of any living creature that has no other Passion but sensuall, such as are hunger, thirst, lust, and anger. In summe, the Discourse of the Mind, when it is governed by designe, is nothing but Seeking, or the faculty of Invention, which the Latines call Sagacitas, and Solertia ; a hunting out of the causes, of some effect, present or past ; or of the effects, of some present or past cause. Sometimes a man seeks what he hath lost ; and from that place, and time, wherein hee misses it, his mind runs back, from place to place, and time to time, to find where, and when he had it; that is to say, to find some Certain, and limited time and place, in which to begin a method of seeking. Again, from thence; his thoughts run over the same places and times, to find what action, or other occasion might make him lose it This we call Re- membmnCe, or Calling to mind : the Latines call it Reminis- centia, as it were a Re-conning Of our former actions. Sometimes a man knows a place determinate; within the compasse whereof he is to seek ; and then his thoughts run over all the parts thereof, in the same manner, as one would sweep a room, to find a Jewell ; or as a Spaniel ranges the field, till he find a sent ; or as a man should run Dvfer the Alphabet, to start a rime. Sometime a man desires to know the event of an action ; and then he thinketh of some like action past, and the events thereof one after another ; supposing like events will follow like actions. As he that foresees what wil become of a Criminal, re-cons what he has seen follow on the like Crime before; having this order of thoughts; The CHme, the Officer, the Prison, the Judge, and the Gdlldwes. Which kind of thoughts. 10 Partx. Of MAN. Chap.-},. 15 thoughts, is called Foresight, and Prudence, or Providence ; and sometimes Wisdome ; though such conjecture, through the difficulty of observing all circumstances, be very fallacious. But this is certain ; by how much one man has more expe- rience of things past, than another ; by so much also he is more Prudent, and his expectations the seldomer faile him. The Present onely has a being in Nature ; things Past have a being in the Memory onely, but things to come have no being at all ; the Future being but a fiction of the mind, ap- plying the sequels of actions Past, to the actions that are Present ; which with most certainty is done by him that has most Experience ; but not with certainty enough. And though it be called Prudence, when the Event answereth our Expectation ; yet in its own nature, it is but Presumption. For the foresight of things to come, which is Providence, belongs onely to him by whose will they are to come. From him onely, and supernaturally, proceeds Prophecy. The best Prophet naturally is the best guesser ; and the best guesser, he that is most versed and studied irt the matters he guesses at : for he hath most Signes to guesse by. A Signe, is the Event Antecedent, of the Consequent; and signes. contrarily, the Consequent of the Antecedent, when the hke Consequences have been observed, before : And the oftner they have been dbs^rved, the lesse uncertain is the Signe. And therefore he that has most experience in any kind of businesse, has most Signes, whereby td guesse at the Future time; and consequently is the most prudent: And so much more prudent than he that is new in that kind of business, as not to be equalled by any advantage of naturall and ex- temporary wit : though perhaps many young men think the contrary. Neverthelesse it is not Prudence that distinguisheth man 11 from beast. There be beasts, that at a year old observe more, and pursue that which is for their good, more pru- dently, than a child can do at ten. As Prudence is a Prczsumtion of the Future, contracted Conjecture of trie tzme from the Experience of time Past : So there is a Prsesumtion pait. of l6 Parti. Of MAN. Chap. Z- of things Past taken from other things (not future but) past also. For he that hath seen by what courses and degrees, a flourishing State hath first come into civil warre, and then to ruine ; upon the sight of the ruines of any other State, will guesse, the like warre, and the like courses have been there also. But this conjecture, has the same incertainty almost with the conjecture of the Future; both being grounded onely upon Experience. There is no other act of mans mind, that I can remember, naturally planted in him, so, as to need no other thing, to the exercise of it, but to be born a man, and live with the use of his five Senses. Those other Faculties, of which I shall speak by and by, and which seem proper to man onely, are acquired, and encreased by study and industry ; and of most men learned by instruction, and discipline ; and pro- ceed all from the invention of Words, and Speech. For besides Sense, and Thoughts, and the Trayne of thoughts, the mind of man has no other motion ; though by the help of Speech, and Method, the same Facultyes may be im- proved to such a height, as to distinguish men from all other living Creatures. Whatsoever we imagine, is Finite. Therefore there is no "" Idea, or conception of any thing we call Infinite. No man can have in his mind an Image of infinite magnitude ; nor conceive infinite swiftness, infinite time, or infinite force, or infinite power. When we say any thing is infinite, we signifie onely, that we are not able to conceive the ends, and bounds of the thing named ; having no Conception of the thing, but of our own inability. And therefore the Name of God is used, not to make us conceive him ; (for he is Incom- prehensible; and his greatnesse, and power are unconceiv- able ;) but that we may honour him. Also because whatsoever (as I said before,) we conceive, has been per- ceived first by sense, either all at once, or by parts ; a man can have no thought, representing any thing, not subject to sense. No man therefore can conceive any thing, but he must conceive it in some place ; and indued with some de- terminate Parti. Of MAN. Chap. i^. 17 terminate magnitude ; and which may be divided into parts ; nor that any thing is all in this place, and all in another place at the same time ; nor that two, or more things can be in one, and the same place at once : For none of these things ever have, or can be incident to Sense ; but are absurd speeches, taken upon credit (without any signification at all,) from deceived Philosophers, and deceived, or deceiving Schoolemen. CHAP. IV. Of Speech. 12 '' I ^He Invention oi Printing, though ingenious, compared ^ffl"J^j^ X. with the invention of Letters, is no great matter. But who was the first that found the use of Letterg, is not known. He that first brought them into Greece, men say was Cadmus, the Sonne of Agenor, King of Phsenicia. A profitable Invention for continuing the memory of time past, and the conjunction of mankind, dispersed into so many, and distant regions of the Earth ; and with all difficult, at proceeding from a watchfuU observation of the divers motions of the Tongue, Palat, Lips, and other organs of Speech ; whereby to make as many differences of cha- racters, to remember them. But the most noble and pro- fitable invention of all other, was that of S p e e c h , con- sisting of Names or Appellations, and their Connexion ; whereby men register their Thoughts ; recall them when they are past ; and also declare them one to another for mutuall utility and conversation ; without which, there had been amongst men, neither Common-wealth, nor Society, nor Contract, nor Peace, no more than amongst Lyons, Bears, and Wolves. The first author of Speech was God himself, that instructed Adam how to name such creatures as he presented to his sight ; For the Scripture goeth no further in this matter. But this was sufficient to direct him c to 1 8 Parti. Of MAN. Chap. A- to adde more names, as the experience and use of the creatures should give him occasion ; and to joyn them in such manner by degrees, as to make himself understood ; and so by succession of time, so much language might be gotten, as he had found use for ; though not so copious, as an Orator or Philosopher has need of. For I do not find any thing in the Scripture, out of which, directly, or by con- sequence can be gathered, that Adai7i was taught the names of all Figures, Numbers, Measures, Colours, Sounds, Fancies, Relations; much less the names of Words and Speech, as Generall, Sfeciall, Affirmative, Negative, Interrogative, Opta- tive, Infinitive, all which are usefull ; and least of all, of Entity, Intentionality, Qidddity, and other insignificant words of the School. But all this language gotten, and augmented by Adam and his posterity, was again lost at the tower of Babel, when by the hand of God, every man was stricken for his rebellion, with an oblivion of his former language. And being hereby forced to disperse themselves into severall parts of the world, it must needs be, that the diversity of Tongues that now is, proceeded by degrees from them, in such manner, as need (the mother of all inventions) taught them ; and in tract of time grew every where more copious. "sf^eedl". °^ ^^^ generall use of Speech, is to transferre our Mentall Discourse, into Verbal ; or the Trayne of our Thoughts, into a Trayne of Words ; and that for two commodities ; whereof one is, the Registring of the Consequences 13 of our Thoughts ; which being apt to shp out of our memory, and put us to a new labour, may again be recalled, by such words as they were marked by. So that the first use of names, is to serve for Markes, or Notes of remem- brance. Another is, when many use the same words, to signifie (by their connexion and order,) one to another, what they conceive, or think of each matter ; and also what they desire, feare, or have any other passion for. And for this use they are called Signes. Speciall uses of Speech are these ; First, to Register, what by cogitation, wee find to be the P<^^t^- Of MAN. Chap.^. 19 the cause of an)' thing, present or past ; and what we find things present or past may produce, or effect : which in summe, is acquiring of Arts. Secondly, to shew to others that knowledge which we have attained ; which is, to Counsell, and Teach one another. Thirdly, to make known to others our wills, and purposes, that we may have the mutuall help of one another. Fourthly, to please and delight our selves, and others, by playing with our words, for pleasure or ornament, innocently. To these Uses, there are also foure correspondent Abuses. -^*K-f« »/ T-i- 1 ■ 1 • Speech. iirst, when men register their thoughts wrong, by the in- constancy of the signification of their words ; by which they register for their conceptions, that which they never con- ceived ; and so deceive themselves. Secondly, when they use words metaphorically ; that is, in other sense than that they are ordained for; and thereby deceive others. Thirdly, when by words they declare that to be their will, which is not. Fourthly, when they use them to grieve one another : for seeing nature hath armed living creatures, some with teeth, some with horns, and some witli hands, to grieve an enemy, it is but an abuse of Speech, to grieve him with the tongue, unlesse it be one whom wee are obliged to govern ; and then it is not to grieve, but to correct and amend. The manner how Speech serveth to the remembrance of the consequence of causes and effects, consisteth in the im- posing of Names, and the Connexion of them. Of Names, some are Proper, and singular to one onely Names Proper &* thing ; as Peter, John, -Ihis man, this Tree: and some are Common. Common to many things ; as Man, Horse, Tree ; every of which though but one Name, is nevertheless the name of divers particular things ; in respect of all which together, it is called an Universall ; there being nothing in the world Univer- sall. Universall but Names ; for the things named, are every one of them Individual! and Singular. One Universall name is imposed on many things, for their similitude in some quality, or other accident : And wheras a Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 4. a Proper Name bringeth to mind one thing onely ; Universals recall any one of those many. And of Names Universall, some are of more, and some ot lesse extent ; the larger comprehending the lesse large : and some again of equall extent, comprehending each other reciprocally. As for example, the Name Body is ot larger signification than the word Man, and comprehendeth it; and the names Ma)i and Rationall, are of equall extent, comprehending mutually one another. But here wee must take notice, that by a Name is not always understood, as in H Grammar, one onely Word ; but sometimes by circumlocution many words together. For all these words, Hee that in his actions observeth the Lawes of his Country, make but one Name, equivalent to this one word, yust. By this imposition of Names, some of larger,, some of stricter signification, we turn the reckoning of the conse- quences of things imagined in the mind, into a reckoning oi the consequences of Appellations. For example, a man that hath no use of Speech at all, (such, as is bom and re- mains perfectly deafe and dumb,) if he set before his eyes a triangle, and by it two right angles, (such as are the corners of a square figure,) he may by meditation compare and find, that the three angles of that triangle, are equall to those two right angles that stand by it. But if another triangle be shewn him different in shape from the former, he cannot know without a new labour, whether the three angles of that also be equall to the same. But he that hath the use of words, when he observes, that such equality was consequent, not to the length of the sides, nor to any other particular thing in his triangle ; but onely to this, that the sides were straight, and the angles three ; and that that was all, for which he named it a Triangle ; will boldly conclude Uni- versally, that such equality of angles is in all triangles what- soever ; and register his invention in these generall termes Every triangle hath its three angles equall to two right angles. And thus the consequence found in one particular, comes to be registred and remembred, as an Universall rule • and discharges Parti. Of MAN. Chap. d,. 21 discharges our mentall reckoning, of time and place ; and delivers us from all labour of the mind, saving the first ; and makes that which was found true here, and now, to be true in all times and places. But the use of words in registring our thoughts, is in nothing so evident as in Nurabring. A naturall foole that could never learn by heart the order of numerall words, as one, two, and three, may observe every stroak of the Clock, and nod to it, or say one, one, one ; but can never know what houre it strikes. And it seems, there was a time when those names of number were not in use ; and men were fayn to apply their fingers of one or both hands, to those things they desired to keep account of; arid that thence it proceeded, that now our numerall words are but ten, in any Nation, and in some but five, and then they begin again. And he that can tell ten, if he recite them out of order, will lose himselfe, and not know when he has done : Much lesse will he be able to adde, and substract, and performe all other operations of Arithmetique. So that without words, there is no possibility of reckoning of Numbers ; much lesse of Magnitudes, of Swiftnesse, of Force, and other things, the reckonings whereof are necessary to the being, or well-being of man-kind. When two Names are joyned together into a Consequence, or Affirmation ; as thus, A man is a living creature ; or thus, if he be a man, he is a living creature. If the later name Living creature, signifie all that the former hame Man signi- 15 fieth, then the affirmation, or consequence is true ; other- wise false. For True and False are attributes of Speech, not of Things. And where Speech is not, theffe is neither Truth nor Falshood. Errpur there may be, als *hen wee expect that which shall not be ; or suspect what has not been : but in neither case can a man be charged with Untruth. Seeing then that truth consisteth in the right ordering of Necessity of o . JJejlni- names in our affirmations, a man that seeketh precise truth; tions. had need to remember what every name he uses stands for ; and 22 Part\. Of MAN. Chap. ^ and to place it accordingly ; or else he will find himselfe entangled in words, as a bird in lime-twiggs ; the more he struggles, the more belimed. And therefore in Geometry, (which is the onely Science that it hath pleased God hitherto to bestow on mankind,) men begin at settling the significa- tions of their words ; which settling of significations, they call Definitions ; and place them in the beginning of their reckoning. By this it appears how necessary it is for any man that aspires to true Knowledge, to examine the Definitions of former Authors ; and either to correct them, where they are negligently set down ; or to make them himselfe. For the errours of Definitions rrlultiply themselves, according as the reckoning proceeds ; and lead men into absurdities, which at last they see, but cannot avoyd, without reckoning anew from the beginning ; in which lyes the foundation of their errours. From whence it happens, that they which trust to books, do as they that cast up many little summs into a greater, without considering whether those little summes were rightly cast up or rtot ; and at last finding the errour visible, and not mistrdsting their first grounds, know not which way to cleere themselves ; but spend time in fluttering over their bookes ; as birds that entring by the chimney, and finding themselves inclosed in a chamber, flutter at the false light of a glasse window; for want of wit to consider which way they came in. So that in the right Definition of Names, lyes the first use Speech ; which is the acquisition of Science : And in wrong, or no Definitions, lyes the first abuse ; from which proceed all false and senselesse Tenets ; which make those men that take theijr instruction from the authority of books, arid not from thfeir own meditation, to be as much below the cdndition of ignorant men, as men endued with true Science are above it. For between true Science, and erroneous Doctrines, Ignorance is in the middle. Naturall sense and imagination, are not subject to absurdity. Nature itselfe cannot erre : and as men abound in copiousnesse of language j so they become more wise, or more mad than ordinary. Part]. Of MAN. Chap. i,. 23 ordinary. Nor is it possible without Letters for any man to become either excellently wise, or (unless his memory be hurt by disease, or ill constitution of organs) excel- lently foolish. For words are wise mens counters, they do but reckon by them : but they are the mony of fooles, that value them by the authority of an Aristotle, a Cicero, or a Thomas, or any other Doctor whatsoever, if but a man. Subject to Names, is whatsoever can enter into, or be con- Subject to ■^ Names. sidered in an account ; and be added one to another to make a summe; or substracted one from another, and leave a 16 remainder. The Latines called Accounts of mony Rationes, and accounting, Ratiocinatio ; and that which we in bills or books of account call Items, they call Nomina ; that is, Names : and thence it seems to proceed, that they extended the word Ratio, to the faculty of Reckoning in all other things. The Greeks have but one word Xoyog, for both Speech and Reason ; not that they thought there was no Speech without Reason; but no Reasoning without Speech : And the act of reasoning they called Syi/ogisme ; which signifieth summing up of the consequences of one saying to another. And be- cause the same things may enter into account for divers accidents ; their names are (to shew that diversity) diversly wrested, and diversified. This diversity of names may be reduced to foure generall heads. First, a thing may enter into account for Matter, or Body ; as living, sensible, rationall, hot, cold, moved, quiet; with all which names the word Matter, or Body is understood ; all such, being names of Matter. Secondly, it may enter into account, or be considered, for some accident or quality, which we conceive to be in it ; as for being moved, for being so long, for being hot, &c ; and then, of the name of the thing it selfe, by a little change or wrest- ing, wee make a name for that accident, which we consider ; and for living put into the account life ; for moved, motion ; for hot, heat; for long, length, and the hke : And all such Names, are the names of the accidents and properties, by which 24 Use of Names Positive, Negative Names with their Vses. Words in- significant. Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 4. which one Matter, and Body is distinguished from another. These are called names Abstract; because severed (not from Mattfer, but) froln the account of Matter. Thirdly, we bring into accbunt, the Properties of our own bodifes, whereby iVe make silch distinction : as when any thing is Seen by us, wfe reckon not the thing itselfe ; but the sight, the Colour, the Idea of it in the fancy : and when any thing is heard, wee reckon it not ; but the hearing, or sound onely, which is our fancy or concfeption of it by the Eare : and such are names of fancies. Fourthly, we bring into account, consider, and give names, to Nanus themselves, and to Speeches : For, generall, univer- sall, spdciall, cequivocall, are names of Names. And Affir- mation, Interrogation, Commandement, Narration, Syllogisme, SermoA, Oration, and many other silch, are names of Speeches. And this is all the variety of Names Positive; which are ptit to mark somewhat which is in Nature, or may be feigned by the mind bf mart, as Bodifes that are, or may be conceived to be ; or of bodies, the Prdpfetties that are, or may be feigned to be ; or Words and Speech. There be also Other Names, called Negative; which are notes to signifie that a word is not the name of the thing in question ; as these words Nothing, no tnan, infinite, indodble, three want foure; and the like ; which are nevertheless of use in reckoning, or in correcting of reckoning ; and call to mind our past cogitations, though they be not names of any thing; because they make tis fefuse to admit of Names not rightly used. All other Names, are but inSignificaht sounds ; and those of two sorts. Onfe, when they are new, and yet their mean- ing not explained by Definition ; whereof there have been aboundance coyned by Schoole-men, arid pusled Philoso- phers. Another, when men make a name of two Names, whose significations are contradictory and inconsistent ; as this name, an incorporeall body, or (which is all one) an incor- ■poreall substance, and a great ndmbef nlorS. For Whensoever any 17 Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 4. 25 any affirmation is false, the two names of which it is com- posed, put together and made one, signifie nothing at all. For example, if it be a false affirmation to say a quadrangle is round, the word round quadrangle signifies nothing ; but is a meere sound. So likewise if it be false, to say that vertue can be powred, or blown up and down ; the words In-powred vertue, In-blown vertue, are as absurd and insignificant, as a round quadrangle. And therefore you shall hardly meet with a senslesse and insignificant word, that is not made up of some Latin or Greek names. A Frenchman seldome hears our Saviour called by the name of Parole, but by the name of Verbe often; yet Verbe^-oA. Parole differ no more, but that one is Latin, the other French. When a man upon the hearing of any speech, hath those Under- . . standing. thoughts which the words of that Speech, and their connexion, were ordained and constituted tb signifie ; Then he is said to understand it : Understanding being nothing else, but conception caused by Speech. And therefore if Speech be peculiar to man (as for ought I know it is,) then is Under- standing peculiar to him also. And therefore of absurd and false affirmations, in base they be Universall, there can be no Understanding ', though marly think they understand, then, when they do bUt repeat the vi^brds softly, or con them in their mind. Whdt kinds of Speeches signifie the Appetites, Aversions, and Passions of mans mind ; and of their use and abuse, I shall speak when I have spoken of the Passions. The names of such things as affect us, that is, which please, inconstant and displease us, because all men be not alike affected with the same thing, nor the same man at all times, are in the common discourses of men, of inconstant signification. For seeing all names are imposed to signifie our conceptions ; and all our affections are but conceptions ; when we conceive the same things diff'erently, we can hardly avoyd different naming of them. For though the nature of that we conceive, be the same ; yet the diversity of our reception of it, in respect of different constitutions of body, and prejudices ot opinion, 26 Part I. Of MAN. opinion, gives every thing a tincture of our different passions. And therefore in reasoning, a man must take heed of words ; which besides the signification of what we imagine of their nature, have a signification also of the nature, disposition, and interest of the speaker ; such as are the names of Ver- tues, and Vices ; For one man calleth Wisdome, what another calleth feare ; and one cruelty, what another justice ; one prodigality, what another magnanimity ; and one gravity, what another stupidicy, &c. And therefore such names can never be true grounds of any ratiocination. No more can Metaphors, and Tropes of speech : but these are less dan- gerous, because they profess their inconstancy ; which the other do not. CHAP. V. Of Reason, and Science. wTat%is \ 1^ T^^'^ ^ ^^^ Reasoneth, hee does nothing else but 18 w conceive a summe totall, from Addition of parcels ; or conceive a Remainder, from Substraction of one summe from another : which (if it be done by Words,) is conceiving of the consequence of the names of all the parts, to the name of the whole ; or from the names of the whole and one part, to the name of the other part. And though in some things, (as in numbers,) besides Adding and Substracting, men name other operations, as Multiplying and Dividing ; yet they are the same; for Multiplication, is but Adding together of things equall ; and Division, but Substracting of one thing, as often as we can. These operations are not incident to Numbers onely, but to all manner of things that can be added together, and taken one out of another. For as Arithme- ticians teach to adde and substract in 7iumbers ; so the Geometricians teach the same in lines, figures (solid and superficial],) angles, proportions, times, degrees of swiftnesse, force, power, and the like ; The Logicians teach the same m Consequences Pa^ti. Of MAN. Chap.^. 27 Consequences of words ; adding together two Names, to make an Affirmation ; and two Affirmations, to make a Syllogisme ; and many Syllogismes to make a Demonstration ; and from the sufnme, or Conclusion of a Syllogisme, they substract one Proposition, to finde the other. Writers of Politiques, adde together Pactions, to find mens duties ; and Lawyers, Lawes, and /arfj, to find what is right and wrong in the actions of private men. In summe, in what matter soever there is place for addition and substraction, there also is place for Reason ; and where these have no place, there Reason has nothing at all to do. Out of all which we may define, (that is to say determine,) ^^"^o" defined. what that is, which is meant by this word Reason, when wee reckon it amongst the Faculties of the mind. For Reason, in this sense, is nothing but Reckoning (that is. Adding and Substracting) of the Consequences of generall names agreed upon, for the marking and signifying of our thoughts ; I say ■marking them, when we reckon by our selves ; and signifying, when we demonstrate, or approve our reckonings to other men. And as in Arithmetique, unpractised men must, and Pro- ^^f^/^^ fessors themselves may often erre, and cast up false ; so also ■ i^/i-ere. in any other subject of Reasoning, the ablest, most attentive, and most practised men, may deceive themselves, and in- ferre false Conclusions ; Not but that Reason it selfe is alwayes Right Reason, as well as Arithmetique is a certain and infallible Art : But no one mans Reason, nor the Reason of any one number of men, makes the certaintie ; no more than an account is therefore well cast up, because a great many men have unanimously approved it. And therfore, 19 as when there is a controversy in an account, the parties must by their own accord, set up for right Reason, the Reason of some Arbitrator, or Judge, to whose sentence they will both stand, or their controversie must either come to blowes, or be undecided, for want of a right Reason .consti- tuted by Nature ; so is it also in all debates of what kind soever ; And when men that think themselves wiser than all 28 Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 5. The use of Reason. Of Error and Absur- dity. all Others, clamor and demand right Reason for judge ; yet seek no more, but that things should be determined, by no other mens reason but their own, it is as intolerable in the society of men, as it is in play after trumjD is turned, to use for trump on every occasion, that suite whereof they have most in their hand. For they do nothing els, that will have every of their passions, as it comes to bear sway in them, to be taken for right Reason, and that in their own contro- versies : bewraying their want of right Reason, by the claym they lay to it. The Use and End of Reason, is not the finding of the summe, and truth of one, or a few consequences, remote from the first definitions, and settled significations of names ; but to begin at these ; and proceed from one consequence to another. For there can be no certainty of the last Con- clusion, without a certainty of all those Affirmations and Negations, on which it was grounded, and inferred. As when a master of a family, in taking an account, casteth up the summs of all the bills of expence, into one sum ; and not regarding how each bill is summed up, by those that give them in account ; nor what it is he payes for ; he advan- tages himself no more, than if he allowed the account in grosse, trusting to every of the accountants skill and honesty : so also in Reasoning of all other things, he that takes up conclusions on the trust of Authors, and doth not fetch them from the first Items in every reckoning, (which are the sig- nifications of names settled by definitions), loses his labour; and does not know any thing ; but onely beleeveth. When a man reckons without the use of words, which may be done in particular things, (as when upon the sight of any one thing, wee conjecture what was likely to have pre- ceded, or is likely to follow upon it;) if that which he thought likely to follow, followes ndt; br that which he thought likely to have preceded it, hath not preceded it, this is called Error ; to which even the most prudent men are subject. But when we Reason in Words of generall signi- fication, and fall upon a generall inference which is false • though P<^^t I- Of MAN. Chap. 5. 29 though it be commonly called Error, it is indeed an Absurdity, or senselesse Speech. For Error is but a deception, in presuming that somewhat is past, or to come ; of which, though it were not past, or not to come ; yet there was no impossibility discoverable. But when we make a generall assertion, unlesse it be a true one, the possibihty of it is unconceivable. And words whereby we conceive nothing but the sound, are those we call Absurd, Insigni- ficant, and Non-sense. And therefore if a man should talk to me of a round Quadrangle ; or accidents of Bread in Cheese ; or Immateriall Substances ; or oi A free Subject ; A free- Will ; or any Free, but free from being hindred by opposition, I should not say that he were in an Errour ; but that his words were without meaning ; that is to say. Absurd. 20 I have said before, (in the second Chapter,) that a Man did excell all other Animals in this faculty, that when he conceived any thing whatsoever, he was apt to enquire the consequences of it, and what effects he could do with it. And now I adde this other degree of the same excellence, that he can by words reduce the consequences he findes to generall Rules, called Theore?nes, or Aphorismes ; that is, he can Reason, or reckon, not onely in number ; but in all other things, whereof one may be added unto, or substracted from another. But this privedge, is allayed by another; and that is, by the priviledge of Absurdity ; to which no living creature is subject, but man onely. And of men, those are of all most subject to it, that professe Philosophy. For it is most true that Cicero sayth of them somewhere ; that there can be nothing so absurd, but may be found in the books of Phi- losophers. And the reason is manifest. For there is not one of them that begins his ratiocination from the Definitions, or Explications of the names they are to use ; which is a method that hath been used onely in Geometry ; whose Con- clusions have thereby been made indisputable. The first cause of Absurd conclusions I ascribe to the Causes of . . . . -^ . . ^. absurditle. want of Method ; m that they begm not their Ratiocmation j from 30 Parti. Of MAN. Chap. pearing Passion, may be gathered out of the effects of Winje, which are the same with those of the evill disposition of tMe organs. For the variety of behaviour in men that have drunljc 37 too much, is the same with that of Mad-men : some of then Raging, others Loving, others Laughing, all extravagantly,' but according to their severall domineering Passions : For the effect of the wine, does but remove Dissimulation ; and take from them the sight of the deformity of their Passions. For, (I believe) the most sober men, when they walk alone without care and employment of the mind, would be unwil- ling the vanity and Extravagance of their thoughts at that time should be pubhquely seen : which is a confession, that Passions unguided, are for the most part meere Madnesse. The opinions of the world, both in antient and later ages, concerning the cause of madnesse, have been two. Some, deriving them from the Passions ; some, from Daemons, or Spirits, either good, or bad, which they thought might enter into a man, possesse him, and move his organs in such strange, '^^^'■i- Of MAN. Chap.Z. strange, and uncouth manner, as mad-men use to do. The former sort therefore, called such men, Mad-men : but the Later, called them sometimes Dmnoniacks, (that is, possessed with spirits ;) sometimes Energiimeni, (that is, agitated, or moved with spirits ;) and now in Italy they are called not onely Pazzi, Mad-men ; but also Spiritati, men possest. There was once a great conflux of people jn Abdera, a City of the Greeks, at the acting of the Tragedy Qi Andromeda, upon an extream hot day : whereupon, a great many of the spectators falling into Fevers, had this accident from the heat, and from the Tragedy together, that they did nothing but pronounce lambiques, with the names of Perseus and Andromeda ; which together with the Fever, was cured, by the comming on of Winter : And this madnesse was thought to proceed from the Passion imprinted by the Tragedy, Likewise there raigned a fit of madnesse in another Graeciari City, which seized onely the young Maidens ; and caused many of them to hang themselves. This was by most theri thought an act of the Divel. But one that suspected, that contempt of life in them, might proceed from some Passion of the mind, and supposing they did not contemne also their honour, gave counsell to the Magistrates, to strip such as so hang'd themselves, and let them hang out naked. This the story sayes cured that madnesse. But on the other side, the same Graecians, did often ascribe madnesse, to the operation of the Eumenides, or Furyes ; and sometimes of Ceres, Phcebus, and other Gods : so much did men attribute to Phantasmes, as to think them aereal living bodies ; and generally to call them Spirits. And as the Romans in this, held the same opinion with the Greeks : so also did the Jewes ; For they called mad-men Prophets, or (according as they thought the spirits good or bad) Daemoniacks ; and some of them called both Prophets, and Daemoniacks, mad-men; and some called the same man both Dsemoniack, and mad-man. But for the Gentiles, 'tis no wonder ; because Diseases, and Health ; Vices, and Vertues ; and many naturall accidents, were with them termed, and worshipped as Daemons. So that 55 56 Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 8. that a man was to understand by Daemon, as well (some- times) an Ague, as a Divell. But for the Jewes to have such opinion, is somewhat strange. For neither Moses, nor 38 Abraham pretended to Prophecy by possession of a Spirit ; but from the voyce of God ; or by a Vision or Dream : Nor is there any thing in his Law, Morall, or Ceremoniall, by which they were taught, there was any such Enthusiasme ; or any Possession. When God is sayd. Numb. ii. 25. to take from the Spirit that was in Moses, and give to the 70. Elders, the Spirit of God (taking it for the substance of God) is not divided. The Scriptures by the Spirit of God in man, mean a mans spirit, enclined to Godhnesse. And where it is said Exod. 28. 3. Whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdome to make garments for Aaron, is not meant a spirit put into them, that can make garments ; but the wisdome of their own spirits in that kind of work. In the like sense, the spirit of man, when it produceth unclean actions, is ordinarily called an unclean spirit ; and so other spirits, though not alwayes, yet as often as the vertue or vice so stiled, is extra- ordinary, and Eminent. Neither did the other Prophets of the old Testament pretend Enthusiasme; or, that God spake in them ; but to them by Voyce, Vision, or Dream ; and the Burthen of the Lord, was not Possession, but Command. How then could the Jewes fall into this opinion of possession? I can imagine no reason, but that which is common to all men ; namely, the want of curiosity to search naturall causes ; and their placing Felicity, in the acquisition of the grosse pleasures of the Senses, and the things that most immediately conduce thereto. For they that see any strange, and un- usuall ability, or defect in a mans mind ; unlesse they see withall, from what cause it may probably proceed, can hardly think it naturall ; and if not naturall, they must needs thinke itsupernaturall; and then what can it be, but that either God, or the Divell is in him? And hence it came to passe, when our Saviour {Mark 3. 21.) was compassed about with the multitude, those of the house doubted he was mad, and went out to hold him : but the Scribes said he had Belzebub, and that P'^^t I- Of MAN. Chap. 8. that was it, by which he cast out divels ; as if the greater mad-man had awed the lesser. And that {yohn lo. 20.) some said, He hath a Divell, and is mad; whereas others holding him for a Prophet, sayd. These are^ not the words of one that hath a Divell. So in the old Testament he that came to anoynt yehu, 2 Kings 9. 11. was a Prophet; but some of the company asked yehu, What came that mad-man for 1 So that in summe, it is manifest, that whosoever be- haved himselfe in extraordinary manner, was thought by the Jewes to be possessed either with a good, or evill spirit ; except by the Sadduces, whb erred so farre on the other hand, as not to believe there were at all any spirits, (which is very neere to direct Atheisme ;) and thereby perhaps the more provoked others, to terme such men Daemoniacks, rather than mad-men. But why then does our Saviour proceed in the curing of them, as if they were possest ; and not as if they were mad ? To which I can give no other kind of answer, but that which is given to those that urge the Scripture in like manner against the opinion of the motion of the Earth. The Scrip- ture was written to shew unto men the kingdome of God, and to prepare their mindes to become his obedient subjects ; 39 leaving the world, and the Philosophy thereof, to the dis- putation of men, for the exercising of their naturall Reason. Whether the Earths, or Suns motion make the day, and night ; or whether the Exorbitant actions of men, proceed from Passion, or from the Divell, (so we worship him not) it is all one, as to our obedience, and subjection to God Almighty ; which is the thing for which the Scripture was written. As for that our Saviour speaketh to the disease, as to a person ; it is the usuall phrase of all that cure by words onely, as Christ did, (and Inchanters pretend to do, whether they speak to a Divel or not.) For is not Christ also said {Math. 8. 26.) to have rebuked the winds? Is not he said also {Luk. 4. 39.) to rebuke a Fever? Yet this does not argue that a Fever is a Divel. And whereas many of those Divels are said to confesse Christ ; it is not necessary to interpret those 57 58 Parti. Of MAN. Chap.%. those places otherwise, than that those mad-men confessed him. And whereas our Saviour {Math. 12. 43.) speaketh of an unclean Spirit, that having gone out of a man, wandreth through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none ; and re- turning into the same man, with seven other spirits worse than himselfe; It is manifestly a Parable, alluding to a man, that after a little endeavour to quit his lusts, is vanquished by the strength of them ; and becomes seven times worse than he was. So that I see nothing at all in the Scripture, that requireth a beliefe, that Dsemoniacks were any other thing but Mad-men. insignjfi- There is yet another fault in the Discourses of some men ; cant Speech ■' which may also be numbered amongst the sorts of Mad- nesse ; namely, that abuse of words, whereof I have spoken before in the fifth chapter, by the Name of Absurdity. And that is, when men speak such words, as put together, have in them no signification at all ; but are fallen upon by some, through misunderstanding of the words they have received, and repeat by rote ; by others, from intention to deceive by obscurity. And this is incident to none but those, that con- verse in questions of matters incomprehensible, as the Schoole-men ; or in questions of abstruse Philosophy. The common sort of men seldome speak Insignificantly, and are therefore, by those other Egregious persons counted Idiots. But to be assured their words are without any thing corres- pondent to them in the mind, there would need some Examples ; which if any man require, let him take a Schoole- man into his hands, and see if he can translate any one chapter concerning any difficult point ; as the Trinity ; the Deity; the nature of Christ ; Transubstantiation; Free-will, d^c. into any of the moderne tongues, so as to make the same intelligible ; or into any tolerable Latine, such as they were acquainted withall, that lived when the Latine tongue was Vulgar. What is the meaning of these words. J7ie first cause does not necessarily inflow any thing into the second, by force of the Essentiall subordination of the second causes, by Which it may help it to worke ? They are the Translation of the Part I. Of MAN: Chap. 8. 59 the Title of the sixth chapter of Suarez first Booke, Of the Concourse, Motion, and Help of God. When men write whole volumes of such stuffe, are they not Mad, or intend to make others so ? And particularly, in the question of Tran- 40 substantiation ; where after certain words spoken, they that say, the White«(?«^, Round;2«JK, M.z.gx\\tude, Quali/y, Cor- ruptibilii^c, all which are incorporeall, Q^c. go out of the Wafer, into the Body of our blessed Saviour, do they not make those Nesses, Tudes, and Tie^, to be so many spirits possessing his body ? For by Spirits, they mean alwayes things, that being incorporeall, are nevertheless moveable from one place to another. So that this kind of Absurdity, may rightly be numbred amongst the many sorts of Madnesse ; and all the time that guided by clear Thoughts of their worldly lust, they forbear disputing, or writing thus, but Lucide Intervals. And thus much of the Vertues and Defects Intellectuall. 6o Parti. Of MAN. Chap. g. CHAP. IX. Of the Severall Subjects of Knowledge. T' ^Here are of Knowledge two kinds; whereof one is Knowledge of Fact : the other Knowledge of the Conse- quence of one Affirmation to another. The former is nothing else, but Sense and Memory, and is Absolute Knowledge; as when we see a Fact doing, or remember it done : And this is the Knowledge required in a Witnesse. The later is called Science; and is Conditionall ; as when we know, that. If the figure showne be a Circle, then any straight line through the Center shall divide it into two equall parts. And this is the Knowledge required in a Philosopher ; that is to say, of him that pretends to Reasoning. The Register of Knowledge of Fact is called History. Whereof there be two sorts : one called Naturall History ; which is the History of such Facts, or Effects of Nature, as have no Dependance on Mans Will; Such as are the His- ReligioHs. tories of Metalls., Plants, Animals, Religions, and the like. The other, is Civill History ; which is the History of the Voluntary Actions of men in Common-wealths. The Registers of Science, are such Books as contain the Demonstrations of Consequences of one Affirmation, to another ; and are commonly called Books of Philosophy ; whereof the sorts are many, according to the diversity of the Matter ; And may be divided in such manner as I have divided them in the following Table. p. rt'u 2 =— 3 ■ 03 U D'M^'>)^g-5Mgm Eon CJ OR £.2 Is g-d g s gas g S-g o s ««= ■gSaS m 5! !■ egio^sg-s «^ w'" 2-^ , 3 O ? »« o>: - 3 J a g|°i 3 C «^ < o £— S! 5 c s =* o s .9 oS &cjS ES ' ^ S '« «;t^ o 8 '•^■■ ' -H > ° > g*ua,M?o(im' o >. '^ « ° M_ „ ,. 62 Part I. Of MAN. Chap. lo. CHAP, X. Of Power, Worth, Dignity, Honour, and Worthinesse. Power. f'f I ""He Power of a Man, (to take it Universally,) is his 41 -L present means, to obtain some future apparent Good. present means, to obtain some future apparent And is either Originall or Instrumentall. Naturall Power, is the eminence of the Faculties of Body, or Mind : as extraordinary Strength, Forme, Prudence, Arts, Eloquence, Liberality, Nobility. Instrume7itall are those Powers, which acquired by these, or by fortune, are means and Instruments to acquire more : as Riches, Reputation, Friends, and the secret working of God, which men call Good Luck. For the nature of Power, is in this point, like to Fame, increasing as it proceeds ; or like the motion of heavy bodies, which the further they go, make still the more hast. The Greatest of humane Powers, is that which is com- pounded of the Powers of most men, united by consent, in one person, Naturall, or Civil), that has the use of all their Powers depetidihg on his will ; such as is the Power of a Common-wealth : Or depending on the vvills of each par- ticular ; such as is the power of a Faction, or of divers factions leagued. Therefore to have servants, is Power; To have friends, is Power : for they are strengths united. Also Riches joyned with liberality, is Power; because it procureth friends, and servants : Without liberahty, not so ; because in this case they defend not ! but expose men to Envy, as a Prey. Reputation of power, is Power ; because it draweth with it the adhserence of those that need protection. So is Reputation of love of a mans Country, (called Popularity,) for the same Reason. V^ Also, what quality soever hiaketh a man beloved, or feared of P"-rt I. Of MAN. Chap. lo. 63 of many ; or the reputation of such quaUty, is Power ; because It is a means to have the assistance, and service of many. Good successe is Power; because it maketh reputation of Wisdome, or good fortune; which makes men either feare him, or rely on him. Affabihty of men already in power, is encrease of Power ; because it gaineth love. Reputation of Prudence in the conduct of Peace or War, is Power; because to prudent men, we commit the govern- ment of our selves, more willingly than to others. Nobility is Power, not in all places, but onely in those Common -wealths, where it has Priviledges : for in such priviledges consisteth their Power. Eloquence is power; because it is seeming Prudence. Forme is Power; because being a promise of Good, it 42 recommendeth men to the favour of women and strangers. The Sciences, are small Power ; because not eminent ; t^ and therefore, not acknowledged in any man ; nor are at all, but in a few; and in them, but of a few things. For Science is of that nature, as none can understand it to be, I but such as in a good measure have attayned it Arts of publique use, as Fortification, making of Engines, and other Instruments of War; because they conferre to Defence, and Victory, are Power : And though the true Mother of them, be Science, namely the Mathematiques ; yet, because they are brought into the Light, by the hand of the Artificer, they be esteemed (the Midwife passing with the vulgar for the Mother,) as his issue. The Value, or Worth of a man, is as of all other things, worth. his Price ; that is to say, so much as *ouId be given for the use of his Power: and therefore is not absolute; but a thing dependant on the need and judgement of another. An able conductor of Souldiers, is of great Price in time of War present, or imminent ; but in Peace not so. A learned and uncorrupt Judge, is much Worth in time of Peace; but not so m..ch in war. And as in other things, so in men, not the seller, but the buyer determines the Price. For let 64 Parti. Of MAN. Chap. lo. a man (as most men do,) rate themselves at the highest Value they can ; yet their true Value is no more than it is esteemed by others. The manifestation of the Value we set on one another, is that which is commonly called Honouring, and Dishonour- ing. To Value a man at a high rate, is to Honour him ; at a low rate, is to Dishonour him. But high, and low, in this case, is to be understood by comparison to the rate that each man setteth on himselfe. The publique worth of a man, which is the Value set on him by the Common-wealth, is that which men commonly Dignity. call D I G N I T Y. And this Value of him by the Common- wealth, is understood, by offices of Command, Judicature, publike Employment ; or by Names and Titles, introduced for distinction of such Value. andols"'' "^° ^^^^ ^° another, for ayde of any kind, is /c "H o n o u R ; honour. because a signe we have an opinion he has power to help; and the more difficult the ayde is, the more is the Honour. To obey, is to Honour; because no man obeyes them, whom they think have no power to help, or hurt them. And consequently to disobey, is to Dishonour. To give great gifts to a man, is to Honour him ; because 'tis buying of Protection, and acknowledging of Power. To give little gifts, is to Dishonour ; because it is but Almes, and signifies an opinion of the need of small helps. To be sedulous in promoting anothers good ; also to flatter, is to Honour ; as a signe we seek his protection or ayde. To neglect, is to Dishonour. To give way, or place to another, in any Commodity, is to Honour ; being a confession of greater power. To ar- rogate, is to Dishonour. To shew any signe of love, or feare of another, is to Honour; for both to love, and to feare, is to value. To 43 contemne, or lesse to love or feare, then he expects, is to Dishonour; for 'tis undervaluing. To praise, magnifie, or call happy, is to Honour; because nothing Parti. Of MAN. Chap. lo. 65 nothing but goodnesse, power, and felicity is valued. To revile, mock, or pitty, is to Dishonour. To speak to another with consideration, to appear before him with decency, and humility, is to Honour him ; as signes of fear to offend. To speak to him rashly, to do any thing before him obscenely, slovenly, impudently, is to Dishonour. To believe, to trust, to rely on another, is to Honour him ; signe of opinion of his vertue and power. To distrust, or not believe, is to Dishonour. To hearken to a mans counsell, or discourse of what kind soever, is to Honour ; as a signe we think him wise, or eloquent, or witty. To sleep, to go forth, or talk the while, is to Dishonour. To do those things to another, which he takes for signes of Honour, or which the Law or Custome makes so, is to Honour ; because in approving the Honour done by others, he acknowledgeth the power which others acknowledge. To refuse to do them, is to Dishonour. To agree with in opinion, is to Honour ; as being a signe of approving his judgemerlt, and wisdome. To dissent, is Dishonour, and an upbraiding of errour ; and (if the dissent be in many things) of folly. To imitate, is to Honour 5 for it is vehemently to approve. To imitate ones Enemy, is to Dishonour. To honour those another honours, is to Honour him ; as a signe of approbation of his judgement. To honour his Enemies, is to Dishonour him. To employ in counsell; or in actions of difficulty, is to Honour ; as a sigrle of opinion of his wisdome, or other power. To deny employment in the selnle casesj to those that seek it, is to Dishonour. All these wayes of Honouring, are natural! ; arid as well within, as without Common-wealths. But in Common- wealths, where he, or they that have the supreme Authority, can make whatsoever they please, to stand for signes of Honour, there be other Honours. A Soveraigne doth Honour a Subject, with whatsoever F Title, 66 Part i. Of MAN. Chap. lo. Title, or Office, or Employment, or Action, that he himselfe will have taken for a signe of his will to Honour him. The King of Persia, Honoured Mordecay, when he appointed hfe should be conducted through the streets in the Kiilgs Garment, upon one of the Kings Horses, with a Crown on his head, and a Prince before him, proclayming. Thus shall it be done to him that the King will honour. And yet another King of Persia, or the same another time, to one that demanded for some great service, to weare one of the Kings robes, gave him leave so to do ; but with this addition, that he should weare it as the Kings foole ; and then it was Dishonour. So that df Civill Honour, the Fountain is in the person of the Common-wealth, and dependeth on the Will of the Soveraigne ; and is therefore temporary, and called Civill Honour ; such as are Magistracy, Offices, Titles ; 44 and in sotne places Coats, and Scutchions painted : and men Honour such as have them, as having so many signes of favour in the Common-Wealth ; which favour is Power. Honour- Honourable is whatsoever possession, action, or quality, is an argumettt and signe of Powelr. And therefore To be Honoured, loved, ot feared of many, is Honourable ; as arguments of Power. To be Honoured Dishonour- ^f £g^ q^ none^ Dis'honouraMe. Dominion, and Victory is Honourable j because acquired by Power; and Sfervitude, for need, or feare, is Dis- honourable. Good fortune (if lasting,) Horlourable ; as a signe of the favour of God. Ill fortune, and losses-. Dishonourable. Riches are Honourable ; for they are Power. Poverty, Dishoholirable. Magnanimity, Liberality, Hope, Courage, Confidence, are Honourable ; for they ptbceed from the conscience of Power. Pusillanimity, Parsimony, Fear, Diffidence, are Dishonourable. Timely Resolution, or determination of what a man is to' do-, is Honourable ; as being the contempt of small dif- ficulties, and dangers. And Irresolution, Dishonourable; as a signe of too much valuing of little impediments, and little Part I. Of MAN. Chap. lo. 67 little advantages : For when a man has \yeighed things as long as the time permits, and resolves not, the difference of weight is but httle ; and therefore if he resolve not, he over- values little things, which is Pusillanimity. All Actions, and Speeches, that proceed, or seem to proceed from much Experience, Science, Discretion, or Wit, are Honourable; For all these are Powers. Actions, or Words that proceed from Errour, Ignorance, or Folly, Dishonourable. Gravity, as farre forth as it seems to proceed from a mind employed on some thing else, is Honourable ; because em- ployment is a signe of Power. But if it seem to proceed from a purpose to appear grave, it is Dishonourable. For the gravity of the former,' is like the steddinesse of a Ship laden with Merchandise; but of the later, like the steddinesse of a Ship ballasted with Sand, and other trash. To be Conspicuous, that is to say, to be known, for Wealth, Office, great Actions, or any eminent Good, is Honourable ; as a signe of the powef for which he is conspicuous. On the contrary. Obscurity, is Dishonourable. To be descended from conspicuous Parents, is Honourable; because they the more easily attain the aydes, and friends of their Ancestors. On the contrary, to be descended from obscure Parentage, is Dishonourable. Actions proceeding from Equity, joyned with losse, are Honourable ; as signes of Magnanimity: for Magnanimity is a signe of Power. On the contrary) Craft, Shifting, neglect of Equity, is Dishonourable; Covetousnesse of great Riches, and ambition of great Honours, are Honourable ; as signes of power to obtain them. Covetousnesse, and ambition; of httle gaines, or preferments, is Dishonourable. Nor d oes it alter the .cf'^p of Hnnrinrj whather .an.actioji 45 (so it be great and ditficult, and consequently a signe of much power,) ^e just or unj jjst : for Honour consisteth onely in the opinion of Power. Therefore the ancient Heatherl did not thinke they Dishonoured, but greatly Honoured the Gods, 68 Part i. Of MAN. Chap. lo. Gods, when they introduced them in their Poems, committing Rapes, Thefts, and other great, but unjust, or unclean acts ; In so much as nothing is so much celebrated in Jupiter, as his Adulteries ; nor in Mercury, as his Frauds, and Thefts : of whose praises; in a hymne of Homer, the greatest is this, that being bortl in the morning, he had invented Musique at noon, and before night; stolne away the Cattell of Apollo, from his Helrdsmen. Also amongst merl, till there were constituted great Com- mon-wealths, it was thought no dishonour to be a Pyrate, or a High-way Theefe ; bilt rather a lawfuU Trade, not onely amongst the Greeks; but also amongst all other Nations ; as is manifest by the Histdries of antient time. And at this day, in this part of the woirld, private Duels are, and alwayes will be Honourable, though unlawfull, till such time as there shall be Honour drdained for them that refuse, and Ignominy for them that make the Challenge. For Duels also are many times effects of Coutage ; and the ground of Courage is alwayes Strength or Skill, Which are Power ; though for the most part they be effects of rash speaking, and of the fear of Dishonour, in otie, or both the Combatants ; who engaged by rashnesse, are drivfen into the Lists to avoyd disgrace. Coats of Scutchions, and Coats of Armes hsereditary, where they have any eminent Priviledges, are Honourable ; otherwise not : for their Power fconsisteth either in such Priviledges, or _ in Riches, or some such thing as is equally honoured in other men. This kind df Honour, commonly called Gentry, has been derived from the Antient Germans. For there never was any Such thing known, whette the German Cus- tomes were unknown. Not is it now any where in use, where the Gternlans have not inhabited. The antient Greek Commanders, when they went to war, had their Shields painted with such Devises as they pleased ; insomuch as an unpainted Buckler was a signe of Poverty, and of a common Souldier : but they transmitted not the Inheritance of them. The Romans transmitted the Marks of their FamiHes : but they were the Images, not the Devises of their Ancestors. Amongst P'^rt I- Of MAN. Chap. lo. 69 Amongst the people of Asia, Afrique, and America, there is not, nor was ever, any such thing. The Germans onelyhad that custome ; from whom it has been derived into England, France, Spain and Italy, when in great numbers they either ayded the Romans, or made their own Conquests in these Westerne parts of the world. For Germany, being antiently, as all other Countries, in their beginnings, divided amongst an infinite number of littlp Lords, or Masters of FamiHes, that continually had wafs or^e with another ; those Masters, or Lords, principally tp the end they might, when they were Covered with Arms, bp knqwii by their followers ; and partly for ornament, both painte4 their Armor, or their Scutchion, or Coat, with the picture of some Beast, or other thing ; and also put sorne eminen): 46 and visible mark upon the Crest of their Helmets. And this ornament both of the Armes, and Crest, descended by inheritance to their Children ; to the eldest pure, and to the rest with some note of diversity, such as the Old master, that is to say in Dutch, the Here-alt thougl^t fit. But when many such Families, joyned together, rnade a greater Mon- archy, this duty of the Herealt, to distinguish Scutchions, was made a private Office a part. Arjd the issue of these Lords, is the great and antient Gentry; which for the most part bear living creatures, noted for courage, and rapine ; or Castles, Battlements, Belts, Weapons, Bars, Palisadoes, and other notes of War ; nothing being then in honour, but vertue military. Afterwards, not onely Kings, but popular Common-wealths, gave divers manners of Scutchions, to such as went forth to the War, or returned from it, for encourage- ment or recompence to their service. All which, by an observing Reader, may be found in such antient Histories, Greek and Latine, as make mention of the German Nation, and Manners, in their times. Titles of Honour, such as are Duke, Count, Marquis, and Jj'^j^"^'/ Baron, are Honourable ; as signifying the value set upon them by the Soveraigne Power of the Common-wealth : Which Titles, were in old time titles of Office, and Command, derived 7° Part I. Of MAN. Chap. lo. derived some from the Romans, some from the Germans, and French. Dukes, in Latine Duces, being Generalis in War : Counts, Comites, such as bare the Generall company out of friendship ; and were left to govern and defend places conquered and pacified : Marquises, Marchiones, were Counts that governed the Marches, or bounds of the Empire. Which titles of Duke, Count, and Marquis, came into the Empire, about the time of Constantine the Great, from the customes of the German Militia. But Baron, seems to have been a Title of the Gaules, and signifies a Great man ; such as were the Kings, or Princes men, whom they employed in war about their persons ; and seems to be derived from Vir, to Ber, and Bar, that signified the same in the Language of the Gaules, that Vir in Latine ; and thence to Bero, and Baro : so that such men were called Berones, and after Barones; and (in Spanish) Varones. But he that would know more particularly the originall of Titles of Honour, may find it, as I have done this, in Mr. Seldens most excel- lent Treatise of that subject. In processe of time these offices of Honour, by occasion of trouble, and for reasons of good and peaceable government, were turned into meer Titles ; serving for the most part, to distinguish the prece- dence, place, and order of subjects in the Common-wealth : and men were made Dukes, Counts, Marquises, and Barons of Places, wherein they had neither possession, nor com- mand : and other Titles also, were devised to the same end. Worthi- WoRTHiNESSE, isa thing different from the worth, nesse. or value of a man ; and also from his merit, or desert ; and consisteth in a particular power, or ability for that, whereof he is said to be worthy : which particular abihty, is usually Fitnesse. named Fitness E, or Aptitude. For he is Worthiest to be a Commander, to be a Judge, or to have any other charge, that is best fitted, with the qualities required to the well discharging of it ; and Worthi- 47 est of Riches, that has the qualities most requisite for the well using of them : any of which qualities being absent, one may neverthelesse be a Worthy man, and valuable for some thing Parti. Of MAN. Chap. ii. 71 thing else. Again, a man may be Worthy of Riches, Office, and Employment, that neverthelesse, can plead no right to have it before another; and therefore cannot be said to merit or deserve it. For Merit, praesupposeth a right, and that the thing deserved is due by promise : Of which I shall say more hereafter, when I shall speak of Coqt):ac);?. CHAP. XI. Of the difference 0/ M a n n e r s, BY Manners, I mean not here. Decency of behaviour j as how one man should salute another, or how a n-jan should wash his mouth, or pick his teeth before coinpany, and such other points of the Small Moralls : But those ^''«7w«j-:the plains, with Pan, and Fanises, or Satyres ; the Woods, with Fawnes, and Nymphs ; the Sea, with Tritons, and other Nymphs ; every River, and Fountayn, with a Ghost of his name, and with Nymphs ; every house, with its Lares, or Familiars ; every man, with his Genius ; Hell, with Ghosts, and spirituall Officers, as Charon, Cerberus, and the Furies; and in the night time, all places with Larva, Lemures, Ghosts of men deceased, and a whole kingdome of Fayries, and Bugbears. They have also ascribed Divinity, and built Temples to meer Accidents, and Qualities; such as are Time, Night, Day, Peace, Concord, Love, Contention, Vertue, Honour, Health, Rust, Fever, and the like ; which when they prayed for, or against, they prayed to, as if there were Ghosts of those names hanging over their heads, and letting fall, or with- holding that Good, or Evill, for, or against which they prayed. They invoked also their own Wit, by the name of Muses ; their own Ignorance, by the name of Fortune; their own Lust, by the name of Cupid; their own Rage, by the name Furies ; their own privy members by the name of Priapus ; and attributed their pollutions, to Incubi, and Succubce : inso- much as there was nothing, which a Poet could introduce as a person in his Poem, which they did not make either a God, or a Divel. The same authors of the Religion of the Gentiles, observing the second ground for Religion, which is mens Ignorance of causes ; and thereby their aptnesse to attribute their fortune to causes, on which there was no dependance at all apparent,' took occasion to obtrude on their ignorance, in stead of second causes, a kind of second and ministeriall Gods ; as- cribing the cause of Foecundity, to Venus ; the cause of Arts, to Apollo ; of Subtilty and Craft, to Mercury ; of Tempests and stormes, to /Solus ; and of other effects, to other Gods ; insomuch 84 Parti. Of MAN. Chap. 12. insomuch as there was amongst the Heathen almost as great variety of Gods, as of businesse. And to the Worship, which naturally men conceived fit to bee ilsed towards their Gods, namely Oblations, Prayers, Thanks, and the rest formerly named ; the same Legislators of the Gentiles have added their Images, both in Picture, and Sculpture ; that the ignorant sort, (that is to say, the most part, or generality of the people,) thinking the Gods for whose I'epresentation they were made, were really included, and as it were housed within them, might so much the more stand in feare df them : And endowed them with lands, and houses, and oiBcers, and revenues, set apart from all other humane uses; that is, consecrated, and made holy to those their Idols ; as Caverns, Groves, Woods, Mountains, and whole Hands ; and have attributed to them, not onely the shapes, 56 some of Men, some of Beasts, some of Monsters ; but also the Faculties, and Passions cif men and beasts ; as Sense, Speech, Sfex, Lust, Generation, (and this not onely by mixing one with another, to propagate the kind of Gods ; but also by mixing with men, and women, to beget mongrill Gods, attd but inmates of Heaven, as Bacchus-, Hercules, and others;) besides, Anger, Revenge, and other passions of living crea- tures, arid the actions proceeding from them, as Fraud, Theft, A'dultei^y, S'odomie, and 'any vice that may be taken for an effect of Power, or a cause of Pleasure ; and all such Vices, as amongst men are taken to be against Law, rather than against Honouh Lastly, to the Prognostiques of time to come ; which are haturally, but COnjectuires Upon the Experience of time past; ahd supernaturaliy, divine Revelation ; the same authors of the Religion of the Gentiles, partly upon pretended Expe- rience, partly upon pretended Revelation, have added innu- merable other superstitious \va.yes of Divination ; and made men believe they should find their fortunes, sometimes in the ambiguous or senslesse answers of the Priests at Delphi, Delos, Amman, and other famous Oracles ; which answers. Were made ambiguous by design^, to own the event both wayes; Parti. Of MAN. Chap. 12. 85 wayes ; or absurd by the intoxicating vapour of the place, which is very frequent in sulphurous Cavernes : Sometimes in the leaves of the Sibills ; of whose Prophecyes (like those perhaps of Nostradamus ; for the fragments now extant seem to be the invention of later times) there were some books in reputation in the time of the Roman Republique : Some- times in the insignificant Speeches of Mad-men, supposed to be possessed with a divine Spirit ; which Possessior^ they called Enthusiasme ; and these kinds of foretelling events, were accounted Theomancy, or Prophecy : Sometimes in the aspect of the Starres at their Nativity; which -vyas called Horoscopy, and esteemed a part of judiciary Astrology : Sometimes in their own hopes and feares, called Thumo- mancy, or Presage : Sometimes in the Prediction of Wjtcl(es, that pretended conference with the dead ; which is cajled Necromancy, Conjuring, and Witchcraft ; and is but juggling and confederate knavery : Sometimes in the Casuall flight, or feeding of birds ; called Augury : Sometimes in the En- trayles of a sacrificed beast ; which was Aruspicina : Some- times in Dreams : Sometimes in Croaking of Ravens, or chattering of Birds : Sometimes in the Lineaments of the face ; which ivas called Metoposcopy ; or by Palmistry in the lines of the hand ; in casuall words, called Omina : Some- times in Monsters, or unusuall accidents ; as Ecclipses, Comets, rare Meteors, Earthquakes, Inundations, uncouth Births, and the like, which they called Portenta, and Ostenta, because they thought them to portend, or foreshew some great Calamity to come : Sometimes, in meer Lottery, as Crosse and Pile ; counting holes in a sive ; dipping of Verses in Homer, and Virgil; and innumerable other such vaine conceipts. So easie are men to be drawn to believe any thing, from such men as have gotten credit with them ; and. can with gentlenesse, and dexterity, take hold of their fear, and ignorance. 57 And therefore the first Founders, and Legislators of j-j^^i^. Common-wealths amon'gsTlhi''Gentiles, whose ends were j^thfr!'^ only~to'keep the people in obedience, and peace, have in all "^^^fj--j^^ places Heathen. 86 Part\. Of MAN. Chap. 12. places taken care; First, to imprint in their minds abeliefe, that those precepts which they gave concerning Rehgion, might not be thought to proceed from their own device, but from the dictates of some God, or other Spirit ; or else that they themselves were of a higher nature than mere mortalls, that their Lawes might the more easily be received : So Numa Pompilius pretended to receive the Ceremonies he instituted amongst the Romans, from the Nymph Egeria : and the first King and founder of the Kingdome of Feru, pretended himselfe and his wife to be the children of the Sunne : and Mahomet, to set up his new Religion, pretended to have conferences with the Holy Ghost, in forme of a Dove. Secondly, they have had a care, to make it believed, that the same things were displeasing to the Gods, which were forbidden by the Lawes. Thirdly, to prescribe Cere- monies, Supplications, Sacrifices, and Festivalls, by which they were to believe, the anger of the Gods might be ap- peased ; and that ill success in War, great contagions of Sicknesse, Earthquakes, and each mans private Misery, came from the Anger of the Gods ; and their Anger from the Neglect of their Worship, or the forgetting, or mistaking some point of the Ceremonies required. And though amongst the antient Romans, men were not forbidden to deny, that which in the Poets is written of the paines, and pleasures after this life ; which divers of great authority, and gravity in that state have in their Harangues openly derided; yet that bellefe was alwaies more cherished, than the contrary. And by these, and such other Institutions, they obtayned in order to their end, (which was the peace of the Common- wealth,) that the common people in their misfortunes, laying the fault on neglect, or errour in their Ceremonies, or on their own disobedience to the lawes, were the lesse apt to mutiny against their Governors. And being entertained with the pomp, and pastime of Festivalls, and publike Games, made in honour of the Gods, needed nothing else but bread, to keep them from discontent, murmuring, and commotion against the State. And therefore the Romans, that had conquered Part\. Of MAN. Chap. 12. 87 conquered the greatest part of the then known World, made no scruple of tollerating any Religion whatsoeuer in the City oi Rome it selfe; unlesse it had something in it, that could not consist with their Civill Government ; nor do we read, that any Religion was there forbidden, but that of the Jewes ; who (being the peculiar Kingdome of God) thought it un- lawfull to acknowledge subjection to any mortall King or State whatsoever. And thus you see how the Religion of the Gentiles was a part of their Policy. But where God himselfe, by supernaturall Revelation, The true planted Religion ; there he also made to himselfe a peculiar and the Kingdome ; and gave Lawes, not only of behaviour towards Gods king- himselfe ; but also towards one another; and thereby in the same!'^" Kingdome of God, the Policy, and lawes Civill, are a part 58 of Religion ; and therefore the distinction of Temporall, and Spirituall Domination, hath there no place. It is true, that God is King of all the Earth : Yet may he be King of a peculiar, and chosen Nation. For there is no more incon- gruity therein, than that he that hath the generall command of the whole Army, should have withall a peculiar Regiment, or Company of his own. God is King of all the Earth by his Power : but of his chosen people, he is King by Cove- nant. But to speake more largely of the Kingdome of God, both by Nature, and Covenant, I have in the following dis- course assigned an other place. c/mp. 33. From the propagation of Religion, it is not hard to under- T/ie causes t • r \ ' • r of Change stand the causes of the resolution of the same into its nrst in Reli- seeds, or principles ; which are only an opinion of a Deity, and Powers invisible, and supernaturall ; that can never be so abolished out of humane nature, but that new Religions may againe be made to spring out of them, by the culture of such men, as for such purpose are in reputation. For seeing all formed Religion, is founded at first, upon the faith which a multitude hath in some one person, whom they believe not only to be a wise man, and to labour to procure their happiness, but also to be a holy man, to whom God himselfe vouchsafeth to declare his will supernaturally ; It gw?z. Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 12. Injoyning ieleefe of Impossi- MlUies. Doing con- trary to the Religion tliey estab- lish. Want of the testi- mony of Miracles. It followeth necessarily, when they that have the Goverment of Religion, shall come to have either the wisedome of those men, their sincerity, or their love suspected ; or that they shall be unable to shew any probable token of Divine Reve- lation ; that the Religion which they desire to uphold, must be suspected likewise ; and (without the feare of the Civill Sword) contradicted and rejected. That which taketh away the reputation of Wisedome, in him that formeth a Religion, or addeth to it when it is all- ready formed, is the enjoyning of a beliefe of contradictories : For both parts of a contradiction cannot possibly be true : and therefore to enjoyne the beleife of them, is an argument of ignorance ; which detects the Author in that ; and dis- credits him in all things else he shall propound as from revelation supernaturall : which revelation a man may indeed have of many things above, but of nothing against naturall reason. That which taketh away the reputation of Sincerity, is the doing, or saying of such things, as appeare to be signes, that what they require other men to believe, is not believed by themselves ; all which doings, or sayings are therefore called Scandalous, because they be stumbling blocks, that make men to fall in the way of Religion : as Injustice, Cruelty, Prophanesse, Avarice, and Luxury. For who can believe, that he that doth ordinarily such actions, as proceed from any of these rootes, believeth there is any such Invisible Power to be feared, as he affrighteth other men withall, for lesser faults ? That which taketh away the reputation of Love, is the being detected of private ends : as when the beliefe they require of others, conduceth or seemeth to conduce to the acquiring of Dominion, Riches, Dignity, or secure Pleasure, 59 to themselves onely, or specially. For that which men reap benefit by to themselves, they are thought to do for their own sakes, and not for love of others. Lastly, the testimony that men can render of divine Calling, can be no other, than the operation of Miracles ; or true P'^rti. Of MAN. Chap. 11. 89 true Prophecy, (which also is a Miracle ;) or extraordinary Felicity. And therefore, to those points of Religion, which have been received from them that did such Miracles ; those that are added by such, as approve not their Calling by some Miracle, obtain no greater beliefe, than what the Custome, and Lawes of the places, in which they be educated, have wrought into them. For as in naturall things, men of judge- ment require naturall signes, and arguments ; so in super- naturall things, they require signes supernaturall, (which are Miracles,) before they consent inwardly, and from their hearts. All which causes ofthe weakening of mens faith, do mani- festly appear in the Examples following. First, we have the Example of the children of Israel ; who when Moses, that had approved his Calling to them by Miracles, and by the happy conduct of them out oi Egypt, was absent but 40. dayes, revolted from the worship of the true God, recommended to them by him ; and setting up ■•' a Golden Calfe for their * Exod. 32. I, 2. God, relapsed into the Idolatry of the Egyptians ; from whom they had been so lately delivered. And again, after Moses, Aaron, 'Joshua, and that generation which had seen the great works of God in Israel, * were dead ; another j.^-^" *" ^' generation arose, and served Baal. So that Miracles fayling, Faith also failed. Again, when the sons of Samuel j''- being constituted by ^ ^ •^'"«- their father Judges in Bersabee, received bribes, and judged unjustly, the people of Israel refused any more to have God to be their King, in other manner than he was King of other people ; and therefore cryed ou]. to Samuel, to choose them a King after the manner of the Nations. So that Justice fayling. Faith also fayled : Inp6ml|ich, as they deposed their God, from reigning over thetri. And whereas in the planting of Christian Religion, the Oracles ceased in all parts of the Roman Empire, and the number of Christians enc.reased wonderfully every day, and in every place, by the preaching ofthe Apostles, and Evange- lists j a great part of that successe, may reasonably be attributed. 90 Parti. Of MAN. Chap. 12. attributed, to the contempt, into which the Priests of the Gentiles of that time, had brought themselves, by their uncleannesse, avarice, and jugling between Princes. Also the Religion of the Church oiRome, was partly, for the same cause abolished in Englaitd, and many other parts of Christendome ; insomuch, as the fayling of Vertue in the Pastors, maketh Faith faile in the People : and partly from bringing of the Philosophy, and doctrine of Aristotle into Religion, by the Schoole-men ; from whence there arose so many contradictions, and absurdities, as brought the Clergy into a reputation both of Ignorance, and of Fraudulent intention ; and enclined people to revolt from them, either against the will of their own Princes, as in France, and Holland; or with their will, as in England. Lastly, amongst the points by the Church oi Rome declared 60 necessary for Salvation, there be so many, manifestly to the advantage of the Pope, and of his spirituall subjects, residing in the territories of other Christian Princes, that were it not for the mutuall emulation of those Princes, they might with- out warre, or trouble, exclude all forraign Authority, as easily as it has been excluded in England. For who is there that does not see, to whose benefit it conduceth, to have it believed, that a King hath not his Authority from Christ, unlesse a Bishop crown him ? That a King, if he be a Priest, cannot Marry ? That whether a Prince be born in lawfuU Marriage, or not, must be judged by Authority from Rome} That Subjects may be freedi'foai Iflaeir AUeageance, if by the Court of Rome, the King be judged an Heretique ? That a King (as Chilperiquel of .Fmnce) may be deposed by a Pope (as Pope Zachary,) fo3- no oause ; and his Kingdome given to one of his Subjects? ' That the Clergy, and Regulars, in what Country soever, shall beexempt from the Jurisdiction of their King, in cases criminali-? Or who does not see, to whose profit redound the Fees of private Masses, and Vales of Purgatory ; with other- signes of private interest, enough to mortifie the most lively Faith, if (as I sayd) the civill Magistrate, and Custome did not more sustain it, than any opinion Parti. Of MAN. Ckap. i^. gi opinion they have of the Sanctity, Wisdome, or Probity of their Teachers ? So that I may attribute all the changes of Religion in the world, to one and the same cause ; and that is, unpleasing Priests; and those not onely amongst Catholiques, but even in that Church that hath presumed most of Reformation. CHAP. XIII. Of the Naturall Condition of Mankind, as concerning their Felicity, and Misery. NAture hath made men so equall, in the faculties of '^^^f^^J body, and mind ; as that though there bee found one EquaU. man sometimes manifestly stronger in body, or of quicker mind then another ; yet when all is reckoned together, the difference between man, and man, is not so considerable, as that one man can thereupon claim to himselfe any benefit, to which another may not pretend, as well as he. For as to the strength of body, the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest, either by secret machination, or by con- federacy with others, that are in the same danger with himselfe. And as to the faculties of the mind, (setting aside the arts grounded upon words, and especially that skill of proceeding upon generall,.and infallible rules, called Science ; which very few have, and but in few things ; as being not a native faculty, born witl:v us ; nor attained, (as Prudence,) while we look after somewhat els,) I find yet a greater equality amongst men, than that of strength. For Prudence, is but Experience ; which equall time, equally bestowes on 61 all men, in those things they equally apply themselves unto. That which may perhaps make such equality incredible, is but a vain conceipt of ones owne wisdome, which almost all men think they have in a greater degree, than the Vulgar ; that is, than all men but themselves, and a few others, whom by 92 Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 13. From Equality proceeds Dlffidaice. F)om Diffidejice Warre. by Fame, or for concurring with themselves, they approve. For such is the nature of men, that howsoever they may acknowledge many others to be more witty, or more eloquent, or more learned ; Yet they will hardly believe there be many so wise as themselves : For they see their own wit at hand, and other mens at a distance. But this proveth rather that men are in that point equall, than unequall. For there is not ordinarily a greater signe of the equall distribution of , any thing, than that every man is contented with his share. ^ From this equality of ability, ariseth equality of hope in the attaining of our Ends. And therefore if any two men desire the same thing, which neverthelesse they cannot both enjoy, they become enemies; and in the way to their End, (which is principally their own conservation, and sometimes their delectation only,) endeavour to destroy, or subdue one an other. And from hence it comes to passe, that where an Invader hath no more to feare, than an other mans single power; if one plant, sow, build, or possesse a convenient Seat, others may probably be expected to come prepared with forces united, to dispossesse, and deprive him, not only of the fruit of his labour, but also of his life, or liberty. And the Invader again is in the like danger of another. And from this diffidence of one another, there is no way for any man to secure himselfe, so reasonable, as Antici- pation ; that is, by force, or wiles, to master the persons of all men he can, so long, till he see no other power great enough to endanger him : And this is no more than his own conservation requireth, and is generally allowed. Also because there be some, that taking pleasure in contempla- ting their own power in the acts of conquest, which they pursue farther than their security requires ; if others, that otherwise would be glad to be at ease within modest bounds, should not by invasion increase their power, they would not be able, long time, by standing only on their defence, to subsist. And by consequence, such augmentation of do- minion over men, being necessary to a mans conservation, it ought to be allowed him. Againe, Pari\. Of MAN. Ciap. i^. 93 Againe, men have no pleasure, (but on the contrary a great deale of griefe) in keeping company, where there is no - , . power able to over-awe them all. For every man looketh that his companion should value him, at the same rate he sets uporrltimselfe : And upon all signes of contempt, or undervaiffiii^,' naturally endeavours, as far as he dares (which aitiongst tftSm that have no common power to keep them in quit'- ^ far enough to make them destroy each other,) to extort a greater value from his contemners, by dommage ; ani|,from others, by the example. So that ill the nature of man, we find three principall j causes of quarrell. First, Competition; Secondly, Diffidence;/ Thirdly, Glory. 62 The first, maketh men invade for Gain; the second, for v / Safety ; and the third, for Reputation. The first use Vio- . len€e, to make themselves Masters of other mens persons, wives, children, and cattell ; the second, to defend them ; the third, for trifles, as a word, a smile, a different opinion, and ^S.ny other signe of undervalue, either direct in their Persons, or by reflexion in their Kindred, their Friends, their Nation, their Profession, or their Name. Hereby it is manifest, that during the time men live with- Out^!>/ out a common Power to keep them all in awe, they are in states, there is that condition which is called Warre ; and such a warre, as aiwayes is of every man, against every man. For W a r r e, consisteth ^^ j^"^,^ not in Battell onelyj or the act of fighting ; but in a tract of "^^^"'^^^^ time, wherein the Will to contend by Battell is sufficiently known : and therefoi'e the notion of lime, is to be considered in the nature of Warre ; as it is in the nature of Weather. For as the iiature of Foule weather, lyeth not in a shovvre or two of rain ; but irl £ln inclination thereto of many dayes together : So the rlature of War, consisteth not in actuall fighting ; but in the known disposition thereto, during all the time there is no assurance to the contrary. All other time is Peace. Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre, ^^J"//^'^^ Where evefy man is Enemy to every man ; the same is con- suck a sequent 94 Part\. Of MAN. Chap. I'i. sequent to the time, wherein men live with&uf other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there ^ no place for Indus try ; because the fruit thereof is uncertain : and consequently no Culture of the Earth ; no .VTavigation, noi use of the commodities that may be imported by S@a ; no commodious Building; no Instruments of movii'q;. '• ''1, re- moving such things as require much force ; no iCnJl'^'^edge of the face of the Earth ; no account of Time ; no Arts ; no Letters ; no Society ; and which is worst of all, continaall feare, and danger of violent death ; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short. It may seem strange to some man, that has not well weighed these things ; that Nat ure _should thus dissociate, and render men apt to invade, and destroy one anothei' : and he may therefore, not trussing to this Inference, made from the Passions, desire perhaps to have the same con- firmed -by-Experience. Let him therefore consider with himselfe, when taking a journey, he armes himselfe, and seeks to go well accompanied ; when going to sleep, he locks his dores ; when even in his house he lockes his chests ; and this when he knowes there bee Lawes, and publike Officers, armed, to revenge all injuries shall bee done him; what opinion he has of his fellow subjects, when he rides armed ; of his fellow Citizens, when he locks his dores ; and of his children, and servants, when he locks his chests. Does he not there as much accuse mankind by his actions, as I do by my words ? But neither of us accuse mans nature in it. The Desires, and other Passions of man, are in themselves no Sin. No more are the Actions, that proceed from those Passions, till they know a Law that forbids them : which till Lawes be made they cannot know : nor can any Law be made, till they have agreed upon the Person that shall make it. It may peradventure be thought, there was never such a 63 time, nor condition of warre as this ; and I believe it was never generally so, over all the world : but there are many places, 55 Parti. Of MAN. Chap, ly 95 places, where they Hve so now. For the savage people in many places of America, except the government of small Families, the concord whereof dependeth on naturall lust, have no government at all ; and live at this day in that brutish manner, as I said before. Howsoever, it may be perceived what manner of life there would be, where there were no common Power to feare ; by the manner of life, which men that have formerly lived under a peacefull government, use to degenerate into, in a civill Warre. But though there had never been any time, wherein par- ticular men were in a condition of warre one against another ; yet in all times, Kings, and Persons of Soveraigne authority, because of their Independency, are in continuall jealousies, and in the state and posture of Gladiators ; having their f'"eapons pointing, and their eyes fixed on one another ; that ^"^heir Forts, Garrisons, and Giins upon the Frontiers of •'''^^icir Kingdomes ; and continuall Spyes upon their neigh- '^'^pUrs ; which is a posture of War. But because they uphold La^i^by, the Industry of their Subjects; there does not follow 'eo^m it, that misery, which accompanies the Liberty of par- '^^ular men. To this warre of every man against every man, this also is li such a .1 Warre, f.isequent ; that nothing can be Unjust. The notions of nothing is ^.ight and Wrong, Justice and Injustice have there no place.X Vv here_jthereJaJlcu:anamenJP©wery-thefe-i9iio- Law^r; where \ no LaWj no Injustice^ Force, and Fraud, are in warre the I two Cardinall vertues. Justice, and Injustice are none of/ the Faculties neither of the Body, nor Mind. If they were, they might be in a man that were alone in the world, as well as his Senses, and Passions. They are Qualities, that relate to men in Society, not in Solitude. It is consequent also to the same condition, that there be no Propriety, no Dominion, pose -ifineaiid Thine distinct ; but onely that to be every mans, jthan to L can get ; and for so long, as he can keep it. And ^spell ; ch for the ill condition, which man by meer Nature with'*'^'''*'^ y placed in ; though with a possibility to come out be defiverfesting partly in the Passions, partly in his Reason. •- The 96 Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 14. The Passions that Incline men to Peace. The Passions that encline men to Peace, are Feare of Death; Desire of such things as are necessary to commodious living ; and a Hope by their Industry to obtain them. And Reason suggesteth convenient Articles of Peace, upon which men may be drawn to agreement. These Articles, are they, which otherwise are called the Lawes of Nature : whereof I shall speak more particularly, in the two following Chapters. CHAP. XIV. Right of Nature •what. Liberty what. A Law of Nature •what. Difference of Right and La-w. Of the first and second Naturall Lawes, and of Contracts. THe RightOfNature, which Writers comflionK n* call y^us NaUtrale, is the Liberty each man hath]i^g use his own power, as he will himselfe, for the preservatick, of his own Nature ; that is to say, of his own Life ; and coj sequently, of doing any thing, which in his own Judgemei and Reason, hee shall conceive to be the aptest mealg thereunto. By L I B E R T Y, is understood, according to the prope signification of the word, the absence of externall Impedi' ments : which Impediments, may oft take away part of a mans power to do what hee would ; but cannot hinder him from using the power left him, according as his judgement, and reason shall dictate to him. A Law Of Nature, (Lex Naturalis,) is a Precept, or generall Rule, found out by Reason, by which a man is forbidden to do, that, which is destructive of his life, or taketh away the means of preserving the same ; and to omit, that, by which he thinketh it may be best preserved. For though they that speak of this subject, use to confound, ^that and Lex, Right and Law ; yet they ought to be distinf ' because Right, consisteth in liberty to do, or to .-^ such a rs Whereas Law, determineth, and bindeth to one o.ye it was that Law, and Right, differ as much, as Otol^^are many places, ^''^I. Of MAN. Chap.ii,. 97 "'^^^'^^are bot'^''^^ ^" °'^^ ^'^^ ^^^ ^^™2 matter are incon- sister , "om the ^^i ma-^^^^ ^^^ condition of Man, (as hath been declared Naturally in the^j^/ecedent Chapter) is a condition of Warre of every 7a7ji7gTt one against every one; in which case every one is governed 11'^"'^ by his own Reason ; and there is nothing he can make use of, that may not be a help unto him, in preserving his life against his enemyes ; It foUoweth, that in such a condition) every man has a Right to every thing ; even to one anothers body. And therefore, as long as this naturall Right of every man to every thing endureth, there can be no security to any man, (how strong or wise soever he be,) of living out the time, which Nature ordinarily alloweth men to live. And consequently it is a precept, or generall rule' of Reason, That The Fun- every man, ought to endeavour Peace, as far re as he has hope _l!!Z"o/ of obtaining it ; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may ^'^*""- seek, and use, all helps, and advantages of Warre. The firsti branch of which Rule, containeth the first, and Fundamental! Lavi^ J^'^-^ture; which is, to seek Peace, and follow it. The JJ.!-- -a, the summe of the Right of Nature ; which is, By all means we can, to defend our selves. I From this Fundamental! Law of Nature, by which men The Second are commanded to endeavour Peace, is derived this second Nature. Law ; That a man be willing, when others are so too, as farre- 65 forth, as for Peace, and defence of himselfe he shall think it necessary, to lay down this right to all things; and be contented with so much liberty against other men, as he would allow . other men against himselfe. For as long as every man holdeth this Right, of doing any thing he liketh ; so long are all men in the condition of Warre. But if other men will not lay down their Right, as well as he ; then there is no Reason for any one, to devest himselfe of his : For that were to ex- pose himselfe to Prey, (which no man is bound to) rather khan to dispose himselfe to Peace. This is that Law of the 'Tjpspell ; Whatsoever you require that others should do to you, . ■c.do ye to them. And that Law of ill men, Qiwd tibi fieri , J VV.' alteri nefeceris. be delivered- ■' , — , k To J 98 Part i. Oj MAN. Chap:- H- What it is To lay downe a mans Right to any thing, is tc^ Fearf him- to lay down o ■> a Sight. self of the Liberty, of hindring another of the bjmmod'f his own Right to the same. For hethat renounceth,>tri. isseth away his Right, giveth not to any other man a RigVi ywhich he had not before ; because there is nothing to which every man had not Right by Nature : but onely standeth out of his way, that he may enjoy his own ' originall Right, without hindrance from him ; not without hindrance from another. So that the effect which redoundeth to one man, by another mans defect of Right, is but so much diminution of impedi- ments to the use of his own Right originall. Renounc- Right is layd aside, either by simply Renouncing it; or by Right what Transferring it to another. By Simply Renouncing; it is, when he cares not to whom the benefit thereof redoundeth. Transfer- By TRANSFERRING; when he intendeth the benefit ring Right what. thereof to some certain person, or persons. And when a man hath in either manner abandoned, or granted away his Obligation. Right ; then he is said to be Obliged, or Bound, not to hinder those, to whom such Right is granted, or aban- doned, from the benefit of it : and that he Ought, and it is l^«ty. his D u T Y , not to make voyd that voluntary act of his own : Injustice, and that such hindrance is Iniustice, and I n i u R y , as being Sine jfttre ; the Right being before renounced, or transferred. So that Injury, or Injustice, in the controversies bf the world, is somewhat like to that, which in the disputa- tions of Scholers is called Absurdity. For as it is there Called an Absurdity, to contradict what one maintained in the Beginning : so in the worid, it is called Injustice, and Injury, voluntarily to undo that, which from the beginning he had voluntarily done. The way by which a man either simply Renounceth, or Transferreth his Right, is a Decla- ration, or Signification, by some voluntary and sufficient > signe, or signes, that he doth so Renounce, or Transferre ; / or hath so Renounced, or Transferred the same, to him that accepteth it. And these Signes are either Words onely,^ Actions onely; or (as it happeneth most often) both W^i^as and Actions. And the same are the Bon d feare many |* places.iien Part\. Of MAN. Chap. \i,. 99 men are bound, and obliged : Bonds, that have their strength, not from their own Nature, (for nothing is more easily broken "then a mans word,) but from Feare of some evill consequence upon the rupture.- Whensoever a man Transferreth his Right, or Renounceth Not all • , • - • 1 • -1 - Rights are It ; It is either m consideration of some Right reciprocally alienable. 66 transferred to himselfe ; or for some other good he hopeth for thereby. For ijj s^ a volu nta ry act : and of the voluntary acts of every man, the object is some Good to himself e. And) therefore there be some Rights, which no man can be under-^ stood by any words, or other signes, to have abandoned, or transferred. As first a man cannot lay down the right of resisting them, that assault him by force, to take away his life ; because he cannot be understood to ayme thereby, at any Good to himselfe. The same may be sayd of Wounds, and Chayns, and Imprisonment ; both because there is no benefit consequent to such patience; as there is to the patience of suffering another to be wounded, or imprisoned : as also because a man cannot tell, when he seeth men pro- ceed against him by violence, whether they intend his death or not. And lastly the motive, and end for which this re- nouncing, and transferring of Right is introduced, is nothing else but the security of a mans person, in his life, and in the means of so preserving life, as not to be weary of it. And therefore if a man by words, or other signes, seem to despoyle himselfe of the End, for which those signes were intended ; he is not to be understood as if he meant it, or that it was his will : but that he was ignorant of how such words and actions were to be interpreted. The mutuall transferring of Right, is that which men call Contract. Contract what. There is difference, between transferring of Right to the Thing ; and transferring, or tradition, that is, delivery of the Thing it selfe. For the Thing may be delivered together with the Translation of the Right ; as in buying and selling with ready mony ; or exchange of goods, or lands : and it may be delivered some time alter. Again, Part I . Of MAN. Chap. 14. Covenant what. Free-gift. Signes of Contract Expresse. Signes of Contract by Inference. Free gift passeth by words of the Present, or Past. Again, one of the Contractors, may deliver the Thing con- tracted for on his part, and leave the other to perform his part at some determinate time after, and in the mean time be trusted ; and then the Contract on his part, is called Pact, Or Covenant: Or both parts may contract now, to per- forme hereafter : in which cases, he that is to performe in time to come, being trusted, his performance is called Keeping of Promise, or Faith ; and the fayling of performance (if it be volilntarjr) Violation of Faith. When the transferring of Right, is not mutuall; but one of the parties transferreth, in hope to gain thereby friendship, or service from another, or from his friends ; or in hope to gain the reputation of Charity, or Magnanimity; or to deliver his mind from the pain of compassion ; or in hope of reward in heaven ; This is not Contract, but G i f t , F R e e - G i f t , Grace: which words signifie one and the same thing. Signes of Contract, are either Expresse, or by Inference. Expresse, are words spoken with understanding of what they signifie : And such words are either of the time Present, or Past ; as, / Give, I Grant, I have Given, I have Granted, I will that this be yours: Or of the future; as, I will Give, I will Grant: which words of the future, are called Promise. Signes by Inference, are Sometimes the consequence of Words; sometimes theconseqUenceof Silence; sometimes the 67 consequence of Actions ; somtimes the consequence of For- bearing an Action : and generally a signe by Inference, of any Contract, iS whatsoever sufficiently argues the will of the Contractor. Words alone, if they be of the time to come, and contain a bare promise, are an insufficient signe of a Free-gift and therefore not obligatory. For if they be of the time to Come, as. To Morrow I will Give, they are a signe I have not given yet, and consequently that my right is not transferred, but remaineth till I transferre it by some other Act. But if the words be of the time Present, or Past, as, I have given, or do give to be delivered to morrow, then is my to morrows Right ' given aw£ty to day ; dnd that by the vertue of the words, though Parti. Of MAN. Chap. \\. loi though there were no other argument of my will. And there is a great difiference in the signification of these words, Volo hoc tuum esse eras, and Cras dabo ; that is, between I will that this be thine to morrow, and, / will give it thee to morrow : For the word I will, in the former manner of speech, signifies an act of the will Present ; but in the later, it signifies 3, promise of an act of the will to Come : and therefore the former words, being of the Present, transferre a future right ; the later, that be of the Future, transferre nothing. But if there be other signes of the Will to transferre a Right, besides Words ; then, though the gift be Free, yet may the Right be understood to passe by words of the future : as if a m^fi propound a Prize to him that comes first to the end of a race, The gift is Free ; and though the words be of the Future, yet the Right passeth : for if he would not have his words so be understood, he should not have let them runne. In contracts, the right passeth, not onely where the words Signes of . Contract are of the time Present, or Past ; but also where they are of are words the Future ; because all Contract is mutual! translation, or pastfpre- change of Right; and therefore he that promiseth onely, ^^%""'^ because he hath already received the benefit for which he promiseth, is to be understood as if he intended the Right should passe : for unlesse he had been content to have his words so understood, the other would not have performed his part fiirst. And for that cause, in buying, and selling, and other acts of Contract, a Promise is equivalent to a Cove- nant ; and therefore obligatory. He that perforn^eth first in the case of a Contract, is said Merit to Merit that which he is to receive by the performance of the other; and he hath it z.s Due. Also when a Prize is propounded to many, which is to be given to him onely that winneth ; or mony is thrown amongst many, to be enjoyed by them that catch it ; though this be a Free gift ; yet so to Win, or so to Catch, is to Merit, and to have it as D u e. For the Right is transferred in the Propounding of the Prize, and in throwing down the mony ; though it be not determined to whom, but by the Event of the contention. But there is between I03 Parti. Of MAN. Chap. i^. between these two sorts of Merit, this difference, that In Contract, I Merit by vertue of my own power, and the Con- tractors need ; but in this case of Free gift, I am enabled to Merit onely by the benignity of the Giver : In Contract, I merit at the Contractors hand that hee should depart with his right ; In this case of Gift, I Merit not that the giver should part with his right ; but that when he has parted with it, it should be mine, rather than anothers. And this I think to be the meaning of that distinction of the Schooles, between Meritu?n congrui, and Meritum condigni. For God Almighty, having promised Paradise to those men (hoodwinkt with carnall desires,) that can walk through this world according to the Precepts, and Limits prescribed by him ; they say, he that shall so walk, shall Merit Paradise Ex congruo. But because no man can demand a right to it, by his own Righ- teousnesse, or any other power in himselfe, but by the Free Grace of God onely ; they say, no man can Merit Paradise ex condigno. This I say, I think is the meaning of that dis- tinction ; but because Disputers do not agree upon the signification of their own termes of Art, longer than it serves their turn ; I will not affirme any thing of their meaning : onely this I say ; when a gift is given indefinitely, as a prize to be contended for, he that winneth Meriteth, and may claime the Prize as Due. 'if"MiTuaii ^^ ^ Covenant be made, wherein neither of the parties trust when performe presently, but trust one another ; in the condition Invalid. ' of meer Nature, (which is a condition of Warre of every man against every man,) upon any reasonable suspition, it is Voyd : But if there be a common Power set over them both, with right and force sufficient to compell performance; it is not Voyd. For he that performeth first, has no assurance the other will performe after ; because the bonds of words are too weak to bridle mens ambition, avarice, anger, and other Passions, without the feare of some coerceive Power ; which in the condition of meer Nature, where all men are equall, and judges of the justnesse of their own fears, cannot possibly be supposed. And therfore he which performeth first. Parti. Of MAN. Chap. li,. 103 first, does but betray himselfe to his enemy ; contrary to the Right (he can never abandon) of defending his Ufe, and means of living. But in a civill estate, where there is a Power set up to constrain those that would otherwise violate their faith, that feare is no more reasonable ; and for that cause, he which by the Covenant is to perform first, is obliged so to do. The cause of feare, which maketh such a Covenant invalid, must be alwayes something arising after the Covenant made : as some new fact, or other signe of the Will not to performe ; else it cannot make the Covenant voyd. For that which could not hinder a man from promising, ought not to be ad- mitted as a hindrance of performing. He that transferreth any Right, transferreth the Means of Right to the Bnd^ Con- enjoying it, as farre as lyeth in his power. As he that selleth taining Land, is understood to transferre the Herbage, and what- Means. soever growes upon it ; Nor can he that sells a Mill turn away the Stream that drives it. And they that give to a man the Right of government in Soveraignty, are understood to give him the right of levying mony to maintain Souldiers ; and of appointing Magistrates for the administration ofl Justice. To make Covenants with bruit Beasts, is impossiblej: ^0 C'^^'f- nant with because not understanding our speech, they understand not. Beasts. 69 nor accept of any Translation of Right ; nor can translate any Right to another : and without mutuall acceptation, there is no Covenant. To make Covenant with God, is impossible, but by Me- Nor with ' ^ ' , Godwith- diation of such as God speaketh to, either by Revelation outspedall „ , , . ^ . , J , . Revelation supernaturall, or by his Lieutenants that govern under him, and in his Name : For otherwise we know not whether our Covenants be accepted, or not. And therefore they that Vow any thing contrary to any law of Nature, Vow in vain ; as being a thing unjust to pay such Vow. And if it be a thing commanded by the Law of Nature, it is not the Vow, but the Law that binds them. The matter, or subject of a Covenant, is alwayes something that 104 Fart I. Of MAN. Chap. 14. No Cove- nant, but of Possible and Future. Covenants ho-w made voyd. Covenants \extorted by \fecLre are \valide. The former Covenafit to one, makes that falleth under deliberation ; (For to Covenant, is an act of the Will ; that is to say an act, and the last act, of delibe- ration j) and is therefore alwayes understood to be something to come ; and which is judged Possible for him that Cove- nanteth, to performe. And therefore, to promise that which is known to be Im- possible, is no Covenant. But if that prove impossible afterwards, which before was thought possible, the Covenant is valid, and bindeth, (though not to the thing it selfe,) yet to the value ; or, if that also be impossible, to the unfeigned endeavour of performing as much as is possible : for to more no man can be obliged. Men are freed of their Covenants two wayes j by Perform- ing ; or by being Forgiven. For Performance, is the naturall end of obligation ; and Forgivenesse, the restitution of liberty; as being a re-transferring of that Right, in which the obli- gation consisted. Covenants entred into by fear, in the condition of meer Nature, are obligatory. For example, if I Covenant to pay a ransome, or service for my life, to an enemy ; I am bound by it. For it is a Contract, wherein one receiveth the benefit of life ; the other is to receive mony, or service for it ; and consequently, where no other Law (as in the condition, of meer Nature) forbiddeth the performance, the Covenant is valid. Therefore Prisoners of warre, if trusted with the pay- ment of their Ransome, are obliged to pay it : And if a weaker Prince, make a disadvantageous peace with a stronger, for feare ; he is bound to keep it ; unlesse (as hath been sayd before) there ariseth some new, and just cause of feare, to renew the war. And even in Common-wealths, if I be forced to redeem my selfe from a Theefe by promising him mony, I am bound to pay it, till the Civill Law discharge me. For whatsoever I may lawfully do without Obligation, the same I may lawfully Covenant to do through feare : and what I lawfully Covenant, I cannot lawfully break. A former Covenant, makes voyd a later. For a man that hath passed away his Right to one man to day, hath it not to Parti. Of MAN. Chap. \\. 105 to passe to morrow to another : and therefore the later pro- "°J"^ ''^ , . . later to mise passeth no Right, but is null. another. A Covenant not to defend my selfe from force, by force, A mam Covenant not to de- fend hlm- selfe, is alwayes voyd. For (as I have shewed before) no man can transferre, or lay down his Right to save himselfe from Death, Wounds, and Imprisonment, (the avoyding whereof is the '""y^- 70 onely End of laying downe any Right, and therefore the pro- mise of not resisting force, in no Covenant transferreth any right ; nor is obliging. For though a man may Covenant thus, Unlesse I do so, or so, kill me; he cannot Covenant thus, Unlesse I do so, or so, I will not resist you, when you come to kill me. For man by nature chooseth the lesser evill, which is danger of death in resisting ; rather than the greater, which is certain and present death in not resisting. And this is granted to be true by all men, in that they lead Criminals to Execution, and Prison, with armed men, not- withstanding that such Criminals have consented to the Law, by which they are condemned. A Covenant to accuse ones selfe, without assurance of ^<;/««« obliged to pardon, is likewise invalide. For in the condition of Nature, accuse him . , , self, where every man is Judge, there is no place for Accusation : and in the Civill State, the Accusation is followed with Pun- ishment ; which being Force, a man is not obliged not to resist. The same is also true, of the Accusation of those, by whose Condemnation a man falls into misery ; as of a Father, Wife, or Benefactor. For the Testimony of such an Accuser, if it be not willingly given, is presumed to be cor- rupted by Nature ; and therefore not to be received : and where a mans Testimony is not to be credited, he is not bound to give it. Also Accusations upon Torture, are not to be reputed as Testimonies. For Torture is to be used but as means of conjecture, and light, in the further examin- ation, and search of truth : and what is in that case confessed, tendeth to the ease of him that is Tortured \ not to the in- forming of the Torturers : and therefore ought not to have the credit of a sufficient Testimony : for whether he deliver himselfe by true, or false Accusation, he does it by the Right of preserving his own life. The io6 Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 14. The End -phe force of Words, being fas I have formerly noted) too of an Oath, ' o \ weak to hold men to the performance of their Covenants ; there are in mans nature, but two imaginable helps to strengthen it. And those are either a Feare of the conse- quence of breaking their word ; or a Glory, or Pride in ap- pearing not to need to breake it. This later is a Generosity too rarely found to be presumed on, especially in the pursuers of Wealth, Command, or sensuall Pleasure ; which are the greatest part of Mankind. The Passion to be reckoned upon, is Fear; whereof there be two very generall Objects : one, The Power of Spirits Invisible ; the other. The Power of those men they shall therein Offend. Of these two, though the former be the greater Power, yet the feare of the later is commonly the greater Feare. The Feare of the former is in every man, his own Religion : which hath place in the nature of man before Civill Society. The later hath not so ; at least not place enough, to keep men to their pro- mises ; because in the condition of meer Nature, the in- equality of Power is not discerned, but by the event of Battell. So that before the time of Civill Society, or in the interruption thereof by Warre, there is nothing can strengthen a Covenant of Peace agreed on, against the temptations of Avarice, Am- bition, Lust, or other strong desire, but the feare of that In- visible Power, which they every one Worship as God; and Feare as a Revenger of their perfidy. All therefore that can be done between two men not subject to Civill Power, is to 71 put one another to swear by the God he feareth : Which 'ofanOath ^'^^^''"^S^ or Oath, is a Forme of Speech, added to a Pro- mise; by which he that promiseth, signifieth, that unlesse he performe, he renounceth the mercy of his God, or calleth to. him for vengeance on himselfe. Such was the Heathen Forme, Let Jupiter kill me else, as T kill this Beast. So is our Forme, I shall do thus, and thus, so help me God. And this, with the Rites and Ceremonies, which every one useth in his own Religion, that the feare of breaking faith might be the greater. No Oath, By this it appears, that an Oath taken according to any but by God. ° ' other P'^^tT- Of MAN. Chap.ii,. 107 other Forme, or Rite, then his, that sweareth, is in vain ; and no Oath : And that there is no Swearing by any thing which the Swearer thinks not God. For though men have some- times used to swear by their Kings, for feare, or flattery ; yet they would have it thereby understood, they attributed to them Divine honour. And that Swearing unnecessarily by God, is but prophaning of his name : and Swearing by other things, as men do in common discourse, is not Swearing, but an impious Custome, gotten by too much vehemence of talking. It appears also, that the Oath addes nothing to the Obli- ^^ Oath addcs no- gation. For a Covenant, if lawfull, binds in the sight of God, thing to the without the Oath, as much as with it ; if unlawfull, bindeth '^"'"'"• not at all ; though it be confirmed with an Oath. CHAP. XV. Of other Lawes of Nature. Rom that law of Nature, by which we are obliged 'to The third Law of transferre to another, such Rights, as bemg retamed, Natvre, F 'justice. hinder the peace of Mankind, there followeth a Third ; which is this. That men performe their Covenants made : with- out which. Covenants are in vain, and but Empty words ; and the Right of all men to all things remaining, wee are still in the condition of Warre. And in this law of Nature, consisteth the Fountain and Justiceand Injustice Originall of Justice. For where no Covenant hath pre- ■what. ceded, there hath no Right been transferred, and every man has right to every thing ; and consequently, no action can be Unjust. But when a Covenant is made, then to break it is Unjust : And the definition of I n i u s t i c e , is no other than the not Performance of Covenant. And whatsoever is ^ not Unjust, is jfttst. But because Covenants of mutuall trust, where there is a Justice and , -J Propriety feare of not performance on either part, (as hath been saia i,egin with in io8 ike Consti- tution of Common- wealth. Justice not Contrary to Reason. Parti. Of MAN. Chap. iS- in the former Chapter,) are invalid ; though the Originall of Justice be the making of Covenants ; yet Injustice actually there can be none, till the cause of such feare be taken away ; which while men are in the naturall condition of Warre, can- not be done. Therefore before the names of Just, and Un- just can have place, there must be some coercive Power, to compell men equally to the performance of their Covenants, by the terrour of some punishment, greater than the benefit they expect by the breach of their Covenant ; and to make 72 good that Propriety, which by mutuall Contract men acquire, in recompence of the universall Right they abandon : and such power there is none before the erection of a Common- wealth. And this is also to be gathered out of the ordinary definition of Justice in the Schooles: For they say, that justice is the constant Will of giving to every man his own. And therefore where there is no Own, that is, no Propriety, there is no Injustice ; and where there is no coerceive Power erected, that is, where there is no Common-wealth, there is no Propri- ety ; all men having Right to all things : Therefore where there is no Common-wealth, there nothing is Unjust. So that the nature of Justice, consisteth in keeping of valid Covenants : but the Validity of Covenants begins not but with the Con- stitution of a Civill Power, suflficient to compell men to keep them : And then it is also that Propriety begins. The Foole hath sayd in his heart, there is no such thing as Justice ; and sometimes also with his tongue ; seriously alleag- ing,that every mans conservation, and contentment, beingcom- mitted to his own care, there could be no reason, why every man might not do what he thought conduced thereunto : and therefore also to make, or not make ; keep, or not keep Covenants, was not against Reason, when it conduced to ones benefit. He does not therein deny, that there be Cove- nants ; and that they are sometimes broken, sometimes kept ; and that such breach of them may be called Injustice, and the observance of them Justice : but he questioneth, whether Injustice, taking away the feare of God, (for the same Foole hath said in his heart there is no God,) may not sometimes ^''''^■- Of MAN. Chap..^_ , jog sometimes stand with that Reason, which dictate th to every man his own good ; and particularly then, when it conduceth to such a benefit, as shall put a man in a condition, to neglect not onely the dispraise, and revilings, but also the power of other men. The Kingdome of God is gotten by violence : but what if it could be gotten by unjust violence? were it against Reason so to get it, when it is impossible to receive hurt by it ? and if it be not against Reason, it is not against Justice : or else Justice is not to be approved for good. From such reasoning as this, Succesfull wickednesse hath obtained the name of Vertue: and some that in all other things have disallowed the violation of Faith ; yet have allowed it, when it is for the getting of a Kingdome. And the Heathen that believed, that Saturn was deposed by his son "jFupiter, believed neverthelesse the same jFupiter to be the avenger of Injustice : Somewhat like to a piece of Law in Cokes Com- mentaries on Litleton ; where he sayes. If the right Heire of the Crown be attainted of Treason ; yet the Crown shall de- scend to him, and eo instante the Atteynder be voyd : From which instances a man will be very prone to inferre : that when the Heire apparent of a Kingdome, shall kill him that is in possession, though his father ; you may call it Injustice, or by what other name you will ; yet it can never be against Reason, seeing all the voluntary actions of men tend to the benefit of themselves ; and those actions are most Reason- 73 able, that conduce most to their ends. This specious rea- soning is neverthelesse false. For the question is not of promises miituall, where there is no security of performance on either side ; as when there is no Civill Power erected over the parties promising ; for such promises are no Covenants : But either where one of the parties has performed already ; or where there is a Power to make him performe ; there is the question whether it be against reason, that is, against the benefit of the other to performe, or not. And I say it is not against reason. For the manifestation whereof, we are to consider ; First, that when a man doth a thing, which notwithstanding any thing uo Pccri I. 0/ MAN. Chap. \%. can be foreseen, and reckoned on, tendeth to his own destruction, howsoever some accident which he could not expect, arriving may turne it to his benefit ; yet such events do not make it reasonably or wisely done. Secondly, that in a condition of Warre, wherein every man to every man, for want of a common Power to keep them all in awe, is an Enemy, there is no man can hope by his own strength, or wit, to defend himselfe from destruction, without the help of Confederates ; where every one expects the same defence by the Confederation, that anyone else does : and therefore he which declares he thinks it reason to deceive those that help him, can in reason expect no other means of safety, than what can be had from his own single Power. He therefore that breaketh his Covenant, and consequently declareth that he thinks he may with reason do so, cannot be received into any Society, that unite themselves for Peace and Defence, but by the errour of them that receive him ; nor when he is received, be retayned in it, without seeing the danger of their errour ; which errours a man cannot reasonably reckon upon as the means of his security : and therefore if he be left, or cast out of Society, he per- isheth, and if he live in Society, it is by the errours of other men, which he could not foresee, nor reckon upon; and consequently against the reason of his preservation; and so, as all men that contribute not to his destruction, forbear him onely out of ignorance of what is good for themselves. As for the Instance of gaining the secure and perpetuall felicity of Heaven, by any way ; it is frivolous : there being but one way imaginable ; and that is not breaking, but keeping of Covenant. And for the other Instance of attaining Soveraignty by Rebellion ; it is manifest, that though the event follow, yet because it cannot reasonably be expected, but rather the contrary ; and because by gaining it so, others are taught to gain the same in like manner, the attempt thereof is against reason. Justice therefore, that is to say. Keeping of Covenant, is a Rule of Reason, by which we are forbidden to Parti. Of MAN. Chap, is- "i to do any thing destructive to our life ; and consequently a Law of Nature. There be some that proceed further ; and will not have the Law of Nature, to be those Rules which conduce to the preservation of mans life on earth ; but to the attaining of an eternall felicity after death ; to which they think the breach of Covenant may conduce ; and consequently be just and reasonable ; (such are they that think it a work of merit 74 to kill, or depose, or rebell against, the Soveraighe Power constituted over them by their own consent.) But because there is no naturall knowledge of mans estate after death ; much lesse of the reward that is then to be given to breach of Faith ; but onely a beliefe grounded upon other mens saying, that they know it supernaturally, or that they know those, that knew them, that knew others, that knew it supernaturally ; Breach of Faith cannot be called a Precept of Reason or Nature. Others, that a,llow for a Law of Nature, the keeping of Covenants not dis- Faith, do neverthelesse make exception of certam persons ; charged by as Heretiques, and such as use not to performe their Covenant ^^^^ Person to others : And this also is against reason. For if any fault *tj^}^g of a man, be sufficient to discharge our Covenant made ; made. the same ought in reason to have been sufficient to have hindred the making of it. The names of Just, and Injust, when they are attributed Justice of . Men &^ to Men, signifie one thmg ; and when they are attributed to /ustice 0/ Actions, another. When they are attributed to Men, they ^^^T" signifie Conformity, or Inconformity of Manners, to Reason. But when they are attributed to Actions, they signifie the Conformity, or Inconformity to Reason, not of Manners, or manner of life, but of particular Actions. A Just man therefore, is he that taketh all the care he can, that his ' Actions may be all Just : and an Unjust man, is he that neglecteth it. And such men are more often in our Language stiled by the names of Righteous, and Unrighteous ; then Just, and Unjust; though the meaning be the same. There- fore a Righteous man, does not lose that Title, by one, or a 112 Fart I. Of MAM. Chap. 15. Justice of Manners, and lustice of Actions. Nothing I done to a man, by his own consent can be In- jury. itw unjust Actions, that proceed from sudden Passion, or mistake of Things, or Persons : nor does an Unrighteous man, lose his character, for such Actions, as he does, or forbeares to do, for feare : because his Will is not framed by the Justice, but by the apparent benefit of what he is to do. That which gives to humane Actions the relish of Justice, is a certain Noblenesse or Gallantnesse of courage, (rarely found,) by which a man scorns to be beholding for the contentment of his life, to fraud, or breach of promise. This Justice of the Manners, is that which is meant, where Justice is called a Vertue; and Injustice a Vice. But the Justice of Actions denominates men, not Just, but Guiltlesse : and the Injustice of the same, (which is also called Injury,) gives them but the name of Guilty. Again, the Injustice of Manners, is the disposition, or aptitude to do Injurie; and is Injustice before it proceed to Act ; and without supposing any individuall person injured. But the Injustice of an Action, (that is to say Injury,) sup- poseth an individuall person Injured ; namely him, to whom the Covenant was made : And therefore many times the injury is received by one man, when the dammage redoundeth to another. As when the Master commandeth his servant to give mony to a stranger ; if it be not done, the Injury is done to the Master, whom he had before Covenanted to obey; but the dammage redoundeth to the stranger, to whom he had no Obligation ; and therefore could not Injure him. And so also in Common-wealths, private men may remit to 75 one another their debts ; but not robberies or other violences, whereby they are endammaged ; because the detaining of Debt, is an Injury to themselves ; but Robbery and Violence, are Injuries to the Person of the Common-wealth. AVhatsoever is done to a man, conformable to his own Will signified to the doer, is no Injury to him. For if he that doeth it, hath not passed away his originall right to do what he please, by some Antecedent Covenant, there is no breach of Covenant; and therefore no Injury done him. And if he have ; then his Will to have it done being signi- fied, "3 tive, and Distribu- Parti. Of MAN. Chap.it,. fied, is a release of that Covenant : and so again there is no Injury done him. Justice of Actions, is by Writers divided into Commuta- commuta- tive, and Distributive : and the former they say consisteth in proportion Arithmetical!; the later in proportion Geo- ^'"^' metricall. Commutative therefore, they place in the equaUty of value of the things contracted for ; And Distributive, in the distribution of equall benefit, to men of equall merit. As if it were Injustice to sell dearer than we buy ; or to give more to a man than he merits. The value of all things contracted for, is measured by the Appetite of the Con- tractors : and therefore the just value, is that which they be contented to give. And Merit (besides that which is by Covenant, where the performance on one part, meriteth the performance of the other part, and falls under Justice Com- mutative, not Distributive,) is not due by Justice; but is rewarded of Grace onely. And therefore this distinction, in the sense wherein it useth to be expounded, is not right. To speak properly, Commutative Justice, is the Justice of a Contractor; that is, a Performance of Covenant, in Buying, and Selling ; Hiring, and Letting to Hire ; Lending, and Borrowing ; Exchanging, Bartering, and other acts of Con- tract. And Distributive Justice, the Justice of an Arbitrator ; that is to say, the act of defining what is Just. Wherein, (being trusted by them that make him Arbitrator,) if he performe his Trust, he is said to distribute to every man his own : and this is indeed Just Distribution, and may be called (though improperly) Distributive Justice ; but more properly Equity ; which also is a Law of Nature, as shall be shewn in due place. As Justice dependeth on Antecedent Covenant ; so does The fourth Gratitude depend on Antecedent Grace; that is to say. Nature, Antecedent Free-gift : and is the fourth Law of Nature ; which may be conceived in this Forme, That a man which receiveth Benefit from a7iother of 7neer Grace, E?ideavour that he which giveth it, have no reasojiaUe cause to repent him of I his 114 Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 15. Thefiftk, Mutuall accoinvio- dation, or Complea- satice. his good will. For no man giveth, but with intention of Good to himselfe; because Gift is Voluntary; aJii_Qfl,all VoIunt arjr_ Acts, the. Ilbie.ctjs to ever^jman his^owjuGsiid ; of which if men see they shall be frustrated, there will be no beginning of benevolence, or trust ; nor consequently of mutuall help ; nor of reconciliation of One man to another ; and therefore they are to remain still in the condition of War; which is contrary to the first and Fundamentall Law of Nature, which commandeth mfen to Seek Peace. The breach of this Law, is called Ingratitude ; dnd hath the same relation to Grace, that Injustice hdth to Obligation by Cov- enant. A fifth Law of Nature, is CoivtPLEASAisrcE ; that is to say, That every mdn stribe to accommodate hinlselfe to the rest. For the understanding whereof, we may consider, that there is in mens aptnesse to Society, a diversity of Nature, rising from their diversity o'f Affections ; not unlike to that we see in stones brought together for building of an ./Edifice. For as that stonfe which by the asperity, dnd irregularity of Figure, takes m'ore room from others, than it selfe fills ; and for the hardriesse, cannot be easily made pilain, and thereby hindereth the building, is by ihe builders cast away as un- profitable, and troublesome : so also, a man that by asperity of Niture, will strive to retain those things which to himselfe Eire superfluous, and to others necessary ; and for the stub- borriness of his Passions, cannot be corrected, is to be left, of cast out of Society, as combersome thereunto. For seeing every marl, riot onely by Right, but also by necessity of Nature, is supposed to endeavour all he can, to obtain {hat which is necessary for his conseirvatioh ; He that shall oppose himselfe against it, for things superfluous, is guilty of the warre that thereupon is to follow ; and therefore doth that, which is contkry to the fundamentall Law of Nature, which coriimahdeth to seek Peace. The observers of this Law, may be called Sociable, (the Latines call them Commodi-) The cdiltrary. Stubborn, Inscciable; F'rdwdrd, Intractable. A 76 Pa.rt\. Of MAN. Chap. \c,. 115 A sixth Law of Nature, is this, That upon caution of the The sixth, Future time, a 7nan ought to pardon the offences past of them Pardon, that repenting, desire it. For Pardon, is nothing but grant- ing of Peace ; which though granted to them that persevere in their hostihty, be not Peace, but Feare ; yet not granted to them that give caution of the Future time, is signe of an aversion to Peace ; and therefore contrary to the Law of Nature. A seventh is, That in Revenges, (that is, retribution of Evil The . seventh, for Evil, ) Men look not attlie great nesse of the evill past, but the that in Re- greatnesse of the good to follow. Whereby we are forbidden respect oneiy to inflict punishment with any other designe, than for cor- Xod"" rection of the offender, or direction of others. For this Law is consequent to the next before it, that commandeth Par- don, upon security of the Future time. Besides, Revenge without respect to the Example, and profit to come, is a tri- umph, or glorying in the hurt of another, tending to no end ; (for the End is alwayes somewhat to Come ;) and glorying to no end, is vain-glory, and contrary to reason; and to hurt without reason, tendeth to the introduction of Warre ; which is against the Law of Nature ; and is commonly stiled by the name of Cruelly. And because all signes of hatred, or contempt, provoke The eighth, against to fight ; insomuch as most men choose rather to hazard Contumely. their life, than not to be revenged ; we may in the eighth place, for a Law of Nature, set down this Precept, Ihat no man by deed, word, countenance, or gesture, declare Hatred, or Contempt of another. The breach of which Law, is com- monly called Contumely. The question who is the better man, has no place in the The ninth, . against condition of meer Nature; where, (as has been shewn before,) Pride. 77 all men are equall. The inequallity that now is, has bin in- troduced by the Lawes civill. I know that Aristotle in the first booke of his Politiques, for a foundation of his doctrine, maketh men by Nature, some more worthy to Command, meaning the wiser sort (such as he thought himselfe to be for his Philosophy ;) others to Serve, (meaning those that had ii6 Parti. Of MAA. Chap. i'^. had strong bodies, but were not Philosophers as he ;) as it Master and Servant were not introduced by consent of men, but by difference of Wit : which is not only against reason ; but also against experience. For there are very few so foolish, that had not rather governe themselves, than be governed by others : Nor when the wise in their own conceit, contend by force, with them who distrust their owne wisdome, do they aUvaies, or often, of almost at any time, get the Victory. If Nature therefore have made men equall, that equalitie is to be acknowledged : of if Nature have made men unequall, yet because men that think themselves equall, will not enter into conditions of Peacej but upon Equall termes, such equalitie must be admitted. And therefore for the ninth law of Nature, I put this. That every man acknowledge other for his Equall by Ndtuir. The breach of this Precept is Pride, a^ain"/''' *"*" ^^^^ ^^^' dependeth another, That at the entrance into Arrogance, conditions of Peace, no man require to reserve to himself e any Right, which he is not content should be reserved to every one of the rest. As it is necessary for all men that seek peace, to lay down certaine Rights of Nature ; that is to say, not to have libertie to do all they list: so is it necessarie for mans life, to retaine some ; as right to governe their owne bodies ; enjoy aire, water, motion, waies to go from place to place • and all things else) without which a man cannot live, or not live well. If in this case, at the making of Peace, men re- quire for themselves, that which they would not have to be granted to others, they do contrary to the precedent law, that commandeth the acknowledgment of naturall equalitie, and therefore also against the law of Nature. The observers of this law, are those we call Modest, and the breakers Arro- gant men. The Greeks call the violation of this law ■KXioviliA ; that is, a desife of more than their share. elJienth, ^^'^ ^^ ^ ^'^'^'^ ^^ trusted to judge between man and man, it P-i«»y- is a precept of the Law of Nature, that he deale Equally between them. For without that, the Cdntfoversies of men cannot be detef mined but by Warre: Hd therefore that is / partia^il ^'^''^'- Of MAN. Cha^.is. H7 partiall in judgment, doth what in hira lies, to deterre men from the use of Judges, and Arbitrators; and consequently, (against the fundamentall Lawe of Nature) is the cause of Warre. The observance of this law, from the equall distribution to each man, of that which in reason belongeth to him, is called E Q u I T Y, and (as I have sayd before) distributive Justice : the violation, Acception of persons, -n-poauTroXriijia. And from this foUoweth another law, TAaf such things as Thetweifth cannot be divided, be enjoyed in Common, if it can be ; and if of "things' the quantity of the thing permit , without Stint ; otherwise Pro- '^'""""'"■ portionably to the number of them that have Right. For otherwise the distribution is Unequall, and contrary to Equitie. 78 But some things there be, that can neither be divided, Tiu thir- nor enjoyed in common. Then, The Law of Nature, which ut. ' prescribeth Equity, requireth, That the Entire Right ; or else, (making the use alternate,) the First Possession, be determined by Lot. For equall distribution, is of the Law of NaturelJ and other means of equall distribution cannot be imaginedj Of Lots there be two sorts, Arbitrary, and Naturall. Ar- Thefour- bitrary, is that which is agreed on by the Competitors : Eumo^ii. Naturall, is either Primogenititre, (which the Greek calls pJr'st^" KXripuvofiia which signifies, Given by Lot ;) or First Seisure. ^^"t?. And therefore those things which cannot be enjoyed in common, nor divided, ought to be adjudged to the First Possessor ; and in some cases to the First-Borne, as acquired by Lot. It is also a Law of Nature, That all men that mediate Theff- teentk, of Peace, be allowed safe Conduct. For the Law that com- Mediators. mandeth Peace, as the End, commandeth Intercession, as the Means -jdiviA to Intercession the Means, is safe Conduct. And because, though men be never so willing to observe The six- teenth, of these Lawes, there may neverthelesse arise questions con- Submission cernuig a mans action ; First, whether it were done, or not ^e„^_ done ; Secondly (if done) whether against the Law, or not kgainst the Law ; the former whereof, is called a question ' Of ii8 Part I. Of MAN. Chap. 15. The seven- teenth, No man is his 'own yudge. The eigh- teenth, no inan to be Judge, that has 171 him a natural cause of Partiality. The nine- teentli, of Witnesses. A Rule, by which the Laws of Nature may easily be exam- ined. Of Fact; the later a question Of Right; therefore unlesse the parties to the question, Covenant mutually to stand to the sentence of another, they are as farrefrom Peace as ever. This other, to whose Sentence they submit, is called an Arbitrator. And therefore it is of the Law of Nature, That they that are at controversies submit their Right to the judgement of an Arbitrator. And seeing every man is presumed to do all things in order to his own benefit, no man is a fit Arbitrator in his own cause : and if he were never so fit ; yet Equity allowing to each party equall benefit, if one be admitted to be Judge, the other is to be admitted also, & so the controversie, that is, the cause of War, remains, against the Law of Nature. For the same reason no man in any Cause ought to be received for Arbitrator, to whom greater profit, or honour, or pleasure apparently ariseth out of the victory of one party, than of the other : for hee hath taken (though an unavoyd- able bribe, yet) a bribe ; and no man can be obliged to trust him. And thus also the controversie, and the condition of War remaineth, contrary to the Law of Nature. And in a controversie of Fact., the Judge being to give no more credit to one, than to the other, (if there be no other Arguments) must give credit to a third ; or to a third and fourth ; or more : For else the question is undecided, and left to force, contrary to the Law of Naturet These are the Lawes of Nature, dictating Peace, for a means of the conservation of men in multitudes ; and- which onely concern the doctrine of Civill Society. There be other things tending to the destruction of particular men ; as Drunkenness, and all other parts of Intemperance ; which may therefore also be reckoned amongst those things which the Law of Nature hath forbidden ; but are not necessary to be mentioned, nor are pertinent enough to this place. And though this may seem too subtile a deduction of the Lawes of Nature, to be taken notice of by all men ; where- of the most part are too busie in getting food, and the rec-t too negligent to understand; yet to leave all men unex- cusable t 79 ^^^''l- Of MAN. Chap. II. iiy cusable, they have been contracted into one easie sum, intelligible, even to the meanest capacity ; and that is, Do not that to another, which thou wouldest not have done to thy selfe; which sheweth him, that he has no more to dp in learning the Lawes of Nature, but, wh^n weighing the actions of other men with his own, they seem too heavy, tq put them into the other part of the ballance, and his own into their place, that his own passions, and selfe-love, niay adde nothing to the weight ; and then there is none of these Lawes of Nature that will not appear uqto him very reasonable. The Lawes of Nature oblige in foro interno ; that is to '^^ Law^es , , . , , . ' of Nature' say, they bmd to a desire they should takp place : but in oblige in foro externa ; that is, to the putting them in act, not always, aiwayes, ' For he that should be modest, and tra.ctable, and performs \teTofily' all he promises, in such time, and place, where no man els ?''^S" ''^T* '^ ' r ' , :.'.• IS Security. should do so, should but make himselfe a prey to others, and procure his own certain ruine, contrary to the grpund of all Lawes of Nature, which tend to Natures preservation. And again, he that having sufficient Security, that others shall observe the same Lawes towards him, observes them not himselfe, seeketh not Peace, but War ; & consequently the destruction of his Nature by Violence. And whatsoever Lawes bind in foro interno, may be broken, not onely by a fact contrary to the Law, but also by a fact according to it, in case a man think it contrary. For though his Action in this case, be according to the Law; yet his Purpose was against the Law ; which where the Obligation is in foro interno, is a breach. The Lawes of Nature are Immutable and Eternall ; For The Laws i Injustice, Ingratitude, Arrogance, Pride, Iniquity, Acception are Eter- of persons, and the rest, can never be made lawfull. For it "'^ ' can never be that Warre shall preserve life, and Peace destroy it. The same Lawes, because they oblige onely to a desire. And yet Easie. and endeavour, I mean an unfeigned and constant en- deavour, are easie to be observed. For in that they require nothing 120 Parti. Of MAN. Chap. i';,. nothing but endeavour; he that endeavoureth their per- formance, fulfilleth them ; and he that fulfiUeth the Law, is Just. TheScience And the Science of them, is the true and onely Moral of these Lawes, is Philosophy. For Morall Philosophy is nothing else but Morall the Science of what is Good, and Evill, m the conversation, Philosophy, ^^j Society of man-kind. Good, and Evill, are names that signifie our Appetites, and Aversions ; which in different tempers, customes, and doctrines of men, are different : And divers men, differ not onely in their Judgement, on the senses of what is pleasant, and unpleasant to the tast, smell, hearing, touch, and sight ; but also of what is conformable, or disagreeable to Reason, in the actions of common life. Nay, the same man, in divers times, differs from himselfe ; and one time praiseth, that is, calleth Good, what another time he dispraiseth, and calleth Evill : From whence arise 80 Disputes, Controversies, and at last War. And therefore so long a man is in the condition of meer Nature, (which is a condition of War,) as private Appetite is the measure of Good, and Evill : And consequently all men agree on this, that Peace is Good, and therefore also the way, or means of Peace, which (as I have shewed before) are jFustice, Grati- tude, Modesty, Equity, Mercy, & the rest of the Laws cf Nature, are good ; that is to say, Morall Vertues ; and their contrarie Vices, Evill. Now the science of Vertue and Vice, is Morall Philosophic ; and therfore the true Doctrine of the Lawes of Nature, is the true Morall Philosophic. But the Writers of Morall Philosophic, though they acknowledge the same Vertues and Vices ; Yet not seeing wherein con- sisted their Goodnesse ; nor that they come to be praised, as the meanes of peaceable, sociable, and comfortable living; place them in a mediocrity of passions : as if not the Cause, but the Degree of daring, made Fortitude; or not the Cause, but the Quantity of a gift, made Liberality. These dictates of Reason, men use to call by the name of Lawes, but improperly : for they are but Conclusions, or Theoremes concerning what conduceth to the conservation and ^'"'^'- Of MAN. Chap. i6. and defence of themselves ; wheras LaWj_ properly is the word of him, that by righ t hath command over others. ' But yet if we consider the same Theoremes, as delivered in the word of God,, that by right commandeth all things; then are they properly called Lawes. V. CHAP. XV J. Of Persons, Authors, and things Personated. A Person, is he, whose words or actions are con- A Person what. sidered, either as his own, or as representing the words or actions of an other man, or of any other thing to whom they are attributed, whether Truly or by Fiction. When they are considered as his owne, then is he called Person Na- a N'aturall Person : And when they are considered repre- Arlifidaii. senting the words and actions of an other, then is he a Feigned or Artificiall person. The word Person is latin e : insteed whereof the Greeks The word have irpoauiirov, which signifies the Face, as Persona in latine whence. signifies the disguise, or outward appearance of a man, coun- terfeited on the Stage ; and somtimes more particularly that part of it, which disguiseth the face, as a Mask or Visard : And from the Stage, hath been translated to any Representer of speech and action, as well in Tribunalls, as Theaters. So that a Person, is the same that an Actor is, both on the Stage and in common Conversation ; and to Personate, is to Act, or Represent himselfe, or an other ; and he that acteth another, is said to beare his Person, or act in his name ; (in which sence Cicero useth it where he sales, Unus sustineo tres Personas ; Met, Adversarii, &= y^udicis, I beare three Persons ; my own, my Adversaries, and the Judges ;) and is 81 called in diverse occasions, diversly; as a Representer, ox Representative, a Lieutenant, a Vicar, an Attorney, a Deputy, a Procurator, an Actor, and the like. Of 123 Pari I. Of MAN. Chap. 1 6. Actor. Author. Authority. Covenants by Autho- rity, bind the Author. But not the Actor. The.Autlw- rity is to be shewne. Of Persons Artificial], some have their words and actions Owned by those whom they represent. And then the Person is the Actor ; and he that owneth his words and actions, is the Author: In which case the Actor acteth by Authority. For that which in speaking of goods and possessions, is called an Owner, and in latine Dontinus, in Greeke i^pioe ; speaking of Actions, is called Author. And as the Right of possession, is called Dominion ; so the Right of doing any Action, is called Authority. So that by Authority, is alwayes under- stood a Right of doing any act : and done by Authority, done by Commissioi, or Licence from him whose right it is. From hence it folio weth, that when the Actor maketh a Covenant by Authority, he bindeth thereby the Author, no lesse than if he had made it himselfe ; and no lesse subjecteth him to all the consequences of the same. And therfore all that hath been said formerly, {Chap. 14.) of the nature of Covenants between man and man in their naturall capacity, is true also when they are made by their Actors, Repre- senters, or Procurators, that have authority from them, so far-forth as is in their Commission, but no farther. And therefore he that maketh a Covenant with the Actor, or Representer, not knowing the Authority he hath, doth it at his own perill. For no man is obliged by a Covenant, whereof he is not Author ; nor consequently by a Covenant made against, or beside the Authority he gave. When the Actor doth any thing against the Law of Nature by command of the Author, if he be obliged by former Covenant to obey him, not he, but the Author breaketh the Law of Nature : for though the Action be against the Law of Nature ; yet it is not his : but contrarily, to refuse to do it, is against the Law of Nature, that forbiddeth breach of Covenant. And he that maketh a Covenant with the Author, by mediation of the Actor, not knowing what Authority he hath, but onely takes his word ; in case such Authority be not made manifest unto him upon demand, is no longer obliged: For the Covenant made with the Author, is not valid, with- out Parti. Of MAN. Chap. \(>. 123 out his Counter-assurance. But if he that so Covenanteth, knew before hand he was to expect no other assurance, than the Actors word ; then is the Covenant valid ; because the Actor in this case maketh himselfe the Author. And there- fore, as when the Authority is evident, the Covenant obHgeth the Author, not the Actor ; so when the Authority is feigned, it obHgeth the Actor onely; there being no Author but himselfe. There are few things, that are uncapable of being repre- T'^^"^' , ^ sented by Fiction. Inanimate things, as a Church, an ^"animate. Hospital, a Bridge, may be Personated by a F.ector, Master, or Overseer. But things Inanimate, cannt . be Authors, nor therefore give Authority to their Actors : Yet the Actors 82 may have Authority to procure their maintenance, given them by those that are Owners, or Governours of those things. And therefore, such things cannot be Personated, before there be some state of Civill Government. Likewise Children, Fooles, and Mad-men that have no irrational; use of Reason, may be Personated by Guardians, or Curators; but can be no Authors (during that time) of any action done by them, longer then (when they shall recover the use of Reason) they shall judge the same reasonable. Yet during the Folly, he that hath right of governing them, may give Authority to the Guardian. But this again has no place but in a State Civill, because before such estate, there is no Dominion of Persons. An Idol, or meer Figment of the brain, may be Personated; False Gods; as were the Gods of the Heathen ; which by such Officers as the State appointed, were Personated, and held Posses- sions, and other Goods, and Rights, which men from time to time dedicated, and consecrated unto them. But Idols cannot be Authors : for an Idol is nothing. The Authority proceeded from the State : and therefore before introduction of Civill Government, the Gods of the Heathen could not be Personated. The true God may be Personated. As he was ; first, by ^^^/''"'^ Moses ; who governed the Israelites, (that were not his, but Gods 124 P<^^t I. Of MAN. Chap. I 6 A Multi- tude of Tnen, how one Person. Every one is Author. An Actor may be Many men made One by Plural- ity of Voy- Represen- tatives, wiien the number is even, un- profitable. Gods people,) not in his own name, with Hoc dicit Moses ; but in Gods Name, with Hoc dicit Dominus. Secondly by the Son of man, his own Son, our Blessed Saviour yems Christ, that came to reduce the Jewes, and induce all Nations into the Kingdome of his Father ; not as of himselfe, but as sent from his Father. And thirdly, by the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, speaking, and working in the Apostles : which Holy Ghost, was a Comforter that came not of himselfe ; but was sent, and proceeded from them both. A Multitude of men, are made One Person, when they are by one man, or one Person, Represented ; so that it be done with the consent of every one of that Multitude in particular. For it is the Unity of the Representer, not the Unity of the Represented, that maketh the Person One. And it is the Representer that beareth the Person, and but one Person : And Unity, cannot otherwise be understood in Multitude. And because the Multitude naturally is not One, but Many ; they cannot be understood for one; but many Authors, of every thing their Representative saith, or doth in their name ; Every man giving their common Representer, Authority from himselfe in particular ; and owning all the actions the Representer doth, in case they give him Authority without stint : Otherwise, when they limit him in what, and how farre he shall represent them, none of them owneth more, than they gave him commission to Act. And if the Representative consist of many men, the voyce of the greater number, must be considered as the voyce of them all. For if the lesser number pronounce (for example) in the Affirmative, and the greater in the Negative, there will be Negatives more than enough to destroy the Affirma- tives; and thereby the excesse of Negatives, standing uncontradicted, are the onely voyce the Representative hath. And a Representative of even number, especially when the number is not great, whereby the contradictory voyces are oftentimes equall, is therefore oftentimes mute, and uncapable of 83 iarti. Of MAN. Chap. i6. 125 1. I Action. Yet in some cases contradictory voyces equall inumber, may determine a question ; as in condemning, or solving, equality of votes, even in that they condemne not, absolve ; but not on the contrary condemne, in that they i olve not. For when a Cause is heard ; not to condemne, i: p absolve ; but on the contrary, to say that not absolving, is condemning, is not true. The like it is in a deliberation of executing presently, or deferring till another time : For when the voyces are equall, the not decreeing Execution, is a decree of Dilation. Or if the number be odde, as three, or more, (men, or as- Negative ^ voyce. semblies;) whereof every one has by a Negative Voice, authority to take away the effect of all the Affirmative Voices of the rest, This number is no Representative ; because by the diversity of Opinions, and Interests of men, it becomes oftentimes, and in cases of the greatest consequence, a mute Person, and unapt, as for many things else, so for the govern- ment of a Multitude, especially in the time of Warre. Of Authors there be two sorts. The first simply so called; which I have before defined to be hira, that owneth the Action of another simply. The second is he, that owneth an Action, or Covenant of another conditionally ; that is to say, he undertaketh to do it, if the other doth it not, at, or before a certain time. And these Authors conditional!, are generally called Suretyes, in Latine Fidejussores, and Sfonsores ; and particularly for Debt, Prcedes ; and for Ap- pearance before a Judge, or Magistrate, Fades. OF Parti. Chap. 17. 137 OF COMMON- WEALTH. CHAP. XVII. Of the Causes, Generation, and Definition of a Commo'n-Wealth. 85 'T~^He finall Cause, End, or Designe of men, (who natu- The End or \_ rally love Liberty, and Dominion over others,) m tliHs wealth, introduction of that restraint upon themselves, (in which wee Security .•' see them live in Common-wealths,) is the foresight of their own preservation, and of a more contented life thereby; that is to say, of getting themselves out from that miserable condition of Warre, which is necessarily consequent (as hath been shewn) to the naturall Passions of then, when there is Chap. 13. no visible Power to keep theni ih awe, and tye them by feare of punishment to the peirforniance df thdir Covenants, and observation of thbse Lawds of Natdre set Aoiiix in the four- teenth and fifteferith Chapters. For the Lawes of Nature (as justice, Equity, Modesty, ^^^^^/^^^ Mercy, and (in summe) doing to others, as wee would be done from the to,) of themselves, without the tferrour of some Power, to Nature: cause thfem to be observed, are contrary to our naturall Passions; that carry us to I*aftiallty, Pride, Revenge, and the like. And Covenants, without the Sword, are but Words, and bf no strength to secure a man at all. Therefore not- withstanding the Lawes of Nature, (which every one hath thfen kept, when he has the will to keep them, when he can dd it safely,) if there be no Power erected, or not great enough for our security ; every man will, and may lawfully fely on his own strength and art, for caution against all other 128 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 17. Nor from the conjunc- tion of a few men or family es : Nor from a great Mul- titude, unlesse . directed by one judge- m.ent : Other men. And in all places, where men have lived by small Families, to robbe and spoyle one another, has been a Trade, and so farre from being reputed against the Law of Nature, that the greater spoils they gained, the greater was their honour; and men observed no other Lawes therein, but the Lawes of Honour; that is, to abstain from cruelty, leaving to men their lives, and instruments of husbandry. And as small Familyes did then ; so now do Cities and Kingdomes which are but greater Families (for their own security) enlarge their Dominions, upon all pretences of danger and fear of Invasion, or assistance that may be given to Invaders, endeavour as much as they can, to subdue, or weaken their neighbours, by open force, and secret arts, for want of other Caution, justly ; and are remembred for it in after ages with honour. Nor is it the joyning together of a small number of men, that gives them this security; because in small numbers, small additions on the one side or the other, make the ad- vantage of strength so great, as is sufficient to carry the Victory ; and therefore gives encouragement to an Invasion. The Multitude sufficient to confide in for our Security, is not determined by any certain number, but by comparison with the Enemy we feare ; and is then sufficient, when the odds of the Enemy is not of so visible and conspicuous mo- ment, to determine the event of warre, as to move him to attempt. And be there never so great a Multitude; yet if their actions be directed according to their particular judgements, and particular appetites, they can expect thereby no defence, nor protection, neither against a Common enemy, nor against the injuries of one another. For being distracted in opi- nions concerning the best use and application of their strength, they do not help, but hinder one another; and reduce their strength by mutuall opposition to nothing : whereby they are easily, not onely subdued by a very few that agree together; but also when there is no common enemy, they make warre upon each other, for their particular interests. 86 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ij. 129 interests. For if we could suppose a great Multitude of men to consent in the observation of Justice, and other Lawes of Nature, without a common Power to keep them all in awe ; we might as well suppose all Man-kind to do the same ; and then there neither would be, nor need to be any Civill Government, or Common-wealth at all ; because there would be Peace without subjection. Nor is it enough for the security, which men desire should ^"'i that . continually last all the time of their life, that they be governed, and directed by one judgement, for a limited time ; as in one Battell, or one Warre. For though they obtain a Victory by their unanimous endeavour against a forraign enemy; yet afterwards, when either they have no common enemy, or he that by one part is held for an enemy, is by another part held for a friend, they must needs by the difference of their interests dissolve, and fall again into a Warre amongst them- selves. It is true, that certain living creatures, as Bees, and Ants, W^y^r- iain crea- live sociably one with another, (which are therefore by tuns with- . _,,..,, out reason, Aristotle numbred amongst Politicall creatures ;) and yet or speech, have no other direction, than their particular judgements theiesse live and appetites ; nor spefech, whereby one of them can signifie ^/^";,"f'''' to another, what he thinks expedient for the common benefit : "^y '£f^' cive Power. and therefore some man may perhaps desire to know, why Man-kind cannot do the same. To which I answer. First, that men are continually in competition for Honour and Dignity, which these creatures are not ; and conse- quently amongst men there ariseth on that ground, Envy and Hatred, and finally Warre ; but amongst these not so. Secondly, that amongst these creatures,' the Common good differeth not from the Private ; and being by nature enclined to their private, they procure thereby the common benefit. But man, whose Joy consisteth in comparing himselfe with other men, can relish nothing but what is eminent. Thirdly, that these creatures, having not (as man) the use of reason, do not see, nor think they see any fault, in 87 the administration of their common businesse : whereas K amongst 130 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 17. amongst men, there are very many, that thinke themselves wiser, and abler to govern the Publique, better than the rest ; and these strive to reforme and innovate, one this way, another that way ; and thereby bring it into Distraction and Civill warre. Fourthly, that these creatures, though they have some use of voice, in making knowne to one another their desires, and other affections ; yet they want that art of words, by which some men can represent to others, that which is Good, in the likenesse of Evill ; and Evill, in the likenesse of Good ; and augment, or diminish the apparent great- nesse of Good and Evill ; discontenting men, and troubling their Peace at their pleasure. Fiftly, irrationall creatures cannot distinguish betweene Injury, and Dammage ; and therefore as long as they be at ease, they are not offeinded with their fellowes : whereas Man is then most troublesome, when he is most at ease : for then it is that he loves to shew his Wisdome, and controule the Actions of them that governe the Common- wealth. Lastly, the agreemeilt of these creatures is Naturall; that of men, is by Covenant only, which is Artificiall : and therefore it is no wonder if there be somwhat else required (besides Covenant) to rtiake their Agreement constant and lasting ; which is a Common Power, to keep them in awe, and to direct their actions to the Common Benefit. Tke Gener- The only way to erect such a Common Power, as may be ation of a , Common- able to defend them from the invasion of Forraigners, and "Wealth. the mjuries of one another, and thereby to secure them m such sort, as that by their owne industrie, and by the fruites of the Earth, they may nourish themselves and live contentedly ; is, to conferre all their power and strength upon one Man, or upon one Assembly of men, that may reduce all their Wills, by plurality of voices, unto one Will : which is as much as to say, to appoint one Man, or Assembly of men, to beare their Person ; and every one to owne, and acknowledge himselfe to be Author of what- soever Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ij. 131 soever he that so beareth their Person, shall Act, or cause to be Acted, in those things which concerne the Common Peace and Safetie ; and therein to submit their Wills, every one to his Will, and their Judgements, to his Judgment. This is more than Consent, or Concord ; it is a reall Unitie of them all, in one and the same Person, made by Covenant of every man with every man, in such manner, as if every man should say to every man, I Authorise and give up my Right of Governing my selfe, to this Man, or to this Assembly of men, on this condition, that thou give up thy Right to him, and Authorise all his Actions in like manner. This done, the Multitude so united in one Person, is called a Common- wealth, in latine C i v i t a s. This is the Generation of that great Leviathan, or rather (to speake more reve- rently) of that Mortall God, to which wee owe under the Immortall God, our peace and deferlce. For by this Authoritie, given him by every piarticulai^ min in the Common- Wealth, he hath the use of Sd rrluch Power and 88 Strength conferred on him, that by terroi^ thereof, he is inabled to conforme the wills of them all, td I'eace at home and mutuall ayd against their enemies abroad. And in him consisteth the Essence of the Common-wealth ; which (to define it,) is One Person, of whose Acts a great Multitude, The Defini- tion of a by mutuall Covenants one with another, have made themselves Common- every one the Author, to the end he may use the strength and means of them all, as he shall tliink expedient, for their Peace and Common Deferue. And he that carryeth this Person, is called Sdv.eraigne, So%>e- and said to have Soveraigne Power; and every dne besides, ^suijec't'!" his S u B I e c T. '^'"''- ' The attaining to this Soveraigne Power, is by two wayes. One, by Naturall f orce ; as when a man maketh his children, to submit themselves, and their children to his government, as being able to destr oy them if they refuse ; or by Warre-^suhdiifiiJi his enemies to his will, giving them their lives on that condition. The other, is when men agree amongst themselves, to submit to some Man, or Assembly 132 Partn. ' Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. \%. Assembly of men, voluntarily, on confidence to be pro- tected by him against all others. This later, may be called a Politicall Common-wealth, or Common-wealth by In- stitution ; and the former, a Common-wealth by Acquisition. And first, I shall speak of a Common-wealth by Institution. CHAP. XVIII. Of the Rights of Soveraignes hy Institution. The act of A Common-wealth is said to be Instituted, when a Mul- Instituting / \ a Common- ±\_ titude of men do Agree, and Covenant, every one, with "WEfZ It/z what. ' every one, that to whatsoever Man, or Asseinbly of Men, shall be given by the major pstrt, the Right to Present the Person of them all, (that is to say, to be their Repre- sentative ]) every one, as well he that Voted for it, as he that Voted against it, shall Authorise all the Actions and Judgements, of that Man, or Assembly of men, in the same manner, as if they were his own, to the end, to live peaceably amongst themselves, and be protected against other men. The Conse- From this Institution of a Common-wealth are derived quences to such insti- all the Rights, and Facultyes of him, or them, on whom The'^''' Soveraigne Power is conferred by the consent of the ^::^ People assembled. change the pfrst, because they Covenant, it is to be understood, TOfiftc or govern- they are not obliged by former Covenant to any thing repugnant hereunto. And Consequently they that have already Instituted a Common-wealth, being thereby bound by Covenant, to own the Actions, and Judgements of one, cannot lawfully maise a new Covenant; ahiongst themselves, to be obedient to any other, in any thing whatsoever, without his permission. And therefore, they that are subjects to a Monarch, cannot without his leave cast off Monarchy, and return to the confusion of a disunited Multitude; nor transferre their Person from him that beareth it, to another Man, Part -2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. \%. 133 89 Man, or other Assembly of men : for they are bound, every man to every man, to Own, and be reputed Author of all, that he that already is their Soveraigne, shall do, and judge fit to be done : so that any one man dissenting, all the rest should break their Covenant made to that man, which is injustice : and they have also every man given the Sove- raignty to him that beareth their Person ; and therefore if they depose him, they take from him that which is his own, and so again it is injustice. Besides, if he that attempteth to depose his Soveraign, be killed, or punished by him for such attempt, he is author of his own punishment, as being by the Institution, Author of all his Soveraign shall do : And because it is injustice for a man to do any thing, for which he may be punished by his own authority, he is also upon that title, unjust. And whereas some men have pre- tended for their disobedience to their Soveraign, a new Covenant, made, not with men, but with God; this also is unjust : for there is no Covenant with God, but by mediation of some body that representeth Gods Person ; which none doth but Gods Lieutenant, who hath the Sove- raignty under God. But this pretence of Covenant with God, is so evident a lye, even in the pretenders own con- sciences, that it is not onely an act of an unjust, but also of a vile, and unmanly disposition. Secondly, Because the Right of bearing the Person of 2- Sove- them. all, is given to him they make Soveraigne, by Covenant Power , , cannot he onely of one to another, and not of him to any of them ; forfeited. there can happen no breach of Covenant on the part of the Soveraigne ; and consequently none of his Subjects, by any pretence of forfeiture, can be freed from his Subjection. That he which is made Soveraigne maketh no Covenant with his Subjects before-hand, is manifest ; because either he must make it with the whole multitude, as one party to the Covenant ; or he must make a severall Covenant with every man. With the whole, as one party, it is impossible ;.because as yet they are not one Person : and if he make so many severall Covenants as there be men, those Covenants after he 134 Part ■I. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. \Z. he hath the Soveraignty are voyd, because what act soever can be pretended by any one of them for breach thereof, is the act both of himselfe, and of all the rest, because done in the Person, and by the Right of every one of them in particular. Besides, if any one, or more of them, pretend a breach of the Covenant made by the Soveraigne at his In- stitution ; and others, or one other of his Subjects, or him- selfe alone, pretend there was no such breach, there is in this case, no Judge to decide the controversie : it returns therefore to the Sword again ; and every man recovereth the right of Protecting himselfe by his own strength, contrary to the designe they had in the Institution. It is therefore in vain to grant Soveraignty by way of precedent Covenant. The opinion that any Monarch receiveth his Power by Covenant, that is to say on Condition, proceedeth from want of understanding this easie truth, that Covenants being but words, and breath, have no force to oblige, contain, constrain, or protect any man, but what it has from the publique Sword ; that is, from the untyed hands of that Man, or Assembly of men that hath the Soveraignty, and whose actions are avouched by them all, and performed by the 90 strength of them all, in him united. But when an Assembly of men is made Soveraigne; then no man imagineth any such Covenant to have past in the Institution ; for no man is so dull as to say, for example, the People of Rome, made a Covenant with the Romans, to hold the Soveraignty on such or such conditions ; which not performed, the Romans might lawfully depose the Roman People. That men see not the reason to be alike in a Monarchy, and in a Popular Government, proceedeth from the ambition ot some, that are kinder to the governient of an Assembly, whereof they may hope to participate, than of Monarchy, which they despair to enjoy. fa^withiut '^^"'^^y' because the major part hath by consenting voices injustice declared a Soveraigne ; he that dissented must now consent protest 'It 1-1 against the With the rest ; that is, be contented to avow all the actions he shall do, or else justly be destroyed by the rest. For if he Part 2. Of COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 1 8. I3S he voluntarily entered into the Congregation of them that of the s times IS2 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 20. times to whole Nations, and sometimes to Principall men of every Nation they conquered, not onely the Privileges, but also the Name of Romans ; and took many of them into the Senate, and Offices of charge, even in the Roman City. And this was it our most wise King, King yames, aymed at, in endeavouring the Union of his two Realms of England and Scotlatid. Which if he could have obtained, had in all likeli- hood prevented the Civill warres, which make both those Kingdomes, at this present, miserable. It is not therefore any injury to the people, for a Monarch to dispose of the Succession by Will; though by the fault of many Princes, it hath been sometimes found inconvenient. Of the lawfulnesse of it, this also is an argument, that whatsoever inconvenience can arrive by giving a Kingdome to a stranger, may arrive also by so marrying with strangers, as the Right of Succession may descend upon them ; yet this by all men is accounted lawfull. CHAP. XX. Of JDominion Paternall, and Despoticall. ACommon- A Commou-wealth by Acquisition, is that, where the Sove- wealth by / \ Acquisi- ±\_ raign Power is acquired by Force ; And it is acquired by force, when men singly, or many together by plurality of voyces, for fear of death, or bonds, do authorise all the actions of that Man, or Assembly, that hath their lives and 102 liberty in his Power. Wherein And this kind of Dominion, or Soveraignty, dififereth from fnmT Soveraignty by Institution, onely in this, That men who" wZml'y choose their Soveraign, do it for fear of one another, and Institution, not of him whom they Institute : But in this case, they subject themselves, to him they are afraid of In both cases they do it for fear : which is to be noted by them, that hold all such Covenants, as proceed from fear of death, or vio- lence, voyd : which if it were true, no man, in any kind of Common-wealth, Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 20. 153 Common-wealth, could be obliged to Obedience. It is true, that in a Common-wealth once Instituted, or acquired, Promises proceeding from fear of death, or violence, are no Covenants, nor obliging, when the .thing promised is contrary to the Lawes ; But the reason is not, because it was made upon fear, but because he that promiseth, hath no right in the thing promised. Also, when he may lawfully performe, and doth not, it is not the Invahdity of the Cove- nant, that absolveth \ivca, but-the Sentence of the Sove- I raign. Otherwise, whensoever a man lawfully promiseth, he unlawfully breaketh : But when the Soveraign, who is the ( Actor, acquitteth him, then he is acquitted by him that ex- torted the promise, as by the Author of such absolution. I But the Rights, and Consequences of Soveraignty, are the The Rights \ same in both, His Power cannot, without his consent, be rai<'nty the ' Transferred to another : He cannot Forfeit it : He cannot ^^J^^ "' be Accused by any of his Subjects, of Injury : He cannot be Punished by them : He is Judge of what is necessary for Peace ; and Judge of Doctrines : He is Sole Legislator ; and Supreme Judge of Controversies ; and of the Times, and /Occasions of Warre, and Peace : to him it belongeth to choose / Magistrates, Counsellours, Commanders, and all other Officers, and Ministers ; and to determine of Rewards, and Punishments, Honour, and Order. The reasons whereof, , are the same which are alledged in the precedent Chapter, ^for the same Rights, and Consequences of Soveraignty by Institution. Dominion is acquired two wayes ; By Generation, and by Dominion ^ ■' ' ■' . . Paternall Conquest. The right of Dominion by Generation, is that, how at- which the Parent hath over his Children ; and is called Paternall. And is not so derived from the Genera- tion, as if therefore the Parent had Dominion over his Child Not hy ^, ., , ^ . , Generation because he begat him ; but from the Childs Consent, either i,ut h expresse, or by other sufficient arguments declared. For as to the Generation, God hath ordained to man a helper ; and there be alwayes two that are equally Parents : the Dominion therefore over the Child, should belong equally to both ; and he Contract, 154 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 10. he be equally subject to both, which is impossible; for no man can obey two Masters. And whereas some have attributed the Dominion to the Man onely, as being of the more excellent Sex ; they misreckon in it. For there is not alwayes that difference of strength, or prudence between the man and the woman, as that the right can be determined without War. In Common-wealths, this controversie is decided by the Civill Law : and for the most part, (but not alwayes) the sentence is in favour of the Father ; because for the most part Common-wealths have been erected by the 103 Fathers, not by the Mothers of famihes. But the question lyeth now in the state of meer Nature ; where there are sup- posed no lawes of Matrimony ; no lawes for the Education of Children ; but the Law of Nature, and the naturall incli- nation of the Sexes, one to another, and to their children. In this condition of meer Nature, either the Parents between themselves dispose of the dominion over the Child by Con- tract ; or do not dispose thereof at all. If they dispose thereof, the right passeth according to the Contract. We find in History that the Amazons Contracted with the Men of the neighbouring Countries, to whom they had recourse for issue, that the issue Male should be sent back, but the Female remain with themselves : so that the dominion of the Females was in the Mother. OrEduca- If there be no Contract, the Dominion is in the Mother. For in the condition of meer Nature, where there are no Matrimoniall lawes, it cannot be known who is the Father, unlesse it be declared by the Mother : and therefore the right of Dominion over the Child dependeth on her will, and is consequently hers. Again, seeing the Infant is first in the power of the Mother, so as she may either nourish, or expose it ; if she nourish it, it oweth its life to the Mother ; and is therefore obliged to obey her, rather than any other ; and by consequence the Dominion over it is hers. But if she ex- pose it, and another find, and nourish it, the Dominion is in him that nourisheth it. For it ought to obey him by whom it is preserved ; because preservation of life being the end, Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. zo. 155 end, for which one man becomes subject to another, every man is supposed to promise obedience, to him, in whose power it is to save, or destroy him. If the Mother be the Fathers subject, the Child, is in the Or Pme- Fathers power : and if the Father be the Mothers subject, lionl/fne (as when a Soveraign Queen marrieth one of her subjects,) %Jr"„t, to the Child is subject to the Mother; because the Father also "^"^^r- is her subject. If a man and a woman, Monarches of two severall King- domes, have a Child, and contract concerning who shall have the Dominion of him, the Right of the Dominion passeth by the Contract If they contract not, the Dominion followeth the Dominion of the place of his- residence. For the Soveraign of each Country hath Dominion over all that reside therein. He that hath the Dominion over the Child, hath Do- minion also over the Children of the Child ; and over their Childrens Children. For he that hath Dominion over the person of a man, hath Dominion over all that is his; without which, Dominion were but a Title, without the effect. The Right of Succession to Paternall Dominion, pro- Tke Right ceedeth in the same manner, as doth the Right of Succession %g^ '7ouJw- to Monarchy; of which I have already sufficiently spoken "jl^f^ f in the precedent chapter. ''i' Right of Posscs- Dominion acquired by Conquest, or Victory in war, is sion. that which some Writers call Despoticall, from AEtrworTjc, Dominion which signifieth a Lord, or Master ; and is the Dominion of t°^,^^] the Master over his Servant. And this Dominion is then 104 acquired to the Victor, when the Vanquished, to avoyd the present stroke of death, covenanteth either in expresse words, or by other sufficient signes of the Will, that so long as his life, and the liberty of his body is allowed him, the Victor shall have the use thereof, at his pleasure. And after such Covenant made, the Vanquished isaSERVANT, and not before : for by the word Servant (whether it be derived from Servire, to Serve, or from Servare, to Save, which I leave to Grammarians to dispute) is not meant a Captive, which 156 Part 2. Of COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 20. Not iy the Victory, but by the Consent of the Van- quished. which is kept in prison, or bonds, till the owner of him that took him, or bought him of one that did, shall consider what to do with him : (for such men, (commonly called Slaves,) have no obligation at all; but may break their bonds, or the prison ; and kill, or carry away captive their Master, justly :) but one, that being taken, hath corporall liberty allowed him ; and upon promise not to run away, nor to do violence to his Master, is trusted by him. It is not therefore the Victory, that giveth the right of Dominion over the Vanquished, but his own Covenant. Nor is he obliged because he is Conquered ; that is to say, beaten, and taken, or put to flight ; but because he commeth in, and Submitteth to the Victor ; Nor is the Victor obliged by an enemies rendring himselfe, (without promise of life,) to spare him for this his yeelding to discretion ; which obliges not the Victor longer, than in his own discretion hee shall think fit. And that which men do, when they demand (as it is now called) Quarter, (which the Greeks called Zoiypia, taking alive,) is to evade the present fury of the Victor, by Sub- mission, and to compound for their life, with Ransome, or Service : and therefore he that hath Quarter, hath not his life given, but deferred till farther deliberation ; For it is not an yeelding on condition of life, but to discretion. And then onely is his life in security, and his service due, when the Victor hath trusted him with his corporall liberty. For Slaves that work in Prisons, or Fetters, do it not of duty, but to avoyd the cruelty of their task-masters. The Master of the Servant, is Master also of all he hath ; and may exact the use thereof ; that is to say, of his goods, of his labour, of his servants, and of his children, as often as he shall think fit. For he holdeth his life of his Master, by the covenant of obedience ; that is, of owning, and authorising whatsoever the Master shall do. And in case the Master, if he refuse, kill him, or cast him into bonds, or otherwise punish him for his disobedience, he is himselfe the author of the same ; and cannot accuse him of injury. In Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 10. 157 In summe, the Rights and Consequences of both Paternall and Despoticall Dominion, are the very same with those of a Soveraign by Institution ; and for the same reasons : which reasonsjjg_aetiiown in the precedent chapter. So that for a man that is Monarch of divers Nations, whereof he hath, in one the Soveraignty by Institution of the people assembled, and in another by Conquest, that is by the Sub- mission of each particular, to avoyd death or bonds ; to de- mand of one Nation more than of the other, from the title of Conquest, as being a Conquered Nation, is an act of ig- 105 norance of the Rights of Soveraignty, For the Soveraign is absolute over both alike ; or else there is no Soveraignty at all ; and so every man may Lawfully protect himselfe, if he can, with his own sword, which is the condition of war. By this it appears, that a great Family if it be not part of Difference some Common-wealth, is of it self, as to the Rights of Sove- Family raignty, a little Monarchy ; whether that Family consist of Kingdom. a man and his children; or of a man and his servants; or of a man, and his children, and servants together : wherein the Father or Master is the Soveraign. But yet a Family is not properly a Common-wealth ; unlesse it be of that power by its own number, or by other opportunities, as not to be sub- dued without the hazard of war. For where a number of men are manifestly too weak td defend themselves united, every one may use his dwn reason in time of danger, to save his own life, either by flight, or by submission to the enemy, as hee shall think best ; in the same manner as a very small company of souldiers, surprised by an army, may cast down their armes, and demand quarter; or ruil away, rather than be put to the sword. And thus miJch Shall suffice ; con- cerning what I find by speculation, and deduction, of Soveraign Rights, from the nature, need, and designes of men, in erecting of Conlnion-wealths, and putting themselves under Monarchs, or Assemblies, entrusted with power enough for their protection. Let us now consider what the Scf iptiire tfe'acheth in the The Rights , of Mon- same point. To Moses, the children of Israel say thus, anhyfrom -speak ^^">'""- 158 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 10. * Exod. 20. --''Speak thou to iis, and we will heare thee ; but let not God speak to us, lest we dye. * This is absolute obedience to Moses. Concerning the Right of Kings, God himself by the mouth *T.Sam. 8. of Satnuel, saith, '''This shall be the Right of the King you ' ' will have to reigne over you. He shall take yottr sons, and set them to drive his Chariots, and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots ; and gather in his harvest ; and to make his engines of War, and Instruments of his chariots ; and shall take your daughters to make perfumes, to be his Cookes, and Bakers. He shall take your falds, your vine-yards, and your olive-yards, and give them to his servants. He shall take the tyth of your come and wine, and give it to the mm of his chamber, and to his other servants. He shall take your man- servants, and your maid-servants, and the choice of your youth, and employ them in his businesse. He shall take the tyth of your flocks ; and you shall be his servants. This ft absolute power, and summed up in the last words, you shall be his servants. Againe, when the people heard what power their King was to have, yet they consented thereto, and say thus, « Verse lo, * We will be as all other nations, and our King shall judge our causes, and goe before us, to conduct our wars. Here is confirmed the Right that Soveraigns have, both to the Militia, and to all judicature ; in which is conteined as ab- solute power, as one man can possibly transferre to another. ^^ Kings o, ■^g^i'^; the prayer of King Salomon to God, was this. ''Give 9- to thy servant widerstanding, to judge thy people, and to dis- cerne between Good and Evill. It belongeth therefore to the Soveraigne to bee yudge, and to prescribe the Rules of 106 discerning Good and Evill: which Rules are Lawes; and therefore in him is the Legislative Power. Saul sought the life of David; yet when it was in his power to slay Saul, and his Servants would have done it, David forbad them, saying, ■'■LSam^A * God forbid I should do such an act against my Lord, the 9- anoynted of God. For obedience of servants St. Paul saith, *CoU. -3. 20. '''Servants obey your masters in All things ; and, * Children • Verse 22. ^^^ ^^^^ Parents in All things. There is simple obedience in those that are subject to Pateruall, or Despoticall Do- minion. Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 10. 159 minion. Again, ^-The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses * Math.zi. chayre, and therefore All that they shall bid you observe, that observe and do. There again is simple obedience. And St Paul, * Warn them that tliey subject themselves to Princes, and *TU. 3. 2. to those that are in Authority, . 21. former naturall Liberty : For by allowing him to kill me, I am not bound to kill my selfe when he commands me. 'Tis one thing to say, Kill me, or my fellow, if you please ; another thing to say, / will kill my selfe, or my fellow. It followeth therefore, that No man is bound by the words themselves, either to kill himselfe, or any other man ; And consequently, that the Obligation a man may sometimes have, upon the Command of the Soveraign to execute any dangerous, or dishonourable Office, dependeth not on the Words of our Submission ; but, on the Intention ; which is to be understood by the End thereof. When therefore our refusall to obey, frustrates the End for which the Soveraignty was ordained ; then there is no Liberty to refuse : otherwise there is. Nortowar- Upon this ground, a man that is commanded as a Souldier fare, un- lesse they to fight against the enemy, though his Soveraign have Right dertake enough to punish his refusall with death, may neverthelesse in many cases refuse, without Injustice ; as when he sub- stituteth a sufficient Souldier in his place : for in this case he deserteth not the service of the Common-wealth. And there is allowance to be made for naturall timorousnesse, not onely to women, (of whom no such dangerous duty is expected,) but also to men of feminine courage. When Armies fight, there is on one side, or both, a running away ; yet when they do it not out of trechery, but fear, they are not esteemed to do it unjustly, but dishonourably. For the same reason, to avoyd battell, is not Injustice, but Cowardise. But he that inrowleth himselfe a Souldier, or taketh imprest mony, taketh away the excuse of a timorous nature ; and is obliged, not onely to go to the battell, but also not to run from it, without his Captaines leave. And when the Defence of the Common-wealth, requireth at once the help of all that are able to bear Amies, every one is obliged ; because otherwise the Institution of the Common-wealth, which they have not the purpose, or courage to preserve, was in vain. To resist the Sword of the Common-wealth, in defence of another man, guilty, or innocent, no man hath Liberty; because Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 21. 169 because such Liberty, takes away from the Soveraign, the means of Protecting us ; and is therefore destructive of the very essence of Government. But in case a great many men together, have already resisted the Soveraign Power unjustly, or committed some Capitall crime, for which every one of them expecteth death, whether have they not the Liberty then to joyn together, and assist, and defend one another? Certainly they have : For they but defend their lives, which 113 the Guilty man may as well do, as the Innocent. There was indeed injustice in the first breach of their duty ; Their bearing of Arms subsequent to it, though it be to maintain what they have done, is no new unjust act. And if it be onely to defend their persons, it is not unjust at all. But the offer of pardon taketh from them, to whom it is offered, the plea of self-defence, and maketh their perseverance in assisting, or defending the rest, unlawfull. As for other Lyberties, they depend on the Silence of the The Greatest Law. In cases where the Soveraign has prescribed no rule, Liberty of there the Subject hath the Liberty to do, or forbeare, ac- depindetk cording to his own discretion. And therefore such Liberty "siimce of is in some places more, and in some lesse ; and in some '''■^ •^"™- times more, in other times lesse, according as they that have the Soveraignty shall think most convenient. As for Exam- ple, there was a time, when in England a man might enter in to his own Land, (and dispossesse such as wrongfully possessed it,) by force. But in after-times, that Liberty of Forcible Entry, was taken away by a Statute made (by the King) in Parliament. And in some places of the world, men have the Liberty of many wives : in other places, such Liberty is not allowed. If a Subject have a controversie with his Soveraigne, of debt, or of right of possession of lands or goods, or con- cerning any service required at his hands, or concerning any penalty, corporall, or pecuniary, grounded on a precedent Law ; he hath the same Liberty to sue for his right, as if it were against a Subject ; and before such Judges, as are ap- pointed by the Soveraign. For seeing the Soveraign de- mandeth 170 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 21. mandeth by force of a former Law, and not by vertue of his Power ; he declareth thereby, that he requireth no more, than shall appear to be due by that Law. The sute therefore is not contrary to the will of the Soveraign; and consequently the Subject hath the Liberty to demand the hearing of his Cause ; and sentence, according to that Law. But if he de- mand, or take any thing by pretence of his Power ; there lyeth, in that case, no action of Law : for all that is done by him in Vertue of his Power, is done by the Authority of every Subject, and consequently, he that brings an action against the Soveraign, brings it against himselfe. If a Monarch, or Soveraign Assembly, grant a Liberty to all, or any of his Subjects, which Grant standing, he is dis- abled to provide for their safety, the Grant is voyd ; unlesse he directly renounce, or transferre the Soveraignty to another. For in that he might openly, (if it had been his will,) and in plain termes, have renounced, or transferred it, and did not ; it is to be understood it was not his will ; but that the Grant proceeded from ignorance of the repugnancy between such a Liberty and the Soveraign Power : and therefore the Soveraignty is still retayned ; and consequently all those Powers, which are necessary to the exercising thereof ; such as are the Power of Warre, and Peace, of Judicature, of ap- pointing Officers, and Councellours, of levying Mony, and the rest named in the i8th Chapter. /« what The Obligation of Subjects to the Soveraign, is understood 114 Cases Sub- jects are to last as long, and no longer, than the power lasteth, by t/ieir obe- which he is able to protect them. For the right men have the'irSmie- '^X Nature to protect themselves, when none else can protect raigK. them, can by no Covenant be relinquished. The Soveraignty is the Soule of the Common-wealth ; which once departed from the Body, the members doe no more receive their motion from it. The end of Obedience is Protection; which, wheresoever a man seeth it, either in his own, or in anothers sword, Nature applyeth his obedience to it, and his endeavour to maintaine it. And though Soveraignty, in the intention of them that make it, be immortall ; yet is it in its own nature, not Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.ii. 171 not only subject to violent death, by forreign war ; but also through the ignorance, and passions of men, it hath in it, from the very institution, many seeds of a naturall rnortality, by Intestine Discord. If a Subject be taken prisoner in war; or his person, or his 'n case of means of life be within the Guards of the enemy, and hath '^' '*'' his life and corporall Libertie given him, on condition to be Subject to the Victor, he hath Libertie to accept the con- dition ; and having accepted it, is the subject of him that took him ; because he had no other way to preserve himself The case is the same, if he be deteined on the same termes, in a forreign country. But if a man be held in prison, or bonds, or is not trusted with the libertie of his bodie ; he cannot be understood to be bound by Covenant to subjection ; and therefore may, if he can, make his escape by any means whatsoever. If a Monarch shall relinquish the Soveraignty, both for ■''^ '^«-i« the Soveraigu himself, and his heires ; His Subjects returne to the absolute cast off the Libertie of Naturej because, though Nature may declare who "from Mm- are his Sons^ and who are the nerest of his Kin ; yet it de- ^h{^"/ '^" pendeth on his own will, (as hath been said in the precedent chapter,) who shall be his Heyr. If therefore he will have no Heyre, there is no Soveraignty, nor Subjection, The case is the same, if he dye without known Kindred, and without declaration of his Heyre. For then there can no Heire be known, and consequently no Subjection be due. If the Soveraign Banish his Subject ; during the Banish- l"^ i^"-^^ "f - ^- ._ .-.^ . Banish- ment, he is not Subjept. But' hethat is sent on 9, message, ment. or hath leave to travell, is still Subject; but it is, by Contract between Soveraigps, pot by vertue of the covenant of Sub- jection. For whosoever entreth into anothers dominion, is Subject to all the I^ayvg thereof; unlesse he have a privilege by the amity of thp Soveraigns, or by spepiall licence. If a Monarch subdued by war, render himself Syibject to In case the the Victor; his Subjects are de}ivere4 from their former ob- render him- ligation, and become obliged to the Victor. But if he be 'tfj^thlr. held prisoner, or have not the liberty of his own Body; he is not 172 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 22. not understood to have given away the Right of Soveraigntie; and therefore his Subjects are obhged to yield obedience to the Magistrates formerly placed, governing not in their own name, but in his. For, his Right remaining, the question is only of the Administration; that is to say, of the Magistrates and Officers; which, if he have not means to name, he is 115 supposed to approve those, which he himself had formerly appointed. CHAP. XXII. Of Systemes Subject, Politically and Private. Z'rts'^of'" T T Aving spoken of the Generation, Forme, and Power Systemes of ]^ \^ of a Common-wealth, I am in order to speak next People. ^ of the parts thereof And first of Systemes, which resemble the similar parts, or Muscles of a Body naturall. By Systemes; I understand any numbers of men Joyned in one Interest, or one Businesse. Of which, some are Regular, and some Irregular. Regular are those, where one Man, or Assembly of men, is constituted Representative of the whole number. All other are Irregular. Of Regular, some are Absolute, and Independent, subject to none but their own Representative : such are only Com- mon-wealths ; Of which I have spoken already in the 5. last precedent chapters. Others are Dependent ; that is to say. Subordinate to some Soveraign Power, to which every one, as also their Representative is Subject. Of Systemes subordinate, some are Politicall, and some Private. Politicall (otherwise Called Bodies Politique, and Persom in Law,) are those, which are made by authority from the Soveraign Power of the Common-wealth. Private, are those, which are constituted by Subjects amongst them- selves, or by authoritie from a stranger. For no authority derived from forraign power, within the Dominion of another, is Publique there, but Private. And Part-z. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 11. 173 And of Private Systemes, some are Lawfull; some Unlawfiill: Lawfull, are those which are allowed by the Common-wealth : all other are Unlawfull. Irregular Systemes, are those which having no Representative, consist only in concourse of People ; which if not forbidden by the Common-wealth, nor made on evill designe, (such as are con- flux of People to markets, or shews, or any other harmelesse end,) are Lawfull. But when the Intention is evill, or (if the number be considerable) unknown, they are Unlawfull. In Bodies Politique, the power of the Representative is i" «/^ alwaies Limited : And that which prescribeth the Limits Politique thereof, is the Power Soveraign. For Power Unlimited, is the Repn- absolute Soveraignty. And the Soveraign, in every Com- ^ijmiud.'^ mon-wealth, is the absolute Representative of all the subjects; and therefore no other, can be Representative of any part of them, but so far forth, as he shall give leave : And to give leave to a Body Politique of SubJedtS) to have an absolute Representative to all intents and pui^poses, were to abandon the government of so much of the COmmon-wealth, and to divide the Dominion, contrary fd thSir Peace and Defence, which the Soveraign cannot be undefstood to doe, by any 116 Grant, that does not plainly, and diirectly discharge them of their subjection. For consequences of words, are not the signes of his will, when other consequences are signes of the contrary ; but rather signes of errouf) and misreckonning ; to which all mankind is too prone. The bounds of that Power, which is given to the Repre- sentative of a Bodie Politique, are to be taken notice of, from two things. One is their Writtj or Letters from the Soveraign : the other is the Law of the Common-wealth. For though in the Institution or Acquisition of a Com- By Letters mon-wealth, which is independent, there needs no Writing, because the Power of the Representative has there no other bounds, but such as are set out by the unwritten Law of Nature ; yet in subordinate bodies, there are such diversities of Limitation necessary, concerning their businesses, times, and places, as can neither be remembred without Letters, nor 174 Pari 2. Of COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 22. And the Lawes. When the Representa- tive is one Tnan, his unwarran- ted Acts are his own onely. When it is an Assem- bly, it is the act of them that assented onely. nor taken notice of, unlesse such Letters be Patent, that they may be read to them, and withall sealed, or testiSed, with the Seales, or other permanent signes of the Authority Soveraign. And because such Limitation is not alwaies easie, or per- haps possible to be described in writing ; the ordinary Lawes, common to all Subjects, must determine, what the Repre- sentative may lawfully do, in all Cases, where the Letters themselves are silent. And therefore In a Body Politique, if the Representative be one man, whatsoever he does in the Person of the Body, which is not warranted in his Letters, nor by the Lawes, is his own act, and not the act of the Body, nor of any other Member there- of besides himselfe : Because fufther than his Letters, or the Lawes limit; he representeth no mans person, but his own. But what he does According to these, is the act of every one : For of the Act of the Soveraign every one is Author, because he is their Representative unlimited ; and the act of him that recedes not from the Letters of the Soveraign, is the act of the Soveraign, and therefore every member of the Body is Author of it. But if the Representative be an Assembly ; whatsoever that Assembly shall Decree, not warranted by their Letters, or the Lawes, is the act of the Assembly, or Body Politique, and the act of every one by whose Vote the Decree was made ; but not the act of any man that being present Voted to the contrary ; nor of any man absent, unlesse he Voted it by procuration. It is the act of the Assembly, because Voted by the major part ; and if it be a crime, the Assembly may be punished, as farre-forth as it is capable, as by disso- lution, or forfeiture of their Letters, (which is to Such artificiall, and fictitious Bodies, capitall,) or (if the Assembly have a Common stock, wherein none of the Innocent Mem- bers have propriety,) by pecuniary Mulct. For from cor- porall penalties Nature hath exempted all Bodies Politique; But they that gave not their Vote, are therefore Innocentj because the Assembly cannot Represent any man in things unwarranted Part^. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 12. 175 unwarranted by their Letters, and consequently are involved in their Votes. If the person of the Body Politique being in one man, j^-^^^ *^^ borrow mony of a stranger, that is, of one that is not of the t^^^ " one -n J ,_ T . . . ma7t, if he same Body, (for no Letters need limit borrowing, seeing it borrow 117 is left to mens own inclinations to limit lending) the debt is '"ZTitHy the Representatives. For if he should have Authority from '^""Ij'^i^}^ his Letters, to make the members pay what he borroweth, ""^'y' *''' ■' members he should have by consequence the Soveraignty of them ; not. and therefore the grant were either voyd, as proceeding from Errour, commonly incident to humane Nature, and an unsufRcient signe of the will of the Granter ; or if it be avowed by him, then is the Representer Soveraign, and falleth not under the present question, which is onely of Bodies subordinate. No member therefore is obliged to pay the debt so borrowed, but the Representative himselfe : be- cause he that lendeth it, being a stranger to the Letters, and to the qualification of the Body, understandeth those onely for his debtors, that are engaged ; and seeing the Representer can ingage himselfe, and none else, has him onely for Deb- tor ; who must therefore pay him, out of the common stock (if there be any,) or (if there be none) out of his own estate. If he come into debt by Contract or Mulct, the case is the same. But when the Representative is an Assembly; and the When it is , an A'ssem- ■ debt to a stranger ; all they; and onely they are responsible biy, they for the debt, that gave their votes to the borrowing of itj or ""iabie^that to the Contract that made it due, or to the fact for which 'l'^'^^ ""'"' the Mulct was imposed ; because every one of those in voting did engage himselfe for the payment : For he tha:t is author of the borrowing, is obliged to the payment, even of the whole debt, though when payd by any one; he be discharged. But if the debt be to one of the Assembly, the Assembly // the debt ,.,,.,, f. , . . be to one of onely is obliged to the payment, out of their common stock theAsserA- (if they have any :) For having liberty of Vote, if he Vote the ''Bo'd^'^oneiy Mony, shall be borrowed, he Votes it shall be payd; If he i^obiii^d: Vote it shall not be borrowed, or be absent, yet because in lending, 176 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 22. lending, he voteth the borrowing, he contradicteth his former Vote, and is obliged by the later, and becomes both borrower and lender, and consequently cannot demand payment from any particular man, but from the common Treasure onely ; which fayling he hath no remedy, nor complaint, but against himselfe, that being privy to the acts of the Assembly, and to their means to pay, and not being enforced, did never- thelesse through his own folly lend his mony. Protesia- It is manifest by this, that in Bodies Politique subordinate, the Decrees a-^d subject to a Soveraign Power, it is sometimes not onely Politique lawfuU, but expedient, for a particular man to make open sometimes protestation against the decrees of the Representative As- but against sembly, and cause their dissent to be Regis tred, or to take Soveraign . . Power witnesse of it ; because otherwise they may be obliged to pay debts contracted, and be responsible for crimes committed by other men : But in a Soveraign Assembly, that liberty is taken away, both because he that protesteth there, denies their Soveraignty ; and also because whatsoever is commanded by the Soveraign Power, is as to the Subject (though not so alwayes in the sight of God) justified by the Command ; for of such command every Subject is the Author. Bodies The variety of Bodies Politique, is almost infinite : for they Politique ... for Govern- are not onely distingdished by the severell affaires, for which ment of a . .-,,.,. Province, they are constituted, wherem there is an unspeakable diver- 118 Town'. °^ ^^t^^ '> ^^'^ ^1^° tiy t'^s times, places, and numbers, subject to many limitations. And as to their affaires, some are ■ ordained for Government ; As first, the Government of a Province may be committed tO an Assembly Of nien, wherein all resolutions shall depend on the Votes of the major part; and then this Asseiilbly is a Body Politique, and their power limited by Commission. This word Province signifies a charge, or care of businesse, which he whose business it is, committeth to another man, to be administred for, and under him ; and therefore when in one Common-wealth there be divers Countries, that have their Lawes distinct one from another, or are farre distant in place, the i'l dministration of the Government being committed to divers persons, those Countries Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 22. 177 Countries where the Soveraign is not resident, but governs by Commission, are called Provinces. But of the govern- ment of a Province, by an Assembly residing in the Province it selfe, there be few examples. The Romans who had the Soveraignty of many Provinces ; yet governed them alwaies by Presidents, and Praetors ; and not by Assemblies, as they governed the City of Rome, and Territories adjacent. In like manner, when there were Colonies sent from England, to Plant Virginia, and Sommer-Jlands ; though the govern- ment of them here, were committed to Assemblies in London, yet did those Assemblies never commit the Government under them to any Assembly there ; but did to each Plan- tation send one Governour ; For though every man, where he can be present by Nature, desires to participate of gov- ernment ; yet where they cannot be present, they are by Nature also enclined, to commit the Government of their common Interest rather to a Monarchicall, then a Popular form of Government : which is also evident in those men that have great private estates ; who when they are unwilling to take the paines of administring the businesse that belongs to them, choose rather to trust onfe Servant, then ari Assembly ' either of their friends or servants. Biit howsoever it be in fact, yet we may suppose the Government of a Province, or Colony 'committed to an Assembly : arid when it is, that which in this place I have to say, is this ; thdt whatsoever debt is by that Assembly contracted; or whatsoever unlawfull Act is decreed, is the Act onely of those that assented, and not of any that dissented, or were absent, for the reasons before alledged. Also that an Assembly residing out of the bounds of that Colony whereof they have the government, fcannot execute any power over the perSohs, or goods of ahj' of the Colonie, to seize on them for debt, or other duty, in any place without the Colony it selfe, is having no Jurisdiction, nor Authoritie elsewhere, but are left to the remedie, which the Law of the place alloweth them. And though the As- sembly have right, to impose a Mulct Upon ariy of their members, that shall break the Lawes they make ; yet out of N the 178 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 22. Bodies Poliiiqne for order- ing of Trade. the Colonic it selfe, they have no right to execute the same. And that which is said here, of the Rights of an Assembly, for the government of a Province, or a Colony, is appliable also to an Assembly, for the Government of a Town, an Uni- versity, or a College, or a Church, or for any other Govern- ment over the persons of men. And generally, in all Bodies Politique, if any particular 119 member conceive himself Injuried by the Body it self, the Cognisance of his cause belongeth to the Soveraign, and those the Soveraign hath ordained for Judges in such causes, or shall ordaine for that particular cause ; and not to the Body itself For the whole Body is in this case his fellow subject, which in a Soveraign Assembly, is otherwise : for there, if the Soveraign be not Judge, though in his own cause, there can be no Judge at all. In a Bodie Politique, for the well ordering of forraigne Traffique, the most commodious Representative is an As- sembly of all the members ; that is to say, such a one, as every one that adventureth his mony, may be present at all the Deliberations, and Resolutions of the Body, if they will themselves. For proof whereof, we are to consider the end, for which men that are Merchants, and may buy and sell, export, and import their Merchandise, according to their own discretions, doe nevertheless bind themselves up in one Cor- poration. It is true, there be few Merchants, that with the Merchandise they buy at home, can fraight a Ship, to export it ; or with that they buy abroad, to bring it home ; and have therefore need to joyn together in one Society ; where every man may either participate of the gaine, according to the pro- portion of his adventure ; or take his own, and sell what he transports, or imports, at such prices as he thinks fit. But this is no Body Politique, there being nc Common Repre- sentative to oblige them to any other Law, than that which is common to all other subjects. The End of their Incor- porating, is to make their gaine the greater ; which is done two wayes ; by sole buying, and sole selling, both at home, and abroad. So that to grant to a Company of Merchants to Parti.. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2^. to be a Corporation, or Body Politique, is to grant them a double Monopoly, whereof one is to be sole buyers ; another to be sole sellers. For when there is a Company incorporate for any particular forraign Country, they only export the Commodities vendible in that Country; which is sole buying at home, and sole selling abroad. For at home there is but one buyer, and abroad but one that selleth : both which is gainful! to the Merchant, because thereby they buy at home at lower, and sell abroad at higher rates : And abroad there is but one buyer of forraign Merchandise, and but one that sels them at home ; both which againe are gainfuU to the adventurers. Of this double Monopoly one part is disadvantageous to the people at home, the other to forraigners. For at home by their sole exportation they set what price they please on the husbandry, and handy-works of the people ; and by the sole importation, what price they please on all forraign com- modities the people have need of; both which are ill for the people. On the contrary, by the sole selling of the native commodities abroad, and sole buying the forraign commodi- ties upon the place, they raise the price of those, and abate the price of these, to the disadvantage of the forraigner : For where but one selleth, the Merchandise is the dearer ; and 120 where but one buyeth the cheaper : Such Corporations therefore are no other then Monopolies ; though they would be very profitable for a Common-wealth, if being bound up into one body in forraigne Markets they were at liberty at home, every man to buy, and sell at what price he could. The end then of these Bodies of Merchants, being not a Common benefit to the whole Body, (which have in this case no common stock, but what is deducted out of the particular adventures, for building, buying, victualling and manning of Ships,) but the particular gaine of every adventurer, it is reason that every one be acquainted with the employment of his own ; that is, that every one be of the Assembly, that shall have the power to order the same ; and be acquainted with their accounts. And therefore the Representative of such 179 i8o Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 22. such a Body must be an Assembly, where every member of the Body may be present at the consultations, if he will. If a Body Politique of Merchants, contract a debt to a stranger by the act of their Representative Assembly, every Member is lyable by himself for the whole. For a stranger can take no notice of their private Lawes, but considereth them as so many particular men, obliged every one to the whole payment, till payment made by one dischargeth all the rest : But if the debt be to one of the Company, the creditor is debter for the whole to himself, and cannot therefore demand his debt, but only from the common stock, if there be any. If the Common-wealth impose a Tax upon the Body, it is understood to be layd upon every Member proportionably to his particular adventure in the Company, For there is in this case no other common stocky but what is made of their particular adventures. If a Mulct be layd upon the Body for some unlawfull act, they only are lyable by whose votes the act was decreed, or by whose assistance it was executed ; for in none of the rest is there any other crime but being of the Body ; which if a crime, (because the Body was ordeyned by the authority of the Common^ wealth,) is not his. If one of the Members be indebted to the Body* he may be sued by the Body ; but his goods cannot be taken, nor his person imprisoned by the authority of the Body ; but only by Authority of the Common-wealth : for if they can doe it by their own Authority, they can by their owh Authority give judgement that the debt is due ; which is as much as to be Judge in their own Cause. A Bodie Those Bodies made for the government of Men, or of Politique _ for Counsel Traffique, be either perpetuall, or for a time prescribed by to the Save- writing. But there be Bodies also whose times are limited, ratgn. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^ -^^ ^^ nature of their businesse. For example, if a Soveraign Monarch, or a Soveraign Assembly, shall think fit to give command to the towns, and other severall parts of their territory, to send to him their Deputies, to enforme him of Pam. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.iz. i8i of the condition, and necessities of the Subjects, or to advise 121 with him for the making of good Lawes, or for any other cause, as with one Person representing the whole Country, such Deputies, having a place and time of meeting assigned them, are there, and at that tirne, a Body Politique, repre- senting every Subject of that Doniinion ; but it is onely for such matters as shall be propounded ur(to them by that Man, or Assembly, that by the Soveraign Authority sent for them ; and when it shall be declared that nothing more shall be pro- pounded, nor debated by them, the Body is dissolved. For if they were the absolute Representative of the people, then were it the Soveraigq Assembly ; and so there would be two Soveraign Assemblies, or two Soveraigns, oyer the same people ; which cannot consist with their Peace. And there- fore where there is once a Soveraignty, there can be no abso- lute Representatiqn of the people, but by it. And fqr the limits of how farre such a Body shall represent the whole People, they are get forth in the Writing by whicl; they were sent for. For ttje People cannot choose their Deputies to other intent, than is in the Writing directed to therr) from their Soveraign expressed. Private Bodies Regular, and Lawfull, are those that are A Regular constituted without , Letters, or other \^ritten Authority, Body,Law- saving the Lawes common to all other Subjects. And be- p^^liy'^ cause they be united in one Person Representative, they are held for Regular; such as are all Families, in which the Father, or Master ordereth the whole Family. For he obligeth his Children, and Servants, as farre as the Law per- mitteth, though not further, because none of them are bound to obedience in those actions, which the Law hath forbidden to be done. In all other actions, during the time they are under domestique government, they are subject to their Fathers, and Masters, as to their immediate Soveraigns. For the Father, and Master being before the Institution of ■ Common-wealth, absolute Soveraigns in their own Families, they lose afterward no more of their Authority, than the Law of the Common-wealth taketh from them. Private l82 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 22. Private Bodies Regular, but Un- lawfull. Sysiemes Irregular, such as are Private Leagues. Private Bodies Regular, but Unlawfull, are those that unite themselves into one person Representative, without any publique Authority at all ; such as are the Corporations of Beggars, Theeves and Gipsies, the better to order their trade of begging, and stealing ; and the Corporations of men, that by Authority from any forraign Person, unite themselves in anothers Dominion, for the easier propagation of Doctrines, and for making a party, against the Power of the Common- wealth. Irregular Systemes, in their nature, but Leagues, or some- times meer concourse of people, without union to any par- ticular designe, not by obligation of one to another, but proceeding onely from a similitude of wills and inclinations, become Lawfull, or Unlawfull, according to the lawfulnesse, or unlawfulnesse of every particular mans designe therein : And his designe is to be understood by the occasion. The Leagues of Subjects, (because Leagues are commonly made for mutuall defence,) are in a Common-wealth (which is no more than a League of all the Subjects together) for the most part unnecessary, and favour of unlawfull designe ; and are for that cause Unlawfull, and go commonly by the 122 name of Factions, or Conspiracies. For a League being a connexion of rrjen by Covenants, if there be no power given to any one Man, or Assembly (as in the condition of meer Nature) to compell them to performance, is so long onely valid, as there ariseth no just cause of distrust : and there- fore Leagues between Common-wealths, over whom there is no humane Power established, to keep them all in awe, are not onely lawfull, but also profitable for the time they last. But Leagues of the Subjects of one and the same Common- wealth, where every one may obtain his right by means of the Soveraign Power, are unnecessary to the maintaining of Peace and Justice, and (in case the designe of them be evill, or Unknown to the Common-wealth) unlawfull. For all uniting of strength by private men, is, if for evill intent, un- just ; if for intent unknown, dangerous to the Publique, and unjustly concealed. If Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 22. 183 If the Soveraign Power be in a great Assembly, and a Secnt number of men, part of the Assembly, without authority, consult a part, to contrive the guidance of the rest ; This is a Faction, or Conspiracy unlawfull, as being a fraudulent seducing of the Assembly for their particular interest. But if he, whose private interest is to be debated, and judged in the Assembly, make as many friends as he can ; in him it is no Injustice ; because in this case he is no part of the As'- sembly. And though he hire such friends with mony, (un- lesse there be an expresse Law against it,) yet it is not Injustice. For sometimes, (as mens manners are,) Justice cannot be had without mony ; and every man may think his own cause just, till it be heard, and judged. In all Common-wealths, if a private man entertain more Feuds of private servants, than the government of his estate, and lawfull em- Families. ployment he has for them requires, it is Faction, and un- lawfull. For having the protection of the Common-wealth, he needeth not the defence of private force. And whereas in Nations not throughly civilized, severall numerous Fami- lies have lived in continuall hostility, and invaded one another with private force ; yet it is evident enough, that they have done unjustly ; or else that they had no Common- wealth. And as Factions for Kindred, so also Factions for Gov- Factions ernment of Religion, as of Papists, Protestants, &=€. or of ment. State, as Patricians, and Plebeians of old time in Fame, and of Aristocraticalls and Democraticalls of old time in Greece, are unjust, as being contrary to the peace and safety of the people, and a taking of the Sword out of the hand of the Soveraign. Concourse of people, is an Irregular Systeme, the lawful- nesse, or unlawfulnesse, whereof dependeth on the occasion, and on the number of them that are assembled. If the oc- casion be lawfull, and manifest, the Concourse is lawfull ; as the usuall meeting of men at Church, or at a publique Shew, in usuall numbers : for if the numbers be extraordinarily great, the occasion is not evident; and consequently he that i84 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 22. that cannot render a particular and good account of his being amongst them, is to be judged conscious of an un- lawfull, and tumultuous designe. It may be lawful! for a thousand men, to joyn in a Petition to be delivered to a Judge, or Magistrate ; yet if a thousand men come to present 123 it, it is a tumultuous Assembly ; because there needs but one or two for that purpose. But in such cases as these, it is not a set number that makes the Assembly Unlawfull, but such a number, as the present Officers are not able to sup- presse, and bring to Justice. When an unusuall number of men, assemble against a man whom they accuse ; the Assembly is an Unlawfull tumult ; because they may deliver their accusation to the Magistrate by a few, or by one man. Such was the case of St. Paul at Ephesus ; where Demetrius, and a great number of other men, brought two of Pauls companions before the Magistrate, saying with one Voyce, Great is Diana of the Ephesians ; which wa? their way of demanding Justice against them for teaching the people such doctrine, as was against their Re- ligion, and Trade. The occasion here, considering the Lawes of that People, was just; yet was their Assembly Judged Unlawfull, and the Magistrate reprehended them for 40. "^ ^ '^ i*-) ''^ these words, * If Demetrius and the other work-men can accuse any man, of any thing, there be Pleas, and Depu- ties, let them accuse one another. And if you have any other thing to demand, your case may be judged in an Assembly Lawfully called. For we are in danger to be accused for this dayes sedition, because, there is no cause by which any man can render any reason of this Concourse of People. Where he calleth an Assembly, whereof men can give no just account, a Sedition, and such as they could not answer for. And this is all I shall say concerning Systemes, and Assemblyes of People, which may be compared (as I said,) to the Similar parts of mans Body ; such as be LawfuU, to the Muscles ; such as are Unlawfull, to Wens, Biles, and Apostemes, en- gendred by the unnaturall conflux of evill humours. CHAP. Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 22,. 185 CHAP. XXIII. Of the PuBLiQUE Ministers 0/ Soveraign Power. IN the last Chapter I have spoken of the Similar parts of a Common-wealth : In this I shall speak of the parts Organicall, which are Publique Ministers. A Publique Minister, is he, that by the Sove- Put>iiqve / 1 1 ■» «■ Minister raign, (whether a Monarch, or an Assembly,) is employed iVho. in any affaires, with Authority to represent in that employ- ment, the Person of the Common-wealth. And whereas every man, or assembly that hath Soveraignty, representeth two Persons, or (as the more common phrase is) has two Capacities, oneNaturall, and another Politique, (as a Monarch, hath the person not onely of the Common-wealth, but also of a man ; and a Soveraign Assembly hath the Person not onely of the Commonwealth, but also of the Assembly) ; they that be servants to them in their naturall Capacity, are 124 not Publique Ministers ; but those onely that serve them in the Administration of the Publique businesse. And there- fore neither Ushers, nor Sergeants, nor other Officers that waite on the Assembly, for no other purpose, but for the commodity of the men assembled, in an Aristocracy, or Democracy; nor Stewards, Chamberlains, Cofferers, or any other Officers of the hqushqld of a Monarch, are Publique Ministers in a Monarchy. Of Publique Ministers, some have charge committed to Ministers them of a generall Administration, either of the whole generaii Dominion, or of a part thereof. Of the whole, as to a Pro- stration. tector, or Regent, may bee committed by the Predecessor of an Infant King, during his minority, the whole Adminis- tration of his Kingdome. In which case, every Subject is so far obliged to obedience, as the Ordinances he shall make, and the commands he shall give be in the Kings name, and not inconsistent with his Soveraigne Power. Of a 1 86 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. iz. a part, or Province ; as when either a Monarch, or a Sove- raign Assembly, shall give the general! charge thereof to a Governour, Lieutenant, Prsefect or Vice- Roy : And in this case also, every one of that Province, is obliged to all he shall doe in the name of the Soveraign, and that not incom- patible with the Soveraigns Right. For such Protectors, Vice- Roys, and Governors, have no other right, but what depends on the Soveraigns Will ; and no Commission that can be given them, can be interpreted for a Declaration of the will to transferre the Soveraignty, without expresse and perspi- cuous words to that purpose. And this kind of Publique Ministers resembleth the Nerves, and Tendons that move the severall limbs of a body naturall. Forspcciali Others have special! Administration ; that is to say, Admini- stration, charges of some special! businesse, either at home, or abroad '• Oeconomy. As at home. First, for the Oeconomy of a Common- wealth, They that have Authority concerning the Treasure, as Tri- butes, Impositions, Rents, Fines, or whatsoever publique revenue, to collect, receive, issue, or take the Accounts thereof, are Publique Ministers .• Ministers, because they serve the Person Representative, and can doe nothing against his Command, nor without his Authority : Publique, because they serve him in his Political! Capacity. Secondly, they that have Authority concerning the Militia; to have the custody of Armes, Forts, Ports ; to Levy, Pay, or Conduct Souldiers ; or to provide for any necessary thing for the use of war, either by Land or Sea, are publique Ministers. But a Souldier without Command, though he fight for the Common-wealth, does not therefore represent the Person of it ; because there is none to represent it to. For every one that hath command, represents it to them only whom he commandeth. For in- They also that have authority to teach, or to enable siruction of , , . the People. Others to teach the people their duty to the Soveraign Power, and instruct them in the knowledge of what is just, and un- just, thereby to render them more apt to live in godlinesse, and in peace amongst themselves, and resist the publique enemy. Part:!.. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.22. 1S7 enemy, are Publique Ministers : Ministers, in that they doe it not by their own Authority, but by anothers; and PubHque, 125 because they doe it (or should doe it) by no Authority, but that of the Soveraign. The Monarch, or the Soveraign Assembly only hath immediate Authority from God, to teach and instruct the people ; and no man but the Soveraign, re- ceiveth his power Dei graticL simply ; that is to say, from the favour of none but God : All other, receive theirs from the favour and providence of God, and their Soveraigns ; as in a Monarchy Dei gratid 6^ jRegis ; or Dei providentiot, &• voluntaie Regis. They also to whom Jurisdiction is given, are Publique Forjudi- Ministers. For in their Seats of Justice they represent the person of the Soveraign ; and their Sentence, is his Sentence; For (as hath been before declared) all Judicature is essen- tially annexed to the Soveraignty ; and therefore all other Judges are but Ministers of him, or them that have the Soveraign Power. And as Controversies are of two sorts, namely of Fact and of Law ; so are Judgements, some of Fact, some of Law : And consequently in the same contro- versie, there may be two Judges, one of Fact, another of Law. And in both these controversies, there may arise a con- troversie between the party Judged, and the Judge ; which because they be both Subjects to the Soveraign, ought in Equity to be Judged by men agreed on by consent of both ; for no man can be Judge in his own cause. But the Sove- raign is already agreed on for Judge by them both, and is therefore either to heare the Cause, and determine it himself, or appoint for Judge such as they shall both agree on. And this agreement is then understood to be made between them divers wayes ; as first, if the Defendant be allowed to except against such of his Judges, whose interest maketh him suspect them, (for as to the Complaynant he hath already chosen his own Judge,) those which he excepteth not against, are Judges he himself agrees on. Secondly, if he appeale to any other Judge, he can appeale no further; for his appeale is his choice. Part 2 . Of COMMON- WEAL TH. Chap. 23. choice. Thirdly, if he appeale to the Soveraign himself, and he by himself, or by Delegates which the parties shall agree on, give Sentence ; that Sentence is finall : for the Defendant is Judged by his own Judges, that is to say, by himself. These properties of just and rationall Judicature consi- dered, I cannot forbeare to observe the excellent constitution of the Courts of Justice, established both for Common, and also for Publique Pleas in England. By Common Pleas, I meane those, where both the Complaynant and Defendant are Subjects : and by Publique, (which are also called Pleas of the Crown) those, where the Complaynant is the Soveraign. For whereas there were two orders of men, whereof one was Lords, the other Commons ; The Lords had this Priviledge, to have for Judges in all Capitall crimes, none but Lords ; and of them, as many as would be present ; which being ever acknowledged as a Priviledge of favour, their Judges were none but such as they had themselves desired. And in all controversies, every Subject (as also in civill contro- versies the Lords) had for Judges, men of the Country where the matter in controversie lay ; against which he might make his exceptions, till at last twelve men without exception being 126 agreed on, they were Judged by those twelve. So that having his own Judges, there could be nothing alledged by the party, why the sentence should not be finall. These publique persons, with Authority from the Soveraign Power, either to Instruct, or Judge the people, are such members of the Common-wealth, as irjay fitly be con)pared to the organs of Voice in a Body naturall. For Execu- Publique Ministers are also all those, that have Authority from the Soveraign, to procure tlje Executiori of Judgements given ; to publish the Soveraigns Comn^ands ; to suppresse Tumults ; to apprehend, and imprison Malefactors; and other acts tending to the conservation of the Peace. For every act they doe by such Authority, is the act of the Common- wealth ; and their service, answerable to that of the Hands, in a Bodie naturall. Publique Minisfejrs abroad, arg those that represent the Person tioii. Partz. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 23. 189 Person of their own Soveraign, to forraign States. Such are Ambassadors, Messengers, Agents, and Heralds, sent by publique Authoritie, and on publique Businesse. But such as are sent by Authoritie only of some private partie of a troubled State, though they be received, are neither Publique, nor Private Ministers of the Common- wealth ; because none of their actions have the Common- wealth for Author. Likewise, an Ambassador sent from a Prince, to congratulate, condole, or to assist at a solemnity though the Authority be Publique; yet because the businesse is Private, and belonging to him in his naturall capacity ; is a Private person. Also if a man be sent into another Coun- try, secretly to explore their counsels, and strength ; though both the Authority, and the Businesse be Publique; yet because there is none to take notice of any Person in him, but his own ; he is but a Private Minister ; but yet a Minister of the Common- wealth; and may be compared to an Eye in the Body naturall. And those that are appointed to receive the Petitions or other informations of the People, and are as it were the publique Eare, are Publique Ministers, and repre- sent their Soveraign in that office. Neither a Counsellor (nor a Councell of State, if we con- Counsellors sider it with no Authority of Judicature or Command, but other em- only of giving Advice to the Sovetaign when it is required, ^thantT or of offering it when it is not tequired, is a Publique Person. '^'^''"'^ For the Advice is addressed to the Soveraign only, whose P-ubiigue . Ministers. person cantiot m his own presence, be represented to him, by another. But a Body of Counsellors, are nevef without some other Authority, either of Judicature, or of immediate Administration : As in a Monarchy, they represent the Monarch, in delivering his Commands to the Publique Min- isters : In a Democracy, the Countell, or Senate propounds the Result of their deUberations to the people, as a Councell ; but when they appoint Judges, or heare Causes, or give Audience to Ambassadors, it is in the quality of a Minister of the People : And in an Aristocracy the Councell of State is the Soveraign Assembly it self; and gives counsell to none but themselves. CHAP. I90 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. i^. CHAP. XXIV. Of the Nutrition and Procreation of a Common-wealth. NmrisA- nHHe NUTRITION ofa Common- wealth consisteth, 127 ?neni of a J[ j^ (j^g Plenty, and Distribution of Materials conducing Common- ^ wealth to Life : In Concoction, or Preparation ; and (when con- consisteth . , . in the cocted) in the Conveyance of it, by convenient conduits, to Commodi- , , ,. ties of Sea the Pubhque use. and Land : ^^ ^^^ ^.j^^ Plenty of Matter, it is a thing limited by Nature, to those commodities, which from (the two breasts of our common Mother) Land, and Sea, God usually either freely giveth, or for labour selleth to man-kind. For the Matter of this Nutriment, consisting in Animals, Vegetals, and Minerals, God hath freely layd them before us, in or neer to the face of the Earth ; so as there needeth no more but the labour, and industry of receiving them. Insomuch as Plenty dependeth (next to Gods favour) meerly on the labour and industry of men. This Matter, commonly called Commodities, is partly Native, and partly Forraign : Native, that which is to be had within the Territory of the Common-wealth : Forraign, that which is imported from without. And because there is no Territory under the Dominion of one Common-wealth, (ex- cept it be of very vast extent,) that produceth all things needful for the maintenance, and motion of the whole Body ; and few that produce not something more than necessary ; the superfluous commodities to be had within, become no more superfluous, but supply these wants at home, by im- portation of that which may be had abroad, either by Ex- change, or by just Warre, or by Labour : for a mans Labour also, is a commodity exchangeable for beneflt, as well as any other thing : And there have been Common-wealths that having no more Territory, than hath served them for habi- tation, have neverthelesse, not onely maintained, but also encreased Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2^. 191 encreased their Power, partly by the labour of trading from one place to another, and partly by selling the Manifactures, whereof the Materials were brought in from other places. The Distribution of the Materials of this Nourishment, is '^"f/n- ' right Dis~ the constitution of Mine, and Thine, and His ; that is to say, tribvtion ' of them. in one word Propriety ; and belongeth in all kinds of Common-wealth to the Soveraign Power. For where there is no Common-wealth, there is (as hath been already shewn) a perpetuall warre of every man against his neighbour ; And therefore every thing is his that getteth it, and keepeth it by force ; which is neither Propriety, nor Community ; but Uncertainty. Which is so evident, that even Cicero, (a passionate defender of Liberty,) in a pubUque pleading, at- tributeth all Propriety to the Law Civil, Let the Civill Law, saith he, be once abandoned, or but negligently guarded, {jiot to 128 say oppressed,) and there is nothing, that any man can be sure to receive from his Ancestor, or leave to his Children. And again ; Take away the Civill Law, and no man knows what is his own, and what another mans. Seeing therefore the Introduction of Propriety is an effect of Common-wealth ; which can do nothing but by the Person that Represents it, it is the act onely of the Soveraign ; and consisteth in the Lawes, which none can make that have not the Soveraign Power. And this they well knew of old, who called that No/ioe, (that is to say, Distribution^ which we call Law ; and defined Justice, by distributing to every man his own. In this Distribution, the First Law, is for Division of the Allprivate Estates of Land it selfe : wherein the Soveraign assigneth to every man land pro- a portion, according as he, and not according as any Subject, naiiyfrom or any number of them, shall judge agreeable to Equity, and traty Dis- the Common Good. The Children of Israel, were a Com- ^^^If'"" mon-wealth in the Wildernesse ; but wanted the cqmmodities Soveraign. of the Earth, till they were masters of the Land of Promise ; which afterward was divided amongst them, not by their own discretion, but by the discretion of Eleazar the Priest, and yoshua their Generall : who when there were twelve Tribes, making them thirteen by subdivision of the Tribe of jfoseph ; made 192 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 24. Propriety of a Sub- ject excludes not the Dominion of the Sovc- raign, but onely of another Subject. The Pub- lique is not to ie dieted. made neverthelesse but twelve portions of the Land ; and ordained for the Tribe of Levi no land ; but assigned them the tenth part of the whole fruits ; which division was there- fore Arbitrary. And though a People coraming into pos- session of a Land by warre, do not alwaies exterminate the antient Inhabitants, (as did the Jewes,) but leave to many, or most, or all of them their estates ; yet it is manifest they hold them afterwards, as of the Victors distribution ; as the people of England held all theirs of William the Conquerotir. From whence we may collect, that the propriety which a subject hath in his lands, consisteth in a right to exclude all other subjects from the use of them ; and not to exclude their Soveraign, be it an assembly, or a Monarch. For seeing the Soveraign, that is to say, the Common-wealth (whose Person he representeth,) is understod to do nothing but in order to the common Peace and Security, this Distri- bution of lands, is to be understod as done in order to the same: And consequently, whatsoever Distribution he shall make in prejudice thereof, is contrary to the will of every subject, that committed his Peace, and safety to his discre- tion, and conscience ; and therefore, by the will of every one of them, is to be reputed voyd. It is true, that a Soveraign Monarch, or the greater part of a Soveraign Assembly, may ordain the doing of many things in pursuit of their Passions, contrary to their own consciences, which is a breach of trust, and of the Law of Nature ; but this is not enough to au- thorise any subject, either to make watre upon, or so much as to accuse of Injustice, or any Way to speak evill of their Soveraign ; because they have authorised all his actions, and in bestowing the Soveraign Power, made them their own. But in what cases the Commands of Soveraigns are contrary to Equity, and the Law of Nature, is to be considered here- after in another place. In the Distribution of land, the CotnmOn-wealth it selfe, may be conceived to have a portion, and possesse, and im- prove the same by their Representative; and that such portion may be made sufficient, to susteine the whole ex- pence 129 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2^. 193 pence to the common Peace, and defence necessarily required : Which were very true, if there could be any Representative conceived free from humane passions, and infirmities. But the nature of men being as it is, the setting forth of Publique Land, or of any certaine Revenue for the Common-wealth, is in vaine ; and tendeth to the dissolution of Government, and to the condition of meere Nature, and War, assoon as ever the Soveraign Power falleth into the hands of a Monarch, or of an Assembly, that are either too negligent of mony, or too hazardous in engaging the pub- lique stock, into a long, or costly war. Common-wealths can endure no Diet : For seeing their expence is not limited by their own appetite, but by externall Accidents, and the appetites of their neighbours, the Publique Riches cannot be limited by other limits, than those \ which the emergent occasions shall require. And whereas in Englafid, there were by the Conqueror, divers Lands reserved to his own use, (besides Forrests, and Chases, either for his recreation, or for preservation of Woods,) and divers services reserved on the Land he gave his Subjects ; yet it seems they were not reserved for his Maintenance in his Publique, but in his Naturall capacity : For he, and his Successors did for all that, lay Arbitrary Taxes on all Subjects Land, when they judged it necessary. Or if those pubKque Lands, and Services, were ordained as a sufficient maintenance of the Common-wealth, it was contrary to the scope of the Insti- tution ; being (as it appeared by those ensuing Taxes) insufficient, and (as it appeares by the late small Revenue of the Crown) Subject to Alienation, and Diminution. It is therefore in vaine, to assign a portion to the Common- wealth ; which may sell, or give it away ; and does sell, and give it away when tis done by their Representative. As the Distribution of Lands at home ; so also to assigne ^■^^ Places and matter in what places, and for what commodities, the Subject shall ofTraffigue traffique abroad, belongeth to the Soveraign. For if it did their his- belong to private persons to use their own discretion therein, 'J^t^'sme. some of them would bee drawn for gaine, both to furnish the raign. o enemy 194 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 24. The Laws of trans- ferring propriety belong also to the Sove- raign. Many the Bloud of a Common- wealth. enemy with means to hurt the Common-wealth, and hurt it themselves, by importing such things, as pleasing mens appetites, be neverthelesse noxious, or at least unprofitable to them. And therefore it belongeth to the Common-wealth, (that is, to the Soveraign only,) to approve, or disapprove both of the places, and matter of forraign Traffique. Further, seeing it id not enough to the Sustentation of a Common-wealth, that every man have a propriety in a portion of Land, or in some few commodities, or a naturall property in some usefull art, and there is no art in the world, but is necessary either for the being, or well being almost of every particular man ; it is necessary, that men distribute that which they can spare, and transferre their propriety therein, mutually one to another, by exchange, and mutuall contract. And therefore it belongeth to the Common-wealth, (that is to say, to the Soveraign,) to appoint in what manner, all kinds of contract between Subjects, (as buying, selling, ex- changing, borrowing, lending, letting, and taking to hire,) are to bee made ; and by what words, and signes they shall be understood for valid. And for the Matter, and Distri- bution of the Nourishment, to the severall Members of the Common-wealth, thus much (considering the modell of the whole worke) is sufficient. By Concoction, I understand the reducing of all commo- dities, which are not presently consumed, but reserved for Nourishment in time to come, to some thing of equall value, and withall so portable, as not to hinder the motion of men from place to place ; to the end a man may have in what place soever, such Nourishment as the place affordeth. And this is nothing else but Gold, and Silver, and Mony. For Gold and Silver, being (as it happens) almost in all Countries of the world highly valued, is a commodious measure of the value of all things else between Nations; and Mony (of what matter soever coyned by the Soveraign of a Common-wealth,) is a sufficient measure of the value of all things else, between the Subjects of that Common-wealth. By the means of which measures, all commodities, Move- able, 130 Part 2. OJ COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^.i,. 195 able, and Immoveable, are made to accompany a man, to all places of his resort, within and without the place of his ordinary residence ; and the same passeth from Man to Man, within the Common-wealth ; and goes round about, Nourish- ing (as it passeth) every part thereof; In so much as this Concoction, is as it were the Sanguification of the Com- mon-wealth : For naturall Bloud is in like manner made of the fruits of the Earth ; and circulating, nourisheth by the way, every Member of the Body of Man. And because Silver and Gold, have their value from the matter it self ; they have first this priviledge, that the value of them cannot be altered by the power of one, nor of a few Common-wealths ; as being a common measure of the commodities of all places. But base Mony, may easily be enhansed, or abased. Secondly, they have the priviledge to make Common-wealths move, and stretch out their armes, when need is, into forraign Countries ; and supply, not only private Subjects that travell, but also whole Armies with Provision. But that Coyne, which is not considerable for the Matter, but for the Stamp of the place, being unable to endure change of ayr, hath its effect at home only ; where also it is subject to the change of Laws, and thereby to have the value diminished, to the prejudice many times of those that have it. The Conduits, and Wayes by which it is conveyed to the The Con- _ , . . ^ .^ 1 .-1 T • duits and Publique use, are of two sorts ; One, that Conveyeth it to Way of the Publique Coff'ers ; The other, that Issueth the same out ^util^J^ " againe for publique payments. Of the first sort, are Col- lectors, Receivers, and Treasurers j of the second are the Treasurers againe, and the Officers appointed for payment of severall publique or private Ministers. And in this also, the Artificiall Man maintains his resemblance with the Naturall ; whose Veins receiving the Bloud from the seve- 131 rail Parts of the Body, carry it to the Heart j where being made Vitall, the Heart by the Arteries sends it out again, to enliven, and enable for motion all the Members of the same. The use. 196 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 25. The Chil- dren of a Cofn-mon- ■wealth Colonies. The Procreation, or Children of a Common-wealth, are those we call Plantations, or Colonies ; which are numbers of men sent out from the Common-wealth, under a Conductor, or Governour, to inhabit a Forraign Country, either formerly voyd of Inhabitants, or made voyd then, by warre. And when a Colony is setled, they are either a Common-wealth of themselves, discharged of their subjection to their Sove- raign that sent them, (as hath been done by many Common- wealths of antient time,) in which case the Common-wealth from which they went, was called their Metropolis, or Mother, and requires no more of them, then Fathers require of the Children, whom they emancipate, and make free from their domestique government, which is Honour, and Friendship ; or else they remain united to their Metropolis, as were the Colonies of the people of Rome; and then they are no Common- wealths themselves, but Provinces, and parts of the Common-wealth that sent them. So that the Right of Colonies (saving Honour, and League with their Metropolis,) dependeth wholly on their Licence, or Letters, by which their Soveraign authorised them to Plant. CHAP. XXV. Counsell what. Of Counsell. HOw fallacious it is to judge of the nature of things, by the ordinary and inconstant use of words, appeareth in nothing more, than in the confusion of Counsels, and Commands, arising from the Imperative manner of speaking in them both, and in many other occasions besides. For the words Doe this, are the words not onely of him that Com- mandeth ; but also of him that giveth Counsell ; and of him that Exhorteth ; and yet there are but few, that see not, that these are very different things ; or that cannot distinguish between them, when they perceive who it is that speaketh, and to whom the Speech is directed, and upon what occa- sion. Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. it,. 197 sion. But finding those phrases in mens writings, and being not able, or not wiUing to enter into a consideration of the circumstances, they mistake sometimes the Precepts of Coun- sellours, for the Precepts of them that Command ; and some- times the contrary ; according as it best agreeth with the con- clusions they would inferre, or the actions they approve. To avoyd which mistakes, and render to those termes of Com- manding, Counsehing, and Exhorting, their proper and dis- tinct significations, I define them thus. Command is, where a man saith, Doe this, or Doe not fj'^^^^"^ this, without expecting other reason than the Will of him Command, and Coun- that sayes it. From this it foUoweth manifestly, that he that sell. Commandeth, pretendeth thereby his own Benefit : For the 132 reason of his Command is his own Will onely, and the proper object of every mans Will, is some Good to himselfe. Counsel L, is where a man saith. Doe, or Doe not this, and deduceth his reasons from the benefit that arriveth by it to him to whom he saith it. And from this it is evident, that he that giveth Counsell, pretendeth onely (whatsoever he intendeth) the good of him, to whom he giveth it. Therefore between Counsell and Command, one great diffe- rence is, that Command is directed to a mans own benefit ; and Counsell to the benefit of another man. And from this ariseth another difference, that a man may be obliged to do what he is Commanded ; as when he hath covenanted to obey : But he cannot be obliged to do as he is Counselled, because the hurt of not following it, is his own ; or if he should covenant to follow it, then is the Counsell turned into the nature of a Command. A third difference between them is, that no man can pretend a right to be of another mans Counsell ; because he is not to pretend benefit by it to him- selfe : but to demand right to Counsell another, argues a will to know his designes, or to gain some other Good to himselfe ; which (as I said before) is of every mans will the proper object. This also is incident to the nature of Counsell ; that what- soever it be, he that asketh it, cannot in equity accuse, or punish it : For to ask Counsell of another, is to permit him to igS Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ZS- to give such Counsell as he shall think best ; And conse- quently, he that giveth counsell to his Soveraign, (whether a Monarch, or an Assembly) when he asketh it, cannot in equity be punished for it, whether the same be conformable to the opinion of the most, or not, so it be to the Proposition in debate. For if the sense of the Assembly can be taken notice of, before the Debate be ended, they should neither ask, nor take any further Counsell ; For the Sense of the Assembly, is the Resolution of the Debate, and End of all Deliberation. And generally he that demandeth Counsell, is Author of it ; and therefore cannot punish it ; and what the Soveraign cannot, no man else can. But if one Subject giveth Counsell to another, to do any thing contrary to the Lawes, whether that Counsell proceed from evill intention, or from ignorance onely, it is punishable by the Common- wealth ; because ignorance of the Law, is no good excuse, where every man is bound to take notice of the Lawes to which he is subject. Exhorta- EXHORTATION, and Dehortation, is Counsell, tion and . , . , . • , . ... Dehorta- accompanied with signes m him that giveth it, of vehement desire to have it followed ; or to say it more briefly, Counsell vehemently pressed. For he that Exhorteth, doth not deduce the consequences of what he adviseth to be done, and tye himselfe therein to the rigour of true reasoning ; but encour- ages him he Counselleth, to Action : As he that Dehorteth, deterreth him from it. And therefore they have in their speeches, a regard to the common Passions, and opinions of men, in deducing their reasons ; and make use of Similitudes, Metaphors, Examples, and other tooles of Oratory, to per- swade their Hearers of the Utility, Honour, or Justice of following their advise. From whence may be inferred. First, that Exhortation and 133 Dehortation, is directed to the Good of him that giveth the Counsell, not of him that asketh it, which is contrary to the duty of a Counsellour; who (by the definition of Counsell) ought to regard, not his own benefit, but his whom he ad- viseth. And that he directeth his Counsell to his own benefit, Part 7.. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. it,. 199 benefit, is manifest enough, by the long and vehement urg- ing, or by the artificiall giving thereof; which being not required of him, and consequently proceeding from his own occasions, is directed principally to his own benefit, and but accidentarily to the good of him that is Counselled, or not at all. Secondly, that the use of Exhortation and Dehortation lyeth onely, where a man is to speak to a Multitude ; because when the Speech is addressed to one, he may interrupt him, and examine his reasons more rigorously, than can be done in a Multitude ; which are too many to enter into Dispute, and Dialogue with him that speaketh indifferently to them all at once. Thirdly, that they that Exhort and Dehort, where they are required to give Counsell, are corrupt Counsellours, and as it were bribed by their own interest. For though the Counsell they give be never so good ; yet he that gives it, is no more a good Counsellour, than he that giveth a Just Sentence for a reward, is a Just Judge. But where a man may lawfully Command, as a Father in his Family, or a Leader in an Army, his Exhortations and Dehortations, are not onely lawfull, but also necessary, and laudable : But then they are no more Counsells, but Commands ; which when they are for Execution of soure labour ; sometimes necessity, and alwayes humanity requireth to be sweetned in the delivery, by encouragement, and in the tune and phrase of Counsell, rather then in harsher language of Com- mand. Examples of the difference between Command and Coun- sell, we may take from the foriTies of Speech that expresse them in Holy Scripture. Have no other Gods but me ; Alake to thy selfe no graven Image; Take not Gods name in vam ; Sandifie the Sabbath; Honour thy Pai'ents; Kill not; Steak not, &c. are Commands ; because the reason for which we are to obey them, is drawn from the will of God our King, whom we are obliged to obey. But these words. Sell all thou hast ; ^ve it to the poore ; and follow me, are Counsell; because 200 Part 2. OJ COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2^. because the reason for which we are to do so, is drawn from our own benefit ; which is this, that we shall have Treasure in heaven. These words, Go into the Village over against you, and you shall find an Asse tyed, and her Colt; loose her, and bring her to me, are a Command ; for the reason of their fact is drawn from the will of their Master : but these words, Repent, and be Baptized in the Name of yesus, are Counsell ; because the reason why we should so do, tendeth not to any benefit of God Almighty, who shall still be King in what manner soever we rebell ; but of our selves, who have no other means of avoyding the punishment hanging over us for our sins. Differences As the difference of Counsell from Command, hath been unfit Coun- now deduced from the nature of Counsell, consisting in a se ours. deducing of the benefit, or hurt that may arise to him that 134 is to be Counselled, by the necessary or probable conse- quences of the action he propoundeth ; so may also the differences between apt, and inept Counsellours be derived from the same. For Experience, being but Memory of the consequences of like actions formerly observed, and Counsell but the Speech whereby that experience is made known to another ; the Vertues, and Defects of Counsell, are the same with the Vertues, and Defects Intellectuall : And to the Person of a Common-wealth, his Counsellours serve him in the place of Memory, and Mentall Discourse. But with this resemblance of the Common-wealth, to a natural! man, there is one dissimilitude joyned, of great importance ; which is, that a naturall man receiveth his experience, from the na- tural! objects of sense, which work upon him without passion, ■ or interest of their own ; whereas they that give Counsell to the Representative person of a Common-wealth, may have, and have often their particular ends, and passions, that render their Counsells alwayes suspected, and many times unfaithful!. And therefore we may set down for the first condition of a good Counsellour, That his Ends, and In- terest, be not inconsistent with the Ends and Interest of him he Cotmselleth. Secondly, Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. i^. Secondly, Because the office of a Counsellour, when an action comes into dehberation, is to make manifest the con- sequences of it, in such manner, as he that is Counselled may be truly and evidently informed ; he ought to propound his advise, in such forme of speech, as may make the truth most evidently appear; that is to say, with as firme ratiocina- tion, as significant and proper language, and as briefly, as the evidence will permit. And therefore rash, and unevident Inferences; (such as are fetched onely from Examples, or authority of Books, and are not arguments of what is good, or evill, but witnesses of fact, or of opinion,) obscure, confused, and ambiguous Expressions, also all nietaphoricall Speeches, tetiding to the stirring up of Passion, (because such reasoning, and such expressions, are usefuU onely to deceive, or to lead him we Counsell towards other ends than his own) are re- pugnant to the Office of a Counsellour. Thirdly, Because the Ability of Counselling proceedeth from Experience, and long study ; and no man is presumed to have experience in all those things that to the Adminis- tration of a great Common-wealth are necessary to be known. No man is presumed to be a good Counsellour, but in such Businesse, as he hath not onely been much versed in, but hath also much meditated on, and considered. For seeing the businesse of a Common-wealth is this, to preserve the people in Peace at home, and defend them against forraign Invasion, we shall find, it requires great knowledge of the disposition of Man-kind, of the Rights of Government, and of the nature of Equity, Law, Justice, and Honour, not to be attained without study ; And of the Strength, Commodities, Places, both of their own Country, and their Neighbours ; as also of the inclinations, and designes of all Nations that may any way annoy them. And this is not attained to, without much experience. Of which things, not onely the whole summe, 135 but every one of the particulars requires the age, and obser- vation of a man in years, and of more than ordinary study. The wit required for Counsel, as I have said before (Chap. 8.) is Judgement. And the differences of men in that point come Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.1%. come from different education, of some to one kind of study, or businesse, and of others to another. When for the doing of any thing, there be Infallible rules, (as in Engines, and Edifices, the rules of Geometry,) all the experience of the world cannot equall his Counsell, that has learnt, or found out the Rule. And when there is no such Rule, he that hath most experience in that particular kind of businesse has therein the best Judgement, and is the best Counsellour. Fourthly, to be able to give Counsell to a Common-wealth, in a businesse that hath reference to another Common- wealth, It is necessary to be acquainted with the Intelligences, and letters that come from thence, and with all the records of Treaties, and other transactions of State between them ; which none can doe, but such as the Representative shall think fit By which we may see, that they who are not called to Counsell, can have no good Counsell in such cases to obtrude. Fifthly, Supposing the number of Counsellors equall, a man is better Counselled by hearing them apart, then in an As- sembly ; and that for many causes. First, in hearing them apart, you have the advice of every man ; but in an Assembly many of them deliver their advise with /, or No, or with their hands, or feet, not moved by their own sense, but by the eloquence of another, or for feare of displeasing some that have spoken, or the whole Assembly, by contradiction ; or for feare of appearing duller in apprehension, than those that have applauded the contrary opinion. Secondly, in an Assembly of many, there cannot choose but be some whose interests are contrary to that of the Publique ; and these their Interests make passionate, and Passion eloquent, and Eloquence drawes others into the same advice. For the Passions of men, which asunder are moderate, as the heat of one brand ; in Assembly are like many brands, that enflame one another, (especially when they blow one another with Orations) to the setting of the Common-wealth on fire, under pretence of Counselling it. Thirdly, in hearing every man apart, one may examine (when there is need) the truth, or probability Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. it,. probability of his reasons, and of the grounds of the advise he gives, by frequent interruptions, and objections ; which cannot be done in an Assembly, where (in every difficult question) a man is rather astonied, and dazled with the variety of discourse upon it, than informed of the course he ought to take. Besides, there cannot be an Assembly of many, called together for advice, wherein there be not some, that have the ambition to be thought eloquent, and also learned in the Politiques ; and give not their advice with care of the businesse propounded, but of the applause of their motly orations, made of the divers colored threds, or shreds of Authors ; which is an Impertinence at least, that takes away the time of serious Consultation, and in the secret way 136 of Counselling apart, is easily avoided. Fourthly, in De- liberations that ought to be kept secret, (whereof there be many occasions in Publique Businesses) the Counsells of many, and especially in Assemblies, are dangerous; And therefore great Assemblies are necessitated to commit such affaires to lesser numbers, and of such persons as are most versed, and in whose fidelity they have most confidence. To conclude, who is there that so far approves the taking of Counsell from a great Assembly of Counsellours, that wisheth for, or would accept of their pains, when there is a question of marrying his Children, disposing of his Lands, governing his Household, or managing his private Estate, especially if there be amongst them such as wish not his prosperity ? A man that doth his businesse by the help of many and prudent Counsellours, with every one consulting apart in his proper element, does it best, as he that useth able Seconds at Tennis play, placed in their proper stations. He does next best, that useth his own Judgement only ; as he that has no Second at all. But he that is carried up and down to his businesse in a framed Counsell, which cannot move but by the p'.urality of consenting opinions, the execu- tion wherecl is commonly (out of envy, or interest) retarded by the part dissenting, does it worst of all, and like one that is carried to the ball, though by good Players, yet in a Wheele barrough, 203 204 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. barrough, or other frame, heavy of it self, and retarded also by the inconcurrent judgements, and endeavours of them that drive it ; and so much the more, as they be more that set their hands to it ; and most of all, when there is one, or more amongst them, that desire to have him lose. And though it be true, that many eyes see more then one ; yet it is not to be understood of many Counsellours ; but then only, when the finall Resolution is in one man. Otherwise, because many eyes see the same thing in divers lines, and are apt to look asquint towards their private benefit ; they that desire not to misse their marke, though they look about with two eyes, yet they never ayme but with one ; And therefore no great Popular Common-wealth was ever kept up ; but either by a forraign Enemy that united them ; or by the reputation of some one eminent Man amongst them ; or by the secret Counsell of a few ; or by the mutuall feare of equall factions ; and not by the open Consultations of the Assembly. And as for very little Common-wealths, be they Popular, or Monarchical), there is no humane wisdome can uphold them, longer then the Jealousy lasteth of their potent Neighbours. CHAP. XXVI. Of CiviLL Lawes what. Civiii Law TT) Y CiviLL Lawes, I Understand the Lawes, that J_3 men are therefore bound to observe, because they are Members, not of this, or that Common-wealth in particular, but of a Common-wealth. For the knowledge of particular Lawes belongeth to them, that professe the study of the 137 Lawes of their severall Countries ; but the knowledge of Civill Law in generall, to any man. The antient Law of Rome was called their Civil Law, from the word Civitas, which signifies a Common-wealth : And those Countries, which having been under the Roman Empire, and governed by Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. 205 by that Law, retaine still such part thereof as they think fit, call that part the Civill Law, to distinguish it from the rest of their own Civill Lawes. But that is not it I intend to speak of here ; my designe being not to shew what is Law here, and there ; but what is Law ; as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and divers others have done, without taking upon them the pro- fession of the study of the Law. And first it is manifest, that Law in generall, is not Counsell, but Command ; nor a Command of any man to any man ; but only of him, whose Command is addressed to one formerly obliged to obey him. And as for Civill Law, it addeth only the name of the person Commanding, which is Persona Civitatis, the Person of the Common- wealth. Which considered, I define Civill Law in this manner. Civill Law, Is io every Subject, those Rules, which the Commo7i-wealth hath Commanded him, by Word, Writing, or other sufficient Sign of the Will, to make use of, for the Distinction of Right, and Wrong; that is to say, of what is conti-ary, and what is not contrary to the Rule. In which definition, there is nothing that is not at first sight evident. For every man seeth, that some Lawes are addressed to all the Subjects in generall ; some to particular Provinces ; some to particular Vocations ; and some to par- ticular Men ; and are therefore Lawes, to every of those to whom the Command is directed ; and to none else. As also, that Lawes are the Rules of Just, and Unjust ; nothing being reputed Unjust, that is not contrary to some Law. Likewise, that none can make Lawes but the Common-wealth ; because our Subjection is to the Common-wealth only : and that Commands, are to be signified by sufficient Signs ; because a man knows not otherwise how to obey them. And there- fore, whatsoever can from this definition by necessary conse- quence be deduced, ought to be acknowledged for truth. Now I deduce from it this that followeth. r. The Legislator in all Common-wealths, is only the The Sme- . raign is • Soveraign, be he one Man, as m a Monarchy, or one As- Legislator! sembly 2o6 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2G. sembly of men, as in a Democracy, or Aristocracy. For the Legislator, is he that maketh the Law. And the Common- wealth only, praescribes, and commandeth the observation of those rules, which we call Law : Therefore the Common- wealth is the Legislator. But the Common-wealth is no Person, nor has capacity to doe any thing, but by the Re- presentative, (that is, the Soveraign ;) and therefore the Sove- raign is the sole Legislator. For the same reason, none can abrogate a Law made, but the Soveraign ; because a Law is not abrogated, but by another Law, that forbiddeth it to be put in execution. 2. The Soveraign of a Common-wealth, be it an Assembly, or one Man, is not Subject to the Civill Lawes. For having power to make, and repeale Lawes, he may when he pleaseth, 138 free himselfe from that subjection, by repealing those Lawes that trouble him, and making of new ; and consequently he was free before. For he is free, that can be free when he will : Nor is it possible for any person to be bound to him- selfe ; because he that can bind, can release ; and therefore he that is bound to himselfe onely, is not bound. ^"•^ ^'^'^ 3- When long Use obtaineth the authority of a Law, it is vertueof not the Length of Time that maketh the Authority, but the TiTne, but of the Save- Will of the Soveraign signified by his silence, (for Silence is sent. sometimes an argument of Consent ;) and it is no longer Law, then the Soveraign shall be silent therein. And there- fore if the Soveraign shall have a question of Right grounded, not upon his present Will, but upon the Lawes formerly made ; the Length of Time shal bring no prejudice to his Right ; but the question shal be judged by Equity. For many unjust Actions, and unjust Sentences, go uncontrolled a longer time, than any man can remember. And our Law- yers account no Customes Law, but such as are reasonable, and that evill Customes are to be abolished : But the Judge- ment of what is reasonable, and of what is to be abolished, belongeth to him that maketh the Law, which is the Sove- raign Assembly, or Monarch. ^fmtZe, 4- The Law of Nature, and the Civill Law, contain each other. Part:!.. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Ckafi. 26. 207 Other, and are of equall extent. For the Lawes of Nature, "'"' "'^ ,.,... Civill Law Which consist in Equity, Justice, Gratitude, and other morall contain Vertues on these depending, in the condition of meer Nature (as I have said before in the end of the isth Chapter,) are not properly Lawes, but qualities that dispose men to peace, and to obedience. When a Common-wealth is once settled, then are they actually Lawes, and not before ; as being then the commands of the Common-wealth ; and therefore also Civill Lawes : For it is the Soveraign Power that obliges men to obey them. For in the differences of private men, to declare, what is Equity, what is Justice, and what is morall Vertue, and to make them binding, there is need of the Ordinances of Soveraign Power, and Punishments to be ordained for such as shall break them ; which Ordinances are therefore part of the Civill Law. The Law of Nature therefore is part of the Civill Law in all Common-wealths of the world. Reciprocally also, the Civill Law is a part of the Dictates of Nature. For Justice, that is to say, Performance of Covenant, and giving to every man his own, is a Dictate of the Law of Nature. But every subject in a Common- wealth, hath covenanted to obey the Civill Law, (either one with another, as when they assemble to make a common Representative, or with the Representative it selfe one by one, when subdued by the Sword they promise obedience, that they may receive life ;) And therefore Obedience to the Civill Law is part also of the Law of Nature. Civill, and Naturall Law are not different kinds, but different parts of Law J whereof one part being written, is called Civill, the other unwritten, Naturall. But the Right of Nature, that is the naturall Liberty of man, may by the Civill Law be abridged, and restrained : nay, the end of making Lawes, is no other, but such Restraint ; without the which there can- not possibly be any Peace. And Law was brought into the 139 world for nothing else, but to limit the naturall liberty of particular men, in such manner, as they might not hurt, but assist one another, and joyn together against a common Enemy. If 2o8 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. Provin- ciall Lawes are not made by Custome, but by the Soverai^n Power. Some foolish opinions of Lawyers concerning the making of Lawes, 5. If the Soveraign of one Common- wealth, subdue a People that have lived under other written Lawes, and after- wards govern them by the same Lawes, by which they were governed before ; yet those Lawes are the Civill Lawes of the Victor, and not of the Vanquished Common-wealth. For the Legislator is he, not by whose authority the Lawes were iirst made, but by whose authority they now continue to be Lawes. And therefore where there be divers Pro- vinces, within the Dominion of a Common-wealth, and in those Provinces diversity of Lawes, which commonly are called the Customes of each severall Province, we are not to understand that such Customes have their force, onely from Length of Time ; but that they were antiently Lawes written, or otherwise made known, for the Constitutions, and Statutes of their Soveraigns ; and are now Lawes, not by vertue of the Prsescription of time, but by the Constitutions of their present Soveraigns. But if an unwritten Law, in all the Provinces of a Dominion, shall be generally observed, and no iniquity appear in the use thereof; that Law can be no other but a Law of Nature, equally obliging all man-kind. 6. Seeing then all Lawes, written, and unwritten, have their Authority, and force, from the Will of the Common- wealth ; that is to say, from the Will of the Representative ; which in a Monarchy is the Monarch, and in other Com- mon-wealths the Soveraign Assembly ; a man may wonder from whence proceed such opinions, as are found in the Books of Lawyers of eminence in severall Common-wealths, directly, or by consequence making the Legislative Power depend on private men, or subordinate Judges. As for ex- ample, That the Common Law, hath no Controuler but the Farlainent ; which is true onely where a Parlament has the Soveraign Power, and cannot be assembled, nor dissolved, but by their own discretion. For if there be a right in any else to dissolve them, there is a right also to controule them, and consequently to controule their controulings. And if there be no such right, then the Controuler of Lawes is not Farlamentum, but Rex in Parlamento. And where a Par- lament Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. 209 lament is Soveraign, if it should assemble never so many, or so wise men, from the Countries subject to them, for what- soever cause; yet there is no man will believe, that such an Assembly hath thereby acquired to themselves a Legislative Power. Item, that the two arms of a Common-wealth, are Force, and J^ustice ; the first whereof is in the King ; the other deposited in the hands of the Parlament. As if a Common- wealth could consist, where the Force were in any hand, which Justice had not the Authority to command and govern. 7. That Law can never be against Reason, 'our Lawyers are agreed ; and that not the Letter, (that is, every con- struction of it,) but that which is according to the Intention of the Legislator, is the Law. And it is true : but the doubt is, of whose Reason it is, that shall be received for Law. It is not meant of any private R.eason ; for then there would be as much contradiction in the Lawes, as there is in the 140 Schooles ; nor yet, (as Sr. Ed. Coke makes it,) an Artificiall perfection of Reason, gotten by long study, observation, and Sir Edw. experience, (as his was.) For it is possible long study may Littleton encrease, and confirm erroneous Sentences : and where men J^ ''t. I build on false grounds, the more they build, the greater is the ruine : and of those that study, and observe with equall time, and diligence, the reasons and resolutions are, and must remain discordant : and therefore it is not that J^uris prudentia, or wisedome of subordinate Judges ; but the Reason of this our Artificiall Man the Common-wealth, and his Command, that maketh Law : And the Common-wealth being in their Representative but one Person, there cannot easily arise any contradiction in the Lawes ; and when there doth, the same Reason is able, by interpretation, or alter- ation, to take it away. In all Courts of Justice, the Sove- raign (which is the Person of the Common-wealth,) is he that Judgeth : The subordinate Judge, ought to have regard to the reason, which moved his Soveraign to make such Law, that his Sentence may be according thereunto ; which then is his Soveraigns Sentence ; otherwise it is his own, and an unjust one. p From 2IO Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. Law made, if not also viads known, is no Law. Unwritten J^awes are all of them Lawes of Nature. 8. From this, that the Law is a Command, and a Com- mand consisteth in declaration, or manifestation of the will of him that commandeth, by voyce, writing, or some other suflScient argument of the same, we may understand, that the Command of the Common-wealth, is Law onely to those, that have means to take notice of it. Over naturall fooles, children, or mad-men there is no Law, no more than over brute beasts ; nor are they capable of the title of just, or unjust ; because they had never power to make any covenant, or to understand the consequences thereof; and consequently never took upon them to authorise the actions of any Soveraign, as they must do that make to themselves a Common-wealth. And as those from whom Nature, or Accident hath taken away the notice of all Lawes in generall; so also every man, from whom any accident, not proceeding from his own default, hath taken away the means to take notice of any particular Law, is excused, if he observe it not; And to speak properly, that Law is no Law to him. It is therefore necessary, to consider in this place, what arguments, and signes be sufficient for the knowledge of what is the Law ; that is to say, what is the will of the Soveraign, as well in Monarchies, as in other formes of government. And first, if it be a Law that obliges all the Subjects without exception, and is not written, nor otherwise published in such places as they may take notice thereof, it is a Law of Nature. For whatsoever men are to take knowledge of for Law, not upon other mens words, but every one from his own reason, must be such as is agreeable to the reason of all men ; which no Law can be, but the Law of Nature. The Lawes of Nature therefore need not any publishing, nor Proclamation; as being contained in this one Sentence, approved by all the world. Do not that to another, which thou thinkest unreasonable to be done by another to thy selfe. Secondly, if it be a Law that obliges only some condition 141 of men, or one particular man, and be not written, nor pub- lished by word, then also it is a Law of Nature ; and known by the same arguments, and signs, that distinguish those in such Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. 211 such a condition, from other Subjects. For whatsoever Law is not written, or some way published by him that makes it Law, can be known no way, but by the reason of him that is to obey it ; and is therefore also a Law not only Civill, but Naturall. For Example, if the Soveraign employ a Publique Minister, without written Instructions what to doe ; he is obliged to take for Instructions the Dictates of Reason ; As if he make a Judge, The Judge is to take notice, that his Sentence ought to be according to the reason of his Sove- raign, which being alwaies understood to be Equity, he is bound to it by the Law of Nature ; Or if an Ambassador, he is (in all things not conteined in his written Instructions) to take for Instruction that which Reason dictates to be most conducing to his Soveraigns interest ; and so of all other Ministers of the Soveraignty, publique and private. All which Instructions of naturall Reason may be comprehended under one name of Fidelity ; which is a branch of naturall Justice. The Law of Nature excepted, it belongeth to the essence of all other Lawes, to be made known, to every man that shall be obliged to obey them, either by word, or writing, or some other act, known to proceed from the Soveraign Au- thority. For the will of another, cannot be understood, but by his own word, or act, or by conjecture taken from his scope and purpose ; which in the person of the Common- wealth, is to be supposed alwaies consonant to Equity and Reason. And in antient time, before letters were in com- mon use, the Lawes were many times put into verse ; that the rude people taking pleasure in singing, or reciting them, might the more easily reteine them in memory. And for the same reason Solomon adviseth a man, to bind the ten Commandments * upon his ten fingers. And for the Law »Prov. 7. 3. which Moses gave to the people of Israel at the renewing of the Covenant,* he biddeth them to teach it their Children, o^ui. n. 19. by discoursing of it both at home, and upon the way ; at going to bed, and at rising from bed ; and to write it upon the posts, and dores of their houses ; and * to assemble the ^^"''' 3'- people, man, woman, and child, to heare it read. Nor 212 Parti. Of COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 26. Nothing is Law luhere the Legis- lator can- not de known. Difference between Verifying and Autho- rising. The Law Verifyed by the subor- dinate Judge. Nor is it enough the Law be written, and pubHshed ; but also that there be manifest signs, that it proceedeth from the will of the Soveraign. For private men, when they have, or think they have force enough to secure their unjust designes, and convoy them safely to their ambitious ends, may publish for Lawes what they please, without, or against the Legisla- tive Authority. There is therefore requisite, not only a Declaration of the Law, but also sufficient signes of the Author, and Authority. The Author, or Legislator is sup- posed in every Common-wealth to be evident, because he is the Soveraign, who having been Constituted by the consent of every one, is supposed by every one to be sufficiently known. And though the ignorance, and security of men be such, for the most part, as that when the memory of the first 142 Constitution of their Common-wealth is worn out, they doe not consider, by whose power they use to be defended against their enemies, and to have their industry protected, and to be righted when injury is done them ; yet because no man that considers, can make question of it, no excuse can be derived from the ignorance of where the Soveraignty is placed. And it is a Dictate of Naturall Reason, and conse- quently an evident Law of Nature, that no man ought to weaken that power, the protection whereof he hath himself demanded, or wittingly received against others. Therefore of who is Soveraign, no man, but by his own fault, (what- soever evill men suggest,) can make any doubt. The diffi- culty consisteth in the evidence of the Authority derived from him ; The removing whereof, dependeth on the know- ledge of the publique Registers, publique Counsels, publique Ministers, and publique Scales ; by which all Lawes are sufficiently verified ; Verified, I say, not Authorised : for the Verification, is but the Testimony and Record ; not the Authority of the Law ; which consisteth in the Command of the Soveraign only. If therefore a man have a question of Injury, depending on the Law of Nature ; that is to say on common Equity ; the Sentence of the Judge, that by Commission hath Au- thority Pan 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. 313 thority to take cognisance of such causes, is a sufficient Verification of the Law of Nature in that individual! case. For though the advice of one that professeth the study of the Law, be usefull for the avoyding of contention ; yet it is but advice : tis the Judge must tell men what is Law, upon the hearing of the Controversy. But when the question is of injury, or crime, upon a By the written Law ; every man by recourse to the Registers, by R^'hters. himself, or others, may (if he will) be sufficiently enformed, before he doe such injury, or commit the crime, whither it be an injury, or not : Nay he ought to doe so : For when a man doubts whether the act he goeth about, be just, or in- just ; and may informe himself, if he will ; the doing is un- lawful!. In like manner, he that supposeth himself injured, in a case determined by the written Law, which he may by himself, or others see and consider ; if he complaine before he consults with the Law, he does unjustly, and bewrayeth a disposition rather to vex other men, than to demand his own right . If the question be of Obedience to a publique Officer ; By Letters To have seen his Commission, with the Publique Scale, and Publique heard it read ; or to have had the means to be informed of "'^"' it, if a man would, is a sufficient Verification of his Authority. For every man is obliged to doe his best endeavour, to in- forme himself of all wfitteri Lawes, that may concerne his own future actions. The Legislator known j and the Lawes, either by writing. The inter- or by the light of Nature, sufficiently published; there the Law wanteth yet another very materiall circumstance to make on the'' them obligatory. For it is not the Letter, but the Intend- fj^^f^" ment, or Meaning ; that is to say, the authentique Interpre- tation of the Law (which is the sense of the Legislator,) in which the nature of the Law consisteth ; And therefore the 143 Interpretation of all Lawes dependeth on the Authority Soveraign ; and the Interpreters can be none but those, which the Soveraign, (to whom only the Subject oweth obedience) shall appoint. For else, by the craft of an Interpreter, the Law 214 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. All Lawes need Inter- pretation. The Au- thenticall Interpreta- tion of Law is not that of writers. Law may be made to beare a sense, contrary to that of the Soveraign ; by which means the Interpreter becomes the Legislator. All Laws, written, and unwritten, have need of Interpre- tation. The unwritten Law of Nature, though it be easy to such, as without partiality, and passion, make use of their naturall reason, and therefore leaves the violaters thereof without excuse ; yet considering there be very few, perhaps none, that in some cases are not blinded by self love, or some other passion, it is now become of all Laws the most obscure ; and has consequently the greatest need of able Interpreters. The written Laws, if they be short, are easily mis-interpreted, from the divers significations of a word, or two : if long, they be more obscure by the diverse signi- fications of many words : in so much as no written Law, delivered in few, or many words, can be well understood, without a perfect understanding of the finall causes, for which the Law was made ; the knowledge of which finall causes is in the Legislator. To him therefore there can not be any knot in the Law, insoluble ; either by finding out the ends, to undoe 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. The Interpretation of the Lawes of Nature, in a Common- wealth, dependeth not on the books of Morall Philosophy. The Authority of writers, without the Authority of the Common-wealth, maketh not their opinions Law, be they never so true. That which I have written in this Treatise, concerning the Morall Vertues, and of their necessity, for the procuring, and maintaining peace, though it bee evident Truth, is not therefore presently Law; but because in all Common-wealths in the world, it is part of the Civill Law : For though it be naturally reasonable ; yet it is by the Sove- raigne Power that it is Law : Otherwise, it were a great errour, to call the Lawes of Nature unwritten Law ; whereof wee see so many volumes published, and in them so many contradictions of one another, and of themselves. The Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. id. 215 The Interpretation of the Law of Nature, is the Sentence ^-^^ •^«'^''- . preter of of the J udge constituted by the Soveraign Authority, to heare the Law is and determine such controversies, as depend thereon ; and givmgfen- consisteth in the appUcation of the Law to the present case. voTeeVj™ For in the act of Judicature, the Judge doth no more but ■^■'3'^'^''' consider, whither the demand of the party, be consonant to case. natural! reason, and Equity; and the Sentence he giveth, is therefore the Interpretation of the Law of Nature ; which In- terpretation is Authentique; not because it is his private Sentence ; but because he giveth it by Authority of the Sove- raign, whereby it becomes the Soveraigns Sentence ; which is Law for that time, to the parties pleading. 144 But because there is no Judge Subordinate, nor Soveraign, The Sen- tence of a but may erre in a Judgement of Equity ; if afterward in ano- Judge, ther like case he find it more consonant to Equity to give a ^/^^ ^i^^ contrary Sentence, he is obliged to doe it. No mans error "j^'^g^'H'' becomes his own Law; nor obliges him to persist in it. 'g,^^^/^^^ .^-^ Neither (for the same reason) becomes it a Law to other Hke Cases ever after. Judges, though sworn to follow it. For though a wrong Sentence given by authority of the Soveraign, if he know and allow it, in such Lawes as are mutable, be a constitution of a new Law, in cases, in which every little circumstance is the same ; yet in Lawes immutable, such as are the Lawes of Nature, they are no Lawes to the same, or other Judges, in the like cases for ever after. Princes succeed one another ; and one ludge passeth, another commeth ; nay. Heaven and Earth shall passe ; but not one title of the Law of Nature shall passe ; for it is the Eternall Law of God. Therefore all the Sentences of precedent Judges that have ever been, cannot all together make a Law contrary to naturall Equity ; Nor any Examples of former Judges, can warrant an un- reasonable Sentence, or discharge the present Judge of the trouble of studying what is Equity (in the case he is to Judge,) from the principles of his own naturall reason. For example sake, 'Tis against the Law of Nature, To punish the Innocent; and Innocent is he that acquitteth himselfe Judi- cially, and is acknowledged for Innocent by the Judge. Put the 2i6 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. the case now, that a man is accused of a capitall crime, and seeing the power and malice of some enemy, and the frequent corruption and partiahty of Judges, runneth away for feare of the event, and afterwards is taken, and brought to a legall triall, and maketh it sufficiently appear, he was not guilty of the crime, and being thereof acquitted, is neverthelesse con- demned to lose his goods ; this is a manifest condemnation of the Innocent. I say therefore, that there is no place in the world, where this can be an interpretation of a Law of Nature, or be made a Law by the Sentences of precedent Judges, that had done the same. For he that judged it first, judged unjustly; and no Injustice can be a pattern of Judge- ment to succeeding Judges. A written Law may forbid innocent men to fly, and they may be punished for flying : But that flying for feare of injury, should be taken for pre- sumption of guilt, after a man is already absolved of the crime Judicially, is contrary to the nature of a Presumption, which hath no place after Judgement given. Yet this is set down by a great Lawyer for the common Law of England. If a man (saith he) that is Innocent be accused of Felony, and for feare flyeth for the same; albeit he judicially acquitteth himselfe of the Felony ; yet if it be found that he fled for the Felony, he shall notwithstanding his Innocency, Forfeit all his goods, chattells, debts, and duties. For as to the Forfeiture of them, the Law will admit no proofe against the Presumption in Law, grounded upon his flight. Here you see. An Innocent man, 'yudicially acquitted, notwithstanding his Innocency, (when no written Law forbad him to fly) after his acquitall, up07i a Presumption in Law, condemned to lose all the goods he hath. If the Law ground upon his flight a Presumption of the fact, (which was Capitall,) the Sentence ought to have been Capitall : if the Presumption were not of the Fact, for 145 what then ought he to lose his goods ? This therefore is no Law of England; nor is the condemnation grounded upon a Presumption of Law, but upon the Presumption of the Judges. It is also against Law, to say that no Proofe shall be admitted against a Presumption of Law. For all Judges, Soveraign Part 7.. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. 217 Soveraign and subordinate, if they refuse to heare Proofe, refuse to do Justice : for though the Sentence be Just, yet the Judges that condemn without hearing the Proofes offered, are Unjust Judges ; and their Presumption is but Prejudice ; which no man ought to bring with him to the Seat of Justice, whatsoever precedent judgements, or examples he shall pre- tend to follow. There be other things of this nature, wherein mens Judgements have been perverted, by trusting to Prece- dents : but this is enough to shew, that though the Sentence of the Judge, be a Law to the party pleading, yet it is no Law to any Judge, that shall succeed him in that Office. In like manner, when question is of the Meaning of written Lawes, he is not the Interpreter of them, that write th a Commentary upon them. For Commentaries are com- monly more subject to cavill, than the Text ; and therefore need other Commentaries ; and so there will be no end of such Interpretation. And therefore unlesse there be an Interpreter authorised by the Soveraign, from which the subordinate Judges are not to recede, the Interpreter can be no other than the ordinary Judges, in the same manner, as they are in cases of the unwritten Law ; and their Sentences are to be taken by them that plead, for Lawes in that par- ticular case ; but not to bind other Judges, in like cases to give like judgements. For a Judge may erre in the Inter- pretation even of written Lawes ; but no errour of a subor- dinate Judge, can change the Law, which is the generall Sentence of the Soveraigne. In written Lawes, men use to make a difference between The the Letter, and the Sentence of the Law : And when by the tftwet"the Letter, is meant whatsoever can be gathered from the bare ^^^''^^^"^ words, 'tis well distinguished. For the significations of the Law. almost all words, are either in themselves, or in the meta- phorical! use of them, ambiguous ; and may be drawn in ar- gument, to make many senses ; but there is onely one sense of the Law. But if by the Letter, be meant the literall sense, then the Letter, and the Sentence or intention of the Law, is all one. For the literall sense is that, which the Legisla- tor 2l8 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. tor intended, should by the letter of the Law be signified. Now the Intention of the Legislator is alwayes supposed to be Equity : For it were a great contumely for a Judge to think otherwise of the Soveraigne. He ought therefore, if the Word of the Law doe not fully authorise a reasonable Sentence, to supply it with the Law of Nature ; or if the case be difficult, to respit Judgement till he have received more ample autho- rity. For Example, a written Law ordaineth, that he which is thrust out of his house by force, shall be restored by force : It happens that a man by negligence leaves his house empty, and returning is kept out by force, in which case there is no speciall Law ordained. It is evident, that this case is con- 146 tained in the same Law : for else there is no remedy for him at all ; which is to be supposed against the Intention of the Legislator. Again, the word of the Law, commandeth to Judge according to the Evidence : A man is accused falsly of a fact, which the Judge saw himself done by another ; and not by him that is accused. In this case neither shall the Letter of the Law be followed to the condemnation of the Innocent, nor shall the Judge give Sentence against the evi- dence of the Witnesses ; because the Letter of the Law is to the contrary : but procure of the Soveraign that another be made Judge, and himself Witnesse. So that the incommo- dity that follows the bare words of a written Law, may lead him to the Intention of the Law, whereby to interpret the same the better ; though no Incommodity can warrant a Sentence against the Law. For every Judge of Right, and Wrong, is not Judge of what is Commodious, or Incommo- dious to the Common-wealth. The The abilities required in a good Interpreter of the Law, that abilities . , ' required in IS to say, m a good Judge, are not the same with those of an « y« g'- Advocate ; namely the study of the Lawes. For a Judge, as he ought to take notice of the Fact, from none but the Witnesses ; so also he ought to take notice of the Law, from nothing but the Statutes, and Constitutions of the Soveraign, alledged in the pleading, or declared to him by some that have authority from the Soveraign Power to declare them ; and Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.26. 219 and need not take care before-hand, what hee shall Judge ; for it shall bee given him what hee shall say concerning the Fact, by Witnesses ; and what hee shall say in point of Law, from those that shall in their pleadings shew it, and by au- thority interpret it upon the place. The Lords of Parlament in England were Judges, and most difficult causes have been heard and determined by them ; yet few of them were much versed in the study of the Lawes, and fewer had made pro- fession of them : and though they consulted with Lawyers, that were appointed to be present there for that purpose : yet they alone had the authority of giving Sentence. In like manner, in the ordinary trialls of Right, Twelve men of the common People, are the Judges, and give Sentence, not onely of the Fact, but of the Right ; and pronounce simply for the Complaynant, or for the Defendant ; that is to say, are Judges not onely of the Fact, but also of the Right : and in a question of crime, not onely determine whether done, or not done ; but also whether it be Murder, Homicide, Felony, Assault, and the like, which are determin- ations of Law : but because they are not supposed to know the Law of themselves, there is one that hath Authority to enforme them of it, in the particular case they are to Judge of. But yet if they judge not according to that he tells them, they are not subject thereby to any penalty ; unlesse it be made appear, they did it against their consciences, or had been corrupted by reward. The things that make a good Judge, or good Interpreter of the Lawes, are, first, A right understanding of that principall Law of Nature called Equity ; which depending not on the reading of other mens Writings, but on the goodnesse of a 147 mans own naturall Reason, and Meditation, is presumed to be in those most, that have had most leisure, and had the most inclination to meditate thereon. Secondly, Contempt of unnecessary Riches, and Preferments. Thirdly, To be able in judgement to devest himself e ofallfeare, anger, hatred, love, and compassion. Fourthly, and lastly, Patience to heare ; dili- gent attention in hearing ; and memory to retain, digest and apply what he hath heard. The 220 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. Divisions The difference and division of the Lawes, has been made 0/ Law. in divers manners, according to the different methods, of those men that have written of them. For it is a thing that dependeth not on Nature, but on the scope of the Writer ; and is subservient to every mans proper method. In the In- stitutions of 'yustinian, we find seven sorts of Civill Lawes. I. The Edicts, Constitutions, and Epistles of the Prince, that is, of the Emperour ; because the whole power of the people was in him. Like these, are the Proclamations of the Kings of England. 2. The Decrees of the whole people of Rome (comprehending the Senate,) when they were put to the Question by the Senate. These were Lawes, at first, by the vertue of the Soveraign Power residing in the people ; and such of them as by the Emperours were not abrogated, remained Lawes by the Authority Imperiall. For all Lawes that bind, are understood to be Lawes by his authority that has power to repeale them. Somewhat like to these Lawes, are the Acts of Parliament in England. 3. The Decrees of the Common people (excluding the Senate,) when they were put to the question by the Tribune of the people. For such of them as were not abrogated by the Emperours, remained Lawes by the Authority Imperiall. Like to these, were the Orders of the House of Commons in England. 4. SenatAs consulta, the Orders of the Senate ; because when the people oi Rome grew so numerous, as it was incon- venient to assemble them ; it was thought fit by the Emperour, that men should Consult the Senate, in stead of the people: And these have some resemblance with the Acts of Counsell. 5. The Edicts of Frcefors, and (in some Cases) of the yEdiles : such as are the Chiefe Justices in the Courts of England. 6. Responsa Prudentum \ which were the Sentences, and Opinions of those Lawyers, to whom the Emperour gave Authority to interpret the Law, and to give answer to such as in matter of Law demanded their advice ; which Answers, the Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. it. ^il the Judges in giving Judgement were obliged by the Con- stitutions of the Emperour to observe : And should be like the Reports of Cases Judged, if other Judges be by the Law of England bound to observe them. For the Judges of the Common Law of England, are not properly Judges, but yuris Consulti; of whom the Judges, who are either the Lords, or Twelve men of the Country, are in point of Law to ask advice. 7. Also, Unwritten Cusiomes, (which in their own nature are an imitation of Law,) by the tacite consent of the Emperour, in case they be not contrary to the Law of Nature, are very Lawes. Another division of Lawes, is into Naturall and Positive. 148 Naturall are those which have been Lawes from all Eternity ; and are called not onely Naturall, but also Morall Lawes ; consisting in the Morall Vertues, as Justice, Equity, and all habits of the mind that conduce to Peace, and Charity ; of which I have already spoken in the fourteenth and fifteenth Chapters. Positive, are those which have not been from Eternity ; but have been made Lawes by the Will of those that have had the Soveraign Power over others ; and are either written, or made known to men, by some other argument of the Will of their Legislator. Again, of Positive Lawes some are Humane, some Divine: Another ... _ . ., . Division of And of Humane positive lawes, some are Distributive, some jjiw. Penal. Distributive are those that determine the Rights of the Subjects, declaring to every man what it is, by which he acquireth and holdeth a propriety in lands, or goods, and a right or liberty of action : and these speak to all the Subjects. Penal are those, which declare, what Penalty shall be in- flicted on those that violate the Law; and speak to the Ministers and Officers ordained for execution. For though every one ought to be informed of the Punishments ordained beforehand for their transgression ; neverthelesse the Com- mand is not addressed to the Delinquent, (who cannot be supposed will faithfully punish himselfe.) but to pubHque Ministers 222 Part 2. Of COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 26. Divine Positive Law how ■made known to be Law. Ministers appointed to see the Penalty executed. And these Penal Lawes are for the most part written together with the Lawes Distributive ; and are sometimes called Judgements. For all Lawes are generall Judgements, or Sentences of the Legislator ; as also every particular Judgement, is a Law to him, whose case is Judged. Divine Positive Lawes (for Naturall Lawes being Eternal], and Universall, are all Divine,) are those, which being the Commandements of God, (not from all Eternity, nor uni- versally addressed to all men, but onely to a certain people, or to certain persons,) are declared for such, by those whom God hath authorised to declare them. But this Authority of man to declare what be these Positive Lawes of God, how can it be known ? God may command a man by a super- naturall way, to deliver Lawes to other men. But because it is of the essence of Law, that he who is to be obliged, be assured of the Authority of him that declareth it, which we cannot naturally take notice to be from God, How can a man without supernatural Revelation be assured of the Revelation received by the declarer 1 and how can he be bound to obey them ? For the first question, how a man can be assured of the Revelation of another, without a Revelation particularly to himselfe, it is evidently impossible : For though a man may be induced to believe such Revelation, from the Miracles they see him doe, or from seeing the Extraordinary sanctity of his life, or from seeing the Extraordinary wisedome, or Extraordinary felicity of his Actions, all which are marks of God extraordinary favour; yet they are not assured fevidences of speciall Revelation. Miracles are Marvellous workes : but that which is marvellous to one,* may not be so to ahother. Sanctity may be feigned ; and the visible felicities of this world, arc most often the work of God by Naturall, and or- dinary causes. And therefore no man can infallibly khow by naturall reason, that another has had a supernatural! re- velation of Gods will ; but only a beliefe ; every one (as thfe signs thereof shall appear greater, or lesser) a firmer, or a weaker belief. But 149 Partz. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. 223 But for the second, how he can be bound to obey them ; it is not so hard. For if the Law declared, be not against the Law of Nature (which is undoubtedly Gods Law) and he undertake to obey it, he is bound by his own act ; bound I say to obey it, but not bound to believe it : for mens be- liefe, and interiour cogitations, are not subject to the com- mands, but only to the operation of God, ordinary, or extraordinary. Faith of Supernaturall Law, is not a ful- filling, but only an assenting to the same ; and not a duty that we exhibite to God, but a gift which God freely giveth to whom he pleaseth ; as also Unbelief is not a breach ot any of his Lawes ; but a rejection of them all, except the Laws Naturall. But this that I say, will be made yet cleerer, by the Examples, and Testimonies concerning this point in holy Scripture. The Covenant God made with Abraham (in a Supernaturall manner) was thus. This is the Covenant Gen. 17. 10. which thou shalt observe between Me and Thee and thy Seed after thee. Abrahams Seed had not this revelation, nor were yet in being ; yet they are a party to the Covenant, and bound to obey what Abraham should declare to them for Gods Law ; which they could not be, but in vertue of the obedience they owed to their Parents ; who if they be Sub- ject to no earthly power, as here in the case of Abraham) have Soveraign power over their children, and servants. Againe, where God saith to Abraham, In thee shall all Na- tions of the earth be blessed : For I know thou wilt command thy children, and thy house after thee to keep the way of the Lord, and to observe Righteousnesse and yudgement, it is mani- fest, the obedience of his Family, who had no Revelation, depended on their former obligation to obey their Soveraign. At Mount Sinai Moses only went up to God ; the people were forbidden to approach on paine of death ; yet were they bound to obey all that Moses declared to them for Gods Law. Upon what ground, but on this submission of their own. Speak thou to us, and we will heare thee ; but let not God speak to us, lest we dye 1 By which two places it suffi- ciently appeareth, that in a Common-wealth, a subject that has 224 Part 2. Of COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 26. Anotlier division of Lawes. A Fvnda- mentall Law what. has no certain and assured Revelation particularly to him- self concerning the Will of God, is to obey for such, the Command of the Common- wealth : for if men were at liberty, to take for Gods Commandements, their own dreams, and fancies, or the dreams and fancies of private men; scarce two men would agree upon what is Gods Commandement ; and yet in respect of them, every man would despise the Com- mandements of the Common-wealth. I conclude therefore, that in all things not contrary to the Morall Law, (that is to say, to the Law of Nature,) all Subjects are bound to obey that for divine Law, which is declared to be so, by the Lawes of the Common-wealth. Which also is evident to any mans reason ; for whatsoever is not against the Law of Nature, may be made Law in the name of them that have the Sove- raign power ; and there is no reason men should be the lesse 150 obliged by it, when tis propounded in the name of God. Besides, there is no place in the world where men are per- mitted to pretend other Commandements of God, than are declared for such by the Common-wealth. Christian States punish those that revolt from Christian Religion, and all other States, those that set up any Religion by them for- bidden. For in whatsoever is not regulated by the Common- wealth, tis Equity (which is the Law of Nature, and therefore an eternall Law of God) that every man equally enjoy his liberty. There is also another distinction of Laws, into Funda- mentall, and not Fundamentall : but I could never see in any Author, what a Fundamentall Law signifieth. Neverthelesse one may very reasonably distinguish Laws in that manner. For a Fundamentall Law in every Common-wealth is that, which being taken away, the Common-wealth faileth, and is utterly dissolved ; as a building whose Foundation is de- stroyed. And therefore a Fundamentall Law is that, by which Subjects are bound to uphold whatsoever point is given to the Soveraign, whether a Monarch, or a Soveraign Assembly, without which the Common-wealth cannot stand ; such as is the power of War and Peace, of Judicature, of Election of Officers, Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 26. 225 Officers, and of doing whatsoever he shall think necessary for the Publique good. Not Fundamentall is that, the abrogating whereof, draweth not with it the dissolution of the Common-Wealth; such as are the Lawes concerning Controversies between subject and subject. Thus much of the Division of Lawes. I find the words Lex Civilis, and yus Civile, that is to Difference say, Law and Right Ctml, promiscuously used for the same Law and thing, even in the most learned Authors ; which neverthelesse ''^ ought not to be so. For Right is Liberty, namely that Liberty which the Civil Law leaves us : But Civill Law is an Obli- gation; and takes from us the Liberty which the Law of Nature gave us. Nature gave a Right to every man to secure himselfe by his own strength, and to invade a suspected neighbour, by way of prevention : but the Civill Law takes away that Liberty, in all cases where the protection of the Law may be safely stayd for. Insomuch as Lex and jFus, are as different as Obligation and Liberty. Likewise Lawes and Charters are taken promiscuously for And the same thmg. Yet Charters are Donations of the Sove- Law and a raign; and not Lawes, but exemptions from Law. The phrase of a I^aw is yubeo, Lnjungo, L Command, and Enjoyn : the phrase of a Charter is Z>edi, Concessi, L have Given, I have Granted: but what is given or granted, to a man, is not forced upon him, by a Law. A Law may be made to bind All the Subjects of a Common-wealth : a Liberty, or Charter is only to One man, or some One part of the people. For to say all the people of a Common- wealth, have Liberty in any case whatsoever ; is to say, that in such case, there hath been no Law made ; or else having been made, is now abro- gated. Charter. CHAP. 226 Part 2. Of COMMON- WEAL TH. Chap. 27. Sinne what. A Crime what. CHAP. XXVII. 0/ Crimes, Excuses, and Extenuations. A Sinne, is not onely a Transgression of a Law, but also 151 any Contempt of the Legislator. For such Con- tempt, is a breach of all his Lawes at once. And therefore may consist, not onely in the Commissioii of a Fact, or in the Speaking of Words by the Lawes forbidden, or in the Omission of what the Law conimandeth, but also in the Intention, or purpose to transgresse. For the purpose to breake the Law, is some degree of Contempt of him, to whom it belongeth to see it executed. To be delighted in the Imagination onely, of being possessed of another mans goods, servants, of wife, without any intention to take them from him by force, or fraud, is no breach of the Law, that sayth. Thou shalt not covet : nor is the pleasure a man may have in imagining, or dreaming of the death of him, from whose life he expecteth nothing but dammage, and displea- sure, a Sinne ; but the resol-fing to put some Act in execution, that tendeth thereto. For to be pleased in the fiction of that, which would please a mSn if it were reall, is a Passion so adhserant to the Nature both of man, and every other living creature, as to rriake it a Sinne; were to make Sinne of being a man: The consideration of this, has made me think them too severe, bcith to themselves; and others, that main- tain; that the First motions of the mind; (though checked with the fear Of God) be Sinnes. But I confesse it is safer to erre on that hand; than on thfe other. A C R I M e; is a siiine, consisting in the Committing (by Deed; or Word) of that which the Law forbiddeth, or the Omission of \^hat it hath cbhilnanded. So that every Crime is a sinne ; but not every sinne a Crime. To intend to stfeale; or kill, is a sinne, though it never appeare in Word, or Fatt : fbr God that seeth the thoughts of man, carl lay it to Part-z. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 27. 227 to his charge : but till it appear by some thing done, or said, by which the intention may be argued by a humane Judge, it hath not the name of Crime : which distinction the Greeks observed, in the word n/idpnj/ja, and eyKX-n/ia, or «'"« ; wherof the former, (which is translated Sinne,) signifieth any swarving from the Law whatsoever ; but the two later, (which are translated Crime,) signifie that sinne onely, whereof one man may accuse another. But of Intentions, which never appear by any outward act, there is no place for humane ac- cusation. In like manner the Latines by Peccatum, which is Sinne, signifie all manner of deviation from the Law ; but by Crimen, (which word they derive from Cerno, which signifies to perceive,) they mean onely such sinnes, as may be made appear before a Judge; and therfore are notmeer Intentions. From this relation of Sinne to the Law, and of Crime to Where no Civill Law the Civill Law, may be inferred. First, that where Law is, there is 152 ceaseth, Sinne ceaseth. But because the Law of Nature is eternall. Violation of Covenants, Ingratitude, Arrogance, and all Facts contrary to any Morall vertue, can never cease to be Sinne. Secondly, that the Civill Law ceasing, Critties cease : for there being no other Law remaining, but that of Nature, there is no place for Accusation ; every man being his own Judge, and accused onely by his own Conscience, and cleared by the Uprightnesse of his own Intention. When therefore his Intention is Right, his fact is rid Sinne : if otherwise, his fact is Sinne ; but not Crime. Thirdly, That when the Soveraign Power ceaseth. Crime also ceaseth : for where there is no such Power, there is no protection to be had from the Law; and therefore every orie may protect himself by his own power : for no man in the Iristitutiori of Soveraign Power can be supposed to give away the Right of preserving his own body ; for the safety whereof all Sove- raignty was ordained. But this is to be understood onely of those, that have not themselves contributed to the taking away of the Power that protected them : for that was a Crime from the beginning. The source of every Crime, is some defect of the Under- ignorance ' ^. of the Law standmg ; 228 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 27. of Nature standing ; or some errour in Reasoning ; or some sudden excuseihjio , . ^ ^^ . ,. . man. force of the Passions. Defect m the Understandmg, is Ignorance ; in Reasoning, Erroneous Opinion. Again, Igno- rance is of three sorts ; of the Law, and of the Soveraign, and of the Penalty. Ignorance of the Law of Nature Excuseth no man ; because every man that hath attained to the use of Reason, is supposed to know, he ought not to do to another, what he would not have done to himselfe. Therefore into what place soever a man shall come, if he do any thing contrary to that Law, it is a Crime. If a man come from the Indies hither, and perswade men here to re- ceive a new Religion, or teach them any thing that tendeth to disobedience of the Lawes of this 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 onely because his doctrine is false, but also because he does that which he would not approve in another, namely, that comming from hence, he should endeavour to alter the Religion there. But ignorance of the Civill Law, shall Excuse a man in a strange Country, till it be declared to him; because, till then no Civill Law is binding. Jgnorance jn the like manner, if the Civill Law of a mans own of the Civill Law Country, be not so sufficiently declared, as he may know it £JC€ ZiSEth sometimes, if he will ; nor the Action against the Law of Nature ; the Ignorance is a good Excuse : In other cases Ignorance of the Civill Law, Excuseth not. "^oflhTsme- Ignorance of the Soveraign Power, in the place of a mans raign ex- ordinary residence, Excuseth him not ; because he ought to cuseth not. . ' ° take notice of the Power, by which he hath been protected there. Jgnorance Ignorance of the Penalty, where the Law is declared of the . ' Penalty ex- Excuseth no man : For in breaking the Law, which without a fear of penalty to follow, were not a Law, but vain words, he undergoeth the penalty, though he know not what it is ; because, whosoever voluntarily doth any action, accepteth all the known consequences of it ; but Punishment is a known consequence of the violation of the Lawes, in every Common- wealth ; Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 27. 229 153 wealth ; which punishment, if it be determined aheady by the Law, he is subject to that ; if not, then is he subject to Arbitrary punishment. For it is reason, that he which does Injury, without other limitation than that of his own Will, should suffer punishment without other Hmitation, than that of his Will whose Law is thereby violated. But when a penalty, is either annexed to the Crime in the Punish- Law it selfe, or hath been usually inflicted in the like cases ; declared there the Delinquent is Excused from a greater penalty. For Yact,fJ- ' the punishment foreknown, if not great enough to deterre '"^"^{Z"^ men from the action, is an invitement to it : because when finish- ments after men compare the benefit of their Injustice, with the harm of it. their punishment, by necessity of Nature they choose that which appeareth best for themselves : and therefore when they are punished more than the Law had formerly deter- mined, or more than others were punished for the same Crime ; it is the Law that tempted, and deceiveth them. No Law, made after a Fact done, can make it a Crime : Nothing . , . , ^ ^ T.T IT canbemade because if the tact be agamst the J^aw ot Nature, the Law a Crime by was before the Fact ; and a Positive Law cannot be taken InaTeafter notice of, before it be made ; and therefore cannot be Obli- ''^^ ^'^'^*- gatory. But when the Law that forbiddeth a Fact, is made before the Fact be done ; yet he that doth the Fact, is lyable to the Penalty ordained after, in case no lesser Penalty were made known before, neither by Writing, nor by Example, for the reason immediatly before alledged. From defect in Reasoning, (that is to say, from Errour,) Py-l^'^ , , ° ^ ' ' Principles men are prone to violate the Lawes, three wayes. First, by of Right , . and Wron^ Presumption of false Prmciples : as when men from havmg causes of ' observed how in all places, and in all ages, unjust Actions have been authorised, by the force, and victories of those who have committed them ; and that potent men, breaking through the Cob-web Lawes of their Country, the weaker sort, and those that have failed in their Enterprises, have been esteemed the onely Criminals ; have thereupon taken for Principles, and grounds of their Reasoning, That yustice is but a vain word : That whatsoever a man can get by his own Crime. 230 Part^. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 27. own Industry, and hazard, is his own : That the Practice of all Nations cannot be unjust: That Examples of fortiter times are good Arguments of doing the like again ; and many more of that kind : Which being granted, no Act in it selfe can be a Crime, but must be made so (not by the Law, but) by the successe of them that commit it ; and the same Fact be vertuous, or vicious, as Fortune pleaseth ; so that what Marius makes a Crime, Sylla shall make meritorious, and Ccesar (the same Lawes standing) turn again into a Crirne, to the perpetuall disturbance of the Peace of the Common- wealth. False Secondly, by false Teachers, that either mis-interpret the Teachers ^ . ^^ , . . , , mis-inter- Law 01 Nature, makmg it thereby repugnant to the Law Lawof " Civill ; or by teaching for Lawes, such Doctrines of their own. Nature. ^j. "j-j-aditions of former times, as are inconsistent with the duty of a Subject. And false Thirdly, by Erroneous Inferences from True Principles : Jnferences . ^ from true which happens commonly to men that are hasty, and prse- Principles . . . , ,• dy Teachers cipitate m concludmg, and resolvmg what to do; such as are 154 they, that have both a great opinion of their own under- standing, and believe that things of this nature require not time and study, but onely common experience, and a good naturall wit ; whereof no man thinks himselfe unprovided : whereas the knowledge, of Right and Wrong, which is no lesse difficult, there is no man will pretend to, without great and long study. And of those defects in Reasoning, there is none that can Excuse (though ^ome of them may Ex- tenuate) a Crime, in any man, that pretendeth to the administration of his own private businesse ; much lesse in them that undertake a publique charge : because they pre- tend to the Reason, upon the want whereof they would ground their Excuse. 'pal'sions ■ ^^ ^^^ Passions that most frequently are the causes of Crime, one, is Vain-glory, or a foolish over-rating of their own worth ; as if difference of worth, were an effect of their wit, or riches, or bloud, or some other naturall quality, not depending on the Will of those that have the Soveraign Authority. Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 27. 231 Authority. From whence proceedeth a Presumption that the punishments ordained by the Lawes, and extended gene- rally to all Subjects, ought not to be inflicted on them, with the same rigour they are inflicted on poore, obscure, and simple men, comprehended under the name of the Vulgar. Therefore it happeneth commonly, that such as value Presump- themselves by the greatnesse of their wealth, adventure on *Rich{s, Crimes, upon hope of escaping punishment, by corrupting publique Justice, or obtaining Pardon by Mony, or other rewards. And that such as have multitude of Potent Kindred ; and ^'^d popular men, that have gained reputation amongst the Mul- titude, take courage to violate the Lawes, from a hope of oppressing the Power, to whom it belongeth to put them in execution. And that such as have a great, and false opinion of their Wisedome. own Wisedome, take upon them to reprehend the actions, and call in question the Authority of them that govern, and so to unsettle the Lawes with their publique discourse, as that nothing shall be a Crime, but what their own designes require should be so. It happeneth also to the same men, to be prone to all such Crimes, as consist in Craft, and in deceiving of their Neighbours ; because they think their designes are too subtile to be perceived. These I say are effects of a false presumption of their own Wisdome. For of them thst are the first movers in the disturbance of Common-wealth, (which can never happen without a Civill Warre,) very few are left alive long enough, to see their new Designes established : so that the benefit of their Crimes, redoundeth to Posterity, and such as would least have wished it : which argues they were not so wise, as they thought they were. And those that deceive upon hope of not being observed, do commonly deceive themselves, (the darknesse in which they believe they lye hidden, being nothing else but their own blindnesse ;) and are no wiser than Children, that think all hid, by hiding their own eyes. And generally all vain-glorious men, (unlesse they be withall 232 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 27. withall timorous,) are subject to Anger; as being more prone 155 than others to interpret for contempt, the ordinary Hberty of conversation i And there are few Crimes that may not be produced by Anger. Haired, As for the Passions, of Hate, Lust, Ambition, and Cove- Lust, Am- biiion, tousnesse, what Crimes they are apt to produce, is so obvious nesse,causes to every mans experience and understanding, as there needeth of rime, nothing to be said of them, saving that they are infirmities, so annexed to the nature, both of man, and all other living creatures, as that their effects cannot be hindred, but by ex- traordinary use of Reason, or a constant severity in punishing them. For in those things men hate, they find a continuall, and unavoydable molestation ; whereby either a mans patience must be everlasting, or he must be eased by removing the power of that which molesteth him : The former is difficult ; the later is many times impossible, without some violation of the Law. Ambition, and Covetousnesse are Passions also that are perpetually incumbent, and pressing; whereas Reason is not perpetually present, to resist them : and therefore whensoever the hope of impunity appears, their effects pro- ceed. And for Lust, what it wants in the lasting it hath in the vehemence, which sufficeth to weigh down the appre- hension of all easie, or uncertain punishments. Fear some- Of all Passions, that which enclineth men least to break tunes cause ..i t ■ -i^ -vt / • \ of Crime, tne Lawes, IS i^ ear. Nay, (exceptmg some generous natures,) ThTdln^er ^' '^ *^ °^^^y '^i"&> (when there is apparence of profit, or %"se'ni'nor P^^^^'^''^ ^y breaking the Lawes,) that makes men keep them. corporeal!. And yet in many cases a Crime may be committed through Feare. For not every Fear justifies the Action it produceth, but the fear onely of corporeall hurt, which we call Bodily Fear, and from which a man cannot see how to be delivered, but by the action. A man is assaulted, fears present death, from which he sees not how to escape, but by wounding him that assaulteth him ; If he wound him to death, this is no Crime; because no man is supposed at the making of a Common-wealth, to have abandoned the defence of his life, or Part 2. Of COMMON- WEAL TH. Chap. i-j. or limbes, where the Law cannot arrive time enough to his assistance. But to kill a man, because from his actions, or his threatnings, I may argue he will kill me when he can, (seeing I have time, and means to demand protection, from the Soveraign Power,) is a Crime. Again, a man receives words of disgrace, or some little injuries (for which they that made the Lawes, had assigned no punishment, nor thought it worthy of a man that hath the use of Reason, to take notice of,) and is afraid, unlesse he revenge it, he shall fall into contempt, and consequently be obnoxious to the like injuries from others ; and to avoyd this, breaks the Law, and protects himselfe for the future, by the terrour of his private revenge. This is a Crime : For the hurt is not Corporeall, but Phantasticall, and (though in this corner of the world, made sensible by a custome not many years since begun, amongst young and vain men,) so light, as a gallant man, and one that is assured of his own courage, cannot take notice of Also a man may stand in fear of Spirits, either through his own superstition, or through too much credit given to other men, that tell him of strange Dreams and 156 Visions ; and thereby be made believe they will hurt him, for doing, or omitting divers things, which neverthelesse, to do, or omit, is contrary to the Lawes ; And that which is so done, or omitted, is not to be Excused by this fear ; but is a Crime. For (as I have shewn before in the second Chapter) Dreams be naturally but the fancies remaining in sleep, after the impressions our Senses had formerly received waking ; and when men are by any accident unassured they have slept, seem to be reall Visions ; and therefore he that presumes to break the Law upon his own, or anothers Dream, or pre- tended Vision, or upon other Fancy of the power of Invisible Spirits, than is permitted by the Common-wealth, leaveth the Law of Nature, which is a certain offence, and followeth the imagery of his own, or another private mans brain, which he can never know whether it signifieth any thing, or nothing, nor whether he that tells his Dream, say true, or lye ; which if every private man should have leave to do, (as they must by 233 234 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 27. Crimes not equall. Tolall Excuses. by the Law of Nature, if any one have it) there could no Law be made to hold, and so all Common-wealth would be dis- solved. From these different sources of Crimes, it appeares already, that all Crimes are not (as the Stoicks of old time maintained) of the same allay. There is place, not only for Excuse, by which that which seemed a Crime, is proved to be none at all ; but also for Extenuation, by which the Crime, that seemed great, is made lesse. For though all Crimes doe equally deserve the name of Injustice, as all deviation from a strait line is equally crookednesse, which the Stoicks rightly observed ; yet it does not follow that all Crimes are equally unjust, no more than that all crooked lines are equally crooked ; which the Stoicks not observing, held it as great a Crime, to kill a Hen, against the Law, as to kill ones Father. That which totally Excuseth a Fact, and takes away from it the nature of a Crime, can be none but that, which at the same time, taketh away the obligation of the Law. For the fact committed once against the Law, if he that committed it be obliged to the Law, can be no other than a Crime. The want of means to know the Law, totally Excuseth : For the Law whereof a man has no means to enforme himself, is not obligatory. But the want of diligence to enquire, shall not be considered as a want of means ; Nor shall any man, that pretendeth to reason enough for the Government of his own affairs, be supposed to want means to know the Lawes of Nature; because they are known by the reason he pretends to : only Children, and Madmen are Excused from offences against the Law Naturall. Where a man is captive, or in the power of the enemy, (and he is then in the power of the enemy, when his person, or his means of living, is so,) if it be without his own fault, the Obligation of the Law ceaseth ; because he must obey the enemy, or dye ; and consequently such obedience is no Crime : for no man is obliged (when the protection of the Law faileth,) not to protect himself, by the best means he can. If Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.i-j. 235 157 If a man by the terrour of present death, be compelled to doe a fact against the Law, he is totally Excused ; because no Law can oblige a man to abandon his own preservation. And supposing such a Law were obligatory ; yet a man would reason thus, If [doe it not, I die presently; if I doe it, I die afterwards; therefore by doing it, there is time of life gained ; Nature therefore compells him to the fact. When a man is destitute of food, or other thing necessary for his life, and cannot preserve himselfe any other way, but by some fact against the Law ; as if in a great famine he take the food by force, or stealth, which he cannot obtaine for mony, nor charity ; or in defence of his life, snatch away another mans Sword, he is totally Excused, for the reason next before alledged. Again, Facts done against the Law, by the authority of -Satckjm ■^ ^ against the another, are by that authority Excused against the Author; Author. because no man ought to accuse his own fact in another, that is but his instrument ; but it is not Excused against a third person thereby injured; because in the violation of the Law, both the Author, and Actor are Criminalls. From hence it followeth that when that Man, or Assembly, that hath the Soveraign Power, commandeth a man to do that which is contrary to a former Law, the doing of it is totally Excused : For he ought not to condemn it himselfe, because he is the Author ; and what cannot justly be condemned by the Soveraign, cannot justly be punished by any other. Besides, when the Soveraign commandeth any thing to be done against his own former Law, the Command, as to that particular fact, is an abrogation of the Law. If that Man, or Assembly, that hath the Soveraign Power, disclaime any Right essentiall to the Soveraignty, whereby there accrueth to the Subject, any liberty inconsistent with the Soveraign Power, that is to say, with the very being of a Common-wealth, if the Subject shall refuse to obey the Command in any thing, contrary to the liberty granted, this is neverthelesse a Sinne, and contrary to the duty of the Sub- ject : for he ought to take notice of what is inconsistent with the 236 Part 2. Of COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 27. PresuTnp- tion of Power, aggrava- teth. the Soveraignty, because it was erected by his own consent, and for his own defence; and that such liberty as is incon- sistent with it, was granted through ignorance of the evill consequence thereof. But if he not onely disobey, but also resist a publique Minister in the execution of it, then it is a Crime ; because he might have been righted, (without any breach of the Peace,) upon complaint. The Degrees of Crime are taken on divers Scales, and measured, First, by the malignity of the Source, or Cause : Secondly, by the contagion of the Example : Thirdly, by the mischiefe of the Effect ; and Fourthly, by the concurrence of Times, Places, and Persons. The same Fact done against the Law, if it proceed from Presumption of strength, riches, or friends to resist those that are to execute the Law, is a greater Crime, than if it proceed from hope of not being discovered, or of escape by flight : For Presumption of impunity by force, is a Root, from 158 whence springeth, at all times, and upon all temptations, a contempt of all Lawes ; whereas in the later case, the appre- hension of danger, that makes a man fly, renders him more obedient for the future. A Crime which we know to be so, is greater than the same Crime proceeding from a false per- swasion that it is lawfull : For he that committeth it against his own conscience, presumeth on his force, or other power, which encourages him to commit the same again : but he that doth it by errour, after the errour shewn him, is con- formable to the Law. Evill Hee, whose errour proceeds from the authority of a Teachers, Extenuate. Teacher, or an Interpreter of the Law publiquely authorised, is not so faulty, as he whose errour proceedeth from a pe- remptory pursute of his own principles, and reasoning : For what is taught by one that teacheth by publique Authority, the Common-wealth teacheth, and hath a resemblance of Law, till the same Authority controuleth it ; and in all Crimes that contain not in them a denyall of the Soveraign Power, nor are against an evident Law, Excuseth totally : whereas he that groundeth his actions, on his private Judge- ment, Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 21. 237 ment, ought according to the rectitude, or errour thereof, to stand, or fall. The same Fact, if it have been constantly punished in ^fSJ^'" other men, is a greater Crime, than if there have been many ^ity. -fi*-- precedent Examples of Impunity. For those Examples, are so many hopes of Impunity, given by the Soveraign himselfe : And because he which furnishes a man with such a hope, and presumption of mercy, as encourageth him to offend, hath his part in the offence; he cannot reasonably charge the offender with the whole. A Crime arising from a sudden Passion, is not so great, Prmmedi- tat ion, Ag- as when the same ariseth from long meditation : For in the gravateth. former case there is a place for Extenuation, in the common infirmity of humane nature : but he that doth it with prs- m/editation, has used circumspection, and cast his eye, on Ime Law, on the punishment, and on the consequence thereof to humane society ; all which in committing the Crime, hee hath contemned, and postposed to his own appetite. But there is no suddennesse of Passion sufficient for a totall Ex- cuse : For all the time between the first knowing of the Law, and the Commission of the Fact, shall be taken for a time of deliberation ; because he ought by meditation of the Law, to rectifie the irregularity of his Passions. Where the Law is publiquely, and with assiduity, before all the people read, and interpreted ; a fact done against it, is a greater Crime, than where men are left without such in- struction, to enquire of it with difficulty, uncertainty, and interruption of their Callings, and be informed by priuate men : for in this case, part of the fault is discharged upon common infirmity ; but in the former, there is apparent neg- ligence, which is not without some contempt of the Sove- raign Power. Those facts which the Law expresly condemneth, but the Tadte Law-maker by other manifest signes of his will tacitly ap- 'tion''oftke proveth, are lesse Crimes, than the same facts, condemned ^^ZuiSles both by the Law, and Law-maker. For seeing the will of the Law-maker is a Law, there appear in this case two con- tradictory 238 Part -2.. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 21. tradictory Lawes ; which would totally Excuse, if men were 159 bound to take notice of the Soveraigns approbation, by other arguments, than are expressed by his command. But because there are punishments consequent, not onely to the trans- gression of his Law, but also to the observing of it, he is in part a cause of the transgression, and therefore cannot rea- sonably impute the whole Crime to the Delinquent. For example, the Law condemneth Duells ; the punishment is made capitall : On the contrary part, he that refuseth Duell, is subject to contempt and scorne, without remedy ; and sometimes by the Soveraign himselfe thought unworthy to have any charge, or preferment in Warre : If thereupon he accept Duell, considering all men lawfully endeavour to ob- tain the good opinion of them that have the Soveraign Power, he ought not in reason to be rigorously punished ; seeing part of the fault may be discharged on the punisher : which I say, not as wishing liberty of private revenges, or any other kind of disobedience ; but a care in Governours, not to i countenance any thing obliquely, which directly they forbid. The examples of Princes, to those that see them, are, and i ever have been, more potent to govern their actions, than the Lawes themselves. And though it be our duty to do, not what they do, but what they say ; yet will that duty never be performed, till it please God to give men an extraordinary, and supernaturall grace to follow that Precept. Compa- Again, if we compare Crimes by the mischiefe of their rison oj ^„ . , Crimes Lffects, First, the same fact, when it redounds to the dam- Mficts. "'' mage of many, is greater, than when it redounds to the hurt of few. And therefore, when a fact hurteth, not onely in the present, but also, (by example) in the future, it is a greater Crime, than if it hurt onely in the present : for the former, is a fertile Crime, and multiplyes to the hurt of many ; the later is barren. To maintain doctrines contrary to the Religion established in the Common-wealth, is a greater fault, in an authorised Preacher, than in a private person : So also is it, to live prophanely, incontinently, or do any irreligious act whatsoever. Likewise in a Professor of Part 7.. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 27. 239 of the Law, to maintain any point, or do any act, that tendeth to the weakning of the Soveraign Power, is a greater Crime, than in another man : Also in a man that hath such reputation for wisedome, as that his counsells are followed, or his actions imitated by many, his fact against the Law, is a greater Crime, than the same fact in another : For such men not onely commit Crime, but teach it for Law to all other men. And generally all Crimes are the greater, by the scandall they give ; that is to say, by becomming stum- bling-blocks to the weak, that look not so much upon the way they go in, as upon the light that other men carry before them. Also Facts of hostility against the present state of the -f "^^^ ^'^- Common-wealth, are greater Crimes, than the same acts done to private men : For the dammage extends it selfe to all : Such are the betraying of the strengths, or revealing of the secrets of the Common-wealth to an Enemy ; also all attempts upon the Representative of the Common-wealth, be it a Monarch, or an Assembly; and all endeavours by 160 word, or deed to diminish the Authority of the same, either in the present time, or in succession : which Crimes the Latines understand by Crimina iceim Majestatis, and consist in designe, or act, contrai-y to a Furidamentall Law. Likewise those Crinies, which render Judgements of no Bribery _ . , ^ :. , , and False , effect, are greater Crirries, than Injuries done to one, or a teiUmony. few persorls ; as to receive irioriy to give False judgement, or testimony, is a greater Crime, than otherwise to deceive a mart of the like, or a greatei: sdnindfe ; because not onely he has wrong, that falls by ^uch judgeinleiits ; but all Judge- ments are rendered uselesse, arid occasion niinistred to force, and private revenges. Also Robbery, and Depeculation of the Publique treasure, Depecuia- or Revenues, is a greater Crime, than ihe robbing, or de- frauding of a Private man ; because to fobbe the publique, is to robbe many at once. Also the Counterfeit usurpation of pdb'lique Ministery, Counter- i ■ feiting the Counterfeiting of publique Seales, or piiblique Coine, Authority. than 240 Crimes against private men com- pared. Part 2. Of COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 27. or his seale ; dammage oi than counterfeiting of a private mans person, because the fraud thereof, extendeth to the many. Of facts against the Law, done to private men, the greater Crime, is that, where the dammage in the common opinion of men, is most sensible. And therefore To kill against the Law, is a greater Crime, than any other injury, life preserved. And to kill with Torment, greater, than simply to kill. And Mutilation of a limbe, greater, than the spoyling a man of his goods. And the spoyling a man of his goods, by Terrour of death, or wounds, than by clandestine surreption. And by clandestine Surreption, than by consent fraudu- lently obtained. And the violation of chastity by Force, greater, than by flattery. And of a woman Married, than of a woman not married. For all these things are commonly so valued ; though some men are more, and some lesse sensible of the same offence. But the Law regardeth not the particular, but the generall inclination of mankind. And therefore the offence men take, from contumely, in words, or gesture, when they produce no other harme, than the present griefe of him that is reproached, hath been neglected in the Lawes of the Greeksj Romans, and other both antient, and moderne Common-wealths ; supposing the true cause of such griefe to consist, not in the contumely, (which takes no hold upon men conscious of their own vertue,) but in the Pusillanimity of him that is offended by it. Also a Crime against a private man, is much aggravated by the person, time, and place. For to kill ones Parent, is a greater Crime, than to kill another : For the Parent ought to have the honour of a Soveraign, (though he have surren- dred his Power to the Civill Law,) because he had it origi- nally by Nature. And to Robbe a poore man, is a greater Crime, Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2%. 241 161 Crime, than to robbe a rich man ; because 'tis to the poore a more sensible dammage. And a Crime committed in the Time, or Place appointed for Devotion, is greater, than if committed at another time or place : for it proceeds from a greater contempt of the Law. Many other cases of Aggravation, and Extenuation might be added : but by these I have set down, it is obvious to every man, to take the altitude of any other crime proposed. Lastly, because in almost all Crimes there is an Injury PuUique done, not onely to some Private men, but also to the Com- what. mon-wealth ; the same Crime, when the accusation is in the name of the Common-wealth, is called Publique Crime ; and when in the name of a Private man, a Private Crime ; And the Pleas according thereunto called Publique, jFudicia Publica, Pleas of the Crown; or Private Pleas. As in an Accusation of Murder, if the accuser be a Private man, the plea is a Private plea ; if the accuser be the Soveraign, the plea is a Publique plea. CHAP. XXVIII. Of Punishments, and Rewards. A Punishment, is an Evill inflicted by publique The defi- . Tiition of Authority, on hitn that hath done, or v?mtted that punish- which is "fudged by the same Authority to be a Transgression of the Law ; to the end that the will of men may thereby the better be disposed to obedience. Before I inferre any thing from this definition, there is a Right to • Pu ft is/t question to be answered, of much importance; which is, whejice by what door the Right, or Authority of Punishing in any ''^''''"'"^■ case, came in. For by that which has been said before, no man is supposed bound by Covenant, not to resist violence ; and consequently it cannot be intended, that he gave any R right 242 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 28. Private injuries, and Re- venges no Punish- ments: Nor deny- all of f re- ferment : Nor pain inflicted •without publique hearing : right to another to lay violent hands upon his person. In the making of a Common-wealth, every man giveth away the right of defending another ; but not of defending him- selfe. Also he obligeth himselfe, to assist him that hath the Soveraignty, in the Punishing of another ; but of himselfe not. But to covenant to assist the Soveraign, in doing hurt to another, unlesse he that so covenanteth have a right to doe it himselfe, is not to give him a Right to Punish. It is mani- fest therefore that the Right which the Common-wealth (that is, he, or they that represent it) hath to Punish, is not grounded on any concession, or gift of the Subjects. But I have also shewed formerly, that before the Institution of Common-wealth, every man had a right to every thing, and to do whatsoever he thought necessary to his own preser- vation ; subduing, hurting, or killing any man in order thereunto. And this is the foundation of that right of Punishing, which is exercised in every Common-wealth. For 162 the Subjects did not give the Soveraign that right; but onely in laying down theirs, strengthned him to use his own, as he should think fit, for the preservation of them all : so that it was not given, but left to him, and to him onely ; and (excepting the limits set him by naturall Law) as entire, as in the condition of meer Nature, and of warre of every one against his neighbour. From the definition of Punishment, I inferre, First, that neither private revenges, nor injuries of private men, can properly be stiled Punishment; because they proceed not from publique Authority. Secondly, that to be neglected, and unpreferred by the publique favour, is not a Punishment ; because no new evill is thereby on any man Inflicted ; he is onely left in the estate he was in before. Thirdly, that the evill inflicted by publique Authority, without precedent publique condemnation, is not to be stiled by the name of Punishment ; but of an hostile act • because the fact for which a man is Punished, ought first to be Judged by publique Authority, to be a transgression of the Law. Fourthly, Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2Z. 243 Fourthly, that the evill inflicted by usurped power, and Nor pain Judges without Authority from the Soveraign, is not Punish- by Usurped ment ; but an act of hostility ; because the acts of power ^'''^"' ' usurped, have not for Author, the person condemned ; and therefore are not acts of publique Authority. Fifthly, that all evill which is inflicted without intention, Nor fain or possibility of disposing the Dehnquent, or (by his witlwtit example) other men, to obey the Lawes, is not Punishment; "he future but an act of hostility; because without such an end, no ^°''^' hurt done is contained under that name. Sixthly, whereas to certain actions, there be annexed by Naturali ,T , ,. , _ ,, , . evill con- JNature, divers hurtfull consequences; as when a man in sequences. assaulting another, is himselfe slain, or wounded ; or when "mentT" '' he falleth into sicknesse by the doing of some unlawfuU act ; such hurt, though in respect of God, who is the author of Nature, it may be said to be inflicted, and therefore a Punishment divine ; yet it is not contaned in the name of Punishment in respect of men, because it is not inflicted by the Authority of man. Seventhly, If the harm inflicted be lesse than the benefit, Hurt in- ■" . flicted, ij or contentment that naturally followeth the crime com- lesse than mitted, that harm is not within the definition; and is of trans- rather the Price, or Redemption, than the Punishment of a j^f/pj'^i^^. Crime : Because it is of the nature of Punishment; to have """'■ for end, the disposing of men to obey the Law ; which end (if it be lesse than the benefit of the transgression) it at- taineth not, but worketh a contrary effect. Eighthly, If a Punishment be determined and prescribed Where the in the Law it selfe, and after the crime committed, there be ment is . , annexed to a greater Punishment inflicted, the excesse is not Punish- the Law, ment, but an act of hostiUty. For seeing the aym of lirt'is''not Punishment is not a revenge, but terrour ; and the terrour ^"//J'f^^ of a great Punishment unknown, is taken away by the Hostility. declaration of a lesse, the unexpected addition is no part of 163 the Punishment. But where there is no Punishment at all determined by the Law, there whatsoever is inflicted, hath the nature of Punishment. For he that goes about the violation 244 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 28. Hurt in- fllciedfor a fact done before the La-w, no Punlsh- jfient. The Repre- sentative oj the Com- mon-wealth Unpunish- able. Hurt to Revolted Subjects is done by right of War, not by way of Punish- ment.- violation of a Law, wherein no penalty is determined, ex- pecteth an indeterminate, that is to say, an arbitrary Punishment. Ninthly, Harme inflicted for a Fact done before there was a Law that forbad it, is not Punishment, but an act of Hos- tility : For before the Law, there is no transgression of the Law : But Punishment supposeth a fact judged, to have been a transgression of the Law ; Therefore Harme inflicted before the Law made, is not Punishment, but an act of Hostility. Tenthly, Hurt inflicted on the Representative of the Common-wealth, is not Punishment, but an act of Hostility : Because it is of the nature of Punishment, to be inflicted by publique Authority, which is the Authority only of the Re- presentative it self. Lastly, Harme inflicted upon one that is a declared enemy, fals not under the name of Punishment : Because seeing they were either never subject to the Law, and therefore can^iot transgresse it ; or having been subject to it, and professing to be no longer so, by consequence deny they can trans- gresse it, all the Harmes that can be done them, must be taken as acts of Hostility. But in declared Hostility, all infliction of evill is lawfuU. From whence it followeth, that if a subject shall by fact, or word, wittingly, and deliberatly deny the authority of the Representative of the Common- wealth, (whatsoever penalty hath been formerly ordained for Treason,) he may lawfully be made to suffer whatsoever the Representative will : For in denying subjection, he denyes such Punishment as by the Law hath been ordained ; and therefore suffers as an enemy of the Common-wealth ; that is, according to the will of the Representative. For the Punish- ments set down in the Law, are to Subjects, not to Enemies ; such as are they, that having been by their own act Subjects, deliberately revolting, deny the Soveraign Power. The first, and most generall distribution of Punishments is into Divine., and Humane. Of the former I shall have occasion, to speak, in a more convenient place hereafter. Humane, are those Punishments that be inflicted by the Commandement Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. i%. 245 Commandement of Man ; and are either Corporal!, or Fecti- niary, or Ignominy, or Imprisotiment, or Exile, or mixt of these. Corporall Punishment is that, which is inflicted on the ^eTtfcor- body directly, and according to the intention of him that {""'"^l- inflicteth it : such as are stripes, or wounds, or deprivation of such pleasures of the body, as were before lawfully enjoyed. And of these, some be Capitall, some Lesse than Capitall. Capitail. Capitall, is the Infliction of Death ; and that either simply, or with torment. Lesse than Capitall, are Stripes, Wounds, Chains, and any other corporall Paine, not in its own nature mortall. For if upon the Infliction of a Punishment death follow not in the intention of the Inflicter, the Punishment is not to bee esteemed Capitall, though the harme prove 164 mortall by an accident not to be foreseen ; in which case death is not inflicted, but hastened. Pecuniary Punishment, is that which consisteth not only in the deprivation of a Summe of Mony, but also of I^ands, or any other goods which are usually bought and sold for mony. And in case the Law, that ordaineth such a punishment, be made with design to gather mony, from such as shall trans- gresse the same, it is not properly a Punishment, but the Price of priviledge, and exemption from the Law, which doth not absolutely forbid the fact, but only to those that are not able to pay the mony : except where the Law is Naturall, or part of Religion ; for in that case it is not an exemption from the Law, but a transgression of it. As where a Law exacteth a Pecuniary mulct, of them that take the name of God in vaine, the payment of the mulct, is not the price of a dispensation to sweare, but the Punishment of the trans- gression of a Law undispensable. In like manner if the Law impose a Summe of Mony to be payd, to him that has been Injured ; this is but a satisfaction for the hurt done him ; and extinguisheth the accusation of the party injured, not the crime of the offender. Ignominy, is the infliction of such Evill, as is made Dis- ignominy. honorable ; or the deprivation of such Good, as is made Honourable 246 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2Z. Honourable by the Common-wealth. For there be some things Honorable by Nature ; as the effects of Courage, Mag- namity, Strength, Wisdome, and other abilities of body and mind : Others made Honorable by the Common- wealth ; as Badges, Titles, Offices, or any other singular marke of the Soveraigns favour. The former, (though they may fail by nature, or accident,) cannot be taken away by a Law ; and therefore the losse of them is not Punishment. But the later, may be taken away by the publique authority that made them Honorable, and are properly Punishments : Such are degrading men condemned, of their Badges, Titles, and Offices ; or declaring them uncapable of the like in time to come. Imprison- Imprisojiment, is when a man is by publique Authority deprived of liberty ; and may happen from two divers ends ; whereof one is the safe custody of a man accused ; the other is the inflicting of paine on a man condemned. The former is not Punishment ; because no man is supposed to be punisht, before he be Judicially heard, and declared guilty. And therefore whatsoever hurt a man is made to suffer by bonds, or restraint, before his cause be heard, over and above that which is necessary to assure his custody, is against the Law of Nature. But the later is Punishment, because Evill, and inflicted by publique Authority, for somewhat that has by the same Authority been Judged a Transgression of the Law. Under this word Imprisonment, I comprehend all restraint of motion, caused by an externall obstacle, be it a House, which is called by the general name of a Prison ; or an Hand, as when men are said to be confined to it ; or a place where men are set to worke, as in old time men have been condemned to Quarries, and in these times to Gallies • or be it a Chaine, or any other such impediment. Exile. Exile, (Banishment) is when a man is for a crime, con- demned to depart out of the dominion of the Common- 165 wealth, or out of a certaine part thereof; and during a pre- fixed time, or for ever, not to return into it : and seemeth not in its own nature, without other circumstances, to be a Punishment : Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2Z. 247 Punishment ; but rather an escape, or a publique com- mandement to avoid Punishment by flight. And Cicero sayes, there was never any such Punishment ordained in the City oi Rome ; but cals it a refuge of men in danger. For if a man banished, be neverthelesse permitted to enjoy his Goods, and the Revenue of his Lands, the meer change of ayr is no Punishment ; nor does it tend to that benefit of the Common-wealth, for which all Punishments are ordained, (that is to say, to the forming of mens wils to the observa- tion of the Law ;) but many times to the dammage of the Common-wealth. For a Banished man, is a lawfull enemy of the Common-wealth that banished him ; as being no more a Member of the same. But if he be withall deprived of his Lands, or Goods, then the Punishment lyeth not in the Exile, but is to be reckoned amongst Punishments Pecuniary. All Punishments of Innocent subjects, be they great or The . . Punish- little, are against the Law of Nature: For Punishment is mentofln- only for Transgression of the Law, and therefore there can jects is con- he no Punishment of the Innocent. It is therefore a violation, '[^wof * First, of that Law of Nature, which forbiddeth all men, in Nature. their Revenges, to look at any thing but some future good : For there can arrive no good to the Common-wealth, by Punishing the Innocent. Secondly, of that, which forbiddeth Ingratitude : For seeing all Soveraign Power, is originally given by the consent of every one of the Subjects, to the end they should as long as they are obedient, be protected there- by ; the Punishment of the Innocent, is a rendring of Evill for Good. And thirdly, of the Law that commandeth Equity ; that is to say, an equall distribution of Justice ; which in Punishing the Innocent is not observed. But the Infliction of what evill soever, an an Innocent But the man, that is not a Subject, if it be for the benefit of the done to Common-wealth, and without violation of any former Cove- i„ y^^^^ nant, is no breach of the Law of Nature. For all men that ""'■«'•' are not Subjects, are either Enemies, or else they have ceased from being so, by some precedent covenants. But against Enemies, whom the Common-wealth judgeth capable to do them Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 28. Nor that which is done to declared Rebels. Reward, is either Salary, or Grace. Benefits bestowed for fear, are not Rewards. them hurt, it is lawful! by the originall Right of Nature to make warre ; wherein the Sword Judgeth not, nor doth the Victor make distinction of Nocent, and Innocent, as to the time past ; nor has other respect of mercy, than as it con- duceth to the good of his own People. And upon this ground it is, that also in Subjects, who deliberatly deny the Authority of the Common-wealth established, the vengeance is lawfully extended, not onely to the Fathers, but also to the third and fourth generation not yet in being, and conse- quently innocent of the fact, for which they are afflicted : because the nature of this offence, consisteth in the renoun- cing of subjection ; which is a relapse into the condition of warre, commonly called Rebellion ; and they that so offend, suffer not as Subjects, but as Enemies. For Rebellion, is but warre renewed. Reward, is either of Gift, or by Contract. When by Contract, it is called Salary, and Wages ; which is benefit due for service performed, or promised. When of Gift, it is benefit proceeding from the grace of them that bestow it, to encourage, or enable men to do them service. And there- fore when the Soveraign of a Common wealth appointeth a Salary to any publique Office, he that receiveth it, is bound in Justice to performe his office ; otherwise, he is bound onely in honour, to acknowledgement, and an endeavour of requital! For though men have no lawfull remedy, when they be commanded to quit their private businesse, to serve the publique, without Reward, or Salary ; yet they are not bound thereto, by the Law of Nature, nor by the Institution of the Common-wealth, unlesse the service cannot otherwise be done ; because it is supposed the Soveraign may make use of all their means, insomuch as the most common Souldier, may demand the wages of his warrefare, as a debt. The benefit which a Soveraign bestoweth on a Subject, for fear of some power, and ability he hath to do hurt to the Common-wealth, are not properly Rewards ; for they are not Salaryes ; because there is in this case no contract supposed, every man being obliged already not to do the Common- wealth 166 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. • Chap.iZ. 249 wealth disservice : nor are they Graces ; because they be ex- torted by fear, which ought not to be incident to the Sove- raign Power : but are rather Sacrifices, which the Soveraign (considered in his naturall person, and not in the person of the Common-wealth) makes, for the appeasing the discontent of him he thinks more potent than himselfe ; and encourage not to obedience, but on the contrary, to the continuance, and increasing of further extortion. And whereas some Salaries are certain, and proceed from Salaries . Certain the publique Treasure ; and others uncertam, and casuall, and proceeding from the execution of the Office for which the Salary is ordained ; the later is in some cases hurtfull to the Common-wealth ; as in the case of Judicature. For where the benefit of the Judges, and Ministers of a Court of Justice, ariseth for the multitude of Causes that are brought to their cognisance, there must needs follow two Inconveniences : One, is the nourishing of sutes ; for the more sutes, the greater benefit : and another that depends on that, which is contention about Jurisdiction ; each Court drawing to it selfe, as many Causes as it can. But in offices of Execution there are not those Inconveniences ; because their employ- ment cannot be encreased by any endeavour of their own. And thus much shall suffice for the nature of Punishment, and Reward ; which are, as it were, the Nerves and Tendons, that move the limbes and joynts of a Common-wealth. Hitherto I have set forth the nature of Man, (whose Pride and other Passions have compelled him to submit himselfe to Government ;) together with the great power of his Governour, whom I compared to Leviathan, taking that comparison out of the two last verses of the one and fortieth of yob ; where God having set forth the great power of 167 Lndathan, calleth him King of the Proud. There is nothing, saith he, on earth, to he compared with him. He is made so as not to be afraid. Hee seeth eatery high thing below him ; and is King of all the children of pride. But because he is mortall, and subject to decay, as all other Earthly creatures are ; and because there is that in heaven, (though not on earth) 250 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 29. earth) that he should stand in fear of, and whose Lawes he ought to obey ; I shall in the next following Chapters speak of his Diseases, and the causes of his Mortality ; and of what Lawes of Nature he is bound to obey. CHAP. XXIX. Dissohitlon of Common- wealths proceedeth from their Impeifect Institution. Want of Absolute power. Of those things that Weaken, or tend to the D i s- SOLUTION of a Common-wealth. T Hough nothing can be immortal!, which mortals make; yet, if men had the use of reason they pretend to, their Common-wealths might be secured, at least, from perishing by internall diseases. For by the nature of their Institution, they are designed to live, as long as Man-kind, or as the Lawes of Nature, or as Justice it selfe, which gives them life. Therefore when they come to be dissolved, not by external! violence, but intestine disorder, the fault is not in men, as they are the Matter ; but as they are the Makers, and orderers of them. For men, as they become at last weary of irregular justling, and hewing one another, and de- sire with all their hearts, to conforme themselves into one firm and lasting edifice ; so for want, both of the art of making fit Lawes, to square their actions by, and also of humility, and patience, to suffer the rude and combersome points of their present greatnesse to be taken off, they cannot without the help of a very able Architect, be compiled, into any other than a crasie building, such as hardly lasting out their own time, must assuredly fall upon the heads of their posterity. Amongst the Lifirmities therefore of a Common-wealth, I will reckon in the first place, those that arise from an Im- perfect Institution, and resemble the diseases of a naturall body, which proceed from a Defectuous Procreation. Of which, this is one. That a man to obtain a Kino-dome is sojitetimes content with lesse Power, than to the Peace, and defence of the Common-wealth is necessarily required. From whence it Part ■I. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2^. 251 it commeth to passe, that when the exercise of the Power layd by, is for the publique safety to be resumed, it hath the resemblance of an unjust act; which disposeth great numbers of men (when occasion is presented) to rebell ; In the same manner as the bodies of children, gotten by diseased parents, are subject either to untimely death, or to purge the ill quality, derived from their vicious conception, by breaking out into biles and scabbs. And when Kings deny themselves some such necessary Power, it is not alwayes (though some- times) out of ignorance of what is necessary to the office they undertake ; but many times out of a hope to recover the 168 same again at their pleasure : Wherein they reason not well; because such as will hold them to their promises, shall be maintained against them by forriagn Common-wealths ; who in order to the good of their own Subjects let slip few oc- casions to weaken the estate of their Neighbours. So was Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury , supported against Henry the Second, by the Pope ; the subjection of Ecclesi- astiques to the Common-wealth, having been dispensed with by William the Conquerour at his reception, when he took an Oath, not to infringe the liberty of the Church. And so were the Barons, whose power was by William Rufus (to have their help in transferring the Succession from his Elder brother, to himselfe,) encreased to a degree, inconsistent with the Soveraign Power, maintained in their Rebellion against King yohn, by the French. Nor does this happen in Monarchy onely. For whereas the stile of the antient Roman Common-wealth, was. The Senate, and People of Rome ; neither Senate, nor People pre- tended to the whole Power ; which first caused the seditions, of Tiberius Gracchus, Caius Gracchus, Lucius Saturninus, and others ; and afterwards the warres between the Senate and the People, under Marius and Sylla ; and again under Pompey and Ccesar, to the Extinction of their Democraty, and the setting up of Monarchy. The people of Athens bound themselves but from one onely Action ; which was, that no man on pain of death should 253 Private Judgement of Good and Evill. Erroneous conscience. Part 2. Of COMMON- WE A L TH. Chap. 29. should propound the renewing of the warre for the Island of Salamis ; And yet thereby, if Solon had not caused to be given out he was mad, and afterwards in gesture and habit of a mad-man, and in verse, propounded it to the People that flocked about him, they had had an enemy perpetually in readinesse, even at the gates of their Citie ; such dammage, or shifts, are all Common-wealths forced to, that have their Power never so little limited. In the second place, I observe the Diseases of a Common- wealth, that proceed from the poyson of seditious doctrines; whereof one is, That every private man is 'yudgeof Good and Evill actions. This is true in the condition of meer Nature, where there are no Civill Lawes ; and also under Civill ' Government, in such cases as are not determined by the Law. But otherwise, it is manifest, that the measure of Good and Evill actions, is the Civill Law ; and the Judge the Legislator, who is alwayes Representative of the Com- mon-wealth. From this false doctrine, men are disposed to debate with themselves, and dispute the commands of the Common-wealth ; and afterwards to obey, or disobey them, as in their private judgements they shall think fit. Whereby the Common-wealth is distracted and Weakened. Another doctrine repugnant to Civill Society, is, that •whatsoever a ??ian does against his Conscience, is Sinne ; and it dependeth on the presumption of making himself judge of Good and Evill. For a mans Conscience, and his Judge- ment is the same thing ; and as the Judgement, so also the Conscience may be erroneous. Therefore, though he that is subject to no Civill Law, sinneth in all he does against his Conscience, because he has no other rule to follow but his 169 own reason ; yet it is not so with him that lives in a Com- mon-wealth ; because the Law is the publique Conscience, by which he hath already undertaken to be guided. Other- wise in such diversity, as there is of private Consciences, which are but private opinions, the Common-wealth must needs be distracted, and no man dare to obey the Soveraign Power, farther than it shall seem good in his own eyes. It Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ir). 253 It hath been also commonly taught, That Faith and Pretence of o • 7 ■ r-( Inspira- Sanctity, are not to be attained by Study and Reason, but by Hon. supernaturall Inspiration, or Infusion, which granted, I see not why any man should render a reason of his Faith ; or why every Christian should not be also a Prophet ; or why any man should take the Law of his Country, rather than his own Inspiration, for the rule of his action. And thus wee fall again into the fault of taking upon us to Judge of Good and Evill ; or to make Judges of it, such private men as pretend to be supernaturally Inspired, to the Dissolution of all Civill Government. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by those accidents, which guide us into the presence of them that speak to us ; which accidents are all contrived by God Almighty ; and yet are not supernaturall, but onely, for the great number of them that concurre to every effect, unobservable. Faith, and Sanctity, are indeed not very fre- quent ; but yet they are not Miracles, but brought to passe by education, discipline, correction, and other naturall wayes, by which God worketh them in his elect, at such time as he thinketh fit. And these three opinions, pernicious to Peace and Government, have in this part of the world, proceeded chiefly from the tongues, and pens of unlearned Divines ; who joyning the words of Holy Scripture together, otherwise than is agreeable to reason, do what they can, to make men think, that Sanctity and Naturall Reason, cannot stand together. A fourth opinion, repugnant to the nature of a Common- Subjecting . , the Sove- wealth, is this. That he that hath the Soveraign Power, is raign subject to the Civill Lawes. It is true, that Soveraigns are all civUi subject to the Lawes of Nature ; because such lawes be Divine, and cannot by any man, ci Common-wealth be abrogated. But to those Lawes which the Soveraign himselfe, that is, which the Common-wealth maketh, he is not subject. For to be subject to Lawes, is to be subject to the Common-wealth, that is to the Soveraign Representative, that is to himselfe ; which is not subjection, but freedome from the Lawes. Which errour, because it setteth the Lawes above the Sove- raign, setteth also a Judge above him, and a Power to punish him ; Lawes. 254 Part 2. Of COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 29. Attrilut- ing of absolute Propriety to Subjects. Dividing of the Soveraign Power. Jmitation of Neigh- bour Na- tions, him ; which is to make a new Soveraign ; and again for the same reason a third, to punish the second ; and so continually without end, to the Confusion, and Dissolution of the Common- wealth. A Fifth doctrine, that tendeth to the Dissolution of a Common-wealth, is. That every private man has an absolute Propriety in his Goods ; such, as excludeth the Right of the Soveraign. Every man has indeed a Propriety that excludes the Right of every other Subject : And he has it onely from the Soveraign Power ; without the protection whereof, every other man should have equall Right to the same. But if the Right of the Soveraign also be excluded, he cannot performe the office they have put him into ; which is, to defend them both from forraign enemies, and from the injuries of one another ; and consequently there is no longer a Common- wealth. And if the Propriety of Subjects, exclude not the Right of the Soveraign Representative to their Goods ; much lesse to their offices of Judicature, or Execution, in which they Repre- sent the Soveraign himselfe. There is a Sixth doctrine, plainly, and directly against the essence of a Common-wealth; and 'tis this. That the Soveraign Power may be divided. For what is it to divide the Power of a Common- wealth, but to Dissolve it ; for Powers divided mutually destroy each other. And for these doctrines, men are chiefly beholding to some of those, that making profession of the Lawes, endeavour to make them depend upon their own learning, and not upon the Legislative Power. And as False Doctrine, so also often-times the Example of different Government in a neighbouring Nation, disposeth men to alteration of the forme already setled. So the people of the Jewes were stirred up to reject God, and to call upon the Prophet Samuel, for a King after the manner of the Nations : So also the lesser Cities of Greece, were continually disturbed, with seditions of the Aristocraticall, and Demo- craticall factions ; one part of almost every Common- wealth, desiring to imitate the Lacedaemonians ; the other, the Athe- nians. 170 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. iq. 255 nians. And I doubt not, but many men, have been contented to see the late troubles in England, out of an imitation of the Low Countries ; supposing there needed no more to grow rich, than to change, as they had done, the forme of their Government. For the constitution of mans nature, is of it selfe subject to desire novelty : When therefore they are pro- voked to the same, by the neighbourhood also of those that have been enriched by it, it is almost impossible for them, not to be content with those that solicite them to change ; and love the first beginnings, though they be grieved with the continuance of disorder; like hot blouds, that having gotten the itch, tear themselves with their own nayles, till they can endure the smart no longer. And as to Rebellion in particular against Monarchy ; one Jmltation of the of the most frequent causes of it, is the Reading of the books Greeks, and of PoUcy, and Histories of the ancient Greeks, and Romans ; from which, young men, and all others that are unprovided of the Antidote of solid Reason, receiving a strong, and de- lightfull impression, of the great exploits of warre, atchieved by the Conductors of their Armies, receive withall a pleasing Idea, of all they have done besides ; and imagine their great prosperity, not to have proceeded from the femulation of particular men, but from the vertue of their popular forme of government : Not considering the frequent Seditions, and Civill warres, produced by the imperfection of their Policy. From the reading, I say, of such books, men have undertaken to kill their Kings, because the Greek and Latine writers, in 171 their books, and discourses of Policy, make it lawful), and laudable, for any man so to do ; provided before he do it, he call him Tyrant. For they say not Regicide, that is, killing of a King, but Tyrannicide, that is, killing of a Tyrant is lawfuU. From the same books, they that live under a Monarch con- ceive an opinion, that the Subjects in a Popular Common- wealth enjoy Liberty ; but that in a Monarchy they are all Slaves. I say, they that live under a Monarchy conceive such an opinion ; not they that live under a Popular Govern- ment : for they find no such matter. In summe, I cannot imagine, 256 Part I. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 29. imagine, how any thing can be more prejudicial! to a Mon- archy, than the allowing of such books to be publiiiely read, without present applying such correctives of discreet Masters, as are fit to take away their Venime ; Which Venime I will not doubt to compare to the biting of a mad Dogge, which is a disease the Physicians call Hydrophobia, ox fear of Water. For as he that is so bitten, has a continuall torment of thirst, and yet abhorreth water ; and is in such an estate, as if the poyson endeavoured to convert him into a Dogge : So when a Monarchy is once bitten to the quick, by those Democra- ticall writers, that continually snarle at that estate ; it wanteth nothing more than a strong Monarch, which neverthelesse out of a certain Tyrannophobia, or feare of being strongly gov- erned, when they have him, they abhorre. As there have been Doctors, that hold there be three Soules in a man ; so there be also that think there may be more Soules, (that is, more Soveraigns,) than one, in a Common-wealth ; and set up a Supremacy against the Sove- raignty ; Canons against Lawes ; and a Ghostly Authority against the Civill ; working on mens minds, with words and distinctions, that of themselves signifie nothing, but bewray (by their obscurity) that there walketh (as some think invisi- bly) another Kingdome, as it were a Kingdome of Fayries, in the dark. Now seeing it is manifest, that the Civill Power, and the Power of the Common-wealth is the same thing ; and that Supremacy, and the Power of making Canons, and granting Faculties, implyeth a Common-wealth ; it followeth, that where one is Soveraign, another Supreme ; where one can make Lawes, and another make Canons; there must needs be two Common-wealths, of one & the same Subjects ; which is a Kingdome divided in it selfe, and cannot stand. For notwithstanding the insignificant distinction of Temporall, and Ghostly, they are still two Kingdomes, and every Subject is subject to two Masters. For seeing the Ghostly Power challengeth the Right to declare what is Sinne, it challengeth by consequence to declare what is Law, (Sinne being nothing but the transgression of the Law;) and again, the Civill Power Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. i^. 257 Power challenging to declare what is Law, every Subject must obey two Masters, who both will have their Commands be observed as Law ; which is impossible. Or, if it be but one Kingdome, either the Civill, which is the Power of the Common-wealth, must be subordinate to the Ghostly, and then there is no Soveraignty but the Ghostly ; or the Ghostly must be subordinate to the Temporall, and then there is no Supremacy but the Temporall. When therefore these two Powers oppose one another, the Common- wealth cannot but be in great danger of Civill warre, and Dissolution. For the Civill Authority being more visible, and standing in the cleerer light of naturall reason, cannot choose but draw to it in all times a very considerable part of the people : And the Spirituall, though it stand in the darknesse of Schoole dis- tinctions, and hard words ; yet because the fear of Darknesse, and Ghosts, is greater than other fears, cannot want a party sufficient to Trouble, and sometimes to Destroy a Common- wealth. And this is a Disease which not unfitly may be compared to the Epilepsie, or Falling-sickness (which the Jewes took to be one kind of possession by Spirits) in the Body Naturall. For as in this Disease, there is an unnaturall spirit, or wind in the head that obstructeth the roots of the Nerves, and moving them violently, taketh away the motion which naturally they should have from the power of the Soule in the Brain, and thereby causeth violent, and irregular motions (which men call Convulsions) in the parts ; insomuch as he that is seized therewith, falleth down sometimes into the water, and sometimes into the fire, as a man deprived of his senses; so also in the Body Politique, when the Spirituall power, moveth the Members of a Common-wealth, by the terrour of punishments, and hope of rewards (which are the Nerves of it,) otherwise than by the Civill Power (which is the Soule of the Common-wealth) they ought to be moved ; and by strange, and hard words suffocates their under- standing, it must needs thereby Distract the people, and either Overwhelm the Common-wealth with Oppression, or cast it into the Fire of a Civill warre. s Sometimes 258 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 29. Mixi Go- vernment. Want of Moity. Sometimes also in the meerly Civill government, there be more than one Soule : As when the Power of levying mony, (which is the Nutritive faculty,) has depended on a generall Assembly ; the Power of conduct and command, (which is the Motive faculty,) on one man ; and the Power of making Lawes, (which is the Rationall faculty,) on the accidental! consent, not onely of those two, but also of a third ; This endangereth the Common-wealth, somtimes for want of consent to good Lawes ; but most often for want of such Nourishment, as is necessary to Life, and Motion. For al- though few perceive, that such government, is not govern- ment, but division of the Common-wealth into three Factions, and call it mixt Monarchy ; yet the truth is, that it is not one independent Common-wealth, but three independent Factions ; nor one Representative Person, but three. In the Kingdome of God, there may be three Persons indepen- dent, without breach of unity in God that Reigneth ; but where men Reigne, that be subject to diversity of opinions, it cannot be so. And therefore if the King bear the person of the People, and the generall Assembly bear also the person of the People, and another Assembly bear the person of a Part of the people, they are not one Person, nor one Sove- raign, but three Persons, and three Soveraigns. To what Disease in the Naturall Body of man, I may exactly compare this irregularity of a Common-wealth, I know not. But I have seen a man, that had another man growing out of his side, with an head, armes, breast, and stomach, of his own : If he had had another man growing out of his other side, the comparison might then have been 173 exact. Hitherto I have named such Diseases of a Common- wealth, as are of the greatest, and most present danger. There be other, not so great ; which neverthelesse are not unfit to be observed. As first, the difficulty of raising Mony, for the necessary uses of the Common-wealth; especially in the approach of warre. This difficulty ariseth from the opinion, that every Subject hath of a Propriety in his Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.i^. 259 his lands and goods, exclusive of the Soveraigns Right to the use of the same. From whence it commeth to passe, that the Soveraign Power, which foreseeth the necessities and dangers of the Common-wealth, (finding the passage of mony to the publique Treasure obstructed, by the tenacity of the people,) whereas it ought to extend it selfe, to en- counter, and prevent such dangers in their beginnings, con- tracteth it selfe as long as it can, and when it cannot longer, struggles with the people by stratagems of Law, to obtain little summes, which not sufficing, he is fain at last violently to open the way for present supply, or Perish ; and being put often to these extremities, at last reduceth the people to their due temper ; or else the Common- wealth must perish. Insomuch as we may compare this Distemper very aptly to an Ague ; wherein, the fleshy parts being congealed, or by venomous matter obstructed ; the Veins which by their naturall course empty themselves into the Heart, are not (as they ought to be) supplyed from the Arteries, whereby there succeedeth at first a cold con- traction, and trembling of the limbes ; and afterwards a hot, and strong endeavour of the Heart, to force a passage for the Bloud ; and before it can do that, contenteth it selfe with the small refreshments ,of such things as coole for a time, till (if Nature be strong enough) it break at last the contumacy of the parts obstructed, and dissipateth the venome into sweat ; or (if Nature be too weak) the Patient dyeth. Again, there is sometimes in a Common-wealth, a Disease, Monopolies which resembleth the Pleurisie ; and that is, when the Trea- "of Pub-" sure of the Common-wealth, flowing out of its due course, ""^'"■ is gathered together in too much abundance, in one, or a few private men, by Monopolies, or by Farmes of the Publique Revenues ; in the same manner as the Blood in a Pleurisie, getting into the Membrane of the breast, breedeth there an Inflammation, accompanied with a Fever, and pain- full stitches. Also, the Popularity of a potent Subject, (unlesse the Popular ' -^ ' men. Common-wealth 26o Part: Of COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 29. Excessive greatnesse of a T(nun, multiiitde of Corpora- tions. Liberty of disputing against Soveraigti Power. Dissolution of t lie Common- wealth. Common-wealth have very good caution of his fidelity,) is a dangerous Disease; because the people (which should receive their motion from the Authority of the Soveraign,) by the flattery, and by the reputation of an ambitious man, are drawn away from their obedience to the Lawes, to follow a man, of whose vertues, and designes they have no knowledge. And this is commonly of more danger in a Popular Government, than in a Monarchy ; because an Army is of so great force, and multitude, as it may easily be made beheve, they are the People. By this means it was, that 'yulius CcEsar, who was set up by the People against the Senate, having won to himselfe the affections of his Army, made himselfe Master, both of Senate and People. And this proceeding of popular, and ambitious men, is plain Rebellion ; and may be resembled to the effects of Witch- craft. Another infirmity of a Common-wealth, is the immoderate greatnesse ot a Town, when it is able to furnish out of its own Circuit, the number, and expence of a great Army : As also the great number of Corporations ; which are as it were many lesser Common-wealths in the bowels of a greater, like wormes in the entrayles of a naturall man. To which may be added, the Liberty of Disputing against absolute Power, by pretenders to Politicall Prudence ; which though bred for the most part in the Lees of the people ; yet animated by False Doctrines, are perpetually medling with the Fundamentall Lawes, to the molestation of the Common-wealth ; like the little Wormes, which Physicians call Ascarides. We may further adde, the insatiable appetite, or Bulimia, of enlarging Dominion ; with the incurable Wounds thereby many times received from the enemy ; And the Wens, of ununited conquests, which are many times a burthen, and with lesse danger lost, than kept ; As also the Lethargy of Ease, and Consumption of Riot and Vain Expence. Lastly, when in a warre (forraign, or intestine,) the enemies get a finall Victory; so as (the forces of the Common-wealth 174 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. lo. 261 Common -wealth keeping the field no longer) there is no farther protection of Subjects in their loyaly; then is the Common-wealth Dissolved, and every man at liberty to protect himselfe by such courses as his own discretion shall suggest unto him. For the Soveraign, is the publique Soule, giving Life and Motion to the Common-weaUh ; which expiring, the Members are governed by it no more, than the Carcasse of a man, by his departed (though Im- mortall) Soule. For though the Right of a Soveraign Monarch cannot be extinguished by the act of another ; yet the Obligation of the members may. For he that wants protection, may seek it any where ; and when he hath it, is obliged (without fraudulent pretence of having submitted himselfe out of fear,) to protect his Protection as long as he is able. But when the Power of an Assembly is once sup- pressed, the Right of the same perisheth utterly ; because the Assembly it selfe is extinct ; and consequently, there is no possibility for the Soveraignty to re-enter. CHAP. XXX; Of the O F Fic E of the Soveraign Representative. 175 '' [ "^He Office of the Soveraign, (be it a Monarchj or The Pro- J. an Assembly,) consisteth in the end, for which he was the Good of trusted with the Soveraign Power, namely the procuration of ^^ "*' '' the safety of the people; to which he is obliged by the Law of Nature, and to render an account thereof to God, the Author of that Law, and to none but him. But by Safety here, is not meant a bare Preservation, but also all other Content- ments of life, which every man by lawfull Industry, without danger, or hurt to the Commonwealth, shall acquire to him- selfe. And this is intended should be done, not by care applyed By Jn- , . . struction 6^ to Individualls, further than their protection from injuries, Lawes. when 262 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap, ^o- when they shall complain; but by a generall Providence, contained in publique Instruction, both of Doctrine, and Example ; and in the making, and executing of good Lawes, to which individual! persons may apply their own cases. Against And because, if the essentiall Rights of Soveraignty (speci- a Save- fied before in the eighteenth Chapter) be taken away, the reKngtdsh Commonwealth is thereby dissolved, and every man returneth "fall Rights '^^^^ '•^^ condition, and calamity of a warre with every other of Save- ^ man, (which is the greatest evill that can happen in this life ;) it is the Office of the Soveraign, to maintain those Rights entire ; and consequently against his duty, First, to transferre to another, or to lay from himselfe any of them. For he that deserteth the Means, deserteth the Ends ; and he deserteth the means, that being the Soveraign, acknowledgeth himselfe subject to the Civill Lawes ; and renounceth the Power of Supreme Judicature ; or of making Warre, or Peace by his own Authority ; or of Judging of the Necessities of the Commonwealth ; or of levying Mony, and Souldiers, when, andasmuch as in his own conscience he shalljudge necessary; or of making Officers, and Ministers both of Warre, and Peace; or of appointing Teachers, and examining what Doctrines are conformable, or contrary to the Defence, Peace, and Good Or not to of the people. Secondly, it is against his Duty, to let the see tlic . . . feofie people be ignorant, or mis-mformed of the grounds, and grounds of reasons of those his essentiall Rights ; because thereby men them. are easie to be seduced, and drawn to resist him, when the Commonwealth shall require their use and exercise. And the grounds of these Rights, have the rather need to be diligently, and truly taught ; because they cannot be maintained by any Civill Law, or terrour of legall punish- ment. For a Civill Law, that shall forbid Rebellion, (and such is all resistance to the essentiall Rights of Soveraign ty,) is not (as a Civill Law) any obligation, but by vertue onely 176 of the Law of Nature, that forbiddeth the violation of Faith • which naturall obligation if men know not, they cannot know the Right of any Law the Soveraign maketh. And for the Punishment, they take it but for an act of Hostility ; which when Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. zo. 263 when they think they have strength enough, they will endea- vour by acts of Hostility, to avoyd. As I have heard some say, that Justice is but a word, '^^i^'^ji","^ without substance ; and that whatsoever a man can by force, '"y ^''^^ are no or art acquire to himselfe, (not onely in the condition of Principles warre, but also in a Commonwealth,) is his own, which I have °for absolute already shewed to be false : So there be also that maintain, ^r7ignty. that there are no grounds, nor' Principles of Reason, to sus- tain those essentiall Rights, which make Soveraignty abso- lute. For if there were, they would have been found out in some place, or other ; whereas we see, there has not hitherto been any Common-wealth, where those Rights have been acknowledged, or challenged. Wherein they argue as ill, as if the Savage people of America, should deny there were any grounds, or Principles of Reason, so to build a house, as to last as long as the materials, because they never yet saw any so well built. Time, and Industry, produce every day new knowledge. And as the art of well building, is derived from Principles of Reason, observed by industrious men, that had long studied the nature of materials, and the divers effects of figure, and proportion, long after mankind began (though poorly) to build : So, long time after men have be- gun to constitute Commonwealths, imperfect, and apt to relapse into disorder, there may, Principles of Reason be found out, by industrious meditation, to make their constitu- tion (excepting by externall violence) everlasting. And such are those which I have in this discourse set forth : Which whether they come not into the sight of those that have Power to make use of them, or be neglected by them, or not, concerneth my particular interest, at this day, very little. But supposing that these of mine are not such Principles of Reason ; yet I am sure they are Principles from Authority of Scripture ; as I shall make it appear, when I shall come to speak of the Kingdome of God, (administred by Aloses,) over the Jewes, his peculiar people by Covenant. But they say again, that though the Principles be right, Objection J ■' ° ' " _ from, the yet Common people are not of capacity enough to be made incapacity of the to vulgar. 264 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2P- to understand them. I should be glad, that the Rich, and Potent Subjects of a Kingdome, or those that are accounted the most Learned, were no lesse incapable than they. But all men know, that the obstructions to this kind of doctrine, proceed not so much from the difficulty of the matter, as from the interest of them that are to learn. Potent men, digest hardly any thing that setteth up a power to bridle their affec- tions ; and Learned men, any thing that discovereth their errours, and thereby lesseneth their Authority : whereas the Common-peoples mindsj unlesse they be tainted with depen- dance on the Potent, or scribbled over with the opinions of their Doctors; are like clean paperj fit to receive whatsoever by Publique Authority shall be imprinted in them. Shall whole Nations be brought to acquiesce in the great Mysteries of Christian Religion, which are above Reason ; and millions 177 of mdn be made believe, that the same Body may be in innumerable places, at one and the same time, which is against Reason ; and shall not men be able, by their teaching, and preaching, protected by the Law, to make that received, ■H-hich is so consonant to Reason, that any unprejudicated man, needs no more to learn it, than to hearit? I conclude there- fore, that in the instruction of the people in the Essentiall Rights (which are the Naturall; and Fundamentall Lawes) of soveraignty, there' is no difficulty, (whilest a Soveraign has his Power entire,) but what proceeds from his own fault, or the fault of those whom he trusteth in the administration of the Commonwealth ; and consequently, it is his Duty, to cause them so to be instructed ; and not onely his Duty, but his Benefit also, and Security, against the danger that may arrive to himselfe in his naturall Person, from Rebellion. irfto'L ^"'^ ('° descend to particulars) the People are to be taught, not taught, First, that they ought not to be in love with anv to affect J change of forme of Government they see in their neighbour Nations, ment: more than with their own, nor (whatsoever present prosperity they behold in Nations that are otherwise governed than they,) to desire change. For the prosperity of a People ruled by an Aristocraticall, or Democraticall assembly, cometh Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2,0. 265 Cometh not from Aristocracy, nor from Democracy, but from the Obedience, and Concord of the Subjects : nor do the people flourish in a Monarchy, because one man has the right to rule them, but because they obey him. Take away in any kind of State, the Obedience, (and consequently the Concord of the People,) and they shall not onely not flourish, but in short time be dissolved. And they that go about by disobedience, to doe no more than reforme the Common- wealth, shall find they do thereby destroy it ; like the foolish daughters of Peleus (in the fable ;) which desiring to renew the youth of their decrepit Father, did by the Counsell of Medea, cut him in pieces, and boyle him, together with strange herbs, but made not of him a new man. This desire of change, is like the breach of the first of Gods Commande- ments : For there God sayes, Non habebis Deos alienos ; Thou shalt not have the Gods of other Nations ; and in another place concerning Kings, that they are Gods. Secondly, they are to be taught, that they ought not to be J^or adhere 1J-TJ-* ri r /-I-/- {against ike led with admiration of the vertue of any of their fellow Soveraign) Subjects, how high soever he standi nor how conspicuously men: """ soever he shine in the Common-wealth ; nor of any Assembly, (except the Soveraign Assembly,) so as to deferre to them any obedience, or honour, appropriate to the Soveraign onely, whom (in their particular stations) they represent; nor to receive any influence from them, but such as is con- veighed by them from the Soveraign Authority. For that Soveraign, cannot be imagined to love his People as he ought, that is not Jealous of them, but suffers them by the flattery of Popular men, to be seduced from their loyalty, as they have often been, not onely secretly, but openly, so as to proclaime Marriage with them z>Z;/a«>^fif/M/« by Preachers; and by publishing the same in the open streets : which may 178 fitly be compared to the violation of the second of the ten Commandments. Thirdly, in consequence to this, they ought to be informed, mrtoDis- how great a fault it is, to speak evill of the Soveraign Repre- ^s^eraign sentative, (whether One man, or an Assembly of men;) or P™'^''- to 266 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. lo. to argue and dispute his Power, or any way to use his Name irreverently, whereby he may be brought into Contempt with his People, and their Obedience (in which the safety of the Common-wealth consisteth) slackened. Which doctrine the third Commandement by resemblance pointeth to. And to Fourthly, seeing people cannot be taught this, nor when set afart to 'tis taught, remember it, nor after one generation past, so Duty: much as know in whom the Soveraign Power is placed, ' without setting a part from their ordinary labour, some cer- tain times, in which they may attend those that are appointed to instruct them ; It is necessary that some such times be determined, wherein they may assemble together, and (after prayers and praises given to God, the Soveraign of Soveraigns) hear those their Duties told them, and the Positive Lawes, such as generally concern them all, read and expounded, aud be put in mind of the Authority that maketh them Lawes. To this end had the ^ewes every seventh day, a Sabbath, in which the Law was read and expounded ; and in the solemnity whereof they were put in mind, that their King was God ; that having created the world in six dayes, he rested the seventh day ; and by their resting on it from their labour, that that God was their King, which redeemed them from their servile, and painfull labour in Egypt, and gave them a time, after they had rejoyced in God, to take joy also in themselves, by lawfuU recreation. So that the first Table of the Commandements, is spent all, in setting down the summe of Gods absolute Power ; not onely as God, but as King by pact, (in peculiar) of the Jewes ; and may there- fore give light, to those that have Soveraign Power conferred on them by the consent of men, to see what doctrine they Ought to teach their Subjects. And to And because the first instruction of Children, dependeth Honour , ^ , . -r-^ . . their on the care of their Parents ; it is necessary that they should be obedient to them, whilest they are under their tuition ; and not onely so, but that also afterwards (as gratitude requireth,) they acknowledge the benefit of their education, by externall signes of honour. To which end they are to be taught. Parents. Part 7.. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^o. 267 taught, that originally the Father of every man was also his Soveraign Lord, with power over him of life and death ; and that the Fathers of families, when by instituting a Common- wealth, they resigned that absolute Power, yet it was never intended, they should lose the honour due unto them for their education. For to relinquish such right, was not necessary to the Institution of Soveraign Power ; nor would there be any reason, why any man should desire to have children, or take the care to nourish and instruct them, if they were afterwards to have no other benefit from them, than from other men. And this accordeth with the fifth Commandement. 179 Again, every Soveraign Ought to cause Justice to be taught. And to , . , , ... , . ^ ,.,.,. avoyddoin^ which (consistmg m takmg from no man what is his) is as of Injury^: much as to say, to cause men to be taught not to deprive their Neighbours, by violence, or fraud, of any thing which by the Soveraign Authority is theirs. Of things held in pro- priety, those that are dearest to a man are his own life, & limbs ; and in the next degree, in most men,) those that concern conjugall affection ; and after them riches and means of living. Therefore the People are to be taught, to abstain from violence to one anothers person, by private revenges ; from violation of conjugall honour ; and from forcible rapine, and fraudulent surreption of one anothers goods. For which purpose also it is necessary they be shewed the evill conse- quences of false Judgement, by corruption either of Judges or Witnesses, whereby the distinction of propriety is taken away, and Justice becomes of no effect : all which things are intimated in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth Coni- mandements. Lastly, they are to be- taught, that not onely the unjust And to do all this facts, but the designes and intentions to do them, (though sincerely by accident hindred,) are Injustice ; which consisteth in the Icart. pravity of the will, as well as in the irregularity of the act. And this is the intention of the tenth Commandement, and the summe of the second Table ; which is reduced all to this one Commandement of mutuall Charity, Thou shalt love thy neighbour 268 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^o. neighbour as thy selfe: as the summe of the first Table is re- duced to the love of God; whom they had then newly received as their King. Thense of As for the Means, and Conduits, by which the people may ti"r"'"' receive this Instruction, wee are to search, by what means so many Opinions, contrary to the peace of Man-kind, upon weak and false Principles, have neverthelesse been so deeply rooted in them. I mean those, which I have in the pre- cedent Chapter specified : as That men shall Judge of what is lawfull and unlawful!, not by the Law it selfe, but by their own Consciences; that is to say, by their own private Judgements : That Subjects sinne in obeying the Commands of the Common-wealth, unlesse they them- selves have first judged them to be lawfull : That their Propriety in their riches is such, as to exclude the Dominion, which the Common-wealth hath over the same : That it is lawfull for Subjects to kill such, as they call Tyrants : That the Soveraign Power may be divided, and the like ; which come to be instilled into the People by this means. They whom necessity, or covetousnesse keepeth attent on their trades, and labour ; and they, on the other side, whom super- fluity, or sloth carrieth after their sensuall pleasures, (which two sorts of men take up the greatest part of Man-kind,) being diverted from the deep meditation, which the learning of truth, not onely in the matter of Naturall Justice, but also of all other Sciences necessarily requireth, receive the Notions of their duty, chiefly from Divines in the Pulpit, and partly from such of their Neighbours, or familiar acquaintance, as having the Faculty of discoursing readily, and plausibly, seem wiser and better learned in cases of Law, and Con- science, than themselves. And the Divines, and such others as make shew of Learning, derive their knowledge from the 180 Universities, and from the Schooles of Law, or from the Books, which by men eminent in those Schooles, and Uni- versities have been published. It is therefore manifest, that the Instruction of the people, dependeth wholly, on the right teaching of Youth in the Universities. But are not (may Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. lo. 269 (may some man say) the Universities of England learned enough aheady to do that ? or is it you will undertake to teach the Universities ? Hard questions. Yet to the first, I doubt not to answer ; that till towards the later end of Henry the eighth, the Power of the Pope, was alwayes upheld against the Power of the Common- wealth, principally by the Universities ; and that the doctrines maintained by so many Preachers, against the Soveraign Power of the King, and by so many Lawyers, and others, that had their education there, is a sufficient argument, that though the Universities were not authors of those false doctrines, yet they knew not how to plant the true. For in such a contradiction of Opinions, it is most certain, that they have not been sufficiently in- structed ; and 'tis no wonder, if they yet retain a relish of that subtile liquor, wherewith they were first seasoned, against the Civill Authority. But to the later question, it is not fit, nor needfull for me to say either I, or No : for any man that sees what I am doing, may easily perceive what I think. The safety of the People, requireth further, from him, or them that have the Soveraign Power, that Justice be equally administred to all degrees of People ; that is, that as well the rich, and mighty, as poor and obscure persons, may be righted of the injuries done them ; so as the great, may have no greater hope of impunity, when they doe violence, dis- honour, or any Injury to the meaner sort, than when one of these, does the like to one of them : For in this consisteth Equity ; to which, as being a Precept of the Law of Nature, a Soveraign is as much subject, as any of the meanest of his People. All breaches of the Law, are offences against the Common-wealth : but there be some, that are also against private Persons. Those that concern the Common-wealth onely, may without breach of Equity be pardoned ; for every man may pardon what is done against himselfe, according to his own discretion. But an offence against a private man, cannot in Equity be pardoned, without the consent of him that is injured ; or reasonable satisfaction. The Inequality of Subjects, proceedeth from the Acts of Soveraign 270 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. so. Soveraign Power ; and therefore has no more place in the presence of the Soveraign ; that is to say, in a Court of Justice, then the Inequahty between Kings, and their Subjects, in the presence of the King of Kings. The honour of great Persons, is to be valued for their beneficence, and the aydes they give to men of inferiour rank, or not at all. And the violences, oppressions, and injuries they do, are not extenuated, but aggravated by the greatnesse of their persons ; because they have least need to commit them. The consequences of this partiality towards the great proceed in this manner. Impunity maketh Insolence ; Insolence Hatred ; and Hatred, an Endeavour to pull down all op- pressing and contumelious greatnesse, though with the ruine of the Common-wealth. Equall To Equall Justice, appertaineth also the Equall imposition 181 Taxes, of Taxes ; the Equality whereof dependeth not on the Equality of riches, but on the Equality of the debt, that every man oweth to the Common-wealth for his defence. It is not enough, for a man to labour for the maintenance of his life; but also to fight, (if need be,) for the securing of his labour. They must either do as the Jewes did after their return from captivity, in re-edifying the Temple, build with one hand, and hold the Sword in the other; or else they must hire others to fight for them. For the Impositions, that are layd on the People by the Soveraign Power, are nothing else but the Wages, due to them that hold the publique Sword, to defend private men in the exercise of severall Trades, and Callings. Seeing then the benefit that every one receiveth thereby, is the enjoyment of life, which is equally dear to poor and rich ; the debt which a poor man oweth them that defend his life, is the same which a rich man oweth for the defence of his ; saving that the rich, who have the service of the poor, may be debtors not onely for their own persons, but for many more. Which considered, the Equality of Imposition, consisteth rather in the Equality of that which is consumed, than of the riches of the persons that consume the same. For what reason is there, that he which Charity. Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^o. 271 which laboureth much, and sparing the fruits of his labour, consumeth Httle, should be more charged, then he that living idlely, getteth little, and spendeth all he gets ; seeing the one hath no more protection from the Common-wealth, then the other? But when the Impositions, are layd upon those things which men consume, every man payeth Equally for what he useth : Nor is the Common-wealth defrauded, by the luxurious waste of private men. And whereas many men, by accident unevitable, become PuHique unable to maintain themselves by their labour ; they ought not to be left to the Charity of private persons ; but to be provided for, (as far-forthas the necessities of Nature require, by the Lawes of the Common-wealth. For as it is unchari- tablenesse in any man, to neglect the impotent ; so it is in the Soveraign of a Common-wealth, to expose them to the hazard of such uncertain Charity. But for such as have strong bodies, the case is otherwise : Prevention , , of idk- they are to be forced to work ; and to avoyd the excuse of nessc. not finding employment, there ought to be such Lawes, as may encourage all manner of Arts ; as Navigation, Agricul- ture, Fishing, and all manner of Manufacture that requires labour. The multitude of poor, and yet strong people still encreasing, they are to be transplanted into Countries not sufficiently inhabited : where neverthelesse, they are not to exterminate those they find there ; but constrain them to inhabit closer together, and not range a great deal of ground, to snatch what they find ; but to court each little Plot with art and labour, to give them their sustenance in due season. And when all the world is overchargd with Inhabitants, then the last remedy of all is Warre ; which provideth for every man, by Victory, or Death. To the care of the Soveraign, belongeth the making of Good Good Lawes what. Lawes. But what is a good Law ? By a Good Law, I mean 182 not a Just Law : for no Law can be Unjust. The Law is made by the Soveraign Power, and all that is done by such Power, is warranted, and owned by every one of the people : and that which every man will have so, no man can say is unjust. 272 Partz. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. y>. unjust. It is in the Lawes of a Commonwealth, as in the Lawes of Gaming : whatsoever the Gamesters all agree on, is Injustice to none of them. A good Law is that, which is Needfull, for the Good of the People, and withall Perspicuous. Such as are For the use of Lawes, (which are but Rules Authorised) Necessary. , ^ is not to bind the People from all Voluntary actions ; but to direct and keep them in such a motion, as not to hurt them- selves by their own impetuous desires, rashnesse, or indiscre- tion ; as Hedges are set, not to stop Travellers, but to keep them in the way. And therefore a Law that is not Needfull, having not the true End of a Law, is not Good. A Law may be conceived to be Good, when it is for the benefit of the Soveraign ; though it be not Necessary for the People ; but it is not so. For the good of the Soveraign and People, cannot be separated. It is a weak Soveraign, that has weak Subjects ; and a weak People, whose Soveraign wanteth Power to rule them at his will. Unnecessary Lawes are not- good Lawes ; but trapps for Mony ; which where the right of Soveraign Power is acknowledged are superfluous ; and where it is not acknowledged, unsufficient to defend the People. Such as are The Perspicuity, consisteth not so much in the words ot ous. the Law it selfe, as in a Declaration of the Causes, and Motives, for which it was made. That is it, that shewes us the meaning of the Legislator ; and the meaning of the Legislator known, the Law is more easily understood by few, than many words. For all words, are subject to ambiguity ; and therefore multiplication of words in the body of the Law, is multiplication of ambiguity : Besides it seems to imply, (by too much diligence,) that whosoever can evade the words, is without the compasse of the Law. And this IS a cause of many unnecessary Processes. For when I consider how short were the Lawes of antient times ; and how they grew by degrees still longer ; me thinks I see a contention between the Penners, and Pleaders of the Law ; the former seeking to circumscribe the later ; and the later to evade their circumscriptions ; and that the Pleaders have Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2,0. 273 have got the Victory. It belongeth therefore to the Office of a Legislator, (such as is in all Common-wealths the Supreme Representative, be it one Man, or an Assembly,) to m:ike the reason Perspicuous, why the Law was made ; and the Body of the Law it selfe, as short, but in as proper, and significant termes, as may be. It belongeth also to the Office of the Soveraign, to make P"""'^- . . ° ' menis. a right application of Punishments, and Rewards. And seeing the end of punishing is not revenge, and discharge of choler ; but correction, either of the offender, or of others by his example ; the severest Punishments are to be inflicted for those Crimes, that are of most Danger to the Publique ; such as are those which proceed from malice to the Govern- ment established ; those that spring from contempt of Justice ; those that provoke Indignation in the Multitude ; and those 183 which unpunished, seem Authorised, as when they are Com- mitted by Sonnes, Servants, or Favorites of men in Authority : For Indignation carrieth men^ not onely against the Actors, and Authors of Injustice; but against all Power that is likely to protect them ; as in the case of Tarquin ; when for the Insolent act of one of his Sonnes, he was driven out of Rome, and the Monarchy it selfe dissolved. But Crimes of Infirm- ity ; such as are those which proceed from great provocation, from great fear, great need, or from ignorance whether the Fact be a great Crime, or not, there is place many times for Lenity, without prejudice to the Common-wealth ; and Lenity when there is such place for it, is required by the Law of Nature. The Punishment of the Leaders, and teachers in a Commotion ; not the poore seduced People; when they are punished, can profit the Common-wealth by their example. To be severe to the People, is to punish that ignorance, jivhich may in great part be imputed to the Sove- raign, whose fault it was, they were no better instructed. In like manner it belongeth to the Office, and Duty of the Rewards. Soveraign, to apply his Rewards alwayes so, as there may arise from them benefit to the Common-wealth : wherein consisteth their Use, and End ; and is then done, when they T that 274 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2,0- that have well served the Common-wealth, are vi^ith as little expence of the Common Treasure, as is possible, so well recompenced, as others thereby may be encouraged, both to serve the same as faithfully as they can, and to study the arts by which they may be enabled to do it better. To buy with Mony, or Preferment, from a Popular ambitious Subject, to be quiet,and desist from making ill impressions in the mindes of the People, has nothing of the nature of Reward ; (which is ordained not for disservice, but for service past ;) nor a signe of Gratitude, but of Fear : nor does it tend to the Benefit, but to the Dammage of the Publique. It is a con- tention with Ambition, like that of Heracles with the Mon- ster Hydra, which having many heads, for every one that was vanquished, there grew up three. For in like manner, when the stubbornnesse of one Popular man, is overcome with Reward, there arise many more (by the Example) that do the same Mischiefe, in hope of like Benefit : and as all sorts of Manifacture, so also Malice encreaseth by being vendible. And though sometimes a Civill warre, may be dif- ferred, by such wayes as that, yet the danger growes still the greater, and the Publique ruine more assured. It is therefore against the Duty of the Soveraign, to whom the Publique Safety is committed, to Reward those that aspire to greatnesse by disturbing the Peace of their Country, and not rather to oppose the beginnings of such men, with a httle danger, than after a longer time with greater. Another Businesse of the Soveraign, is to choose good Counsellours; I mean such, whose advice he is to take in the Government of the Common-wealth. For this word Counsell, Consilium, corrupted from Considium, is of a large significa- tion, and comprehendeth all Assemblies of men that sit together, not onely to deliberate what is to be done hereafter, but also to judge of Facts past, and of Law for the present. I take it here in the first sense onely : And in this sense, 184 there is no choyce of Counsell, neither in a Democracy, nor Aristocracy ; because the persons Counselling are members of the person Counselled. The choyce of Counsellours there- fore Counsel- lours. Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^o. 275 fore is proper to Monarchy; In which, the Soveraign thaten- endeavoureth not to make choyce of those, that in every kind are the most able, dischargeth not his Office as he ought to do. The most able CounselloLirs, are they that have least hope of benefit by giving evill Counsell, and most knowledge of those things that conduce to the Peace, and Defence of the Common-wealth. It is a hard matter to know who expecteth benefit from publique troubles ; but the signes that guide to a just suspicion, is the soothing of the people in their unreason- able, or irremediable grievances, by men whose. estates are not sufficient to discharge their accustomed expences, and may easily be observed by any one whom it concerns to know it. But to know, who has most knowledge of the Publique affaires, is yet harder ; and they that know them, need them a great deal the lesse. For to know, who knowes the Rules almost of any Art, is a great degree of the knowledge of the same Art ; because no man can be assured of the truth df anothers Rules, but he that is first taught to understand them. But the best signes of Knowledge of any Art, are, much conversing in it, and constant good effects of it. Good Counsell comes not by Lot, nor by Inheritance ; and there- fore there is no more reason to expect good Advice from the rich, or noble, in matter of State; than in delineating the dimensions of a fortresse ; unlesse we shall think there needs no method in the study of the Politiques, (as there does in the study of Geometry,) but onely to be lookers on : which is not so. For the Politiques is the harder study of the two. \Vhereas in these parts of Europe, it hath been taken for a Right of certain persons, to have place in the highest Councell of State by Inheritance ; it is derived from the Conquests of the antient Germans ; wherein many absolute Lords joyning together to conquer other Nations, would not enter in to the Confederacy, without such Priviledges, as might be marks of difference in time following, between their Posterity, and the Posterity of their Subjects ; which Privi- ledges being inconsistent with the Soveraign Power, by the favour of the Soveraign, they may seem to keej) ; but con- tending 276 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ■^o. tending for them as their Right, they must needs by degrees let them go, and have at last no further honour, then adhae- reth naturally to their abilities. And how able soever be the Counsellours in any affaire, the benefit of their Counsell is greater, when they give every one his Advice, and the reasons of it apart, than when they do it in an Assembly, by way of Orations ; and when they have prsemeditated, than when they speak on the sudden ; both because they have more time, to survey the conse- quences of action ; and are lesse subject to be carried away to contradiction, through Envy, Emulation, or other Passions arising from the difference of opinion. The best Counsell, in those things that concern not other Nations, but onely the ease, and benefit the Subjects may enjoy, by Lawes that look onely inward, is to be taken from 185 the generall informations, and complaints of the people of each Province, who are best acquainted with their own wants, and ought therefore, when they demand nothing in derogation of the essential Rights of Soveraignty, to be dili- gently taken notice of. For without those Essentiall Rights, (as I have often before said,) the Common-wealth cannot at all subsist. Comman- A Commander of an Army in chiefe, if he be not Popular, shall not be beloved, nor feared as he ought to be by his Army ; and consequently cannot performe that office with good successe. He must therefore be Industrious, Valiant, Affable, Liberall and Fortunate, that he may gain an opinion both of sufficiency, and of loving his Souldiers. This is Popularity, and breeds in the Souldiers both desire, and courage, to recommend themselves to his favour ; and protects the severity of the Generall, in punishing (when need is) the Mutinous, or negligent Souldiers. But this love of Souldiers, (if caution be not given of the Com- manders fidelity,) is a dangerous thing to Soveraign Power; especially when it is in the hands of an Assembly not popular. It belongeth therefore to the safety of the People, both that they be good Conductors, and faithfull Subjects, to whom the Soveraign Commits his Armies, But Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^p. 277 But when the Soveraign himselfe is Popular; that is, reve- renced and beloved of his People, there is no danger at all from the Popularity of a Subject. For Souldiers are never so generally unjust, as to side with their Captain ; though they love him, against their Soveraign, when they love not onely his Person, but also his Cause. And therefore those, who by violence have at any time suppressed the Power of their lawful! Soveraign, before they could settle themselves in his place, having been alwayes put to the trouble of con- triving their Titles, to save the People from the shame of receiving them. To have a known Right to Soveraign Power, is so popular a quality, as he that has it needs no more, for his own part, to turn the hearts of his Subjects to him, but that they see him able absolutely to govern his own Family : Nor, on the part of his enemies, but a disband- ing of their Armies. For the greatest and most active part of Mankind, has never hetherto been well contented with the present. Concerning the Offices of one Soveraign to another, which are comprehended in that Law, which is commonly called the Law of Nations, I need not say any thing in this place ; because the Law of Nations, and the Law of Nature, is the same thing. And every Soveraign hath the same Right, in procuring the safety of his People, that any particular man can have, in procuring the safety of his own Body. And the same Law, that dictateth to men that have no Civil Government, what they ought to do, and what to avoyd in regard of one another, dictateth the same to Common- wealths, that is, to the Consciences of Soveraign Princes, and Soveraign Assemblies ; there being no Court of Naturall Justice, but in the Conscience onely ; where not Man, but God raigneth ; whose Lawes, (such of them as oblige all Mankind,) in respect of God, as he is the Author of Nature, 186 are Naturall ; and in respect of the same God, as he is King of Kings, are Lawes. But of the Kingdonie of God, as King of Kings, and as King also of a peculiar People, I shall speak in the rest of this discourse. CHAP. 278 Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. -^i. CHAP. XXXI. Of the Kin G DO ME 0/ God BY Nature. The scope 'HT^Hat the condition of meer Nature, that is to say, of "following J. absolute Liberty, such as is theirs that neither are Chapters, goygygjg^g^ jjQj. Subjects, is Anarchy, and the condition of Warre : That the Praecepts, by which men are guided to avoyd that condition, are the Lawes of Nature : That a Common-wealth, without Soveraign Power, is but a word, without substance, and cannot stand : That Subjects owe to Soveraigns, simple Obedience, in all things, wherein their obedience is not repugnant to the Lawes of God, I have sufficiently proved, in that which I have already written. There wants onely, for the entire knowledge of Civill duty, to know what are those Lawes of God. For without that, a man knows not, when he is commanded any thing by the Civill Power, whether it be contrary to the Law of God, or not : and so, either by too much civill obedience, offends the Divine Majesty, or through feare of offending God, transgresses the commandements of the Common-wealth. To avoyd both these Rocks, it is necessary to know what are the Lawes Divine. And seeing the knowledge of all Law, dependeth on the knowledge of the Soveraign Power ; I shall say something in that which followeth, of the K i n g- . DOME OF God. Psal. 96. 1. God is King, let the Earth rejoyce, saith the Psalmist. Who 'are ' And again, God is King though the Nations be angry ; and Thtkins- ^^ ^^'^^ sitteth on the Cherubins, though the earth be moved, dome of Whether men will or not, they must be subject alwayes to the Divine Power. By denying the Existence, or Provi- dence of God, men may shake off their Ease, but not their Yoke. But to call this Power of God, which extendeth it selfe not onely to Man, but also to Beasts, and Plants, and Bodies inanimate, by the name of Kingdome, is but a meta- phoricall Part^. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap, ^i- 279 phoricall use of the word. For he onely is properly said to Raigne, that governs his Subjects, by his Word, and by promise of Rewards to those that obey it, and by threatning them with Punishment that obey it not. Subjects therefore in the Kingdome of God, are not Bodies Inanimate, nor creatures Irrational ; because they understand no Precepts as his : Nor Atheists ; nor they that believe not that God has any care of the actions of mankind ; because they acknow- ledge no Word for his, nor have hope of his rewards, or fear of his threatnings. They therefore that believe there is a 187 God that goeverneth the world, and hath given Prsecepts, and propounded Rewards, and Punishments to Mankind, are Gods Subjects; all the rest, are to be understood as Enemies. To rule by Words, requires that such Words be manifestly A Three- made known ; for else they are no Lawes : For .to the nature of GodJ of Lawes belongeth a sufficient, and clear Promulgation, such jp^^/^^/^,, as may take away the excuse of Ignorance ; which in the P^opt^^^cy- Lawes of men is but of one onely kind, and that is, Pro- clamation, or Promulgation by the voyce of man. But God declareth his Lawes three ways ; by the Dictates of Natiirall Reason, by Revelation, and by the Voyce of some man, to whom by the operation of Miracles, he procureth credit with the rest. From hence there ariseth a triple Word of God, Rational, Sensible, and Prophetique : to which Corres- pondeth a triple Hearing ; Right Reason, Sense Sitpernaturall, and Faith. As for Sense Supernatural!, which consisteth in Revelation, or Inspiration, there have not been any Uni- versall Lawes so given, because God speaketh not in that manner, but to particular persons, and to divers men divers things. From the difference between the other two kinds of Gods A twofold Kingdowe Word, Rationall, and Prophetique, there may be attributed to of God, God, a twofold Kingdome, Naturall, and Prophetique: and Pro- Naturall, wherein he governeth as many of Mankind as P^''i«'- acknowledge his Providence, by the naturall Dictates of Right Reason ; And Prophetique, wherein having chosen out 28o Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 31. The Right of Gods Sove- raignty is derived from his Omnipo- tence. Sinne not the cause of all Affliction. out one peculiar Nation (the Jewes ) for his Subjects, he governed them, and none but them, not onely by naturall Reason, but by Positive Lawes, which he gave them by the mouths of his holy Prophets. Of the Naturall Kingdome of God I intend to speak in this Chapter. The Right of Nature, whereby God reigneth over men, and punisheth those that break his Lawes, is to be derived, not from his Creating them, as if he required obedience, as of Gratitude for his benefits; but from his Irresistible Power. I have formerly shewn, how the Soveraign Right ariseth from Pact : To show how the same Right may arise from Nature, requires no more, but to shew in what case it is never taken away. Seeing all men by Nature had Right to All things, they had Right every one to reigne over all the rest. But because this Right could not be obtained by force, it cpncferned the safety of every one, laying by that Right, to set up men ( with Soveraign Authority ) by common consent, to rule and defend them : whereas if there had been any man of Power Irresistible ; there had been no reason, why he should not by that Power have ruled, and defended both himselfe, and them, according to his own discretion. To those therefore whose Power is irresistible, the dominion of all men adhsereth naturally by their excellence of Power ; and consequently it is from that Power, that the Kingdome over men, and the Right of afflicting men at his pleasure, belongeth Naturally to God Almighty ; not as Creator, and Gracious ; but as Omnipotent. And though Punishment be due for Sinne onely, because by that word is understood Affliction for Sinne ; yet the Right of Afflicting, is notalwayes derived from mens Sinne, but from Gods Power. This question, Why Evill men often Prosper, and Good men suffer Adversity, has been much disputed by the Antient, and is the same with this of ours, by what Right God dispenseth the Prosperities and Adversities of this life ; and is of that difficulty, as it hath shaken the faith, not onely of the Vulgar, but of Philosophers, and which is more, of the Saints, con- cerning the Divine Providence. How Good ( saith David ) 188 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^i. 281 is the God of Israel to those that are Upright in Heart ; and P^al. 72. yet my feet were ahnost gone, my treadings had well-nigh slipt; for T was grieved at the Wicked, when I saw the Ungodly in such Prosperity. And yob, how earnestly does he expostulate with God, for the many Afflictions he suffered, notwithstand- ing his Rightousnesse ? This question in the case of J^ob, is decided by God himselfe, not by arguments derived from yoUs Sinne, but his own Power. For whereas the friends of Job drew their arguments from his Affliction to his Sinne, and he defended himselfe by the conscience of his Innocence, God himselfe taketh up the matter, and having justified the Affliction by arguments drawn from his Power, job'xz.v.n,. such as this, Where wast thou when T layd the foundations of the earth, and the like, both approved yoUs Innocence, and reproved the Erroneous doctrine of his friends. Conform- able to this doctrine is the sentence of our Saviour, concern- ing the man that was born Blind, in these words, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his fathers ; but that the works of God might be made manifest in him. And though it be said. That Death entred into the world by sitine, ( by which is meant that if Adam had never sinned, he had never dyed, that is, never suffered any separation of his soule from his body, ) it follows not thence, that God could not justly have Afflicted him, though he had not Sinned, as well as he afflicteth other living creatures, that cannot sinne. Having spoken of the Right of Gods Soveraignty, as Divine • T 1 Lawes. grounded only on Nature ; we are to consider next, what are the Divine ' Lawes, or Dictates of Naturall Reason; which Lawes concern either the naturall Duties of one man to another, or the Honour naturally due to our Divine Soveraign. The first are the same Lawes of Nature, of which I have spoken already in the 14. and 15. Chapters of this Treatise; namely, Equity, Justice, Mercy, Humility, and the rest ot the Morall Vertues. It remaineth therefore that we consider, what Prsecepts are dictated to men, by their Naturall Reason onely, without other word of God, touching the Honour and Worship of the Divine Majesty. Honour 282 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 31. Honour and Wor- ship what. Sever all signes of Honour. Worship Naturall and Arbi- trary, Honour consisteth in the inward thought, and opinion of the Power, and Goodnesse of another: and therefore to Honour God, is to think as Highly of his Power and Goodnesse, as is possible. And of that opinion, the externall signes appearing in the Words, and Actions of men, are called Worship ; which is one part of that which the Latines understand by the word Cultus : For Cultus signifieth properly, and constantly, that labour which a man bestowes on any thing, with a purpose to make benefit by it. Now those things whereof we make benefit, are either subject 189 to us, and the profit they yeeld, followeth the labour we bestow upon them, as a naturall effect; or they are not subject to us, but answer our labour, according to their own Wills. In the first sense the labour bestowed on the Earth, is called Culture ; and the education of Children a Culture of their mindes. In the second sense, where mens wills are to be wrought to our purpose, not by Force, but by Complea- sance, it signifieth as much as Courting, that is, winning of favour by good offices ; as by praises, by acknowledging their Power, and by whatsoever is pleasing to them from whom we look for any benefit. And this is properly Wor- ship : in which sense Publicola., is understood for a Worshipper of the People ; and Cultus Dei, for the Worship of God. From internall Flonour, consisting in the opinion of Power and Goodnesse, arise three Passions ; Love, which hath reference to Goodnesse ; and Hope, and Fear, that relate to Power : And three parts of externall worship ; Praise, Magnifying, and Blessing: The subject of Praise, being Goodnesse ; the subject of Magnifying, and Blessing, being Power, and the effect thereof Felicity. Praise, and Magnifying are signified both by Words, and Actions : By Words, when we say a man is Good, or Great : By Actions, when we thank him for his Bounty, and obey his Power. The opinion of the Happinesse of another, can onely be expressed by words. There be some signes of Honour, ( both in Attributes and Actions,) that be Naturally so ; as amongst Attributes, Good, Part 2. Of C OMMON- WE A L TH. Chap. 31. 283 Good, yust. Liberal!, and the like ; and amongst Actions, Prayers, Thanks, and Obedience. Others are so by Insti- tution, or Custome of men ; and in some times and places are Honourable ; in others Dishonourable ; in others Indifferent : such as are the Gestures in Salutation, Prayer, and Thanks- giving, in different times and places, differently used. The former is Naturall ; the later Arbitrary Worship. And of Arbitrary Worship, there bee two differences ; For Worship . . _ _ , . ^^ , , . Comman- sometimes it is a Commanded, sometimes Voluntary Worship : ded and Commanded, when it is such as hee requireth, who is Worshipped : Free, when it is such as the Worshipper thinks fit. When it is Commanded, not the words, or gesture, but the obedience is the Worship. But when Free, the Worship consists in the opinion of the beholders : for if to them the words, or actions by which we intend honour, seems ridicu- lous, and tending to contumely ; they are no Worship ; because no signes of Honour ; and no signes of Honour ; because a signe is not a signe to him that giveth it, but to him to whom it is made ; that is, to the spectator. Again, there is a Publigue, and a Priiiate Worship. Worship Publique Publique, is the Worship that a Common-wealth performeth, and Pri- as one Person. Private, is that which a Private person exhibiteth. Publique, in respect of the whole Common-wealth, is Free ; but in respect of Particular men it is not so. Private, is in secret Free ; but in the sight of the multitude, it is never without some Restraint, either from the Lawes, or from the Opinion of men ; which is contrary to the nature of Liberty. The End of Worship amongst men, is Power. For where The End of i^ != ' _ Worship. 190 a man seeth another worshipped, he supposeth him powerful!, and is the readier to obey him ; which makes his Power greater. But God has no Ends : the worship we do him, proceeds from our duty, and is directed according to our capacity, by those rules of Honour, that Reason dictateth to be done by the weak to the more potent men, in hope of benefit, for fear of dammage, or in thankfulnesse for good already received from them. That 284 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 31. .Attributes of Divine Honour, That we may know what worship of God is taught us by the light of Nature, I will begin with his Attributes. Where, First, it is manifest, we ought to attribute to hiui Existence : For no man can have the will to honour that, which he thinks not to have any Seeing. Secondly, that those Philosophers, who sayd the World, or the Soule of the World was God, spake unworthily of him ; and denyed his Existence : For by God, is understood the cause of the World ; and to say the World is God, is to say there is no cause of it, that is, no God. Thirdly, to say the World was not Created, but Eternall, (seeing that which is Eternall has no cause,) is to deny there is a God. Fourthly, that they who attributing (as they think) Ease to God, take from him the care of Man-kind ; take from him his Honour : for it takes away mens love, and fear of him ; which is the root of Honour. Fifthly, in those things that signifie Greatnesse, and Power; to say he is Finite, is not to Honour him : For it is not a signe of the Will to Honour God, to attribute to him lesse than we can ; and Finite, is lesse than we can \ because to to Finite, it is easie to adde more. Therefore to attribute Figure to him, is not Honour ; for all Figure is Finite : Nor to say we conceive, and imagine, or have an Idea of him, in our mind : for whatsoever we conceive is Finite : Nor to attribute to him Parts, or Totality ; which are the Attributes onely of things Finite : Nor to say he is in this, or that Place : for whatsoever is in Place, is bounded, and Finite : Nor that he is Moved, or Resteth : for both these Attributes ascribe to him Place : Nor that there be more Gods than one ; because it im- plies them all Finite : for there cannot be more than one Infinite : Nor to ascribe to him (unlesse Metaphorically, meaning not the Passion, but the Effect) Passions that partake of Griefe ; Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ix. 285 Griefe; as Repentance, Anger, Mercy : or of Want ; as -Appe- tite, Hope, Desire ; or of any Passive faculty : For Passion, is Power limited by somewhat else. And therefore when we ascribe to God a Wiii, it is not to be understood, as that of Man, for a Rationall Appetite ; but as the Power, by which he effecteth every thing. Likewise when we attribute to him Sight, and other acts oi ^tnse ; a.z aho Knowledge, and Understanding; which in us is nothing else, but a tumult of the mind, raised by ex- ternall things that presse the organicall parts of mans body : For there is no such thing in God ; and being things that depend on naturall causes, cannot be attributed to him. 191 Hee that will attribute to God, nothing but what is war- ranted by naturall Reason, must either use such Negative Attributes, as Infinite, Eternall, Incomprehensible ; or Super- latives, as Most High, most Great, and the like ; or Indefinite, as Good, jFust, Holy, Creator; and in such sense, as if he meant not to declare what he is, (for that were to circum- scribe him within the limits of our Fancy,) but how much wee admire him, and how ready we would be to obey him ; which is a signe of Humility, and of a Will to honour him as much as we can : For there is but one Name to signifie our Conception of his Nature, and that is, I am : and but one Name of his Relation to us, and that is God; in which is contained Father, King, and Lord. Concerning the actions of Divine Worship, it is a most Actions generall Precept of Reason, that they be signes of the In- signes of tention to Honour God ; such as are. First, Prayers : For ^'^™^^^ not the Carvers, when they made Images, were thought to make them Gods ; but the People that Prayed to them. Secondly, Thanksgiving; which dififereth from Prayer in Divine Worship, no otherwise, than that Prayers precede, and Thanks succeed the benefit ; the end both of the one, and the other, being to acknowledge God, for Author of all benefits, as well past, as future. Thirdly, Gifts ; that is to say. Sacrifices, and Oblations, (if they be of the best,) are signes of Honour: for they are Thanksgivings. Fourthly, 286 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. zi. Fourthly, Not to swear by any but God, is naturally a signe of Honour : for it is a confession that God onely knoweth the heart ; and that no mans wit, or strength can protect a man against Gods vengeance on the perjured. Fifthly, it is a part of Rationall Worship, to speak Con- siderately of God ; for it argues a Fear of him, and Fear, is a confession of his Power. Hence followeth. That the name of God is not to be used rashly, and to no purpose ; for that is as much, as in Vain : And it is to no purpose, unlesse it be by way of Oath, and by order of the Common-wealth, to make Judgements certain ; or between Common-wealths, to avoyd Warre. And that disputing of Gods nature is contrary to his Honour : For it is supposed, that in this naturall Kingdome of God, there is no other way to know any thing, but by naturall Reason; that is, from the Principles of naturall Science ; which are so farre from teaching us any thing of Gods nature, as they cannot teach us our own nature, nor the nature of the smallest creature living. And therefore, when men out of the Principles of naturall Reason, dispute of the Attributes of God, they but dishonour him : For in the Attributes which we give to God, we are not to consider the signification of Philosophicall Truth ; but the signification of Pious Intention, to do him the greatest Honour we are able. From the want of which consideration, have proceeded the volumes of disputation about the Nature of God, that tend not to his Honour, but to the honour of our own wits, and learning ; and are nothing else but inconsiderate, and vain abuses of his Sacred Name. Sixthly, in Prayers, Thanksgiving, Offerings and Sacrifices, it is a Dictate of naturall Reason, that they be every one in his kind the best, and most significant of Honour. As for 192 example, that Prayers, and Thanksgiving, be made in Words and Phrases, not sudden, nor light, nor Plebeian ; but beau- tifuU, and well composed ; For else we do not God as much honour as we can. And therefore the Heathens did absurdly, to worship Images for Gods : But their doing it in Verse, and with Mustek, both of Voyce, and Instruments, was rea- sonable. Parti. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. z^. 287 sonable. Also that the Beasts they offered in sacrifice, and the Gifts they offered, and their actions in Worshipping, were full of submission, and commemorative of benefits received, was according to reason, as proceeding from an intention to honour him. Seventhly, Reason directeth not onely to worship God in Secret; but also, and especially, in Publique, and in the sight of men : For without that, (that which in honour is most acceptable) the procuring others to honour him, is lost. Lastly, Obedience to his Lawes (that is, in this case to the Lawes of Nature,) is the greatest worship of all. For as Obedience is more acceptable to God than Sacrifice ; so also to set light by his Commandements, is the greatest of all contumelies. And these are the Lawes of that Divine Worship, which naturall Reason dictateth to private men. But seeing a Common-wealth is but one Person, it ought ■^*^^?"^ also to exhibite to God but one Worship ; which then it doth, consisteth in Uni- when It commandeth it to be exhibited by Private men. Pub- formity. liquely. And this is Publique Worship ; the property whereof, is to be Uniforme ; For those actions that are done differently, by different men, cannot be said to be a Publique Worship. And therefore, where many sorts of Worship be allowed, pro- ceeding from the different Religions of Private men, it cannot be said there is any Publique Worship, nor that the Common- wealth is of any Religion at all. And because words (and consequently the Attributes of All Attri- God) have their signification by agreement, and constitution depend on. of men; those Attributes are to be held significative of 'civilL" Honour, that men intend shall so be ; and whatsoever may be done by the wills of particular men, where there is no Law but Reason, may be done by the will of the Common- wealth, by Lawes Civill. And because a Common-wealth hath no Will, nor makes no Lawes, but those that are made by the Will of him, or them that have the Soveraign Power ; it followeth, that those Attributes which the Soveraign or- daineth, in the Worship of God, for signes of Honour, ought to be taken and used for such,- by private men in their pub- lique Worship. But 288 Part 2. Of COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 3T. Not all Actions, Naturall Punish- ■ments. The Con- clusion of the Seco7id Pari. But because not all Actions are signes by Constitution ; but some are Naturally signes of Honour, others of Con- tumely, these later (which are those that men are ashamed to do in the sight of them they reverence) cannot be made by humane power a part of Divine worship ; nor the former (such as are decent, modest, humble Behaviour) ever be separated from it. But whereas there be an infinite number of Actions, and Gestures, of an indifferent nature ; such of them as the Common-wealth shall ordain to be Publiquely and Universally in use, as signes of Honour, and part of Gods Worship, are to be taken and used for such by the Subjects. And that which is said in the Scripture, // is better to obey God than men^ hath place in the kingdome of God by Pact, and not by Nature. Having thus briefly spoken of the Naturall Kingdome of God, and his Naturall Lawes, I will adde onely to this Chapter a short declaration of his Naturall Punishments. There is no action of man in this life, that is not the begin- ning of so long a chayn of Consequences, as no humane Providence, is high enough, to give a man a prospect to the end. And in this Chayn, there are linked together both pleasing and unpleasing events ; in such manner, as he that will do any thing for his pleasure, must engage himselfe to suffer all the pains annexed to it ; and these pains, are the Naturall Punishments of those actions, which are the begin- ning of more Harme than Good. And hereby it comes to passe, that Intemperance, is naturally punished with Diseases; Rashnesse, with Mischances ; Injustice, with the Violence of Enemies ; Pride, with Ruine ; Cowardise, with Oppression ; Negligent government of Princes, with Rebellion ; and Rebellion, with Slaughter. For seeing Punishments are consequent to the breach of Lawes ; Naturall Punishments must be naturally consequent to the breach of the Lawes of Nature ; and therefore follow them as their naturall, not arbitrary effects. And thus farre concerning the Constitution, Nature, and Right of Soveraigns ; and concerning the Duty of Subjects, derived 193 Part 2. Of COMMON- WEAL TH. Chap. 3 1 . derived from the Principles of Naturall Reason. And now, considering how different this Doctrine is, from the Practise of the greatest part of the world, especially of these Western parts, that have received their Morall learning from Rome, and Athens ; and how much depth of Morall Philosophy is required, in them that have the Administration of the Soveraign Power ; I am at the point of believing this my labour, as uselesse, as the Common-wealth of Plato ; For he also is of opinion that it is impossible for the disorders of State, and change of Governments by Civill Warre, ever to be taken away, till Soveraigns be Philosophers. But when I consider again, that the Science of Naturall Justice, is the onely Science necessary for Soveraigns, and their principall Ministers ; and that they need not be charged with the Sciences Mathematicall, (as by Plato they are,) further, than by good Lawes to encourage men to the study of them; and that neither Plato, nor any other Philosopher hitherto, hath put into order, and sufficiently, or probably proved all the Theoremes of Morall doctrine, that men may learn thereby, both how to govern, and how to obey ; I recover some hope, that one time or other, this writing of mine, may fall into the hands of a Soveraign, who will consider it himselfe, (for it is short, and I think clear,) without the help of any interessed, or envious Interpreter ; and by the exercise of entire Soveraignty, in protecting the Publique teaching of it, convert this Truth of Speculation, into the Utility of Practice. OF Part 3. Chap. 32. 291 OF A CHRISTIAN COMMON-WEALTH. CHAP. XXXII. Of the Principles of Christian PoLiriqvES. 195 S?;7^'^\5^ Have derived the Rights of Soveraigne Power, ^^^ ^'"f'^ '"""'' 1^''^'^ 0/ God and the duty of Subjects hitherto, from the delivered Principles of Nature onely ; such as Experience phetrts the has found true, or Consent (concerning the use '"''"' ^''"'' iple of Christian Politiques, of words) has made so ; that is to say, from the nature of Men, known to us by Experience, and from Definitions (of such words as are Essentiall to all Politicall reasoning) uni- versally agreed on. But in that I am next to handle, which is the Nature and Rights of a Christian Common- wealth, whereof there dependeth much upon Super- natural! Revelations of the Will of God ; the ground of my Discourse must be, not only the Natural! Word of God, but also the Prophetical!. Neverthelesse, we are not to renounce our Senses, and "^i' " "■''■ naturall Experience ; nor (that which is the undoubted Word of God) Reason to . , ^ . de renotttt- our naturall Reason. For they are the talents which he ced. hath put into our hands to negotiate, til! the coming again of our blessed Saviour ; and therefore not to be folded up in the Napkin of an Implicite Faith, but employed in the purchase of Justice, Peace, and true Religion. For though there be many things in Gods Word above Reason ; that it is to say, which cannot by natural! reason be either demon- strated, or confuted ; yet there is nothing contrary to it ; but when 292 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 32. What it is to captivate the Under- standing. How God speakeiii to men. when it seemeth so, the fault is either in our unskilfull Interpretation, or erroneous Ratiocination. Therefore, when any thing therein written is too hard for our examination, wee are bidden to captivate our under- standing to the Words ; and not to labour in sifting out a Philosophicall truth by Logick, of such mysteries as are not comprehensible, nor fall under any rule of naturall science. For it is with the mysteries of our Religion, as with wholsome pills for the sick, which swallowed whole, have the vertue to cure ; but chewed, are for the most part cast up again with- out effect. But by the Captivity of our Understanding, is not meant 196 a Submission of the intellectual faculty, to the Opinion of any other man ; but of the Will to Obedience, where obedi- ence is due. For Sense, Memory, Understanding, Reason, and Opinion are not in our power to change ; but alwaies, and necessarily such, as the things we see, hear, and consider suggest unto us ; and therefore are not effects of our Will, but our Will of them. We then Captivate our Understanding and Reason, when we forbear contradiction; when we so speak, as (by lawfuU Authority) we are commanded ; and when we live accordingly ; which in sum, is Trust, and Faith re- posed in him that speaketh, though the mind be incapable of any Notion at all from the words spoken. When God speaketh to man, it must be either immedi- ately ; or by mediation of another man, to whom he had formerly spoken by himself immediately. How God speak- eth to a man immediately, may be understood by those well enough, to whom he hath so spoken ; but how the same should be understood by another, is hard, if not impossible to know. For if a man pretend to me, that God hath spoken to him supernaturally, and immediately, and I make doubt of it, I cannot easily perceive what argument he can produce, to oblige me to beleeve it. It is true, that if he be my Soveraign, he may oblige me to obedience, so, as not by act or word to declare I beleeve him not ; but not to think any otherwise then my reason perswades me. But if one that Part^. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 12. 293 that hath not such authority over me,shall pretend the same, there is nothing that exacteth either beleefe, or obedience. For to say that God hath spoken to him in the Holy Scripture, is not to say God hath spoken to him immedi- ately, but by mediation of the Prophets, or of the Apostles, or of the Church, in such manner as he speaks to all other Christian men. To say he hath spoken to him in a Dream, ^ is no more then to say he dreamed that God spake to him ; which is not of force to win beleef from any man, that knows dreams are for the most part naturall, and may proceed from former thoughts; and such dreams as that, from selfe conceit, and foolish arrogance, and false opinion of a mans own godlinesse, or other vertue, by which he thinks he hath merited the favour of extraordinary Revelation. To say he hath seen a Vision, or heard a Voice, is to say, that he hath dreamed between sleeping and waking : for in such manner a man doth many times naturally take his dream for a vision, as not having well observed his own slumbering; To say he speaks by supernaturall Inspiration, is to say he finds an ardent desire to speak, or some strong opinion of himself, for which hee can alledge no naturall and sufficient reason. So that though God Almighty can speak to a man, by Dreams, Visions, Voice, and Inspiration ; yet he obliges no man to beleeve he hath so done to him that pretends it ; who (being a man) may erre, and (which is more) may lie. How then can he, to whom God hath never revealed his By what Wil immediately (saving by the way of natural reason) know ^klts^arc"' when he is to obey, or not to obey his Word, delivered by ^'"'""«- him, that sayes he is a Prophet ? Of 400 Prophets^ of whom i Kings 22. 197 the K. of /jrra^/ asked counsel, concerning the warre he made against Ramoth Gilead, only Micaiah was a true one. The Prophet that was sent to Prophecy against the Altar set up by leroboam, though a true Prophet, and that by two miracles done in his presence appears to be a Prophet sent from God, was yet deceived by another old Prophet, that perswaded him as from the mouth of God, to eat and drink with him. If one Prophet deceive another, what certainty is there of knowing 294 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 32. knowing the will of God, by other way than that of Reason ? To which I answer out of the Holy Scripture, that there be two marks, by which together, not asunder, a true Prophet is to be known. One is the doing of miracles ; the other is the not teaching any other Religion than that which is already established. Asunder (I say) neither of these is Deut. 13, V. sufficient. If a Prophet rise amongst you, or a Dreamer of dreams, and shall pretend the doing of a miracle, and the miracle come to passe ; if he say, Let ics follow strange Gods, which thou hast not known, thou shall not hearken to him, &'c. But that Prophet and Dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he hath spoken to you to Revolt from the Lord your God. In which words two things are to be observed ; First, that God wil not have miracles alone serve for argu- ments, to approve the Prophets calling ; but (as it is in the third verse) for an experiment of the constancy of our adhe- rence to himself. For the works of the Egyptian Sorcerers, though not so great as those oi Moses, yet were great miracles. Secondly, that how great soever the miracle be, yet if it tend to stir up revolt against the King, or him that governeth by the Kings Authority, he that doth such miracle, is not to be considered otherwise than as sent to make triall of their allegiance. For these words, revolt frow. the Lord your God, are in this place equivalent to revolt from your King. For they had made God their King by pact at the foot of Mount Sinai ; who ruled them by Moses only ; for he only spake with God, and from time to time declared Gods Commande- ments to the people. In like manner, after our Saviour Christ had made his Disciples acknowledge him for the Messiah, (that is to say, for Gods anointed, whom the nation of the lews daily expected for their King, but refused when he came,) he omitted not to advertise them of the danger Afa^. 24.24. of miracles. There shall arise (saith he) false Christs, and false Prophets, and shall doe great wonders and miracles, even to the seducing {if it were possible) of the very Elect. By which it appears, that false Prophets may have the power of mira- cles ; yet are wee not to take their doctrin for Gods Word. St. Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 32. 295 St. Paul says further to the Galatians, that if himself, or an Gal. u 8. Angellfrom heaven preach another Gospel to them, than he had preached, let him be accursed. That Gospel was, that Christ was King ; so that all preaching against the power of the King received, in consequence to these words, is by St, Paul accursed. For his speech is addressed to those, who by his preaching had already received lesus for the Christ, that is to say, for King of the lews. And as Miracles, without preaching that Doctrine which ^■^'' . marks of a God hath established ; so preaching the true Doctrine, with- Prophet in ... _ ^ ^ . - . . the old law, out the doing of Miracles, is an unsuiiicient argument of Miracles, 198 immediate Revelation. For if a man that teacheth not ^",, ,^-o^'_ false Doctrine, should pretend to bee a Prophet without -{^^^aw^'" shewing any Miracle, he is never the more to bee regarded for his pretence, as is evident by Deut. 18. v. 31, 22. If thou say in thy heart, How shall we know that the Word (of the Prophet) is not that which the Lord hath spoken. When the Prophet shall have spoken in the name of the Lord, that which shall not come to passe, that's the word which the Lord hath not spoken, but the Prophet has spoken it out of tJie pride of his own heart, fear him not. But a man may here again ask, When the Prophet hath foretold a thing, how shal we know whether it will come to passe or not ? For he may foretel it as a thing to arrive after a certain long time, longer then the time of mans life ; or, indefinitely, that it will come to passe one time or other : in which case this mark of a Prophet is unusefull j and therefore the miracles that oblige us to beleeve a Prophet, ought to be confirmed by an im- mediate, or a not long deferr'd event. So that it is manifest, that the teaching of the Religion which God hath established, and the shewing of a present Miracle, joined together, were the only marks whereby the Scripture would have a true Prophet, that is to say, immediate Revelation to be ac- knowledged j neither of them being singly sufficient to oblige any other man to regard what he saith. Seeing therefore Miracles now cease, we have no sign left, Miracles whereby to acknowledge the pretended Revelations, or In- prophets spirations 296 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 33. cease, and the Scrip- ture sup- flies their place. spirations of any private man ; nor obligation to give ear to any Doctrine, farther than it is comformable to the Holy Scriptures ; which since the time of our Saviour, supply the place, and sufficiently recompense the want of all other Prophecy ; and from which, by wise and learned interpreta- tion, and carefuU ratiocination, all rules and precepts neces- sary to the knowledge of our duty both to God and man, without Enthusiasme, or supernaturall Inspiration, may easily be deduced. And this Scripture is it, out of which I am to take the Principles of my Discourse, concerning the Rights of those that are the Supream Governors on earth, of Christian Common-wealths; and of the duty of Christian Subjects towards their Soveraigns. And to that end, I shall speak in the next Chapter, of the Books, Writers, Scope and Authority of the Bible. Of the Books of Holy Scripture. CHAP. XXXIII. Of the Number, Antiquity, Scope, Authority, and Interpreters of the Books of Holy Scripture, B lYthe Books of Holy Scripture, are understood 199 those, which ought to be the Canon, that is to say, the Rules of Christian life. And because all Rules of life, which men are in conscience bound to observe, are Laws ; the question of the Scripture, is the question of what is Law throughout all Christendome, both Naturall, and Civill. For though it be not determined in Scripture, what Laws every Christian King shall constitute in his own Dominions; yet it is determined what laws he shall not constitute. Seeing therefore I have already proved, that Soveraigns in their own Dominions are the sole Legislators ; those Books only are Canonicall, that is, Law, in every nation, which are established for such by the Soveraign Authority. It is true, that God is the Soveraign of all Soveraigns ; and therefore, when Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 'ii. 297 when he speaks to any Subject, he ought to be obeyed, whatsoever any earthly Potentate command to the contrary. But the question is not of obedience to God, but of 7vhen, and ivhai God hath said ; which to Subjects that have no supernaturall revelation, cannot be known, but by that naturall reason, which guided them, for the obtaining of Peace and Justice, to obey the authority of their severall Common-wealths ; that is to say, of their lawfull Soveraigns. According to this obligation, I can acknowledge no other Books of the Old Testament, to be Holy Scripture, but those which have been commanded to be acknowledged for such, by the Authority of the Church of England. What Books these are, is sufficiently known, without a Catalogue of them here ; and they are the same that are acknowledged by St. lerome, who holdeth the rest, namely, the Wisdome of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, ludith, Tobias, the first and the %tcQ,XidiQi Maccabees, (though he had seen the first in Hebrew) and the third and fourth of Esdras, for Apocrypha. Of the Canonicall, losephtis a learned Jew, that wrote in the time of the Emperour Domitian, reckoneth twenty two, making the number agree with the Hebrew Alphabet. St. lerome does the same, though they reckon them in different manner. For losephus numbers five Books of Moses, thirteen of Pro- phets, that writ the History of their own times (which how it agrees with the Prophets writings contained in the Bible wee shall see hereafter), and four of Hymnes and Morall Precepts. But St. Iero?ne reckons yfz'^ Books of Moses, eight of Prophets, and nine of other Holy writ, which he calls of Hagiographa. The Septuagint, who were 70. learned men of the lews, sent for by Ptolemy King of Egypt, to translate the Jewish law, out of the Hebrew into the Greek, have left 200 us no other for holy Scripture in the Greek tongue, but the same that are received in the Church of England. As for the Books of the New Testament, they are equally acknowledged for Canon by all Christian Churches, and by all Sects of Christians, that admit any Books at all for Canonicall. Who 298 Their An- tiquity. The Penta- teuch not ■written by Moses, Partz- OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 33. Who were the originall writers of the severall Books of Holy Scripture, has not been made evident by any sufficient testimony of other History, (which is the only proof of matter of fact) ; nor can be by any arguments of naturall Reason : for Reason serves only to convince the truth (not of fact, but) of consequence. The light therefore that must guide us in this question, must be that which is held out unto us from the Bookes themselves : And this light, though it shew us not the writer of every book, yet it is not unusefull to give us knowledge of the time, wherein they were written. And first, for the Pentateuch, it is not argument enough that they were written by Moses, because they are called the five Books of Moses; no more than these titles. The Book of Joshua, the Book of Judges, the Book of Ruth, and the Books of the Kings, are arguments sufficient to prove, that ihey were written by Joshua, by the Judges, by Ruth, and by the Kings. For in titles of Books, the subject is marked, as often as the writer. The History of Livy, denotes the Writer ; but the JJistory of Scanderbeg is denominated from the subject. We read in the last Chapter of Deuteronomie, ver. 6. concerning the sepulcher of Moses, that no man knoweth of his sepulcher to this day, that is, to the day wherein those words were written. It is therefore manifest, that those words were written after his interrement. For it were a strange interpretation, to say Moses spake of his own sepulcher (though by Prophecy), that it was not found to that day, wherein he was yet living. But it may perhaps be alledged, that the last Chapter only, not the whole Pen- tateuch, was written by some other man, but the rest not : Let us therefore consider that which we find in the Book of Genesis, chap. 1 2. ver. 6. And A\irah.a.m passed throughthe land to the place of &\c\\exa, unto the plain (j/'Moreh, and the Canaan- ite was then in the land; which must needs bee the words of one that wrote when the Canaanite was not in the land ; and consequently, not of Moses, who dyed before he came into it. Likewise Numbers 21. ver. 14. the Writer citeth another more ancient Book, Entituled, The Book of the Warres of the Parfi. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2,1. 299 the Lord, wherein were registred the Acts of Moses, at the Red-sea, and at the brook of Arnon. It is therefore suffi- ciently evident, that the five Books of Moses were written after his time, though how long after it be not so manifest. But though Moses did not compile those Books entirely, and in the form we have them ; yet he wrote all that which hee is there said to have written : as for example, the Volume of the Law, which is contained, as it seemeth, in the 1 1 of Deuteronomie, and the following Chapters to the 27. which was also commanded to be written on stones, in their entry into the land of Canaan. And this also did Moses himself Dent. 31. 9. write, and delivered to the Priests and Elders of Israel, to 201 be read every seventh year to all Israel, at their assembling in the feast of Tabernacles. And this is that Law which God commanded, that their Kings (when they should have established that form of Government) should take a copy of from the Priests and Levites; and -vi^viV Moses commanded the Priests and Levites to lay in the side of the Arke ; and Deut,'>,x2i the same which having been lost, was long time after found again by Hilkiah, and sent to King losias, who causing it to 2 King. 22. be read to the People, renewed the Covenant between God 2, 3. and them. That the Book of Joshua was also written long after the The Book "f josnua time of loshua, may be gathered out of many places of the written Book it self. loshua had set up twelve stones in the middest time. of Jordan, for a monument of their passage ; of which the Writer saith thus. They are there unto this day ; for ttnto this Josh. 4. 9. day, is a phrase that signifieth a time past, beyond the memory of man. In like manner, upon the saying of the Josh. 5. 9. Lord, that he had rolled off from the people the Reproach of Egypt, the Writer saith, The place is called Gilgal mito this day; which to have said in the time oi loshua had been improper. So also the name of the Valley of Achor, from the trouble that Achan raised in the Camp, the Writer saith, josh. 7. 26. remaineth tmto this day; which must needs bee therefore long after the time of loshua. Arguments of this kind there be many other j as losh. 8. 29. 13. 13. 14. 14. 15. 63. The 300 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 33. The Booke The Same is manifest by like arguments of the Book of of Judge! ' /: J ij ii and Ruth ludges, chap. I. 21, 26. 6. 24. 10, 4. 15. 19. 17. 6. and Kut/i imgafter I. I- but especially Judg. 18. 30. where it is said, that Jon- ^t^^itT' athan and his sonnes were Priests to the Tribe of Dan, untill the day of the captivity of the land. The like of That the Books of Samuel were also written after his own the Bookes of Samuel, time, there are the like arguments, i Sam. 5. 5. 7. 13, 15. 27. 6. & 30. 25. where, after David had adjudged equall part of the spoiles, to them that guarded the Ammunition, with them that fought, the Writer saith. He made it a Statute ^Snm.e.a,. and an Ordinance to Israel to this day. Again, when David (displeased, that the Lord had slain Vzzah, for putting out his hand to sustain the Ark,) called the place Perez- Vzzah, the Writer saith, ii is called so to this day : the time there- fore of the writing of that Book, must be long after the time of the fact ; that is, long after the time of David. The Books As for the two Books of the Kin^s, and the two Books of of the . . . Kings, and the ChroHicles, besides the places which mention such monu- fles, ' ments, as the Writer saith, remained till his own days ; such as are i Kings 9. 13. 9. 21. 10. 12, 12. 19. 2 Kings 2. 22. 8.22. 10.27. 14.7. 16,6. 17.23. 17.34. 17.41- \ Chron. 4. 41. 5. 26. It is argument sufficient they were written after the captivity in Babylon, that the History of them is continued till that time. For the Facts Registred are alwaies more ancient than the Register ; and much more ancient than such Books as make mention of, and quote the Re- gister ; as these Books doe in divers places, referring the Reader to the Chronicles of the Kings of luda, to the Chron- icles of the Kings of Israel, to the Books of the Prophet Samuel, of the Prophet Nathan, of the Prophet Ahijah ; to the Vision of lehdo, to the Books of the Prophet Serveiah, and of the Prophet Addo. Ezra and The Books of Esdras and Neheiniah were written certainly 202 Nehemiah. . •' after their return from captivity ; because their return, the re-edification qf the walls and houses of Jerusalem, the reno- vation of the Covenant, and ordination of their policy are therein contained. The Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2,^. 301 The History of Queen Esther is of the time of the Cap- Esther. tivity ; and therefore the Writer must have been of the same time, or after it The Book of lob hath no mark in it of the time wherein Job. it was written : and though it appear sufficiently {Ezekiel 14. 14. and lames 5. 11.) that he was no fained person ; yet the Book it self seemeth not to be a History, but a Treatise con- cerning a question in ancient time much disputed, why wicked men have often prospered in this world, and good men have been afflicted; and it is the more probable, because from the beginning, to the third verse of the third chapter, where the complaint of lob beginneth, the Hebrew is (as St. lerome testifies) in prose ; and from thence to the sixt verse of the last chapter in Hexameter Verses ; and the rest of that chapter again in prose. So that the dispute is all in Verse ; and the prose is added, but as a Preface in the beginning, and an Epilogue in the end. But Verse is no usuall stile of such, as either are themselves in great pain, as lob ; or of such as come to comfort them, as his friends; but in Philo- sophy, especially morall Philosophy, in ancient time frequent. The Psalmes were written the most part by David, for the The Pstzlier. use of the Quire. To these are added some Songs of Moses, and other holy men; and some of them after the return from the Captivity, as the r37. and the 126. whereby it is mani- fest that the Psalter was compiled, and put into the form it now hath, after the return of the lews from Babylon. The Proverbs, being a Collection of wise and godly Sayings, The partly of Solomon, partly of Agur the son of Jakeh, and partly of the Mother of King Lemuel, cannot probably be thought to have been collected by Solomon, rather then by Agur, or the Mother of Lemuel ; and that, though the sentences be theirs, yet the collection or compiling them into this one Book, was the work of some other godly man, that lived after them all. The Books of Ecclesiastes and the Canticles have nothing Ecciesiastes that was not Solomons, except it be the Titles, or Inscriptions. CanticUs. For The Words of the Preacher, the son of David, King in Jerusalem ; 3D2 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 33. Jerusalem; and, The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's, seem to have been made for distinctions sake, then, when the Books of Scripture were gathered into one body of the Law ; to the end, that not the Doctrine only, but the Authors also might be extant. Pnthets ^^ '•^^ Prophets, the most ancient, are Sophoniah, Jonas, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Michaiah, who lived in the time of Amaziah, and Azariah, otherwise Ozias, Kings of Judah. But the Book of Jonas is not properly a Register of his Pro- phecy, (for that is contained in these few words, Fourty dayes and Ninivy shall be destroyed,) but a History or Narration of his frowardnesse and disputing Gods commandements ; so that there is small probability he should be the Author, seeing he is the subject of it. But the Book of Amos is his Pro- phecy. Jeremiah, Abdias, Nahum, and Habakkuk prophecyed in 203 the time of Josiah. Ezekiel, Daniel, Aggeus, and Zacharias, in the Captivity. When loel and Malachi prophecyed, is not evident by their Writings. But considering the Inscriptions, or Titles of their Books, it is manifest enough, that the whole Scripture of the Old Testament, was set forth in the form we have it, after the return of the lews from their Captivity in Babylon, and before the time of Ftolemceus Philadelphus, that caused it to bee translated into Greek by seventy men, which were sent him out of Itcdea for that purpose. And if the Books of Apocrypha (which are recommended to us by the Church, though not for Canonicall, yet for profitable Books for our instruction) may in this point be credited, the Scripture was set forth in the form wee have it in, by Esdras ; as may appear by that which he himself saith, in the second book, chapt. 14. verse 21, 22, &c. where speaking to God, he saith thus, Thy law is burnt ; therefore no man kno7ueth the things which thou hast done, or the works that are to begin. But if I have found Grace before thee, send down the holy Spirit into jne, and I shall write all that hath beat done in the world, since the beginning, which were written in thy Law, that men may find Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. n. 303 find thy path, and that they which live in the later days, may live. And verse 45. And it came to passe when the forty dayes were fulfilled, that the Highest spake, saying, The first that thou hast written, publish openly, that the worthy and un- worthy may read it ; but keep the seventy last, that thou mayst deliver them onely to such as be wise among the people. And thus much concerning the time of the writing of the Bookes of the Old Testament. The Writers of the New Testament Hved all in lesse than The New Testament. 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 ac- knowledged by the Church to be of their writing, is not altogether so ancient. For, as the Bookes of the Old Testa- ment are derived to us, from no other time than that of Esdras, who by the direction of Gods Spirit retrived them, when they were lost : Those of the New Testament, of which the copies were not many, nor could easily be all in any one private mans hand, cannot bee derived from a higher time, than 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 Bookes, both of the Old, and New Testament, is in the Canons of the Aposdes, 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 Councell 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 Councell was held in the 364. yeer after Christ. At which time, though ambition had so far prevailed on the great 204 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 en- deavoured to passe their Doctrine, not for Counsell, and Information ; 304 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 33. Information, as Preachers ; but for Laws, as absolute Gover- noursj and thought such frauds as tended to make the people the more obedient to Christian Doctrine, to be pious ; yet I am perswaded they did not therefore falsifie the Scrip- tures, though the copies of the Books of the New Testament, were in the hands only of the Ecclesiasticks ; because if they had had an intention so to doe, they would surely have made them more favorable to their power over Christian Princes, and Civill Soveraignty, than they are. I see not therefore 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. And so perhaps are some of those Books which are called Apocrypha, and left out of the Canon, not for in- conformity of Doctrine with the rest, but only because they are not found in the Hebrew. For after the conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great, there were few learned Jews, that were not perfect in the Greek tongue. For the seventy Interpreters that converted the Bible into Greek, were all of them Hebrews ; and we have extant the works of Philo and ]osephus both Jews, written by them eloquently in Greek. But it is not the Writer, but the authority of the Church, that maketh a Book Canonicall. And although Their these Books were written by divers men, yet it is manifest Scope, . ... the Writers were all indued with one and the same Spirit, in that they conspire to one and the same end, which is the setting forth of the Rights of the Kingdome of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For the Book of Genesis, deriveth the Genealogy of Gods people, from the creation of the World, to the going into Egypt : the other four Books of Moses, contain the Election of God for their King, and the Laws which hee prescribed for their Government : The Books of loshua, fudges, Ruth, and Samuel, to the time of Saul, describe the acts of Gods people, till the time they cast off - Gods yoke, and called for a King, after the manner of their neighbour nations : The rest of the History of the Old Testament, derives the succession of the line of David, to the Part-i- COMMON-WEALTH. ChaJ>. ^.Z- 305 the Captivity, out of which Hne was to spring the restorer of the Kingdome of God, even our blessed Saviour God the Son, whose coming was foretold in the Bookes of the Prophets, after whom the Evangelists write his life, and actions, and his claim to the Kingdome, whilst he lived on earth : and lastly, the Acts, and Epistles of the Apostles, declare the coming of God, the Holy Ghost, and the Authority he left with them, and their successors, for the direction of the Jews, and for the invitation of the Gentiles. In summe, the His- tories and the Prophecies of the old Testament, and the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament, have had one and the same scope, to convert men to the obedience of God j I. in Moses, and the Priests; 2. in the man Christ; and 3. in the Apostles and the successors to Apostolicall power. For these three at several times did represent the person of God : Moses, and his successors the High Priests, 205 and Kings of Judah, in the Old Testament : Christ himself, in the time he lived on earth ; and the Apostles, and their successors, from the day of Pentecost (when the Holy Ghost descended on them) to this day. It is a question much disputed between the divers sects of The ques- ... . . _, . . tlon of the Christian Religion, From whence the Scriptures derive their Authority Authority; which question is also propounded sometimes scriptures in other terms, as. How wee know them to be the Word of God, or, Why we beleeve them to be so : And the difficulty of resolving it, ariseth chiefly from the impropernesse of the words wherein the question it self is couched. For it is beleeved on all hands, that the first and originall Author of them is God ; and consequently the question disputed, is not that Again, it is manifest, that none can know they are Gods Word, (though all true Christians beleeve it,) but those to whom God himself hath revealed it supernaturally ; and therefore the question is not rightly moved, of our Knowledge of it. Lastly, when the question is propounded of our Beleefe ; because some are moved to beleeve for one, and others for other reasons, there can be rendred no one generall stated. 3o6 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 33. generall answer for them all. The question truly stated is, By what Authority they are made Law. Their As far as they differ not from the Laws of Nature, there andlntZ- is no doubt, but they are the Law of God, and carry their tretation. p^.^^^^^^^ ^^^ them, legible to all men that have the use of naturall reason : but this is no other Authority, then that of all other Morall Doctrine consonant to Reason ; the Dictates whereof are Laws, not made, but Eternall. If they be made Law by God himselfe, they are of the nature of written Law, which are Laws to them only to whom God hath so sufficiently published them, as no man can excuse himself, by saying, he knew not they were his. He therefore, to whom God hath not supernaturally revealed, that they are his, nor that those that published them, were sent by him, is not obliged to obey them, by any Authority, but his, whose Commands have already the force of Laws ; that is to say, by any other Authority, then that of the Common-wealth, residing in the Soveraign, who only has the Legislative power. Again, if it be not the Legislative Authority of the Common-wealth, that giveth them the force of Laws, it must bee some other Authority derived from God, either private, or publique : if private, it obliges onely him, to whom in particular God hath been pleased to reveale it. For if every man should be obliged, to take for Gods Law, what particular men, on pretence of private Inspiration, or Revelation, should obtrude upon him, (in such a number of men, that out of pride, and ignorance, take their own Dreams, and extravagant Fancies, and Madnesse, for testi- monies of Gods Spirit ; or out of ambition, pretend to such Divine testimonies, falsely, and contrary to their own con- sciences,) it were impossible that any Divine Law should be acknowledged. If publique, it is the Authority of the Common-wealth, or of the Church. But the Church, if it be one person, is the same thing with a Common-wealth of Christians; called a Common-wealth, because it consisteth of 206 men united in one person, their Soveraign ; and a Church, because it consisteth in Christian men, united in one Chris- tian Part 2,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2,A- 3°; tian Soveraign. But if the Church be not one person, then it hath no authority at all ; it can neither command, nor doe any action at all ; nor is capable of having any power, or right to any Ihing ; nor has any Will, Reason, nor Voice ; for all these qualities are personall. Now if the whole number of Christians be not contained in one Common- wealth, they are not one person ; nor is there an Universall Church that hath any authority over them ; and therefore the Scriptures are not made Laws, by the Universall Church : or if it bee one Common-wealth, then all Christian Monarchs, and States are private persons, and subject to bee judged, deposed, and punished by an Universall Soveraigne of all Christendome. So that the question of the Authority of the Scriptures, is reduced to this. Whether Christian Kings, and the Soveraigne Assemblies in Christian Common-wealths, he absolute in their own Territories, ii?imediately under God; or stibject to one Vicar of Christ, constituted of the Vniversall Church ; to bee judged, condemned, deposed, and put to deatli, as hee shall think expedient, or necessary for the common good. Which question cannot bee resolved, without a more particular consideration of the Kingdome of God ; from whence also, wee are to judge of the Authority of Interpret- ing the Scripture. For, whosoever hath a lawful power over any Writing, to make it Law, hath the power also to approve, or disapprove the interpretation of the same. CHAP. XXXIV. Of the Signification (7/"Spirit, Angel, and Inspiration z» the Books of Holy Scripture. 207 ^~^ Eing the foundation of all true Ratiocination, is the Body avd ^^ „. .^ . - 1 • , • , T^ spirit how \_) constant Signification of words ; which m the Doctrine taken in the following, dependeth not (as in naturall science) on the Will '"'' "^^' of the Writer, nor (as in common conversation) on vulgar use, 3oS Parti. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. i^. use, but on the sense they carry in the Scripture ; It is ne- cessary, before I proceed any further, to determine, out of the Bible, the meaning of such words, as by their ambiguity, may render what I am to inferre upon them; obscure, or disputable. I will begin with the words Body, and Spirit, which in the language of the Schools are termed. Substances, Corporeal!, and Incorporeall. The Word Body, in the most general! acceptation, signi- fieth that which filleth, or occupyeth some certain room, or imagined place ; and dependeth not on the imagination, but is a reall part of that we call the Vniverse. For the Vniverse, being the Aggregate of all Bodies, there is no reall part thereof that is not also Body ; nor any thing properly a Body, that is not also part of (that Aggregate of all Bodies) the Vniverse. The same also, because Bodies are subject to change, that is to say, to variety of apparence to the sense of living creatures, is called Substance, that is to say, Subject, to various accidents ; as sometimes to be Moved, sometimes to stand Still ; and to seem to our senses sometimes Hot, sometimes Cold, sometimes of one Colour, Smel, Tast, or Sound, sometimes of another. And this diversity of Seeming, (produced by the diversity of the operation of bodies, on the organs of our sense) we attribute to alterations of the Bodies that operate, & call them Accidents of those Bodies. And according to this acceptation of the word, Substance and Body, signifie the same thing ; and therefore Substance incor- poreall are words, which when they are joined together, de- stroy one another, as if a man should say, saxlncorporeall Body. But in the sense of common people, not all the Universe is called Body, but only such parts thereof as they can discern by the sense of Feeling, to resist their force, or by the sense of their Eyes, to hinder them from a farther prospect. There- fore in the common language of men. Aire, and aeriall sub- stances, use not to be taken for Bodies, but (as often as men are sensible of their effects) are called Wind, or Breath, or (because the same are called in the Latine Spiritus) Spirits ; as when they call that aeriall substance, which in the body of Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^i,. 309 of any living creature, gives it life and motion, Vitall and Animall spirits. But for those Idols of the brain, which re- present Bodies to us, where they are not, as in a Looking- 208 glasse, in a Dream, or to a Distempered brain waking, they are (as the Apostle saith generally of all Idols) nothing; Nothing at all, I say, there where they seem to bee ; and in the brain it self, nothing but tumult, proceeding either from the action of the objects, or from the disorderly agitation of the Organs of our Sense. And men, that are otherwise im- ployed, then to search into their causes, know not of them- selves, what to call them ; and may therefore easily be per- swaded, by those whose knowledge they much reverence, some to call them Bodies, and think them made of aire com- pacted by a power supernaturall, because the sight judges them corporeall ; and some to call them Spirits, because the sense of Touch discerneth nothing in the place where they appear, to resist their fingers ; So that the proper signification of Spirit in common speech, is either a subtile, fluid, and in- visible Body, or a Ghost, or other Idol or Phantasme of the Imagination. But for metaphoricall significations, there be many : for sometimes it is taken for Disposition or Inclination of the mind \ as when for the disposition to controwl the sayings of other men, we say, a spirit of contradiction. For a disposition to uncleannesse, an unclean spirit • for perversenesse, a f reward spirit ; for sullennesse, a dumb spirit, and for incli- nation to godlinesse, and Gods service, the Spirit of God: sometimes for any eminent ability, or extraordinary passion, or disease of the mind, as when great wisdome is called the spirit of wisdome ; and mad men are said to be possessed with a spirit. Other signification of Spirit I find no where any; and where none of these can satisfie the sense of that word in Scripture, the place falleth not under humane Understand- ing; and our Faith therein consisteth not in our Opinion, but in our Submission ; as in all places where God is said to be a Spirit; or where by the Spirit of God, is meant God himselfe. For the nature of God is incomprehensible j that 3IO Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 24. The Spirit of God taken in Hie Scripture sometimes for a Wind, or Breat/i. Secondly, for extra- ordinary gifts of Uie Under- standing, is to say, we understand nothing oi what he is, but only that he is ; and therefore the Attributes we give him, are not to tell one another, what he is, nor to signifie our opinion of his Nature, but our desire to honor him with such names as we conceive most honorable amongst our selves. Gen. 1.2. T7ie Spirit of God moved vpon the face of the Waters. Here if by the Spirit of God be meant God him- self, then is Motion attributed to God, and consequently Place, which are intelligible only of Bodies, and not of sub- stances incorporeall ; and so the place is above our under- standing, that can conceive nothing moved that changes not place, or that has' not dimension ; and whatsoever has dimen- sion, is Body. But the meaning of those words is best un- derstood by the like place, Gen.Z.i. Where, when the earth was covered with Waters, as in the beginning, God intending to abate them, and again to discover the dry land, useth the like words, / will bring my Spirit upon the Earth, and the waters shall be diminished: in which place by Spirit is under- stood a Wind, (that is an Aire or Spirit moved,) which might be called (as in the former place) the Spirit of God, because it was Gods work. Gen. 41. 38. Pharaoh calleth the Wisdome of Joseph, the Spirit of God. For 'Joseph having advised him to look out a wise and discreet man, and to set him over the land of Egypt, he saith thus, Can we find such a man as this is, iti whom is the Spirit of God? And Exod. 28. 3. Thou shall speak (saith God) to all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the Spirit of Wisdome, to make Aaron Gar- ments, to consecrate him. Where extraordinary Understanding, though but in making Garments, as being the Gift of God, is called the Spirit of God. The same is found again, Exod. 31- 3; 4, S. 6. and 35. 31. And Isaiah 11. 2, 3. where the Prophet speaking of the Mes.siah, saith, The Spirit of the Lord shall abide upon hi7n, the Spirit of wisdome aftd under- standing, the Spirit of counsell, and fortitude ; and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. Where manifestly is meant, not so many Ghosts, but so many eminent graces that God would give him. In 209 Party COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2,\. 311 In the Book of ]icdges, an extraordinary Zeal, and Thirdly. ^ . for extra- Courage m the defence of Gods people, is called the Spirit ordinary of God ; as when it excited Othoniel, Gideon, Jephtha, and ff^''^'™' Samson to deliver them from servitude, ^udg. 3.10. 6. 34. II. 29. 13. 25. 14. 6, 19. And of Saul, upon the newes of the insolence of the Ammonites towards the men of Jabesh Gilead, it is said (i Sam. 11. 6.) that The Spirit of God came upon Saul, and his Anger (or, as it is in the Latine, his Fury) was kindled greatly. Where it is not probable was meant a Ghost, but an extraordinary Zeal to punish the cruelty of the Ammonites. In like manner by the Spirit of God, that came upon Saul, when hee was amongst the Prophets that praised God in Songs, and Musick (i Sain. 19. 20.) is to be understood, not a Ghost, but an unexpected and sudden Zeal to join with them in their devotion. The false Prophet Zedekiah, saith to Micaiah (i Kings Fourthly, 22. 24.) Which way went the Spirit of the f.,ord from me to o/Prtdic- speak to thee 2 Which cannot be understood of a Ghost ; ^"^^'^^ for Micaiah declared before the Kings of Israel and Judah, the event of the battle, as from a Vision, and not as from a Spirit, speaking in him. In the same manner it appeareth, in the Books of the Prophets, that though they spake by the Spirit of God, that is to say, by a speciall grace of Prediction ; yet their knowledge of the future, was not by a Ghost within them, but by some supernaturall Dreajn or Vision. Gen. 2. 7. It is said, God made man of the dust of the Fiftly,for I . ' \ Life. Earth, and breathed into his nostrills (spiraculum vit») the breath of life, and man was made a living soul. There the breath of life inspired by God, signifies no more, but that God gave him life; And (^ob 27. 3.) as long as the Spirit of God is in my nostrils ; is no more then to say, as long as I live. So in Ezek. i. 20. the Spirit of life was in the wheels, is equivalent to, the wheels were alive. And {Ezek. 2. 30.) the Spirit entred into me, and set me on my feet, that is, I recovered my vitall strength ; not that any Ghost, or incorporeall substance entred into, and possessed his body. In Dreams and Visions. 312 Part^. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. l\. Sixtiy,for In the II chap, oi Numbers, verse 17. I will take (saith a subor- ^ ' ^ dination God) of the Spirit, which is vpon thee, and will put it upon to autho- rity. the?n, and they shall bear the burthen of the people with thee; 210 that is, upon the seventy Elders : whereupon two of the seventy are said to prophecy in the campe ; of whom some complained, and Joshua desired Moses to forbid them ; which Moses would not doe. Whereby it appears; that Joshua knew not they had received authority so to do, and prophecyed according to the mind of Moses, that is to say, by a Spirit, or Authority subordinate to his own. In the like sense we read [Deut. 34. g.) that ]oshua was full of the Spirit of wisdonie, because Moses had laid his hands upon him : that is, because he was ordained by Moses, to prosecute the work hee had himselfe begun, (namely, the bringing of Gods people into the promised land), but prevented by death, could not finish. In the like sense it is said, {Rom. 8. 9.) If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his : not meaning thereby the Ghost of Christ, but a submission to his Doc- trine. As also (i 'lohn 4. 2.) Hereby you shall know the Spirit of God; Every Spirit that confesseth that J^esus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God; by which is meant the Spirit of unfained Christianity, or submission to that main Article of Christian faith, that Jesus is the Christ ; which cannot be interpreted of a Ghost. Likewise these words {Luke 4. i.) And ]esus full of the Holy Ghost (that is, as it is exprest. Mat. 4. i. and Mar. I. 12. of tlie Holy Spirit,) may be understood, for Zeal to doe the work for which hee was sent by God the Father : but to interpret it of a Ghost, is to say, that God himselfe (for so our Saviour was,) was filled with God; which is very unproper, and unsignificant. How we came to translate Spirits, by the word Ghosts, which signifieth nothing, neither in heaven, nor earth, but the Imaginary inhabitants of mans brain, I examine not: but this I say, the word Spirit in the text signifieth no such thing; but either properly Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.z\. 313 properly a reall substance, or Metaphorically, some extra- ordinary ability or affection of the Mind, or of the Body. The Disciples of Christ, seeing him walking upon the sea. Seventhly, / ,r , , . . for Aerial! {Mat. 14. 26. and Marke 6. 49.) supposed him to be a Bodies. Spirit, meaning thereby an Aeriall Body, and not a Phan- tasme : for it is said, they all saw him ; which cannot be understood of the delusions of the brain, (which are not common to many at once, as visible Bodies are ; but singular, because of the differences of Fancies), but of Bodies only. In like manner, where he was taken for a Spirit, by the same Apostles {Luke 24. 3, 7.): So also {Acts 12. 15.) when St. Peter was delivered out of Prison, it would not be beleeved ; but when the Maid said he was at the dore, they said it was his Angel; by which must be meant a corporeall substance, or we must say, the Disciples themselves did follow the common opinion of both Jews and Gentiles, that some such apparitions were not Ima- ginary, but Reall; and such as needed not the fancy of man for their Existence : These the Jews called Spirits, and Angels, Good or Bad ; as the Greeks called the same by the name of Damons. And some such apparitions may 211 be reall, and substantial!; that is to say, subtile Bodies, which God can form by the same power, by which he formed all things, and make use of, as of Ministers, and Messengers (that is to say, Angels) to declare his will, and execute the same when he pleaseth, in extraordinary and supernaturall manner. But when hee hath so formed them they are Substances, endued with dimensions, and take up roome, and can be moved from place to place, which is peculiar to Bodies; and therefore are not Ghosts incorporeall, that is to say, Ghosts that are in no place ; that is to say, that are no where; that is to say, that seeming to be somewhat, are nothing. But if Corporeall be taken in the most vulgar manner, for such Substances as are perceptible by our externall Senses ; then is Substance Incorporeal], a thing not Imaginary, but Reall ; namely, a thin Substance Invisible, but that hath the same dimensions that are in grosser Bodies. By 314 Parti. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 34r- Angel By the name of Angel, is signified generally, a il/'^w^pg^; what. ' a ^ J and most often, a Messenger of God : And by a Messenger of God, is signified, any thing that makes known his extra- ordinary Presence ; that is to say, the extraordinary manifes- tation of his power, especially by a Dream, or Vision. Concerning the creation of Angels, there is nothing de- livered in the Scriptures. That they are Spirits, is often repeated : but by the name of Spirit, is signified both in Scripture, and vulgarly, both amongst Jews, and Gentiles, sometimes thin Bodies ; as the Aire, the Wind, the Spirits Vitall, and Animall, of living creatures ; and sometimes the Images that rise in the fancy in Dreams, and Visions ; which are not reall Substances, nor last any longer then the Dream, or Vision they appear in ; which Apparitions, though no reall Substances, but Accidents of the brain ; yet when God raiseth them supernaturally, to signifie his Will, they are not unproperly termed Gods Messengers, that is to say, his Angels. And as the Gentiles did vulgarly conceive the Imagery of the brain, for things really subsistent without them, and not dependent on the fancy ; and out of them framed their opinions of Damons, Good and Evill ; which because they seemed to subsist really, they called Substances ; and because they could not feel them with their hands, Incorporeall : so also the Jews upon the same ground, without any thing in the Old Testament that constrained them thereunto, had generally an opinion, (except the sect of the Saddiices,) that those apparitions (which it pleased God sometimes to produce in the fancie of men, for his own service, and therefore called them his Angels) were substances, not dependent on the fancy, but permanent creatures of God ; whereof those v.'hich they thought were good to them, they esteemed the Angels of God,_2.t\A those they thought would hurt them, they called Evill Angels, or Evill Spirits ; such as was the Spirit of Python, and the Spirits of Mad-men, of Lunatiques, and Epileptiques : For they esteemed such as were troubled with such diseases, Damoniaques. But Part J,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. -i.^. 315 But if we consider the places of the Old Testament where Angels are mentioned, we shall find, that in most of them, 212 there can nothing else be understood by the word Angel, but some image raised (supernaturally) in the fancy, to sig- nifie the presence of God in the execution of some super- naturall work ; and therefore in the rest, where their nature is not exprest, it may be understood in the same manner. For we read Gen. 16. that the same apparition is called, not onely an Angel, but God; where that which (verse 7.) is called the Angel of the Lord, in the tenth verse, saith to Agar, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly ; that is, speaketh in the person of God. Neither was this apparition a Fancy figured, but a Voice. By which it which it is manifest, that Angel signifieth there, nothing but God himself, that caused Agar supernaturally to apprehend a voice from heaven ; or rather, nothing else but a Voice supernaturall, testifying Gods speciall presence there. Why therefore may not the Angels that appeared to Lot, and are called Gen. 19. 13. Men; and to whom, though they were two. Lot speaketh (ver. 18.) as but to one, and that one, as God, (for the words are. Lot said unto them, Oh not so my Lord) be understood of images of men, supernaturally formed in the Fancy ; as well as before by Angel was understood a fancyed Voice ? When the Angel called to Abraham out of heaven, to stay his hand (Gen. 22. II.) from slaying Isaac, there was no Apparition, but a Voice ; which neverthelesse was called properly enough a Messenger, or Angel of God, because it declared Gods will supernaturally, and saves the labour of supposing any perma- nent Ghosts. The Angels which Jacob saw on the Ladder of Heaven {Gen. 28. 12.) were a Vision of his sleep ; there- fore onely Fancy, and a Dream ; yet being supernaturall, and signs of Gods speciall presence, those apparitions are not improperly called Angels. The same is to be understood {Gen. 31. II.) where Jacob saith thus. The Angel of the Lord appeared to mee in my sleep. For an apparition made to a man in his sleep, is that which all men call a Dreame, whether such Dreame be naturall, or supernaturall : and that 3i6 Partz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. j,\. that which there Jacob calleth an Angel, was God himselfe ; for the same Angel saith (verse 13.) I am the God of Bethel. Also {Exod. 14. 9.) the Angel that went before the Army of Israel to the Red Sea, and then came behind it, is (verse 19.) the Lord himself; and he appeared not in the form of a beautifull man, but in form (by day) of a pillar of cloud, and (by night) in form of Tipillar of fire; and yet this Pillar was all the apparition, and Angel promised to Moses {Exod. 14. 9.) for the Armies guide : For this cloudy pillar, is said, to have descended, and stood at the dore of the Tabernacle, and to have talked with Moses. There you see Motion, and Speech, which are commonly attributed to Angels, attributed to a Cloud, because the Cloud served as a sign of Gods presence ; and was no lesse an Angel, then if it had had the form of a Man, or Child of never so great beauty ; or Wings, as usually they are painted, for the false instruction of common people. For it is not the shape; but their use, that makes them Angels. But their use is to be significations of Gods presence in super- naturall operations ; As when Moses {Exod. 33. 14.) had 213 desired God to goe along with the Campe, (as he had done alwaies before the making of the Golden Calfe,) God did not wciivitT, I will goe, nor I will send an Angell in my stead ; but thus, my presence shall goe with thee. To mention all the places of the Old Testament where the name of Angel is found, would be too long. Therefore to comprehend them all at once, I say, there is no text in that part of the Old Testament, which the Church of Eng- land holdeth for Canonicall ; from which we can conclude, there is, or hath been created, any permanent thing (under- stood by the name oi Spirit or Angel,) that hath not quantity ; and that may not be, by the understanding divided ; that is to say, considered by parts ; so as one part may bee in one place, and the next part in the next place to it ; and, in summe, which is not (taking Body for that, which is some what, or some where) Corporeall ; but in every place, the sense will bear the interpretation of Angel, for Messenger ; as Part 2,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. z\. 317 as John Baptist is called an Angel, and Christ the Angel of the Covenant ; and as (according to the same Analogy) the Dove, and the Fiery Tongues, in that they were signes of Gods speciall presence, might also be called Angels. Though we find in Daniel-two names of Angels, Gabriel, and Michael; yet it is cleer out of the text it selfe, {Dan. 12. i.) that by Micliael is meant Christ, not as an Angel, but as a Prince : and that Gabriel (as the like apparitions made to other holy men in their sleep) was nothingbuta supernaturallphantasme, by which it seemed to Daniel, in his dream, that two Saints being in talke, one of them said to the other, Gabriel, let its make this man understand his Vision : For God needeth not, to distinguish his Celestiall servants by names, which are usefuU onely to the short memories of Mortalls. Nor in the New Testament is there any place, out of which it can be proved, that Angels (except when they are put for such men, as God hath made the Messengers, and Ministers of his word, or works) are things permanent, and withall incorporeall. That they are permanent, may bee gathered from the words of our Saviour himselfe, (Mat. 25. 41.) where he saith, it shall be said to the wicked in the last day. Go ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels : which place is manifest for the permanence of Evill Angels, (unlesse wee might think the name of DeviU and his Angels may be understood of the Churches Adversaries and their Ministers ;) but then it is repugnant to their Im- materiality ; because Everlasting fire is no punishment to impatible substances, such as are all things Incorporeall. Angels therefore are not thence proved to be Incorporeall. In like manner where St. Paul sayes (i Cor. 6. 3.) Know ye not that wee shall judge the Angels ? And (2 Pel. 2.4.) For if God spared not the Angels that sinned, but cast tlieni down into hell. And {lude i. 6.) And the Angels that kept not their first estate, but left their owne habitation, hee hath reserved in ei'erlasting chaines under darknesse unto the Judgment of the last day ; though it prove the Permanence of Angelicall nature, it confirmeth also their Materiality. And (Mat. 22. 3°-) 3i8 Part 2,. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. z\. 30.) In the resurrection 7nen doe neither marry, nor give in 214 marriage, but are as the Angels of God in heaven : but in the resurrection men shall be Permanent, and not Incorporeall; so therefore also are the Angels. There be divers other places out of which may be drawn the like conclusion. To men that understand the signification of these words, Substance, and Incorporeall ; as Incorporeall is taken not for subtile body, but for not Body, they imply a contradiction : insomuch as to say, an Angel, or Spirit is (in that sense) an Incorporeall Substance, is to say in effect, there is no Angel nor Spirit at all. Considering therefore the signification of the word Angel in the Old Testament, and the nature of Dreams and Visions that happen to men by the ordinary way of Nature; I was enclined to this opinion, that Angels were nothing but supernaturall appari- tions of the Fancy, raised by the speciall and extraordinary operation of God, thereby to make his presence and com- mandements known to mankind, and chiefly to his own people. But the many places of the New Testament, and our Saviours own words, and in such texts, wherein is no suspicion of corruption of the Scripture, have extorted from my feeble Reason, an acknowledgment, and beleef, that there be also Angels substantial!, and permanent. But to beleeve they be in no place, that is to say, no where, that is to say, nothing, as they (though indirectly) say, that will have them Incorporeall, cannot by Scripture bee evinced. whar'^"" *-*" ''^^ signification of the word Spirit, dependeth that of the word Inspiration; which must either be taken properly ; and then it is nothing but the blowing into a man some thin and subtile aire, or wind, in such manner as a man filleth a bladder with his breath ; or if Spirits be not corporeall, but have their existence only in the fancy, it is nothing but the blowing in of a Phantasme ; which is im- proper to say, and impossible ; for Phantasmes are not, but only seem to be somewhat. That word therefore is used in the Scripture metaphorically onely : As {Gen. 2. 7.) where it is said, that God inspired into man the breath of life, no more Pari I. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. U- 3I9 more is meant, then that God gave unto him vitall motion. For we are not to think that God made first a Hving breath, and then blew it into Adam after he was made, whether that breath were reall, or seeming ; but only as it is {Acts 17. 25.) that he gave him life, and breath; that is, made him a living creature. And where it is said (2 Tim. 3. 16.) all Scripture is given by Inspiration from God, speaking there of the Scripture of the Old Testament, it is an easie metaphor, to signifie, that God enclined the spirit or mind of those Writers, to write that which should be usefull, in teaching, reproving, correcting, and instructing men in the way ot righteous living. But where St. Peter (2 Pet. i. 21.) saith, that Prophecy came tiot in old time by t/ie will of man, but the holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, is meant the voice of God in a Dream, or Vision supernaturall, which is not Inspiration : Nor when our Saviour breathing on his Disciples, said, Receive the Holy Spirit, was that Breath the Spirit, but a sign of the spirituall 215 graces he gave unto them. And though it be said of many, and of our Saviour himself, that he was full of the Holy Spirit ; yet that Fulnesse is not to be understood for Infusion of the substance of God, but for accumulation of his gifts, such as are the gift of sanctity of hfe, of tongues, and the like, whether attained supernaturally, or by study and in- dustry; for in all cases they are the gifts of God. So like- wise where God sayes {]oel 2. 28.) I will powre out my Spirit upon allflesJi, and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophecy, your Old men shall dream Dreams, and your Young men shall see Visions, wee are not to understand it in the proper sense, as if his Spirit were like water, subject to effusion, or infusion ; but as if God had promised to give them Propheticall Dreams, and Visions. For the proper use of the word infused, in speaking of the graces of God, is an abuse of it ; for those graces are Vertues, not Bodies to be carryed hither and thither, and to be powred into men, as into barrels. In the same manner, to take Inspiration in the proper sense, 320 Pari 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 35. sense, or to say that Good Spirits entred into men to make them prophecy, or Evill Spirits into those that became Phrenetique, Lunatique, or Epileptiqiie, is not to take the word in the sense of the Scripture ; for the Spirit there is taken for the power of God, working by causes to us un- known. As also {Ads 2.3.) the wind, that is there said to fill the house wherein the Apostles were assembled on the day of Pentecost, is not to be understood for the Holy Spirit, which is the Deity it self; but for an Externall sign of Gods speciall working on their hearts, to effect in them the internall graces, and holy vertues hee thought requisite for the performance of their Apostleship. CHAP. XXXV. Of the Signification in Script ure (^/"Kingdome OF GoDj o/HoLY, Sacred, and Sacrament. The King- r ■ -v jjg Kingdome of God in the Writings of Divines, and 216 dom of God I . . . taken by X. specially in Sermons, and Treatises of Devotion, is Divines MetafhoH- taken most commonly for Eternall Felicity, after this life, in Jk ihe " ths Highest Heaven, which they also call the Kingdome of iroferi"^ Glory ; and sometimes for (the earnest of that felicity) Sanctification, which they terme 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 Kingdome. To the contrary, I find the Kingdome of God, to signifie in most places of Scripture, a Kingdome 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 ; and but seldom meta- phorically ; and then it is taken for Dominion over sinne ; (and only in the New Testament ;) because such a Dominion Partz- COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. -i^. 321 as that, every Subject shall have in the Kingdome of God, and without prejudice to the Soveraign. From the very Creation, God not only reigned over all men naturally by his might ; but also had peculiar Subjects, whom he commanded by a Voice, as one man speaketh to another. In which manner he reigned owtr Adam, and gave him commandement to abstaine from the tree of cognizance of Good and Evill ; which when he obeyed not, but tasting thereof, took upon him to be as God, judging between Good and Evill, not by his Creators commandement, but by his own sense, his punishment was a privation of the estate of Eternall life, wherein God had at first created him : And afterwards God punished his posterity, for their vices, all but eight persons, with an universall deluge ; And in these eight did consist the then Kingdom of God. After this, it pleased God to speak to Abraham, and The [Gen. 17. 7, a.) to make a Covenant with him in these words, of'tAe I will establish my Covenant between me, and thee, and thy of"God^' seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting Covenant, to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee ; And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. In this Covenant Abraham promiseth for himselfe and his posterity to obey as God, the Lord that spake to him : and God on his part promiseth to Abraham the land of Canaan for an 217 everlasting possession. And for a memoriall, and a token of this Covenant, he ordaineth (verse 11.) the Sacrament of the Ciraancision. This is it which is called the Old Covenant, or Testament ; and containeth a Contract between God and Abraham ; by which Abraham obligeth himself, and his posterity, in a peculiar manner to be subject to Gods positive Law ; for to the Law Morall he was obliged before, as by an Oath of Allegiance. And though the name of Xing be not yet given to God, nor of Kingdome to Abraham and his seed ; yet the thing is the same ; namely, an Institution by pact, of Gods peculiar Soveraignty over the seed of Abraham; which in the renewing of the same Covenant by Moses, at Y Mount 322 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 35. That the Kingdome of God is j)roperly his Civill Sove- raignty over a peculiar people by pact. Mount Sinai, is expressely called a peculiar Kingdome of God over the Jews : and it is of Abraham (not of Moses) St. Paul saith (Rom. 4. 11.) that he is the Father of the Faithfull ; that is, of those that are loyall, and doe not violate their Allegiance sworn to God, then by Circumcision, and after- wards in the New Covenant by Baptisme. This Covenant, at the Foot of Mount Sinai, was renewed by Moses {Exod. 19. 5.) where the Lord commandeth Moses to speak to the people in this manner. If you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my Covenant, then yee shall be a peculiar people to me, for all the Earth is mine ; And yee shall be unto me a Sacerdotall Kingdome, and an holy Nation. For a Peculiar people, the vulgar Latine hath, Peculium de cunctis populis : the English Translation made in the beginning of the Reign of King James, hath, a Peculiar treasure unto me above all Nations ; and the Geneva French, the most precious Jewel of all Nations. But the truest Translation is the first, because it is confirmed by St. Paul himself (Tit. 2. 14.) where he saith, alluding to that place, that our blessed Saviour gave himself for us, that he might purifie us to himself, a peculiar (that is, an extraordinary) people : for the word is in the Greek Trepwicnoe, which is opposed commonly to the word tmoiaoig : and as this signifieth ordi?iary, quotidian, or (as in the Lords Prayer) of daily use ; so the other signifieth that which is overplus, and stored up, and enjoyed in a speciall manner; which the Latines call Peculium : and this meaning of the place is confirmed by the reason God rendereth of it, which followeth immediately, in that he addeth. For all the Earth is mine, as if he should say. All the Nations of the world are mine ; but it is not so that you are mine, but in a speciall manner : For they are all mine, by reason of my Power ; but you shall be mine, by your own Consent, and Covenant ; which is an addition to his ordinary title, to all nations. The same is again confirmed in expresse words in the same text, Yee shall be to me a Sacerdotall Kingdome, and an holy Nation. The Vulgar Latine hath it, Regnwn Sacer- dotale. Part'i. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. -^i. 323 dotale, to which agreeth the Translation of that place (i Pet. 2. 9.) Sactrdotium Regale, a Regal Priesthood ; as also the Institution it self, by which no man might enter into the Sancttmi Sanctorum, that is to say, no man might enquire Gods will immediately of God himselfe, but onely the High Priest. The English Translation before mentioned, follow- ing that of Geneva, has, a Kingdom of Priests ; which is 218 either meant of the succession of one High Priest after another, or else it accordeth not with St. Peter, nor with the exercise of the High priesthood ; For there was never any but the High priest onely, that was to informe the People of Gods Will; nor any Convocation of Priests ever allowed to enter into the Sanctum Sanctorum. Again, the title of a Holy Nation confirmes the same : For Holy signifies, that which is Gods by speciall, not by generall Right. All the Earth (as is said in the text) is Gods ; but all the Earth is not called Holy, but that onely which is set apart for his especiall service, as was the Nation of the Jews. It is therefore manifest enough by this one place, that by the Kingdome of God, is properly meant a Common-wealth, in- stituted (by the consent of those which were to be subject thereto) for their Civill Government, and the regulating of their behaviour, not onely towards God their King, but also towards one another in point of justice, and towards other Nations both in peace and warre; which properly was a King- dome, wherein God was King, and the High priest was to be (after the death of Moses) his sole Viceroy, or Lieutenant. But there be many other places that clearly prove the same. As first (i Sam 8. 7.) when the Elders of Israel (grieved with the corruption of the Sons of Samuel) demanded a King, Samuel displeased therewith, prayed unto the Lord ; and the Lord answering said unto him. Hearken unto the voice of the People, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reig?i over them. Out of which it is evident, that God himself was then their King ; and Samuel did not command the people, but only delivered to them that which God from time to time appointed him. Again, 324 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 35. Again, (i Sam. 12. 12.) where Samuel saith to the People, When yee saiv that Nahash King of the Children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay, but a King shall reign otter us, when the Lord your God was your King : It is manifest that God was their King, and governed the Civill State of their Common-wealth. And after the Israelites had rejected God, the Prophets did foretell his restitution; as {Isaiah 24. 23.) Then the Mootj shall be confounded, and the Sun ashatned, when the Lord of LLosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Lerusalem ; where he speaketh expressely of his Reign in Zion, and Jerusalem ; that is, on Earth. And {Micah 4. 7.) And the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion : This Mount Zion is in Jerusalem upon the Earth. And {Ezek. 20. 33.) As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and a stretched out arme, and with fury powred out, I wil rule over you : and (verse 37.) I will cause you to passe under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the Covenant; that is, I will reign over you, and make you to stand to that Covenant which you made with me by Moses, and brake in your re- belhon against me in the days of Samuel, and in your election of another King. And in the New Testament, the Angel Gabriel saith of our Saviour {Luke i. 32, 33.) He shall be great, and be called the Son of the most High, and the Lord shall give him the throne of his Father David ) and he shall reign over the house 219 of ]acob for ever; and of his Kitigdome there shall be no end. This is also a Kingdome upon Earth ; for the claim whereof, as an enemy to Caesar, he was put to death ; the title of his crosse, was, lesus of Nazareth, King of the Lews ; hee was crowned in scorn with a crown of Thornes ; and for the pro- claiming of him, it is said of the Disciples {Acts 17. 7.) That they did all of them contrary to the decrees of Ccesar, saying there was another King, one Lesus. The Kingdome therefore of God, is a reall, not a metaphoricall Kingdome ; and so taken, not onely in the Old Testament, but the New ; when we say, For thine is the Kingdome, the Power, and Gloiy, it is Party COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. zS- 325 is to be understood of Gods Kingdome, by force of our Covenant, not by the Right of Gods Power ; for such a King- dome God ahvaies hath ; so that it were superfluous to say in our prayer, Thy Kingdome come, unlesse it be meant of the Restauration of that Kingdome of God by Christ, which by revolt of the IsraeUtes had been interrupted in the election of Saul. Nor had it been proper to say, The Kingdome of Heaven is at hand; or to pray. Thy Kingdome come, if it had still contiriued. There be so many other places that confirm this interpre- tation, that it were a wonder there is no greater notice taken of it, but that it gives too much light to Christian Kings to see their right of Ecclesiasticall Government. This they have observed, that in stead of a Sacerdotall Kingdome, trans- late, a Kingdome of Priests : for they may as well translate a Royall Priesthood, (as it is in St. Peter) into a Priesthood of Kings. And whereas, for ?^ peculiar people, they put a pre- tious jewel, or treasure, a man might as well call the speciall Regiment, or Company of a Generall, the Generalls pretious Jewel, or his Treasure. In short, the Kingdome of God is a Civill Kingdome ; which consisted, first in the obligation of the people of Israel to those Laws, which Moses should bring unto them from Mount Sinai ; and which afterwards the High Priest for the time being, should deliver to them from before the Cherubins in the Sanctu7n Sanctorum ; and which Kingdome having been cast off, in the election of Saul, the Prophets foretold, should be restored by Christ ; and the Restauration whereof we daily pray for, when we say in the Lords Prayer, Thy Kingdome come; and the Right whereof we acknowledge, when we adde. For thine is the Kingdome, the Power, and Glory, for ever and ever, Amen ; and the Proclaiming whereof, •was the Preaching of the Apostles ; and to which men are prepared, by the Teachers of the Gospel ; to embrace which Gospel, (that is to say, to promise obedience to Gods govern- ment) is, to bee in the Kingdome of Grace, because God hath gratis given to such the power to bee the Subjects (that is, Children) 326 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 35. Children) of God hereafter, when Christ shall come in Majesty to judge the world, and actually to govern his owne people, which is called the Kingdome of Glory. If the King- dome of God (called also the Kingdome of Heaven, from the gloriousnesse, and admirable height of that throne) were not a Kingdome which God by his Lieutenants, or Vicars, who deliver his Commandements to the people, did exercise 220 on Earth ; there would not have been so much contention, and warre, about who it is, by whom God speaketh to us ; neither would many Priests have troubled themselves with Spirituall Jurisdiction, nor any King have denied it them. Holy what. Qut of this literall interpretation of the Kingdome of God, ariseth also the true interpretation of the word Holy. For it is a word, which in Gods Kingdome answereth to that, which men in their Kingdomes use to call Vublique, or the Kings. The King of any Countrey is the Yubliqiie Person, or Representative of all his own Subjects. And God the King of Israel was the Holy one of Israel. The Nation which is subject to one earthly Soveraign, is the Nation of that Soveraign, that is, of the Publique Person. So the Jews, who were Gods Nation, were called (Exod. 19. 6.) a Holy Nation. For by Holy, is alwaies understood, either God himselfe, or that which is Gods in propriety; as by Publique, is alwaies meant, either the Person of the Common-wealth it self, or something that is so the Common-wealths, as no private person can claim any propriety therein. Therefore the Sabbath (Gods day) is a Holy day; the Temple, (Gods house) a Holy house ; Sacrifices, Tithes, and Offerings (Gods tribute) Holy duties ; Priests, Prophets, and anointed Kings, under Christ (Gods Ministers) Holy men ; the Coelestiall ministring Spirits (Gods Messengers) Holy Angels ; and the like : and wheresoever the word Holy is taken properly, there is still something signified of Propriety, gotten by consent. In saying Hallowed be thy name, we do but pray to God for grace to keep the first Commandement, of having no other Gods but him. Mankind is Gods Nation Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^t,. 327 in propriety : but the Jews only were a Holy Nation. Why, but because they became his Propriety by covenant ? And the word Vrofane, is usually taken in the Scripture for the same with Common; and consequently their contraries, Holy, and Proper, in the Kingdome of God must be the same also. But figuratively, those men also are called Holy, that led such godly lives, as if they had forsaken all worldly designs, and wholly devoted, and given themselves to God. In the proper sense, that which is made Holy by Gods appropriating or separating it to his own use, is said to be sanctified by God, as the Seventh day in the fourth Com- mandement ; and as the Elect in the New Testament were said to bee sanctified, when they were endued with the Spirit of godlinesse. And that which is made Holy by the dedi- Sacred f. , . what. cation of men, and given to God, so as to be used onely in his publique service, is called also S acred, and said to be consecrated, as Temples, and other Houses of Publique Prayer, and their Utensils, Priests, and Ministers, Victimes, Offerings, and the externall matter of Sacraments. Of Holinesse there be degrees : for of those things that are Degrees of Sanctity. set apart for the service of God, there may bee some set apart again, for a neerer and more especiall service. The whole Nation of the Israelites were a people Holy to God ; 221 yet the tribe of Levi was amongst the Israehtes a Holy tribe; and amongst the Levites, the Priests were yet more Holy ; and amongst the Priests, the High Priest was the most Holy. So the Land of Judea was the Holy Land ; but the Holy City wherein God was to be worshipped, was more Holy ; and again, the Temple more Holy than the City ; and the Sanctum Sanctorum more Holy than the rest of the Temple. ASacrament, is a separation of some visible thing Sacrament. ^ from common use ; and a consecration of it to Gods service, for a sign, either of our admission into the Kingdome of God, to be of the number of his peculiar people, or for a Commemoration of the same. In the Old Testament, the sign of Admission was Circumcision ; in the New Testament, Baptistne. The Commemoration of it in the Old Testament, was 328 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 36. was the Eating (at a certaine time, which was Anniversary) of the Paschall Lamb ; by which they were put in mind of the night wherein they were delivered out of their bondage in Egypt ; and in the New Testament, the celebrating of the Lords Supper ; by which, we are put in mind, of our deliver- ance from the bondage of sin, by our Blessed Saviours death upon the crosse. The Sacraments of Admission, are but once to be used, because there needs but one Admission ; but because we have need of being often put in mind of our deliverance, and of our Alleagance, the Sacraments of Commemoration have need to be reiterated. And these are the principall Sacraments, and as it were the solemne oathes we make of our AUeageance. There be also other Conse- crations, that may be called Sacraments, as the word im- plyeth onely Consecration to Gods service ; but as it implies an oath, or promise of AUeageance to God, there were no other in the Old Testament, but Ciirumdsion, and the Fasseover ; nor are there any other in the New Testament, but Baptisme, and the 'Lords Supper. CHAP. XXXVI. Of the Word of God, and of Prophets. Word what. The words spoken by God, and W Hen there is mention of the Word of God, or of 222 Ma«, it doth not signifie a part of Speech, such as Grammarians call a Nown, or a Verb, or any simple voice, without a contexture with other words to make it significa- tive ; but a perfect Speech or Discourse, whereby the speaker affirnieth, denieth, commandeth, pi-omiseth, threatneth, wisheth, or interrogatefh. In which sense it is not Vocabulum, that signifies a Word ; but Sermo, (in Greek Xoyos) that is, some Speech, Discourse, or Saying. Again, if we say the Word of God, or of Man, it may bee understood sometimes of the Speaker, (as the words that God Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^6. 329 God hath spoken, or that a Man hath spoken : In which concerning , . ^ God, both sense, when we say, the Gospel of St. Matthew, we under- arc called stand St. Matthew to be the Writer of it : and sometimes of 'tn^crip-'^ the Subject : In which sense, when we read in the Bible The words of the days of the Kings of Israel, or ludah, 'tis meant, that the acts that were done in those days, were the Subject of those Words ; And in the Greek, which (in the Scripture) retaineth many Hebraismes, by the Word of God is oftentimes meant, not that which is spoken by God, but concerning God, and his government ; that is to say, the Doctrine of Religion : Insomuch, as it is all one, to say \oyoc, 0£oC, and Theologia ; which is, that Doctrine which wee usually call Divinity, as is manifest by the places following \_Acts 13. 46.] Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said. It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing you put it from you, and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life, loe, we turn to the Gentiles. That which is here called the Word of God, was the Doctrine of Christian Religion ; as it appears evidently by that which goes before. And \Acts 5. 20.] where it is said to the Apostles by an Angel, Go stand and speak in the Temple, all the Words of this life; by the Words of this life, is meant, the Doctrine of the Gospel ; as is evident by what they did in the Temple, and is expressed in the last verse of the same Chap. Daily in the Temple, and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Christ lesus : In which place it is manifest, that Jesus Christ was the subject of this Word of life; or (which is all one) the subject of the Words of this life eternall, that our Saviour offered them. So \_Acts 15. 7.] the Word of God, is called the Word of the Gospel, because it containeth the Doctrine of the Kingdome of Christ ; and the same Word \Rom. 10. 8, 9.] is called the Word of Faith ; that is, as is there expressed, the Doctrine of Christ come, 223 and raised from the dead. Also {Mat. 13. 19.J When any oneheareth the Word of the Kingdome ; that is, the Doctrine of the Kingdome taught by Christ. Again, the same Word, is said {Acts 12. 24.] to grow and to be multiplyed; which to understand ture. 330 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 'id. I Tim. 4. 1. The Word of God Tneiaphori- cally used, Urst, for the Decrees and Power of God. Secondly, for the effect of his Word. understand of the Evangelicall Doctrine is easie, but of the Voice, or Speech of God, hard and strange. In the same sense the Doctrine of Devils, signifieth not the Words of any Devill, but the Doctrine of Heathen men concerning Dmmons, and those Phantasms which they worshipped as Gods. Considering these two significations of the Word of God, as it is taken in Scripture, it is manifest in this later sense (where it is taken for the Doctrine of Christian Reb'gion,) that the whole Scripture is the Word of God : but in the former sense not so. For example, though these words, I am the Lord thy God, &=€. to the end of the Ten Commande- ments, were spoken by God to Moses ; yet the Preface, God spake these words and said, is to be understood for the Words of him that wrote the holy History. The Word of God, as it is taken for that which he hath spoken, is understood sometimes Properly, sometimes Metaphorically. Properly, as the words, he hath spoken to his Prophets : M.etaphorically , for his Wisdome, Power, and eternall Decree, in making the world ; in which sense, those Fiats, Let their be light. Let there be a firmament. Let us make 7iian, 6^ir. \^Gen. i.] are the Word of God. And in the same sense it is said [Lohn 1.3] All things were made by it, and without it was nothing made that was made : And \Heb. 1.3.] He upholdeth all things by the Word of his Power ; that is, by the Power of his Word ; that is, by his Power : and \Heb. 11. 3. The worlds were framed by the Word of God; and many other places to the same sense : As also amongst the Latines, the name of Fate, which signifieth properly The Word spoken, is taken in the same sense. Secondly, for the effect of his Word ; that is to say, for the thing it self, which by his Word is Affirmed, Commanded, Threatned, or Promised; as [Psalm 105. 19.] where Joseph is said to have been kept in prison, //// his Word was come ; that is, till that was come to passe which he had \Gen. 40. 13.] foretold to Pharaohs Butler, concerning his being restored to his office : for there by his word was come, is meant, the thing Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. -^b. thing it self was come to passe. So also [i King. i8. 36.J Elijah saith to God, I have done all these thy Words, instead of / have done all these things at thy Word, or commande- ment: and \Ier. 17. 15. J Where is the Word of the Lord, is put for, Where is the Evill he th'reatned : And \Ezek. 12. 28.] There shall none of my Words he prolonged any more : by %vords are understood those things, which God promised to his people. And in the New Testament {^Mat. 24. 35.] heaven and earth shal pass away, but my Words shall not pass away ; that is, there is nothing that I have promised or foretold, that shall not come to passe. And in this sense it is, that St. John the Evangelist, and, I think, St. John onely calleth our Saviour himself as in the flesh the Word of God [as loh. I. 14.] the Word was made Flesh ; that is to say, the Word, or Promise that Christ should come into the world ; who in the beginning was with God ; that is to say, it was in 224 the purpose of God the Father, to send God the Son into the world, to enlighten men in the way of Eternall life ; but it was not till then put in execution, and actually incarnate ; So that our Saviour is there called the Word, not because he was the promise, but the thing promised. They that taking occasion from this place, doe commonly call him the Verbe of God, do but render the text more obscure. They might as well term him the Nown of God : for as by Nown, so also by Vei-be, men understand nothing but a part of speech, a voice, a sound, that neither affirms, nor denies, nor com- mands, nor promiseth, nor is any substance corporeall, or spirituall ; and therefore it cannot be said to bee either God, or Man ; whereas our Saviour is both. And this Word which St. lohn in his Gospel saith was with God, is [in his I Epistle, verse i.J called the Word of life; and [verse 2. J the Eternall life, which was with the Father : so that he can be in no other sense called the Word, then in that, wherein he is called Eternall life ; that is, he that hath procured us Eternall life, by his comming in the flesh. So also {Apocalypse 19. 13.] the Apostle speaking of Christ, clothed in a garment dipt in bloud, saith ; his name is the Word of God; which is to 331 332 Part 3. COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 36. Ads X. 4. Luke 24,49. Thirdly^ for the •words of reason and equity. Divers acceptions of the word Prophet. to be understood, as if he had said his name had been, He that was come according to the purpose of God from the begin- ning, and according to his Word and promises delivered by the Vrophets. So that there is nothing here of the Incarnation of a Word, but of the Incarnation of God the Son, therefore csXltAthe VFord,heca.\ise his Incarnation was the Performance of the Promise ; In hke manner as the Holy Ghost is called the Yromise. There are also places of the Scripture, where, by the Word of God, is signified such Words as are consonant to reason, and equity, though spoken sometimes neither by Prophet, nor by a holy man. For Pharaoh Necho was an Idolater ; yet his Words to the good King Josiah, in which he advised him by Messengers, not to oppose him in his march against Carchemish, are said to have proceeded from the mouth of God ; and that Josiah not hearkning to them, was slain in the battle; as is to be read 2 Chron. 35. vers. 21, 22, 23. It is true, that as the same History is related in the first Book of Esdras, not Pharaoh, but Jeremiah spake these words to Josiah, from the mouth of the Lord. But wee are to give credit to the Canonicall Scripture, what- soever be written in the Apocrypha. The Word of God, is then also to be taken for the Dictates of reason, and equity, wlien the same is said in the Scriptures to bee written in mans heart ; as Fsalm 36. 31. lerem. 31. 33. Deut. 30. II, 14, and many other like places. The name of Prophet, signifieth in Scripture some- times Yrolocutor ; that is, he that speaketh from God to Man, or from man to God : And sometimes Vrcedictor, or a fore- teller of things to come : And sometimes one that speaketh incoherently, as men that are distracted. It is most fre- quently used in the sense of speaking from God to the People. So Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Isaiah, leremiah, and others were Prophets. And in this sense the High Priest was a Yrophet, for he only went into the Sanctum Sanctorum, to enquire of God ; and was to declare his answer to the people. And therefore when Caiphas said, it was expedient that 225 Party COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2,(>. 333 that one man should die for the people, St. John saith [chap. II. 51.] that He spake not this of himselfe, but being High Vriest that year, he prophesied that one man should dye for the nation. Also they that in Christian Congregations taught the people [i Cor. 14. 3] are said to Prophecy. In the like sense it is, that God saith to M.oses [Exod. 4. 16.] concerning Aaron, He shall be thy Spokes-man to the People; and he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shall be to him instead of God : that which here is Spokes-man, is [chap. 7. i.] interpreted Prophet ; See (saith God) / have made thee a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy Brother shall be thy Prophet. In the sense of speaking from man to God, Abraham is called a Prophet \jGenes. 20. 7.] where God in a Dream speaketh to Abimelech in this manner, Now therefore restore the man his wife, for he is a Prophet, and shall pray for thee ; whereby may be also gathered, that the name of Prophet may be given, not un- properly to them that in Christian Churches, have a Calling to say publique prayers for the Congregation. In the same sense, the Prophets that came down from the High place (or Hill of God) with a Psaltery, and a Tabret, and a Pipe, and a Harp [i Sam. 10. 5, 6. and [vers. 10.] Saul amongst them, are said to Prophecy, in that they praised God, in that manner publiquely. In the like sense, is Miriam \_Exod. 15. 20.] called a Prophetesse. So is it also to be taken [i Cor. II. 4, 5.] where St. Paul saith. Every man that prayeth or prophecy eth with his head covered, 6-»f. and every woman that prayeth or prophecyeth with her head uncovered : For Prophecy in that place, signifieth no more, but praising God in Psalmes, and Holy Songs ; which women might doe in the Church, though it were not lawfull for them to speak to the Congregation. And in this signification it is, that the Poets of the Heathen, that composed Hymnes and other sorts of Poems in the honor of their Gods, were called Vates (Prophets) as is well enough known by all that are versed in the books of the Gentiles, and as is evident \^Tit. i. 12.] where St. Paul saith of the Cretians, that a Prophet of their owne said, they were Liars; not that St. Paul held their Poets 334 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 36. PffBdiction of future contin- gents, not alwaies Prophecy. The manner how God Poets for Prophets, but acknowledgeth that the word Prophet was commonly used to signifie them that celebrated the honour of God in Verse. When by Prophecy is meant Praediction, or foretelling of future Contigents ; not only they were Prophets, who were Gods Spokesmen, and foretold those things to others, which God had foretold to them ; but also all those Impostors, that pretend by the helpe of familiar spirits, or by superstitious divination of events past, from false causes, to foretell the like events in time to come : of which (as I have declared already in the 12. chapter of this Discourse) there be many kinds, who gain in the opinion of the common sort of men, a greater reputation of Prophecy, by one casuall event that may bee but wrested to their purpose, than can be lost again by never so many failings. Prophecy is not an Art, nor (when it is taken for Prediction) a constant Vocation ; but an extraordinary, and temporary Employment from God, most often of Good men, but sometimes also of the Wicked. The woman of Endor, who is said to have had a familiar spirit, and thereby to have raised a Phantasme of Samuel, and foretold Saul his death, was not therefore a Prophetesse ; for neither had she any science, whereby she could raise such a Phantasme ; nor does it appear that God commanded the raising of it ; but onely guided that Imposture to be a means of Sauls terror and discouragement ; and by consequent, of the discomfiture, by which he fell. And for Incoherent Speech, it was amongst the Gentiles taken for one sort of Prophecy, because the Prophets of their Oracles, intoxicated with a spirit, or vapor from the cave of the Pythian Oracle at Delphi, were for the time really mad, and spake like mad- men ; of whose loose words a sense might be made to fit any event, in such sort, as all bodies are said to be made of Materia prima. In the Scripture I find it also so taken [i Sam. 18. lo.J in these words. And the Evill spirit came upon Saul, and he Yrophecyed in the midst of the house. And although there be so many significations in Scripture of the word Prophet; yet is that the most frequent, in which it 226 335 Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^6. It is taken for him, to whom God speaketh immediately, hath spoken that which the Prophet is to say from him, to some other Prophets. man, or to the people. And hereupon a question may be asked, in what manner God speaketh to such a Prophet. Can it (may some say) be properly said, that God hath voice and language, when it cannot be properly said, he hath a tongue, or other organs, as a man? The Prophet' David argueth thus. Shall he that tnade the eye, not see ? or he that made the ear, not hear ? But this may be spoken, not (as usually) to signifie Gods nature, but to signifie our in- tention to honor him. For to see, and hear, are Honorable Attributes, and may be given to God, to declare (as far as our capacity can conceive) his Almighty power. But if it were to be taken in the strict, and proper sense, one might argue from his making of all other parts of mans body, that he had also the same use of them which we have ; which would be many of them so uncomely, as it would be the greatest contumely in the world to ascribe them to him. Therefore we are to interpret Gods speaking to men imme- diately, for that way (whatsoever it be), by which God makes them understand his will : And the wayes whereby he doth this, are many ; and to be sought onely in the Holy Scripture : where though many times it be said, that God spake to this, and that person, without declaring in what manner ; yet there be again many places, that deliver also the signes by which they were to acknowledge his presence, and commandement; and by these may be understood, how he spake to many of the rest. In what manner God spake to Adam, and Eve, and Cain, To the Exiraordi- and Noah, is not expressed ; nor how he spake to Abraham, nary Pro- till such time as he came out of his own countrey to Sichem oidTesta- inthe land of Canaan; and then \Gen. 12. 7.] God is said to ^p"lJ'L have appeared to him. So there is one way, whereby God Dr_"^ms, or made his presence manifest; that is, by an Apparition, or Vision. And again, \Gen. 15. i.] The Word of the Lord came to Abraham in a Vision ; that is to say, somewhat, as a sign of Gods presence, appeared as Gods Messenger, to speak 336 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 36. speak to him. Again, the Lord appeared to Abraham \Gen. Ill 18. I.] by an apparition of three Angels; and to Abimelech \Gen. 20. 3.] in a dream : To Lot \Gen.i().\.\ by an appa- rition of two Angels : And to Hagar \Ge7i. 21. 17.] by the apparition of one Angel : And to Abraham again \Gen. 22. II.] by the apparition of a voice from heaven : And \_Gen. 26.24.] to Isaac in the night; (that is, in his sleep, or by dream): And to Jacob \Gen. 18. 12.] in a dream; that is to say (as are the words of the text) Jacob dreamed that he saw a ladder, i^c. And \_Gen. 32. i.] in a Vision of Angels: And to Moses \Exod. 3. 2.] in the apparition of a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush : And after the time of Moses, (where the manner how God spake immediately to man in the Old Testament, is expressed) hee spake alwaies by a Vision, or by a Dream ; as to Gideon, Samicel, Eliah, Elisha, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the rest of the Prophets : and often in the New Testament, as to Joseph, to St. Peter, to St. Paul, and to St. John the Evangelist in the Apocalypse. Onely to Moses hee spake in a more extraordinary manner in Mount Sinai, and in the Tabernacle ; and to the High Priest in the Tabernacle, and in the Saiutimi Sanctorum of the Temple. But Moses, and after him the High Priests were Prophets of a more eminent place, and degree in Gods favour ; And God himself in express words declareth, that to other Prophets hee spake in Dreams and Visions, but to his servant Moses, in such manner as a man speaketh to his friend. The words are these \Numb. 12. 6, 7, 8.] Jf there be a Prophet among you, J the Lord will make my self known to him in a Vision, and will speak unto him in a Dream. y[y servant yioses is not so, who is faithfull in all my house ; with him J will speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, not in dark speeches ; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. And \_Exod. 33. 11.] The Lord spake to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend. And yet this speaking of God to Moses, was by mediation of an Angel, or Angels, as appears expressely, Acts 7. ver. 35. and 53. and Gal. 3. 19. and was therefore a Vision, though a more cleer Vision than Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. -i^,. 337 was given to other Prophets. And conformable hereunto, where God saith {Deut. 13. i.) If there arise amongst yott a Prophet, or Dreamer of Dreams, the later word is but the interpretation of the former. And \Ioel 2. 28.] Your sons and your daughters shall Yrophecy ; your old men shall dream Dreams, and your young men shall see Visions : where again, the word Prophecy is expounded by Dream, and Vision. And in the same manner it was, that God spake to Solomon, promising him Wisdome, Riches, and Honor ; for the text saith, [i Kings 3. 15. J And Solomon awoak, and behold it was a Dream : So that generally the Prophets extraordinary in the Old Testament took notice of the Word of God no otherwise, than from their Dreams, or Visions ; that is to say, from the imaginations which they had in their sleep, or in an Extasie : which imaginations in every true Prophet were supernaturall ; but in false Prophets were either natural!, or feigned. The same Prophets were neverthelesse said to speak by 228 the Spirit ; as \Zach. 7. 12.] where the Prophet speaking of the Jewes, saith. They made their hearts hard as Ada7nant, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of Hosts hath sent in his Spirit by the former Vrophets. By which it is manifest, that speaking by the Spirit, or Inspira- tion, was not a particular manner of Gods speaking, different from Vision, when they that were said to speak by the Spirit, were extraordinary Prophets, such as for every new message, were to have a particular Commission, or (which is all one,) a new Dream, or Vision. Of Prophets, that were so by a perpetuall Calling in the Old Testament, some were supreme, and some subordinate : '^0 P™- ^ . phets of Supreme were first Moses ; and after him the High Priests, perpetuall every one for his time, as long as the Priesthood was Royall ; and Su- and after the people of the Jews, had rejected God, that he fJ^r/'iK °tiie should no more reign over them, those Kings which sub- ^imnrom mitted themselves to Gods government, were also his chief the Mercy , , , Seat, iji a Prophets; and the High Priests office became Mimsteriall. manner not And when God was to be consulted, they put on the holy TntlT Z vestments, Scripture. 338 Partz- OF A CHRISTIAN _ Chap. i^. vestments, and enquired of the Lord, as the King commanded them, and were deprived of their office, when the King thought fit. For King Saul [i Sam. 13. 9.] commanded the burnt offering to be brought, and [i Sam. 14. 18.] he commands the Priest to bring the Ark neer him ; and [ver. 19.] again to let it alone, because he saw an advantage upon his enemies. And in the same chapter Saul asketh counsell of God. In hke manner King David, after his being anointed, though before he had possession of the Kingdome, is said to enquire of the Lord [i Sam. 23. 2.] whether he should fight against the Philistines at Keilah ; and [verse 10] David commandeth the Priest to bring him the Ephod, to enquire whether he should stay in Keilah, or not. And King Solo- mon [i Kings 2. 27. J took the Priesthood from Abiathar, and gave it [verse 35.] to Zadoc. Therefore Moses, and the High Priests, and the pious Kings, who enquired of God on all extraordinary occasions, how they were to carry themselves, or what event they were to have, were all Soveraign Prophets. But in what manner God spake unto them, is not manifest. To say that when Moses went up to God in Mount Sinai, it was a Dream, or Vision, such as other Prophets had, is contrary to that distinction which God made between Moses, and other Prophets, Numb. 12. 6, 7, 8. To say God spake or appeared as he is in his own nature, is to deny his Infi- nitenesse. Invisibility, Incomprehensibility. To say he spake by Inspiration, or Infusion of the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit signifieth the Deity, is to make Moses equall with Christ, in whom onely the Godhead [as St. Paul speaketh Col. 2. 9.] dwelleth bodily. And lastly, to say he spake by the Holy Spirit, as it signifieth the graces, or gifts of the Holy Spirit, is to attribute nothing to him supernaturall. For God disposeth men to Piety, Justice, Mercy, Truth, Faith, and all manner of Vertue, both Morall, and Intellec- tual!, by doctrine, example, and by severall occasions, natural!, and ordinary. And as these ways cannot be applyed to God, in his speaking to Moses, at Mount Sinai ; so also, they cannot be applyed 229 Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chafi. 16. 339 applyed to him, in his speaking to the High Priests, from the Mercy-Seat. Therefore in what manner God spake to those Soveraign Prophets of the Old Testament, whose ofSce it was to enquire of him, is not intelUgible. In the time of the New Testament, there was no Sovefaign Prophet, but our Saviour ; who was both God that spake, and the Prophet to whom he spake. To subordinate Prophets of perpetuall Calhng, I find not To Pro- any place that proveth God spake to them supernaturally ; ferpJuall but onely in such manner, as naturally he incli'neth men to i"J['"fjj.. Piety, to Beleef, to Righteousnesse, and to other vertues all '^'"f^; Co^ ° ' spaee by the Other Christian men. Which way, though it consist in Con- ^t'^it. stitution. Instruction, Education, and the occasions and invitements men have to Christian vertues ; yet it is truly attributed to the operation of the Spirit of God, or Holy Spirit, (which we in our language call the Holy Ghost ) : For there is no good inclination, that is not of the operation of God. But these operations are not alwaies supernaturall. When therefore a Prophet is said to speak in the Spirit, or by the Spirit of God, we are to understand no more, but that he speaks according to Gods will, declared by the supreme Prophet. For the most common acceptation of the word Spirit, is in the signification of a mans intention, mind, or disposition. In the time of Moses, there were seventy men besides himself, that Prophecyed in the Campe of the Israelites. In what manner God spake to them, is declared in the 11 of Numbers, verse 25. The Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto Moses, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and gave it to the seventy Elders. And it caine to passe, when the Spirit rested upon them, t/iey Prophecyed, and did not cease. By which it is manifest, first, that their Prophecying to the people, was subservient, and subordinate to the Prophecying of Moses ; for that God took of the Spirit of Moses, to put upon them ; so that they Prophecyed as Moses would have them : otherwise they had not been suffered to Prophecy at all. For there was [verse 27.J a complaint made against them 340 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 36. them to Moses ; and Joshua would have Moses to have for- bidden them ; which he did not, but said to Joshua, Bee not jealous in my behalf. Secondly, that the Spirit of God in that place, signifieth nothing but the Mind and Disposition to obey, and assist Moses in the administration of the Gov- ernment. For if it were meant they had the substantiall Spirit of God ; that is, the Divine nature, inspired into them, then they had it in no lesse manner then Christ himself, in whom onely the Spirit of God dwelt bodily. It is meant therefore of the Gift and Grace of God, that guided them to co-operate with Moses ; from whom their Spirit was de- rived. And it appeareth [verse 16.] that, they were such as Moses himself should appoint for Elders and Officers of the People : For the words are. Gather unto me seventy men, whom thou knowest to he Elders and Officers of t)ie people : where, thou knowest, is the same with thou appointest, or hast appointed to be such. For we are told before \Exod. 18.] that Moses following the counsell of Jethro his Father-in- law, did appoint Judges, and Ofificers over the people, such as feared God ; and of these, were those Seventy, whom 230 God by putting upon them Moses spirit, inclined to aid Moses in the Administration of the Kingdome : and in this sense the Spirit of God is said [i Sai7i. 16. 13, 14.] presently upon the anointing of David, to have come upon David, and left Saul ; God giving his graces to him he chose to govern his people, and taking them away from him, he re- jected. So that by the Spirit is meant Inclination to Gods service ; and not any supernaturall Revelation. God some- God spake also many times by the event of Lots ; which times spake by Lots. were ordered by such as he had put m Authority over his people. So wee read that God manifested by the Lots which Saul caused to be drawn [i Sam. 14. 43.] the fault that Jonathan had committed, in eating a honey-comb, con- trary to the oath taken by the people. And \Iosh. 18. lo.J God divided the land of Canaan amongst the Israelite, by the lots that Joshua did cast before the Lord in Shiloh. In the same manner it seemeth to be, that God discovered \Ioshua Part^. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. z^. 341 \Ioshua 7. 16, 6-. shewn out of Deut. 13. i. &-c. And in the New Testament there was but one onely mark; and that was the preaching of this Doctrine, That lesus is the Christ, that is, the King of the Jews, promised in the Old Testament. Whosoever denyed that Article, he was a false Prophet, whatsoever miracles he might seem to work ; and he that taught it was a true Prophet. For St. lohn [i Epist. 4. 2, &c.J speaking expressely of the means to examine Spirits, whether they be of God, or not; after he had told them that there would arise false Prophets, faith thus, Hereby know ye the Spirit of God. Every Spirit that confesseth that lesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God; that is, is approved and allowed as a Prophet of God : not that he is a godly man, or one of the Elect, for this, that he confesseth, professeth, or preacheth Jesus to be the Christ ; but for that he is a Prophet avowed. For God sometimes speaketh by Prophets, whose persons he hath not accepted ; as he did by Baalam ; and as he foretold Saul of his death, by the Witch of Endor. Again in the next verse, Every Spirit that confesseth not that lesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of Christ. And this is the Spirit of Antichrist. So that the Rule is perfect on both sides ; that 232 he is a true Prophet, which preacheth the Messiah already come, in the person of Jesus ; and he a false one that denyeth him come, and looketh for him in some future Impostor, that shall take upon him that honour falsely, whom the Apostle there properly calleth Antichrist. Every man therefore ought to consider who is the Soveraign Prophet ; that is to say, who it is, that is Gods Vicegerent on Earth, and hath next under God, the Authority of Governing Christian men; and to observe for a Rule, that Doctrine, which in the name of God, hee hath commanded to bee taught; and thereby to examine and try out the truth of those Doctrines, which pretended Prophets with miracle, or without, shall at any time advance : and if they find it contrary to that Rule, to doe as they did, that came to Moses, and complained that there were some that Propecyed in the Campe, whose Authority so to doe they doubted of; and leave to the Soveraign, as they did to Moses to 343 344 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 37. to uphold, or to forbid them, as hee should see cause ; and if hee disavow them, then no more to obey their voice ; or if he approve them, then to obey them, as men to whom God hath given a part of the Spirit of their Soveraigne. For when Christian men, take not their Christian Soveraign, for Gods Prophet ; they must either take their owne Dreames, for the Prophecy they mean to bee governed by, and the tumour of their own hearts for the Spirit of God ; or they must suffer themselves to bee lead by some strange Prince ; or by some of their fellow subjects, that can bewitch them, by slaunder of the government, into rebellion, without other miracle to confirm their calling, then sometimes an extra- ordinary successe, and Impunity; and by this means destroy- ing all laws, both divine, and humane, reduce all Order, Government, and Society, to the first Chaos of Violence, and Civill warre. CHAP. XXXVII. Of Miracles, and their Vse. A Miracle is a work thatcauseth Admira- tion, And must therefore he rare, and whereof there is no naiurall cause known. BY Miracles are signified the Admirable works of God : 233 & therefore they are also called Wonders. And be- cause they are for the most part, done, for a signification of his commandement, in such occasions, as without them, men are apt to doubt, (following their private naturall reasoning,) what he hath commanded, and what not, they are commonly in Holy Scripture, called Signes, in the same sense, as they are called by the Latines, Ostenta, and Portenta, from shewing, and fore-signifying that, which the Almighty is about to bring to passe. To understand therefore what is a Miracle, we must first understand what works they are, which men wonder at, and call Admirable. And there be but two things which make men wonder at any event : The one is, if it be strange, that is to say, such, as the like of it hath never, or very rarely been Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.yj. 345 been produced : The other is, if when it is produced, we cannot imagine it to have been done by natural! means, but onely by the immediate hand of God. But when wee see some possible, naturall cause of it, how rarely soever the like has been done ; or if the like have been often done, how impossible soever it be to imagine a naturall means thereof, we no more wonder, nor esteem it for a Miracle. Therefore, if a Horse, or Cow should speak, it were a Miracle ; because both the thing is strange, & the naturall cause difficult to imagin : So also were it, to see a strange deviation of nature, in the production of some new shape of a living creature. But when a man, or other Animal, en- genders his like, though we know no more how this is done, than the other ; yet because 'tis usuall, it is no Miracle. In like manner, if a man be metamorphosed into a stone, or into a pillar, it is a Miracle ; because strange : but if a peece of wood be so changed ; because we see it often, it is no Mira- cle : and yet we know no more, by what operation of God, the one is brought to passe, than the other. The first Rainbow that was seen in the world, was a Mira- cle, because the first; and consequently strange ; and served for a sign from God, placed in heaven, to assure his people, there should be no more an universall destruction of the world by Water. But at this day, because they are frequent, they are not Miracles, neither to them that know their naturall causes, nor to them who know them not. Again, there be many rare works produced by the Art of man : yet when we know they are done ; because thereby wee know also the means how they are done, we count them not for 234 Miracles, because not wrought by the immediate hand of God, but of humane Industry. Furthermore, seeing Admiration and Wonder, is conse- That quent to the knowledge and experience, wherewith men are ^/^^'^^^ ^ endued, some more, some lesse ; it followeth, that the same ^f^'J^'" thing, may be a Miracle to one, and not to another. And m^y sent 01 J otherwise thence it is, that ignorant, and superstitious men make great to another. Wonders of those works, which other men, knowing to pro- ceed 346 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 37. ceed from Nature, (which is not the immediate, but the ordinary work of God,) admire not at all i As when Ecclipses of the Sun and Moon have been taken for supernaturall works, by the common people; when neverthelesse, there were others, could from their naturall causes, have foretold the very hour they should arrive : Or, as when a man, by confederacy, and secret intelligence, getting knowledge of the private actions of an ignorant, unwary man, and thereby tells him, what he has done in former time ; it seems to him a Miraculous thing ; but amongst wise, and cautelous men, such Miracles as those, cannot easily be done. The Endof Again, it belongeth to the nature of a Miracle, that it be Miracles. wrought for the procurmg of credit to Gods Messengers, Ministers, and Prophets, that thereby men may know, they are called, sent, and employed by God, and thereby be the better inclined to obey them. And therefore, though the creation of the world, and after that the destruction of all living creatures in the universall deluge, were admirable works; yet because ihey were not done to procure credit to any Prophet, or other Minister of God, they use not to be called Miracles. For how admirable soever any work be, the Admiration consisteth not in that it could be done, be- cause men naturally beleeve the Almighty can doe all things, but because he does it at the Prayer, or Word of a man. But the works of God in Egypt, by the hand of Moses, were properly Miracles; because they were done with intention to make the people of Israel beleeve, that Moses came unto them, not out of any design of his owne interest, but as sent from God. Therefore after God had commanded him to deliver the Israelites from the Egyptian bondage, when he said They will not beleeve me, but will say, the Lord hath not appea7-ed unto me, God gave him power, to turn the Rod he had in his hand into a Serpent, and again to return it into a Rod ; and by putting his hand into his bosome, to make it leprous ; and again by putting it out to make it whole, to make the Children of Israel beleeve (as it is verse 5.) that the God of their Fathers had appeared unto him : And if that were not Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. Z7- 347 not enough, he gave him power to turn their waters into bloud. And when hee had done these Miracles before the people, it is said ( verse 41.) that they beleeved him. Never- Exo. 4. 1, theless, for fear of Pharaoh, they durst not yet obey him. Therefore the other works which were done to plague Pharaoh, and the Egyptians, tended all to make the Israelites beleeve in Moses, and were properly Miracles. In like manner if we consider all the Miracles done by the hand of Moses, and all the rest of the Prophets, till the Captivity ; and those of our Saviour, and his Apostles afterward ; we shall find, their end was alwaies to beget or confirme, 235 beleefe, that they came not of their own motion, but were sent by God. Wee may further observe in Scripture, that the end of Miracles, was to beget beleef, not universally in all men, elect, and reprobate ; but in the elect only ; that is to say, in such as God had determined should become his Subjects. For those miraculous plagues of Egypt, had not for end, the conversion of Pharaoh ; For God had told Moses before, that 'he would harden the heart of Pharaoh, that he should not let the people goe : And when he let them goe at last, not the Miracles perswaded him, but the plagues forced him to it. So also of our Saviour, it is written, (M^/. 13. 58.) that he wrought not many Miracles in his own countrey, because of their unbeleef; and (in M.arkc 6.5.) in stead of, he wrought not many, it is, he could work none. It was not because he wanted power; which to say, were blasphemy against God ; nor |hat the end of Miracles was not to convert incredulous men to Christ ; for the end of all the Miracles of Moses, of the Prophets, of our Saviour, and of his Apostles was to adde men to the Church ; but it was, because the end of their Miracles, was to adde to the Church (not all men, but) such as should be saved ; that is to say, such as God had elected. Seeing therefore our Saviour was sent from his Father, hee could not use his power in the conversion of those, whom his Father had rejected. They that expounding this place of St. M.arke, say, that this word, Hee could not, is put for. He would not, do it without example in 348 Pari 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 37. The deji- nitioft of a Aflracle, in the Greek tongue, (where Would not, is put sometimes for Could not, in things inanimate, that have no will ; but Could not, for Would not, never, ) and thereby lay a stumbling block before weak Christians ; as if Christ could doe no Miracles, but amongst the credulous. From that which I have here set down, of the nature, and use of a Miracle, we may define it thus, A Miracle, is a work of God, (besides his operation by the way of Nature, or- dained in the Creation,) done for the making manifest to his elect, the mission of an extraordinary Minister for their salva- tion. And from this definition, we may inferre ; First, that in all Miracles, the work done, is not the effect of any vertue in the Prophet ; because it is the effect of the immediate hand of God ; that is to say, God hath done it, without using the Prophet therein, as a subordinate cause. Secondly, that no Devil, Angel, or other created Spirit, can do a Miracle. For it must either be by vertue of some naturall science, or by Incantation, that is, verttie of words. For if the Inchanters do it by their own power independent, there is some power that proceedeth not from God ; which all men deny : and if they doe it by power given them, then is the work not from the immediate hand of God, but natu- rall, and consequently no Miracle. There be some texts of Scripture, that seem to attribute the power of working wonders (equall to some of those im- mediate Miracles, wrought by God himself,) to certain Arts of Magick, and Incantation. As for example, when we read that after the Rod of Moses being cast on the ground became Exod. 7. 11. a Serpent, the Magicians of Egypt did the like by their En- chantments ; and that after Moses had turned the waters of the Egyptian Streams, Rivers, Ponds, and Pooles of water into blood, the Magiciaiis of Egypt did so likewise, with their Enchantments ; and that after Moses had by the power of God brought frogs upon the land, the Magicians also did so with their Enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt; will not a man be apt to attribute Miracles to En- chantments ; Exod,y.22. Exod. 8 7. 236 Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.y]. 349 chantments ; that is to say, to the efficacy of the sound of Words ; and think the same very well proved out of this, and other such places ? and yet there is no place of Scripture, that telleth us what an Enchantment is. If therefore, En- chantment be not, as many think it, a working of strange effects by spells, and words ; but Imposture, and delusion, wrought by ordinary means ; and so far from supernaturall, as the Impostors need not the study so much as of naturall causes, but the ordinary ignorance, stupidity, and superstition of mankind, to doe them ; those texts that seem to counte- nance the power of Magick, Witchcraft, and Enchantment, must needs have another sense, than at first sight they seem to bear. For it is evident enough, that Words have no effect, but '^'•■"t '""' are apt to on those that understand them ; and then they have no other, be deceived but to signifie the intentions, or passions of them that speak ; Miracles. and thereby produce, hope, fear, or other passions, or con- ceptions in the hearer. Therefore when a Rod seemeth a Serpent, or the Waters Bloud, or any other Miracle seemeth done by Enchantment; if it be not to the edification of Gods people, not the Rod, nor the Water, nor any other thing is enchanted ; that is to say, wrought upon by the Words, but the Spectator. So that all the Miracle consisteth in this, that the Enchanter has deceived a man ; which is no Miracle, but a very easie matter to doe. For such is the ignorance, and aptitude to error generally of all men, but especially of them that have not much know- ledge of naturall causes, and of the nature, and interests of men ; as by innumerable and easie tricks to be abused. What opinion of miraculous power, before it was known there was a Science of the course of the Stars, might a man have gained, that should have told the people. This hour, or day the Sun should be darkned? A Juggler by the handling of his goblets, and other trinkets, if it were not now ordi- narily practised, would be thought to do his wonders by the power at least of the Devil. A man that hath practised to speak by drawing in of his breath, (which kind of men in antient 350 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. yj. Ca-utions against the Iviposture of Miracles. antient time were called Ventriloqui,) and so make the weaknesse of his voice seem to proceed, not from the weak impulsion of the organs of Speech, but from distance of place, is able to make very many men beleeve it is a voice from Heaven, whatsoever he please to tell them. And for a crafty man, that hath enquired into the secrets, and familiar confessions that one man ordinarily maketh to another of his actions and adventures past, to tell them him again is no hard matter ; and yet there be many, that by such means as that, obtain the reputation of being Conjurers. But it is too long a businesse, to reckon up the severall sorts of those men, 237 which the Greeks called Thaumatiirgi, that is to say, workers of things wonderfuU ; and yet these do all they do, by their own single dexterity. But if we looke upon the Impostures wrought by Confederacy, there is nothing haw impossible soever to be done, that is impossible to bee beleeved. For two men conspiring, one to seem lame, the other to cure him with a charme, will deceive many ; but many conspiring, one to seem lame, another so to cure him, and all the rest to bear witnesse ; will deceive many more. In this aptitude of mankind, to give too hasty beleefe to pretended Miracles, there can be no better, nor I think any other caution, then that which God hath prescribed, first by Moses, (as I have said before in the precedent chapter,) in the beginning of the 13. and end of the 18. ol Deuteronomy; That wee take not any for Prophets, that teach any other Religion, then that which Gods Lieutenant, (which at that time was Moses,) hath established; nor any, (though he teach the same Religion,) whose Prediction we doe not see come to passe. Moses therefore in his time, and Aaron, and his successors in their times, and the Soveraign Governour of Gods people, next under God himself, that is to say, the Head of the Church in all times, are to be consulted, what doctrine he hath established, before wee give credit to a pretended Mirackj or Prophet. And when that is done, the thing they pretend to be a Miracle, we must both see it done, and use all means possible to consider, whether it be really Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 7,7. really done ; and not onely so, but whether it be such, as no man can do the like by his naturall power, but that it requires the immediate hand of God. And in this also we must have recourse to Gods Lieutenant ; to whom in all doubtfuU cases, wee have submitted our private judgments. For example ; if a man pretend, that after certain words spoken over a peece of bread, that presently God hath made it not bread, but a God, or a man, or both, and neverthelesse it looketh still as like bread as ever it did ; there is no reason for any man to think it really done ; nor consequently to fear him, till he enquire of God, by his Vicar, or Lieutenant, whether it be done, or not If he say not, then followeth that which Moses saith, [jDeut. 18. 22) he hath spoken it presumptuously , thou shalt not fear him. If he say 'tis done, then he is not to contradict it. So also if wee fee not, but onely hear tell of a Miracle, we are to consult the Lawful Church ; that is to say, the lawful Head thereof, how far we are to give credit 1-0 the relators of it. And this is chiefly the case of men, that in these days live under Christian Soveraigns. For in these times, I do not know one man, that ever saw any such wondrous work, done by the charm, or at the word, or prayer of a man, that a man endued but with a mediocrity of reason, would think supernaturall : and the question is no more, whether what wee see done, be a Miracle; whether the Miracle we hear, or read of, were a reall work, and not the Act of a tongue, or pen; but in plain terms, whether the report be true, or a lye. In which question we are not every one, to make our own private Reason, or Conscience, but the Pub- lique Reason, that is, the reason of Gods Supreme Lieutenant, Judge ; and indeed we have made him Judge already, if wee 238 have given him a Soveraign power, to doe all that is necessary for our peace and defence. A private man has alwaies the liberty, (because thought is free,) to beleeve, or not beleeve in his heart, those acts that have been given out for Miracles, according as he shall see, what benefit can accrew by mens belief, to those that pretend, or countenance them, and thereby conjecture, whether they be Miracles, or Lies. But when 351 352 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 38. when it comes to confession of that faith, the Private Reason must submit to the PubHque ; that is to say, to Gods Lieu- tenant. But who is this Lieutenant of God, and Head of the Church, shall be considered in its proper place hereafter. CHAP. XXXVIII. Of the Signification in Scripture o/Eternall Life, Hell, Salvation, The World TO COME, and Redemption. THe maintenance of Civill Society, depending on Justice; and Justice on the power of Life and Death, and other lesse 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 than the Soveraign, hath a power of giving greater rewards than Lifej; and of inflicting greater punishments, then Death. Now seeing Eternal! life is a greater reward, than the life present ; and Eternall torment a greater punishment than the death of Nature; It is a thing worthy to be well considered, of all men that desire (by obeying Authority) to avoid the cala- mities of Confusion, and Civill war, what is meant in holy Scripture, hy Life Eternall, and Torment Eternall; and for what offences, and against whom committed, men are to be Eternally tormejited ; and for what actions, they are to obtain Eternall life. The place And first we find, that Adam was created in such a con- of Adams Eternity if dition of life, as had he not broken the commandement of sinned, had God, he had enjoyed it in the Paradise of Eden Everlastingly. ^tlrres'triall -'^°'^ there was the Tree of life ; whereof he was so long allowed Paradise, jq g^t^ ^g ^g should forbear to eat of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evill ; which was not allowed him. And therefore as soon as he had eaten of it, God thrust him out of Gen. 3. 22, Paradise, lest he should put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and live for ei^er. By which it seemeth to me. Partz- COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. z^. 353 me, (with submission neverthelesse both in this, and in all questions, whereof the determination dependeth on the Scriptures, to the interpretation of the Bible authorized by the Common-wealth, whose Subject I am,) that Adam if he had not sinned, had had an Eternall Life on Earth : and that Mortality entred upon himself, and his posterity, by his first Sin. Not that actuall Death then entred ; for Adam then could never have had children ; whereas he lived long after, and saw a numerous posterity ere he dyed. But where it is said, In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die, it must needs bee meant of his Mortality, and certitude of death. Seeing then Eternall life was lost by Adams forfeiture, in committing sin, he that should cancell that forfeiture was to recover thereby, that Life 239 again. Now Jesus Christ hath satisfied for the sins of all that beleeve in him ; and therefore recovered to all beleevers, that Eternall Life, which was lost by the sin of Adam. And in this sense it is, that the comparison of St. Paul holdeth [Rom. 5. 18, 19.) As by the offence of one, Judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteous- nesse of one, the free gift came upon all men to lustification of Life. Which is again (i Cor. 15. 21, 22.)more perspicuously delivered in these words, For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be inade alive. Concernins; the place wherein men shall enjoy that Eter- Texts con- ° '- cernvigthe nail Life, which Christ hath obtained for them, the texts place of Life t'ter- next before alledged seem to make it on Earth. For if as naiijor in Adam, all die, that is, have forfeited Paradise, and Eter- nall Life on Earth, even so in Christ all shall bee made alive ; then all men shall be made to live on Earth ; for else the comparison were not proper. Hereunto seemeth to agree that of the Psalmist, {Psal. 133. 3.) Vpon Zion God commanded the blessing, even Life for evermore : for Zion, is in Jerusalem, upon Earth : as also that of S. Joh. {Rev. 2. 7.) To him that overcommeth I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the fnidst of the Paradise of God. This was the 2 A tree Beleevers. 354 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 38. tree of Adams Eternall life ; but his life was to have been on Earth. The same seemeth to be confirmed again by St. Joh. {Rev. 21. 2.) where he is.\t\\, I John saw the Holy City, New leriisalem, coming down from God out of keaveti, prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband: and again v. 10. to the same effect .• As if he should say, the new Jerusalem, the Paradise of God, at the coming again of Christ, should come down to Gods people from Heaven, and not they goe up to it from Earth. And this differs nothing from that, which the two men in white clothing (that is, the two Angels) said to the Apostles, that were looking upon Christ ascending {Ads I. II.) This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come, as you have seen him go up into Heaven. Which soundeth as if they had said, he should come down to govern them under his Father, Eternally here ; and not take them up to govern them in Heaven ; and is comform- able to the Restauration of the Kingdom of God, instituted under Moses ; which was a Political government of the Jews on Earth. Again, that saying of our Saviour {Mat. 22. 30.) that in the Resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the Angels of God in heaven, is a de- scription of an Eternall Life, resembling that which we lost in Adam in the point of Marriage. For seeing Adam, and Eve, if they had not sinned, had lived on Earth Eternally, in their individual] persons ; it is manifest, they should not continually have procreated their kind. For if Immortals should have generated, as Mankind doth now ; the Earth in a small time, would not have been able to afford them place to stand on. The Jews that asked our Saviour the question, whose wife the woman that had married many brothers, should be, in the resurrection, knew not what were the con- sequences of Life Eternall : and therefore our Saviour puts them in mind of this consequence of Immortality ; that there shal be no Generation, and consequently no marriage, no more then there is marriage, or generation among the Angels. The comparison between that Eternall life which Adam lost, and our Saviour by his Victory over death hath recovered ; Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^Z. 355 240 recovered ; holdeth also in this, that as Adam lost Eternall Life by his sin, and yet lived after it for a time ; so the faithful Christian hath recovered Eternal Life by Christs passion, though he die a natural death, and remaine dead for a time ; namely, till the Resurrection. For as Death is reckoned from the Condemnation of Adam, not from the Execution; so Life is reckoned from the Absolution, not from the Resurrection of them that are elected in Christ. That the place wherein men are to live Eternally, after Ascension the Resurrection, is the Heavens, meaning by Heaven, those heave?!. parts of the world, which are the most remote from Earth, as where the stars are, or above the stars, in another Higher Heaven, called Cwlum Empyreum, (whereof there is no mention in Scripture, nor ground in Reason) is not easily to be drawn from any text that I can find. By the Kingdome of Heaven, is meant the Kingdom of the King that dwelleth in Heaven ; and his Kingdome was the people of Israel, whom he ruled by the Prophets his Lieutenants, first Moses, and after him Eleazar, and the Soveraign Priests, till in the days of Samuel they rebelled, and would have a mortall man for their King, after the manner of other Nations. And when our Saviour Christ, by the preaching of his Ministers, shall have perswaded the Jews to return, and called the Gentiles to his obedience, then shall there be a new Kingdom of Heaven ; because our King shall then be God, whose throne is Heaven ; without any necessity evident in the Scripture, that man shall ascend to his happinesse any higher •[hdcci Q,qA% footstool the Earth. On the contrary, we find written {loh. 3. 13.) that no man hath ascended into Heaveii, but he that came down from Heaven, eve?i the Son of man, that is in Heaven. Where I observe by the way, that these words are not, as those which go immediately before, the words of our Saviour, but of St. John himself; for Christ was then not in Heaven, but upon the Earth. The like is said of David {Acts 2. 34.) where St, Peter, to prove the Ascension of Christ, using the words of the Psalmist, {Psal. 16. 10.) Thou wilt not leave my soule in Hell, nor suffer thine Holy one to 356 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 38. to see corruption, saith, they were spoken (not of David, but) of Christ; and to prove it, addeth this Reason, For David is not ascended iiito Heaven. But to this a man may easily answer, and say, that though their bodies were not to ascend till the generall day of Judgment, yet their souls were in Heaven as soon as they were departed from their bodies ; which also seemeth to be confirmed by the words of our Saviour {Luke 20. 37, 38.) who proving the Resurrection out ofthe words of Moses, saith thus. That the dead are raised, even Moses shewed, at the bush, when he calleth the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the Dead, but of the Living ; for they all live to him. But if these words be to be understood only of the Immortality of the Soul, they prove not at all that which our Saviour intended to prove, which was the Resurrection of the Body, that is to say, the Immortality of the Man. Therefore our Saviour meaneth, that those Patriarchs were Immortall ; not by a property consequent to the essence, and nature of mankind; but by the will of God, that was pleased of his mere grace, to bestow Eternall life upon the faithfull. And though at that time the Patriarchs and many 241 other faithfull men were dead, yet as it is in the text, they lived to God ; that is, they were written in the Book of Life with them that were absolved of their sinnes, and ordained to Life eternall at the Resurrection. That the Soul of roan is in its own nature Eternall, and a living Creature indepen- dent on the body ; or that any meer man is Immortall, otherwise than by the Resurrection in the last day, (except Enos and Elias,) is a doctrine not apparent in Scripture. The whole 14. Chapter of Lob, which is the speech not of his friends, but of himselfe, is a complaint of this Mortality of Nature ; and yet no contradiction of the Immortality at the Resurrection. There is hope of a tree (saith hee verse 7.) if it be cast down, Though the root thereof wax old, and the stock thereof die in the ground, yet when it senteth the water it will bud, and bring forth boughes like a Plant. But man dycth, and wasteth away, yea, man giveth up the Ghost, and where Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. i%. where is he? and (verse 12.) man lyeth down, and tiseth not, till the heavens be no more. But when is it, that the heavens shall be no more? St. Peter tells us, that it is at the generall Resurrection. For in his 2. Epistle, 3. Chapter, and 7 verse, he saith, that the Heavens and the Earth that are now, are reserved unto fire against the day of ludgment, and perdition of ungodly men, and (verse 12.) looking for, and hasting to the camming of God, wherein the Heavens shall be on fire, and shall be dissolved, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat. Neverthelesse, we according to the promise look for new Heavens, and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteous7iesse. Therefore where Job saith, man riseth not till the Heavens be no more ; it is all one, as if he had said, the Immortall Life (and Soule and Life in the Scripture, do usually signifie the same thing) beginneth not in man, till the Resurrection, and day of Judgement ; and hath for cause, not his specificall nature, and generation; but the Promise. For St. Peter sales not, Wee look for new heavens, and a new earth, {from Nature^ hut from Promise. Lastly, seeing it hath been already proved out of divers evident places of Scripture, in the 35. chapter of this book, that the Kingdom of God is a Civill Common-wealth, where God himself is Soveraign, by vertue first of the Old, and since of the New Covenant, wherein he reigneth by his Vicar, or Lieutenant ; the same places do therefore also prove, that after the comming again of our Saviour in his Majesty, and glory, to reign actually, and Eternally ; t he Kingdom of God is to be on EartL But because this doctrine (though proved out of places of Scripture not few, nor obscure) will appear to most men a novelty ; I doe but propound it ; maintaining nothing in this, or any other paradox of Religion ; but at- tending the end of that dispute of the sword, concerning the Authority, (not yet amongst my Countrey-men decided,) by which all sorts of doctrine are to bee approved, or rejected ; and whose commands, both in speech, and writing, (whatso- ever be the opinions of private men) must by all men, that mean to be protected by their Laws, he obeyed. For the points 357 358 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 38. The place after Judg- ment, of those who •were never in the Kingdome of God, or havingbeen in, are cast out. Tartarus. The con-, gregation of Giants. points of doctrine concerning the Kingdome God, have so great influence on the Kingdome of Man, as not to be de- 242 termined, but by them, that under God have the Soveraign Power. As the Kingdome of God, and Eternall Life, so also Gods Enemies, and their Torments after Judgment, appear by the Scripture, to have their place on Earth. The name of the place, where all men remain till the Resurrection, that were either buryed, or swallowed up of the Earth, is usually called in Scripture, by words that signifie under ground ; which the Latines read generally Infernus, and Inferi, and the Greeks a5))c ; that is to say, a place where men cannot see ; and containeth as well the Grave, as any other deeper place. But for the place of the damned after the Resurrection, it is not determined, neither in the Old, nor New Testament, by any note of situation ; but onely by the company : as that it shall bee, where such wicked men were, as God in former times in extraordinary, and miraculous manner, had destroyed from off the face of the Earth : As for example, that they are in Infer7io, in Tartarus, or in the bottomelesse pit ; be- cause Corah, Dathan, and Abirom, were swallowed up alive into the earth. Not that the Writers of the Scripture would have us beleeve, there could be in the globe of the Earth, which is not onely finite, but also (compared to the height of the Stars) of no considerable magnitude, a pit without a bottome ; that is, a hole of infinite depth, such as the Greeks in their Dmmonologie (that is to say, in their doctrine con- cerning Damons,)3.r\6. after them the Romans called Tartarus; of which Virgin sayes, Bis patet in pmceps, tantum tenditque sub umbras, Quantus ad atlwreum cceli suspectus Olympum : for that is a thing the proportion of Earth to Heaven cannot Dear : but that wee should beleeve them there, indefinitely, where those men are, on whom God inflicted that Exemplary punnishment. Again, because those mighty men of the Earth, that lived Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 1^. 359 in the time of Noah, before the floud, (which the Greeks called Heroes, and the Scripture Giants, and both say, were begotten, by copulation of the children of God, with the children of men,) were for their wicked life destroyed by the generall deluge ; the place of the Damned, is therefore also sometimes marked out, by the company of those deceased Giants ; as Proverbs 21. 16. The man that wandreth out of the way of understanding, shall remain in the congregation of the Giants, and Job 26. 5. Behold the Giants groan under water, and they that dwell with them. Here the place of the Damned, is under the water. And Isaiah 14. 9. Hell is troubled how to meet thee, (that is, the King of Babylon) and will displace the Giants for thee : and here again the place of the Damned, (if the sense be literall,) is to be under water. Thirdly, because the Cities of Sodom, and Gomorrah, by Lake of the extraordinary wrath of God, were consumed for their wickednesse with Fire and Brimstone, and together with them the countrey about made a stinking bituminous Lake : the place of the Damned is sometimes expressed by Fire, and a Fiery Lake : as in the Apocalypse c^a.. 21. 8. But the timorous, 243 incredulous, and abominable, and Murderers, and Whore- 7nongers, and Sorcerers, and Idolaters, and all Lyars, shall have their part in the Lake that burneth with Fire, and Brimstone ; which is the second Death. So that it is manifest, that Hell Fire, which is here expressed by Metaphor, from the reall Fire of Sodome, signifieth not any certain kind, or place of Torment ; but is to be taken indefinitely, for De- struction, as it is in the 20. Chapter, at the 14. verse ; where it is said, that Death and Hell were cast into the Lake of Fire ; that is to say, were abolished, and destroyed ; as if after the day of Judgment, there shall be no more Dying, nor no more going into Hell ; that is, no more going to Hades (from which word perhaps our word Hell is derived,) which is the same with no more Dying. Fourthly, from the Plague of Darknesse inflicted on the vtter Egyptians, of which it is written (^ici'^. 10. 23.) They saw "'' ' ' not one another, neither rose any man from his place for three days ; 360 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 38. Gehenna, and Tofhet. Of the lit era II sense of the Scripture concerning Hell. days ; but all the Children of Israel had light in their dwellings; the place of the wicked after Judgment, is called Vtter Darknesse, or (as it is in the originall) Darknesse without. And so it is expressed {Mat. 22. 13.) where the King com- mandeth his Servants, to bind hand and foot the man that had not on his Wedding garment, and to cast him out els to aKOTog TO i^wTepov, Extemall darknesse, or Darknesse without : which though translated Vtter darknesse, does not signifie how great, but where that darknesse is to be ; namely, with- out the habitation of Gods Elect. Lastly, whereas there was a place neer Jerusalem, called the Valley of the Children of Hinnon ; in a part whereof, called Tofhet, the Jews had committed most grievous Idolatry, sacriiicing their children to the Idol Moloch; and wherein also God had afflicted his enemies with most grievous punishments ; and wherein Josias had burnt the Priests of Moloch upon their own Altars, as appeareth at large in the 2 of Kings chap. 23. the place served afterwards, to receive the filth, and garbage which was carried thither, out of the City-.; and there used to be fires made, from time to time, to purifie the aire, and take away the stench of Carrion. From this abominable place, the Jews used ever after to call the place of the Damned, by the name of Gehenna, or Valley of Hinnon. And this Gehenna, is that word, which is usually now translated Hell; and from the fires from time to time there burning, we have the notion of Everlasting, and Vnquenchable Fire. Seeing now there is none, that so interprets the Scripture, as that after the day of Judgment, the wicked are all Eter- nally to be punished in the Valley of Hinnon ; or that they shall so rise again, as to be ever after under ground, or under water ; or that after the Resurrection, they shall no more see one another ; nor stir from one place to another; it foUoweth, me thinks, very necessarily, that that which is thus said concerning Hell Fire, is spoken metaphorically; and that therefore there is a proper sense to bee enquired after, (for of all Metaphors there is some reall ground, that may lives. Part 3. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 'iZ. 361 may be expressed in proper words) both of the Place oiHell, and the nature of Hellish Torments, and Tormenters. 11^1^ And first for the Tormenters, wee have their nature, and ^^a^il „„f properties, exactly and properly delivered by the names of, P"f^'' , ' •> ^ names, but The Enemy, or Satan ; The Accuser, or Diabolus ; The De- Appella- stroyer, or Abaddon. Which significant names, Satan, Devill, Abaddon, set not forth to us any Individuall person, as proper names use to doe ; but onely an office, or quality ; and are therefore Appellatives; which ought not to have been left untranslated, as they are, in the Latine, and Modern Bibles ; because thereby they seem to be the proper names of Dcemons ; and men are the more easily seduced to beleeve the doctrine of Devills ; which at that time was the Religion of the Gentiles, and contrary to that of Moses, and of Christ. And because by the Enemy, the Accuser, and Destroyer, is meant, the Enemy of them that shall be in the Kingdome of God ; therefore if the Kingdome of God after the Resur- rection, bee upon the Earth, (as in the former Chapter I have shewn by Scripture it seems to be,) The Enemy, and his Kingdome must be on Earth also. For so also was it, in the time before the Jews had deposed God. For Gods Kingdome was in Palestine ; and the Nations round about, were the Kingdom es of the Enemy; and consequently by Satan, is meant any Earthly Enemy of the Church. The Torments of Hell, are expressed sometimes, by Torments •weeping, and gnashing of teeth, as Mat. 8. 1 2. Sometimes, by the worm of Conscience; as Isa. 66. 24. and Mark 9. 44, 46, 48 : sometimes, by Fire, as in the place now quoted, where the worm dyeth not, and the fire is not quenched, and many places beside : sometimes by shame, attd contempt, as Dan. 12. 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth, shall awake ; some to Everlasting life ; and some to shame, and everlasting contempt. All which places design metaphorically a grief, and discontent of mind, from the sight of that Eternal! felicity in others, which they themselves through their own incredulity, and disobedience have lost. And of Hell. 362 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 38. And because such felicity in others, is not sensible but by comparison with their own actuall miseries ; it followeth that they are to suffer such bodily paines, and calamities, as are incident to those, who not onely live under evill and cruell Governours, but have also for Enemy, the Eternall King of the Saints, God Almighty. And amongst these bodily paines, is to be reckoned also to every one of the wicked a second Death. For though the Scripture bee clear for an universall Resurrection; yet wee do not read, that to any of the Reprobate is promised an Eternall life. For whereas St. Paul [i Cor. 15. 42, 43.) to the question concerning what bodies men shall rise with again, saith, that the body is sown in corruption, and is raised in incorruption ; It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weaknesse, it is raised in power ; Glory and Power cannot be applyed to the bodies of the wicked : Nor can the name of Second Death, bee applyed to those that can never die but once : And although in Metaphoricall speech, a Calamitous life Ever- lasting, may bee called an Everlasting Death yet it cannot well be understood of a Second Death. The fire prepared 245 for the wicked, is an Everlasting Fire : that is to say, the estate wherein no man can be without torture, both of body and mind, after the Resurrection, shall endure for ever; and in that sense the Fire shall be unquenchable, and the tor- ments Everlasting : but it cannot thence be inferred, that hee who shall be cast into that fire, or be tormented with those torments, shall endure, and resist them so, as to be eternally burnt, and tortured, and yet never be destroyed, nor die. And though there be many places that affirm Everlasting Fire, and Torments (into which men may be cast successively one after another for ever ;) yet I find none that affirm there shall bee an Eternall Life therein of any individual! person ; but to the contrary, an Everlasting Death, which is the Second Death : For after Death, and the Grave Apoc. 20. ^jidii imyg delivered up the dead which were in them, and every I3i 14. man be judged according to his works ; Death and the Grave shall also be cast into the Lake of Fire. This is the Second Death. Varti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. I'i. 363 Death. Whereby it is evident, that there is to bee a Second Death of every one that shall bee condemned at the day of Judgement, after which hee shall die no more. The joyes of Life Eternal!, are in Scripture comprehended "^^^ Joy" all under the name of Salvation, or being saved. To Eternaii, be saved, is to be secured, either respectively, against speciall tion the Evills, or absolutely, against all Evill, comprehending Want, ''""' '''"'S- Sicknesse, and Death it self. And because man was created in a condition Immortall, not subject to corruption, and Salvation from Sin, consequently to notlung that tendeth to the dissolution of and from his nature ; and fell from that happinesse by the sin of Adam ; one. it followeth, that to be saved from Sin, is to be saved from all the Evill, and Calamities that Sinne hath brought upon us. And therefore in the Holy Scripture, Remission of Sinne, and Salvation from Death and Misery, is the same thing, as it appears by the words of our Saviour, who having cured a man sick of the Palsey, by saying, {Mat. 9. 2.) Son be of good cheer, thy Sins be forgiven thee ; and knowing that the Scribes took for blasphemy, that a man should pre- tend to forgive Sins, asked them (v. 5.) whether it were easier to say, Thy Sinnes be forgiven thee, or, Arise and walk ; signifying thereby, that it was all one, as to the saving of the sick, to say. Thy Sins are forgiven, and Arise and walk ; and that he used that form of speech, onely to shew he had power to forgive Sins. And it is besides evident in reason, that since Death and Misery, were the punishments of Sin, the discharge of Sinne, must also be a discharge of Death and Misery ; that is to say. Salvation absolute, such as the faithfull are to enjoy after the day of Judgment, by the power, and favour of Jesus Christ, who for that cause is called our Saviour. Concerning Particular Salvations, such as are understood, I Sam. 14. 39. as the Lord liveth that saveth Israel, that is, from their temporary enemies, and 2 Sam. 22. 4. Thou art my Saviour, thou savest me from violence; and 2 Kings 13. 5. God gave the Israelites a Saviour, and so they were delivered from the hand of the Assyrians, and the like, I need say nothing ; 364 Part-i- OF A CHRISTIAN Chap.T,%. nothing ; there being neither difficulty, nor interest, to corrupt 246 the interpretation of texts of that kind. "of^E^ernaii ■^^'^ Concerning t he G^ ppi'^ll Salvafmn, because it must be Salvation, i n the Kingdome of Heaven, there is great difficulty con- cerning the Place. On one side, by Kingdom e (which is an. es tate or dained by men for their perpe tuall security agains t enemies,~and wa nt) it seemeth that this S alvation should be on Earth . For by Salvation is set forth unto us, a glorious Reign of our King, by Conquest ; not a safety by Escape : and therefore there where we look for Salvation, we must look also for Triumph ; and before Triumph, for Victory ; and before Victory, for Battell ; which cannot well be sup- posed, shall be in Heaven. But how good soever this reason may be, I will not trust to it, without very evident places of Scripture. The state of Salvation is described at large, Isaiah 33. ver. 20, 2], 22, 23, 24. Look upon Zion, the City of our solemnities \ thine eyes shall see Jerusalem 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 he broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers, and streams ; wherein shall goe no Gaily with oares ; neither shall gallant ship passe thereby. For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Jjiwgiver, the Lord is our Kitig, he will save us. Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast ; they could not spread the sail : the7i is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. And the Jnhabitant shall not say, J am sicke ; the people that shall dwell therein shall be forgiven their Jniquity. In which words wee have the place from whence Salvation is to proceed, Jerusalem, a quiet habitation ; the Eternity of it, a tabernacle that shall not be takot down, 6^f. The Saviour of it, the Lord, their Judge, their Lawgiver, their King, he will save us ; the Salvation, the Lord shall be to them as a broad mote of swift waters, 6^^. the condition of their Ene- mies, their tacklings are loose, their masts weak, the lame slial take Pariz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. -^Z. 365 take the spoil of them. The condition of the Saved, The In- habitant shall not say, I am sick : And lastly, all this is com- prehended in Forgivenesse of Sin, The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. By which it is evident, that Salvation shall be on Earth, then, when God shall reign, (at the coming again of Christ) in Jerusalem ; and from Je- rusalem shall proceed the Salvation of the Gentiles that shall be received into Gods Kingdome : as is also more expressely 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 charets, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the Children of Israel bring an offeriiig in a clean vessell into the House of the Lord. And I will also take of them for Priests and for Levites, saith the Lord : Whereby it is manifest, that the chief seat of Gods Kingdome 247 (which is the Place, from whence the Salva tion of us that were Gentiles, s hall proc eed) s hall be Jerusalem : 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, lohn 4. 22. that the Samaritans worshipped they knew not what, but the Jews worship what they knew. For Salvation is of the lews (ex ludceis, that is, begins at the Jews) : as if he should say, you worship God, but know not by whom he wil save you, as we doe, that know it shall be by one of the tribe of Judah, a Jew, not a Samaritan. And therefore also the woman not impertinently answered him again, We know the Messias shall come. So that which our Saviour saith, Salvation is from the lews, is the same that Paul sayes {Rom. i. 16, 17.) The Gospel is the power of God to Salvation to every one that beleeveth : To the lew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousnesse of God revealed from faith to faith ; from the faith of the Jew, to the faith of the Gentile. In the like sense the Prophet loel de- scribing the day of Judgment, (chap. 2. 30, 31.) that God would shew wonders in heaven, and in earth, bloud, and fire, and 366 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 38. and pillars of snioak. The Sun should be turned to darknesse and the Moon into bloud, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come, he addeth verse 32. and it shall come to passe, that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. For in Mount Zion, and in Lerusalem shall be Sal- vation. And Obadiah verse 17. saith the same, Vpon Mount Zion shall be Deliverance ; and there shall be holinesse, and the house of Lacob shall possesse their possessions, that is, the possessions of the Heathen, which possessions he. expresseth more particularly in the following verses, by the mount of Esau, the Land of the Philistines, the f elds of Ephraim, of Samaria, Gilead, and the Cities of the South, and concludes with these words, the Kingdom shall be the Lords. All these places are for Salvation, and the Kingdome of God (after the day of Judgement) upon Earth. On the other side, I have not found any text that can probably be drawn, to prove any Ascension of the Saints, into Heaven ; that is to say, into any Ccelum Empyreum, or other setheriall Region ; saving that it is called the Kingdome of Heaven : which name it may have, because God, that was King of the Jews, governed them by his commands, sent to Moses by Angels from Heaven; and after their revolt, sent his Son from Heaven, to reduce them to their obedience ; and shall send him thence again, to rule both them, and all other faithfuU men, from the day of Judgment, Everlastingly : or from that, that the Throne, of this our Great King is in Heaven ; whereas the Earth is but his Footstoole. But that the Subjects of God should have any place as high as his Throne, or higher than his Footstoole, it seemeth not sutable to the dignity of a King, nor can I find any evident text for it in holy Scripture. From this that hath been said of the Kingdom of God, and of Salvation, it is not hard to interpret what is meant by the World to come. There are three worlds mentioned in Scripture, the Old World, the Present World, and the 2 Pet. 2. s. vVorld to come. Of the first, St. Peter speaks, If God spared not the Old VVorld, but saved Noah the eighth person, a Preacher Part 2,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 1%. 367 Preacher of righteousness e, bringing the flood upon the world 248 of the ungodly, ^'c. So "Cn^ first World, was from Adam to the generall Flood. Of the present World, our Saviour speaks {lohn 18. 36.) J/y Kingdome is not of this World. For he came onely to teach men the way of Salvation, and to renew the Kingdome of his Father, by his doctrine. Of the 2 Pet. 3.13. World to come, St. Peter speaks, Neverthelesse we according to his promise look for new Heavens, and a new Earth. This is that World, wherein Christ coming down from Heaven, in the clouds, with great power, and glory, shall send his Angels, and shall gather together his elect, from the four winds, and from the uttermost parts of the Earth, and thence forth reign over them, (under his Father) Everlastingly. Salvation of a sinner, supposeth a precedent R e- Redemp- r 1 I • • tion. D E M p T I o N ; for he that is once guilty of Sin, is obnoxious to the Penalty of the same ; and must pay (or some other for him) such Ransome, as he that is offended, and has him in his power, shall require. And seeing the person offended, is Almighty God, in whose power are all things ; such Ran- some is to be paid before Salvation can be acquired, as God hath been pleased to require. By this Ransome, is not in- tended a satisfaction for Sin, equivalent to the Offence ; which no sinner for himselfe, nor righteous man can ever be able to make for another : The dammage a man does to\ another, he may make amends for by restitution, or recom- pence, but sin cannot be taken away by repentance ; for that ' were to make the liberty to sin, a thing vendible. But sins i may bee pardoned to the repentant, either gratis, or upon such J penalty, as God is pleased to accept. That which God usually accepted in the Old Testament, was some Sacrifice, or Obla- tion. To forgive sin is not an act of Injustice, though the pun- ishment have been threatned. Even amongst men, though the promise of Good, bind the promiser; yet threats, that is to say, promises of Evill, bind them not ; much lesse shall they bind God, who is infinitely more mercifull then men. Our Saviour Christ therefore to Redeem us, did not in that sense satisfie for the Sins of men, as that his Death, of its own vertue, 368 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 39. vertue, could make it unjust in God to punish sinners with Eternall death ; but did make that Sacrifice, and Oblation of himself, at his first coming, which God was pleased to require, for the Salvation at his second coming, of such as in the mean time should repent, and beleeve in him. And though this act of our Redemption., be notalwaies in Scripture called a Sacrifice, and Oblation, but sometimes a Frice ; yet by Price we are not to understand any thing, by the value whereof, he could claim right to a pardon for us, from his offended Father \ but that Price which God the Father was pleased in mercy to demand. CHAP. XXXIX. Of the signification in Scripture of the word Church. Church the Lords house. Ecclesia properly what. '' T^ He word Church, (Ecclesia) signifieth in the Books of 247 J. Holy Scripture divers things. Sometimes (though not often) it is taken for Gods House, that is to say, for a Temple, wherein Christians assemble to perform holy duties pub- liquely; as, i Cor. 14. ver. 34. Let your women keep silence in the Churches : but this is Metaphorically put, for the Con- gregation there assembled; and hath been since used for the Edifice it self, to distinguish between the Temples of Christians, and Idolaters. The Temple of Jerusalem was Gods house, and the House of Prayer ; and so is any Edifice dedicated by Christians to the worship of Christ, Christs house : and therefore the Greek Fathers call it KupiaK??, The Lords house; and thence, in our language it came to be called Kyrke, and Church. Church (when not taken for a House) signifieth the same that Ecclesia signified in the Grecian Common-wealths ; that is to say, a Congregation, or an Assembly of Citizens, called forth, to hear the Magistrate speak unto them ; and which in the Common-wealth of Rome was called Concio, as he Parfi. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 2,'^. 369 he that spake was called Ecdesiastes, and Concionator. And when they were called forth by lawfuU Authority, it was Ecdesia legitima, a 'LawfuU Church, ewo/ioe EKicKriTia. But ^rfj-i9. 39. when they were excited by tumultuous, and seditious clamor, then it was a confused Church, EK/cXi/ma myKexvixivn. It is taken also sometimes for the men that have right to be of the Congregation, though not actually assembled ; that is to say, for the whole multitude of Christian men, how far soever they be dispersed : as {Act. 8. 3.) where it is said, that Saul made havock of the Church : And in this sense is Christ said to be Head of the Church. And sometimes for a certain part of Christians, as {Col. 4. 15. Salute the Church that is in his house. Sometimes also for the Elect onely ; as {Ephes. 5. 27.) A Glorious Church, without spot, or wrinkle, holy, and without blemish ; which is meant of the Church triumphant, or. Church to come. Sometimes, for a Congre- gation assembled, of professors of Christianity, whether their profession be true, or counterfeit, as it is understood, Mat. 18. 17. where it is said, Tell it to the Church, and if hee neglect to hear the Church, let him be to thee as a Gentile, or Publican. And in this last sense only it is that the Church can be /// what taken for one Person ; that is to say, that it can be said to c/mrck is have power to will, to pronounce, to command, to be obeyed, "'"^ erso7i. to make laws, or to doe any other action whatsoever ; For without authority from a lawfull Congregation, whatsoever act be done in a concourse of people, it is the particular act 248 of every one of those that were present, and gave their aid to the performance of it ; and not the act of them all in grosse, as of one body ; much lesse the act of them that were absent, or that being present, were not willing it should be done. According to this sense, I define a Church to be, church A co?npany of men professing Christian Religion, united in the person of one Soveraign; at whose command they ought to y' assemble, and without whose authority they ought not to as- semble. And because in all Common-wealths, that Assembly, which is without warrant from the Civil Soveraign, is unlaw- ful ; that Church also, which is assembled in any Common- 2 B wealth, 370 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 39. wealth, that hath forbidden them to assemble, is an unlawfuU Assembly. fiaJ^"^' / ■*■' follo^veth also, that there is on Earth, no such universall Common- Church, as all Christians are bound to obey : because there ■wealih, and a Church is no power on Earth, to which all other Common-wealths all one. _,, . . . , _ . . . are subject : There are Christians, m the Dommions ot severall Princes and States ; but every one of them is subject to that Common-wealth, whereof he is himself a member; and consequently, cannot be subject to the commands of any other Person. )And therefore a Church, such a one as is capable to Command, to Judge, Absolve, Condemn, or do any other act, is the same thing with a Civil Common-wealth, y consisting of Christian men ; and is called a Civill State., for that the subjects of it are Men ; and a Church, for that the subjects thereof are Christians. Temporall and Spirituall Government, are but two words brought into the world, to make men see double, and mistake their Lawfull Soveraign7\ It is true, that the bodies of the faithful!, after the Resur- rection, shall be not onely Spirituall, but Eternall : but in this life they are grosse, and corruptible. (Inh ere is therefore no other Government in this life, neither of State, nor Religion, but Temporall ;(nor teaching of any doctrine, lawful! to any Subject, which the Governour both of the State, and of the Religion, forbiddeth to be taught :lAnd that Governor must be one ; or else there must needs follow Faction, and Civil war in the Common-wealth, between the Church and State; between Spiritualists, and Temporalists ; between the Sword of Justice, and the Shield of Faith ; and (which is more) in every Christian mans own brest, between the Christian, and the Man. The Doctors of the Church, are called Pastors ; so also are Civill Soveraignes : But if Pastors be not subor- dinate one to another, so as that there may bee one chief Pastor, men will be taught contrary Doctrines, whereof both may be, and one must be false. Who that one chief Pastor is, according to the law of Nature, hath been already shewn ; namely, that it is the Civill SoveraignJj^And to whom the Scripture hath assigned that Office, we shall see in the Chapters following. CHAP. Parti. COiMMON-WEALTH. Uiap. ip. 371 CHAP. XL. Of the Rights of the Kingdome of God, in Abraham, Moses, the High Priests, and the Kings of Judah. 249 'npHe Father of the Faithfull, and first in the Kingdome /"/« I of God by Covenant, was Abraham . For wi th him Rights of was the Covenant first made ; wherein he obhged himself, '^'"''''"""'■ and his seed after him, to acknowledge and obey the com- mands of God ; not onely such, as he could take notice of, (as Morall Laws,) by the light of Nature ; but also such, as God should in speciall manner deliver to him by Dreams, and Visions. For as to the Morall law, they were already obliged, and needed not have been contracted withall, by promise of the Land of Canaan. Nor was there any Con- tract, that could adde to, or strengthen the Obligation, by which both they, and all men else were bound naturally to obey God Almighty : And therefore the Covenant which Abraham made with God, was to take for the Commande- ment of God, that which in the name of God was commanded him, in a Dream, or Vision ; and to deliver it to his family, and cause them to observe the same. In this Contract of God with Abraham, wee may observe three points of important consequence in the government of Gods people. First, that at the making of this Covenant, God spake onely to Abraham ; and therefore contracted not with any of his family, or seed, otherwise then as their wills (which make the essense of all Covenants) were before the Contract involved in the will of Abraham ; who was therefore supposed to have had a lawfull power, to make them perform all that he covenanted for them. According whereunto {Gen. 18. 18, 19.) God saith, All the Nations of the Earth shall be blessed in hitn, For I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord. From whence may be concluded this first 372 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 40. Abraham had the sole power of ordering the Reli- gion of his own people. No pretence of Private Spirit against the Religion of Abraham. Abraham sole yitdge, and inter- preter of what God spake. The authority of Moses whereon grounded. first point, that t hey to whom God hath not spoken imme- diately, are to receive the positive commandements of God, from their Soveraig n ; as the family and seed of Abraham did from Abraham their Father, and Lord, and Civill Soveraign. An d consequent ly in every Co mmon-wealth,^ theyw ho have no supernatural! Reve latio n to the contrary, ou ght to obey the laws of their own Soveraign, in the externall acts and professio n of Religion. As f or the inward thought , and bdeef o i men, which humane Governours can ta ke no notice of, (for God onely knoweth the heart) th ey are not voluntary, nor the effect of the lawa, _but of the unrevealed will, and of the power of God; a nd consequently fall not 250 u nder obligation . From whence proceedeth another point, that it was not unlawful! for Abraham, when any of his Subjects should pretend Private Vision, or Spirit, or other Revelation from God, for the countenancing of any doctrine which Abraham should forbid, or when they followed, or adhered to any such pretender, to punish them ; and consequently that it is lawful! now for the Soveraign to punish any man that sha!! oppose his Private Spirit against the Laws : For hee hath the same place in the Common-wealth, that Abraham had in his own Family. There ariseth also from the same, a third point ; that as none but Abraham in his family, so none but the Soveraign in a Christian Common-wealth, can take notice what is, or what is not the Word of God. For God spake onely to Abraham ; and it was he onely, that was able to know what God said, and to interpret the same to his family : And therefore also, they tliat have the place of Abraham in a Common-wealth, are the onely Interpreters of what God hath spoken. The same Covenant was renewed with Isaac ; and after- wards with Jacob ; but afterwards no more, til! the Israelites were freed from the Egyptians, and arrived at the Foot oi Mount Sinai : and then it was renewed by Moses (as I have said before, chap. 35.) in such manner, as they became from that Partz- COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. i,o. 373 that time forward the Peculiar Kingdome of God ; whose Lieutenant was Moses, for his owne time: and the succession to that office was setled upon Aaron, and his heirs after him, to bee to God a Sacerdotall Kingdome for ever. By this constitution, a Kingdome is acquired to God. But seeing Moses had no authority to govern the Israehtes, as a successor to the right of Abraham, because he could not claim it by inheritance ; it appeareth not as yet, that the people were obliged to take him for Gods Lieutenant, longer than they beleeved that God spake unto him. And therefore his authority (notwithstanding the Covenant they made with God) depended yet merely upon the opinion they had of his Sanctity, and of the reality of his Conferences with God, and the verity of his Miracles ; which opinion coming to change, they were no more obliged to take any thing for the law of God, which he propounded to them in Gods name. We are therefore to consider, what other ground there was, of their obligation to obey him. For it could not be the commandement of God that could oblige them ; because God spake not to them immediately, but by the mediation of Moses himself : And our Saviour saith of himself, If I bear wttnesse of my self, my witnesse is not true ; much lesse John 5. 31. if Moses bear witnesse of himselfe, (especially in a claim of Kingly power over Gods people) ought his testimony to be received. His authority therefore, as the authority of all other Princes, must be grounded on the Consent of the People, and their Promise to obey him. And so it was : For the people {Exod. 20. 18.) when they saw the Thuiiderings 251 and the Lightiiings, and the noyse of the Trumpet, and the mountaine smoaking, removed, and stood a far off. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with tts lest we die. Here was their promise of obedience ; and by this it was they obliged them- selves to obey whatsoever he should deliver unto them for the Commandement of God. And notwithstanding the Covenant constituteth a Sacer- ^"■'f ""^^ _ {under dotall Kingdome, that is to say, a Kingdome hereditary to God) Save- Aaron; "'^" ""^ 374 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 40. the Jews. Aaron: yet that is to be understood of the succession, after att Ins own time, Moses should bee dead. For whosoever ordereth, and estab- Aaron iiad hshcth the Pohcy, as first founder of a Common-wealth (be it 'iilod""'' Monarchy, Aristocracy, or Democracy) must needs have Soveraign Power over the people all the while he is doing of it. And that Moses had that power all his own time, is evidently affirmed in the Scripture. First, in the text last before cited, because the people promised obedience, not to Aaron but to him. Secondly, {Exod. 24. i, 2.) And God said unto Moses, Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the Elders of Israel. And Moses alone shall come neer the Lord, but they shall not come nigh, neither shall the people goe up with him. By which it is plain, that Moses who was alone called up to God, (and not Aaron, nor the other Priests, nor the Seventy Elders, nor the People who were forbidden to come up) was alone he, that represented to the Israelites the Person of God ; that is to say, was their sole Soveraign under God. And though afterwards it be said (verse 9.) The7i went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the Elders of - Israel, and they saw the God of Israel, attd there was under his feet, as it were a paved work of a saphire stone &'c. yet this was not till after Moses had been with God before, and had brought to the people the words which God had said to him. He onely went for the businesse of the people ; the others, as the Nobles of his retinue, were admitted for honour to that speciall grace, which was not allowed to the people ; which was, as in the verse after appeareth) to see God and live. God laid not his hand upon them, they saw God, and did eat and drink (that is, did live), but did not carry any commandement from him to the people. Again, it is every where said. The Lord spake unto Moses, as in all other occasions of Government ; so also in the ordering of the Ceremonies of Religion, contained in the 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31 Chapters of Exodus, and throughout Leviticus: to Aaron seldome. The calfe that Aaron made, Moses threw into the fire. Lastly, the question of the Authority of Aaron, Parfi. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ip. 375 Aaron, by occasion of his and Miriams mutiny against Moses, was {Numbers 12.) judged by God himself for Moses. So also in the question between Moses, and the People, who had the Right of Governing the People, when Corah, Da- than, and Abirara, and two hundred and fifty Princes of the h.%'s.z-m!o\^ gathered themselves together (^\i'cc^. 16. 3.) against Moses, and against Aaron, and said unto them. Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are Holy, every one of them, and the Lord is amongst them, why lift you up your selves above the congregation of the Lord? God caused the Earth to swallow Corah, Dathan, and Abiram with their 252 wives and children alive, and consumed those two hundred and fifty Princes with fire. Therefore neither Aaron, nor the People, nor any Aristocracy of the chief Princes of the People, but Moses alone had next under God the Soveraignty over the Israelites : And that not onely in causes of Civill Policy, but also of Religion : For Moses onely spake with God, and therefore onely could tell the People, what it was that God required at their hands. No man upon pain of death might be so presumptuous as to approach the Moun- tain where God talked with Moses. Ihou shall set bounds (saith the Lord, Exod. 19. 12.) to the people round about, and say. Take heed to your selves that you goe not up into the Mount, or touch the border of it; whosoever toucheth the Mount shall surely be put to death. And again (verse 21.) Goe down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze. Out of which we may conclude, that whoso- ever in a Christian Common-wealth holdeth the place of Moses, is the sole Messenger of God, and Interpreter of his Commandements. And according hereunto, no man ought in the interpretation of the Scripture to proceed further then the bounds which are set by their severall Soveraigns. For the Scriptures since God now speaketh in them, are the Mount Sinai ; the bounds whereof are the Laws of them that represent Gods Person on Earth. To look upon them, and therein to behold the wondrous works of God, and learn to fear him is allowed ; but to interpret them ; that is, to pry into 376 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Cliap. 40. A II spirits were subor- dinate to the spirit of Moses. AfierMoses the Sove- raigntywas in the High Priest. into what God saith to him whom he ^ppointeth to govern mider him, and make themselves Judges whether he govern as God commandeth him, or not, is to transgresse the bounds God hath set us, and to gaze upon God irreverently. There was no Prophet in the time of Moses, nor pretender to the Spirit of God, but such as Moses had approved, and Authorized. For there were in his time but Seventy men, that are said to Prophecy by the Spirit of God, and these were of all Moses his election ; concerning whom God said to Moses [Numb. 11. 16.) Gather to mee Seventy of the Elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to he the Elders of the People. To these God imparted his Spirit ; but it was not a different Spirit from that of Moses; for it is said (verse 25.) God came down in a cloud, and took of the Spirit that was upon Moses, and gave it to the Seventy Elders. But as I have shewn before (chap. 36.) by Spirit, is understood the Mind; so that the sense of the place is no other than this, that God endued them with a mind conformable, and subordinate to that of Moses, that they might Prophecy, that is to say, speak to the people in Gods name, in such manner, as to set forward (as Ministers of Moses, and by his authority) such doctrine as was agreeable to Moses his doctrine. For they were but Ministers ; and when two of them Prophecyed in the Camp, it was thought a new and unlawfull thing ; and as it is in the 27. and 28. verses of the same Chapter, they were accused of it, and Joshua advised Moses to forbid them, as not knowing that it was by Moses his Spirit that they Prophecyed. By which it is manifest, that no Subject ought to pretend to Prophecy, or to the Spirit, in opposition to the doctrine established by him, whom God hath set in 253 the place of Moses. Aaron being dead, and after him also Moses, the King- dome, as being a Sacerdotall Kingdome, descended by vertue of the Covenant, to Aarons Son, Eleazar the High Priest : And God declared him (next under himself) for Soveraign at the same time that he appointed Joshua for the Generall of their Army. For thus God saith expressely (iVz/;«iJ. 27. 21.) concerning Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^o. 377 concerning Joshua ; He shall stand before Eleazar the Priest, who shall ask counsell for him, before the Lord, at his word they shall goe out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the Children of Israel with him : Therefore the Supreme Power of making War and Peace, was in the Priest. The Supreme Power of Judicature belonged also to the High Priest : For the Book of the Law was in their keeping ; and the Priests and Levites onely, were the subordinate Judges in causes Civill, as appears in Deut. 17. 8, 9, 10. And for the manner of Gods worship, there was never doubt made, but that the High Priest till the time of Saul, had the Supreme Authority. Therefore the Civill and Ecclesiasti- call Power were both joined together in one and the same person, the High Priest ; and ought to bee so, in whosoever governeth by Divine Right ; that is, by Authority immediate from God. After the death of Joshua, till the time of Saul, the time 0/ the Soveraign between is noted frequently in the Book of Judges, that there power be- ilV€€77 t/tC 7vas in those dayes no King in Israel; and sometimes with time of this addition, that every man did that which was right in his ^°^^,^/f' "* own eyes. By which is to bee understood, that where it is said, there was no King, is meant, there was no Soveraign Power in Israel. And so it was, if we consider the Act, and Exercise of such power. For after the death of Joshua, & Eleazar, there arose another generation (Judges 2. 10.) that knew not the Lord, nor the works which he had done for Israel, but did evill in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim. And the Jews had that quality which St. Paul noteth, to look for a sign, not onely before they would sub- mit themselves to the government of Moses, but also after they had obliged themselves by their submission. Whereas Signs, and Miracles had for End to procure Faith, not to keep men from violating it, when they have once given it ; for to that men are obliged by the Law of Nature. But if we consider not the Exercise, but the Right of Governing, the Soveraign power was still in the High Priest. Therefore whatsoever obedience was yeelded to any of the Judges (who 378 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 40. (who were men chosen by God extraordinarily, to save his rebellious subjects out of the hands of the enemy,) it cannot bee drawn into argument against the Right the High Priest had to the Soveraign Power, in all matters, both of Policy and Religion. And neither the Judges, nor Samuel himselfe had an ordinary, but extraordinary calling to the Govern- ment; and were obeyed by the Israelites, not out of duty, but out of reverence to their favour with God, appearing in their wisdome, courage, or felicity. Hitherto therefore the Right of Regulating both the Policy, and the Religion, were inseparable. Of the To the Tudfifes, succeeded Kings : And whereas before, 254 Rights of JO) a . the Kings all authority, both in Religion, and Policy, was in the High ■"■'"' • Priest ; so now it was all in the King. For the Soveraignty over the people, which was before, not onely by vertue of the Divine Power, but also by a particular pact of the Is- raelites in God, and next under him, in the High Priest, as his Vicegerent on earth, was cast off by the People, with the consent of God himselfe. For when they said to Samuel (i Satn. 8. 5.) make us a King £0 judge us, like all the Nations, they signified that they would no more bee governed by the commands that should bee laid upon them by the Priest, in the name of God ; but by one that should command them in the same manner that all other nations were commanded ; and consequently in deposing the High Priest of Royall au- thority, they deposed that peculiar Government of God. And yet God consented to it, saying to Samuel (verse 7.) Hearken unto the voice of the People, in all that they shall say unto thee ; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected mee, that I should not reign over them. Having therefore rejected God, in whose Right the Priests governed, there was no authority left to the Priests, but such as the King was pleased to allow them ; which was more, or lesse, according as the Kings were good, or evill. And for the Government of Civill affaires, it is manifest, it was all in the hands of the King. For in the same Chapter, verse 20. They say they will be like all the Nations ; that their King shall be their Judge, Part-i. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ip. 379 Judge, and goe before them, and fight their battells ; that is, he shall have the whole authority, both in Peace and War. In which is contained also the ordering of Rehgion : for there was no other Word of God in that time, by which to regulate Religion, but the Law of Moses, which was their Civill Law. Besides, we read (i Kings 2. 27.) that Solomon thrust out Abiatharfrom being Priest before the Lord : He had there- fore authority over the High Priest, as over any other Sub- ject ; which is a great mark of Supremacy in Religion. And we read also (i Kings 8.) that hee dedicated the Temple; that he blessed the People ; and that he himselfe in person made that excellent prayer, used in the Consecrations of all Churches, and houses of Prayer; which is another great mark of Supremacy in Religion. Again, we read (2 Kings 22.) that when there was question concerning the Book of the Law found in the Temple, the same was not decided by the High Priest ; but Josiah sent both him, and others to enquire concerning it, of Hulda, the Prophetesse ; which is another mark of the Supremacy in Religion. Lastly, wee read (i Chron. 26. 30.) that David made Hashabiah and his brethren, Hebronites, Officers of Israel among them West- ward, in all businesse of the Lord, and in the service of the King. Likewise (verse 32.) that hee made other Hebronites, rulers over the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the halfe tribe of Manasseh (these were the rest of Israel that dwelt beyond '^oxAs.Vi) for every matter pertaining to God, and affairs of the King. Is not this full Power, both temporall and spirituall, as they call it, that would divide it ? To conclude ; from 255 the first institution of Gods Kingdome, to the Captivity, the Supremacy of Religion, was in the same hand with that of the Civill Soveraignty ; and the Priests office after the election of Saul, was not Magisterial!, but Ministerjall. Notwithstanding the government both in Policy and The prac- tice of Su- Religion, were jomed, first m the High Priests, and afterwards premacy in in the Kings, so far forth as concerned the Right; yet it wa'/nltln appeareth by the same Holy History, that the people under- '^^^ 'j^ngl stood it not ; but there being amongst them a great part, and "ff'"'^-^f/'' probably thereof. SSo Partz- OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. \o. probably the greatest part, that no longer than they saw great miracles, or (which is equivalent to a miracle) great abilities, or great felicity in the enterprises of their Governours, gave sufficient credit, either to the fame of Moses, or to the Colloquies between God and the Priests; they took occasion as oft as their Governours displeased them, by blaming sometimes the PoUcy, sometimes the Religion, to change the Government, or revolt from their Obedience at their pleasure : And from thence proceeded from time to time the civill troubles, divisions, and calamities of the Nation. As for example, after the death of Eleazar and Joshua, the next generation which had not seen the wonders of God, but wei'e left to their own weak reason, not knowing themselves obliged by the Covenant of a Sacerdotall Kingdome, re- garded no more the Commandement of the Priest, nor any law of Moses, but did every man that which was right in his own eyes ; and obeyed in Civill affairs, such men, as from time to time they thought able to deliver them from the neighbour Nations that oppressed them ; and consulted not with God (as they ought to^ doe,) but with such men, or women, as they guessed to bee Prophets by their Prsedictions of things to come ; and though they had an Idol in their Chappel, yet if they had a Levite for their Chaplain, they made account they worshipped the God of Israel. And afterwards when they demanded a King, after the manner of the nations ; yet it was not with a design to de- part from the worship of God their King ; but despairing of the justice of the sons of Samuel, they would have a King to judg them in Civill actions; but not that they would allow their King to change the Religion which they thought was recommended to them by Moses. So that they alwaies kept in store a pretext, either of Justice, or Religion, to discharge them selves of their obedience, whensoever they had hope to prevaile. Samuel was displeased with the people, for that they desired a King, (for God was their King already, and Samuel had but an authority under him) ; yet did Samuel, when Saul observed not his counsell, in destroying Part-i. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. \o. 381 destroying Agag as God had commanded, anoint another King, namely, David, to take the succession from his heirs. Rehoboam was no Idolater ; but when the people thought him an Oppressor ; that Civil pretence carried from him ten Tribes to Jeroboam an Idolater. And generally through the whole History of the Kings, as well of Judah, as of Israel, there were Prophets that alwaies controlled the Kings, for transgressing the Religion ; and sometimes also for Errours 2^^.19.2. of State ; as Jehosaphat was reproved by the Prophet Jehu, 256 for aiding the King of Israel against the Syrians ; and Hezekiah, by Isaiah, for shewing his treasures to the Am- bassadors of Babylon. By all which, it appeareth, that though the power both of State and Religion were in the Kings ; yet none of them were uncontrolled in the use of it, but such as were gracious for their own naturall abilities, or felicities. So that from the practise of those times, there can no argument be drawn, that the Right of Supremacy in Religion was not in the Kings, unlesse we place it in the Prophets ; and conclude, that because Hezekiah praying to the Lord before the Cherubins, was not answered from thence, nor then, but afterwards by the Prophet Isaiah, therefore Isaiah was supreme Head of the Church ; or because losiah consulted Hulda the Prophetesse, concerning the Book of the Law, that therefore neither he, nor the High Priest, but Hulda the Prophetesse had the Supreme authority in matter of Rehgion ; which I thinke is not the opinion of any Doctor. During the Captivity, the lews had no Common-wealth at After the all : And after their return, though they renewed their Cove- the lews' nant with God, yet there was no promise made of obedience, f^'jf^™ neither to Esdras, nor to any other : And presently after they became subjects to the Greeks (from whose Customes, and Dsemonology, and from the doctrine of the Cabalists, their Religion became much corrupted) : In such sort as nothing can be gathered from their confusion, both in State and Religion, concerning the Supremacy in either. And therefore so far forth as concerneth the Old Testament, we may Common- wealth.. 382 Part-i- OF A CHRISTIAN Cnap. /^\. may conclude, that whosoever had the Soveraignty of the Common-wealth amongst the Jews, the same had also the Supreme Authority in matter of Gods externall worship; and represented Gods Person ; that is the person of God the Father ; though he were not called by the name of Father, till such time as he sent into the world his Son Jesus Christ, to redeem mankind from their sins, and bring them into his Everlasting Kingdome, to be saved for evermore. Of which we are to speak in the Chapter following. CHAP. XLI. Of the Office of our BLESSED SAVIOUR. I/7hc Office WT^ ^"'^ '" ^°^^ Scripture three parts of the Office of 261 of Christ. V V the Messiah : The first of a Redeemer., or Saviour : The second of a Pastor, Counsellor, or Teacher, that is, of a Prophet sent from God, to convert such as God hath elected to Salvation : The third of a King, an eternall King, but under his Father, as Moses and the High Priests were in their severall times. And to these three parts are corres- pondent three times. For our Redemption he wrought at his first coming, by the Sacrifice, wherein he offered up himself for our sinnes upon the Crosse : our Conversion he wrought partly then in his own Person ; and partly worketh now by his Ministers ; and will continue to work till his coming again. And after his coming again, shall begin that his glorious Reign over his elect, which is to last eternally. "sa °£" '^° *^ '^ffl" °f ^ Redeemer, that is, of one that payeth the deemer. Ransome of Sin, (which Ransome is Death,) it appertaineth, that he was Sacrificed, and thereby bare upon his own head, and carryed away from us our iniquities, in such sort as God had required. Not that the death of one man, though without sinne, can satisfie for the offences of all men, in the rigour of Justice, but in the Mercy of God, that ordained such Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. \\. 383 such Sacrifices for sin, as he was pleased in his mercy to accept. In the Old Law (as we may read, Leviticus the 16.) the Lord required, that there should every year once, bee made an Atonement for the Sins of all Israel, both Priests, and others; for the doing whereof, Aaron alone was to sacrifice for himself and the Priests a young Bullock ; and for the rest of the people, he was to receive from them two young Goates, of which he was to sacrifice one ; but as for the other, which was the Scape Goat, he was to lay his hands on the head thereof, and by a confession of the iniquities of the people, to lay them all on that head, and then by some opportune man, to cause the Goat to be led into the wil- dernesse, and there to escape, and carry away with him the iniquities of the people. As the Sacrifice of the one Goat was a sufficient (because an acceptable) price for the Ran- some of all Israel ; so the death of the Messiah, is a sufficient price, for the Sins of all mankind, because there was no more required. Our Saviour Christs sufferings seem to be here figured, as cleerly, as in the oblation of Isaac, or in any other type of him in the Old Testament : He was both the sacrificed Goat ; and the Scape Goat ; Hee was oppressed, and he was afflicted {Esay 53. 7.); he opened not his mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep is 262 dumbe before the shearer, so opened he not his mouth: Here he is the sacrificed Goat. He hath born our Griefs, (ver. 4.) and carried our sorrows : And again, (ver. 6.) the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all : And so he is the Scape Goat. He was cut off from the land of the living (ver. 8.) for the transgression of my People : There again he is the sacrificed Goat. And again (ver. \i.^ he shall bear their sins : Hee is the Scape Goat. Thus is the Lamb of God equiva- lent to both those Goates ; sacrificed, in that he dyed ; and escaping, in his Resurrection ; being raised opportunely by his Father, and removed from the habitation of men in his Ascension. For as much therefore, as he that redeemeth, hath no title Christs . . J Kingdome to the thing redeemed, before the Reaemption, and Ransome not of this paid; world. 384 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 41. paid ; and this Ransome was the Death of the Redeemer ; it is manifest, that our Saviour (as man) was not King of those that he Redeemed, before hee suffered death ; that is, during that time hee conversed bodily on the Earth. I say, he was not then King in present, by vertue of the Pact, which the faithfull make with him in Baptisme : Neverthelesse, by the renewing of their Pact with God in tisme, they were obliged to obey him for King, (under his Father) whensoever he should be pleased to take the Kingdome upon him. Ac- cording whereunto, our Saviour himself expressely saith, lylohn 18. 36.) My Kingdome is not of this world. Now seeing the Scripture maketh mention but of two worlds ; this that is now, and shall remain to the day of Judgment, (which is therefore also called, the last day ;) and that which shall bee after the day of Judgement, when there shall bee a new Heaven, and a new Earth ; the Kingdome of Christ is not to begin till the generall Resurrection. And that is it which our Saviour saith, (Ma A 16. 27.) The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his Angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. To reward every man according to his works, is to execute the Office of a King ; and this is not to be till he come in the glory of his Father, with his Angells. When our Saviour saith, (MaA 23. 2.) The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Closes seat; All therefore whatsoever they bid you doe, that observe a?td doe ; hee declareth plainly, that hee ascribeth Kingly Power, for that time, not to himselfe, but to them. And so hee doth also, where he saith, {Luke 12. 14.) Jl^ho made mee a Judge, or a Divider over you 1 And {lohn 12. 47.) r came not to Judge the world, but to save the world. And yet our Saviour came into this world that hee might bee a King, and a Judge in the world to come : For hee was the Messiah, that is, the Christ, that is, the Anointed Priest, and the Soveraign Pro- phet of God ; that is to say, he was to have all the power that was in Moses the Prophet, in the High Priests that succeeded Moses, and in the Kings that succeeded the Priests. And St. lohn sales expressely (chap. 5. ver. 22.) The Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.i,\. 385 The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed, all judgment to the Son. And this is not repugnant to that other place, 263 / came not to judge the world : for this is spoken of the world present, the other of the world to come ; as also where it is said, that at the second coming of Christ, (Mat. 19. 28.) Yee that have followed tne in the Regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in tlie throne of 7iis Glory, yee shall also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. If then Christ whilest hee was on Earth, had no Kingdome TheEndo/ in this world, to what, end was his first coming? It was to camming restore unto God, by a new Covenant, the Kingdom, which ^en^the being his by the Old Covenant, had been cut off by the '^^"J^^^lf rebellion of the Israelites in the election of Saul. Which '''"«« "I God, and to to doe, he was to preach unto them, that he was the Messiah, ferswade , . , ,^ . . , T , -r. T ^^^ Elect to that is, the Kmg promised to them by the Prophets ; and to imbrace it, offer himselfe in sacrifice for the sinnes of them that should ^ke'secolS by faith submit themselves thereto ; and in case the nation -^i' "■^'"^ generally should refuse him, to call to his obedience such as should beleeve in him amongst the Gentiles. So that there are two parts of our Saviours Office during his aboad upon the Earth : One to Proclaim himself the Christ ; and another by Teaching, and by working of Miracles, to perswade, and prepare men to live so, as to be worthy of the Immortality Beleevers were to enjoy, at such time as he should come in majesty, to take possession of his Fathers Kingdome. And therefore it is, that the time of his preaching, is often by himself called the Regeneration ', which is not properly a Kingdome, and thereby a warrant to deny obedience to the Magistrates that then were, (for hee commanded to obey those that sate then in Moses chaire, and to pay tribute to Caesar ; but onely an earnest of the Kingdome of God that was to come, to those to whom God had given the grace to be his disciples, and to beleeve in him ; For which cause the Godly are said to bee already in the Kingdome of Grace, as naturahzed in that heavenly Kingdome. Hitherto therefore there is nothing done, or taught by The ^. .„ T^ . , ^ preaching Christ, that tendeth to the diminution of the Civill Right of of Christ . , not con- 2 C the 386 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 41. trary to the t]^g then law of the lews, nor of CcEsar. The third part of his Office was to be Kin^ {under his Father) of the Elect. Jewes, or of Csesar. For as touching the Common- wealth which then was amongst the Jews, both they that bare rule amongst them, and they that were governed, did all expect the Messiah, and Kingdome of God ; which they could not have done if their Laws had forbidden him (when he came) to manifest, and declare himself. Seeing therefore he did nothing, but by Preaching, and Miracles go about to prove himselfe to be that Messiah, hee did therein nothing against their laws. The Kingdome hee claimed was to bee in another world : He taught all men to obey in the mean time them that sate in Moses seat : He allowed them to give Csesar his tribute, and refused to take upon himselfe to be a Judg. How then could his words, or actions bee seditious, or tend to the overthrow of their then Civill Government ? But God having determined his sacrifice, for the reduction of his elect to their former covenanted obe- dience, for the means, whereby he would bring the same to effect, made use of their malice, and ingratitude. Nor was it contrary to the laws of Caesar. For though Pilate him- 264 self (to gratifie the Jews) delivered him to be crucified ; yet before he did so, he pronounced openly, that he found no fault in him : And put for title of his condemnation, not as the Jews required, that he pretended to bee King ; but simply. That hee was King of the lews ; and notwithstanding their clamour, refused to alter it; saying. What I have written, I have written. As for the third part of his OfiSce, which was to be King, I have already shewn that his Kingdome was not to begin till the Resurrection. But then he shall be King, not onely as God, in which sense he is King already, and ever shall be, of all the Earth, in vertue of his omnipotence ; but also peculiarly of his own Elect, by vertue of the pact they make with him in their Baptisme. And therefore it is, that our Saviour saith {Mat. 19. 28.) that his Apostles should sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory : whereby he signified that he should reign then in his humane nature ; Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^i. 387 nature ; and {Mat. i6. 27.) The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his Angels, and then he shall re- ward every man according to his works. The same we may read, Marke 13. 26. and 14. 62. and more expressely for the time, Luke 22. 29, 30. I appoint unto you a Kingdome, as my Father hath appointed to mee, that you may eat and drink ctt my table in my Kingdome, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. By which it is manifest, that the Kingdome of Christ appointed to him by his Father, is not to be before the Son of Man shall come in Glory, and make his Apostles Judges of the twelve tribes of Israel. But a man may here ask, seeing there is no marriage in the King- dome of Heaven, whether men shall then eat, and drink ; what eating therefore is meant in this place ? This is ex- pounded by our Saviour {John 6. 27.) where he saith, Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which en- dureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give you. So that by eating at Christs table, is meant the eating of the Tree of Life ; that is to say, the enjoying of Immor- tality, in the Kingdome of the Son of Man. By which places, and many more, it is evident, that our Saviours Kingdome is to bee exercised by him in his humane nature. Again, he is to be King then, no otherwise than as subor- christs dinate, or Vicegerent of God the Father, as Moses was in "" ;/" -'' the wildernesse ; and as the High Priests were before the •^^"f*""'' reign of Saul : and as the Kings were after it. For it is one subordinate ° . . " . .to that of of the Prophecies concerning Christ, that he should be like his Father. (in Office) to Moses : / 7vill raise them up a Prophet (saith the Lord, Deut. 18. i2>.)from amongst their Brethren like unto thee, and will put my words into his motith, and this similitude with Moses, is also apparent in the actions of our Saviour himself, whilest he was conversant on Earth. For as Moses chose twelve Princes of the tribes, to govern under him ; so did our Saviour choose twelve Apostles, who shall sit 265 on twelve thrones, and j udge the twelve tribes of Israel : And as Moses authorized Seventy Elders, to receive the Spirit of God, and to Prophecy to the people, that is, (as I have said before,) to Part-i. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. /^l. to speak unto them in the name of God ; so our Saviour also ordained seventy Disciples, to preach his Kingdome, and Salvation to all Nations. And as when a complaint was made to Moses, against those of the Seventy that prophecyed in the camp of Israel, he justified them in it, as being sub- servient therein to his government ; so also our Saviour, when St. John complained to him of a certain man that cast out Devills in his name, justified him therein, saying, {Ltike g. 50.) Fo7-bid him not, for hee that is not against us, is on our part. Again, our Saviour resembled Moses in the institution of Sacraments, both of Admission into the Kingdome of God, and of Commemoratio7i of his deliverance of his Elect from their miserable condition. As the Children of Israel had for Sacrament of their Reception into the Kingdome of God, before the time of Moses, the rite of Circumcision, which rite having been omitted in the Wildernesse, was again restored as soon as they came into the land of Promise; so also the Jews, before the coming of our Saviour, had a rite oi Baptizing, that is, of washing with water all those that being Gentiles, embraced the God of Israel. This rite St. John the Baptist used in the reception of all them that gave their names to the Christ, whom hee preached to bee already come into the world ; and our Saviour instituted the same for a Sacra- ment to be taken by all that beleeved in him. From what cause the rite of Baptisme first proceeded, is not expressed formally in the Scripture ; but it may be probably thought to be an imitation of the law of Moses, concerning Leprousie ; wherein the Leprous man was commanded to be kept out of the campe of Israel for a certain time ; after which time being judged by the Priest to be clean, hee was admitted into the campe after a solemne Washing. And this may therefore bee a type of the Washing in Baptisme ; wherein such men as are cleansed of the Leprousie of Sin by Faith, are received into the Church with the solemnity of Baptisme. There is another conjecture drawn from the Ceremonies of the Gentiles, in a certain case that rarely happens ; and that is, when a man that was thought dead, chanced to recover, other Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.^\. 389 other men made scruple to converse with him, as they would doe to converse with a Ghost, unlesse hee were received again into the number of men, by Washing, as Children new born were washed from the uncleannesse of their nativity, which was a kind of new birth. This ceremony of the Greeks, in the time that Judsea was under the Dominion of Alexander, and the Greeks his successors, may probably enough have crept into the Religion of the Jews. But seeing it is not likely our Saviour would countenance a Heathen rite, it is most likely it proceeded from the Legall Ceremony of Washing after Leprosie. And for the other Sacrament, of 266 eating the Paschall Lambe, it is manifestly imitated in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper -/m which the Breaking of the Bread, and the pouring out of the Wine, do keep in memory our deliverance from the Misery of Sin, by Christs Passion, as the eating of the Paschall Lambe, kept in memory the deliverance of the Jewes out of the Bondage of Egypt. Seeing therefore the authority of Moses was but subordinate, and hee but a Lieutenant to God ; it followeth, that Christ, whose authority, as man, was to bee like that of Moses, was no more but subordinate to the authority of his Father. The same is more expressely signified, by that that hee teacheth us to pray. Our Father, Let thy Kingdome come ; and, For thine is the Kingdome, the Power, and the Glory ; and by that it is said, that Hee shall cotne in the Glory of his Father; and by that which St. Paul saith, (i Cor. 15. 24. ) then commeth the end, when hee shall have delivered up the Kingdome to God, even the Father; and by many other most expresse places. Our Saviour therefore, both in Teaching, and Reigning, One and representeth (as Moses did ) the Person of God ; which God cod is the from that time forward, but not before, is called the Father ; presented and being still one and the same substance, is one Person as ''^^'^Z"' represented by Moses, and another Person as represented Christ. by his Sonne the Christ. For Person being a relative to a Representer, it is consequent to plurality of Representers, that there bee a plurality of Persons, though of one and the same Substance. CHAP. 390 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 43. CHAP. XL II. Of Power Ecclesiastical l. FOr the understanding ofPovvEREccLESiASTi- 267 CALL, what, and in whom it is, we are to distinguish the time from the Ascension of our Saviour, into two parts ; one before the Conversion of Kings, and men endued with Soveraign Civill Power; the other after their Conversion. For it was long after the Ascension, before any King, or Civill Soveraign embraced, and publiquely allowed the teaching of Christian Religion. Of the And for the time between, it is manifest, that the Power Holy spirit ' that felon Ecclesiasticall, was in the Apostles ; and after them m such as were by them ordained to Preach the Gospell, and to con- vert men to Christianity, and to direct them that were con- verted in the way of Salvation ; and after these the Power was delivered again to others by these ordained, and this was done by Imposition of hands upon such as were or- dained ; by which was signified the giving of the Holy Spirit, or Spirit of God, to those whom they ordained Ministers of God, to advance his Kingdome. So that Imposition of hands, was nothing else but the Seal of their Commission to Preach Christ, and teach his Doctrine ; and the giving of the Holy Ghost by that ceremony of Imposition of hands, was an imitation of that which Moses did. For Moses used the same ceremony to his Minister Joshua, as wee read Deu- teronomy 34. ver. 9. And loshua the Son of Nun was full of the Spirit of VVisdome ; for Moses had laid his hands upon him. Our Saviour therefore between his Resurrection, and Ascension, gave his Spirit to the Apostles; first, by Breathing on them, and saying, (John 20. 22.) Receive yee the Holy Spirit; and after his Ascension {Acts 2. 2, 3.) by sending down upon them, a mighty wind, and Cloven tongues of fire ; and not by Imposition of hands ; as neither did God lay his hands on Moses : and his Apostles afterward, trans- mitted the same Spirit by Imposition of hands, as Moses did Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. /\.2. 391 did to Joshua. So that it is manifest hereby, in whom the Power Ecclesiasticall continually remained, in those first times, where there was not any Christian Common-wealth ; namely, in them that received the same from the Apostles, by successive laying on of hands. Here wee have the Person of God born now the third 9^ "^, Trinity, time. For as Moses, and the High Priests, were Gods Re- presentative in the Old Testament ; and our Saviour himselfe as Man, during his abode on earth : So the Holy Ghost, that is to say, the Apostles, and their successors, in the Office 268 of Preaching, and Teaching, that had received the Holy Spirit, have Represented him ever since. But a Person, (as I have shewn before, chapt. 13.) is he that is Represented, as often as hee is Represented ; and therefore God, who has been Represented (that is, Personated) thrice, may properly enough be said to be three Persons ; though neither the word Person, nor Trinity be ascribed to him in the Bible. St. lohn indeed (r Epist. 5. 7.) saith, There be three that, bear witnesse in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit ; and these Three are One : But this disagreeth not, but accordeth fitly with three Persons in the proper signification of Persons ; which is, that which is Represented by another. For so God the Father, as Represented by Moses, is one Person ; and as Represented by his Sonne, another Person ; and as Represented by the Apostles, and by the Doctors that taught by authority from them derived, is a third Person ; and yet every Person here, is the Person of one and the same God. But a man may here ask, what it was whereof these three bare M'itnesse. St. John therefore tells us (verse II.) that they bear witnesse, that God hath given us eternall life in his Son. Again, if it should bee asked, wherein that testimony appeareth, the Answer is easie ; for he hath testi- fied the same by the miracles he wrought, first by Moses ; secondly, by his Son himself; and lastly by his Apostles, that had received the Holy Spirit ; all which in their times Represented the Person of God ; and either prophecyed, or preached Jesus Christ. And as for the Apostles, it was the character 392 Parfi. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ^2. character of the Apostleship, in the twelve first and great Apostles, to bear Witnesse of his Resurrection ; as appeareth expressely {Acts i. ver. 21, 22.) where St. Peter, when a new Apostle was to be chosen in the place of Judas Iscariot, useth these words. Of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in mid met amongst us, be- ginning at the Baptisme of lohn, unto that same day that hee was taken up from us, must one bee ordained to be a Witnesse with us of his Resurrection : which words interpret the bearing of Witnesse, mentioned by St. John. There is in the same place mentioned another Trinity of Witnesses in Earth. For (ver. 8. ) he saith, there are three tliat bear Wit- nesse in Earth, tlie Spirit, and the Water, and the Bloud ; and these three agree in one : that is to say, the graces of Gods Spirit, and the two Sacraments, Baptisme, and the Lords Supper, which all agree in one Testimony, to assure the con- sciences of beleevers, of eternall life ; of which Testimony he saith (verse 10.) He that beleeveth on the Son of man hath the Witnesse in himself. In this Trinity on Earth, the Unity is not of the thing ; for the Spirit, the Water, and the Bloud, are not the same substance, though they give the same testimony : But in the Trinity of Heaven, the Persons are the persons of one and the same God, though Repre- sented in three different times and occasions. To conclude, the doctrine of the Trinity, as far as can be gathered directly from the Scripture, is in substance this ; that the God who is alwaies One and the same, was the Person Represented by Moses ; the Person Represented by his Son Incarnate ; 269 and the Person Represented by the Apostles. As Repre- sented by the Apostles, the Holy Spirit by which they spake, is God ; As Represented by his Son (that was God and Man), the Son is that God; As represented by Moses, and the High Priests, the Father, that is to say, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is that God: From whence we may gather the reason why those names Father, Son, and Hoiy Spirit in the signification of the Godhead, are never used in the Old Testament : For they are Persons, that is, they have their names Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^2. 393 names from Representing ; which could not be, till divers men had Represented Gods Person in ruling, or in directing under him. Thus wee see how the Power Ecclesiasticall was left by our Saviour to the Apostles ; and how they were (to the end they might the better exercise that Power,) endued with the Holy Spirit, which is therefore called sometime in the New Testament Paradetus which signifieth an Assisier, or one called to for helpe, though it bee commonly translated a Comforter. Let us now consider the Power it selfe, what it was, and over whom. Cardinall Bellarmine in his third generall Controversie, The Power ^ Ecclesias- hath handled a great many questions concerning the Eccle- tUaii is siasticall Power of the Pope of Rome ; and begins with this, fower to Whether it ought to be Monarchical!, Aristocraticall, or ^'^"" Democraticall. All which sorts of Power, are Soveraign, and Coercive. If now it should appear, that there is no Coer- cive Power left them by our Saviour ; but onely a Power to proclaim the Kingdom of Christ, and to perswade men to submit themselves thereunto ; and by precepts and good counsell, to teach them that have submitted, what they are to do, that they may be received into the Kingdom of God when it comes; and that the Apostles, and other Ministers of the Gospel, are our Schoolemasters, and not our Com- manders, and their Precepts not Laws, but wholesome Coun- sells ; then were all that dispute in vain. I have shewn already (in the last Chapter,) that the King- ^" argu- dome of Christ is not of this world : therefore neither can of, the his Ministers (unlesse they be Kings,) require obedience in chi-Tst" his name. For if the Supreme King, have not his Regall Power in this world ; by what authority can obedience be required to his Officers ? As my Father sent me, (so saith our Saviour) I send you. But our Saviour was sent to per- swade the Jews to return to, and to invite the Gentiles, to receive the Kingdome of his Father, and not to reign in Majesty, no not, as his Fathers Lieutenant, till the day of Judgment. The himself : 394 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. From ike name of Regenera- tion : From the comparison 0/ ii, Tijith Fishing, Leaven, Seed. From the nature of Faith : 2 Cor. 1. 24. Fro/n the Atitliortty The time between the Ascension, and the generall Resur- rection, is called, not a Reigning, but a Regeneration ; that is, a Preparation of men for the second and glorious coming of Christ, at the day of Judgment ; as appeareth by the words of our Saviour, Mat. 19. 28. You that have followed me in the Regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, you shall also sit upon twelve Thrones ; And of St. Paul (Ephes. 6. 15.) Having your feet shod with the Preparation of the Gospell of Peace. And is compared by our Saviour, to Fishing ; that is, to winning men to obedience, not by Coercion, and Punishing ; but by Perswasion : and therefore he said not to his Apostles, hee would make them so many Nimrods, Hunters of men ; but Fishers of men. It is compared also to Leaven ; to Sowing of Seed, and to the Multiplication of a grain of Mustard-seed ; by all which Compulsion is excluded ; and consequently there can in that time be no actual Reigning. The work of Christs Ministers, is Evangelization ; that is, a Proclamation of Christ, and a preparation for his second comming ; as the Evangelization of John Baptist, was a pre- paration to his first coming. Again, the Office of Christs Ministers in this world, is tc make men Beleeve, and have Faith in Christ : But Faith hath no relation to, nor dependence at all upon Compulsion, or Commandement ; but onely upon certainty, or probability of Arguments drawn from Reason, or from something men beleeve already. Therefore the Ministers of Christ in this world, have no Power by that title, to Punish any man for not Beleeving, or for Contradicting what they say ; they have I say no Power by that title of Christs Ministers, to Punish such : but if they have Sovereign Civill Power, by pohtick institution, then they may indeed lawfully Punish any Con- tradiction to their laws whatsoever : And St. Paul, of him- selfe and other the then Preachers of the Gospell, saith in expresse words. Wee have no Domitiion over your Faith but are Helpers of your Joy. Another Argument, that the Ministers of Christ in this present 270 Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. iz. 395 present world have no right of Commanding, may be drawn Christ hath from the lawfull Authority which Christ hath left to all Civiii Prmces, as well Christians, as Infidels. St. Paul saith {Col. 3. 20.) Children obey your Parents in all things ; for this is well pleasing to the Lord. And ver. 22. Servants obey in all things your Masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singlenesse of heart, as fearing the Lord: This is spoken to them whose Masters were Infidells ; and yet they are bidden to obey them in all things. And again, concerning obedience to Princes. {Rom. 13. the first 6. verses) exhorting to be subject to the Higher Powers, he saith, that all Power is ordained of God ; and that we ought to be subject to them, not onelyfor fear of incurring their wrath, but also for conscience sake. And St. Peter, (i Epist. chap. 2. ver. 13, 14, 15.) Submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man, for the Lords sake, whether it bee to the King, as Supreme, or unto Governours, as to thein that be sent by him for the punishment of evill doers, and for the praise of them that doe well ; for so is the will of God. And again St. Paul (Tit. 3. I.) Put 7nen in mind to be subject to Principalities, and Powers, and to obey Magistrates. These Princes, and Powers, whereof St. Peter, and St. Paul here speak, were all Infidels : 271 much more therefore we are to observe those Christians, whom God hath ordained to have Soveraign Power over us. How then can wee be obliged to obey any Minister of Christ, if he should command us to doe any thing contrary 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? ^t^therefbre manifest, that Christ hath not left to his Ministers in this world, unlesse they be also endued with Civill Authority, any authority to Com- mand other men. But what (may some object) if a King, or a Senate, or other What ^ Christians Soveraign Person forbid us to beleeve in Christ ? To this may do to ^ . . . . .. . f. f- , ,. avoid per- I answer, that such forbiddmg is of no effect ; because Le- secution. leef, and Unbeleef never follow mens Commands. Faith is a gift of Godj which Man can neither give, nor take away by 396 Partz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. \2. by promise of rewards, or menaces of torture. And if it be further asked, What if wee bee commanded by our lawfull Prince, to say with our tongue, wee beleeve not \ must we obey such command ? Profession with the tongue is but an externall thing, and no more then any other gesture whereby we signifie our obedience ; and wherein a Christian, holding firmely in his heart the Faith of Christ, hath the same liberty which the Prophet Elisha allowed to Naaman the Syrian. Naaman was converted in his heart to the God of Israel; For hee saith (2 Kings 5. 17.) Thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering, nor sacrifice unto other Gods but unto the Lord. In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my Master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand ; and I bow my selfe in the house of Rimi7ion ; ivhen I bow my selfe in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing. This the Prophet approved, and bid him Goe in peace. Here Naaman beleeved in his heart ; but by bowing before the Idol Rimmon, he denyed the true God in effect, as much as if he had done it with his lips. But then what shall we answer to our Saviours saying. Whosoever denyeth me before men, I will deny him before my Father which is in Heaven 1 This we may say, that whatsoever a Subject, as Naaman was, is compelled to in obedience to his Soveraign, and doth it not in order to his own mind, but in order to the laws of his country, that action is not his, but his Sove- raigns ; nor is it he that in this case denyeth Christ before men, but his Governour, and the law of his countrey. If any man shall accuse this doctrine, as repugnant to true, and unfegined Christianity; I ask him, in case there should be a subject in any Christian Common-wealth, that should be inwardly in his heart of the Mahometan Religion, whether if his Soveraign command him to bee present at the divine service of the Christian Church, and that on pain of death, he think that Mahometan obliged in conscience to suffer death for that cause, rather than to obey that command of his lawfull Prince. If he say, he ought rather to suffer death, then tyrs. Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. \i. 397 then he authorizeth all private men, to disobey their Princes, 272 in maintenance of their Religion, true, or false : if he say, he ought to bee obedient, then he alloweth to himself, that which hee denyeth to another, contrary to the words of our Saviour, Whatsoever you would that men should doe unto you, that doe yee unto them ; and contrary to the Law of Nature, (which is the indubitable everlasting Law of God) Bo not to another, that which thou wouldest not he should doe unto thee. But what then shall we say of all those Martyrs we read Of Mar- of in the History of the Church, that they have needlessely cast away their lives ? For answer hereunto, we are to dis- tinguish the persons that have been for that cause put to death ; whereof some have received a Calling to preach, and professe the Kingdome of Christ openly ; others have had no such Calling, nor more has been required of them than their owne faith. The former sort, if they have been put to death, for bearing witnesse to this point, that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, were true Martyrs ; For a Martyr is, (to give the true definition of the word) a Witnesse of the Resurrection of Jesus the Messiah ; which none can be but those that conversed with him on earth, and saw him after he was risen : For a Witnesse must have seen what he tesii- fieth, or else his testimony is not good. And that none but such, can properly be called Martyrs of Christ, is manifest out of the words of St. Peter, Act. i. 21, 22. Wherefore of these men which have companyed with us all the time that the Lord lesus went in and out amongst us beginning from the Baptisme of lohn unto that same day hee was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a Martyr (that is a Witnesse) with us of his Resurrection : Where we may observe, that he which is to bee a Witnesse of the truth of the Resurrection of Christ, that is to say, of the truth of this fundamentall article of Christian Religion, that Jesus was the Christ, must be some Disciple that conversed with him, and saw him before, and after his Resurrection ; and conse- quently must be one of his originall Disciples : whereas they which were not so, can Witnesse no more, but that their antecessors 398 Parti. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ifl. antecessors said it, and are therefore but Witnesses of other mens testimony ; and are but second Martyrs, or Martyrs of Christs Witnesses. He, that to maintain every doctrine which he himself draweth out of the History our Saviours of life, and of the Acts, or Epistles of the Apostles ; or which he beleeveth upon the authority of a private man, wil oppose the Laws and Authority of the Civill State, is very far from being a Martyr of Christ, or a Martyr of his Martyrs. 'Tis one Article onely, which to die for, meriteth so honorable a name ; and that Article is this, that lesus is the Christ ; that is to say, He that hath redeemed us, and shall come again to give us salvation, and eternall life in his glorious King- dome. To die for every tenet that serveth the ambition, or profit of the Clergy, is not required ; nor is it the Death of the Witnesse, but the Testimony it self that makes the Martyr : for the word signifieth nothing else, but the man that beareth Witnesse, whether he be put to death for his testimony, or not. Also he that is not sent to preach this fundamental! article, but taketh it upon him of his private authority, though he be a Witnesse, and consequently a Martyr, either primary of 273 Christ, or secundary of his Apostles, Disciples, or their Suc- cessors ; yet is he not obliged to suffer death for that cause ; because being not called thereto, tis not required at his hands ; nor ought hee to complain, if he loseth 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. For no man is a Witnesse to him that already beleeveth, and therefore needs no Witnesse ; but to them that deny, or doubt, or have not heard it. Christ sent his Apostles, and his Seventy Disciples, with authority to preach ; he sent not all that beleeved : And he sent them to unbeleevers ; / send you (saith he) as sheep amongst wolves : not as sheep to other sheep. frJmlT -^^^''y' '^^ P°'"'^ °f t'^^''' Commission, as they are ex- pressely Pari I. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. \i. 399 pressely set down in the Gospel, contain none of them any fo'nts of . tkeir Cotn- authority over the Congregation. mission, We have first (M«/. 10.) that the twelve Apostles were To Preach sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and commanded to Preach, that the Kingdome of God was at hand. Now Preaching in the original], is that act, which a Crier, Herald, or other Officer useth to doe publiquely in Proclaiming of a King. But a Crier hath not right to Command any man. And {Luke 10. 2.) the seventy Disciples are sent out, as Labourers, not as Lords of the Harvest; and are bidden (verse 9.) to say, The Kingdome of God is come nigh unto you; and by Kingdom here is meant, not the Kingdome of Grace, but the Kingdome of Glory ; for they are bidden to denounce it (ver. II.) to those Cities which shall not receive them, as a threatning, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodome, than for such a City. And {Mat. 20. 28.) our Saviour telleth his Disciples, that sought Priority of place, their Office was to minister, even as the Son of man came, not to be ministred unto, but to minister. Preachers there- fore have not Magisteriall, but Ministeriall power : Bee not called Masters, (saith our Saviour, Mat. 23. 10.) for one is your Master, even Christ. Another point of their Commission, is, to Teach all nations ; ^"'^ , '■ leach as it is in Mat. 28. ig. or as in St. Mark 16. 15. Goe into all the world, and Preach the Gospel to every creature. Teach- ing therefore, and Preaching is the same thing. For they that Proclaim the comming of a King, must withall make known by what right he commeth, if they mean men shall submit themselves unto him : As St. Paul did to the Jews of Thessalonica, when three Sabbath dayes he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening, and alledging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead, and that this lesus is Christ. But to teach out of the Old Testament that Jesus was Christ, (that is to say. King,) and risen from the dead, is not to say, that men are bound after they beleeve it, to obey those that tell them so, against the laws, and commands of their Soveraigns; but that they shall doe 400 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. doe wisely, to expect the coming of Christ hereafter, in 274 Patience, and Faith, with Obedience to their present Magis- trates. Jo^Bap- Another point of their Commission, is to Baptize, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. What is Baptisme ? Dipping into water. But what is it to Dip a man into the water in the name of any thing ? The meaning of these words of Baptisme is this. He that is Baptized, is Dipped or Washed, as a sign of becomming a new man, and a loyall subject to that God, whose Person was represented in old time by Moses, and the High Priests, when he reigned over the Jews ; and to Jesus Christ, his Sonne, God, and Man, that hath redeemed us, and shall in his humane nature Represent his Fathers Person in his eternall Kingdome after the Resurrection ; and to acknow- ledge the Doctrine of the Apostles, who assisted by the Spirit of the Father, and of the Son, were left for guides to bring us into that Kingdome, to be the onely, and assured way thereunto. This, being our promise in Baptisme ; and the Authority of Earthly Soveraigns being not to be put down till the day of Judgment ; (for that is expressely affirmed by St. Paul i Cor. 15. 22, 23, 24, where he saith, As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his ouine order, Christ the first fruits, afterward they that are Christs, at his comming ; Then commeth the end, when he shall have delivered icp the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all Rule, and all Au- thority and Power) it is manifest, that we do not in Baptisme constitute over us another authority, by which our externall actions are to bee governed in this life ; but promise to take the doctrine of the Apostles for our direction in the way to life eternall. And to The Power of Remission, and Retention of Sinnes, called rorgwe, '' ' and Retain also the Power oi Loosing, and Binding, and sometimes the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven, is a consequence of the Authority to Baptize, or refuse to Baptize. For Baptisme is the Sacrament of AUegeance, of them that are to be received into Parfi. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^2. 401 into the Kingdome of God; that is to say, into Eternall hfe; that is to say, to Remission of Sin : For as Eternall life was lost by the Committing, so it is recovered by the Remitting of mens Sins. The end of Baptisme is Remission of Sins : and therefore St. Peter, wheti they that were converted by his Sermon on the day of Pentecost, asked what they were to doe, advised them to repent, and be Baptized in the name of Iesus,for the Remission of Sins. And therefore seeing to Baptize is to declare the Reception of men into Gods King- dome ; and to refuse to Baptize is to declare their Exclusion ; it followeth, that the Power to declare them Cast out, or Retained in it, was given to the same Apostles, and their Substitutes, and Successors. And therefore after our Saviour had breathed upon them, saying, {lohn 20. 23.) Receive the Holy Ghost, hee addeth in the next verse. Whose soei.e- pentance, is thereby without other act, or sentence of the Absolvent, made void, and hath no effect at all to Salvation, but on the contrary, to the Aggravation of his Sin. Therefore the Apostles, and their Successors, are to follow but the outward marks of Repentance ; which appearing, they have no Authority to deny Absolution ; and if they appeare not, they have no authority to Absolve. The same also is to be observed in Baptisme: for to a converted Jew, or Gentile, the Apostles had not the Power to deny Baptisme ; nor to grant it to the Un-penitent. But seeing no man is able to discern the truth of another mans Repentance, further than by externall marks, taken from his words, and actions, which are subject to hypocrisie ; another question will arise. Who it is that is constituted Judge of those marks. And this question is decided by our Saviour himself; If thy Brother Aiat.iS.is, 2 D (saith 402 Partz- OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. \2. (saith he) shal trespasse against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee, and him alone ; if shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy Brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one, or two more. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church ; but if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as an Heathen man, and a Pub- lican. By which it is manifest, that the Judgment concern- ing the truth of Repentance, belonged not to any one Man, but to the Church, that is, to the Assembly of the Faithfull, or to them that have authority to bee their Representant. But besides the Judgment, there is necessary also the pro- nouncing of Sentence : And this belonged alwaies to the Apostle, or some Pastor of the Church, as Prolocutor ; and of this our Saviour speaketh in the i8 verse, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. And con- formable hereunto was the practise of St. Paul (i Cor. 5. 3, 4, & 5.) where he saith. For T verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have determined already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed ; In the name of our Lord lesus Christ when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord lesus Christ, To de- liver such a one to Satan ; that is to say, to cast him out of the Church, as a man whose Sins are not Forgiven. Paul here pronounceth the Sentence ; but the Assembly was first to hear the Cause, (for St. Paul was absent;) and by conse- quence to condemn him. But in the same chapter (ver. 11, 12.) the Judgment in such a case is more expressely attri- buted to the Assembly : But now I have written unto you, not to keep company, if any man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator, cS-'c. with such a one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judg them that are without ? Do not yefudg them that are within ? The Sentence therefore by which a man was put out of Church, was pronounced by the Apostle, or Pastor ; but the Judgment concerning the merit of the cause, was in the Church ; that is to say, (as the times were before the conversion of Kings, and men that had Soveraign Authority Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.d,2. 403 Authority in the Gommon-wealth,) the Assembly of the 276 Christians dweUing in the same City ; as in Corinth, in the Assembly of the Christians of Corinth. This part of the Power of the Keyes, by which men were Of Excom- thrust out from the Kingdom of God, is that which is called Excommunication ; and to excommunicate, is in the Originall, aTToouj/dywyou ttoieTv, to cast out of the Synagogue ; that is, out of the place of Divine service; a word drawn from the custome of the Jews, to cast out of their Synagogues, such as they thought in manners, or doctrine, contagious, as Lepers were by the Law of Moses separated from the con- gregation of Israel, till such time as they should be by the Priest pronounced clean. The Use and Effect of Excommunication, whitest it was The me of not yet strengthened with the CiviU Power, was no more, munkation. than that they, who were not Excommunicate, were to avoid ™J^;/" the company of them that were. It was not enough to P'™^''- repute them as Heathen, that never had been Christians ; for with such they might eate, and drink ; which with Ex- communicate persons they might not do ; as appeareth by the words of St. Paul, (i Cor. 5. ver. 9, 10, S^c.) where he telleth them, he had formerly forbidden them to company with Fornicators ; but (because that could not bee without going out of the world,) he restraineth it to such Fornicators, and otherwise vicious persons, as were of the brethren ; with such a one (he saith) they ought not to keep company, no not to eat. And this is no more than our Saviour saith {yiat. 18. 17.) Let him be to thee as a Heathen, and as a Publican. For Publicans (which signifieth Farmers, and Receivers of the revenue of the Common-wealth) were so hated, and detested by the Jews that were to pay it, as that Publican and Sinner were taken amongst them for the same thing : Insomuch, as when our Saviour accepted the invita- tion o{ Zacchmus a Publican; though it were to Convert him, yet it was objected to him as a Crime. And therefore, when our Saviour, to Heathen, added Publican, he did forbid them to eat with a man Excommunicate. As 404 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. Acts 9. 2. Of -no effect upon an Apostate, But upon the faith- full only. As for keeping them out of their Synagogues, or places of Assembly, they had no Power to do it, but that of the owner of the place, whether he were Christian, or Heathen. And because all places are by right, in the Dominion -of the Common-wealth ; as well hee that was Excommunicated, as hee that never was Baptized, might enter inter into them by Commission from the Civill Magistrate; as Paul before his conversion entred into their Synagogues at Damascus, to apprehend Christians, men and women, and to carry them bound to Jerusalem, by Commission from the High Priest. By which it appears, that upon a Christian, that should become an Apostate, in a place where the Civill Power did persecute, or not assist the Church, the effect of Excommu- nication had nothing in it, neither of dammage in this world, nor of terrour: Not of terrour, because of their unbeleef; nor of dammage, because they are returned thereby into the favour of the world ; and in the world to come, were to be in no worse estate, then they which never had beleeved. The dammage redounded rather to the Church, by provo- cation of them they cast out, to a freer execution of their malice. Excommunication therefore had its effect onely upon those, that beleeved that Jesus Christ was to come again in Glor}', to reign over, and to judge both the quick, and the dead, and should therefore refuse entrance into his King- dom, to those whose sins were Retained ; that is, to those that were Excommunicated by the Church. And thence it is that St. Paul calleth Excommunication, a delivery of the Excommunicate person to Satan. For without the Kingdom of Christ, all other Kingdomes after Judgment, are comprehended in the Kingdome of Satan. This is it that the faithfull stood in fear of, as long as they stood Excommunicate, that is to say, in an estate wherein their sins were not Forgiven. Whereby wee may understand, that Excommunication in the time that Christian Religion was not authorized by the Civill Power, was used onely for a correction of manners, not of errours in opinion : for it is a 277 Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. i^z. 405 a punishment, whereof none could be sensible but such as beleeved, and expected the coming again of our Saviour to judge the world; and they who so beleeved, needed no other opinion, but onely uprightnesse of life, to be saved. There lyeth Excommunication for Injustice ; as (Ma/. 18.) For what ' > ^ I fault lyeth If thy Brother offend thee, tell it him privately ; then with Excommu- Witnesses ; lastly, tell the Church ; and then if he obey not, "'"" ''""' Let him be to thee as an Heathen man, and a Publican. And there lieth Excommunication for a Scandalous Life, as (i Cor. 5. IT-.) If any man that is called a Brother, be a Forni- cator, or Covetous, or an Idolater, or a Drunkard, or an Ex- tortioner, with such a one yee are not to eat. But to Excom- municate a man that held this foundation, that lesus was the Christ, for difference of opinion in other points, by which that Foundation was not destroyed, there appeareth no authority in the Scripture, nor example in the Apostles. There is indeed in St. Paul {Titus 3. 10.) a text that seemeth to be to the contrary. A man that is an Hceretique, after the first and second admonition, refect. For an Hceretique, is . he, that being a member of the Church, teacheth neverthe- lesse some private opinion, which the Church has forbidden : and such a one, S. Paul adviseth Titus, after the first, and second admonition, to Refect. But to Refect (in this place) is not to Excommunicate the Man ; But to give over admon- ishing him, to let him alone, to set by disputing with him, as one that is to be convinced onely by himselfe. The same Apostle saith (2 Tim. 2. 23.) Foolish and unlearned questions avoid: The word Avoid in this place, and Refect in the former, is the same in the Originall, irapaiTov : but Foolish questions may bee set by without Excommunication. And again, (Tit. 3. 9.) Avoid Foolish questions, where the Originall jr£|Oii'(7TO(To, {set them by) is equivalent to the former word Re- fect. There is no other place that can so much as colourably be drawn, to countenance the Casting out of the Church faithfull men, such as beleeved the foundation, onely for a singular superstructure of their own, proceeding perhaps from a good & pious conscience. But on the contrary, all such 4o6 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. Of persons liable to ExcoTtimu- nicatlon. such places as command avoiding such disputes, are written 278 for a Lesson to Pastors, (such as Timothy and Titus were) not to make new Articles of Faith, by determining every small controversie, which oblige men to a need- lesse burthen of Conscience, or provoke them to break the union of the Church. Which Lesson the Apostles themselves observed well. S. Peter, and S. Paul, though their controversie were great, (as we may read in Gal. 2. 11.) yet they did not cast one another out of the Church. Neverthelesse, during the Apostles times, there were other Pastors that observed it not; As Diotrephes (3 lohn 9. 6-=^.) who cast out of the Church, such as S. John himself thought fit to be received into it, out of a pride he took in Prae- eminence ; so early it was, that Vain-glory, and Ambition had found entrance into the Church of Christ. That a man be liable to Excommunication, there be many conditions requisite ; as First, that he be a member of some Commonalty, that is to say, of some lawfull Assembly, that is to say, of some Christian Church, that hath power to judge of the cause for which hee is to bee Excommunicated. For where there is no Community, there can bee no Excommu- nication ; nor where there is no power to Judge, can there bee any power to give Sentence. From hence it foUoweth, that one Church cannot be Excommunicated by another : For either they have equall power to Excommunicate each other, in which case Excom- munication is not Discipline, nor an act of Authority, but Schisme, and Dissolution of charity ; or one is so subordinate to the other, as that they both have but one voice, and then they be but one Church ; and the part Excommunicated, is no more a Church, but a dissolute number of individuall persons. And because the sentence of Excommunication, importeth an advice, not to keep company, nor so much as to eat with him that is Excommunicate, if a Soveraign Prince, or Assem- bly bee Excommunicate, the sentence is of no effect. For all Subjects are bound to be in the company and presence of Partz- COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.ifl. 407 of their own Soveraign (when he requireth it) by the law of Nature; nor can they lawfully either expell him from any place of his own Dominion, whether profane or holy ; nor go out of his Dominion, without his leave; much lesse (if he call them to that honour,) refuse to eat with him. And as to other Princes and States, because they are not parts of one and the same congregation, they need not any other sentence to keep them from keeping company with the State Excommunicate : for the very Institution, as it uniteth many men into one Community ; so it dissociateth one Community from another: so that Excommunication is not needfull for keeping Kings and States asunder ; nor has any further effect then is in the nature of Policy it selfe ; unlesse it be to instigate Princes to warre upon one another. Nor is the Excommunication of a Christian Subject, that obeyeth the laws of his own Soveraign, whether Christian, or Heathen, of any effect. For if he beleeve that lesus is 279 the Christ, he hath the Spirit of God, (i Joh. 4. i.) and God dwellethin him, and he in God, (i Joh. 4. 15.) But hee that hath the Spirit of God ; hee that dwelleth in God ; hee in whom God dwelleth, can receive no harm by the Excom- munication of men. Therefore, he that beleeveth Jesus to be the Christ, is free from all the dangers threatned to per- sons Excommunicate. He that beleeveth it not, is no Christian. Therefore a true and unfeigned Christian is not liable to Excommunication : Nor he also that is a professed Christian, till his Hypocrisy appear in his Manners, that is, till his behaviour bee contrary to the law of his Soveraign, which is the rule of Manners, and which Christ and his Apostles have commanded us to be subject to. For the Church cannot judge of Manners but by externall Actions, which Actions can never bee unlawfull, but when they are against the Law of the Common-wealth. If a mans Father, or Mother, or Master bee Excommuni- cate, yet are not the Children forbidden to keep them Com- pany, nor to Eat with them; for that were (for the most part) to oblige them not to eat at all, for want of means to get 4o8 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. get food ; and to authorize them to disobey their Parents, and Masters, contrary to the Precept of the Apostles; In summe, the Power of Excommunication cannot be extended further than to the end for which the Apostles and Pastors of the Church have their Commission from our Saviour ; which is not to rule by Command and Coaction, but by Teaching and Direction of men in the way of Salva- tion in the world to come. And as a Master in any Science, may abandon his Scholar, when hee obstinately neglecteth the practise of his rules ; but not accuse him of Injustice, because he was never bound to obey him : so a Teacher of Christian doctrine may abandon his Disciples that obsti- nately continue in an unchristian life ; but he cannot say, they doe him wrong, because they are not obliged to obey him : For to a Teacher that shall so complain, may be ap- plyed the Answer of God to Samuel in the like place. They I Sam. 8. have not rejected thee, but mee. Excommunication therefore when it wanteth the assistance of the Civill Power, as it doth, when a Christian State, or Prince is Excommunicate by a forain Authority, is without effect ; and consequently ought to be without terrour. The name of Fulmen Excommuni- cationis (that is, the Thunderbolt of Excommunication^ pro- ceeded from an imagination of the Bishop of Rome, which first used it, that he was King of Kings, as the Heathen made Jupiter King of the Gods ; and assigned him in their Poems, and Pictures, a Thunderbolt, wherewith to subdue, and punish the Giants, that should dare to deny his power ; Which imagination was grounded on two errours ; one, that the Kingdome of Christ is of this world, contrary to our Saviours owne words, My Kingdome is not of this world ; the other, that hee is Christs Vicar, not onely over his owne Sub- jects, but over all the Christians of the World ; whereof there is no ground in Scripture, and the contrary shall bee proved 280 in its due place. %i>nUr'f ^^' "^'^^^ coming to Thessalonica, where was a Synagogue the Scrip, of the Jcws, {Acts 17. 2. 3.) As his manner was, went in iures befm-e unto them, and three Sabbath dayes reasoned with tlu7n out Part 2,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ifl. 409 out of the Scriptures, Opening and alledging, that Christ Civil Sove- raigns be- must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead; came Chris- and that this lesus whom he preached was the Christ. The Scriptures here mentioned were the Scriptures of the Jews, that is, the Old Testament. The men, to whom he was to prove that Jesus was the Christ, and risen again from the dead, were also Jews, and did beleeve already, that they were the Word of God. Hereupon (as it is verse 4.) some of them beleeved, and (as it is in the 5. ver.) some beleeved not. What was the reason, when they all beleeved the Scripture, that they did not all beleeve alike ; but that some approved, others disapproved the Interpretation of St. Paul that cited them ; and every one Interpreted them to himself? It was this ; S. Paul came to them with- out any Legall Commission, and in the manner of one that would not Command, but Perswade ; which he must needs do, either by Miracles, as Moses did to the Israelites in Egypt, that they might see his Authority in Gods works ; or by Reasoning from the already received Scripture, that they might see the truth of his doctrine in Gods Word. But whosoever perswadeth by reasoning from principles written, maketh him to whom hee speaketh Judge, both of the meaning of those principles, and also of the force of his inferences upon them. If these Jews of Thessalonica were not, who else was the Judge of what S. Paul alledged out of Scripture ? If S. Paul, what needed he to quote any places to prove his doctrine ? It had been enough to have said, I find it so in Scripture, that is to say, in your Laws, of which I am Interpreter, as sent by Christ. The Interpreter there- fore of the Scripture, to whose Interpretation the Jews of Thessalonica were bound to stand, could be none : every one might beleeve, or not beleeve, according as the Allega- tions seemed to himselfe to be agreeable, or not agreeable to the meaning of the places alledged. And generally in all cases of the world, hee that pretendeth any proofe, maketh Judge of his proofe him to whom he addresseth his speech. And as to the case of the Jews in particular, they were bound by 4IO Parfi. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. \2. by expresse words {Deut. 17.) to receive the determination of all hard questions, from the Priests and Judges of Israel for the time being. But this is to bee understood of the Jews that were yet unconverted. For the conversion of the Gentiles, there was no use of alledging the Scriptures, which they beleeved not. The Apostles therefore laboured by Reason to confute their Idolatry ; and that done, to perswade them to the faith of Christ, by their testimony of his Life, and Resurrection. So that there could not yet bee any controversie concerning the authority to Interpret Scripture ; seeing no man was obliged during his infidelity, to follow any mans Interpretation of any Scripture, except his Soveraigns Interpretation of the Laws of his countrey. Let us now consider the Conversion it self, and see what 281 there was therein, that could be cause of such an obligation. Men were converted to no other thing then to the Beleef of that which the Apostles preached : And the Apostles preached nothing, but that Jesus was the Christ, that is to say, the King that was to save them, and reign over them eternally in the world to come ; and consequently that hee was not dead, but risen again from the dead, and gone up into Heaven, and should come again one day to judg the world, (which also should rise again to be judged, ) and reward every man according to his works. None of them preached that himselfe, or any other Apostle was such an Interpreter of the Scripture, as all that became Christians, ought to take their Interpretation for Law. For to Interpret the Laws, is part of the Administration of a present Kingdome ; which the Apostles had not. They prayed then, and all other Pastors ever since. Let thy Kmgdome come; and exhorted their Converts to obey their then Ethnique Princes. The New Testament was not yet published in one Body. Every of the Evangelists was Interpreter of his own Gospel ; and every Apostle of his own Epistle ; And of the Old Testament, our Saviour himselfe saith to the Jews {jfohn 5. 39. ) Search the Scriptures -jfor in them yee thinke to have eternall life, and they Party COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. /^2. 411 they are they that testifie of me. If hee had not meant they should Interpret them, hee would not have bidden them take thence the proof of his being the Christ : he would either have Interpreted them himselfe, or referred them to the In- terpretation of the Priests. When a difficulty arose, the Apostles and Elders of the Church assembled themselves together, and determined what should bee preached, and taught, and how they should Interpret the Scriptures to the People ; but took not from the People the liberty to read, and Interpret them to them- selves. The Apostles sent divers Letters to the Churches, and other Writings for their instruction ; which had been in vain, if they had not allowed them to Interpret, that is, to consider the meaning of them. And as it was in the Apostles time, it must be till such time as there should be Pastors, that could authorise an Interpreter, whose Interpretation should generally be stood to : But that could not be till Kings were Pastors, or Pastors Kings. There be two senses, wherein a Writing may be said to Of the I-'owef to be Canonicall ; for Canon, sigmfieth a Rule ; and a Rule is mai:e a Precept, by which a man is guided, and directed in any ^^af "''" action whatsoever. Such Precepts, though given by a Teacher to his Disciple, or a Counsellor to his friend, with- out power to Compell him to observe them, are neverthelesse Canons ; because they are Rules : But when they are given by one, whom he that receiveth them is bound to obey, then are those Canons, not onely Rules, but Laws : The question therefore here, is of the Power to make the Scrip- tures (which are the Rules of Christian Faith) Laws. That part of the Scripture, which was first Law, was the 0/ the Ten Comman- Ten Commandements, written in two Tables of Stone, and dements. 282 delivered by God himselfe to Moses ; and by Moses made known to the people. Before that time there was no written Law of God, who as yet having not chosen any people to bee his peculiar Kingdome, had given no Law to men, but the Law of Nature, that is to say, the Precepts of Naturall Reason, written in every mans own heart. Of these two Tables, 412 Parlz- OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. \2. Tables, the first containeth the law of Soveraignty ; i. That they should not obey, nor honour the Gods of other Nations, in these words, Non habebis Deos alienos coram me, that is. Thou shalt not have for Gods, the Gods that other Nations worship ; but onely me: whereby they were forbidden to obey, or honor, as their King and Governour, any other God, than him that spake unto them then by Moses, and after- wards by the High Priest. 2. That they should not make any Image to represent him ; that is to say, they were not to choose to themselves, neither in heaven, nor in earth, any Representative of their own fancying, but obey Moses and Aaron, whom he had appointed to that office. 3. That t]iey should not take the Name of God in vain ; that is, they should not speak rashly of their King, nor dispute his Right, nor the commissions of Moses and Aaron, his Lieutenants. 4. That they should every Seventh day abstain from their or- dinary laborer, and employ that time in doing him Publique Honor. The second Table containeth the Duty of one man towards another, as To honor Parents ; Not to kill; Not to Commit Adultery; Not to steak; Not to corrupt Judgment by false witnesse; and finally, Not so much as to designe in their heart the doing of any injury one to another. The question now is. Who it was that gave to these written Tables the obligatory force of Lawes. There is no doubt but they were made Laws by God himselfe : But because a Law obliges not, nor is Law to any, but to them that acknowledge it to be the act of the Soveraign ; how could the people of Israel that were forbidden to approach the Mountain to hear what God said to Moses, be obliged to obedience to all those laws which Moses propounded to them? Some of them were indeed the Laws of Nature, as all the Second Table ; and therefore to be acknowledged for Gods Laws ; not to the Israelites alone, but to all people : But of those that were peculiar to the Israelites, as those of the first Table the question remains ; saving that they had obliged them- selves, presently after the propounding of them, to obey Moses, in these words {Exod. 20. ig.) Speak thou to us, and we PartT,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^,1. 413 Tjue will hear thee; but let not God speak to us, lest we dye. It was therefore onely Moses then, and after him the High Priest, whom (by Moses) God declared should administer this his peculiar Kingdome, that had on Earth, the power to make this short Scripture of the Decalogue to bee Law in the Common-wealth of Israel. But Moses, and Aaron, and the succeeding High Priests were the Civill Soveraigns. Therefore hitherto, the Canonizing, or making of the Scrip- ture Law, belonged to the Civill Soveraigne. The Judiciall Law, that is to say, the Laws that God pre- Of the scribed to the Magistrates of Israel, for the rule of their ad- and Leviti- 283 ministration of Justice, and of the Sentences, or Judgments '^'^^ ^'''^' they should pronounce, in Pleas between man and man ; and the Leviticall Law, that is to say, the rule that God pre- scribed touching the Rites and Ceremonies of the Priests and Levites, were all delivered to them by Moses onely ; and therefore also became Lawes, by vertue of the same promise of obedience to Moses. Whether these laws were then vnritten, or not written, but dictated to the People by Moses (after his forty dayes being with God in the Mount) by word of mouth, is not expressed in the Text ; but they were all positive Laws, and equivalent to holy Scripture, and made Canonicall by Moses the Civill Soveraign. After the Israelites were come into the Plains of Moab The Second over against Jericho, and ready to enter into the land of Promise, Moses to the former Laws added divers others ; which therefore are called .Deuteronomy; that is. Second Laws. And are (as it is written, Deut. 29. i.) The words of a Covenant which the Lord commattded Moses to make with the Children of Israel, besides the Covenant which he made with them in Horeb. For having explained those former Laws, in the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy, he addeth others; that begin at the 12. Cha. and continue to the end of the 26. of the same Book. This Law {Deut. 27. I.) they were commanded to virite upon great stones playstered over, at their passing over Jordan : This Law also was written by Moses himself in a Book ; and delivered into the Law. 414 Partz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ifl. the hands of the Priests, and to the Elders of Israel. {Deuf. 31. 9.) and commanded (ve. 26.) to be put in the side of the Arke ; for in the Ark it selfe was nothing but the Ten Coin- mandements. This was the Law, which Moses {Deuteronomy 17. 18.) commanded the Kings of Israel should keep a copie of: And this is the Law, which having been long time lost, was found again in the Temple in the time of Josiah, and by his authority received for the Law of God. But both Moses at the writing, and Josiah at the recovery thereof, had both of them the Civill Soveraignty. Hitherto therefore the Power of making Scripture Canonical!, was in the Civill Soveraign. Besides this Book of the Law, there was no other Book, from the time of Moses, till after the Captivity, received amongst the Jews for the Law of God. For the Prophets (except a few) lived in the time of the Captivity, it selfe ; and the rest lived but a little before it ; and were so far from having their Prophecies generally received for Laws, as that their persons were persecuted, partly by false Prophets, and partly by the Kings which were seduced by them. And this Book it self, which was confirmed by Josiah for the Law of God, and with it all the History of the Works of God, was lost in the Captivity, and sack of the City of Jerusalem, as appears by that of 2 Esdras 14. 21. Thy Law is burnt; therefore no vtan knoweth the things that are done of thee, or the works that shall begin. And before the Cap- tivity, between the time when the Law was lost, (which is not mentioned in the Scripture, but may probably be thought 'il.'it^' to be the time of Rehoboam, when* Shishak King of Egypt took the spoile of the Temple,) and the time of Josiah, when it was found againe, they had no written Word of God, but ruled according to their own discretion, or by the direction 284 of such, as each of them esteemed Prophets. "xe'tament ■^™™ ^^"'^^ ^^ ™^^ inferre, that the Scriptures of the ■when made Old Testament, which we have at this day, were not Canon- Canonicall. . ., , it. icall, nor a Law unto the Jews, till the renovation of their Covenant with God at their return from the Captivity, and restauration of their Common-wealth under Esdras. But from Party COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ifl. 415 from that time forward they were accounted the Law of the Jews, and for such translated into Greek by Seventy Elders of Judaea, and put into the Library of Ptolemy at Alexandria, and approved for the Word of God. Now seeing Esdras was the High Priest, and the High Priest was their Civill Soveraigne, it is manifest, that the Scriptures were never made I^aws, but by the Soveraign Civill Power. By the Writings of the Fathers that lived in the time The New /-11 • • n T - Testament before that Christian Religion was received, and authorised began to be by Constantine the Emperour, we may find, that the Books under '^'^ wee now have of the New Testament, were held by the ^mlraiens Christians of that time (except a few, in respect of whose paucity the rest were called the Catholique Church, and others Hseretiques) for the dictates of the Holy Ghost ; and consequently for the Canon, or Rule of Faith : such was the reverence and opinion they had of their Teachers ; as gene- rally the reverence that the Disciples bear to their first Masters, in all manner of doctrine they receive from them, is not small. Therefore there is no doubt, but when S. Paul wrote to the Churches he had converted ; or any other Apostle, or Disciple of Christ, to those which had then embraced Christ, they received those their Writings for the true Christian Doctrine. But in that time, when not the Power and Authority of the Teacher, but the Faith of the Hearer caused them to receive it, it was not the Apostles that made their own Writings Canonicall, but every Convert made them so to himself But the question here, is not what any Christian made a Law, or Canon to himself, (which he might again reject, by the same right he received it ;) but that was made a Canon to them, as without injustice they could not doe anything contrary thereunto. That the New Testament should in this sense be Canonicall, that is to say, a Law in any place where the Law of the Common-wealth had not made it so, is contrary to the nature of a Law. For a Law, (as hath been already shewn) is the Commandement of that Man, or Assembly, to whom we have given Soveraign Authority, to make 4i6 Partz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. \i. make such Rules for the direction of our actions, as hee shall think fit ; and to punish us, when we doe any thing contrary to the same. When therefore any other man shall offer unto us any other Rules, which the Soveraign Ruler hath not prescribed, they are but Counsell, and Advice ; which whether good, or bad, hee that is counselled, may without injustice refuse to observe ; and when contrary to the Laws already established, without injustice cannot observe, how good soever he conceiveth it to be. I say, he cannot in 285 this case observe the same in his actions, nor in his discourse with other men ; though he may without blame beleeve his 'private Teachers, and wish he had the liberty to practise their advice ; and that it were publiquely received for Law. For internall Faith is in its o wn nature invisible, and conse- quently exempted tron airhuma ne jurisdiction ; whereas th e words, and actions that proceed j&;om_it, as breaches of our Civill obedie'nce, £re iniustke_jp£ th_beforejGod,and Man - Seeing thenTour Saviour hath denyed his Kingdome to be inthisjvoHd, seeing hehad said, he came not To judge, but to save the world, he h ath not su bjected us to other Laws than those of the Common-wealthTthat is, th e Jews to the Law of M oses, (which he saith {Mat. 5.) he came not to destroy, but to fulfill,) and other Nations to the Laws of the ir severall Soveraigns , and all men to the Laws of Nature ; the observing where of, both he himselfe^ and his Apnstlps have in^fcii Lea^flg_rec.nmmejidgd to us a sa necessary con - dition of being admitted by himhvthelast day into his eternall Kingdome /wherem shall be ProtectionTanTLife everiStmg. Seeing then our Saviour, and his Apostles, left not new Laws to oblige us in this world, but new Doctrine to prepare us for the next ; the Books of the New Testament, which containe that Doct rine, untill obedience tcTthem was com- manded , by them thaTOod had given pow er to'on earth to be Legislato rs. were^noT ^igatory Caliwis, tKat IsTTa wS, but onely good, an d safe^advice, for ^the direction of si nners in the way to salvation, which every man might take, and refuse at his owne peril!, without injustice. "*'""■ ■^~~ ■ — Again, Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. dfl. 417 Again, our Saviour Christs Commission to his Apostles . and Disciples, was to Proclaim his Kingdome ( not presen t, but) to come ; and t o Teach all Nations; and to Baptize them t hat should beleev e ; and to enter into the houses of them that should receive them ; and where they were not received, to shake off the dust of their feet against them ; but not to call for fire from heaven to destroy them, nor to compell them to obedience by the Sword. " irTall which there is nothing of Power, but of Perswasion . He sent them out as Sheep unto Wolves, not as Kings to their Sub- ject s. The y had not in Commis5iQa..tQ makp T^a^l' but to obey, and teach ob ecHgnce^to Laws made ; and c onsequently ' the^ coujd not make thei r Writings obligatory Canons^with- out the help of the Soveraign Civill Power. And there- i,,i,i,n mill pir"^ — mw^ ■ xliirt'T H n iliiniifcw ■inlllinmiliiiinilllMii ^^^K^aa^im^mmk fore the Scriptu re of th e New Testament is there only Law, where th e lawfull C ivill P ower hath made it so . And thei^e also the King, or Soveraign, maketh it a Law to himself ; by W^MI II I I m ill n il IIBIIWII ~ "i.-^— ■ ^i^k which he subjecteth himselfe , not to the Doctor, or Apostle that converted him, but to God_,hin iself, and his Son Jesus Christ, as immediately as. did tlje Apostles thenjaglves. That which may seem to give the New Testament, in re- Of the • PoTJUcy of spect of those that have embraced Christian Doctrme, the Comiceiisio force of Laws, in the times, and places of persecution, is the 'scHptures decrees they made amongst themselves in their Synods. For •^'^"'• we read {Acts 15. 28.) the stile of the Councell of the Apos- 286 ties, the Elders, and the whole Church, in this manner, li seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burthen than these necessary things, i^c. which is a stile that signifieth a Power to lay a burthen on them that had received their Doctrine. Now to lay a burden on another, seemeth the same that to oblige ; and therefore the Acts of that Councell were Laws to the then Christians. Neverthe- lesse, they were no more Laws than are these other Precepts, Repent; Be Baptized; Keep the Commandemeyits ; Beleeve the Gospel; Come unto me; Sell all that thou hast; Give it to the poor; and Follow me; which are not Commands, but Invitations, and Callings of men to Christianity, like that of 2 E Esav 4i8 Parf^. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ifl. Esay 55. I. Ho, every man that thirsteth, come yee to the waters, coitie, and buy wine and milke without money. For first, the Apostles power was no other than that of our Saviour, to invite men to embrace the Kingdome of God ; which they themselves acknowledged for a Kingdome (not present, but) to come ; and they that have no Kingdome, can make no Laws. And secondly, if their Acts of Councell, were Laws, they could not without sin be disobeyed. But we read not any where, that they who received not the Doc- trine of Christ, did therein sin ; but that they died in their sins ; that is, that their sins against the Laws to which they owed obedience, were not pardoned. And those Laws were the Laws of Nature, and the Civill Laws of the State, whereto every Christian man had by pact submitted himself. And therefore by the Burthen, which the Apostles might lay on such as they had converted, are not to be understood Laws, but Conditions, proposed to those that sought Salva- tion ; which they might accept, or refuse at their own perill, without a new sin, though not without the hazard of being condemned, and excluded out of the Kingdome of God for their sins past. And therefore of Infidels, S. John saith not, the wrath of God shall come upon them, but the wrath of John 3. 36. God remaineth upon them ; and not that they shall be con- John 3. 18. demned ; but that they are condemned already. Nor can it be conceived, that the benefit of Faith, is Remission of sins, unlesse we conceive withall, that the dammage of Infidelity, is the Retention of the same sins. But to what end is it (may some man aske), that the Apostles, and other Pastors of the Church, after their time, should meet together, to agree upon what Doctrine should be taught, both for Faith and Manners, if no man were obliged to observe their Decrees ? To this may be answered, that the Apostles, and Elders of that Councell, were obliged even by their entrance into it, to teach the Doctrine therein concluded, and decreed to be taught, so far forth, as no pre- cedent Law, to which they were obliged to yeeld obedience, was to the contrary ; but not that all other Christians should be Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^2. 419 be obliged to observe, what they taught. For though they might deliberate what each of them should teach ; yet they could not deliberate what others should do, unless their As- sembly had had a Legfislative Powe r ; which none couldhave but Civil Soveraiqns . For though God be the Soveraign o f all the world, we are not bound to take for his Law, what- s _oever is proijou nded by every man in his name • norany 287 t hing contrary to the Civill Law, which God hath exgressely comm anded _us t o , pb e y. Seeing then the Acts of Councell of the Apostles, were then no Laws, but Counsells ; much lesse are Laws the Acts of any other Doctors, or Councells since, if assembled with- out the Authority of the Civill Soveraign. And consequently, the Books of the New Testament, though most perfect Rules of Christian Doctrine, could not be made Laws by any other authority then that of Kings, or Soveraign Assem- blies. The first Councell, that made of the Scriptures we now have, Canon, is not extant : For that Collection of the Canons of the Apostles, attributed to Clemens, the first Bishop of Rome after S. Peter, is subject to question : For though the Canonicall books bee there reckoned up ; yet these words, Sint vobis omnibus Clericis &= Laicis Libri vene- randi, &=€. containe a distinction of Clergy, and Laity, that was not in use so neer St. Peters time. The first Councell for setling the Canonicall Scripture, that is extant, is that of Laodicea, Can. 59. which forbids the reading of other Books then those in the Churches ; which is a Mandate that is not addressed to every Christian, but to those onely that had authority to read any thing publiquely in the Church ; that is, to Ecclesiastiques onely. Of Ecclesiasticall Officers in the time of the Apostles, Of the Right of some were Magisterial!, some Mmisteriall. Magistenall constuu- were the Offices of preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom sJlfstkaii' of God to Infidels; of administring the Sacraments, and ^f"-^/" Divine Service ; and of teaching the Rules of Faith and "^/'^f, ' ° ... Apostles. Manners to those that were converted. Ministerial! was the Office 420 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ii,2 Matthias made Apostle by the Congre- gation. Paul and Barnabas made Office of Deacons, that is, of them that were appointed to the administration of the secular necessities of the Church, at such time as they Hved upon a common stock of mony, raised out of the voluntary contributions of the faithfull. Amongst the Officers Magisterial!, the first, and principall were the Apostles ; whereof there were at first but twelve ; and these were chosen and constituted by our Saviour him- selfe ; and their Office was not onely to Preach, Teach, and Baptize, but also to be Martyrs, (Witnesses of our Saviours Resurrection.) This Testimony, was the specificall, and es- sentiall markj whereby the Apostleship was distinguished from other Magistracy Ecclesiasticall ; as being necessary for an Apostle, either to have seen our Saviour after his Resurrection, or to have conversed with him before, and seen his works, and other arguments of his Divinity, whereby they might be taken for sufficient Witnesses. And therefore at the election of a new Apostle in the place of Judas Iscariot, S. Peter saith {Ads 1. 21, 22.) Of these men that have companyed ivith us, all the time that the Lord lesus went in and out among us, beginning from the Baptisme of John tmto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to he a Witnesse with us of his Resurrection : where, by this word must, is implyed a necessary property of an Apostle, to have companyed with the first and prime Apostles 288 in the time that our Saviour manifested himself in the flesh. The first Apostle, of those which were not constituted by Christ in the time he was upon the Earth, was Matthias, chosen in this manner : There were assembled together in Jerusalem about 120 Christians {Acts i. 15.) These appointed two, yoseph the lust, and Matthias (ver. 23.) and caused lots to be drawn ; and (ver. 26.) the Lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbred with the Apostles. So that here we see the ordination of this Apostle, was the act of the Congregation, and not of St. Peter, nor of the eleven, otherwise then as Members of the Assembly. After him there was never any other Apostle ordained, but Paul and Barnabas ; which was done (as we read {Acts 13.1, 2,3-) Partz- COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. i-.. 421 2,3.) in this manner. There ivere iti the Church that was at Apostles ty , . . the Church Antioch, certame Prophets, and Teachers; as Barnabas, and of Antioch. Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen ; which had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministred unto the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said. Separate mee Barnabas, and Saul for the worke whereunto L have called them. And when they had fasted, and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. ■By which it is manifest, that though they were called by the Holy Ghost, their Calling was declared unto them, and their Mission authorized by the particular Church of Antioch. And that this their calling was to the Apostleship, is apparent by that, that they are both called {Acts 14. 14.) Apostles : And that it was by vertue of this act of the Church of Antioch, that they were Apostles, S. Paul declareth plainly {Rom. I. I.) in that hee useth the word, which the Holy Ghost used at his calling ! For hee stileth himself, An Apostle separated unto the Gospel of God; alluding to the words of the Holy Ghost, Separate me Barnabas and Saul^ &^c. But seeing the work of an Apostle, was to be a Wit- nesse of the Resurrection of Christ, a man may here aske, how S. Paul, that conversed not with our Saviour before his passion, could know he was risen. To which is easily an- swered, that our Saviour himself appeared to him in the way to Damascus, from Heaven, after his Ascension ; and chose him for a vessell to bear his name before the Gentiles., and Kings, and Children of Israel; and consequently (having seen the Lord after his passion) was a competent Witnesse of his Resurrection : And as for Barnabas, he was a Disciple before the Passion. It is therefore evident that Paul, and Barnabas were Apostles ; and yet chosen, and authorized (not by the first Apostles alone, but) by the Church of Antioch; as Matthias was chosen, and authorized by the Church of Jeru- salem. Bishop, a word formed in our language, out of the Greek What Episcopus, signifieth an Overseer, or Superintendent of any the Church , . are MaHs- businesse, teriall. 422 Partz- OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. \2. businesse, and particularly a Pastor, or Shepherd; and thence by metaphor was taken, not only amongst the Jews that were originally Shepherds, but also amongst the Heathen, 289 to signifie the Office of a King, or any other Ruler, or Guide of People, whether he ruled by Laws, or Doctrine. And so the Apostles were the first Christian Bishops, instituted by Christ himselfe : in which sense the Apostleship of Judas is called {Ads i. 20.) his Bishoprick. And afterwards, when there were constituted Elders in the Christian Churches, with charge to guide Christs flock by their doctrine, and advice; these Elders were also called Bishops. Timothy was an Elder (which word Elder, in the New Testament is a name of Office, as well as of Age;) yet he was also a Bishop. And Bishops were then content with the Title of Elders. Nay S. John himselfe, the Apostle beloved of our Lord, beginneth his Second Epistle with these words. The Elder to the Elect Lady. By which it is evident, that Bishop, Pastor, Elder, Doctor, that is to say, Teacher, were but so many divers names of the same Office in the time of the Apostles. For there was then no government by Coercion, but only by Doctrine, and Perswading. The Kingdome of God was yet to come, in a new world ; so that there could be no authority to compell in any Church, till the Common- wealth had embraced the Christian Faith ; and consequently no diversity of Authority, though there were diversity of Employments. Besides these Magisteriall employments in the Church ; namely, Apostles, Bishops, Elders, Pastors, and Doctors, whose calling was to proclaim Christ to the Jews, and Infi- dels, and to direct, and teach those that beleeved we read in the New Testament of no other. For by the names of Evangelists and Prophets, is not signified any Office, but severall Gifts, by which severall men were profitable to the Church : as Evangelists, by writing the life and acts of our Saviour ; such as were S. Matthew and S. lohn Apostles, and S. Marke and S. Luke Disciples, and whosoever else wrote of that subject, (as S. Thomas, and S. Barnabas are said PartT,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap, dfl, 423 said to have done, though the Church have not received the Books that have gone under their names :) and as Prophets, by the gift of interpreting the Old Testament ; and sometimes by declaring their speciall Revelations to the Church. For neither these gifts, nor the gifts of Languages, nor the gift of Casting out Devils, or of Curing other diseases, nor any thing else did make an Officer in the Church, save onely the due calling and election to the charge of Teaching. As the Apostles, Matthias, Paul, and Barnabas, were not Ordina- tion of made by our Saviour himself, but were elected by the Church, Teaciiers. that is, by the Assembly of Christians ; namely, Matthias by the Church of Jerusalem, and Paul, and Barnabas by the Church of Antioch ; so were also the Presbyters, and Pastors in other Cities, elected by the Churches of those Cities. For proof whereof, let us consider, first, how S. Paul pro- ceeded in the Ordination of Presbyters, in the Cities where he had converted men to the Christian Faith, immediately after he and Barnabas had received their Apostleship. We read (Ads 14. 23.) \hdXthey ordained Elders in every Church; 290 which at first sight may be taken for an Argument, that they themselves chose, and gave them their authority : But if we consider the Originall text, it will be manifest, that they were authorized, and chosen by the Assembly of the Christians of each City. For the words there are, xf'P'"''"'^''""'"? duroij TTpdiTjSurEpowc KaT ekkXtjo-wv, that is, When they had Ordained them Elders by the Holding up of Hands in every Congregation. Now it is well enough known, that in all those Cities, the manner of choosing Magistrates, and Officers, was by plu- rality of suffrages ; and (because the ordinary way of distin- guishing the Affirmative Votes from the Negatives, was by Holding up of Hands) to ordain an Officer in any of the Cities, was no more but to bring the people together, to elect them by plurality of Votes, whether it were by plurality of , elevated hands, or by plurality of voices, or plurality of balls, or beans, or small stones, of which every man cast in one, into a vessell marked for the Affirmative, or Negative ; for divers Cities had divers customes in that point. It was therefore 424 Partz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ifl. therefore the Assembly that elected their own Elders : the Apostles were onely Presidents of the Assembly to call them together for such Election, and to pronounce them Elected, and to give them the benediction, which now is called Con- secration. And for this cause they that were Presidents of the Assemblies, as (in the absence of the Apostles) the Elders were, were called TrpoEffraij-ec, and in Latin Antistites ; which words signifie the Principall Person of the Assembly, whose office was to number the Votes, and to declare thereby who was chosen ; and where the Votes were equall, to decide the matter in question, by adding his own ; which is the Office of a President in Councell. And (because all the Churches had their Presbyters ordained in the same manner,) where the word is Constitute, (as Titus i. 5.) 'iva KaraaTriariQ icard voXiv TTpiatvTipovc, For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest constitute Elders in every City, we are to understand the same thing; namely, that hee should call the faithfull together, and ordain them Presbyters by plurality of suffiages. It had been a strange thing, if in a Town, where men perhaps had never seen any Magistrate otherwise chosen then by an Assembly, those of the Town becomming Christians, should so much as have thought on any other way of Election of their Teachers, and Guides, that is to say, of their Presbyters, (otherwise called Bishops,) then this of plurality of suffrages, intimated byS. Paul (Acts 14. 23.) in the word x^porovijiraj/rff : Nor was there ever any choosing of Bishops, (before the Emperors found it necessary to regulate them in order to the keeping of the peace amongst them,) but by the Assem- blies of the Christians in every severall Town. The same is also confirmed by the continuall practise even to this day, in the Election of the Bishops of Rome. For if the Bishop of any place, had the right of choosing another, to the succession of the Pastorall Office, in any City, at such time as he went from thence, to plant the same in another place ; much more had he had the Right, to appoint his suc- cessour in that place, in which he last resided and dyed : And we find not, that ever any Bishop of Rome appointed 291 his Part J,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^2. 425 his successor. For they were a long time chosen by the People, as we may see by the sedition raised about the Elec- tion, between Damasus, and Vrsicinus; which Ammianus Marcellinus saith was so great, that luventius the Praefect, unable to keep the peace between them, was forced to goe out of the City ; and that there were above an hundred men found dead upon that occasion in the Church it self. And though they afterwards were chosen, first, by the whole Clergy of Rome, and afterwards by the Cardinalls ; yet never any was appointed to the succession by his predecessor. If therefore they pretended no right to appoint their own suc- cessors, I think I may reasonably conclude, they had no right to appoint the successors of other Bishops, without re- ceiving some new power ; which none could take from the Church to bestow on them, but such as had a lawful! autho- rity, not onely to Teach, but to Command the Church; which none could doe, but the Civill Soveraign. The word Minister in. the Originall AidKovoc, signifieth Ministers of the one that voluntarily doth the businesse of another man ; and Church differeth from a Servant onely in this, that Servants are obliged by their condition, to what is commanded them ; whereas Ministers are obliged onely by their undertaking, and bound therefore to no more than that they have under- taken : So that both they that teach the Word of God, and they that administer the secular affairs of the Church, are both Ministers, but they are Ministers of different Persons. For the Pastors of the Church, called {Acts 6. 4.I The Ministers of the Word, are Ministers of Christ, whose Word it is : But the Ministery of a Deacon, which is called (verse 2. of the same Chapter) Serving of Tables, is a service done to the Church, or Congregation : So that neither any one man, nor the whole Church, could ever of their Pastor say, he was their Minister ; but of a Deacon, whether the charge he undertook were to serve tables, or distribute maintenance to the Christians, when they lived in each City on a common stock, or upon collections, as in the first times, or to take a care of the House of Prayer, or of the Revenue, or other worldly •what: 426 Part-i. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. \2. worldly businesse of the Church, the whole Congregation might properly call him their Minister. For their employment, as Deacons, was to serve the Con- gregation ; though upon occasion they omitted not to Preach the Gospel, and maintain the Doctrine of Christ, every one according to his gifts, as S. Steven did; and both to Preach, and Baptize, as Philip did : For that Philip, which {Act. 8. 5.) Preached the Gospell at Samaria, and (verse 38.) Bap- tized the Eunuch, was Philip the Deacon, not Philip the Apostle. For it is manifest (verse i.) that when Philip preached in Samaria, the Apostles were at Jerusalem, and (verse 14.) when they heard that Samaria had received the Word of God, sent Peter and lohn to them ; by imposition of whose hands, they that were Baptized, (verse 15.) received (which before by the Baptisme of Philip they had not re- ceived) the Holy Ghost. For it was necessary for the con- 292 ferring of the Holy Ghost, that their Baptisme should be administred, or confirmed by a Minister of the Word, not by a Minister of the Church. And therefore to confirm the Baptisme of those that Philip the Deacon had Baptized, the Apostles sent out of their own number from Jerusalem to Samaria, Peter, and John ; who conferred on them that before were but Baptized, those graces that were signs of the Holy Spirit, which at that time did accompany all true Beleevers; which what they were may be understood by that which S. Marke saith (chap. 16. 17.) These signes follow them that beleeve in my Name; they shall cast out Devills; they shall speak with new tongues ; They shall take up Serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ; They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. This to doe, was it that Philip could not give ; but the Apostles could, and (as appears by this place) effectually did to every man that truly beleeved, and was by a Minister of Christ himself Baptized : which power either Christs Ministers in this age cannot conferre, or else there are very few true Beleevers, or Christ hath very few Ministers. chosen. ^ That the first Deacons were chosen, not by the Apostles, but Party COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. /^i. 427 but by a Congregation of the Disciples ; that is, of Christian men of all sorts, is manifest out of Acts 6. where we read that the Twelve, after the number of Disciples was multi- plyed, called them together, and having told them, that it was not fit that the Apostles should leave the Word of God, and serve tables, said unto them (verse 3.) Brethren looke you out among you seven men of honest report, full op the Holy Ghost, and of Wisdome, whom we may appoint over this businesse. Here it is manifest, that though the Apostles declared them elected ; yet the Congregation chose them ; which also, (verse the fift) is more expressely said, where it is written, that the saying pleased the multitude, and they chose seven, &=c. Under the Old Testament, the Tribe of Levi were onely Of Ecde- capable of the Priesthood, and other inferiour Offices of the Revenue, Church. The land was divided amongst the other Tribes "^awof'^ (Levi excepted,) which by the subdivision of the Tribe of Moses. Joseph, into Ephraim and Manasses, were still twelve. To the Tribe of Levi were assigned certain Cities for their habitation, with the suburbs for their cattell : but for their portion, they were to have the tenth of the fruits of the land of their Brethren. Again, the Priests, for their maintenance had the tenth of that tenth, together with part of the obla- tions, and sacrifices. For God had said to Aaron {Numb. 18. 20.) Thou shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall thou have any part amongst them, I am thy part, and thine inheritance amongst the Children of Israel. For God being then King, and having constituted the Tribe of Levi to be his Publique Ministers, he allowed them for their maintenance, the Publique revenue, that is to say, the part that God had reserved to himself; which were Tythes, and Offerings : and that is it which is meant, where God saith, I am thine iriheritance. And therefore to the Levites might not unfitly be attributed the name of Clergy from KKijpoe, which signifieth Lot, or Inheritance; not that they were heirs of the Kingdome of God, more than other; but that Gods inheritance, was their maintenance. Now seeing in this 428 Party OF A CHRISTIAN' Qkap. d,1. this time God himself was their King, and Moses, Aaron, and the succeeding High Priests were his Lieutenants ; it is manifest, that the Right of Tythes, and Offerings was con- stituted by the Civill Power. After their rejection of God in the demanding of a King, they enjoyed still the same revenue ; but the Right thereof was derived from that, that the Kings did never take it from them : for the Publique Revenue was at the disposing of him that was the Publique Person, and that (till the Captivity) was the King. And again, after the return from the Captivity, they paid their Tythes as before to the Priest. Hitherto therefore Church Livings were determined by the Civill Soveraign. In our Of the maintenance of our Savipur, and his Apostles, we Saviours time, and read onely they had a Purse, (which was carried by Judas Iscariot ; ) and, that of the Apostles, such as were Fisher- men, did sometimes use their trade ; and that when our Saviour sent the Twelve Apostles to Preach, he forbad them Mat. lo. 9, to carry Gold, and Silver, and Brasse in their purses, for that the workman is worthy of his hire : By which it is pro- bable, their ordinary maintenance was not unsuitable to their employment; for their employment was (ver. 2i.) freely to give, because they had freely received ■. and their maintenance was \ht free gift of those that beleeved the good tyding they carryed about of the coming of the Messiah their Saviour. To which we may adde, that which was contributed out of gratitude, by such as our Saviour had healed of diseases ; of which are mentioned Certain women (Luke 8. 2, 3.) which had been healed of evill spirits and infirmities ; Mary Magdalen, out of whom went seven Devills ; and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herods Steward; and Susanna, and many others, which ministred unto him of their substance. After our Saviours Ascension, the Christians of every City Acts4.s4. lived in Common,* upon the mony which was made of the sale of their lands and possessions, and laid down at the feet of the Apostles, of good will, not of duty ; for whilest the Land remaiiied (saith S. Peter to Ananias {Acts 5. 4.) was it not 10. Partz- COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. \2. 429 not t/wii'^ and after it was sold, was it not in thy power ? which sheweth he needed not have saved his land nor. his money by: lyingy as not being bound to contribute any thing at all, unlesse he had pleased. And as in the time of the Apostles, so also -all.- the time downward, till after Con- stantine the Gteat, we shall find, that the maintenance of the Bishops, and Eastors of the Christian Church, was nothing but the voluntary contribution of them that had embraced their Doctrine. There was yet no mention of Tythes : but such was in the time of Constantine, and his Sons, the affection of Christians to their Pastors, as Amnii- anus Marcellinus saith (describing the sedition of Damasus and Vrsicinus about the Bishopricke,) that it was worth their contention, in that the Bishops of those times by the 294 liberality of their flock, and especially of Matrons, lived splendidly, were carryed in Coaches, and were sumptuous in their fare and apparell. But here may some ask, whether the Pastor were then The Minis- ters of tlie bound to li /e upon voluntary contribution, as upon almes. Gospel For who (saith S. Paul i Cor. 9. 7.) goeth to zvar at his own Benevo- charges? or who feedeth a flock., and eateth not of the milke of ^/^''.^y a,^ ^.^ the flock? And again, Doe ye fiot know that they which iCor. 9.13, minister about holy things, live of the things of the Temple; a7id they which wait at the Altar, partake with the Altar; that is to say, have part of that which is offered at the Altar for their maintenance ? And then he concludeth. Even so hath the Lord appointed, that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. From which place may be inferred indeed, that the Pastors of the Church ought to be maintained by their flocks ; but not that the Pastors were to determine, either the quantity, or the kind of their own allowance, and be (as it were) their own Carvers. Their allowance must needs therefore be determined, either by the gratitude and liberality of every particular man of their flock, or by the whole Congregation. By the whole Congregation it could not be, because their Acts were then no Laws : Therefore the maintenance of Pastors before 430 Part-i. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. \i. before Emperours and Civill Soveraigns had made Laws to settle it, was nothing but Benevolence, They that served at the Altar lived on what was offered. So may the Pastors also take what is offered them by their flock; but not exact what is not offered. In what Court should they sue for it, who had no Tribunalls ? Or if they had Arbitrators amongst themselves, who -should execute their Judgments, when they had no power to ;.rme their Officers? It remaineth therefore, that there could be no certaine maintenance assigned to any Pastors of the Church, but by the whole Congregation ; and then onely, when their Decrees should have the force (not onely of Canons, but also) of Laws ; which Laws could not be made, but by Emperours, Kings, or other Civill Soveraignes. The Right of Tythes in Moses Law, could not be applyed to the then Ministers of the Gospell ; because Moses and the High Priests were the Civill Soveraigns of the people under God, whose Kingdom amongst the Jews was present ; whereas the Kingdome of God by Christ is yet to come. Hitherto hath been shewn what the Pastors of the Church are ; what are the points of their Commission (as that they were to Preach, to Teach, to Baptize, to be Presidents in their severall Congregations ; ) what is Ecclesiasticall Censure, viz. Excommunication, that is to say, in those places where Christianity was forbidden by the Civill Laws, a putting of themselves out of the company of the Excom- municate, and where Christianity was by the Civill Law commanded, a putting the Excommunicate out of the Congregations of Christians ; who elected the Pastors and Ministers of the Church, (that it was, the Congregation) ; who consecrated and blessed them, (that it was the Pastor) ; what was their due revenue, (that it was none but their own possessions, and their own labour, and the voluntary contri- butions of devout and gratefull Christians). We are to consider now, what Office in the Church those persons 295 have, who being Civill Soveraignes, have embraced also the Christian Faith. And Part 2,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ifl. 431 And first, we are to remember, that the Right of Tudging That the what D gctrinesarefit for Peace, and to be taugh t the Sub- Smeraign jects , isj£_alH5^omnion-wealths inseparably annexed (as hath christian been already proved cha. 18.) to the SoveraignP^ wer Civill, ''Rlght'lf whether it be in one Man, or in one Assembly of men. For ^^^^"f "'^ it is evident to the meanest capacity, that mens actions are derived from the opinions they have of the Good, or Evill, which from those actions redound unto themselves ; and consequently, men that are once possessed of an opinion, that their obedience to the Soveraign Power, will bee more hurtfull to them, than their disobedience, will disobey the Laws, and thereby overthrow the Common-wealth, and in- troduce confusion, and Civill war ; for the avoiding whereof, all Civill Government was ordained. And therefore in all Common-wealths of the Heathen, the Soveraigns have had the name of Pastors of the People, because there was no Subject that could lawfully Teach the people, but by their permission and authority. This Right of the Heathen Kings, cannot bee thought taken from them by their conversion to the Faith of Christ ; who never ordained, that Kings for beleeving in him, should be deposed, that is, subjected to any but himself, or (which is all one) be deprived of the power necessary for the con- servation of Peace amongst their Subjects, and for their defence against foraign Enemies. And therefore Christian Kings are still the Supreme Pastors of their people, and have power to ordain what Pastors they please, to teach the Church, that is, to teach the People committed to their charge. Again, let the right of choosing them be (as before the conve rsion of Kings) in the Church, for so it was in the time of the Apostles themselves ( as hath been shewn already in this chapter) ; even so als " ^'^t "Rif^h*- ^'1' l^" '" ''he Civill Soveraig n, ~ Christian , j'or in that he is a Christian, he allowes t he Teaching ; a nd in that he is the Soveraign (wVijrh i s as much as to say, t heCh urch by Representation,) t he Teachers hee ele cts, are elected by the Church. And when 432 Partz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ^2. when an Assembly of Christians cho ose .their Pastor in a Christian XoSu aoniwealth, it i s, the Soverai gn that electeth him, b ecause tis done by his^Authorityj In the same man- ner, as when a Town choose their Maior, it is the act of him that hath the Soveraign Power ; For every act done, is the act ofhim. without whose consent it is invahd . And therefore whatsoever examples may be drawn out of History, rnnrprninp; the Elect ion of Pastors , l ^y the People, or by th e Clergy, t heftare no argumen t? apr^jpst th e Right of any Civill Soveraign, because they that elected them did it b y his Authority. Seeing then in every Christian Common-wealth, the Civill Soveraign is the Supreme Pastor, to whose charge the whole flock of his Subjects is committed, and consequently that it 296 is by his authority, that all other Pastors are made, and have power to teach, and performe all other Pastorall offices ; it foUoweth also, that it is from the Civill Soveraign, that all other Pastors derive their right of Teaching, Preaching, and other functions pertaining to that Office ; and that they are but his Ministers ; in the same manner as the Magistrates 'of Towns, Judges in Courts of Justice, and Commanders of Armies, are all but Ministers of him that is the Magistrate of the whole Common-wealth, Judge of all Causes, and Commander of the whole Militia, which is alwaies the Civill Soveraign. And the reason hereof, is not because they that Teach, but because they that are to Learn, are his Subjects. For let it be supposed, that a Christian King commit the Authority of Ordaining Pastors in his Dominions to another King, (as divers Christian Kings allow that power to the Pope ; ) he doth not thereby constitute a Pastor over him- self, nor a Soveraign Pastor over his People ; for that were to deprive himself of the Civill Power; which depending on the opinion men have of their Duty to him, and the fear they have of Punishment in another world, would depend also on the skill, and loyalty of Doctors, who are no lesse subject, not only to Ambition, but also to Ignorance, than any other sort of men. So that where a stranger hath au- thority Parfi. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. \2. 433 thority to appoint Teachers, it is given him by the Soveraign in whose Dominions he teacheth. Christian Doctors are our Schoolmasters to Christianity; But Kings are Fathers of Famines, and may receive Schoolmasters for their Sub- jects from the recommendation of a stranger, but not from the command ; especially when the ill teaching them shall redound to the great and manifest profit of him that recom- mends them : nor can they be obliged to retain them, longer that it is for the Publique good ; the care of which they stand so long charged withall, as they retain any other essentiall Right of the Soveraignty. If a man therefore should ask a Pastor, in the executio n The of hi s Office , as the chief Priests and Elders of the people Authority (Mat. 21. 23.) asked our Saviour, By what authority dos t raignsoniy thou t/iese things , and who gave thee this authority : he can Divino"'^'' make no other just Answer, but that he doth it by the thatofother ~ : ; . . '— Pastors Authority of the Common-wealth, give n him by the Kin g, "Jure or Assembly that rep resenteth' it. All Pastors, except th e S uprem e, execute their charges in the Right, that is by the Authorlty7)f the Civil l_S overaign, th at is lure Civili. __But_'^'' " ' ''"-^ t he King, and _ev erv other Soveraign, executeth his Office o f i''* Supre me Pastor, by immediate Authority from God, that is C „ ^, to say, in Gods Right, or lure Divino. And therefore none but Kings can put into their Titles (a mark of their submis- sion to God onely) Dei gratia Rex, &=€. Bishops ought to say in the beginning of their Mandates, By the favour of the Kings Majesty, Bishop of such a Diocesse ; or as Civili Min- isters, /n his Majesties Name. For in saying, DivinA provi- dentia, which is the same with Dei gratid, though disguised, they deny to have received their authority from the Civili 297 State ; and sliely slip off the Collar of their Civili Subjec- tion, contrary to the unity and defence of the Common- wealth. But if e very Christian Soveraig n be t he Supreme P astor christian of his ow n Subjects, it seemeth that be hath also the Au- p^er to"" thority. not only~to Preach (which perhaps no man will banner 0/ deny ;) but also to Baptize , and tjo^ Administer, the Sacrament P'^^tor'^i 2 F of 434 Parti. OF A CHRISTIAN C/m/5. 42, of the Lords Supper ; and to Consecrate both Temples, and Pastors to Gods service ; which most men deny ; partly be- cause they use not to do it ; and partly because the Admi- nistration of Sacraments, and Consecration of Persons, and Places to holy uses, requireth the Imposition of such mens hands, as by the like Imposition successively from the time of the Apostles have been ordained to the like Ministery. For proof therefore that Christian Kings have power to Baptize, and to Consecrate, I am to render a reason, both why they use not to doe it, and how, without the ordinary ceremony of Imposition of hands, they are made capable of doing it, when they will. There is no doubt but any King, in case he were skilfuU in the Sciences, might by the same Right of his Office, read Lectures of them himself, by which he authorizeth others to read them in the Universities. Neverthelesse, because the care of the summe of the businesse of the Common-wealth taketh up his whole time, it were not convenient for him to apply himself in Person to that particular. A King may also if he please, sit in Judgment, to hear and determine all manner of Causes, as well as give others authority to doe it in his name ; but that the charge that lyeth upon him of Command and Government, constrain him to bee continually at the Helm, and to commit the Ministeriall Offices to others under him. In the like manner our Saviour (who surely had *Johna,.2. power to Baptize) Baptized none* himselfe, but sent his Apostles and Disciples to Baptize. So also S. Paul, by the necessity of Preaching in divers and far distant places, Bap- ■" I Cor. I. tized few : Amongst all the Corinthians he Baptized only* Crispus, Cajus, and Stephanus ; and the reason was, because I Cof r 17. ■ ■ his principall - Charge was to Preach. Whereby it is mani- fest, that the greater Charge, (such as is the Government of the Church,) is a dispensation for the lesse. The reason therefore why Christian Kings use not to Baptize, is evident, and the same, for which at this day there are few Baptized by Bishops, and by the Pope fewer. And as concerning Imposition of Hands, whether it be needfull. Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. a,i. 435 needfull, for the authorizing of a King to Baptize, and Con- secrate, we may consider thus. Imposition of Hands, was a most ancient pubHque cere- mony amongst the Jews, by which was designed, and made certain, the person, or other thing intended in a mans prayer, blessing, sacrifice, consecration, condemnation, or other speech. So Jacob in blessing the children of Joseph {Gen. 48. 14.) Laid his right Hand on Ephraim the younger, and his left Hand on Manasseh the first born ; and this he did 298 wittingly (though they were so presented to him by Joseph, as he was forced in doing it to stretch out his arms acrosse) to design to whom he intended the greater blessing. So also in the sacrificing of the Burnt oifering, Aaron is commanded \_Exod. 29. 10] to Lay his Hands on the head of the bullock; and [ver. 15.] to Lay his Hand on the head of the ramme. The same is also said again, Levit. i. 4. & 8. 14. Likewise Moses when he ordained Joshua to be Captain of the Israel- ites, that is, consecrated him to Gods service, [Numb. 27. 23.] Laid his Hands upon him, and gave him his Charge., de- signing, and rendring certain, who it was they were to obey in war. And in the consecration of the Levites [Numb. 8. 10.] God commanded that the Children of Lsrael should Put their Hands upon the Levites. And in the condemnation of him that had blasphemed the Lord [Levit. 24. 14.) God commanded that all that heard him should Lay their Hands on his head, and that all the Congregation should stone him. And why should they only that heard him, Lay their Hands upon him, and not rather a Priest, Levite, or other Minister of Justice, but that none else were able to design, and de- monstrate to the eyes of the Congregation, who it was that had blasphemed, and ought to die ? And to design a man, or any other thing, by the Hand to the Eye, is lesse subject to mistake, than when it is done to the Eare by a Name. And so much was this ceremony observed, that in blessing the whole Congregation at once, which cannot be done by Laying on of Hands, yet Aaron [Levit. 9. 22.] did lift up his Hand towards the people when he blessed them. And we read also 436 Parlz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. Hfi. also of the like ceremony of Consecration of Temples amongst the Heathen, as that the Priest laid his Hands on some post of the Temple, all the while he was uttering the words of Consecration. So naturall it is to design any indi- viduall thing, rather by the Hand, to assure the Eyes, than by Words to inform the Eare in matters of Gods Publique service. This ceremony was not therefore new in our Saviours time. For Jairus \_Mark 5. 23.] whose daughter was sick, besought our Saviour (not to heal her, but) to lay his Hands upon her, thatshee might bee healed. And [Matth. 19. 13. J they brought unto him little children, thathee should Put his Hands on them, and Fray. According to this ancient Rite, the Apostles, and Pres- byters, and the Presbytery it self, Laid Hands on them whom they ordained Pastors, and withall prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost ; and that not only once, but sometimes oftner, when a new occasion was pre- sented : but the end was still the same, namely a punctual), and religious designation of the person, ordained either to the Pastorall Charge in general, or to a particular Mission : so \_Act 6. 6.] The Apostles Prayed, and Laid their Hands on the seven Deacons ; which was done, not to give them the Holy Ghost, (for they were full of the Holy Ghost before they were chosen, as appeareth immediately before, verse 3.) 299 but to design them to that Office. And after Philip the Deacon had converted certain persons in Samaria, Peter and John went down \Act 8. 17. J and Laid their Hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And not only an Apostle, but a Presbyter had this power : For S. Paul adviseth Timo- thy [i Tim. 5. 22.] Lay Hands suddenly on no man ; that is, designe no man rashly to the Office of a Pastor. The whole Presbytery Laid their Hands on Timothy, as we read 1 Tim. 4. 14. but this is to be understood, as that some did it by the appointment of the Presbytery, and most likely their vpoiaruiQ, or Prolocutor, which it may be was St. Paul himself For in his 2 Epist. to Tim. ver. 6. he saith to him, Stirre up the Partz- COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^2. 437 the gift of God which is in thee, by the Laying on of my Hands : where note by the way, that by the Holy Ghost, is not meant the third Person in the Trinity, but the Gifts necessary to the Pastorall Office. We read also, that St. Paul had Impo- sition of Hands twice; once from Ananias at Damascus [Acts 9. 17, 18.] at the time of his Baptisme; and again [Acts 13. 3.] at Antioch, when he was first sent out to Preach. The use then of this ceremony considered in the Ordination of Pastors, was to design the Person to whom they gave such Power. But if there had been then any Christian, that had had the Power of Teaching before ; the Baptizing of him, that is, the making him a Christian, had given him no new Power, but had onely caused him to preach true Doctrine, that is, to use his Power aright ; and therefore the Imposition of Hands had been unnecessary ; Baptisme it selfe had been sufficient. But every Soveraign, before Christianity, had the power of Teaching, and Ordaining Teachers ; and therefore Christianity gave them no new Right, but only directed them in the way of teaching Truth ; and consequently they needed no Imposition of Hands (besides that which is done in Bap- tisme) to authorize them to exercise any part of the Pastorall Function, as namely, to Baptize, and Consecrate. And in the Old Testament, though the Priest only had right to Con- secrate, during the time that the Soveraignty was in the High Priest ; yet it was not so when the Soveraignty was in the King : For we read [i Kings 8.] That Solomon Blessed the People, Consecrated the Temple, and pronounced that Publique Prayer, which is the pattern now for Consecration of all Christian Churches, and Chappels : whereby it appears, he had not only the right of Ecclesiasticall Government ; but also of exercising Ecclesiasticall Functions. From this consolidation of the Right Politique, and Ec- TAe CivUi clesiastique in Christi an Spveraigns, it is evident, they h ave i/'a'chfis- all manner of Powe r over their Subjects, t hat can be given 'lg"j^l}(/, to man, lor the government of mens externfill artinns, both Church in — * [^ ' ^ ^ his own in Policy, and Religion ; and may make such Laws, as them - Dominions. \ selves shall j udge fittest, f or the government of their own Subjects, 438 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. Subjects, both as they are the Common-wealth, and as they are the Church : for both State, and Church are the same Cardinal Bellar- Tnines De Summo ' If they plea se therefore^ they may (as many Christian 300 Kings now doe) commi t the government of their Subjects in matters of Religion to the Pope : but then the Pope i s in that point Subordin ate to them, an d exerc iseth tha t Charge in a iiolhers Dominion lure Civili, m the Right o f the Civili Soveraign ; not lure Divino, in Gods Right : and may therefore be discharged of th at Office, when the Sove - raign for tEe^good of his Subjects sha ll_Jhin k, / , t necessary^ They may also if they please, commit the care of Religion to one Supreme Pastor, or to an Assembly of Pastors ; and give them what power over the Church, or one over another, they think most convenient ; and what titles of honor, as of Bishops, Archbishops, Priests, or Presbyters, they will; and make such Laws for their maintenance, either by Tithes, or otherwise, as they please, so they doe it out of a sincere conscience, of which God onely is the Judge. It is the Civili Soveraign, that is to appoint Judges, and Interpreters of the Canonicall Scriptures ; for it is he that maketh them Laws. It is he also that giveth strength to Excommunica- tions ; which but for such Laws and Punishments, as may humble obstinate Libertines, and reduce them to union with the rest of the Church, would bee contemned. In summe, he hath the Supreme Power in all causes, as well Eccle- siasticall, as Civili, as far as concerneth actions, and words, for those onely are known, and may be accused ; and of that which cannot be accused, there is no Judg at all, but God, that knoweth the heart. And these Rights are incident to all Soveraigns, whether Monarchs, or Assemblies : for they that are the Representants of a Christian People, are Representants of the Church : for a Church, and a Common- wealth of Christian People, are the same thing. Though this that I have here said, and in other places Books of this Book, seem cleer enough for the asserting of the ;ns; yet because Pontifice Supreme Ecclesiastical Power to Christian Soveraigns ; yet considered. Parti. COMMON-WEALTH, Chap. 6,1. 439 because the Pope of Romes challenge to that Power univer- sally, hath been maintained chiefly, and I think as strongly as is possible, by Cardinall Bellarmine, in his Controversie De Sumnio Pontifice ; I have thought it necessary, as briefly as I can, to examine the grounds, and strength of his Dis- course. Of five Books he hath written of this subject, the first The first took, contameth three Questions : One, Which is simply the best government ; Monarchy, Aristocracy, or Democracy ; and concludeth for neither, but for a government mixt of all three : Another, which of these is the best Government of the Church ; and concludeth for the mixt, but which should most participate of Monarchy : The third, whether in this mixt Monarchy, St. Peter had the place of Monarch. Con- cerning his first Conclusion, I have already sufficiently proved (chapt. 18.) that all Governments, which men are bound to obey, are Simple, and Absolute. In Monarchy there is but One Man Supreme ; and all other men that have any kind of Power in the State, have it by his Com- mission, during his pleasure ; and execute it in his name : And in Aristocracy, and Democracy, but One Supreme 301 Assembly, with the same Power that in Monarchy belongeth to the Monarch, which is not a Mixt, but an Absolute Soveraignty. And of the three sorts, which is the best, is not to be disputed, where any one of them is already estab- lished ; but the present ought alwaies to be preferred, main- tained, and accounted best ; because it is against both the Law of Nature, and the Divine positive Law, to doe any thing tending to the subversion thereof. Besides, it maketh nothing to the Power of any Pastor, (unlesse he have the Civill Soveraignty,) what kind of Government is the best ; because their Calling is not to govern men by Commandement, but to teach them, and perswade them by Arguments, and leave it to them to consider, whether they shall embrace, or reject the Doctrine taught. For Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Democracy, do mark out unto us three sorts of Soveraigns, not of Pastors ; or, as we may say, three sorts of Masters of 440 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. of Families, not three sorts of Schoolmasters for their children. And therefore the second Conclusion, concerning the best form of Government of the Church, is nothing to the question of the Popes Power without his own Dominions : For in all other Common-wealths his Power (if hee have any at all) is that of the Schoolmaster onely, and not of the Master of the Family. For the third Conclusion, which is, that St. Peter was Monarch of the Church, he bringeth for his chiefe argument the place of S. Matth. (chap. 16. 18, 19.) Thou art Peter, And upon this rock I will build my Church, drc. And I will give thee the keyes of Heaven \ whatsoever thou shall bind on Earth, shall be bound in Heaven, and whatsoever thou shall loose on Earth, shall be loosed in Heaven. Which place well considered, proveth no more, but that the Church of Christ hath for foundation one onely Article ; namely, that which Peter in the name of all the Apostles professing, gave occa- sion to our Saviour to speak the words here cited ; which that wee may cleerly understand, we are to consider, that our Saviour preached by himself, by John Baptist, and by his Apostles, nothing but this Article of Faith, that he was the Christ; all other Articles requiring faith no otherwise, than as founded on that. John began first, {Mat. 3. 2.) preaching only this, The Kingdome of God is at hand. Then our Saviour himself (Mat. 4. 17.) preached the same : And to his Twelve Apostles, when he gave them their Commis- sion (Mat. 10. 7.) there is no mention of preaching any other Article but that. This was the fundamental! Article, that is the Foundation of the Churches Faith. Afterwards the Apostles being returned to him, he asketh them all, (Mat. 16. 13.) not Peter onely, Who men said he was; and they answered, that some said he was John the Baptist, some Elias, and others leremias, or one of the Prophets : Then (ver. 15.) he asked them all again, (not Peter onely) Whom say yee that I am 2 Therefore S. Peter answered (for them all) Thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God; which I said Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ifl. said is the Foundation of the Faith of the whole Church ; 302 from which our Saviour takes the occasion of saying, Vpon this stone Twill build tny Church : By which it is manifest, that by the Foundation-Stone of the Church, was meant the Fundamental! Article of the Churches Faith. But why then (will some object) doth our Saviour interpose these words, Thou art Peter ? If the originall of this text had been rigidly translated, the reason would easily have ap- peared : We are therefore to consider, that the Apostle Simon, was surnamed Stone, (which is the signification of the Syriacke word Cephas, and of the Greek word Petrus). Our Saviour therefore after the confession of that Funda- mentall Article, alluding to his name, said (as if it were in English) thus. Thou art Stone, and upon this Stone I will build my Church : which is as much as to say, this Article, that T am the Christ, is the Foundation of all the Faith I require in those that are to bee members of my Church : Neither is this allusion to a name, an unusuall thing in com- mon speech : But it had been a strange, and obscure speech, if our Saviour intending to build his Church on the Person of S. Peter, had said, thou art a Stone, and upon this Stone I will build my Church, when it was so obvious without ambiguity to have said, / will build my Church on thee ; and yet there had been still the same allusion to his name. And for the following words, I will give thee the Keyes of Heaven, ^'c. it is no more than what our Saviour gave also to all the rest of his Disciples \_Matth. i8. i8.] Whatsoever yee shall bind on Earth, shall be bound in Heaven. And whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth, shall be loosed in Heaven. But howsoever this be interpreted, there is no doubt but the Power here granted belongs to all Supreme Pastors ; such as are all Christian Civill Soveraignes in their own Dominions. In so much, as if St. Peter, or our Saviour himself had converted any of them to beleeve him, and to acknowledge his Kingdome ; yet because his Kingdome is not of this world, he had left the supreme care of converting his subjects to none but him ; or else hee must have de- prived 441 442 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. 7 he second Hook. Tke third Book. prived him of the Soveraignty, to which the Right of Teach- ing is inseparably annexed. And thus much in refutation of his first Book, wherein hee would prove St. Peter to have been the Monarch Universall of the Church, that is to say, of all the Christians in the world. The second Book hath two Conclusions : One, that S. Peter was Bishop of Rome, and there dyed : The other, that the Popes of Rome are his Successors. Both which have been disputed by others. But supposing them true ; yet if by Bishop of Rome, bee understood either the Monarch of the Church, or the Supreme Pastor of it ; not Silvester, but Constantine (who was the first Christian Em- perour) was that Bishop ; and as Constantine, so all other Christian Emperors were of Right supreme Bishops of the Roman Empire; I say of the Roman Empire, not of all Christendome : For other Christian Soveraigns had the same Right in their severall Territories, as to an Office essentially adhserent to their Soveraignty. Which shall serve for answer to his second Book. In the third Book, he handleth the question whether the 303 Pope be Antichrist. For my part, I see no argument that proves he is so, in that sense the Scripture useth the name : nor will I take any argument from the quality of Antichrist, to contradict the Authority he exerciseth, or hath heretofore exercised in the Dominions of any other Prince, or State. It is evident that the Prophets of the Old Testament fore- told, and the Jews expected a Messiah, that is, a Christ, that should re-establish amongst them the kingdom of God, which had been rejected by them in the time of Samuel, when they required a King after the manner of other Nations. This expectation of theirs, made them obnoxious to the Imposture of all such, as had both the ambition to attempt the attaining of the Kingdome, and the art to deceive the People by counterfeit miracles, by hypocriticall life, or by orations and doctrine plausible. Our Saviour therefore, and his Apostles forewarned men of False Prophets, and of False Christs. False Christs, are such as pretend to be Part's. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ifl. 443 be the Christ, but are not, and are called properly Anti- christs, in such sense, as when there happeneth a Schisme in the Church by the election of two Popes, the one callelh the other Antipapa, or the false Pope. And therefore Anti- christ in the proper signification hath two essentiall marks ; One, that he denyeth Jesus to be Christ; and another that he professeth himselfe to bee Christ. The first Mark is set down by S. lohfi in his i Epist. 4. ch. 3. ver. Every Spirit that confesseth not that lesus Christ is come in the flesh, is not of God ; And this is the Spirit of Antichrist. The other Mark is expressed in the words of our Saviour, {Mat. 24. 5.) Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ ; and again, If any man shall say unto you, Loe, here is Christ, there is Christ, beleeve it not. And therefore Antichrist must be a False Christ, that is, some one of them that shall pretend themselves to be Christ. And out of these two Marks, to deny lesus to be the Christ, and to affirm himselfe to be the Christ, it foUoweth, that he must also be an Adversary of lesus the true Christ, which is another usuall signification of the word Antichrist. But of these many Antichrists, there is one speciall one, u Avrixpi ) Judgement Satan hath desired you that he may sift you as wheat ; but I in points of faith. have prayed for thee, that thy faith faile not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy Brethren. This according to Bellarmines exposition, is, that Christ gave here to Simon Peter two priviledges : one, that neither his Faith should fail, nor the Faith of any of his successors : the other, that neither he, nor any of his successors should ever define any point concerning Faith, or Manners erroneously, or contrary to the definition of a former Pope : Which is a strange, and very much strained interpretation. But he that with attention readeth that chapter, shall find there is no place in the whole Scripture, that maketh more against the Popes Authority, than this very place. The Priests and Scribes seeking to kill our Saviour at the Passeover, and Judas possessed with a resolution to betray him, and the day of killing the Passeover being come, our Saviour celebrated the same with his Apostles, which he said, till the Kingdome of God was come hee would doe no more ; and withall told them, that one of them was to betray him : Hereupon they questioned, which of them it should be ; and withall (seeing the next Passeover their Master would cele- brate Part2r COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 4,2. 445 brate should be when he was King) entred into a contention, who should then be the greatest man. Our Saviour there- fore told them, that the Kings of the Nations had Dominion over their Subjects, and are called by a name (in Hebrew) that signifies Bountifull ; but I cannot be so to you, you must endeavour to serve one another ; I ordain you a Kingdome, but it is such as my Father hath ordained mee ; a Kingdome that I am now to purchase with my blood, and not to posseSse till my second coming ; then yee shall eat and drink at my Table, and sit on Thrones, judging the twelve Tribes of Israel : And then addressing himself to St. Peter, he saith, Simon, Siffion, Satan seeks by suggesting a present domination, to weaken your faith of the future ; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith shall not fail ; Thou therefore (Note this,) being converted, and under- standing my Kingdome as of another world, confirm the same faith in thy Brethren : To which S. Peter answered (as one that no more expected any authority in this world) Lord 305 ^ cini ready to goe with thee, not onely to Prison, but to Death. Whereby it is manifest, S. Peter had not onely no juris- diction given him in this world, but a charge to teach all the other Apostles, that they also should have none. And for the Infallibility of St. Peters sentence definitive in matter of Faith, there is no more to be attributed to it out of this Text, than that Peter should continue in the beleef of this point, namely, that Christ should come again, and possesse the Kingdome at the day of Judgement ; which was not given by this Text to all his Successors ; for wee see they claime it in the World that now is. The second place is that of Matth. 1 6. Thoii. art Peter, and upon this rocke I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. By which (as I have already shewn in this chapter) is proved no more, than that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the confession of Peter, which gave occasion to that speech ; namely this, that Jesus is Christ the Sonne of God. The third Text is lohn 21. ver. 16, 17. Feed my sheep; which 446 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. which contains no more but a Commission of Teaching : And if we grant the rest of the Apostles to be contained in that name oi Sheep; then it is the supreme Power of Teaching: but it was onely for the time that there were no Christian Soveraigns already possessed of that Supremacy. But I have already proved, that Christian Soveraignes are in their owne Dominions the supreme Pastors, and instituted thereto, by vertue of their being Baptized, though without other Imposition of Hands. For such Imposition being a Cere- mony of designing the person, is needlesse, when hee is already designed to the Power of Teaching what Doctrine he will, by his institution to an Absolute Power over his Subjects. For as I have proved before, Soveraigns are supreme Teachers (in generall) by their Office ; and there- fore oblige themselves (by their Baptisme) to teach the Doctrine of Christ : And when they suffer others to teach their people, they doe it at the perill of their own souls ; for it is at the hands of the Heads of Families that God will require the account of the instruction of his Children and Servants. It is of Abraham himself, not of a hireling, that God saith ((?«■«. 18. 19.) I know hint that he will conunand his Children, and his houshold after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, and do justice and judgement. The fourth place is that oi Exod. 28. 30. Thou shall put in the Breastplate of Judgment, the Vrim and the Thunimin : which hee saith is interpreted by the Septuagint Sf/Xuaw Kal aXi'iBeiav, that is, Evidence and Truth : And thence con- cludeth, God had given Evidence, and Truth, (which is almost Infallibility,) to the High Priest. But be it Evidence and Truth it selfe that was given ; or be it but Admonition to the Priest to endeavour to inform himself cleerly, and give judgment uprightly; yet in that it was given to the High Priest, it was given to the Civill Soveraign : For such next under God was the High Priest in the the Common- wealth of Israel ; and is an argument for Evidence and 306 Truth, that is, for the Ecclesiasticall Supremacy of Civill Soveraigns over their own Subjects, against the pretended Power Manners. Pari 3. COMMON- WEALTH. Chap. 42. 447 Power of the Pope. These are all the Texts hee bringeth for the Infallibility of the Judgement of the Pope, in point of Faith. For the Infallibility of his Judgment concerning Manners, hee bringeth one Text, which is that oi John 16. 13. When Texts for . . , ihe same in the Spirit of truth is come, hee will lead you into all truth : point 0/ where (saith he) by all truth, is meant, at least, all truth necessary to salvation. But with this mitigation, he attri- buteth no more Infallibility to the Pope, than to any man that professeth Christianity, and is not to be damned : For if any man erre in any point, wherein not to erre is neces- sary to Salvation; it is impossible he should be saved ; for that onely is necessary to Salvation, without which to be saved is impossible. What points these are, I shall declare out of the Scripture in the Chapter following. In this place I say no more, but that though it were granted, the Pope could not possibly teach any error at all, yet doth not this entitle him to any Jurisdiction in the Dominions of another Prince, unlesse we shall also say, a man is obliged in con- science to set on work upon all occasions the best workman, even then also when he hath formerly promised his work to another. Besides the Text, he argueth from Reason, thus. If the Pope could erre in necessaries, then Christ hath not suffi- ciently provided for the Churches Salvation ; because he hath commanded her to follow the Popes directions. But this Reason is invalid, unlesse he shew when, and where Christ commanded that, or took at all any notice of a Pope .• Nay granting whatsoever was given to S. Peter, was given to the Pope ; yet seeing there is in the Scripture no command to any man to obey St. Peter, no man can bee just, that obeyeth him, when his commands are contrary to those of his lawfuU Soveraign. Lastly, it hath not been declared by the Church, nor by the Pope himselfe, that he is the Civill Soveraign of all the Christians in the world ; and therefore all Christians are not bound to acknowledge his Jurisdiction in point of Manners. For 448 Part I. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. i,n. For the Civill Soveraigtity, and supreme Judicature in con- troversies of Manners, are the same thing : And the Makers of Civill Laws, are not onely Declarers, but also Makers of the justice, and injustice of actions ; there being nothing in mens Manners that makes them righteous, or unrighteous, but their conformity with the Law of the Soveraign. And therefore when the Pope challengeth Supremacy in contro- versies of Manners, hee teacheth men to disobey the Civill Soveraign ; which is an erroneous Doctrine, contrary to the many precepts of our Saviour and his Apostles, delivered to us in the Scripture. To prove the Pope has Power to make Laws, he alledgeth many places ; as first, Deut. 17. 12. The man that will doe presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the Priest, (that siandeth to Minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the Judge,) even that man shall die, and thou shall put away the evillfrom Israel. For answer whereunto, we are to re- 307 member that the High Priest (next and immediately under God) was the Civill Soveraign ; and all Judges were to be constituted by him. The words alledged sound therefore thus. The man that will presume to disobey the Civill Sove- raign for the time being, or any of his Officers in the execution of their places, that man shall die, is^c. which is cleerly for the Civill Soveraignty, against the Universall power of the Pope. Secondly, he alledgeth that of Matth. 16. Whatsoever yee shall bind, Ss^c. and interpreteth it for such binding as is attributed [Matth. 23. 4.) to the Scribes and Pharisees, They bind heavy burthens, and grievous to be born, and lay them on mens shoulders ; by which is meant (he sayes) Making of Laws; and concludes thence, that the Pope can make Laws. But this also maketh onely for the Legislative power of Civill Soveraigns : For the Scribes, and Pharisees sat in Moses Chaire, but Moses next under God was Soveraign of the People of Israel : and therefore our Saviour commanded them to doe all that they should say, but not all that they should do. That is, to obey their Laws, but not follow their Example. The Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 42. 449 The third place, is John 21. 16. Feed my sheep; which is not a Power to make Laws, but a command to Teach. Making Laws belongs to the Lord of the Family ; who by his owne discretion chooseth his Chaplain, as also a School- master to Teach his children. The fourth place lohn 20. 21. is against him. The words are, As my Father sent me, so send I you. But our Saviour was sent to Redeem (by his Death) such as should Beleeve ; and by his own, and his Apostles preaching to prepare them for their entrance into his Kingdome ; which he himself saith, is not of this world, and hath taught us to pray for the coming of it hereafter, though hee refused i^Ads I. 6, 7.) to tell his Apostles when it should come; and in which, when it comes, the twelve Apostles shall sit on twelve Thrones (every one perhaps as high as that of St. Peter) to judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Seeing then God the Father sent not our Saviour to make Laws in this present world, wee may conclude from the Text, that neither , did our Saviour send S. Peter to make Laws here, but to perswade men to expect his second comming with a stedfast faith ; and in the mean time, if Subjects, to obey their Princes ; and if Princes, both to beleeve it themselves, and to do their best to make their Subjects doe the same ; which is the Office of a Bishop. Therefore this place maketh most strongly for the joining of the Ecclesiasticall Supremacy to the Civill Soveraignty, contrary to that which Cardinall Bellarmine alledgeth it for. The fift place is Acts 15. 28. It hath seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden, than these necessary things, that yee abstaine from meats offered to Idols, and from bloud, and from things strangled, and from fornication. Here hee notes the word Laying of burdens for 308 the Legislative Power. But who is there, that reading this Text, can say, this' stile of the Apostles may not as properly be used in giving Counsell, as in making Laws ? The stile of a Law is, We command : But, VFe think good, is the ordi- nary stile of them, that but give Advice ; and they lay a 2 G Burthen 450 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. Burthen that give Advice, though it bee conditional!, that is, if they to whom they give it, vi'ill attain their ends : And such is the Burthen, of abstaining from things strangled, and from bloud ; not absolute, but in case they will not erre. I have shewn before (chap. 25.) that Law, is distinguished from Counsell, in this, that the reason of a Law, is taken from the designe, and benefit of him that prescribeth it; but the reason of a Counsell, from the designe, and benefit of him, to whom the Counsell is given. But here, the Apostles aime onely at the benefit of the converted Gentiles, namely their Salvation ; not at their own benefit ; for having done their endeavour, they shall have their reward, whether they be obeyed, or not. And therefore the Acts of this Councell, were not Laws, but Counsells. The sixt place is that of R0171. 13. Let every Soul be subject to the Higher Powers, for there is no Power but of God; which is meant, he saith not onely of Secular, but also of Ecclesiasticall Princes. To which I answer, first, that there ai^no_ Jxclesiasticall j'rinces but.those that are also Civill Spyeraignes; and their Principalitieg_ ^xceed not the c om- ISES-.2£»J^^''^< CiyilLSciYSraigjitx^ without those bounds though they may be received for Doctors, they cannot be acknowledged for Princes. For if the Apostle had meant, we should be subject both to our own Princes, and also to the Pope, he had taught us a doctrine, which Christ himself hath told us is impossible, namely, to serve two Masters. And though the Apostle say in another place, I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpnesse, according to the Power which the Lord hath given me ; it is not, that he challenged a Power either to put to death, im- prison, banish, whip, or fine any of them, which are Punish- ments ; but onely to Excommunicate, which (without the Civill Power) is no more but a leaving of their company, and having no more to doe with them, than with a Heathen man, or a Publican ; which in many occasions might be a greater pain to the Excommunicant, than to the Excommu- nicate. The Parf^. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ifl. 451 The seventh place is i Cor. 4. 2 1. Shall I come unto you with a Rod, or in love, and the spirit of lenity 1 But here again, it is not the Power of a Magistrate to punish offenders, that is meant by a Rod ; but onely the Power of Excommu- nication, which is not in its owne nature a Punishment, but onely a Denouncing of punishment, that Christ shall inflict, when he shall be in possession of his Kingdome, at the day of Judgment. Nor then also shall it bee properly a Punish- ment, as upon a Subject that hath broken the Law ; but a Revenge, as upon an Enemy, or Revolter, that denyeth the Right of our Saviour to the Kingdome : And therefore this proveth not the Legislative Power of any Bishop, that has not also the Civill Power. 309 The eighth place is, Timothy 3. 2. A Bishop must be the husband but of one wife, vigilant, sober, ^'c. which he saith was a Law. I thought that none could make a Law in the Church, but the Monarch of the Church, St. Peter. But suppose this Precept made by the authority of St. Peter ; yet I see no reason why to call it a Law, rather than an Advice, seeing Timothy was not a Subject, but a Disciple of S. Paul; nor the flock under the charge of Timothy, his Subjects in the Kingdome, but his Scholars in the Schoole of Christ : If all the Precepts he giveth Timothy, be Laws, why is not this also a Law, Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy healths sake ? And why are not also the Precepts of good Physitians, so many Laws ? but that it is not the Im- perative manner of speaking, but an absolute Subjection to a Person, that maketh his Precepts Laws. In like manner, the ninth place, i Tim. 5. 19. Against an Elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three Witnesses, is a wise Precept, but not a Law. The tenth place is, Luke 10. 16. He that heareth you, heareth mee ; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me. And there is no doubt, but he that despiseth the Counsell of those that are sent by Christ, despiseth the Counsell of Christ himself. But who are those now that are sent by Christ, but such as are ordained Pastors by lawfull Authority ? and who 452 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. are lawfully ordained, that are not ordained by the Soveraign Pastor ? and who is ordained by the Soveraign Pastor in a Christian Common-wealth, that is not ordained by the au- thority of the Soveraign thereof ? Out of this place therefore it followeth, that he which heareth his Soveraign being a Christian, heareth Christ ; and hee that despiseth the Doc- trine which his King being a Christian, authorizeth, despiseth the Doctrine of Christ (which is not that which Bellarmine intendeth here to prove, but the contrary). But all this is nothing to a Law. Nay more, a Christian King, as a Pastor, and Teacher of his Subjects, makes not thereby his Doctrines Laws. He cannot oblige men to beleeve ; though as a Civill Soveraign he may make Laws suitable to his Doctrine, which may oblige men to certain actions, and sometimes to such as they would not otherwise do, and which he ought not to command ; and yet when they are commanded, they are Laws ; and the externall actions done in obedience to them, without the inward approbation, are the actions of the Sove- raign, and not of the Subject, which is in that case but as an instrument, without any motion of his owne at all ; because God hath commanded to obey them. The eleventh, is every place, where the Apostle for Coun- sell, putteth some word, by which men use to signifie Com- mand ; or calleth the following of his Counsell, by the name of Obedience. And therefore they are alledged out of i Cor. II. 2. I commend you for keeping my Precepts as I delivered them to you. The Greek is, / commend you for keeping those things I delivered to you, as I delivered them. Which is far from signifying that they were Laws, or any thing else, but good Counsell. And that of i Thess. 4. 2. 310 You know what commandements we gave you : where the ■ Greek word is vapayyeiae iSmafjiiv, equivalent to Trap^Siomiiev, what wee delivered to you, as in the place next before alledged, which does not prove the Traditions of the Apostles, to be any more than Counsells ; though as is said in the 8 verse, he that despiseth them, despiseth not man, but God : For our Saviour himself came not to Judge, that is, to be King in this Parf},. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ifl. 453 this world ; but to Sacrifice himself for Sinners, and leave Doctors in his Church, to lead, not to drive men to Christ, who never accepteth forced actions, (which is all the Law produceth,) but the inward conversion of the heart ; which is not the work of Laws, but of Counsell, and Doctrine. And that of 2 Thess. 3. 14. If any man Obey not our word by this Epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may bee ashamed : where from the word Obey, he would inferre, that this Epistle was a Law to the Thessa- lonians. The Epistles of the Emperours were indeed Laws. If therefore the Epistle of S. Paul were also a Law, they were to obey two Masters. But the word Obey, as it is in the Greek vKaxovei, signifieth hearkning to, or putting in practice, not onley that which is Commanded by him that has right to punish, but also that which is delivered in a way of Counsell for our good ; and therefore St. Paul does not bid kill him that disobeys, nor beat, nor imprison, nor amerce him, which Legislators may all do ; but avoid his company, that he may bee ashamed : whereby it is evident, it was not the Empire of an Apostle, but his Reputation amongst the Faithfull, which the Christians stood in awe of. The last place is that oi Heb. 13. 17. Obey your Leaders, and submit your selves to them, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account : And here also is intended by Obedience, a following of their Counsell : For the reason of our Obedience, is not drawn from the will and command of our Pastors, but from our own benefit, as being the Salvation of our Souls they watch for, and not for the Exaltation of their own Power, and Authority. If it were meant here, that all they teach were Laws, then not onely the Pope, but every Pastor in his Parish should have Legislative Power. Again, they that are bound to obey, their Pastors, have no power to examine their commands. What then shall wee say to St. lohn who bids us (i Epist. chap. 4. ver. i.) Not to beleeve every Spirit, but to try the Spirits whether they are of God, because many false Prophets are gone out into the world 2 It is therefore manifest, that wee may dispute the Doctrine of our 454 Pari 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. our Pastors ; but no man can dispute a Law. The Com- mands of Civill Soveraigns are on all sides granted to be Laws : if any else can make a Law besides himselfe, all Common-wealth, and consequently all Peace, and Justice must cease ; which is contrary to all Laws, both Divine and Humane. Nothing therefore can be drawn from these, or any other places of Scripture, to prove the Decrees of the Pope, where he has not also the Civill Soveraignty, to be Laws. The ques- Tjjg j^gt point hee would prove, is this, Thai our Saviour 311 iton oj Su' ^ r f r feriority Christ has committed Ecdesiasticall Jurisdiction immediately between the Pope and to none but the Pope. Wherem he handleth not the Question Bishops. of Supremacy between the Pope and Christian Kings, but between the Pope and other Bishops. And first, he sayes it is agreed, that the Jurisdiction of Bishops, is at least in the generall de lure JDivino, that is, in the Right of God ; for which he alledges S. Paul, Ephes. 4, 11. where hee sayes, that Christ after his Ascension into heaven, gave gifts io men, some Apostles, some Ffopheis, and some Evangelists, and some Pastors, and some Teachers : And thence inferres, they have indeed their Jurisdiction in Gods Right; but will not grant they have it immediately from God, but de- rived through the Pope. But if a man may be said to have his Jurisdiction de ^ure Divino, and yet not immediately ; what lawfull Jurisdiction, though but Civill, is there in a Christian Common-wealth, that is not also de lure Divino ? For Christian Kings have their Civill Power from God im- mediately; and the Magistrates under him exercise their severall charges in vertue of his Commission ; wherein that which they doe, is no lesse de lure Divino mediato, than that which the Bishops doe, in vertue of the Popes Ordi- nation. All lawfull Power is of God, immediately in the Supreme Governour, and mediately in those that have Authority under him : So that either hee must grant every Constable in the State, to hold his OflSce in the Right of God ; or he must not hold that any Bishop holds his so, besides the Pope himselfe. But Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap.^dfl. 455 But this whole Dispute, whether Christ left the Jurisdic- tion to the Pope onely, or to other Bishops also, if con- sidered out of those places where the Pope has the Civill Soveraignty, is a contention de lana Caprina : For none of them (where they are not Soveraigns) has any Jurisdiction at all. For Jurisdiction is the Power of hearing and deter- mining Causes between man and man ; and can belong to none, but him that hath the Power to prescribe the Rules of Right and Wrong ; that is, to make Laws ; and with the Sword of Justice to compell men to obey his Decisions, pronounced either by himself, or by the Judges he or- daineth thereunto ; which none can lawfully do, but the Civill Soveraign. Therefore when he alledgeth out of the 6 of Luke, that our Saviour called his Disciples together, and chose twelve of them which he named Apostles, he proveth that he Elected them (all, except Matthias, Paul and Barnabas), and gave them Power and Command to Preach, but not to Judge of Causes between man and man : for that is a Power which he refused to take upon himselfe, saying. Who made me a Judge, or a Divider, among you? and in another place, My Kingdome is not of this world. But hee that hath not the Power to hear, and determine Causes between man and man, cannot be said to have any Jurisdiction at all. And yet this hinders not, but that our Saviour gave them Power to Preach and Baptize in all parts of the world, supposing they were not by their own lawfull Soveraign forbidden : For to our own Soveraigns Christ himself, and his Apostles 312 have in sundry places expressely commanded us in all things to be obedient. The arguments by which he would prove, that Bishops receive their Jurisdiction from the Pope (seeing the Pope in the Dominions of other Princes hath no Jurisdiction him- self,) are all in vain. Yet because they prove, on the con- trary, that all Bishops receive Jurisdiction when they have it from their Civill Soveraigns, I will not omit the recitall of them. The 456 Partz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ^2. The first, is from Numbers 11. where Moses not being able alone to undergoe the whole burthen of administring the affairs of the People of Israel, God commanded him to choose Seventy Elders, and took part of the spirit of Moses, to put it upon those Seventy Elders : by which is under- stood, not that God weakned the spirit of Moses, for that had not eased him at all ; but that they had all of them their authority from him ; wherein he doth truly, and in- genuously interpret that place. But seeing Moses had the entire Soveraignty in the Common-wealth of the Jews, it is manifest, that it is thereby signified, that they had their Authority from the Civill Soveraign : and therefore that place proveth, that Bishops in every Christian Common- wealth have their Authority from the Civill Soveraign ; and from the Pope in his own Territories only, and not in the Territories of any other State. The second argument, is from the nature of Monarchy ; wherein all Authority is in one Man, and in others by derivation from him : But the Government of the Church, he says, is Monarchical!. This also makes for Christian Monarchs. For they are really Monarchs of their own people ; that is, of their own Church (for the Church is the same thing with a Christian people ;) whereas the Power of the Pope, though hee were S. Peter, is neither Monarchy, nor hath any thing of Archicall, nor Craticall, but onely of Didacticall ; For God accepteth not a forced, but a willing obedience. The third, is, from that the Sea of S. Peter is called by S. Cyprian, the Head, the Source, the Roote, the Sun, from whence the Authority of Bishops is derived. But by the Law of Nature (which is a better Principle of Right and Wrong, than the word of any Doctor that is but a man) the Civill Soveraign in every Common-wealth, is the Head, the Source, the Root, and the Sun, from which all Jurisdiction is derived. And therefore the Jurisdiction of Bishops, is derived from the Civill Soveraign. The fourth, is taken from the Inequality of their Jurisdic- tions : Part-i. COMMON-WEALTH. Chaf. ifl. 457 tions : For if God (saith he) had given it them immediately, he had given as well Equality of Jurisdiction, as of Order; But wee see, some are Bishops but of own Town, some of a hundred Towns, and some of many whole Provinces; which differences were not determined by the command of God ; their Jurisdiction therefore is not of God, but of Man ; and one has a greater, another a lesse, as it pleaseth the Prince of the Church. Which argument, if he had proved before, that the Pope had had an Universall Juris- diction over all Christians, had been for his purpose. But 313 seeing that hath not been proved, and that it is notoriously known, the large Jurisdiction of the Pope was given him by those that had it, that is, by the Emperours of Rome, (for the Patriarch of Constantinople, upon the same title, namely, of being Bishop of the Capitall City of the Empire, and Seat of the Emperour, claimed to be equall to him,) it fol- loweth, that all other Bishops have their Jurisdiction from the Soveraigns of the place wherein they exercise the same : And as for that cause they have not their Authority de lure Divino ; so neither hath the Pope his de lure Divino, except onely where hee is also the Civill Soveraign. His fift argument is this, If Bishops have their Jurisdiction immediately from God, the Pope could not take it from tltem, for he can doe nothing contrary to Gods ordination ; And this consequence is good, and well proved. £ut (saith he) t/ie Pope can do this, and has done it. This also is granted, so he doe it in his own Dominions, or in the Dominions of any other Prince that hath given him that Power ; but not uni- versally, in Right of the Popedome : For that power be- longeth to every Christian Soveraign, within the bounds of his owne Empire, and is inseparable from the Soveraignty. Before the People of Israel had (by the commandment of God to Samuel) set over themselves a King, after the manner of other Nations, the High Priest had the Civill Government; and none but he could make, nor depose an inferiour Priest : But that Power was afterwards in the King, as may be proved by this same argument of Bellarmine ; For if the Priest (be he 458 Partz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ^2. he the High Priest or any other) had his Jurisdiction imme- diately from God, then the King could not take it from him; for he could doe nothing contrary to Gods ordinance : But it is certain, that King Solomon (i Kings 2. 26.) deprived Abiathar the High Priest of his Office, and placed Zadok (verse 35.) in his room. Kings therefore may in the like manner Ordaine, and Deprive Bishops, as they shall thinke fit, for the well governing of their Subjects. His sixth argument is this, If Bishops have their Jurisdic- tion de lure Divino (that is, immediately from God,) they that maintaine it, should bring some Word of God to prove it : But they can bring none. The argument is good ; I have therefore nothing to say against it But it is an argu- ment no lesse good, to prove the Pope himself to have no Jurisdiction in the Dominion of any other Prince. Lastly, hee bringeth for argument, the testimony of two Popes, Innocent, and Leo ; and I doubt not but hee might have alledged, with as good reason, the testimonies of all the Popes almost since S. Peter : For considering the love of Power naturally implanted in mankind, whosoever were made Pope, he would be tempted to uphold the same opinion. Neverthelesse, they should therein but doe, as Innocent, and Leo did, bear witnesse of themselves, and therefore their witnesse should not be good. Of the In the fift Book he hath four Conclusions. The first is, 314 Popes Tern- ' poraii That the Pope is not Lord of all the world : The second, That the Pope is not Lord of all the Christian world : The third, Thai the Pope (without his owne Territory) has not any Temporall jurisdiction DIRECTL Y: These three Con- clusions are easily granted. The fourth is, Tliat the Pope has (in the Dominions of other Princes) the Supreme Tem- porall Power INDIRECTLY : which is denyed ; unlesse hee mean by Indirectly, that he has gotten it by Indirect means ; then is that also granted. But I understand, that when he saith he hath it Indirectly, he means, that such Temporall Jurisdiction belongeth to him of Right, but that this Right is but a Consequence of his Pastorall Authority, the which he Parfi. COMMON-WEALTH. Lhap. up.. he could not exercise, unlesse he have the other with it : And therefore to the Pastorall Power (which he calls Spirituall) the Supreme Power Civill is necessarily annexed ; and that thereby hee hath a Right to change Kingdomes, giving them to one, and taking them from another, when he shall think it conduces to the Salvation of Souls. Before I come to consider the Arguments by which hee would prove this Doctrine, it will not bee amisse to lay open the Consequences of it ; that Princes, and States, that have the Civill Soveraignty in their severall Common-wealths, may bethink themselves, whether it bee convenient for them, and conducing to the good of their Subjects, of whom they are to give an account at the day of Judgment, to admit the same. When it is said, the Pope hath not (in the Territories of other States) the Supreme Civill Power Directly ; we are to understand, he doth not challenge it, as other Civill Sove- raigns doe, from the originall submission thereto of those that are to be governed. For it is evident, and has already been sufficiently in this Treatise demonstrated, that the Right of all Soveraigns, is derived originally from the consent of every one of those that are to bee governed; whether they that choose him, doe it for their common defence against an Enemy, as when they agree amongst themselves to appoint a Man, or an Assembly of men to protect them ; or whether they doe it, to save their lives, by submission to a conquering Enemy. The Pope therefore, when he dis- claimeth the Supreme Civill Power over other States Directly, denyeth no more, but that his Right cometh to him by that way ; He ceaseth not for all that, to claime it another way ; and that is, (without the consent of them that are to be governed) by a Right given him by God, (which hee calleth Indirectly,) in his Assumption to the Papacy. But by what way soever he pretend, the Power is the same ; and he may (if it bee granted to be his Right) depose Princes and States, as often as it is for the Salvation of Soules, that is, as often as he will ; for he claimeth also the Sole Power to Judge, whether 459 46o Parfi. OF A CHRISTIAN CJiap. i\,2. whether it be to the Salvation of mens Souls, or not. And this is the Doctrine, not onely that Bellarmine here, and many other Doctors teach in their Sermons and Books, but also that some Councells have decreed, and the Popes have accordingly, when the occasion hath served them, put in 315 practise. For the fourth Councell of Lateran held under Pope Innocent the third, (in the third Chap. De llcereticis,) hath this Canon. If a King at the Popes admonition, doe not purge his Kingdome of Hcsretiques, and being Excommunicate for the same, make not satisfaction within a yeer, his Subjects are absolved of their Obedience. And the practise hereof hath been seen on divers occasions ; as in the Deposing of Chil- perique. King of France ; in the Translation of the Roman Empire to Charlemaine ; in the Oppression of lohn King of England ; in Transferring the Kingdome of Navarre ; and of late years, in the League against Henry the third of France, and in many more occurrences. I think there be few Princes that consider not this as Injust, and Incon- venient ; but I wish they would all resolve to be Kings, or Subjects. Men cannot serve two Masters : They ought therefore to ease them, either by holding the Reins of Government wholly in their own hands ; or by wholly de- livering them into the hands of the Pope ; that such men as are willing to be obedient, may be protected in their obe- dience. For this distinction of Temporall, and Spirituall Power is but words. Power is as really divided, and as dangerously to all purposes, by sharing with another Indirect Power, as with a Direct one. But to come now to his Arguments. The first is this. The Civill Power is subject to the Spirituall: Therefore he that hath the Supreme Power Spirituall, hath right to command Temporall Princes, and dispose of their Temporalis in order to the Spirituall. As for the distinction of Temporall, and Spirituall, let us consider in what sense it may be said intelligibly, that the Temporall, or Civill Power is subject to the Spirituall. There be but two ways that those words can be made sense. For when wee say, one Power Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ifl. 461 Power is subject to another Power, the meaning either is, that he which hath the one, is subject to him that hath the other ; or that the one Power is to the other, as the means to the end. For wee cannot understand, that one Power hath Power over another Power ; or that one Power can have Right or Command over another.- For Subjection, Command, Right, and Power are accidents, not of Powers, but of Persons .• One Power may be subordinate to another, as the art of a Sadler, to the art of a Rider. If then it bee granted, that the Civill Government be ordained as a means to bring us to a Spiritual! felicity ; yet it does not follow, that if a King have the Civill Power, and the Pope the Spirituall, that therefore the King is bound to obey the Pope, more then every Sadler is bound to obey every Rider. Therefore as from Subordination of an Art, cannot be inferred the Sub- jection of the Governor. When therefore he saith, the Civill Power is Subject to the Spirituall, his meaning is, that the Civill Soveraign, is Subject to the Spirituall Soveraign. And the Argument stands thus. The Civil Soveraign, is subject to the Spirituall ; Therefore the Spirituall Prince may com- mand Temporall Princes. Where the Conclusion is the 316 same, with the Antecedent he should have proved. But to prove it, he alledgeth first, this reason. Kings and Popes, Clergy and Laity make but one Common-wealth ; that is to say, but one Church : And in all Bodies the Members depend one upon another : But things Spirituall depend not of things Temporall : Therefore Temporall depend on Spirituall. And therefore are Subject to them. In which Argumentation there be two grosse errours : one is, that all Christian Kings, Popes, Clergy, and all other Christian men, make but one Com- mon-wealth : For it is evident that France is one Common- wealth, Spain another, and Venice a third, &c. And these consist of Christians ; and therefore also are severall Bodies of Christians ; that is to say, severall Churches : And their severall Soveraigns Represent them, whereby they are capable of commanding and obeying, of doing and suffering, as a naturall man ; which no General! or Universal! Church is, till 462 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. till it have a Representant ; which it hath not on Earth : for if it had, there is no doubt but that all Christendome were one Common-wealth, whose Soveraign were that Repre- sentant, both in things Spirituall and Temporall : And the Pope, to make himself this Representant, wanteth three things that our Saviour hath not given him, to Command, and to Judge, and to Punish, otherwise than (by Excommu- nication) to run from those that will not Learn of him : For though the Pope were Christs onely Vicar, yet he cannot exercise his government, till our Saviours second coming : And then also it is not the Pope, but St. Peter himselfe, with the other Apostles, that are to be Judges of the world. The other errour in this his first Argument is, that he sayes, the Members of every Common- wealth, as of a naturall Body, depend one of another : It is true, they cohsere to- gether ; but they depend onely on the Soveraign, which is the Soul of the Common-wealth ; which failing, the Com- mon-wealth is dissolved into a Civill war, no one man so much as cohaering to another, for want of a common De- pendance on a known Soveraign ; Just as the Members of the naturall Body dissolve into Earth, for want of a Soul to hold them together. Therefore there is nothing in this similitude, from whence to inferre a dependance of the Laity on the Clergy, or of the Temporall Officers on the Spirituall; but of both on the Civill Soveraign ; which ought indeed to direct his Civill commands to the Salvation of Souls ; but is not therefore subject to any but God himselfe. And thus you see the laboured fallacy of the first Argument, to deceive such men as distinguish not between the Subordination of Actions in the way to the End ; and the Subjection of Persons one to another in the administration of the Means. For to every End, the Means are determined by Nature, or by God himselfe supernaturally : but the Power to make men use the Means, is in every nation resigned (by the Law of Nature, which forbiddeth men to violate their Faith given) to the Civill Soveraign. His second Argument is this, Every Common-wealth, 317 (because Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. t^i. 463 {because it is supposed to be perfect and sufficient in it self,) may command any other Cotnmon-wealth, not subject to it, and force it to change the administration of the Government ; nay depose the Prince, and set another in his room, if it cannot otherwise defend it selfe against the injuries he goes about to doe them : much more may a Spirituall Common-wealth coinmand a Temporall one to change the administration of their Govern- ment, and may depose Princes, and institute others, when they cannot otherwise defend the Spirituall Good. That a Common-wealth, to defend it selfe against injuries, may lawfully doe all that he hath here said, is very true ; and hath already in that which hath gone before been suf- ficiently demonstrated. And if it were also true, that there is now in this world a Spirituall Common-wealth, distinct from a Civill Common-wealth, then might the Prince there- of, upon injury done him, or upon want of caution that in- jury be not done him in time to come, repaire, and secure himself by Warre ; which is in summe, deposing, killing, or subduing, or doing any act of Hostility. But by the same reason, it would be no less lawfuU for a Civill Soveraign, upon the like injuries done, or feared, to make warre upon the Spirituall Soveraign ; which I beleeve is more than Car- dinall Bellarmine would have inferred from his own proposi- tion. But Spirituall Common-wealth there is none in this world : for it is the same thing with the Kingdome of Christ ; which he himselfe saith, is not of this world j but shall be in the next world, at the Resurrection, when they that have lived justly, and beleeved that he was the Christ, shall (though they died Naturall bodies) rise Spirituall bodies ; and then it is, that our Saviour shall judge the world, and conquer his Adversaries, and make a Spirituall Common-wealth. In the mean time, seeing there are no men on earth, whose bodies are Spirituall; there can be no Spirituall Common-wealth amongst men that are yet in the flesh : unlesse wee call Preachers, that have Commission to Teach, and prepare men for their reception into the Kingdome of Christ at the Resurrection, 464 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 42. Resurrection, a Common-wealth; which I have proved already to bee none. The third Argument is this ; It is not lawfullfor Christians to tolerate an Infidel, or Hareticall King, in case he endeavour to draw them to his Hmresie, or Infidelity. But to judge whether a King draw his subjects to Hceresie, or not, belongeth to the Pope. Therefore hath the Pope Right, to determine •whether the Prince be to be deposed, or not deposed. To this I answer, that both these assertions are false. For Christians, (or men of what Religion soever,) if they tolerate not their King, whatsoever law hee maketh, though it bee concerning Religion, doe violate their faith, contrary to the Divine Law, both Naturall zx\d. Positive : Nor is there any Judge of Haeresie amongst Subjects, but their owne Civill Soveraign : For Hceresie is nothing else, but a private opinion, obstinately maintained, contrary to the opinion which 318 the Publique Person (that is to say, the Representant of the Common-wealth) hath commanded to bee taught. By which it is manifest, that an opinion publiquely appointed to bee taught, cannot be Haeresie ; nor the Soveraign Princes that authorize them, Hseretiques. For Haeretiques are none but private men, that stubbornly defend some Doctrine, pro- hibited by their lawfull Soveraigns. But to prove that Christians are not to tolerate Infidell, or Hsereticall Kings, he alledgeth a place in Deut. 17. where God forbiddeth the Jews, when they shall set a King over themselves, to choose a stranger : And from thence inferreth, that it is unlawfull for a Christian, to choose a King, that is not a Christian. And 'tis true, that he that is a Christian, that is, hee that hath already obliged himself to receive our Saviour when he shall come, for his King, shal tempt God too much in choosing for King in this world, one that hee knoweth will endeavour, both by terrour, and perswasion to make him violate his faith. But, it is (saith hee) the same danger, to choose one that is not a Christian, for King, and not to depose him, when hee is chosen. To this I say, the question is not of the danger of not deposing ; but of the Justice Part-i. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^,■2. 465 Justice of deposing him. To choose him, may in some cases bee unjust ; but to depose him, when he is chosen, is in no case Just. For it is alwaies violation of faith, and consequently against the Law of Nature, which is the eter- nall Law of God. Nor doe wee read, that any such Doctrine was accounted Christian in the time of the Apostles ; nor in the time of the Romane Emperours, till the Popes had the Civill Soveraignty of Rome. But to this he hath reply ed, that the Christians of old, deposed not Nero, nor Dioclesian, nor Julian, nor Valens an Arrian, for this cause onely, that they wanted Temporall forces. Perhaps so. But did our Saviour, who for calling for, might have had twelve Legions of immortall, invulnerable Angels to assist him, want forces to depose Ccesar, or at least Pilate, that unjustly, without finding fault in him, delivered him to the Jews to bee cruci- fied ? Or if the Apostles wanted Temporal] forces to depose Nero, was it therefore necessary for them in their Epistles to the new made Christians, to teach them (as they did) to obey the Powers constituted over them, (whereof Nero in that time was one,) and that they ought to obey them, not for fear of their wrath, but for conscience sake ? Shall we say they did not onely obey, but also teach what they meant not, for want of strength? It is not therefore for want of strength, but for conscience sake, that Christians are to to- lerate their Heathen Princes, or Princes (for I cannot call any one whose Doctrine is the PubHque Doctrine, an Hseretique) that authorize the teaching of an Errour. And whereas for the Temporall Power of the Pope, he alledgeth further, that St. Paul (i Cor. 6.) appointed Judges under the Heathen Princes of those times, such as were not ordained by those Princes; it is not true. For St. Paul does but advise them, to take some of their Brethren to com- 319 pound their differences, as Arbitrators, rather than to goe to law one with another before the Heathen Judges ; which is a wholsome Precept, and full of Charity, fit to bee practised also in the best Christian Common-wealths. And for the danger that may arise to Rehgion, by the Subjects tolerating 2H of 466 Partz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ifl. of an Heathen, or an Erring Prince, it is a point, of which a Subject is no competent Judge ; or if hee bee, the Popes Temporall Subjects may judge also of the Popes Doctrine. For every Christian Prince, as I have formerly proved, is no lesse Supreme Pastor of his own Subjects, than the Pope of his. The fourth Argument, is taken from the Baptisme of Kings; wherein, that they may be made Christians they submit their Scepters to Christ ; and promise to keep, and defend the Christian Faith. This is true; for Christian Kings are no more but Christs Subjects : but they may, for all that, bee the Popes Fellowes ; for they are Supreme Pastors of their own Subjects ; and the Pope is no more but King, and Pastor, even in Rome it selfe. The fifth Argument, is drawn from the words spoken by our Saviour, Feed my sheep ; by which was given all Power necessary for a Pastor ; as the Power to chase away Wolves, such as are Haeretiques ; the Power to shut up Rammes, if they be mad, or push at the other Sheep with their Homes, such as are Evill (though Christian) Kings ; and Power to give the Flock convenient food : From whence hee in- ferreth, that St. Peter had these three Powers given him by Christ. To which I answer, that the last of these Powers, is no more than the Power, or rather Command to Teach. For the first, which is to chase away Wolves, that is, Hsere- tiques, the place hee quoteth is {Matth. 7. 15.) Beware oj false Prophets which come to you in Sheeps clothing, but in- wardly are ravening Wolves. But neither are Hseretiques false Prophets, or at all Prophets : nor (admitting Hsretiques for the Wolves there meant,) were the Apostles commanded to kill them, or if they were Kings, to depose them ; but to beware of, fly, and avoid them : nor was it to St. Peter, nor to any of the Apostles, but to the multitude of the Jews that followed him into the mountain, men for the most part not yet converted, that hee gave this Counsell, to Beware of false Prophets ; which therefore if it conferre a Power of chasing away Kings, was given, not onely to private men ; but to men Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^2. 467 men that were not at all Christians. And as to the Power of Separating, and Shutting up of furious Rammes, (by which hee meaneth Christian Kings that refuse to submit themselves to the Roman Pastor,) our Saviour refused to take upon him that Power in this world himself, but advised to let the Corn and Tares grow up together till the day of Judgment : much lesse did hee give it to St. Peter, or can S. Peter give it to the Popes. St. Peter, and all other Pastors, are bidden to esteem those Christians that disobey the Church, that is, 320 (that disobey the Christian Soveraigne) as Heathen men, and as Publicans. Seeing then meti challenge to the Pope no authority over Heathen Princes, they ought to challenge none over those that are to bee esteemed as Heathen. But from the Power to Teach onely, hee inferteth also a Coercive Power in the Pope, over Kings. The Pastor (saith he) must give his flock convenient food : Therefore the Pope may, and ought to compell Kings to doe their duty. Out of which it followeth, that the Pope, as Pastor of Christian men, is King of Kings : which all Christian Kings ought indeed either to Confesse, or else they ought to take upon them- selves the Suprenie Pastorall Charge, evei'y one in his own Dominion. His sixth, and last Argument, is from Exaniples. To which I answer, first, that Examples prove nothing : Secondly, that the Examples he alledgeth make not so niuch as a proba- bility of Right. The fact of Jehoiada, in Killing Athaliah (2 Kings II.) was either by the Authority of King Joash, or it was a horrible Crime in the High Priest, which (ever after the election of King Saul) was a mere Subject. The fact of St. Ambrose, in Excommunicating TheodosiuS the Etnperour, (if it were true hee did so,) was a Capitall Crime. And for the Popes, Gregory i. Greg. 2. Zachary, and Leo 3. their Judgments are void, as given in their own Cause ; and the Acts done by them conformably to this Doctrine, are the greatest Crimes (especially that of Zachary) that are incident to Humane Nature. And thus much of Power Ecdesiasti- call ; wherein I had been more briefe, forbearing to examine these 468 Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 43. these Arguments of Bellarmine, if they had been his, as a Private man, and not as the Giampion of the Papacy, against all other Christian Princes, and States. CHAP. XLIII. The diffi- culty of obeying God and Man both at once, \ Is none to tkem thai distinguish between •what is, and "what is not Neces- sary to Salvation. Of what is Necessary for a Mans Reception into the Kingdome of Heaven. THe most frequent pretext of Sedition, and Civill Warre, in Christian Common-wealths hath a long time proceeded from a difficulty, not yet sufficiently resolved, of obeying at once, both God, and Man, then when their Commandements are one contrary to the other. Jjt is manifest enough, that when a man receiveth two contrary Commands, and knows that one of them is Gods, he ought to obey that, and not the other, though it be the command even of his lawfull Soveraign}(whether a Monarch, or a soveraign Assembly,) or the command of his Father. The difficult^J;herefore^ consisteth i n this, t h at men w hen they are commanded in the name of God, know not in divers -ii-i' . -)**:^7?'<*™i"* 321 Cases, whether the command be from God, or whether he that commandeth, doe but abuse Gods name for some private ends of his own. For as there were in the Qmrcfi of the Jews, many false Prophets, that sought reputation with the people, by feigned Dreams, and Visions ; so there have been in all times in the Church of Christ, false Teachers, that seek reputation with the people, by phantasticall and false Doctrines ; and by such reputation (as is the nature of Ambition,) to govern them for their private benefit. But_this difficulty of obeying both God, and the Civill Soveraign on earth,' tb those that can distinguis h b'etween what js Nec essary,^ and wSPis xioi'Wpi-i^.'iary for their Re- ce ption in to^he Kingdome of God, is of no moment. F or if l]21.command^lFe' Civill So'vei-aign beeluSi^s that it may" be obeyed," without the forfeiture of life^er nall TnoTto'obey it Partz. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap, ^i- 469 It IS unjust ; and the precept of the Apostle takes place; Servants obey your Masters in all things; and, Children obey your Parents in all things ; and the precept of our Saviour, The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses Chaire, All therefore they shall say, that observe, and doe. But if_ the coraniand be such, as cannot be obeyed, without being damned to Eternall Death, then it were ma dness? to obey_i_t, and the Counsell "of our Saviour takes place7(^7io, "IsJ Fear not those that kill the body, but cannot kill tJu soule. All men therefore that would avoid, both the punishments that are to be in this world inflicted, for disobedience to their earthly Sove- raign, and those that shall be inflicted in the world to come for disobedience to God, have need be taught to distinguish well between what is, and what is not Necessary to Eternall Salvation. 322 All that is Necessary to Salvation, is contained in All that is two Vertues, Faith in Christ, a nd ObedienceJoLaws. The to Saiva- latter of these, if it were perfect, were enough to us. 'But *iahiedin' becaus e wee are all guilty of disobedience to Gods Law, not q^" j""'^ onely origina lly in Adam, but alsoactually by our own transgressions, there is required at our hands now, not onely Obedience for the r est of our time, but also a Remission of sins for the time past ; which Remission is the reward j3f our Faith in Christ. That nothing else is Necessarily required to Salvation, is manifest from this, that the Kingdome of Heaven is shut torwnebutJo_^innersj thatjsJa^saj^jjto^^the disobedient, or transgressors of the Law ; nor to them, in case they Repent, arid BeTeeve^alT'the Articles of Christian Faith, Necessary to Salvation. The Obedience required at our hands by God, that ac- Whatobe' K . . m..i ,^. . . »„^_„ ,,. .M '""i.^ -— _—^ , dlence Is cepteth m all our actions the Will for the Deed, is a serious Necessary ; Endeavour to Obey him ; and is called also by all such names as signifie that Endeavour. And therefore Obedience, is sometimes called by the names of Charity, and Love, because they imply a Will to Obey ; and our Savio ur himselfmaketh our Love to~G od, and to on e another, a Fulfilling, ^ of _th,e whole L'awTand sometimes by the name of Righteousnesse ; - for 47° Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 43. And to •whatLaws, In tJie Faith of a Christian^ who is the Person deleeved. for Righteousnesse is but the will to give to every one his owne, that is to say, the will to obey the Laws : and some- times by the name of Repentance ; because to Repent, im- plyeth a turning away from sinne, which is the same, with the return of the will to Obedience. Whosoever therefore unfeignedly desireth to fulfill the Commandements of God, or repenteth him truely of his transgressions, or that loveth God with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself, hath all the Obedience Necessary to his Reception into the King- dom of God : For if God should require perfect Innocence, there could no flesh be saved. But what Comma ndeme nts are those that God hath given us ? Are all those Laws which were given to the Jews by the hand of Moses, the Commandements of God ? If they bee, why are not Christians taught to Obey them? If they be not, what others are so, besides the Law of Nature ? For our Savio ur Christ hath not given us new Laws, but Counsel l to observe those wee are su bject_to ; that is to say^ the Laws_of_Mat!JIg, and the Laws of our severall Soveraigns : Nor did he m ake anyj iew_Law t o the Tews in his Sermon o n the Mount, buton el y expounded the Laws of Moses, to wh ich they were subject before . The Laws of God therefore ar e none but the Laws of Na ture, whereof the principall is, t hat we should not v iolate our Faith, that is, a corniliande- ment to obey our Civill Soveraigns, w hich wee constituted over us, by mutuall pact one witli another. And this Layy of God , that commandeth Obedience to t he Law Civil l, commandeth by consequence Obedience to all the Precepts of the Bible ; which (as I have proved in the precedent Chapter) is there onely La w,'"where'^ the'ri'vill .Snvpraign h pth maH f; jt_ £0 ; and in other places but Counsell ; which a m an at hi s own peril l, may without injustice refuse to obey. Kno wing now what is the Obedience Necessary to Salv ation, 323 and to whom it is due ; we are to consider next concern ing Fait h, whoiTi^ and why we beleeve ; a nd what are the Article s, or Pdnts necessarily i£uhs, beleeved by -them. .tha_t_ shall be saved . And first, for the Person whom we beleeve, because it ywhic nrp 1 Part-i,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. m. 471 it is impossible to beleeve any Person, before we know what he saith, it is necessary he be one that wee have heard speak. The Person therefore, whom Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and the Prophets beleeved, was God himself, that spake unto them supernaturally : And the Person, whom the Apostles and Disciples that conversed with Christ beleeved, was our Saviour himself. But of them, to whom neither God the Father, nor our Saviour ever spake, it cannot be said, that the Person whom they beleeved, was God. They beleeved the Aposdes, and after them the Pastors and Doctors of the Church, that recommended to their faith the History of the Old and New Testament : so that the Faith of Christians ever since our Saviours time, ,hath_had._.for .foundaUflJli first, the reputation of their Pastors, and afterward, t he authority of those that made the Old and New Testament to be received for the Rule nf Faith ; which _npne_c.oul d do but Christian Soveraignes ; who are therefore the Supreme Pastors, and t heonely Person s JwEom'C TirisHans^^ speakjrorn God ; except such as God speaketh to, in these days supernaturally. But because there be many false Prophets gone out into the world, other men are to examine such Spirits (as St. lohn adviseth us, i Epistle, Chap. 4. ver. i. ) whether they be of God, or not. And t here f ore. seeing^^£^&camlnationof Doctrines belongeth to the Supreme Pastor , the Person which all they that have n o speciall jevelation are to beleeve, is ( in evervCoimaaaiffiealth ) the Supreme Pastor, that is to say, the Civill Soveraigne^ The causes why men beleeve any Christian Doctrine, The causes are various : For Faith is the gift of God ; and he worketh it "-f^„ pauk. in each severall man, by such wayes, as it seemeth good unto himself. The most ordinary immediate cause of our beleef, concerning any point of Christian Faith, is, that wee beleeve the Bible to be the Word of God. But why wee beleeve the Bible to be the Word of God, is much disputed, as all questions must needs bee, that are not well stated. For they make not the question to be. Why we Beleeve it, but. How wee Know it ; as if Beleeving and Knowing were all one. And 472 Part's. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. i,i. And thence while one side ground their Knowledge upon the Infallibility of the Church, and the other side, on the Testimony of the Private Spirit, neither side concludeth what it pretends. For how shall a man know the Infallibility of the Church, but by knowing first the Infallibility of the Scripture ? Or how shall a man know his own Private spirit to be other than a beleef, grounded upon the Authority, and Arguments of his Teachers ; or upon a Presumption of his own Gifts ? Besides, there is nothing in the Scripture, from which can be inferred the Infallibility of the Church; much lesse, of any particular Church ; and least of all, the Infallibility of any particular man. ^yHearbt" ^^ '^ manifest therefore, that Ch ristian men doe not know. but onely beleeve the Scripture to be the Word of God ; and that the means of making them beleeve which God is pleased to afford men ordinarily, is according to the way of Nature, that is to say, from their Teachers. It is the Doctrine of St. Paul concerning Christian Faith in generall,( j?(7»2. lo. 17.) Faith Cometh by Hearing, that is, by Hearing our lawful! Pastors. He saith also ( ver. 14. 15. of the same Chapter) How shall they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard 1 and how shall they hear without a Preacher ? and how shall they Preach, except they be sent 2 Whereby it is e.vi , deflt, | :hat the ordinary c ause of bel eeving tha.tjjie Scriptures are the Word of God, is~tEe"same withjh e cause of the be le eymg of all other Articles of our Faith, namely, the He aring, of those that are by'tKe 'Law allowed and appointed to Teach us, a s our Parents in their Houses, and our Pastors in the Churches : Which also is made more manifest by experience. For what other cause can there bee assigned, why in Christian Common- wealths all men either beleeve, or at least professe the Scrip- ture to bee the Word of God, and in other Common- wealths scarce any; but that in Christian Common- wealths they are taught it from their infancy ; and in other places they are taught otherwise ? But if Teaching _ be the cause of Fait h, why doe not all _beleeve ? It is^certain_therefore that Faith is the gift of God, and 321 Part 2,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap, s^y 473 and hee giveth it to whom lie will. Nevertlielesse, because to them to whom he giveth it, he giveth it by the means of Teachers, the immediate cause of Faith is Hearing. In a School, where many are taught, and some profit, others pro- fit not, the cause of learning in them that profit, is the Master; yet it cannot be thence inferred, that learning is not the gift of God. All good things proceed from God ; yet cannot all that have them, say they are Inspired ; for that implies a gift supernaturall, and the immediate hand of God ; which he that pretends to, pretends to be a Prophet, and is sub- ject to the examination of the Church. But whether men Knoiv, or Beleeve, or Grant the Scrip- tures to be the Word of God ; if out of such places of them, as are without obscurity, I shall shew what Articles of Faith are necessary, and onely necessary for Salvation, those men must needs Know, Beleeve, or Grant the same. The ( Vnum Necessariuni) Onely Article of Faith, which The onely \ the ?^r.riptiirp Tf^^|cp th simply^ Necessary ^ t o. Salvatbn, is this , Article of that T E s u s IS T H F, C H T! T sjr . By the name of Christ, ^f^///-"" is understood the King, which God had before promised by the Prophets of the Old Testament, to send into the world, , to reign (over the Jews, and over such of other nations as should beleeve in him ) under himself eternally ; and to give them that eternall life, which was lost by the sin of Adam. Which when I have proved out of Scripture, I will further shew when, and in what sense some other Articles may bee also called Necessary. 325 For Proof that the Beleef of this Article, lesus is the Christ, Proved 1 ri T • c K. from the is all the Faith required to Salvation, my first Argument Scope of the shall bee from the Scope of the Evangelists; which was by usts'^''^' the description of the life of our Saviour, to establish that one Article, lesiis is the Christ. The summe of St. Matthews Gospell is this. That Jesus was of the stock of David ; Born of a Virgin ; which are the Marks of the true Christ : That the Magi came to worship him as King of the Jews : That Herod for the same cause sought to kill him : That John Baptist proclaimed him : That he preached by himselfe, and his 474 From the Sermons of tke Apostles : Partz. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. i,i. his Apostles that he was that King: That he taught the Law, not as a Scribe, but as a man of Authority : That he cured diseases by his Word onely, and did many other Miracles, which were foretold the Christ should doe : That he was saluted King when hee entred into Jerusalem : That he fore-warned them to beware of all others that should pretend to be Christ : That he was taken, accused, and put to death, for saying, hee was King : That the cause of his condemnation written on the Crosse, was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jevves. All which tend to no other end than this, that men should beleeve, that lesus is the Christ. Such therefore was the Scope of St. Matthews Gospel. But the Scope of all the Evangelists (as may appear by reading them) was the same. Therefore the Scope of the whole Gospell, was the establish- ing of that onely Article. And St. John expressely makes it his conclusion, /(?,^« 20. 31. These things are written, that you may know that lesus is the Christ, the Son of th£ living God. My second Argument is taken from the Subject of the Sermons of the Apostles, both whilest our Saviour lived on earth, and after his Ascension. The Apostles in our Saviours time were sent, Luke 9. 2. to Preach the Kingdome of God: For neither there, nor Mat. 10. 7. giveth he any Commission to them, other than this. As ye go. Preach, saying, the King- dome of Heaven is at hand; that is, that lesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the King which was to come. That their Preach- ing also after his ascension was the same, is manifest out of Acts 17. 6. They drew (saith St. Luke) Jason and certain Brethren unto the Rulers of the City, crying, These that have turned tlie world upside down are come hither also, whom lason hath received. And these all do contrary to the Decrees of CcBsar, saying, that there is another King, one lesus : And out of the 2. & 3. verses of the same Chapter, where it is said, that St. Paul as his manner was, went in unto them ; and three Sabbath dayes reasoned with them out of the Scrip- tures; opening and alledging, that Christ must needs have suffered. Part^^. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. /i,^. 475 suffered, and risen againe from the dead, and that this lesus {whom hee preached) is Christ The third Argument is, from those places of Scripture, by ^^""iJJ'J^ which all the Faith required to Salvation is declared to be of the T-, . T^ -^ . Doctrine '. Jtasie. box if an mward assent of the mmd to all the Doctrines concerning Christian Faith now taught, (whereof the greatest part are disputed,) were necessary to Salvation, there would be nothing in the world so hard, as to be a Christian. The Thief upon the Crosse though repenting, 326 could not have been saved for saying. Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome ; by which he testified no beleefe of any other Article, but this. That Lesus was the King. Nor could it bee said (as it is Mat. ii. 30.) that Christs yoke is Easy, and his burthen Light: Nor that Little Children beleeve in him, as it is Matth. 18. 6. Nor could St. Paul have said (i Cor. i. 21.) It pleased Godby the Foolish- nesse of preaching, to save them that beleeve : Nor could St. Paul himself have been saved, much lesse have been so great a Doctor of the Church so suddenly, that never per- haps thought of Transubstantiation, nor Purgatory, nor many other Articles now obtruded. The fourth x\rgument is taken from places expresse, and F''"'" M- . . ^ . mall and such as receive no controversie of Interpretation ; as first, deer texts, lohn 5. 39. Search tlie Scriptures, for in them yee thinke yee have eternall life; and they are they that testifie of mee. Our Saviour here speaketh of the Scriptures onely of the Old Testament ; for the Jews at that time could not search the Scriptures of the New Testament, which were not written. But the Old Testament had nothing of Christ, but the Markes by which men might know him when hee came; as that he should descend from David ; be born at Bethlem, and of a Virgin ; doe great Miracles, and the like. There- fore to beleeve that this Jesus was He, was sufficient to eternall life : but more than sufficient is not Necessary ; and consequently no other Article is required. Again, {lohn 11. 26.) Whosoever liveth and beleeveth in mee, shall not die eternally. Therefore to beleeve in Christ, is faith suflScient to eternall 476 Partz- OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. M. eternall life ; and consequently no more faith than that is Necessary, But to beleeve in Jesus, and to beleeve that Jesus is the Christ, is all one, as appeareth in the verses immediately following. For when our Saviour (verse 26.) had said to Martha, Beleevest thou this? she answereth (verse 27.) Yea Lord, I beleeve that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world : Therefore this Article alone is faith sufficient to life eternall ; and more than sufficient is not Necessary. Thirdly, John 20. 31. These things are written that yee might beleeve, that lesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that beleeving yee might have life through his name. There, to beleeve that lesus is the Christ, is faith sufficient to the obtaining of life ; and there- fore no other Article is Necessary. Fourthly, i John 4. 2. Every spirit that confesseth that lesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God. And i loh. 5. i. Whosoever belceveth that lesus is the Christ, is born of God. And verse 5. JVho is hee that overcommeth the world, but he that beleeveth that lesus is the Son of God? Fiftly, Act. 8. ver. 36, 37. See (saith the Eunuch) here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou beleevest with all thy heart thou mayst. And hee answered and said, I beleeve that lesus Christ is the Son of God. Therefore this Article beleeved, lesus is the Christ, is sufficient to Baptisme, that is to say, to our Recep- tion into the Kingdome of God, and by consequence, onely Necessary. And generally in all places where our Saviour saith to any man. Thy faith hath saved thee, the cause he 327 saith it, is some Confession, which directly, or by conse- quence, implyeth a beleef, that lesus is the Christ. From that fhe last Argument is from the places, where this Article Founda- is made the Foundation of Faith : For he that holdeth the tion of all other Foundation shall bee saved. Which places are first, Mat. 24. 23. If any man shall say unto you, Loe, here is Christ, or there, beleeve it not, for there shall arise false Christs, and false Prophets, and shall shew great signes, and wonders, ^'c. Here wee see, this Article lesus is the Christ, must bee held, though hee that shall teach the contrary should doe great Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. 6,1. AT great miracles. The second place is, Gal. i. 8. Though we, or an Angellfrotn Heaven preach any other Gospell unto you, than that wee hai'e preached unto you, let him bee accursed. But the Gospell which Paul, and the other Apostles, preached, was onely this Article, that lesus is the Christ : Therefore for the Beleef of this Article, we are to reject the Authority of an Angell from heaven ; much more of any mortall man, if he teach the contrary. This is therefore the Fundamentall Article of Christian Faith. A third place is, I loh. 4. I. Beloved, beleeve not every spirit. Hereby yee shall know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesseth that lesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God. By which it is evident, that this Article, is the measure, and rule, by which to estimate, and examine all other Articles ; and is therefore onely Fundamentall. A fourth is. Matt. 16. 18. where after St. Peter had professed this Article, saying to our Saviour, Thou art Christ the Son of the living God, Our Saviour answered, Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I ivill build my Church : from whence I inferre, that this Article is that, on which all other Doctrines of the Church are built, as on their Foundation. Afift is (i Cor. 3. ver. 11, 12, &c.) Other Foundation can no man lay, than that which is laid, Jesus is the Christ. Now if any man build upon this Foun- dation, Gold, Silver, pretious Stones, Wood, Hay, Stubble ; Every mans work shall be made manifest ; For the Day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every mans work, of what sort it is. If any mans work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward: If any mans work shall bee burnt, he shall suffer losse ; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Which words, being partly plain and easie to understand, and partly allegoricall and difficult ; out of that which is plain, may be inferred, that Pastors that teach this Foundation, that Jesus is the Christ, though they draw from it false consequences, (which all men are sometimes subject to,) they may neverthelesse bee saved ; much more that they may bee saved, who being no Pastors, but Hearers, beleeve that which is by their law- full 478 Parfi,. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. i^'i. full Pastors taught them. Therefore the beleef of this Article is sufficient ; and by consequence, there is no other Article of Faith Necessarily required to Salvation. Now for the part which is Allegoricall, as That the fire 328 shall try every mans work, and that They shall be saved, but so as by fire, or through fire, (for the originall is Siampbg^'j it maketh nothing against this conclusion which I have drawn from the other words, that are plain. Neverthelesse, because upon this place there hath been an argument taken, to prove the fire of Purgatory, I will also here offer you my conjecture concerning the meaning of this triall of Doctrines, and saving of men as by Fire. The Apostle here seemeth to allude to the words of the Prophet Zachary, Ch. 13. 8, 9. who speaking of the Restauration of the Kingdome of God, saith thus, Two parts therein shall be cut off, and die, but the third shall be left therein ; And I will bring the third part through the Fire, and will refine them as Silver is refined, and will try them as Gold is tryed; they shall call on the name ofithe Lord, and I will hear them. The day of Judg- ment, is the day of the Restauration of the Kingdome of 7, 10, 12^ ^O'^ '' ^"'^ ^' '^^' day it is, that St. Peter tells us * shall be the Conflagration of the world, wherein the wicked shall perish ; but the remnant which God will save^ shall passe through that Fire, unhurt, and be therein (as Silver and Gold are refined by the fire from their drosse) tryed, and refined from their Idolatry, and be made to call upon the name of the true God. Alluding whereto St. Paul here saith, That the Day (that is, the Day of Judgment, the Great Day of our Saviours comming to restore the Kingdome of God in Israel) shall try every mans doctrine, by Judging, which are Gold, Silver, Pretious Stones, Wood, Hay, Stubble; And then they that have built false Consequences on the true Foundation, shall see their Doctrines condemned ; never- thelesse they themselves shall be saved, and passe unhurt through this universall Fire, and live eternally, to call upon the name of the true and onely God. In which sense there is nothing that accordeth not with the rest of Holy Scrip- ture, or any glimpse of the fire of Purgatory. But Part-^. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. M- 479 But a man may here aske. whet her it bee not as necess ary ''^ «'■*''' - — - — *— "* — " ' ' " sense other to Salvat ion, to beleeve^ that G od is_ j^paffliBfltent ; Creat or Articles of the world ; t hat Jesus Christ is risen ; and that,. all ..mgn called else shall rise again from the dead at the last day ; asto ^''""'"'y- beleeve, that '^esus is the Christ. To which I answer, they are | and so are jnanLiaoifi..^rticles : bu t thev ar e^ s uch^ as are contained in this one, and may be deduced from it. with more, or lesse difficulty. For who is there that does not see, that they who beleeve Jesus to be the Son of the God of Israel, and that the Israelites had for God the Omni- potent Creator of all things, doe therein also beleeve, that God is the Omnipotent Creator of all things ? Or how can a man beleeve, that Jesus is the King that shall reign eternally, unlesse hee beleeve him also risen again from the dead ? For a dead man cannot exercise the Office of a King. In summe, he that holdeth this Foundation, ^esus is the Christ, holdeth Expressely all that hee seeth rightly deduced from it, and Im- plicitely all that is consequent thereunto, though he have not skill enough to discern the consequence. And therefore 329 it holdeth still good, that the heleef of this one Article is sufficient faith to obtaine remiss io n ^ of jinnes to the Penitent, and consequently to b ring them into the Kingdome_ o f Heaven. Now that I have shewn, that all the Obedience required That ' " ' ■' " ■ '^ I Faith, and to Salvation, consisteth in the will to obey the Law of God, USemnce that is to say, in Repentance ; and all the Faith required to them Neces- the same, is comprehended in the beleef of this Article 'ZtiZ^"^' '\esus is the Christ ; I will further alledge those places of the Gospell, that prove, that all that is Necessary to Salvation is cont ained in both these joined togethe r. The men to whom St. Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, next after the Ascension of our Saviour, asked him, and the rest of the Apostles, saying, {Ad. 2. 37.) Men and Brethren what shall we doe 1 To whom St. Peter answered (in the next verse) Repent, and be Baptized every one of you, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. There- fore Repentance, and Baptisme, that is, beleeving that lesus 4So Part 3. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. 43. Whai^each of ihevi contributes thereunto. is the Christ, is all that is Necessary to Salvation. Again, our Saviour being asked by a certain Ruler, {Luke 18. 18.) What shall I doe to inherite eternall life ? Answered (verse 20.) Thou knowest the Commandements, Doe not commit Adultery, Doe not Kill, Doe not Steal, Doe not bear false witnesse. Honor thy Father, and thy Mother : which when he said he had observed, our Saviour added, Sell all thou hast, give it to the Poor, and C07ne and follow me : which was as much as to say, Relye on me that am the King : Therefore to fulfill the Law, and to beleeve that Jesus is the King, is all that is required to bring a man to eternall life. Thirdly, St. Paul saith (Rom. i. 17.) The ]ust shall live by Faith; not every one, but the ^ust; therefore Faith and justice (that is, the will to be ']ust, or Repentance) are all that is Necessary to life eternall. And {Mark i. 15.) our Saviour preached, saying, The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and Beleeve the Evangile, that is, the Good news that the Christ was come. Therefore to Repent, and to Beleeve that Jesus is the Christ, is all that is required to Salvation. Seeing then it is Necessary that Faith, and Obedience (implyed in the word Repentance) do both concurre to our Salvation ; the question by which of the two we are Justified, is impertinently disputed. Neverthelesse, it will not be impertinent, to make manifest in what manner each of them contributes thereunto ; and in what sense it is said, that we are to be Justified by the one, and by the other. And first, if by Righ teousnesse be understood the Justice of the Works themselves, there is no man th at can be saved ; for there is none that hath not transgresse d the Law of G od. _Aiid t herefore w hen wee ar e said to be Justified by Works, it is to be un derstood of the Will, which God doth a lwaies accept for the Work it selle , as well in good, as in evill men. And in this sense onely it is, that a man is called Itist or Vnjust; and that his Justice Justifies him, that is, gives him the title, in Gods acceptation, of lust ; and renders him capable of living by his Faith, which before he was not. So that Justice Justifies Part-:,. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap, ^y 48 1 330 Justifies in that sense, in which to ]ustifie, is the same that to Denominate a man lust ; and not in the signification of discharging the Law • whereby the punishment of his sins should be unjust. But a man is then also said to be Justified, when his Plea, though in it selfe unsufficient, is accepted ; as when we Plead our Will, our Endeavour to fulfill the Law, and Re- pent us of our faihngs, and God accepteth it for the Per- formance it selfe : And because God accepteth not the Will for the Deed, but onely in the Faithfull ; it is therefore Faith that makes good our Plea ; and in this sense it is, that Faith onely Justifies : So that Faith and Obedience are both Necessary to Salvation ; yet in severall senses each of them is said to Justifie.- Having thus shewn wh at is Necessary to Salvation j it is Obedience r r TT*^^*™ ^^, i " . ■ II ■' «.™™ - ■'. — 5,; ^.™,..T»«««i» - to God and not hard to reconcile our Obedience to God, with our Obe- totheCivHi dience to thp Pivill ,c!nvpraipjn • who is either Christian, or \^Uncon- Infidel. If he bee a Christian, he alloweth the beleefe o f '^ll'H'^^ this Article, that lesus is the Christ ; and of all the Articles Christian, that are contained in. or are by evident consequence deduced "^ '''-"wv ,j+ 1^ from i t : which is all the Faith Necessary to Salvati on. And because he is a Soveraigfn . h e requireth Obedience to all all his owne, t hat is, to all the Civill J , ,a.ws ; in whi ch also are contained all t he Laws of Nature , that is, all the Laws jof God : for besides th<^ T.a y^s of ]S[;^tnrp. and the Laws of the Church, which are part of the Civill Law, (for t he Ch urch that can make Laws is the^Commpn-wealth ,) the re bee no other Laws Divine . Whosoever therefore obeyeth his Christian Soveraign, is not thereby hindred, neither frmn beleeving , nor from obeying God . But suppose that a Christian King should from this Foundation lesus is the Christ, draw some false consequences, that is to say, make some superstructions of Hay, or Stubble, and command the teaching of the same; yet seeing St. Paul says, he shal be saved; much more shall he be saved, that teacheth them by his command ; and much more yet, he that teaches not, but onely beleeves his lawfuU Teacher. And in case a Sub- 2 I ject 482 Part-i. OF A CHRISTIAN Chap. ^Z- ject be forbidden by the Civill Soveraign to professe some of those his opinions, upon what just ground can he disobey ? Christian Kings may erre in deducing a Consequence, but who shall Judge? Shall a private man Judge, when the question is of his own obedience ? or shall any man Judg but he that is appointed thereto by the Church, that is, by the Civill Soveraign that representeth it ? or if the Pope, or an Apostle Judge, may he not erre in deducing of a conse- quence ? did not one of the two, St. Peter, or St. Paul erre in a superstructure, when St. Paul withstood St. Peter to his face ? There can therefore be no contradiction betwee n the Laws of God^ _aafl ^^'" ^■''""' "^--^ '^ tiristian Common- wealt h. Or Infidel. And when the Civill Soveraign is an Infidel, every one of his own Subjects that resisteth him, sinneth against the Laws of God (for such as are the Laws of Nature,) and rejecteth the counsell of the Apostles, that admonisheth all Christians to obey their Princes, and all Children and Servants to obey their Parents, and Masters, in all things. And for their Faith, it is internall, and invisible ; They have the licence that Naaman had, and need not put themselves into darjger for it. But if they do, they ought to expect their reward in Heaven, and not complain of their LawfuU Soveraign ; much lesse make warre upon him. For he that is not glad of any just occasion of Martyrdome, has not the faith he professeth, but pretends it onely, to set some colour upon his own contumacy. But what Infidel King is so unreasonable, as knowing he has a Subject, that waiteth for the second comming of Christ, after the present world shall bee burnt, and intendeth then to obey him (which is the intent of beleeving that lesus is the Christ,) and in the mean time thinketh himself bound to obey the Laws of that Infidel King, (which all Christians are obliged in conscience to doe,) to put to death, or to persecute such a Subject ? And thus much shall suffice, concerning the Kingdome of God, and Policy Ecclesiasticall. Wherein I pretend not to advance any Position of my own, but onely to shew what are Parti. COMMON-WEALTH. Chap. ^i. 483 are the Consequences that seem to me deducible from the Principles of Christian Politiques, (which are the holy- Scriptures,) in confirmation of the Power of Civill Sove- raigns, and the Duty of their Subjects. And in the allega- tion of Scripture, I have endeavoured to avoid such texts as are of obscure, or controverted Interpretation ; and to alledge none, but in such sense as is most plain, and agree- able to the harmony and scope of the whole Bible ; which was written for the re-establishment of the Kingdome of God in Christ. For it is not the bare Words, but the Scope of the writer that giveth the true light, by which any writing is to bee interpreted ; and they that insist upon single Texts, without considering the main Designe, can derive no thing from them cleerly ; but rather by casting atomes of Scrip- ture, as dust before mens eyes, make every thing more obscure than it is ; an ordinary artifice of those that seek not the truth, but their own advantage. OF Part 4- Chap. 44. 485 OF THE KINGDOME OF DARKNESSE. CHAP. XLIV. Of Spirit uall Darknesse from Misinter- pretation of Scripture. 333 "^mw^S Esides these Soveraign Powers, Divine, and ^■^^ King- Humane^ of which I have hitherto discoursed, Darknesse r. • r- IT-. what. there is mention in Scripture of another Power, namely, * that of the Rulers of the Darknesse of * Ep/i.6.12. this world, '* the Kingdome of Satan, and* the Principality of *J^''^- ^^ Beelzebub over Dcemons, that is to say, over Phantasmes that *^«''-9-34. appear in the Air : For which cause Satan is also called * * Eph. 2. is. the Prince of the Power of the Air ; and (because he ruleth in the darknesse of this world) " The Prince of this world : * Joh. 16. And in consequence hereunto, they who are under his Do- minion, in opposition to the faithfull (who are the Children of the Light) are called the Children of Darknesse. For seeing Beelzebub is Prince of Phantasmes, Inhabitants of his Dominion of Air and Darknesse, the Children of Dark- nesse, and these Daemons, Phantasmes, or Spirits of Illusion, signifie allegorically the same thing. This considered, the Kingdome of Darknesse, as it is set forth in these, and other places of the Scripture, is nothing else but a Confederacy of 486 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 44. . The Church vol yet fully freed of Darknesse. Four Causes of Spirituall Darknesse. of Deceivers, that to obtain dominion over men in this present world, endeavour by dark, and erroneous Doctrines, to extin- guish in them the Light, both of Nature, and of the Gospell ; and so to dis-prepare them for the Kingdome of God to come. As men that are utterly deprived from their Nativity, of 334 the light of the bodily Eye, have no Idea at all, of any such light ; and no man conceives in his imagination any greater light, than he hath at some time, or other, perceived by his outward Senses : so also is it of the hght of the Gospel, and of the light of the Understanding, that no man can conceive there is any greater degree of it, than that which he hath already attained unto. And from hence it comes to passe, that men have no other means to acknowledge their ow^e Darknesse, but onely by reasoning from the un-foreseen mischances, that befall them in their ways ; The Darkest part of the Kingdom of Satan, is that which is without the Church of God ; that is to say, amongst them that beleeve • not in Jesus Christ. But we cannot say, that therefore the Church enjoyeth (as the land of Goshen) all the light, which to the performance of the work enjoined us by God, is necessary. Whence comes it, that in Christendome there has been, almost from the time of the Apostles, such justUng of one another out of their places, both by forraign, and Civill war ? such stumbling at every little asperity of their own fortune, and every little eminence of that of other men? and such diversity of ways in running to the same mark, Felicity, if it be not Night amongst us, or at least a Mist? wee are therefore yet in the Dark. The Enemy has been here in the Night of our natural! Ignorance, and sown the tares of Spiritual Errors ; and that, First, by abusing, and putting out the light of the Scriptures : For we erre, not knowing the Scriptures. Secondly, by in- troducing the Dsemonology of the Heathen Poets, that is to say, their fabulous Doctrine concerning Daemons, which are but Idols, or Phantasms of the braine, without any reall nature of their own, distinct from humane fancy ; such as are dead mens Ghosts, and Fairies, and other matter of old Wives Part/\,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. dA. 487 Wives tales. Thirdly, by mixing with the Scripture divers reliques of the Religion, and much of the vain and erroneous Philosophy of the Greeks, especially of Aristotle. Fourthly, by mingling with both these, false, or uncertain Traditions, and fained, or uncertain History. And so we come to erre, by giving heed to seducing Spirits, and the Dsemonology of such as speak lies in Hypocrisie, (or as it is in the Originall, I Tim. 4. I, 2. of those that play the part of lyars) with a seared conscience, that is, contrary to their own knowledge. Concerning the first of these, which is the Seducing of men by abuse of Scripture, I intend to speak briefly in this Chapter. The greatest, and main abuse of Scripture, and to which Errors from fnts- almost all the rest are either consequent, or subservient, is interpret- the wresting of it, to prove that the Kingdome of God, Scriptnres, mentioned so often in the Scripture, is the present Church, "he"K'ing- or multitude of Christian men now living, or that being dead, '^°^f "f are to rise again at the last day : whereas the Kingdome of God was first instituted by the Ministery of Moses, over the Jews onely ; who were therefore called his Peculiar People ; and ceased afterward, in the election of Saul, when they refused to be governed by God any more, and demanded a 335 King after the manner of the nations ; which God himself consented unto, as I have more at large proved before, in the 35. Chapter. After that time, there was no other King- dome of God in the world, by any Pact, or otherwise, than he ever was, is, and shall be King, of all men, and of all creatures, as governing according to his Will, by his infinite Power. Neverthelesse, he promised by his Prophets to re- store this his Government to them again, when the time he hath in his secret counsell appointed for it shall bee fully come, and when they shall turn unto him by repentance, and amendment of life : and not onely so, but he invited also the Gentiles to come in, and enjoy the happinesse of his Reign, on the same conditions of conversion and repen- tance ; and hee promised also to send his Son into the world, to expiate the sins of them all by his death, and to prepare them by his Doctrine, to receive him at his second coming : Which 4S8 Part d,. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 44. As thai the King- dome of God is the fresent Cliui-ch : And that the Pope is his Vicar gene fail : Which second coming not yet being, the Kingdome of God is not yet come, and wee are not now under any other Kings by Pact, but our Civill Soveraigns ; saving onely, that Chris- tian men are already in the Kingdome of Grace, in as much as they have aheady the Promise of being received at his comming againe. Consequent to this Errour, that the present Church is Christs Kingdome, there ought to be some one Man, or Assembly, by whose mouth our Saviour ( now in heaven) speaketh, giveth law, and which representeth his Person to all Christians or divers Men, or divers Assemblies that doe the same to divers parts of Christendome. This power Regal under Christ, being challenged, universally by the Pope, and in particular Common-wealths by Assemblies of the Pastors of the place, (when the Scripture gives it to none but to Civill Soveraigns, ) comes to be so passionately disputed, that it putteth out the Light of Nature, and causeth so great a Darknesse in mens understanding, that they see not who it is to whom they have engaged their obedience. Consequent to this claim of the Pope to Vicar Generall of Christ in the present Church, ( supposed to be that Kingdom of his, to which we are addressed in the Gospel, ) is the Doctrine, that it is necessary for a Christian King, to receive his Crown by a Bishop ; as if it were from that Ceremony, that he derives the clause of Dei gratia in his title ; and that then onely he is made King by the favour of God, when he is crowned by the authority of Gods universall Vicegerent on earth • and that every Bishop whosoever be his Soveraign, taketh at his Consecration an oath of absolute Obedience to the Pope. Consequent to the same, is the Doctrine of the fourth Councell of Lateran, held under Pope Innocent the third, ( Chap. 3. de Hmreticis. ) That if a King at the Popes admonition, doe not purge his Kingdome of Hceresies, and being excommunicate for the sa7ne, doe not give satisfaction within a year, his Subjects are absolved of the bond of their obedience. Where, by Heresies are understood all opinions which the Church of Rome hath forbidden to be maintained. And by this Part 4. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 44. 4^9 336 this means, as often as there is any repugnancy between the Politicall designes of the Pope, and other Christian Princes, as there is very often, tliere ariseth such a Mist amongst their Subjects, that they know not a stranger that thrusteth him- self into the throne of their lawfull Prince, from him whom they had themselves placed there ; and in this Darknesse of mind, are made to fight one against another, without discern- ing their enemies from their friends, under the conduct of another mans ambition. From the same opinion, that the present Church is the f"'^'''"/ Kingdome of God, it proceeds that Pastours, Deacons, and "re the Clergy. all other Mmisters of the Church, take the name to them- selves of the Clergy ; giving to other Christians the name of Laity, that is, simply People. For Clergy signifies those, whose maintenance is that Revenue, which God having reserved to himselfe during his Reigne over the Israelites, assigned to the tribe of Levi ( who were to be his publique Ministers, and had no portion of land set them out to live on, as their brethren) to be their inheritance. The Pope therefore, (pretending the present Church to be, as the Realme of Israel, the Kingdome of God) challenging to himselfe and his subordinate Minsters, the like revenue, as the Inhe- ritance of God, the name of Clergy was sutable to that claime. And thence it is, that Tithes, and other tributes paid to the Levites, as Gods Right, amongst the Israelites, have a long time been demanded, and taken of Christians, by Eccle- siastiques, lure divino, that is, in Gods Right. By which meanes, the people every where were obliged to a double tribute ; one to the State, another to the Clergy ; whereof, that to the Clergy, being the tenthof their revenue, is double to that which a King of Athens (and esteemed a Tyrant) exacted of his subjects for the defraying of all publique charges : For he demanded no more but the twentieth part ; and yet abundandy maintainedtherewiththe Commonwealth, And in the Kingdome of the lewes, during the Sacerdotall Reigne of God, the Tithes and Offerings were the whole Publique Revenue. From 490 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chaf. 44. From the same mistaking of the present Church for the Kingdom of God, came in the distinction betweene the Civill and the Canon Laws : The Civill Law being the Acts of Soveraigns in their own Dominions, and the Canon Law being the Acts of the Pope in the same Dominions. Which Canons, though they were but Canons, that is, Rules Pro- pounded, and but voluntarily received by Christian Princes till the translation of the Empire to Charlemain ; yet after- wards, as the power of the Pope encreased, became Puks Commanded, and the Emperours themselves (to avoyd greater mischiefes, which the people blinded might be led into) were forced to let them passe for Laws. From hence it is, that in all Dominions, where the Popes Ecclesiasticall power is entirely received, Jewes, Turkes, and Gentiles, are in the Roman Church tolerated in their Religion, as farre forth, as in the exercise and profession thereof they offend not against the civill power : whereas in a Christian, though a stranger, not to be of the Ron^n Religion, is Capitall ; because the Pope pretendeth that all Christians are his Subjects. For otherwise it were as much 337 against the law of Nations, to persecute a Christian stranger, for professing the Religion of his owne country, as an Infidell ; or rather more, in as much as they that are not against Christ, are with him. From the same it is, that in every Christian State there are certaine men, that are exempt, by Ecclesiasticall liberty, from the tributes, and from the tribunals of the Civil State; for so are the secular Clergy, besides Monks and Friars, which in many places, bear so great a proportion to the com- mon people, as if need were, there might be raised out of them alone, an Army, sufficient for any warre the Church militant should imploy them in, against their owne, or other Princes. faZking ^ ss'=°"'i generall abuse of Scripture, is the turning of tionfo7' Consecration into Conjuration, or Enchantment. To Con- Conjura- secrate, is in Scripture, to Offer, Give, or Dedicate, in pious and decent language and gesture, a man, or any other thing to God, by separating of it from common use ; that is to say, Part\. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. iA- 49i say, to Sanctifie, or make it Gods, and to be used only by those, whom God hath appointed to be his Publike Ministers, (as I have already proved at large in the 35. Chapter;) and thereby to change, not the thing Consecrated, but onely the use of it, from being Profane and common, to be Holy, and pecuUar to Gods service. But vchen by such words, the nature or qualitie of the thing it selfe, is pretended to be changed, it is not Consecration, but either an extraordinary worke of God, or a vaine and impious Conjuration. But seeing (for the frequency of pretending the change of Nature in their Consecrations,) it cannot be esteemed a work extraordinary, it is no other than a Conjuration or In- cantation, whereby they would have men to beleeve an alteration of Nature that is not, contrary to the testimony of mans Sight, and of all the rest of his Senses. As for example, when the Priest, in stead of Consecrating Bread and Wine to Gods peculiar service in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, (which is but a separation of it from the common use, to signifie, that is, to put men in mind of their Redemption, by the Passion of Christ, whose body was broken, and blood shed upon the Crosse for our trans- gressions,) pretends, that \f^ saying of the words of our Saviour, This is my Body, and This is my Blood, the nature of Bread is no more there, but his very Body ; not- withstanding there appeareth not to the Sight, or other Sense of the Receiver, any thing that appeared not before the Consecration. The Egyptian Conjurers, that are said to have turned their Rods to Serpents, and the Water into Bloud, are thought but to have deluded the senses of the Spectators by a false shew of things, yet are esteemed En- chanters : But what should wee have thought of them, if there had appeared in their Rods nothing like a Serpent, and in the Water enchanted, nothing like Bloud, nor like anything else but Water, but that they had faced down the King, that they were Serpents that looked like Rods, and that it was Bloud that seemed Water ? That had been both Enchantment, and Lying. And yet in this daily act of the Priest, 492 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 44. Priest, they doe the very same, by turning the holy words 338 into the manner of a Charme, which produceth nothing new to the Sense ; but they face us down, that it hath turned the Bread into a Man ; nay more, into a God ; and require men to worship it, as if it were our Saviour himself present God and Man, and thereby to commit most grosse Idolatry. For if it bee enough to excuse it of Idolatry, to say it is no more Bread, but God ; why should not the same excuse serve the Egyptians, in case they had the faces to say, the Leeks, and Onyons they worshipped, were not very Leeks, and Onyons, but a Divinity under their species, or likenesse. The words. This is my Body, are sequivalent to these, This signifies, or represents my Body ; and it is an ordinary figure of Speech : but to take it literally, is an abuse ; nor though so taken, can it extend any further, than to the Bread which Christ himself with his own hands Conse- crated. For hee never said, that of what Bread soever, any Priest whatsoever, should say, This is my Body, or This is Christ's Body, the same should presently be transubstan- tiated. Nor did the Church of Rome ever establish this Transubstantiation, till the time of Innocent the third; which was not above 500. years agoe, when the Power of Popes was at the Highest, and the Darknesse of the time grown so great, as men discerned not the Bread that was given them to eat, especially when it was stamped with the figure of Christ upon the Crosse, as if they would have men beleeve it were Transubstantiated, not onely into the Body of Christ, but also into the Wood of his Crosse, and that they did eat both together in the Sacrament. Incanta- The like Incantation, in stead of Consecration, is used iion in the _ ' Ceremonies also in the Sacrament of Baptisme : Where the abuse of of Bap- _ , . , tisme. Gods name m each severall Person, and in the whole Trinity, with the sign of the Crosse at each name, maketh up the Charm : As first, when they make the Holy water, the Priest saith, / Conjure thee, thou Creature of Water, in the na?7ie of God the Father Almighty, and in the name of lesus Christ his onely Son our Lord, and in vertue of the Holy Part 4. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 44. 493 Holy Ghost, that thou become Conjured water, to drive away all the Powers of the Enemy, and to eradicate, and supplant the Enemy, ^'c. And the same in the Benediction of the Salt to be mingled with it ; That thou become Conjured Salt, that all Ehantasmes, and Knavery of the Devills fraud may fly and depart from the place wherein thou art sprinkled; and every unclean Spirit bee Conjured by Him that shall come to judg the quicke and the dead. The same in the Benediction of the Oyle, That all the Power of the Enemy, all the Host of the Devill, all Assaults and Phantasmes of Satan, may be driven away by this Creature of Oyle. And for the Infant that is to be Baptized, he is subject to many Charms ; First, at the Church dore the Priest blows thrice in the Childs face, and sayes, Goe out of him unclean Spirit, and give place to the Holy Ghost the Comforter. As if all Children, till blown on by the Priest were Dsmoniaques : Again, before his entrance into the Church, he saith as before, / Conjure thee, b^c. to goe out, and depart from this Servant of God : 339 And again the same Exorcisme is repeated once more be- fore he be Baptized. These, and some other Incantations, are those that are used in stead of Benedictions, and Con- secrations, in administration of the Sacraments of Baptisme, and the Lords Supper ; wherein every thing that serveth to those holy uses (except the unhallowed Spittle of the Priest) hath some set form of Exorcisme. Nor are the other rites, as of Marriage, of Extreme Unction, And in of Visitation of the Sick, of Consecrating Churches, and YnVi^Z'- Church-yards, and the like, exempt from Charms ; in as %fJ^J^^ much as there is in them the use of Enchanted Oyle, and in Conse- cration of Water, with the abuse of the Crosse, and of the holy word Places. of David, Asperges me Domine Hyssopo, as things of efficacy to drive away Phantasmes, and Imaginary Spirits. Another generall Error, is from the Misinterpretation of Errors the words Eternall Life, Everlasting Death, and the Second taSn^"' Death. For though we read plainly in holy Scripture, that f^J^fJ;^ God created Adam in an estate of Living for Ever, which f^'/j^f^-,^ . was conditionall, that is to say, if he disobeyed not his Comraandement ; 494 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 44. Commandement; which was not essentiall to Humane Na- ture, but consequent to the vertue of the Tree of Life ; whereof hee had Hberty to eat, as long as hee had not sinned; and that hee was thrust out of Paradise after he had sinned, lest hee should eat thereof, and live for ever ; and that Christs Passion is a Discharge of sin to all that beleeve on him ; and by consequence, a restitution of Eternall Life, to all the Faithfull, and to them onely : yet the Doctrine is now, and hath been a long time far otherwise ; namely, that every man hath Eternity of Life by Nature, in as much as his Soul is Immortall : So that the flaming Sword at the entrance of Paradise, though it hinder a man from coming to the Tree of Life, hinders him not from the Immortality which God took from him for his Sin ; nor makes him to need the sacrificing of Christ, for the recovering of the same; and consequently, not onely the faithfull and righteous, but also the wicked, and the Heathen, shall enjoy Eternall Life, without any Death at all ; much lesse a Second, and Ever- lasting Death. To salve this, it is said, that by Second, and Everlasting Death, is meant a Second, and Everlasting Life, but in Torments ; a Figure never used, but in this very Case. All which Doctrine is founded onely on some of the obscurer places of the New Testament ; which neverthelesse; the whole scope of the Scripture considered, are cleer enough in a different sense, and unnecessary to the Christian Faith. For supposing that when a man dies, there remaineth nothing of him but his carkasse ; cannot God that raised inanimated dust and clay into a living creature by his Word, as easily raise a dead carkasse to life again, and continue him alive for Ever, or make him die again, by another Word? The Soule in Scripture, signifieth alwaies, either the Life, or the Living Creature ; and the Body and Soule jointly, the Body alive. In the fift day of the Creation, 340 God said, Let the waters produce Reptile animce viventis, the creeping thing that hath in it a Living Soule ; the En- glish translate it, that hath Life : And again, God created Whales, Parti,, OF DARKNESSE. Chap. H- 495 Whales, 6^ omnem animam viventem ; which in the English is, every Living Creature : And likewise of Man, God made him of the dust of the earth, and breathed in his face the breath of Life, &= f actus est Homo in animam viventem, that is, and Man was made a Living Creatttre : And after Noah came out of the Arke, God saith, hee will no more smite omnem aniinam viventem, that is, every Living Creature : And Deut. 12. 23. Eate not the Bloud, for the Bloud is the Souk ; that is, the Life. From which places, if by Soule were meant a Substance Lncorporeall, with an existence separated from the Body, it might as well be inferred of any other living Creature, as of Man. But that the Souls of the Faithfull, are not of their own Nature, but by Gods speciall Grace, to remaine in their Bodies, from the Resurrection to all Eternity, I have already I think sufficiently proved out of the Scriptures, in the 38. Chapter. And for the places of the New Testa- ment, where it is said that any man shall be cast Body and Soul into Hell fire, it is no more than Body and Life ; that is to say, they shall be cast alive into the perpetuall fire of Gehenna. This window it is, that gives entrance to the Dark Doc- As the trine, first, of Eternall Torments ; and afterwards of Purga- Purgatory, tory, and consequently of tlie walking abroad, especially in llf^f^^'and places Consecrated, Solitary, or Dark, of the Ghosts of men ^^^'^fj"" deceased ; and thereby to the pretences of Exorcisme and Conjuration of Phantasmes ; as also of Invocation of men dead ; and to the Doctrine of Indulgences ; that is to say, of exemption for a time, or for ever, from the fire of Purgatory, wherein these lncorporeall Substances are pretended by burning to be cleansed, and made fit for Heaven. For men being generally possessed before the time of our Saviour, by contagion of the D^monology of the Greeks, of an opinion, that the Souls of men were substances distinct from their Bodies, and therefore that when the Body was dead, the Soule of every man, whether godly, or wicked, must subsist somewhere by vertue of its own nature, without acknow- ledging therein any supernaturall gift of Gods ; the Doctors of 496 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 44. The Texts a Hedged for the Doctrines aforemen- tioned have been an- swered before. Answer to the text on which Beza infcrreth that the Kingdome of the Church doubted a long time, what was the place, which they were to abide in, till they should be re-united to their Bodies in the Resurrection ; supposing for a while, they lay under the Altars : but afterward the Church of Rome found it more profitable, to build for them this place of Purgatory : which by some other Churches in this later age, has been demolished. Let us now consider, what texts of Scripture seem most to confirm these three generall Errors, I have here touched. As for those which Cardinall Bellarmine hath alledged, for the present Kingdome of God administred by the Pope, (than which there are none that make a better shew of proof,) I have already answered them ; and made it evident, that the King- 341 dome of God, instituted by Moses, ended in the election .of Saul : After which time the Priest of his own authority never deposed any King. That which the High Priest did to Athaliah, was not done in his owne right, but in the right of the young King Joash her Son : But Solomon in his own right deposed the High Priest Abiathar, and set up another in his place. The most difficult place to answer, of all those that can be brought, to prove the Kingdome of God by Christ is already in this world, is alleged, not by Bellarmine, nor any other of the Church of Rome ; but by Beza ; that will have it to begin from the Resurrection of Christ. But whether hee intend thereby, to entitle the Presbytery to the Supreme Power Ecclesiasticall in the Common-wealth of Geneva, (and consequently to every Presbytery in every other Common-wealth,) or to Princes, and other Civill Soveraigns, I doe not know. For the Presbytery hath challenged the power to Excommunicate their owne Kings, and to bee the Supreme Moderators in Religion, in the places where they have that form of Church government, no lesse then the Pope callengeth it universally. The words are (Marke 9. i.) Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not last of death, till they have seene the Kingdome of God come with power. Which words, if taken grammatically, make it certaine, Partis OF DARKNESSE. Chap. j^. 497 certaine, that either some of those men that stood by Christ "f Christ at that time, are yet alive ; or else, that the Kingdome of mRi'ur- God must be now in this present world. And then there is "'^'°"" another place more difficult : For when the Apostles after our Saviours Resurrection, and immediately before his Ascension, asked our Saviour, saying, (Acts i. 6.) Wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdome to Israel, he answered them, // is not for you to know the times and the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power ; But ye shall receive power by the comming of the Holy Ghost upon vou, and yee shall be my (Martyrs) witnesses both in lerusalem, &> in all ludcea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the Earth : Which is as much as to say. My Kingdome is not yet come, nor shall you foreknow when it shall come ; for it shall come as a theefe in the night ; But I will send you the Holy Ghost, and by him you shall have power to beare witnesse to all the world (by your preaching) of my Resurrection, and the workes I have done, and the doctrine I have taught, that they may beleeve in me, and expect eternall life, at my comming againe : How does this agree with the comming of Christs Kingdome at the Resur- rection? And that which St. Faul sales (i Thessal. i. 9, 10.) That they turned from Idols, to serve the living and true God, and to waitefor his Sonne from Heaven ; Where to waite for his Sonne from Heaven, is to wait for his comming to be King in power ; which were not necessary, if his Kingdome had beene then present. Againe, if the Kingdome of God began (as Beza on that place (Mark 9. i.) would have it) at the Resurrection ; what reason is there for Christians ever since the Resurrection to say in their prayers. Let thy King- dome Come ? It is therefore manifest, that the words of St. 342 Mark are not so to be interpreted. There be some of them that stand here (saith our Saviour) that shall not tast of death till they have seen the Kingdome of God come in power. If then this Kingdome were to come at the Resurrection of Christ, why is it said, some of them, rather than alii For they all lived till after Christ was risen. 2 K But 498 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 44. Explica- iiou of the Place in Mark 9. 1. Abuse of some other texts in defence of the Power of the Pope. But they that require an exact interpretation of this text, let them interpret first the like words of our Saviour to St. Peter concerning St. John, (chap. 21. 22.) If I will that he tarry till T come, what is that to thee ? upon which was grounded a report that hee should not dye : Neverthelesse the truth of that report was neither confirmed, as well grounded ; nor refuted, as ill grounded on those words ; but left as a saying not understood. The same difficulty is also in the place of St. Marke. And if it be lawful! to conjecture at their meaning, by that which immediately followes, both here, and in St. Luke, where the same is againe repeated, it is not unprobable, to say they have relation to the Transfigur- ation, which is described in the verses immediately following ; where it is said, that After six dayes lesus taketh with him Peter, and lames, and John (not all, but some of his Disciples) andleadeth them up into an high mountaine apart by themselves, and was transfigured before them. And his rayment became shining, exceeding white as sno7v ; so as no Fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses, and they were talking with lesus, S^c. So that they saw Christ in Glory and Majestie, as he is to come ; insomuch as They were sore af-aid. And thus the promise of our Saviour was accomplished by way of Vision : For it was a Vision, as may probably bee inferred out of St. Luke, that reciteth the same story (ch. 9. ve. 28.) and saith, that Peter and they that were with him, were heavy with sleep : But most cer- tainly out of Matth. 17. 9. (where the same is again related;) for our Saviour charged them, saying. Tell no man the Vision untill the Son of man be Risen from the dead. Howsoever it be, yet there can from thence be taken no argument, to prove that the Kingdome of God taketh beginning till the day of Judgement. As for some other texts, to prove the Popes Power over civill Soveraignes (besides those of Bellarmine ;) as that the two Swords that Christ and his Apostles had amongst them, were the Spiritual! and the Temporall Sword, which they say St. Peter had given him by Christ : And, that of the two LuminarieF, P'^rt 4. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 44. 499 Luminaries, the greater signifies the Pope, and the lesser the King ; One might as well inferre out of the first verse of the Bible, that by Heaven is meant the Pope, and by Earth the King : Which is not arguing from Scripture, but a wanton insulting over Princes, that came in fashion after the time the Popes were growne so secure of their greatnesse, as to contemne all Christian Kings ; and Treading on the necks of Emperours, to mocke both them, and the Scripture, in the words of the 91. Psalm, Thou shalt Tread icpon the Lion and the Adder, the young Lion and the Dragon thou shalt Trample under thy feet. As for the rites of Consecration, though they depend for The man- , , ,. . , . , nerof Con- ine most part upon the discretion and judgement of the secrations governors of the Church, and not upon the Scriptures ; yet ^Scripture, 343 those governors are obliged to such direction, as the nature ""/Jrarl of the action it selfe requireth ; as that the ceremonies, words, "'■"«■'■ and gestures, be both decent, and significant, or at least conformable to the action. When Moses consecrated the Tabernacle, the Altar, and the Vessels belonging to them, {Exod. 40.) he anointed them with the Oyle which God had commanded to bee made for that purpose ; and they were holy : There was nothing Exorcized, to drive away Phan- tasmes. The same Moses (the civill Soveraigne of Israel) when he consecrated Aaron (the High Priest,) and his Sons, did wash them with Water, (not Exorcized water,) put their Garments upon them, and anointed them with Oyle; and they were sanctified, to minister unto the Lord in the Priests office ; which was a simple and decent cleansing, and adorn- ing them, before hee presented them to God, to be his servants. When King Solomon, (the civill Soveraigne of Israel) consecrated the Temple hee had built, (2 Kings 8.) he stood before all the Congregation of Israel ; and having blessed them, he gave thankes to God, for putting into the heart of his father, to build it ; and for giving to himselfe the grace to accomplish the same ; and then prayed unto him, first, to accept that House, though it were not sutable to his infinite Greatnesse ; and to hear the prayers of his Servants that 500 Pari 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 44. The im- mortality of mans Soule, not f roved by Scrii)ture to be of Nature, but of Grace. that should pray therein, or (if they were absent,) towards it ; and lastly, he offered a sacrifice of Peace-ofifering, and the House was dedicated. Here was no Procession ; the King stood still in his first place ; no Exorcised Water ; no Asperges me, nor other impertinent application of words spoken upon another occasion ; but a decent, and rationall speech, and such as in making to God a present of his new built House, was most conformable to the occasion. We read not that St. John did Exorcize the Water of Jordan ; nor Philip the Water of the river wherein he bap- tized the Eunuch ; nor that any Pastor in the time of the Apostles, did take his spitde, and put it to the nose of the person to be Baptized, and say, In odorem suavitatis, that is, for a siueet savour unto the Lord ; wherein neither the Cere- mony of Spittle, for the uncleannesse ; nor the application of that Scripture for the levity, can by any authority of man be justified. To prove that the Soule separated from the Body, liveth eternally, not onely the Soules of the Elect, by especiall grace, and restauration of the Eternall Life which Adam lost by Sinne, and our Saviour restored by the Sacrifice of him- self to the Faithfull ; but also the Soules of Reprobates ; as a property naturally consequent to the essence of mankind, without other grace of God, but that which is universally given to all mankind ; there are divers places, which at the first sight seem sufficiently to serve the turn : but such, as when I compare them with that which I have before (Chapter 38.) alledged out of the 14 of loi, seem to mee much more subject to a divers interpretation, than the words of Ioi>. And first there are the words of Solomon {Ecclesiastes 1 2. 7.) Then shall the Dust return to Dust, as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it. Which may bear 344 well enough (if there be no other text directly against it) this interpretation, that God onely knows, (but Man not,) what becomes of a mans spirit, when he expireth ; and the same Solomon, in the same Book, (Chap 3. ver. 20, 21.) delivereth the same sentence in the sense I have given it : His words are, Pari 4. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 44. 501 are, All goe (man and beast) to the same place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again ; who knowith that the spirit of Man goeth upward, and that the spirit of the Beast goeth downward to the earth 1 That is, none knows but God ; Nor is it an unusuall phrase to say of things we understand not, God Knows what, and God Knows where. That of Gen. 5. 24. Enoch walked with God, and he was not; for God took him ; which is expounded Heb. 13. 5. He was translated, that he should not die ; and was not found, because . God had translated him. For before his Translation, he had this testi- mony, that he pleased God, making as much for the Immor- tality of the Body, as of the Soule, proveth, that this his translation was peculiar to them that please God ; not com- mon to them with the wicked ; and depending on Grace, not on Nature. But on the contrary, what interpretation shall we give, besides the literall sense of the words of Solomon {Eccles. 3. 19.) That which befalleth the Sons of Men, befalleth Beasts, even one thing befalleth them ; as the one dyeth, so doth the other ; yea, they have all one breath (one spirit ;) so that a Man hath no prczeminence above a Beast, for all is vanity. By the literall sense, here is no Naturall Immortality of the Soule ; nor yet any, repugnancy with the Life Eternall, which the Elect shall enjoy by Grace. And (chap. 4. ver. 3.) Better is he that hath not yet been, than both they; that is, than they that live, or have lived ; which, if the Soule of all them that have lived, were Immortall, were a hard saying ; for then to have an Irhmortall Soule, were worse than to have no Soule at all. And againe, (Chapt. 9. 5.) Tlie living know they shall die, but the dead know not any thing ; that is, Naturally, and before the resurrection of the body. Another place which seems to make for a Naturall Im- mortality of the Soule, is that, where our Saviour saith, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are living : but this is spoken of the promise of God, and of their certitude to rise again, not of a Life then actuall ; and in the same sense that God said to- Adam, that on the day hee should eate of the forbidden fruit, he should certainly die ; from that time forward he was a 502 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 44. a dead man by sentence ; but not by execution, till almost a thousand years after. So Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were alive by promise, then, when Christ spake; but are not actually till the Resurrection. And the History of Dives and Lazarus, make nothing against this, if wee take it (as it is) for a Parable. But there be other places of the New Testament, where an Immortality seemeth to be direcdy attributed to the wicked. For it is evident, that they shall all rise to Judgement. And it is said besides in many places, that they shall goe into Everlasting fire, Everlasting torments. Everlasting punish- 345 ments ; and that the worm of conscience never dyeth \ and all this is comprehended in the word Everlasting Death, which is ordinarily interpreted Everlasting Life in torments : And yet I can find no where that any man shall live in torments Everlastingly. Also, it seemeth hard, to say, that God who is the Father of Mercies, that doth in Heaven and Earth all that hee will ; that hath the hearts of all men in his disposing ; that worketh in men both to doe, and to will ; and without whose free gift a man hath neither inclination to good, nor repentance of evill, should punish mens transgressions with- out any end of time, and with all the extremity of torture, that men can imagine, and more. We are therefore to con- sider, what the meaning is, of Everlasting Fire, and other the like phrases of Scripture. I have shewed already, that the Kingdome of God by Christ beginneth at the day of Judgment : That in that day, the FaithfuU shall rise again, with glorious, and spirituall Bodies, and bee his Subjects in that his Kingdome, which shall be Eternall : That they shall neither marry, nor be given in marriage, nor eate and drink, as they did in their naturall bodies ; but live for ever in their individuall persons, without the specificall eternity of generation : And that the Reprobates also shall rise again, to receive punishments for their sins : As also, that those of the Elect, which shall be alive in their earthly bodies at that day, shall have their bodies suddenly changed, and made spirituall, and Immor- tall. Part 4. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. iA- 503 tall. But that the bodies of the Reprobate, who make the Kingdome of Satan, shall also be glorious, or spirituall bodies, or that they shall bee as the Angels of God, neither eating, nor drinking, nor engendring ; or that their life shall be Eternall in their individuall persons, as the life of every faithfull man is, or as the life of Adam had been if hee had not sinned, there is no place of Scripture to prove it ; save onely these places concerning Eternall Torments ; which may otherwise be interpreted. From whence may be inferred, that as the Elect after the Resurrection shall be restored to the estate, wherein Adam was before he had sinned ; so the Reprobate shall be in the estate, that Adam, and his posterity were in after the sin committed ; saving that God promised a Redeemer to Adam, and such of his seed as should trust in him, and repent ; but not to them that should die in their sins, as do the Repro- bate. These things considered, the texts that mention Eternall Eternall TorTnents Fire, Eternall Torments, or the Worm that never dieth, con- what. tradict not the Doctrine of a Second, and Everlasting Death, in the proper and naturall sense of the word Death. The Fire, or Torments prepared for the wicked in Gehenna, Tophet, or in what place soever, may continue for ever ; and there may never want wicked men to be tormented in them ; though not every, nor any one Eternally. For the wicked being left in the estate they were in after Adams sin, may at the Resurrection live as they did, marry, and give in marriage, and have grosse and corruptible bodies, as all mankind now 346 have ; and consequently may engender perpetually, after the Resurrection, as they did before : For there is no place of Scripture to the contrary. For St. Paul, speaking of the Resurrection (i Cor. 15.) understandeth it onely of the Re- surrection to Life Eternall; and not the Resurrection to Punishment. And of the first, he saith that the Body is Sown in Corruption, raised in Incorruption ; sown in Dis- honour, raised in Honour; sown in Weaknesse, raised in Power ; sown a Naturall body, raised a Spirituall body : There 504 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 44. There is no such thing can be said of the bodies of them that rise to Punishment. So also our Saviour, when hee speaketh of the Nature of Man after the Resurrection, meaneth, the Resurrection to Life Eternall, not to Punish- ment. The text is Luke 20. verses 34. 35, 2,^. a fertile text. The Children of this world marry, and are given in marriage; but they that shall be counted worthy to obtaine that world, and the Resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage : Neither can they die any more ; for they are equall to the Angells, and are the Children of God, being the Children of the Resurrection : The Children of this world, that are in the estate which Adam left them in, shall marry, and be given in marriage ; that is, corrupt, and generate successively ; which is an Immortality of the Kind, but not of the Persons of men : They are not worthy to be counted amongst them that shall obtain the next world, and an abso- lute Resurrection from the dead ; but onely a short time, as inmates of that world ; and to the end onely to receive con- dign punishment for their contumacy. The Elect are the onely children of the Resurrection ; that is to say, the sole heirs p.f Eternall Life : they only can die no more : it is they that are equall to the Angels, and that are the children pf God ; and not the Reprobate. To the Reprobate there remain eth after the Resurrection, a Second, and Eternall Peath : between which Resurrection, and their Second, and Eternall death, is but a time of Punishment and Torment ; and to last by succession of sinners thereunto, as long as the kind of Man by propagation shall endure; which is Eter- nally. fke'rZtf ^P°" '^'^ Doctrine of the Naturall Eternity of separated aiied^ed Soules, is founded (as I said) the Doctrine of Pursatorv. for Purga- , o j tory. For supposmg Eternall Life by Grace onely, there is no Life, but the Life of the Body ; and no Immortality till the Resur- rection. The texts for Purgatory alledged by Bellarmine out of the Canonicall Scripture of the old Testament, are first, the Fasting oi £>avidioi Saul wad To7tathan, mentioned (2 Kings, I. 12.); and agaiue, (2 Sa7n. 3. 35.) for the death of Abner. Parti,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. i,\. 505 Abner, This Fasting of David, he saith, was for the obtain- ing of something for them at Gods hands, after their death ; because after he had Fasted to procure the recovery of his owne child, assoone as he knew it was dead, he called for meate. Seeing then the Soule hath an existence separate from the Body, and nothing can be obtained by mens Fast- ing for the Soules that are already either in Heaven, or Hell, it followeth that there be some Soules of dead men, that are neither in Heaven, nor in Hell ; and therefore they must bee in some third place, which must be Purgatory. And thus 347 with hard straining, hee has wrested those places to the proofe of a Purgatory : whereas it is manifest, that the ceremonies of Mourning, and Fasting, when they are used for the death of men, whose life was not profitable to the Mourners, they are used for honours sake to their persons ; and when tis done for the death of them by whose life the Mourners had benefit, it proceeds from their particular dam- mage : And so David honoured Saul, and Abncr, with his Fasting ; and in the death of his owne child, recomforted liimselfe, by receiving his ordinary food. |n the other places, which he alledgeth out of the old Testament, there is not so much as any shew, or colour of proofe. He brings in every text wherein there is the word Anger, or Fire, or Burning, or Purging, or Clensing, in case any of the Fathers have but in a Sermon rhetorically applied it to the Doctrine of Purgatory, already beleeved. The first verse of Psalme, 37. O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath, fior chasten me in thy hot displeasure : What were this to Purgatory, if Augustine had not applied the Wrath to the fire of Hell, and the Displeasure to that of Purgatory ? And what is it to Purgatory, that of Psalme, 66. 12. Wee went through fire and water, and thou broughtest us to a moist place ; and other the like texts, (with which the Doctors of those times entended to adorne, or extend their Sermons, or Commentaries) haled to their purposes by force of wit ? But he alledgeth other places of the New Testament, that places of are not so easie to be answered : And first that of Matth. Testament 5o6 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 44. forPurga- 12. 32. Whosoever speaketh a word against the Sonne of 'swerVd'. man, it shall be forgiven him ; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not bee forgiven him neither in this world, nor in the world to come : Where he will have Purga- tory to be the World to come, wherein some sinnes may be forgiven, which in this World were not forgiven : notwith- standing that it is manifest, there are but three Worlds ; one from the Creation to the Flood, which was destroyed by Water, and is called in Scripture the Old World; another from the Flood, to the day of Judgement, which is the Present World, and shall bee destroyed by Fire ; and the third, which shall bee from the day of Judgement forward, everlasting, which is called the World to come ; and in which it is agreed by all, there shall be no Purgatory : And there- fore the World to come, and Purgatory, are inconsistent But what then can bee the meaning of those our Saviours words ? I confesse they are very hardly to bee reconciled with all the Doctrines now unanimously received : Nor is it any shame, to confesse the profoundnesse of the Scripture, to bee too great to be sounded by the shortnesse of humane understanding. Neverthelesse, I may propound such things to the consideration of more learned Divines, as the text it selfe suggesteth. And first, seeing to speake against the Holy Ghost, as being the third Person of the Trinity, is to speake against the Church, in which the Holy Ghost re- sideth ; it seemeth the comparison is made, betweene the Easinesse of our Saviour, in bearing with offences done to him while hee himselfe taught the world, that is, when he was on earth, and the Severity of the Pastors after him, against those which should deny their authority, which was from the Holy Ghost : As if he should say, You that deny my Power; nay you that shall crucifie me, shall be pardoned by mee, as often as you turne unto mee by Repentance : But if you deny the Power of them that teach you hereafter, by vertue of the Holy Ghost, they shall be inexorable, and shall not forgive you, but persecute you in this World, and leave you without absolution, (though you turn to me, un- lesse Part 4. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 44. 507 lesse you turn also to them,) to the punishments (as much as lies in them) of the World to come : And so the words may be taken as a Prophecy, or Prsediction concerning the times, as they have along been in the Christian Church : Or if this be not the meaning, (for I am not peremptory in such difficult places,) perhaps there may be place left after the Resurrection for the Repentance of some sinners : And there is also another place, that seemeth to agree therewitfi. For considering the words of St. Paul (i Cor. 15. 29.) What shall they doe which are Baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all ? why also are they Baptized for the dead ? a man may probably inferre, as some have done, that in St. Pauls time, there was a custome by receiving Baptisrae for the dead, (as men that now beleeve, are Sureties and Under- takers for the Faith of Infants, that are not capable of be- leeving,) to undertake for the persons of their deceased friends, that they should be ready to obey, and receive our Saviour for their King, at his coming again ; and then the forgivenesse of sins in the world to come, has no need of a Purgatory. But in both these interpretations, there is so much of paradox, that 1 trust not to them ; but propound them to those that are throughly versed in the Scripture, to inquire if there be no clearer place that contradicts them. Onely of thus much, I see evident Scripture, to perswade me that there is neither the word, nor the thing of Purgatory, neither in this, nor any other text ; nor any thing that can prove a necessity of a place for the Soule without the Body ; neither for the Soule of Lazarus during the four days he was dead ; nor for the Soules of them which the Romane Church pretend to be tormented now in Purgatory. For God, that could give a life to a peece of clay, hath the same power to give life again to a dead man, and renew his inanimate, and rotten Carkasse, into a glorious, spirituall, and immortall Body. Another place is that of i Cor. 3. where it is said, that they which built Stubble, Hay, &c. on the true Foundation, their work shall perish ; but they themselves shall be saved ; but 5o8 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 44. BapHsme for the Dead, how understood but as through Fire : This Fire, he will have to be the Fire of Purgatory. The words, as I have said before, are an allusion to those oi Zach. 13. 9. where he saith, I will bring the third part through the Fire, and refine them as Silver is refined, and will try them as Gold is tryed : Which is spoken of the comming of the Messiah in Power and Glory ; that is, at the day of Judgment, and Conflagration of the present world; wherein the Elect shall not be consumed, but be refined ; that is, depose their erroneous Doctrines, and Tra- ditions, and have them as it were sindged off; and shall afterwards call upon the name of the true God. In hke manner, the Apostle saith of thera, that holding this Foun- dation lesus is the Christ, shall build thereon some other Doctrines that be erroneous, that they shall not be consumed 349 in that fire which reneweth the world, but shall passe through it to Salvation ; but so, as to see, and relinquish their former Errours. The Builders, are the Pastors, the Foundation, that lesus is the Christ ; the Stubble and Hay, False Con- sequences drawn firom it through Ignorance, or Frailty ; the Gold, Silver, and pretious Stones, are their True Doctrines ; and their Refining or Purging, the Relinquishing ofi their Errors. In all which there is no colour at all for the burn- ing of Incorporeall, that is to say, Impatible Souls. A third place is that of i Cor. 15. before mentioned, con- cerning Baptisme for the Dead : out of which he concludeth, first, that Prayers for the Dead are not unprofitable ; and out of that, that there is a Fire of Purgatory : But neither of them rightly. For of many interpretations of the word Baptisme, he approveth this in the first place, that by Bap- tisme is meant (metaphorically) a Baptisme of Penance ; and that men are in this sense Baptized, when they Fast, and Pray, and give Almes : And so Baptisme for the Dead, and Prayer for the Dead, is the same thing. But this is a Meta- phor, of which there is no example, neither in the Scripture, nor in any other use of language; and which is also discordant to the harmony, and scope of the Scripture. The word Baptisme is used {Mar. 10. 38. & Luk. 12. 50.) for being Partd,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. U- 5o9 being Dipped in ones own bloud, as Christ was upon the Cross, and as most of the Apostles were, for giving testimony of him. But it is hard to say, that Prayer, Fasting, and Almes, have any simiHtude with Dipping. The same is used also Mat. 3. 1 1. (which seemeth to make somewhat for Purgatory) for a Purging with Fire. But it is evident the Fire and Purging here mentioned, is the same whereof the Prophet Zachary speaketh (chap. 13. v. 9.) I will bring the third part through the Fire, and will Refine them, &=€. And St. Peter after him (i Epist. i. 7.) That the triall of your Faith, which is much more precious than of Gold that perisheth, though it be tryed with Fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory at the Appearing of lesus Christ; And St. Paul (i Cor. 3. 13.) The Fire shall trie every mans work of what sort it is. But St. Peter, and St. Paul speak of the Fire that shall be at the Second Appearing of Christ ; and the Prophet Zachary of the Day of Judgment : And therefore this place of S. Mat. may be interpreted of the same ; and then there will be no necessity of the Fire of Purgatory. Another interpretation of Baptisme for the Dead, is that which I have before mentioned, which he preferreth to the second place of probability : And thence also he inferreth the utility of Prayer for the Dead. For if after the Resur- rection,' such as have not heard of Christ, or not beleeved in him, may be received into Christs Kingdome ; it is not in vain, after their death, that their friends should pray for them, till they should be risen. But granting that God, at the prayers of the faithfull, may convert unto him some of those that have not heard Christ preached, and consequently cannot have rejected Christ, and that the charity of men in that point, cannot be blamed ; yet this concludeth nothing 350 for Purgatory, because to rise from Death to Life, is one thing ; to rise from Purgatory to Life is another ; as being a rising from Life to Life, from a Life in torments to a Life in joy. A fourth place is that of Mat. 5. 25. Agree with thine Adversary Sio Part 4. OF THE KINGDOM E Chap. AA- Adversary quickly, whilest thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the Adversary deliver thee to the Judge, and the Judge deliver thee to the Officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily J say unto thee, thou shall by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing. In which Allegory, the Offender is the Sinner; both the Adversary and the Judge is God; the Way is this Life; the Prison is the Grave; the Officer, Death ; from which, the sinner shall not rise again to life eternall, but to a second Death, till he have paid the utmost farthing, or Christ pay it for him by his Passion, which is a full Ransome for all manner of sin, as well lesser sins, as greater crimes ; both being made by the passion of Christ equally veniall. The fift place, is that of Matth. 5. 22. Whosoever is angry with his Brother without a cause, shall be guilty in Judgment. And whosoever shall say to his Brother, RA CJJA, shall be guilty in the Councel. But whosoever shall say. Thou Foole, shall be guilty to hell fire. From which words he inferreth three sorts of Sins, and three sorts of Punishments ; and that none of those sins, but the last, shall be punished with hell fire ; and consequently, that after this life, there is punish- ment of lesser sins in Purgatory. Of which inference, there is no colour in any interpretation that hath yet been given of them : Shall there be a distinction after this life of Courts of Justice, as there was amongst the Jews in our Saviours time, to hear, and determine divers sorts of Crimes ; as the Judges, and the Councell ? Shall not all Judicature apper- tain to Christ, and his Apostles ? To understand therefore this text, we are not to consider it solitarily, but jointly with the words precedent, and subsequent. Our Saviour in this Chapter interpreteth the Law of Moses ; which the Jews thought was then fulfilled, when they had not transgressed the Grammaticall sense thereof, howsoever they had trans- gressed against the sentence, or meaning of the Legislator. Therefore whereas they thought the Sixth Commandement was not broken, but by Killing a man ; nor the Seventh, but when a man lay with a woman, not his wife ; our Saviour tells Part/^. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. U- 5" tells them, the inward Anger of a man against his brother, if it be without just cause, is Homicide : You have heard (saith hee) the Law of Moses, Thou shalt not Kill, and that Whosoever shall Kill, shall bee condemned before the Judges, or before the Session of the Seventy : But I say unto you, to be Angry with ones Brother without cause ; or to say unto him Racha, or Foole, is Homicide, and shall be punished at the day of Judgment, and Session of Christ, and his Apostles, with Hell fire : so that those words were not used to dis- tinguish between divers Crimes, and divers Courts of Justice, and divers Punishments ; but to taxe the distinction between sin, and sin, which the Jews drew not from the difference of the Will in Obeying God, but from the difference of their 351 Temporall Courts of Justice ; and to shew them that he that had the Will to hurt his Brother, though the effect appear but in Reviling, or not at all, shall be cast into hell fire, by the Judges, and by the Session, which shall be the same, not different Courts at the day of Judgment. This considered, what can be drawn from this text, to maintain Purgatory, I cannot imagine. The sixth place is Lukei6. <). Make yee friends of the unright- eous Mammon, that when yee faile, they may receive you into Everlasting Tabernacles. This he alledges to prove Invocation of Saints departed. But the sense is plain. That we should make friends with our Riches, of the Poore ; and thereby obtain their Prayers whilest they live. He that giveth to the Poore, lendeth to the Lord. The seventh is Luke 23. 42. Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdome: Therefore, saith hee, there is Remission of sins after this life. But the consequence is not good. Our Saviour then forgave him ; and at his comming againe in Glory, will remember to raise him againe to Life Eternall. The Eight is Acts 2. 24. where St. Peter saith of Christ, that God had raised him up, and loosed the Paines of Death, because it was not possible he should be holden of it : Which hee interprets to bee a descent of Christ into Purga'ory, to loose 512 Part\. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. /^S- loose some Soules there from their torments : whereas it is manifest, that it was Christ that was loosed ; it was hee that could not bee holden of Death, or the Grave ; and not the Souls in Purgatory. But if that which Beza sayes in his notes on this place be well observed, there is none that will not see, that in stead of Paynes, it should be Bands ; and then there is no further cause to seek for Purgatory in this Text. CHAP. XLV. O/D^EMONOLOGY, and other Reliques of the Religion of the Gentiles. The Orlgi- ^Tp> He impression made on the organs of Sight, by lucide 352 "ocBmoti- I Bodies, either in one direct line, or in many lines, " ''■^' reflected from Opaque, or refracted in the passage through Diaphanous Bodies, produceth in living Creatures, in whom God hath placed such Organs, an Imagination of the Object, from whence the Impression proceedeth ; which Imagination is called Sight ; and seemeth not to bee a meer Imagination, but the Body it selfe without us ; in the same manner, as when a man violently presseth his eye, there appears to him a light without, and before him, which no man perceiveth but himselfe ; because there is indeed no such thing without him, but onely a motion in the interiour organs, pressing by resistance outward, that makes him think so. And the motion made by this pressure, continuing after the object which caused it is removed, is that we call Imagination, and Memory, and (in sleep, and sometimes in great distemper of the organs by Sicknesse, or Violence) a Dream : of which things I have already spoken briefly, in the second and third Chapters. This nature of Sight having never been discovered by the ancient pretenders to Naturall Knowledge ; much lesse by those that consider not things so remote (as that Knowledge is) Parti,. Oh DARKNESSE. Chap. i,^. 513 is) from their present use ; it was hard for men to conceive of those Images in the Fancy, and in the Sense, otherwise, than of things really without us : Which some (because they vanish away, they know not whither, nor how,) will have to be absolutely Incorporeall, that is to say Immateriall, or Formes without Matter; Colour and Figure, without any coloured or figured Body ; and that they can put on Aiery bodies (as a garment) to make them Visible when they will to our bodily Eyes ; and others say, are Bodies, and living Creatures, but made of Air, or other more subtile and aethereall Matter, which is, then, when they will be seen, condensed. But Both of them agree on one generall ap- pellation of them, DEMONS. As if the Dead of whom they Dreamed, were not Inhabitants of their own Brain, but of the Air, or of Heaven, or Hell; not Phantasmes, but Ghosts ; with just as much reason, as if one should say, he saw his own Ghost in a Looking-Glasse, or the Ghosts of the Stars in a River ; or call the ordinary apparition of the Sun, of the quantity of about a foot, the Damon, or Ghost of that great Sun that enlighteneth the whole visible world : And by that means have feared them, as things of an unknown, that is, of an unlimited power to doe them good, or harme ; and 353 consequently, given occasion to the Governours of the Heathen Common- wealths to regulate this their fear, by establishing that D^monology (in which the Poets, as Principall Priests of the Heathen Religion, were specially employed, or reverenced) to the Publique Peace, and to the Obedience of Subjects necessary thereunto ; and to make some of them Good Dcemons, and others Evill ; the one as a Spurre to the Observance, the other, as Reines to withhold them from Violation of the Laws. What kind of things they were, to whom they attributed ^j^^imoZ the name of Damons, appeareth partly in the Genealogie of "f '-^.^ their Gods, written by Hesiod, one of the most ancient Poets of the Grsecians ; and partly in other Histories ; of which I have observed some few before, in the 12. Chapter of this discourse. 2 L The 514 Pari /i,. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 45- How that Doctrine was spread. How far received by the Jews. John 8. S2. Why our Saviour controlled it not. The Grecians, by their Colonies and Conquests, com- municated their Language and Writings into Asia, Egypt, and Italy j and therein, by necessary consequence their Dmmonology, or (as St. Paul cast's, it) their Doctrines of Devils: And by that meanes, the contagion was derived also to the Jewes, both of ludaa, and Alexandria, and other parts, where- into they were dispersed. But the name of Dcemon they did not (as the Grjecians) attribute to Spirits both Good, and Evill ; but to the Evill onely : And to the Good Dcemons they gave the name of the Spirit of God ; and esteemed those into whose bodies they entred to be Prophets. In summe, all singularity if Good, they attributed to the Spirit of God ; and if Evill, to some Dcemon, but a KamSaiixuiv, an Evill Damon, that is, a Devill And therefore, they called Dcemoniaques, that is, possessed by the Devill, such as we call Madmen or Lunatiques ; or such as had the Falling Sick- nesse ; or that spoke any thing, which they for want of un- derstanding, thought absurd : As also of an Unclean person in a notorious degree, they used to say he had an Unclean Spirit; of a Dumbe man, that he had a Dumbe Devill; and of lohn Baptist {Math. n. i8.) for the singularity of his fasting, that he had a Devill ; and of our Saviour, because he said, hee that keepeth his sayings should not see Death in aternum, Now we know thou hast a Devill ; Abraham is dead, and the Prophets are dead : And again, because he said {John 7. 20.) They went about to kill him,\hs. people answered, Thou hast a Devill, who goeth about to kill thee? Whereby it is manifest, that the Jewes had the same opinions concerning Phantasmes, namely, that they were not Phantasmes, that is, Idols of the braine, but things reall, and independent on the Fancy. Which doctrine if it be not true, why (may some say) did not our Saviour contradict it, and teach the contrary ? nay why does he use on diverse occasions, such forms of speech as seem to confirm it ? To this I answer, that first, where Christ saith, A spirit hath not flesh and bone, though hee shew that there be Spirits, yet hee denies not that they are Bodies : Parti,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. \t,. 5>5 Bodies : And where St. Paul saies, We shall rise spirituall Bodies, he acknowledgeth the nature of Spirits, but that they are Bodily Spirits ; which is not difficult to understand. For Air and many other things are Bodies, though not Flesh and Bone, or any other grosse body, to bee discerned by the eye. 354 But when our Saviour speakethto the Devill, andcommandeth him to go out of a man, if by the Devill, be meant a Disease as Phrenesy, or Lunacy, or a corporeal Spirit, is not the speech improper ? can Diseases heare ? or can there be a corporeall Spirit in a Body of Flesh and Bone, full already of vitall and animall Spirits ? Are there not therefore Spirits, that neither have Bodies, nor are meer Imaginations ? To the first I answer, that the addressing of our Saviours com- mand to the Madnesse, or Lunacy he cureth, is no more improper, then was his rebuking of the Fever, or of the Wind, and Sea ; for neither do these hear ; Or than was the com- mand of God, to the Light, to the Firmament, to the Sunne, and Starres, when he commanded them to bee : for they could not heare before they had a beeing. But those speeches are not improper, because they signifie the power of Gods Word: no more therefore is it improper, to com- mand Madnesse, or Lunacy (under the appellation of Devils, by which they were then commonly understood,) to depart out of a mans body. To the second, concerning their being Incorporeall, I have not yet observed any place of Scripture, from whence it can be gathered, that any man was ever possessed with any other Corporeall Spirit, but that of his owne, by which his body is naturally moved. Our Saviour, immediately after the Holy Ghost descended f^^fjjf- upon him in the form of a Dove, is said by St. Mattheiv not teach ... - Tj-rv thatSplrits (Chapt. 4.1.) to Ijavp beep led up by tlie Spirit into the Wil- are in- dernesse ; and the same is recited {Luke 4. i.) in these words, '""'f"" lesus being full of the Holy Ghost, was led in the Spirit into the Wildernesse : Whereby it is evident, that by Spirit there, is meant the Holy Ghost. This cannot be interpreted for a Possession : For Christ, and the Holy Ghost, are but one and the same substance ; which is no possession of one sub- stance. Si6 Parti^ 01' THE KINGDOMS Chap. i^t,. stance, or body, by another. And whereas in the verses following, he is said to have been taken up by the Devill into the Holy City, and set upon a pinnacle of the Temple, shall we conclude thence that hee was possessed of the Devill, or carryed thither by violence ? And again, carryed thence by the Devill into an exceeding high mountain, who sheuied him them thence all the Kingdomes of the world: Wherein, wee are not to beleeve he was either possessed, or forced by the Devill ; nor that any Mountaine is high enough, (according to the literall sense,) to shew him one whole Hemisphere. What then can be the meaning of this place, other than that he went of himself into the Wildernesse ; and that this carrying of him up and down, from the Wildernesse to the City, and from thence into a Mountain, was a Vision ? Conformable whereunto, is also the phrase of St. Luke, that hee was led into the Wildernesse, not by, but in the Spirit : whereas concerning His being Taken up into the Mountaine, and unto the Pinnacle of the Temple, hee speaketh as St. Matthew doth. Which suiteth with the nature of a Vision. Again, where St. Luke sayes of Judas Iscariot, that Satan entred into him, and thereupon that he went and communed with the Chief Priests, and Captaines, how he might betray Christ unto them : it may be answered, that by the Entring of 355 Satan (that is the Enemy) into him, is meant, the hostile and traiterours intention of selling his Lord and Master. For as by the Holy Ghost, is frequently in Scripture, understood the Graces and good Inclinations given by the Holy Ghost ; so by the Entring of Satan, may bee understood the wicked Cogita- tions, and Designes of the Adversaries of Christ, and his Disciples. For as it is hard to say, that the Devill was entred into Judas, before he had any such hostile designe ; so it is impertinent to say, he was first Christs Enemy in his heart, and that the Devill entred into him afterwards. Therefore the Entring of Satan, and his Wicked Purpose, was one and the same thing. But if there be no Immateriall Spirit, nor any Possession of mens bodies by any Spirit Corporeall, it may again be asked, Partly. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. AS- 5'7 asked, why our Saviour and his Apostles did not teach the People so ; and in such cleer words, as they might no more doubt thereof. But such questions as these, are more curious, than necessary for a Christian mans Salvation. Men may as well aske, why Christ that could have given to all men Faith, Piety, and all manner of morall Vertues, gave it to some onely, and not to all : and why he left the search of naturall Causes, and Sciences, to the naturall Reason and Industry of men, and did not reveal it to all, or any man supernaturally ; and many other such questions : Of which neverthelesse there may be alledged probable and pious reasons. For as God, when he brought the Israelites into the Land of Promise, did not secure them therein, by sub- duing all the Nations round about them ; but left many of them, as thornes in their sides, to awaken from time to time their Piety and Industry : so our Saviour, in conducting us toward his heavenly Kingdome, did not destroy all the difficulties of Naturall Questions ; but left them to exercise our Industry, and Reason; the Scope of his preaching, being onely to shew us this plain and direct way to Salvation, namely, the beleef of this Article, that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God, sent into the world to sacrifice him- selfe for our Sins, and at his comming again, gloriously to reign over his Elect, and to save them from their Enemies eternally : To which, the opinion of Possession by Spirits, or Phantasmes, are no impediment in the way ; though it be to some an occasion of going out of the way, and to follow their own Inventions. If wee require of the Scripture an account of all questions, which may be raised to trouble us in the performance of Gods commands ; we may as well complaine of Moses for not having set downe the time of the creation of such Spirits, as well as of the Creation of the Earth, and Sea, and of Men, and Beasts. To conclude, I find in Scripture that there be Angels, and Spirits, good and evill; but not that they are Incorporeall, as are the Ap- paritions men see in the Dark, or in a Dream, or Vision ; which the Latines call Spectra, and took for Dxmons. And I 5i8 Part \. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 45- The Power of Casting outDevills, not the same it was in the Primitive Church. Another relique of GentilisTne, Worship- ping of Images, left in the Church, not brought into it. I find that there are Spirits Corporeall, (though subtile and Invisible ;) but not that any mans body was possessed, or inhabited by them ; And that the Bodies of the Saints shall 356 be such, namely, Spirituall Bodies, as St. Paul calls them. Neverthelesse, the contrary Doctrine, namely, that there be Incorporeall Spirits, hath hitherto so prevailed in the Church, that the use of Exorcisme, (that is to say, of ejection of Devills by Conjuration) is thereupon built; and (though rarely and faintly practised) is not yet totally given over. That there were many Dasmoniaques in the Primitive Church, and few Mad-men, and other such singular diseases ; whereas in these times we hear of, and see many Mad-men, and few Dasmoniaques, proceeds not from the change of Nature; but of Names. But how it comes to passe, that whereas heretofore the Apostles, and after them for a time, the Pastors of the Church, did cure those singular Diseases, which now they are not seen to doe ; as likewise, why it is not in the power of every true Beleever now, to doe all that the Faithfull did then, that is to say, as we read (Mark i6. 17.) In Christs name to cast out Devills, to speak with new Tongues, to take up Serpents, to drink deadly Poison without harm taking, and to cure the Sick by the laying on of their hands, and all this without other words, but in the Name oflesus, is another question. And it is probable, that those extraordinary gifts were given to the Church, for no longer a time, than men trusted wholly to Christ, and looked for their felicity onely in his Kingdome to come ; and consequently, that when they sought Authority, and Riches, and trusted to their own Subtilty for a Kingdome of this world, these supernaturall gifts of God were again taken from them. Another relique of Gentilisme, is the Worship of Images, neither instituted by Moses in the Old, nor by Christ in the New Testament ; nor yet brought in from the Gentiles ; but left amongst them, after they had given their names to Christ. Before our Saviour preached, it was the generall Religion of the Gentiles, to worship for Gods, those Apparences that remain in the Brain from the impression of externall Bodies upon Part\. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 6,'^. 519 upon the organs of their Senses, which are commonly called Ideas, Idols, Phantasmes, Conceits, as being Representations of those externall Bodies, which cause them, and have nothing in them of reality, no more than there is in the things that seem to stand before us in a Dream : And this is the reason why St. Paul says. Wee know that an Idol is Nothing: Not that he thought that an Image of Metall, Stone, or Wood, was nothing ; but that the thing which they honored, or feared in the Image, and held for a God, was a meer Figment, without place, habitation, motion, or existence, but in the motions of the Brain. And the worship of these with Divine Honour, is that which is in the Scripture called Idolatry, and Rebellion against God. For God being King of the Jews, and his Lieutenant being first Moses, and afterward the High Priest ; if the people had been permitted to worship, and pray to Images, (which are Representations of their own Fancies, ) they had had no farther dependence on the true God, of whom their can be no similitude ; nor on his 357 prime Ministers, Moses, and the High Priests; but every man had governed himself according to his own appetite, to the utter eversion of the Common-wealth, and their own destruc- tion for want of Union. And therefore the first Law of God was. They should not take for Gods, alienosDeos, that is, the Gods of other nations, but that onely true God, who vouch- safed to commune with Moses, and by hi7n to give them laws and directions, for their peace, and for their salvation from their ememies. And the second was, that they should not make to themselves any Image to Worship, of their own Inven- tion. For it is the same deposing of a King, to submit to another King, whether he be set up by a neighbour nation, or by our selves. The places of Scripture pretended to countenance the Answer to , . , , certain settmg up of Images, to worship them ; or to set them up seeming Sit all in the places where God is worshipped, are First, two y^^^^f Examples ; one of the Cherubins over the Ark of God ; the other of the Brazen Serpent : Secondly, some texts whereby we are commanded to worship certain Creatures for their relation S20 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 45. relation to God ; as to worship his Footstool : And lastly, some other texts, by which is authorized, a religious honor- ing of Holy things. But before I examine the force of those places, to prove that which is pretended, I must first explain what is to be understood by Worshipping, and what by Images, and Idols, What is I }^a.ve already shewn in the 20 Chapter of this Discourse, Worship. ^ '^ that to Honor, is to value highly the Power of any person : and that such value is measured, by our comparing him with others. But because there is nothing to be compared with God in Power ; we Honor him not but Dishonour him by any Value lesse than Infinite. And thus Honor is pro- perly of its own nature, secret, and internall in the heart. But the inward thoughts of men, which appeare outwardly in their words and actions, are the signes of our Honoring, and these goe by the name of Worship, in Latine C u L T u s. Therefore, to Pray to, to Swear by, to Obey, to bee Diligent, and Officious in Serving : in summe, all words and actions that betoken Fear to Off"end, or Desire to Please, is Worship, whether those words and actions be sincere, or feigned : and because they appear as signes of Honoring, are ordinarily also called Honor. utmeT""' '^'^^ Worship we exhibite to those we esteem to be but Divine and men, as to Kings, and men in Authority, is Civill Worship: Worship. But the worship we exhibite to that which we think to bee God, whatsoever the words, ceremonies, gestures, or other actions be, is Divine Worship. To fall prostrate before a King, in him that thinks him but a Man, is but Civill Worship : And he that but putteth off his hat in the Church, for this cause, that he thinketh it the House of God, wor- shippeth with Divine Worship. They that seek the distinc- tion of Divine and Civill Worship, not in the intention of the Worshipper, but in the Words tovX^ia and Xarpeia deceive themselves. For whereas there be two sorts of Servants ; that sort, which is of those that are absolutely in the power 358 of their Masters, as Slaves taken in war, and their Issue, whose bodies are not in their own power, (their lives de- pending Partly. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. M. 521 pending on the Will of their Masters, in such manner as to forfeit them upon the least disobedience,) and that are bought and sold as Beasts, were called AoiXoi, that is pro- perly, Slaves, and their Service AowXsia : The other, which is of those that serve (for hire, or in hope of benefit from their Masters) voluntarily ; are called e^rec; that is, Domestique Servants; to whose service the Masters have no further right, than is contained in the Covenants made betwixt them. These two kinds of Servants have thus much common to them both, that their labour is appointed them by another : And the word Adrpts, is the generall name of both, signify- ing him that worketh for another, whether, as a Slave, or a voluntary Servant : So that Karptia signifieth generally all Service ; but AouXeia the service of Bondmen onely, and the condition of Slavery : And both are used in Scripture (to signifie our Service of God) promiscuously. Aoi/Xeiq, because we are Gods Slaves ; Km-peia, because wee Serve him : and in all kinds of Service is contained, not onely Obedience, but also Worship ; that is, such actions, gestures, and words, as signifie Honor. An I M A G E (in the most strict signification of the word) An image • "whdt is the Resemblance of some thing visible : In which sense Phantasticall Formes, Apparitions, or Seemings of visible Phantas- , mes. Bodies to the Sight, are onely Images ; such as are the Shew of a man, or other thing in the Water, by Reflexion, or Re- fraction; or of the Sun, or Stars by Direct Vision in the Air; which are nothing reall in the things seen, nor in the place where they seem to bee; nor are their magnitudes and figures the same with that of the object; but changeable, by the variation of the organs of Sight, or by glasses ; and are present oftentimes in our Imagination, and in our Dreams, when the object is absent ; or changed into other colours, and shapes, as things that depend onely upon the Fancy. And these are the Images which are originally and most properly called Ideas, and Idols, and derived from the language of the Graecians, with whom the word eI'^m signifieth to See. They are also called Phantasmes, which is in the 522 OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 45. Fictions. Materiall Images. Part 4. the same language, Apparitions. And from these Images it is that one of the faculties of mans Nature, is called the Imaginatiofi. And from hence it is manifest, that there neither is, nor can bee any Image made of a thing Invisible. It is also evident, that there can be no Image of a thing Infinite : for all the Images, and Phantasmes that are made by the Impression of things visible, are figured : but Figure is a quantity every way determined : And therefore there can bee no Image of God ; nor of the Soule of Man ; nor of Spirits ; but onely of Bodies Visible, that is, Bodies that have light in themselves, or are by such enligtened. And whereas a man can fancy Shapes he never saw; making up a Figure out of the parts of divers creatures ; as the Poets make their Centaures, Chimeeras, and other Monsters never seen : So can he also give Matter to those Shapes, and make them in Wood, Clay or Metall. And these are also called Images, not for the resemblance of any corporeall thing, but for the resemblance of some Phantas- ticall Inhabitants of the Brain of the Maker. But in these Idols, as they are originally in the Brain, and as they are painted, carved, moulded, or moulten in matter, there is a simiHtude of the one to the other, for which the Material! Body made by Art, may be said to be the Image of the Phantasticall Idoll made by Nature. But in a larger use of the word Image, is contained also, any Representation of one thing by another. So an earthly Soveraign may be called the Image of God : And an inferiour Magistrate the Image of an earthly Soveraign. And many times in the Idolatry of the Gentiles there was little regard to the simihtude of their Materiall Idol to the Idol in their fancy, and yet it was called the Image of it. For a Stone unhewn has been set up for Neptune, and divers other shapes far different from the shapes they conceived of their Gods. And at this day we see many Images of the Virgin Mary, and other Saints, unlike one another, and without correspondence to any one mans Fancy ; and yet serve well enough for the purpose they were erected for ; which was no more but by the 359 what. Pari A. OF DARKNESSE. Chap.\^. 523 the Names onely, to represent the Persons mentioned in the History ; to which every man applyeth a Men tall Image of his owne making, or none at all. And thus an Image in the largest sense, is either the Resemblance, or the Representa- tion of some thing Visible ; or both together, as it happeneth for the most part. But the name of Idoll is extended yet further in Scripture, to signifie also the Sunne, or a Starre, or any other Creature, visible or invisible, when they are worshipped for Gods. Having shewn what is Worship, and what an Image ; I idolatry will now put them together, and examine what that I d o l- A T R Y is, which is forbidden in the Second Commandement, and other places of the Scripture. To worship an Image, is voluntarily to doe those externall acts, which are signes of honoring either the matter of the Image, which is Wood, Stone, Metall, or some other visible creature ; or the Phantasme of the brain, for the resemblance, or representation whereof, the matter was formed and figured; or both together, as one animate Body, composed of the Matter and the Phantasme, as of a Body and Soule. To be uncovered, before a man of Power and Authority, or before the Throne of a Prince, or in such other places as hee ordaineth to that purpose in his absence, is to Worship that man, or Prince with Civill Worship ; as being a signe, not of honoring the stoole, or place, but the Person ; and is not Idolatry. But if hee that doth it, should suppose the Soule of the Prince to be in the Stool, or should present a Petition to the Stool, it were Divine Worship, and Idolatry. 360 To pray to a King for such things, as hee is able to doe for us, though we prostrate our selves before him, is but Civill Worship ; because we acknowledge no other power in him, but humane : But voluntarily to pray unto him for fair weather, or for any thing which God onely can doe for us, is Divine Worship, and Idolatry. On the other side, if a King compell a man to it by the terrour of Death, or other great corporall punishment, it is not Idolatry : For the Wor- ship which the Soveraign commandeth to bee done unto himself 524 Pari 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 45. himself by the terrour of his Laws, is not a sign that he that obeyeth him, does inwardly honour him as a God, but that he is desirous to save himselfe from death, or from a miser- able life ; and that which is not a sign of internall honor, is no Worship ; and therefore no Idolatry. Neither can it bee said, that hee that does it, scandalizeth, or layeth any stumbling block before his Brother ; because how wise, or learned soever he be that worshippeth in that manner, another man cannot from thence argue, that he approveth it ; but that he doth it for fear ; and that it is not his act, but the act of his Soveraign. To worship God, in some peculiar Place, or turning a mans face towards an Image, or determinate Place, is not to wor- ship, or honor the Place, or Image ; but to acknowledge it Holy, that is to say, to acknowledge the Image, or the Place to be set apart from common use : for that is the meaning of the word Holy ; which implies no new quahty in the Place, or Image ; but onely a new Relation by Appropriation to God ; and therefore is not Idolatry ; no more than it was Idolatry to worship God before the Brazen Serpent ; or for the Jews when they were out of their owne countrey, to turn their faces (when they prayed) toward the Temple of Jeru- salem ; or for Moses to put off his Shoes when he was before the Flaming Bush, the ground appertaining to Mount Sinai ; which place God had chosen to appear in, and to give his Laws to the People of Israel, and was therefore Holy ground, not by inherent sanctity, but by separation to Gods use ; or for Christians to worship in the Churches, which are once solemnly dedicated to God for that purpose, by the Authority of the King, or other true Representant of the Church. But to worship God, as inanimating, or inhabiting, such Image, or place ; that is to say, an infinite substance in a finite place, is Idolatry : for such finite Gods, are but Idols of the brain, nothing reall ; and are commonly called in the Scripture by the names of Vanity, and Lyes, and Nothing. Also to wor- ship God, not as inanimating, or present in the place, or Image ; but to the end to be put in mind of him, or of some works Part 4. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 45. 525 works of his, in case the Place, or Image be dedicated, or set up by private authority, and not by the authority of them that are our Soveraign Pastors, is Idolatry. For the Com- mandement is. Thou shalt not make to thy selfe any graven Image. God commanded Moses to set up the Brazen Ser- pent ; hee did not make it to himselfe ; it was not therefore against the Commandement. But the making of the Golden Calfe by Aaron, and the People, as being done without au- 361 thority from God, was Idolatry ; not onely because they held it for God, but also because they made it for a Religious use, without warrant either from God their Soveraign, or from Moses, that was his Lieutenant. The Gentiles worshipped for Gods, Jupiter, and others ; that living, were men perhaps that had done great and glorious Acts ; and for the Children of God, divers men and women, supposing them gotten between an Immortall Deity, and a mortall man. This was Idolatry, because they made them so to themselves, having no authority from God, neither in his eternall Law of Reason, nor in his positive and revealed Will. But though our Saviour was a man, whom wee also beleeve to bee God Immortall, and the Son of God ; yet this is no Idolatry ; because wee build not that beleef upon our own fancy, or judgment, but upon the Word of God revealed in the Scriptures. And for the adoration of the Eucharist, if the words of Christ, This is my Body, signifie, that he himselfe, and the seeming bread in his hand; and not onely so, but that all the seeniing morsells of bread that have ever since been, and any time hereafter shall bee con- secrated by Priests, bee so many Christs bodies, and yet all of them but one body, then is that no Idolatry, because it is authorized by our Saviour : but if that text doe not signifie that, (for there is no other that can be alledged for it,) then, because it is a worship of humane institution, it is Idolatry. For it is not enough to say, God can transubstantiate the Bread into Christs Body : For the Gentiles also held God to be Omnipotent ; and might upon that ground no lesse excuse their Idolatry, by pretending, as well as others, a transubstantiation 526 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 45. transubstantiaition of their Wood, and Stone into God Almighty. Whereas there be, that pretend Divine Inspiration, to be a supernaturall entring of the Holy Ghost into a man, and not an acquisition of Gods graces, by doctrine, and study ; I think they are in a very dangerous Dilemma. For if they worship not the men whom they beleeve to be so inspired, they fall into Impiety ; as not adoring Gods supernaturall Presence. And again, if they worship him, they commit Idolatry; for the Apostles would never permit themselves to be so worshipped. Therefore the safest way is to beleeve, that by the Descending of the Dove upon the Apostles ; and by Christs Breathing on them, when hee gave them the Holy Ghost ; and by the giving of it by Imposition of Hands, are understood the signes which God hath been pleased to use, or ordain to bee used, of his promise to assist those persons in their study to Preach his Kingdome, and in their Conversation, that it might not be Scandalous, but Edifying to others. worsMpof Besides the Idolatrous Worship of Images ; there is also Images. a Scandalous Worship of them ; which is also a sin ; but not Idolatry. For Idolatry is to worship by signes of an in- ternall, and reall honour ; but Scandalous Worship, is but Seeming Worship ; and may sometimes bee joined with an inward, and hearty detestation, both of the Image, and of 362 the Phantasticall Damon, or Idol, to which it is dedicated ; and proceed onely from the fear of death, or other grievous punishment; and is neverthelesse a sin in them that so worship, in case they be men whose actions are looked at by others, as lights to guide them by ; because following their ways, they cannot but stumble, and fall in the way of Religion : Whereas the example of those we regard not, works not on us at all, but leaves us to our own diligence and caution ; and consequently are no causes of our falling. If therefore a Pastor lawfully called to teach and direct others, or any other, of whose knowledge there is a great opinion, doe externall honor to an Idol for fear ; unlesse he make Pt^rt 4. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 45. 527 make his feare, and unwillingnesse to it, as evident as the -worship ; he Scandahzeth his Brother, by seeming to approve Idolatry. For his Brother arguing from the action of his teacher, or of him whose knowledge he esteemeth great, concludes it to bee lawful! in it selfe. And this Scandall, is Sin, and a Scandall given. But if one being no Pastor, nor of eminent reputation for knowledge in Christian Doc- trine, doe the same, and another follow him ; this is no Scandall given ; for he had no cause to follow such example : but is a pretence of Scandall which hee taketh of himselfe for an excuse before men : For an unlearned man, that is in the power of an Idolatrous King, or State, if commanded on pain of death to worship before an Idoll, hee detesteth the Idoll in his heart, hee doth well ; though if he had the fortitude to suffer death, rather than worship it, he should doe better. But if a Pastor, who as Christs Messenger, has undertaken to teach Christs Doctrine tp all nations, should doe the same, it were not onely a sinfull Scandall, in respect of other Christian mens consciences, but a per- fidious forsaking of his charge. The summe of that which I have said hitherto, concerning the Worship of Images, is this, that he that worshippeth in an Image, or any Creature, either the Matter thereof, or any Fancy of his own, which he thinketh to dwell in it ; or both together ; or beleeveth that such things hear his Prayers, or see his Devotions, without Ears, or Eyes, committeth Idola- try : and he that counterfeiteth such Worship for fear of punishment, if he bee a man whose example hath power amongst his Brethren, committeth a sin : But he that wor- shippeth the Creator of the world before such an Image, or in such a place as he hath not made, or chosen of himselfe, but taken from the commandement of Gods Word, as the Jewes did in worshipping God before the Cherubins, and before the Brazen Serpent for a time, and in, or towards the Temple of Jerusalem, which was also but for a time, com- mitteth not Idolatry. Now for the Worship of Saints, and Images, and Reliques, and 528 Answer to the Argu- ment from the Cheru- Hns, and Brazen Serpent. Part 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 45. and other things at this day practised in the Church of Rome, I say they are not allowed by the Word of God, nor brought into the Church of Rome, from the Doctrine there taught ; but partly left in it at the first conversion of the Gentiles ; and afterwards countenanced, and confirmed, and aug- mented by the Bishops of Rome. As for the proofs alledged out of Scripture, namely, those examples of Images appointed by God to bee set up ; They were not set up for the people, or any man to worship ; but that they should worship God himselfe before them; as before the Cherubins over the Ark, and the Brazen Serpent For we read not, that the Priest, or any other did worship the Cherubins; but contrarily wee read (2 Kings 18. 4.) that Hezekiah brake in pieces the Brazen Serpent which Moses had set up, because the People burnt incense to it. Besides, those examples are not put for our Imitation, that we also should set up Images, under pretence of worshipping God before them ; because the words of the second Commande- ment, T'hou shalt not make to thy selfe any graven Image, c^c. distinguish between the Images that God commanded to be set up, and those which wee set up to our selves. And therefore from the Cherubins, or Brazen Serpent, to the Images of mans devising ; and from the Worship commanded by God, to the Will- Worship of men, the argument is not good. This also is to bee considered, that as Hezekiah brake in pieces the Brazen Serpent, because the Jews did worship it, to the end they should doe so no more ; so also Christian Soveraigns ought to break down the Images which their Sub- jects have been accustomed to worship ; that there be no more occasion of such Idolatry. For at this day, the ignorant People, where Images are worshipped, doe really beleeve there is a Divine Power in the Images ; and are told by their Pastors, that some of them have spoken ; and have bled ; and that miracles have been done by them ; which they ap- prehend as done by the Saint, which they think either is the Image it self, or in it. The Israelites, when they worshipped the Calfe, did think they worshipped the God that brought them 363 Parts,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. ^c,. 529 them out of Egypt ; and yet it was Idolatry, because they thought the Calfe either was that God, or had him in his belly. And though some man may think it impossible for people to be so stupid, as to think the Image to be God, or a Saint ; or to worship it in that notion ; yet it is manifest in Scripture to the contrary ; where when the Golden Calfe was made, the people said, * These are thy Gods O Israel; and *^^«<^-32- where the Images of Laban * are called his Gods. And wee * Gen. 31. see daily by experience in all sorts of People, that such men ^°' as study nothing but their food and ease, are content to beleeve any absurdity, rather than to trouble themselves to examine it ■ holding their faith as it were by entaile unaliejiable, except by an expresse and new Law. But they inferre from some other places, that it is lawfull Painting of Fancies to pamt Angels, and also God himselfe: as from Gods no idoia- walking in the Garden ; from Jacobs seeing God at the top aiuUng of the ladder 5 and from other Visions, and Dreams. But 'Religious Visions, and Dreams, whether naturall, or supernaturall, are M^'"'-f'^'>"- 364 but Phantasmes : and he that painteth an Image of any of them, maketh not an Image of God, but of his own Phan- tasm, which is, making of an Idol. I say not, that to draw a Picture after a fancy, is a Sin ; but when it is drawn, to hold it for a Kepresentation of God, is against the second Commandement ; and can be of no use, but to worship. And the same may be said of the Images of Angels, and of men dead ; unlesse as Monuments of friends, or of men worthy remembrance : For such use of an Image, is not Worship of the Image ; but a civill honoring of the Person, not that is, but that was : But when it is done to the Image which we make of a Saint, for no other reason, but that we think he heareth our prayers, and is pleased with the honour wee doe him, when dead, and without sense, wee attribute to him more than humane power ; and therefore it is Idolatry. Seeing therefore there is no authority, neither in the Law of Moses, nor in the Gospel, for the religious Worship of Images, or other Representations of God, which men set up 2 M to 53° the Church. Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 45. to themselves ; or for the Worship of the Image of any Creature in Heaven, Or Earth, or under the Earth : And whereas Christian Kings, who are living Representants of God, are not to be worshipped by their Subjects, by any act, that signifieth a greater esteem of his power, than the nature of mortall man is capable of; It cannot be imagined, that the Religious Worship now in use, was brought into the Church, by misunderstanding of the Scripture. It resteth therefore, that it was left in it, by not destroying the Images themselves, in the conversion' of the Gentiles that worshipped them. How The cause whereof, was the immoderate esteem, and ■was left in prices Set upon the workmanship of them, which made the owners (though converted, from worshipping them as they had done ReHgiously for Daemons) to retain them still in their houses, upon pretence of doing it in the honor of Christ, of the Virgin Maiy, and of the Apostles, and other the Pastors of the Primitive Church ; as being easie, by giving them new names, to make that an Image of the Virgin Mary, and of her Sonne our Saviour, which before perhaps was called the Image of Venus, and Citpid ; and so of a lupiter to make a Barnabas, and of Mercury a Paul, and the like. And as worldly ambition creeping by degrees into the Pas- tors, drew them to an endeavour of pleasing the new made Christians ; and also to a liking of this kind of honour, which they also might hope for after their decease, as well as those that had already gained it : so the worshipping of the Images of Christ and his Apostles, grew more and more Idolatrous ; save that somewhat after the time of Constantine, divers Emperors, and Bishops, and generall Councells observed, and opposed the unlawfulnesse thereof; but too late, or too weakly. ^f'saints^ The Cano7iizing of Saints, is another Relique of Gentil- isme : It is neither a misunderstanding of Scripture, nor a new invention of the Roman Church, but a custome as ancient as the Common-wealth of Rome it self. The first that ever was canonized at Rome, was Romulus, and that upon the narrati of Julius Proculus, that swore before the Senate, Parti,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. i^'^. 531 Senate, he spake with him after his death, and was assured J65 by him, he dwelt in Heaven, and was there called Quirinus, and would be propitious to the State of their new City : And thereupon the Senate gave puhlique testimony of his Sanctity. luliiis Ccesar, and other Emperors after him, had the like testimony ; that is, were Canonized for Saints ; for by such testimony is Canonization, now defined; and is the same with the 'AffoSlwcrie of the Heathen. It is also from the Roman Heathen, that the Popes have received the name, and power of Pontifex Maximus. '^J'^"'''"'" ' ^ of Pontifex. This was the name of him that in the ancient Common- wealth of Rome, had the Supreme Authority under the Senate and People, of regulating all Ceremonies, and Doc- trines concerning their Religion : And when Augustics Ccesar changed the State into a Monarchy, he took to himselfe no more but this office, and that of Tribune of the People, (that is to say, the Supreme Power both in State, and Religion ;) and the succeeding Emperors enjoyed the same. But when the Emperour Constantine lived, who was the first that pro- fessed and authorized Christian Religion, it was consonant to his profession, to cause Religion to be regulated (under his authority) by the Bishop of Rome : Though it doe not appear they had so soon the name of Pontifex ; but rather, that the succeeding Bishops took it of themselves, to counte- nance the power they exercised over the Bishops of the Roman Provinces. For it is not any Priviledge of St. Peter, but the Priviledge of the City of Rome, which the Emperors were alwaies willing to uphold, that gave them such authority over other Bishops ; as may be evidently seen by that, that the Bishop of Constantinople, when the Emperour made that City the Seat of the Empire, pretended to bee equall to the Bishop of Rome ; though at last, not without contention, the Pope carryed it, and became the Pontifex Maximus; but in right onely of the Emperour ; and not without the bounds of the Empire ; nor any where, after the Emperour had lost his power in Rome; though it were the Pope himself that took his power from him. From whence wee may 5 32 Pa7't 4. OF THE KINGDOM E Chap. 45- Procession of Images. Wax Candles, and Torches lighted. may by the way observe, that there is no place for the superiority of the Pope over other Bishops, except in the territories whereof he is himself the Civill Soveraign ; and where the Emperour having Soveraign Power Civill, hath expressely chosen the Pope for the chief Pastor under him- selfe, of his Christian Subjects. The carrying about of Images in Procession ; is another Relique of the Religion of the Greeks, and Romans : For they also carried their Idols from place to place, in a kind of Chariot, which was peculiarly dedicated to that use, which the Latines called Thensa and Vehiculum Deoruni ; and the Image was placed in a frame, or Shrine, which they called Ferculuni : And that which they called Pompa, is the same that now is named Procession : According whereunto, amongst the Divine Honors which were given to Julius Ccesar by the Senate, this was one, that in the Pompe (or Procession) ?X the Circaean games, he should have Thensam (S^= Fer-culum, a sacred Chariot, and a Shrine ; which was as much, as to be carried up £|.nd down as a God : Just as at this day the Popes are carried by Switzers under a Canopie. To these Processions also belonged the bearing of burning 366 Torches, and Cand'.es, before the Images of the Gods, both amongst the Greeks, and Romans. For afterwards the Emperors of Rome received the same honor : as we read of Caligula, that at his reception to the Empire, he was carried from Misenvm to Rome, in the midst of a throng of People, the wayes beset with Altars, and Beasts for Sacrifice, and burning Torches : And of Caracalla that was received into Alexandria with Incense, and with casting of Flowers, and SaSovxiaie, that is, with Torches ; for AaSovxoi. were they that amongst the Greeks carried Torches lighted in the Proces- sions of their Gods : And in processe of time, the devout, but ignorant People, did many times honor their Bishops with the like pompe of Wax Candles, and the Images of our Saviour, and the Saints, constantly, in the Church it self. And thus came in the use of Wax Candles ; and was also established by some of the ancient Councells. The P'^rti,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. ^6. 533 The Heathens had also their Aqua Ltistralis, that is to say, Holy Water. The Church of Rome imitates them also in their Holy Dayes. They had their Bacchanalia ; and we have our Wakes, answering to them : They their Saturnalia; and we our Carnevalh, and Shrove-tuesdays liberty of Ser^ vants : They their Procession of Pridpus ; wee our fetching in, erection, and dancing about May-polei ; and Dancing is one kind of Worship : They had their Procession called Amharvalia ; and we our Procession about the fields in the Rogation week. Nor do I think that these are all the Cere- monies that have been left in the Church, from the first conversion of the Gentiles : but they are all that I Can foC the present call to mind ; and if a man would wel observe that which is delivered in the Histories, concerning the Religious Rites of the Greeks and Romanes, I doubt not but he might find many more of these old empty Bottles of Gentilisme, which the Doctors of the Romalie Church,- either by Negligence, or Ambition, have filled up again with the new Wine of Christianity, that will not faile in time td break them. CHAP. XLVI. Of Darknesse from Vain Philosophy,' and Fabulous Traditions. 367 '\~)Y YYi\'LO'LO'!,'SYLy,'\% 'm^AexiXooA the Knowledge acqui- What Philosophy B red by Reasoning, from the Manner of the Generation is. of any thing, to the Properties ; or from the Properties, to some possible Way of Generation of the same; to the end to bee able to produce, as far as matter, and humane force permit, such Effects, as humane life requireth. So the Geometrician, from the Construction of Figures, findeth out many Properties thereof; and from the Properties, new Ways of their Con- struction, by Reasoning ; to the end to be able to measure Land, and Water ; and for infinite other uses. So the As- tronomer, 534 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 46. Prudence no part of Philosoply, No false Doctrine is part of Philosophy: No more is Revelation supernatu- rall. Nor learn- ing taken upon credit of Authors. Of the Be- ginnings and Pro- gresse of Philosophy. tronomer, from the Rising, Setting, and Moving of the Sun, and Starres, in divers parts of the Heavens, findeth out the Causes of Day, and Night, and of the different Seasons of the Year : whereby he keepeth an account of Time : And the like of other Sciences. By which Definition it is evident, that we are not to ac- count as any part thereof, that originall knowledge called Experience, in which consisteth Prudence : Because it is not attained by Reasoning, but found as well in Brute Beasts, as in Man ; and is but a Memory of successions of events in times past, wherein the omission of every little circumstance altering the effect, frustrateth the expectation of the most Prudent : whereas nothing is produced by Reasoning aright, but generall, eternal), and immutable Truth. Nor are we therefore to give that name to any false Con- clusions : For he that Reasoneth aright in words he under- standeth, can never conclude in Error : Nor to that which any man knows by supeinaturall Reve- lation; because it is not acquired by Reasoning : Nor that which is gotten by Reasoning from the Authority of Books ; because it is not by Reasoning from the Cause to the Effect, nor from the Effect to the Cause; and is not Knowledg, but Faith. The faculty of Reasoning being consequent to the use of Speech, it was not possible, but that there should have been some generall Truthes found out by Reasoning, as ancient almost as Language it selfe. The Savages of America, are not with-out some good Morall Sentences ; also they have a littie Arithmetick, to adde, and divide in Numbers not too great: but they are not therefore Philosophers. For as there were Plants of Corn and Wine in small quantity dis- persed in the Fields and Woods, before men knew their 368 vertue, or made use of them for their nourishment, or plan- ted them apart in Fields, and Vineyards ; in which time they fed on Akorns, and drank Water : so also there have been divers true, generall, and profitable Speculations from the beginning ; as being the naturall plants of humane Reason : But Part^. OF DARKNESSE. ChaJ,. ^6. 535 But they were at first but few in number ; men lived upon grosse Experience ; there was no Method ; that is to say, no Sowing, nor Planting of Knowledge by it self, apart from the Weeds, and common Plants of Errour and Conjecture : And the cause of it being the want of leasure from procuring the necessities of life, and defending themselves against their neighbors, it was impossible, till the erecting of great Common-wealths, it should be otherwise. Leasure is the mother of Philosophy ; and Common-wealth, the mother of Peace, and Leasure : Where first were great and flourishing Cities, there was first the study of Philosophy. The Gym- nosophists of India, the Magi of Persia, and the Pfksts of Chaldcea and Egypt, are counted the most ancient Philoso- phers; and those Countreys were the most ancient of King- domes. Philosophy was not risen to the Gracians, and other people of the West, whose CoJiimon-wealths (no greater per- haps then Lucca, or Geneva) had never Peace, but when their fears of one another were equall ; nor the Leasure to observe any thing but one another. At length, when Warre had united many of these Gracian lesser Cities, into fewer, and greater ; then began Seven men, of severall parts of Greece, to get the reputation of being Wise ; some of them for Morall and Politique Sentences ; and others for the learning of the Chaldceans and Egyptians, which was Astronomy, and Geo- metry. But we hear not yet of any Schools of Philosophy. After the Athenians by the overthrow of the Persian of the Armies, had gotten the Dominion of the Sea ; and thereby, phtiosophy of all the Islands, and Maritime Cities of the Archipelago, as "ZZnLns. well of Asia as Europe ; and were grown wealthy ; they that had no employment, neither at home, nor abroad, had little else to employ themselves in, but either (as St. Lul;e says, Acts 17. 21. in telling and hearing news, or in discoursing of Philosophy publiquely to the youth of the City. Every Master took some place for that purpose. Plato in certain publique Walks called Academia, from one Academus : Aris- totle in the Walk of the Temple of Pan, called Lycceum : others in the Stoa, or covered Walk, wherein the Merchants Goods 536 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 46. Goods were brought to land : others in other places ; where they spent the time of their Leasure, in teaching or in dis- puting of their Opinions : and some in any place, where they could get the youth of the City together to hear them talk. And this was it which Corneades also did at Rome, when he was Ambassadour : which caused Cato to advise the Senate to dispatch him quickly, for feare of corrupting the manners of the young men that delighted to hear him speak (as they thought) fine things. From this it was, that the place where any of them taught, and disputed, was called Schola, which in their Tongue sig- nifieth Leasure ; and their Disputations, Diatriba, that is to say, Passing of the time. Also the Philosophers themselves 369 had the name of their Sects, some of them from these their Schools : For they that followed Flato's Doctrine, were called Academiques; The followers of Aristotle, Perifatetiques, from the Walk hee taught in ; and those that Zeno taught, Stoiques, from the Stod : as if we should denominate men from More-fields, from Pauls-Church, and from the Exchange, because they meet there often, to prate and loyter. Neverthelesse, men were so much taken with this custome, that in time it spread it selfe over all Europe, and the best part of Afrique; so as there were Schools publiquely erected, and maintained for Lectures; and Disputations, almost in every Common-wealth.- %hooh of There were also Schools, anciently,- both before, and after ike Jews, the time of our Saviour, amongst the lews : but they were Schools of their Law. For though they were called Syna- gogues, that is to say. Congregations of the People; yet in as much as the Law was every Sabbath day read, expounded, and disputed in them, they differed not in nature, but in name onely from Publique Schools ; and were not onely in Jerusalem, but in every City of the Gentiles, where the Jews inhabited. There was such a Schoole at Damascus, where- into Paid entred, to persecute. There were others at Antioch, Iconium and Thessalonica, whereinto he entred, to dispute : And such was the Synagogue of the Libertifies, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, Part 4. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 46. 537 Alexandrians, Celicians, and those of Asia ; that is to say, the Schoole of Libertines, and of lewes, that were strangers in Jerusalem : And of this Schoole they were that disputed {Act. 6. 9.) with Saint Steven. But what has been the ' Utility of those Schools ? what The Schoole Science is there at this day acquired by their Readings and "crJcians Disputings ? That wee have of Geometry, which is the Zu"^'' Mother of all Naturall Science, wee are not indebted for it to the Schools. Plato that was the best Philosopher of the Greeks, forbad entrance into his Schoole, to all that were not already in some measure Geometricians. There were many that studied that Science to the great advantage of mankind : but there is no mention of their Schools; nor was there any Sect of Geometricians ; nor did they then passe under the name of Philosophers. The naturall Philosophy of those Schools, was rather a Dream than Science, and set forth in senselesse and insignificant Language; which cannot be avoided by those that will teach Philosophy, without having first attained great knowledge in Geometry : For Nature worketh by Motion ; the Wayes,- and Degrees whereof cannot be known, without the knowledge of the Proportions and Properties of Lines, and Figures. Their Morall Phi- losophy is but a description of their own Passions. For the rule of Manners, without Civill Government; is the Law of Nature ; and in it, the Law Civill ; that determineth what is Honest, and Dishonest ; what is lust, and Vnjust ; and generally what is Good, and Evill : whereas they make the 1 Rules of Good, and Bad, by their own Likitig, and Disliking : j 370 By which means, in so great diversity of taste, there is nothing generally agre^ed on ; but every one doth (aS far as he dares) whatsoever seemeth good in his owne eyes, to the subversion of Common- wealth; Their Loigque which should bee the Method of Reasoning, is nothing else but Captions of Words, and Inventions how to puzzle such as should goe about to pose them. To conclude, there is nothing so absurd, that the old Philosophers (as Cicero saith, who was one of them) have not some of them maintained. And I beleeve 538 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. i\.6. The Schools of the Jews unprojit- able. University what it is. beleeve that scarce any thing can be more absurdly said, in naturall Philosophy, than that which now is called Aristotles Metaphysiques ; nor more repugnant to Government, than much of that hee hath said in his Politiqties; nor more ignorantly, than a great part of his Ethiques. The Schoole of the Jews, was originally a Schoole of the Law oi Moses; who commanded {Deut. 31. 10.) that at the end of every seventh year, at the Feast of the Tabernacles, it should be read to all the people, that they might hear, and learn it : Therefore the reading of the Law (which was in use after the Captivity) every Sabbath day, ought to have had no other end, but the acquainting of the people with the Commandements which they were to obey, and to ex- pound unto them the writings of the Prophets. But it is manifest, by the many reprehensions of them by our Saviour, that they corrupted the Text of the Law with their false Commentaries, and vain Traditions ; and so little under- stood the Prophets, that they did neither acknowledge Christ, nor the works he did ; of which the Prophets pro- phecyed. So that by their Lectures and Disputations in their Synagogues, they turned the Doctrine of their Law into a Phantasticall kind of Philosophy, concerning the incomprehensible nature of God, and of Spirits ; which they compounded of the Vain Philosophy and Theology of the Grsecians, mingled with their own fancies, drawn from the obscurer places of the Scripture, and which might most easily bee wrested to their purpose ; and from the Fabulous Traditions of their Ancestors. That which is now called an Vniversity, is a Joyning together, and an incorporation under one Government of many Publique Schools, in one and the same Town or City. In which, the principall Schools were ordained for the three Professions, that is to say, of the Romane Religion, of the Romane Law, and of the Art of Medicine. And for the study of Philosophy it hath no otherwise place, then as a handmaid to the Romane Religion: And since the Authority of Aristotle is onely current there, that study is not properly Philosophy. Part i\,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. ^6. 539 Philosophy, (ihe nature whereof dependeth not on Authors,) but Aristotehty. And for Geometry, till of very late times it had no place at all ; as being subservient to nothing but rigide Truth. And if any man by the ingenuity of his owne nature, had attained to any degree of perfection therein, hee was commonly thought a Magician, and his Art Diabolicall. 371 Now to descend to the particular Tenets of Vain Philoso- Errors ^ Drought phy, derived to the Universities, and thence into the Church, i"to Reli- gionfrom partly from Aristotle, partly from Blindnesse of understand- Aristotks ing ; I shall first consider their Principles. There is a certain siques. ^' Philosophia prima, on which all other Philosophy ought to depend ; and consisteth principally, in right limiting of the significations of such Appellations, or Names, as are of all others the most Universall : Which Limitations serve to avoid ambiguity, and sequivocation in Reasoning ; and are commonly called Definitions ; such as are the Definitions of Body, Time, Place, Matter, Forme, Essence, Subject, Sub- stance, Accident, Power, Act, Finite, Infinite, Quantity, Qua- lity, Motion, Action, Passion, and divers others, necessary to the explaining of a mans Conceptions concerning the Nature and Generation of Bodies. The Explication (that is, the sethng of the meaning) of which, and the like Terms, is commonly in the Schools called Metaphysiques ; as being a part of the Philosophy of Aristotle, which hath that for title : but it is in another sense ; for there it signifieth as much, as Books ivritten, or placed after his naturall Philosophy : But the Schools take them for Books of supernaturall Philosophy : for the word Metaphysiques will bear both these senses. And indeed that which is there written,' is for the most part so far from the possibility of being understood, and so repugnant to naturall Reason, that whosoever thinketh there is any thing to bee understood by it, must needs think it super- naturall. From these Metaphysiques, which are mingled with the Errors ^^ . . . i. 1 J ii, u concerning Scripture to make Schoole Divmity, wee are told, there be Abstract in the world certaine Essences separated from Bodies, which '^"«'-"- they call AbUrad Essences, and Subsiantiall Formes : For the 540 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 46. the Interpreting of which largon, there is need of somewhat more than ordinary attention in this place. Also I ask par- don of those that are not used to this kind of Discourse, for applying my selfe to those that are. The World, (I mean not the Earth onely, that denominates the Lovers of it Worldly men, but the Vniverse, that is, the whole masse of all things that are) is Corporeall, that is to say, Body ; and hath the dimensions of Magnitude, namely. Length, Bredth, and Depth : also every part of Body, is likewise Body, and hath the like dimensions ; and consequently every part of the Universe, is Body ; and that which is not Body, is no part of the Universe : And because the Universe is All, that which is no part of it, is Nothing; and consequently no where. Nor does it follow from hence, that Spirits are nothing : for they have dimensions, and are therefore really Bodies ; though that name in common Speech be given to such Bodies onely, as are visible, or palpable ; that is, that have some degree of Opacity : But for Spirits, they call them Incorporeall ; which is a name of more honour, and may therefore with more piety bee attributed to God himselfe ; in whom wee consider not what Attribute expresseth best his Nature, which is In- comprehensible ; but what best expresseth our desire to honour Him. To know now upon what grounds they say there be Essences 372 Abstract, or Substaniiall Formes, wee are to consider what those words do properly signifie. The use of Words, is to register to our selves, and make manifest to others the Thoughts and Conceptions of our Minds. Of which Words, Some are the names of the Things conceived ; as the names of all sorts of Bodies, that work upon the Senses, and leave £tn Impression in the Imagination : Others are the names of the Imaginations themselves ; that is to say, of those Ideas, or mentall Images we have of all things wee see, or remember: And others againe are names of Names ; or of different sorts of Speech : As Vniversall, Plurall, Singular, are the names of Names ; and Definition, Affirmation, Negation, Tme, False, Syllogisme, Interrogation, Promise, Covenant, are the names Part 4. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 46. names of certain Formes of Speech. Others serve to shew the Consequence, or Repugnance of one name to another ; as when one faith, A Man is a Body, hee intendeth that the name of Body is necessarily consequent to the name of Man ; as being but severall nan^e? of the same thing, Man ; which Consequence is signified by coupling them together with the word Is. And as wee use the Verbe Is ; so the Latines use their Verbe Est, and the Greeks their "Eti through all its Declinations. Whether all other Nations of the world have in their severall languages a word that answereth to it, or not, I cannot tell ; but I am sure they have not need of it : For the placing of two names in order may serve to signifie their Consequence, if it were the custome, (for Custom es is it, that give words their force,) as well as the words Is, or Bee, or Are, and the like. And if it were so, that there were a Language without any Verb answerable to Est, or Is, or Bee; yet the men that used it would bee not a jot the lesse capable of Inferring, Con- cluding, and of all kind of Reasoning, than were the Greeks, and Latines. But what then would become qf these Terms, of Entity, Essence, Essentiall, Essentiality, that are derived from it, and of many more that depend on these, applyed as most commonly they are ? They are therefore nq Names of Things ; but Signes, by which wee make known, that wee conceive the Consequence of one name qr Attribute to another : as when we say, a Man, is, a living Body, wee mean not that the Man is one thing, the Living Body another, and the Is, or Beeing a third : but that the Man, and the Living Body, is the same thing ; because the Consequence, If hee bee a Man, hee is a living Body, is a true Consequence, signified by that word Is. Therefore, to bee a Body, to Walke, to bee Speaking, to Live, to See, and the like Infinitives ; also Corporeity, Walking, Speaking, Life, Sight, and the like, that signifie just the same, are the names of Nothing; as I have elsewhere more amply expressed. But to what purpose (may some man say) is such subtilty in a work of this nature, where I pretend to nothing but what 541 542 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 46. what is necessary to the doctrine of Government and Obedience? It is to this purpose, that men may no longer suffer themselves to be abused, by them, that by this doctrine 373 of Separated Essences, built on the Vain Philosophy of Aris totle, would fright them from Obeying the Laws of their Countrey, with empty names ; as men fright Birds from the Corn with an empty doublet, a hat, and a crooked stick. For it is upon this ground, that when a Man is dead and buried, they say his Soule (that is his Life) can walk separated from his Body, and is seen by night among the graves. Upon the same ground they say, that the Figure, and Colour, and Tast of a peece of Bread, has a being, there, where they say there is no Bread : And upon the same ground they say, that Faith, and Wisdome, and other Vertues are sometimes powredxsAo a Man, sometimes ^/i?k/« into him from Heaven ; as if the Vertuous, and their Vertues could be asunder ; and a great many other things that se'rye to lessen the dependance of Subjects on the Soveraign Power, of their Countrey. For who will endeavour to obey the Laws,' if he expect Obedience to be Powred or Blown into him ? Or who will not obey a Priest, that can make God, rather than ' his Soveraign ; nay than God himselfe ? Or who, that is in fear of Ghosts, will not bear great respect to those that can make the Holy Water, that drives them from him ? And f.his shall suflEice for an example of the Errors, which are brought into the Church, from the Entities, and Essences of Ar.'stotle : which it may be he knew to be false Philosophy ; but writ it as a thing consonant to, and corroborative of their Religion ; and fearing the fate of Socrates. \ Being once fallen into this Error of Separated .Essences, they are thereby necessarily involved in many other absur- dities that follow it. For seeing they will have thes^ Forms to be reall, they are obliged to assign them some placeX But because they hold them Incorporeall, without all dimeasion of Quantity, and all men know that Place is Dimension, knd not to be filled, but by that which is Corporeall ; they arti driven to uphold their credit with a distinction, that they^ are \ Part\. OF DARKNESSE. Cha-/i. /ifi. 543 are not indeed any where Circumscripiivl, but Definitive : Which Terms being meer Words, and in this occasion insignificant, passe onely in Latine, that the vanity of them may bee concealed. For the Circumscription of a thing, is nothing else but the Determination, or Defining of its Place ; and so both the Terms of the Distinction are the same. And in particular, of the Essence of a Man, which (they say) is his Soule, they affirm it, to be All of it in his little Finger, and All of it in every other Part ( how small soever ) of his Body ; and yet no more Soule in the Whole Body, than in any one of those Parts. Can any man think that God is served with such absurdities ? And yet all this is necessary to beleeve, to those that will beleeve the Existence of an In- corporeall Soule, Separated from the Body. And when they come to give account, how an Incorporeall Substance can be capable of Pain, and be tormented in the fire of Hell, or Purgatory, they have nothing at all to answer, but that it cannot be know how fire can burn Soules. 374 Again, whereas Motion is change of Place, and Incor- poreall Substances are not capable of Place, they are troubled to make it seem possible, how a Soule can goe hence, with- out the Body to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory ; and how the Ghosts of men (and I may adde of their clothes which they appear in) can walk by night in Churches, Church-yards, and other places of Sepulture. To which I know not what they can answer, unlesse they will say, they walke definitive, not circumscriptive, or spiritually, not temporally : for such egregious distinctions are equally applicable to any difficulty whatsoever. For the meaning of Eternity, they will not have it to be Nunc-sians an Endlesse Succession of Time ; for then they should not be able to render a reason how Gods Will, and Pra^ordaining of things to come, should not be before his Preescience of the same, as the Efficient Cause before the Effect, or Agent before the Action ; nor of many other their bold opinions concerning the Incomprehensible Nature of God. But they will teach us, that Eternity is the Standing still of the Present Time, a Nuiic-stans 544 P'^'rt 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 46. One Body in many places, and many Bodies iii one place place at once. Absurdi- ties in natztrall Pliilosopy, as Gravity the Cause of Heavi- nesse. Nunc-stam (as the Schools call it ;) which neither they, nor any else understand, no more than they would a Hic-stans for an Infinite greatnesse of Place. And whereas men divide a Body in their thought, by numbring parts of it, and numbring those parts, number also the parts of the Place it filled ; it cannot be, but in making many parts, wee make also many places of those parts ; whereby there cannot bee conceived in the mind of any man, more, or fewer parts, than there are places for : yet they will have us beleeve, that by the Almighty power of God, one body may be at one and the same time in many places ; and many bodies at one and the same time in one place ; as if it were an acknowledgment of the Divine Power, to say, that which is, is not ; or that which has been, has not been. And these are but a small part of the Incongruities they are forced to, from their disputing Philosophically, in stead of admiring, and adoring of the Divine and Incomprehensible Nature ; whole Attributes cannot signifie what he is, but ought to signifie qur desire to honour him, with the best Appellations we can think on. But they that venture to reason of his Nature, froii^ these Attributes of Honour, losing their under- standing in the very first attempt, fall from one Inconvenience into another, without end, and without number ; in the same manner, as when q, man ignorant of the Ceremonies of Court, comming into thp presence of a greater Person than he is used to speak to, and stumbling at his entrance, to save him- selfe from falling, lets ^lip his Cloake ; to recover his Cloake, lets fall his Hat ; and one disorder after another, discovers his astonishment and rusticity. Then for Physiques, that is, the knowledge of the subor- dinate, and secundary causes of naturall events ; they render none at all, but empty words. If you desire to know why some kind of bodies sink naturally downwards toward the Earth, and others goe naturally from it ; The Schools will tell you out of Aristotle, that the bodies that sink down- wards, are Heavy ; and that this Heavinesse is it that causes them to descend : But if you ask what they mean hy Heavinesse, they 375 Parti,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. ^6. 545 they will define it to bee an endeavour to goe to the center of the Earth : so that the cause why things sink downward, is an Endeavour to be below : which is as much as to say, that bodies descend, or ascend, because they doe. Or they will tell you the center of the Earth is the place of Rest, and Conser- vation for Heavy things ; and therefore they endeavour to be there : As if Stones, and Metalls had a desire, or could discern the place they would bee at, as Man does ; or loved Rest, as Man does not ; or that a peece of Glasse were lesse safe in the Window, than falling into the Street. If we would know why the same Body seems greater Q'^'^ntity (without adding to it) one time, than another ; they say, when Body " it seems lesse, it is Condensed; when greater. Rarefied. What "made.^ is that Condensed, and Rarefied ? Condensed, is when there is in the very same Matter, lesse Quantity than before ; and Rarefied, when more. As if there could be Matter, that had not some determined Quantity ; when Quantity is nothing else but the Determination of Matter ; that is to say of Body, by which we say one Body is greater, or lesser than another, by thus, or thus much. Or as if a Body were made without any Quantity at all, and that afterwards more, or lesse were put into it, according as it is intended the Body should be more, or lesse Dense. For the cause of the Soule of Man, they say, Creatur Powringin of Soules. Infundendo and Creando Infimditur : that is. It is Created by Powring it in, and Powred in by Creation. For the Cause of Sense, an ubiquity of Species ; that is, of Ubiquity of Appari- the Shews or Apparitions of objects ; which when they be tion. Apparitions to the Eye, is Sight ; when to the Eare, Hearing; to the Palate, Tast; to the Nostrill, Smellifig; and to the rest of the Body, Feeling. For cause of the Will, to doe anv particular action, which ^^^^^ t'^^ Cause of is called Volitio, they assign the Faculty, that is to say, the Willing. Capacity in generall, that men have, to will sometimes one thing, sometimes another, which is called Voluntas; making the Vomer the cause of the Act : As if one should assign for cause of the good or evill Acts of men, their Ability to doe them. 2 N And 546 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 46. Ignorance an occult Cause. One makes the thmgs incon- gruent^ another the Incon- gruity. Private Appetite the 7'ule of Publique And in many occasions they put for cause of Naturall events, their own Ignorance, but disguised in other words : As when they say. Fortune is the cause of things contin- gent ; that is, of things whereof they know no cause : And as when they attribute many Effects to occult qualities ; that is, quahties not known to them ; and therefore also (as they thinke) to no Man else. And to Sympathy, Antipathy, Antiperistasis, Specificall Qualities, and other like Termes, which signifie neither the Agent that produceth them, nor the Operation by which they are produced. If such Metaphysiques, and Yhysiqiies as this, be not Vaiti 376 Philosophy, there was never any ; nor needed St Paul to give us warning to avoid it. And for their Morall, and Civill Philosophy, it hath the same, or greater absurdities. If a man doe an action of In- justice, that is to say, an action contrary to the Law, God they say is the prime cause of the Law, and also the prime cause of that, and all other Actions ; but no cause at all of the Injustice ; which is the Inconformity of the Action to the Law. This is Vain Philosophy. A man might as well say, that one man maketh both a streight line, and a crooked, and another maketh their Incongruity. And such is the Philosophy of all men that resolve of their conclusions, be- fore they know their Premises ; pretending to comprehend, that which is Incomprehensible ; and of Attributes of Honour to make Attributes of Nature ; as this distinction was made to maintain the Doctrine of Free- Will, that is, of a Will of man, not subject to the Will of God. Aristotle, and other Heathen Philosophers define Good, and Evill, by the Appetite of men ; and well enough, as long as we consider them governed every one by his own Law : For in the condition of men that have no other Law but their own Appetites, there can be no generall Rule of Good, and Evill Actions. But in a Common-wealth this measure is false : Not the Appetite of Private men, but the Law, which is the Will and Appetite of the State is the measure. And yet is this Doctrine still practised ; and men judge Part\. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. ifi. 547 judge the Goodnesse, or Wickednesse of their own, and of other mens actions, and of the actions of the Common-wealth it selfe, by their own Passions ; and no man calleth Good or Evill, but that which is so in his own eyes, without any regard at all to the Publique Laws ; except onely Monks, and Friers, that are bound by Vow to that simple obedience to their Superiour, to which every Subject ought to think him- • self bound by the Law of Nature to the Civill Soveraign. And this private measure of Good, is a Doctrine, not onely Vain, but also Pernicious to the Publique State. It is also Vain and false Philosophy, to say the work of ■^"■^ ''"^^ -_ . , _, . lawfull Marriage is repugnant to Chastity, or Continence, and by Marriage consequence to make them Morall Vices ; as they doe, that "i^T'""' pretend Chastity, and Continence, for the ground of denying Marriage to the Clergy. For they confesse it is no more, but a Constitution of the Church, that requireth in those holy Orders that continually attend the Altar, and admi- nistration of the Eucharist, a continuall Abstinence from women, under the name of continuall Chastity, Continence, and Purity. Therefore they call the lawfull use of Wives, want of Chastity, and Continence ; and so make Marriage a Sin, or at least a thing so impure, and unclean, as to render a man unfit for the Altar. If the Law were made because the Use of Wives is Incontinence, and contrary to Chastity, then all Marriage is vice : If because it is a thing too im- pure, and unclean for a man consecrated to God ; much more should other naturall, necessary, and daily works which 377 all men doe, render men unworthy to bee Priests, because they are more unclean. But the secret foundation of this prohibition of Marriage of Priests, is not likely to have been laid so slightly, as upon such errours in Morall Philosophy ; nor yet upon the prefer- ence of single life, to the estate of Matrimony ; which pro- ceeded from the wisdome of St. Paul, who perceived how inconvenient a thing it was, for those that in those times of persecution were Preachers of the Gospel; and forced to fly from one countrey to another, to be clogged with the care of S48 Part 4. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap. 46. And that all Govern^ ment but Popular, is Tyranny : of wife and children ; but upon the designe of the Popes, and Priests of after times, to make themselves the Clergy, that is to say, sole Heirs of rtie Kingdome of God in this world ; to which it was necessary to take from them the use of Marriage, because our Saviour saith, that at the coming of his Kingdome the Children of God shall neither Marry, nor bee given in Marriage, but shall bee as the Angels in heaven ; that is to say, Spirituall. Seeing then they had taken on them the name of Spirituall, to have allowed themselves (when there was no need) the propriety of Wives, had been an Incongruity. From Aristotles Civill Philosophy, they have learned, to call all manner of Common-wealths but the Popular, (such as was at that time the state of Athens,) Tyranny. All Kings they called Tyrants ; and the Aristocracy of the thirty Governours set up there by the Lacedemonians that subdued them, the thirty Tyrants : As also to call the condition of the people under the Democracy, Liberty. A Tyrant origi- nally signified no more simply, but a Monarch : But when afterwards in most parts of Greece that kind of government was abolished, the name began to signifie, not onely the thing it did before, but with it, the hatred which the Popular States bare towards it : As also the name of King became odious after the deposing of the Kings in Rome, as being a thing naturall to all men, to conceive some great Fault to be signified in any Attribute, that is given in despight, and to a great Enemy. And when the same men shall be displeased with those that have the administration of the Democracy, or Aristocracy, they are not to seek for disgracefull names to expresse their anger in ; but call readily the one Anarchy, and the other, Oligarchy, or the Tyranny of a Feit). And that which offendeth the People, is no other thing, but that they are governed, not as every one of them would himselfe, but as the Publique Representant, be it one Man, or an Assembly of men thinks fit ; that is, by an Arbitrary govern- ment : for which they give evill names to their Superiors ; never knowing (till perhaps a little after a Civill warre) that without the Con- science. P°-^i 4- OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 46. 549 without such Arbitrary government, such Warre must be perpetuall ; and that it is Men, and Arms, not Words, and Promises, that make the Force and Power of the Laws. And therefore this is another Errour of Aristotles Poli- fj?*^' 'l"* Men, but tiques, that m a wel ordered Common-weahh, not Men Law should govern, but the Laws. What man, that has his ^'''""'"'' 378 naturall Senses, though he can neither write nor read, does not find himself governed by them he fears, and beleeves can kill or hurt him when he obeyeth not? or that beleeves the Law can hurt him ; that is. Words, and Paper, without the Hands, and Swords of men ? And this is of the number of pernicious Errors : for they induce men, as oft as they like not theirGovernours.toadhaere to those that call them Tyrants, and to think it lawfuU to raise warre against them : And yet they are many times cherished from the Pulpit, by the Clergy. There is another Errour in their Civill Philosophy (which l,a^Bs over they never learned of Aristotle, nor Cicero, nor any other of the Heathen,) to extend the power of the Law, which is the Rule of Actions onely, to the \ery Thoughts, and Con- sciences of men, by Examination, and Inquisition of what they Hold, notwithstanding the Conformity of their Speech and Actions : By which, men are either punished for answer- ing the truth of their thoughts, or constrained to answer an untruth for fear of punishment. It is true, that the Civill Magistrate, intending to employ a Minister in the charge of Teaching, may enquire of him, if hee bee content to Preach such, and such Doctrines ; and in case of refusall, may deny him the employment : But to force him to accuse himselfe of Opinions, when his Actions are not by Law forbidden, is against the Law of Nature ; and especially in them, who teach, that a man shall bee damned to Eternall and extream torments, if he die in a false opinion concerning an Article of the Christian Faith. For who is there, that knowing there is so great danger in an error, whom the naturall care of himself, compelleth not to hazard his Soule upon his own judgement, rather than that of any other man that is uncon- cerned in his damnation ? For 5 so Parti,. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. ^6. Private ^ox a Private man, without the Authority of the Common- Interpreta~ Hon of wealth, that is to say, without permission from the Repre- sentant thereof, to Interpret the Law by his own Spirit, is another Error in the Politiques ; but not drawn from Aristotle, nor from any other of the Heathen Philosophers. For none of them deny, but that in the Power of making Laws, is comprehended also the Power of Explaining them when there is need. And are not the Scriptures, in all places where they are Law, made Law by the Authority of the Common-wealth, and consequently, a part of the Civill Law? Of the same kind it is also, when any but the Soveraign restraineth in any man that power which the Common- wealth hath not restrained; as they do, that impropriate the Preaching of the Gospell to one certain Order of men, where the Laws have left it free. If the State give me leave to preach, or teach ; that is, if it forbid me not, no man can forbid me. If I find my selfe amongst the Idolaters of America, shall I that am a Christian, though not in Orders, think it a sin to preach Jesus Christ, till I have received Orders from Rome ? or when I have preached, shall not I answer their doubts, and expound the Scriptures to them ; that is, shall I not Teach ? But for this may some say, as also for administring to them the Sacraments, the necessity 379 shall be esteemed for a sufficient Mission ; which is true : But this is true also, that for whatsoever, a dispensation is due for the necessity, for the same there needs no dispensa- tion, when there is no Law that forbids it. Therefore to deny these Functions to those, to whom the Civill Soveraigne hath not denyed them, is a taking away of a lawfull Liberty, which is contrary to the Doctrine of Civill Government. More examples of Vain Philosophy, brought into Religion by the Doctors of Schoole-Divinity, might be produced; but other men may if they please observe them of themselves. Language \ shall onely adde this, that the Writings of Schoole-Divines, of Schoole- ° ' Divines. are nothing else for the most part, but insignificant Traines of strange and barbarous words, or words otherwise used, then P«''-t'^ OF DARKNESSE. Chap. i,b. 551 then in the common use of the Latine tongue; such as would pose Cicero, and Varro, and all the Grammarians of ancient Rome. Which if any man would see proved, let him (as I have said once before) see whether he can translate any Schoole-Divine into any of the Modern tongues, as French, English, or any other copious language : for that which can- not in most of these be made Intelligible, is not Intelligible in the Latine. Which Insignificancy of language, though I cannot note it for false Philosophy ; yet it hath a quality, not onely to hide the Truth, but also to make men think they have it, and desist from further search. Lastly, for the Errors brought in from false, or uncertain Errors History, what is all the Legend of fictitious Miracles, in the ^diHoZ''''' lives of the Saints ; and all the Histories of Apparitions, and Ghosts, alledged by the Doctors of the Romane Church, to make good their Doctrines of Hell, and Purgatory, the power of Exorcisme, and other Doctrines which have no warrant, neither in Reason, nor Scripture ; as also all those Traditions which they call the unwritten Word of God ; but old Wives Fables? Whereof, though they find dispersed somewhat in the Writings of the ancient Fathers ; yet those Fathers were men, that might too easily beleeve false re- ports ; and the producing of their opinions for testimony of the truth of what they beleeved, hath no other force with them that (according to the Counsell of St. lohn i Epist. chap. 4. verse i.) examine Spirits, than in all things that concern the power of the Romane Church, (the abuse whereof either they suspected not, or had benefit by it,) to discredit their testimony, in respect of too rash beleef of re- ports ; which the most sincere men, without great knowledge of naturall causes, (such as the Fathers were) are commonly the most subject to : For naturally, the best men are tlie least suspicious of fraudulent purposes. Gregory the Pope, and S. Bernard have somewhat of Apparitions of Ghosts, that said they were in Purgatory ; and so has our Beda: but no where, I beleeve, but by report from others. But if they, or any other, relate any such stories of their own knowledge, they 552 Pari i,. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. \6. they shall not thereby confirm the more such vain reports ; but discover their own Infirmity, or Fraud. Supfres- -^Yjtij tijg Introduction of False, we may joyn also the 380 sion of 1 J J J Season. suppression of True Philosophy, by such men, as neither by lawfull authority, nor suflScient study, are competent Judges of the truth. Our own Navigations make manifest, and all men learned in humane Sciences, now acknowledge there are Antipodes : And every day it appeareth more and more, that Years, and Dayes are determined by Motions of the Earth. Neverthelesse, men that have in their Writings but supposed such Doctrine, as an occasion to lay open the reasons for, and against it, have been punished for it by Authority Ecclesiasticall. But what reason is there for it ? Is it because such opinions are contrary to true Religion ? that cannot be, if they be true. Let therefore the truth be first examined by competent Judges, or confuted by them that pretend to know the contrary. Is it because they be contrary to the Religion established ? Let them be silenced by the Laws of those, to whom the Teachers of them are subject; that is, by the Laws Civill : For disobedience may lawfully be punished in them, that against the Laws teach even true Philosophy. Is it because they tend to disorder in Government, as countenancing Rebellion, or Sedition ? then let them be silenced, and the Teachers punished by vertue of his Power to whom the care of the Publique quiet is committed ; which is the Authority Civill. For whatsoever Power Ecclesiastiques take upon themselves (in any place where they are subject to the State) in their own Right, though they call it Gods Right, is but Usurpation. CHAP. Parti,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap. ^7. 553 CHAP. XLVII. 0/M^ B E N E F I T that proceedeth from such Dark- nesse, and to whom it accreweth. 381 /^~^/'^^^'3 maketh honorable mention of one of the C^j-kV, a He that I receiveth V_^ severe Judge amongst the Romans, for a custome he Benefit by had, in Criminall causes, (when the testimony of the wit- presumed nesses was not sufficient,) to ask the Accusers, Cui bono ; ^a^A^n that is to say, what Profit, Honor, or other Contentment, the accused obtained, or expected by the Fact. For amongst Prsesumptions, there is none that so evidently declareth the Author, as doth the Benefit of the Action. By the same rule I intend in this place to examine, who they may be, that have possessed the People so long in this part of Christendome, with these Doctrines, contrary to the Peace- able Societies of Mankind. And first, to this Error, that the present Church now That the Militant on Earth, is the Kingdome of God, (that is, the Militant is Kingdome of Glory, or the Land of Promise ; not the King- ^^'^/^f' dome of Grace, which is but a Promise of the Land,) are God, was ' '' first taught annexed these worldly Benefits ; First, that the Pastors, and h the Church of Teachers of the Church, are entitled thereby, as Gods Pub- Rome. lique Ministers, to a Right of Governing the Church ; and consequently (because the Church, and Common-wealth are the same Persons) to be Rectors, and Governours of the Common-wealth. By this title it is, that the Pope prevailed with the subjects of all Christian Princes, to beleeve, that to disobey him, was to disobey Christ himselfe ; and in all differences between him and other Princes, (charmed with the word Power Spirituall,) to abandon their lawfull Sove- raigns ; which is in effect an universall Monarchy over all Christendome. For though they were first invested in the right of being Supreme Teachers of Christian Doctrine, by, and under Christian Emperors, within the limits of the Romane Empire (as is acknowledged by themselves) by the title 554 Part/i,. OF THE KINGDOMS Chap./^J. title oiPontifex Maximus, who was an Officer subject to the Civill State ; yet after the Empire was divided, and dissolved, it was not hard to obtrude upon the people already subject to them, another Title, namely, the Right of St. Peter ; not onely to save entire their pretended Power ; but also to ex- tend the same over the same Christian Provinces, though no more united in the Empire of Rome. This Benefit of an Universall Monarchy, (considering the desire of men to bear Rule) is a sufficient Presumption, that the Popes that pre- tended to it, and for a long time enjoyed it, were the Authors of the Doctrine, by which it was obtained ; namely, that the Church now on Earth, is the Kingdome of Christ. For that granted, it must be understood, that Christ hath some Lieu- • tenant amongst us, by whom we are to be told what are his Commandements. After that certain Churches had renounced this universall 382 Power of the Pope, one would expect in reason, that the Civill Soveraigns in all those Churches, should have recovered so much of it, as (before they had unadvisedly let it goe) was their own Right, and in their own hands. And in England it was so in effect; saving that they, by whom the Kings ad- ministred the Government of Religion, by maintaining their imployment to be in Gods Right, seemed to usurp, if not a Supremacy, yet an Independency on the Civill Power : and they but seemed to usurpe it, in as much as they acknow- ledged a Right in the King, to deprive them of the Exercise of their Functions at his pleasure. And main- But in those places where the Presbytery took that Office, bylhePres- though many other Doctrines of the Church of Rome were bytery. forbidden to be taught ; yet this Doctrine, that the Kingdome of Christ is already come, and that it began at the Resurrec- tion of our Saviour, was still retained. But ad bono ? What Profit did they expect from it? The same which the Popes expected : to have a Soveraign Power over the People. For what is it for men to excommunicate their lawful King, but to keep him from all places of Gods publique Service in his own Kingdom ? and with force to resist him, when he with force Part^. OF DARKNESSE. Chap.i,-]. 555 force endeavoureth to correct them ? Or what is it, without Authority from the Civill Soveraign, to excommunicate any person, but to take from him his Lawfull Liberty, that is, to usurpe an unlawfull Power over their Brethren? The Authors •therefore of this Darknessein ReHgion, are the Roraane, and the Presbyterian Clergy. To this head, I referre also all those Doctrines, that serve Infaiiu them to keep the possession of this spirituall Soveraignty after ' ' ■''■ it is gotten. As first, that the Fope in his publiqiie capacity cantiot erre. For who is there, that beleeving this to be true, will not readily obey him in whatsoever he commands ? Secondly, that all other Bishops, in what Common-wealth subjection soever, have not their Right, neither immediately from God, ''f^"'">P^- nor mediately from their Civill Soveraigns, but from the Pope, is a Doctrine, by which there comes to be in every Christian Common-wealth many potent men, (for so are Bishops,) that have their dependance on the Pope, and owe obedience to him, though he be a forraign Prince ; by which means he is able, (as he hath done many times) to raise a Civill War against the State that submits not it self to be governed ac- cording to his pleasure and Interest. Thirdly, the exemption of these, and of all other Priests, Exemp- and of all Monkes, and Fryers, from the Power of the Civill ckr^. Laws. For by this means, there is a great part of every Common-wealth, that enjoy the benefit of the Laws, and are protected by the Power of the Civill State, which neverthe- lesse pay no part of the Publique expence ; nor are lyable to the penalties, as other Subjects, due to their crimes ; and consequently, stand not in fear of any man, but the Pope ; and adhere to him onely, to uphold his universall Monarchy. Fourthly, the giving to their Priests (which is no more in y^^ ,,^^^^ the New Testament but Presbyters, that is, Elders) the name "{^f^'^^^^j 383 of Sacerdotes, that is, Sacrificers, which was the title of the Sacrifices. Civill Soveraign, and his publique Ministers, amongst the Jews, whilest God was their King. Also, the making the Lords Supper a Sacrifice, serveth to make the People beleeve the Pope hath the same power over all Christians, that Moses and 556 Part ,\. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 47. The Sacra- mentation of Mar- riage. Tlie single life of Priests. Auricular Confession. Canoniza- tion of Saints, and declaringof Martyrs. Transuh- stantiation, Venance, Absolution. Vurgatory, Indul- gences, Ex- tern all ■works. Dczmon- ology and Exorcism.. School- Divinity. The Authors of and Aaron had over the Jews ; that is to say, all Power, both Civill and Ecclesiasticall, as the High Priest then had. Fiftly, the teaching that Matrimony is a Sacrament, giveth to the Clergy the Judging of the lawfulnesse of Marriages ; and thereby, of what Children are Legitimate ; and conse- quently, of the Right of Succession to hereditary Kingdomes. Sixtly, the Deniall of Marriage to Priests, serveth to assure this Power of the Pope over Kings. For if a King be a Priest, he cannot Marry, and transmit his Kingdome to his Posterity ; If he be not a Priest, then the Pope pretendeth this Authority Ecclesiasticall over him, and over his people. Seventhly, from Auricular Confession, they obtain, for the assurance of their Power, better intelligence of the designs of Princes, and great persons in the Civill State, than these can have of the designs of the State Ecclesiasticall. Eighthly, by the Canonization of Saints, and declaring who are Martyrs, they assure their Power, in that they induce simple men into an obstinacy against the Laws and Commands of their Civill Soveraigns even to death, if by the Popes ex- communication, they be declared Heretiques or Enemies to the Church ; that is, (as they interpret it,) to the Pope. Ninthly, they assure the same, by the Power they ascribe to every Priest, of making Christ ; and by the Power of or- daining Pennance ; and of Remitting, and Retaining of sins. Tenthly, by the Doctrine of Purgatory, of Justification by externall works, and of Indulgences, the Clergy is enriched. Eleventhly, by their Dsmonology, and the use of Exor- cisme, and other things appertaining thereto, they keep (or thinke they keep) the People more in awe of their Power. Lastly, the Metaphysiques, Ethiques, and Politiques of Aristotle, the frivolous Distinctions, barbarous Terms, and obscure Language of the Schoolmen, taught in the Univer- sities, (which have been all erected and regulated by the Popes Authority,) serve them to keep these Errors from being detected, and to make men mistake the Ignis fatuus of Vain Philosophy, for the Light of the Gospell. To these, if they sufficed not, might be added other of their Parti,. OF DARKNESSE. Chaf.A7- SS7 their dark Doctrines, the profit whereof redoundeth mani- spirituaii i- I . . Darknesse, lestiy, to the setting up of an unlawfull Power over the law- who they full Soveraigns of Christian People ; or for the sustaining of the same, when it is set up ; or to the worldly Riches, Honour, and Authority of those that sustain it. And therefore by the aforesaid rule, of Cui bono, we may justly pronounce for the Authors of all this Spirituall Darknesse, the Pope, and Roman Clergy, and all those besides that endeavour to settle in the mindes of men this erroneous Doctrine, that the Church now on Earth, is that Kingdome of God mentioned in the Old and New Testament. 384 But the Emperours, and other Christian Soveraigns, under whose Government these Errours, and the like encroach- ments of Ecclesiastiques upon their Office, at first crept in, to the disturbance of their possessions, and of the tranquillity of their Subjects, though they suffered the same for want of foresight of the Sequel, and of insight into the designs of their Teachers, may neverthelesse bee esteemed accessaries to their own, and the Publique dammage : For without their Authority there could at first no seditious Doctrine have been publiquely preached. I say they might have hindred the same in the beginning : But when the people were once pos- sessed by those spirituall men, there was no humane remedy to be applyed, that any man could invent : And for the remedies that God should provide, who never faileth in his good time to destroy all the Machinations of men against the Truth, wee are to attend his good pleasure, that suffereth many times the prosperity of his enemies, together with their ambition, to grow to such a height, as the violence thereof openeth the eyes, which the warinesse of their predecessours had before sealed up, and makes men by too much grasping let goe all, as Peters net was broken, by the struggling of too great a multitude of Fishes ; whereas the Impatience of those, that strive to resist such encroachment, before their Subjects eyes were opened, did but encrease the power they resisted. I doe not therefore blame the Emperour Frederick for hold- ing the stirrop to our countryman Pope Adrian ; for such was the be. 558 Part\. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. A7- the disposition of his subjects then, as if hee had not done it, hee was not hkely to have succeeded in the Empire : But I blame those, that in the beginning, when their power was entire, by suffering such Doctrines to be forged in the Uni- versities of their own Dominions, have holden the Stirrop to all the succeeding Popes, whilest they mounted into the Thrones of all Christian Soveraigns, to ride, and tire, both them, and their people, at their pleasure. But as the Inventions of men are woven, so also are they ravelled out ; the way is the same, but the order is inverted : The web begins at the first Elements of Power, which are Wisdom, Humility, Sincerity, and other vertues of the Apos- tles, whom the people converted, obeyed, out of Reverence, not by Obligation : Their Consciences were free, and their Words and Actions subject to none but the Civill Power. Afterwards the Presbyters (as the Flocks of Christ encreased) assembling to consider what they should teach, and thereby obliging themselves to teach nothing against the Decrees of their Assemblies, made it to be thought the people were thereby obliged to follow their Doctrine, and when they re- fused, refused to keep them company, (that was then called Excommunication,) not as being Infidels, but as being dis- obedient : And this was the first knot upon their Liberty. And the number of Presbyters encreasing, the Presbyters of the chief City or Province, got themselves an authority over the Parochiall Presbyters, and appropriated to themselves the names of Bishops : And this was a second knot on Christian Liberty. Lastly, the Bishop of Rome, in regard 385 of the Imperiall City, took upon him an Authority (partly by the wills of the Emperours themselves, and by the title of Pontifex Maximus, and at last when the Emperours were grown weak, by the priviledges of St. Peter) over all other Bishops of the Empire : Which was the third and last knot, and the whole Synthesis and Construction of the Pontificiall Power. And therefore the Analysis, or Resolution is by the same way ; but beginneth with the knot that was last tyed; as wee may Parti,. OF DARKNESSE. Chap.i,-]. 559 may see in the dissolution of the praeterpoliticall Church Government in England. First, the Power of the Popes was dissolved totally by Queen Elizabeth ; and the Bishops, who before exercised their Functions in Right of the Pope, did afterwards exercise the same in Right of the Queen and her Successours ; though by retaining the phrase of lure Divino, they were thought to demand it by immediate Right from God : And so was untyed the first knot. After this, the Presbyterians lately in England obtained the putting down of Episcopacy : And so was the second knot dissolved : And almost at the same time, the Power was taken also from the Presbyterians: And so we are reduced to the In- dependency of the Primitive Christians to follow Paul, or Cephas, or Apollos, every man as he liketh best : Which, if it be without contention, and without measuring the Doctrine of Christ, by our affection to the Person of his Minister, (the fault which the Apostle reprehended in the Corinthians,) is perhaps the best : First, because there ought to be no Power over the Consciences of men, but of the Word it selfe, work- ing Faith in every one, not alwayes according to the purpose of them that Plant and Water, but of God himself, that giveth the Increase : and secondly, because it is unreasonable in them, who teach there is such danger in every little Errour, to require of a man endued with Reason of his own, to follow the Reason of any other man, or of the most voices of many other men ; Which is little better, then to venture his Salvation at crosse and pile. Nor ought those Teachers to be displeased with this losse of their antient Authority : For there is none should know better then they, that power is preserved by the same Vertues by which it is acquired ; that is to say, by Wisdome, Humility, Clearnesse of Doctrine, and sincerity of Conversation ; and not by suppression of the Naturall Sciences, and of the Morality of Naturall Reason ; nor by obscure Language ; nor by Arrogating to themselves more Knowledge than they make appear; nor by Pious Frauds; nor by such other faults, as in the Pastors of Gods Church are not only Faults, but also scandalls, apt to make 56o Part 4. OF THE KINGDOME Chap. 47. make men stumble one time or other upon the suppression of their Authority. CompaH- g^j g^fjgj. jj^jg Doctrine, that the Church now Militant, ts son of the ' Papacy fjig Kin9do7ne of God spoken of in the Old and New Testament, ■with, the b J r J Kingdome was received in the World ; the ambition, and canvasmg for 07 FiX V7''Z €S the Ofifices that belong thereunto, and especially for that great Office of being Christs Lieutenant, and the Pompe of 386 them that obtained therein the principall Publique Charges, became by degrees so evident, that they lost the inward Reverence due to the Pastorall Function : in so much as the Wisest men, of them that had any power in the Civill State, needed nothing but the authority of their Princes, to deny them any further Obedience. For, from the time that the Bishop of Rome had gotten to be acknowledged for Bishop Universall, by pretence of Succession to St. Peter, their whole Hierarchy, or Kingdome of Darknesse, may be com- pared not unfitly to the Kingdome of Fairies ; that is, to the old wives Fables in England, concerning Ghosts and Spirits, and the feats they play in the night. And if a man consider the originall of this great Ecclesiasticall Dominion, he will easily perceive, that the Papacy, is no other, than the Ghost of the deceased Romatte Empire, sitting crowned upon the grave thereof : For so did the Papacy start up on a Sudden out of the Ruines of that Heathen Power. The Langitage also, which they use, both in the Churches, and in their Publique Acts, being Latine, which is not com- monly used by any Nation now in the world, what is it but the Ghost of the Old Romane Language? The Fairies in what Nation soever they converse, have but one Universall King, which some Poets of ours call King Oberon; but the Scripture calls Beelzebub, Prince of Dxmons. The Ecclesiastiques likewise, in whose Dominions soever they be found, acknowledge but one Universall King, the Pope. The Ecclesiastiques are Spirituall ,men, and Ghostly Fathers. The Fairies are Spirits, and Ghosts. Fairies and Ghosts inhabite Darknesse, Solitudes, and Graves. The Ecclesiastiques P'^^'i 4- OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 47. 561 Ecdesiastignes walke in Obscurity of Doctrine, in Monas- teries, Churches, and Church-yards. The Ecdesiastiques have their Cathedrall Churches; which, in what Towne soever they be erected, by Vertue of Holy Water, and certain Charmes called Exorcismes, have the power to make those Townes, Cities, that is to say. Seats of Empire. The Fairies also have their enchanted Castles, and certain Gigantique Ghosts, that domineer over the Regions round about them. The Fairies are not to be seized on ; and brought to an- swer for the hurt they do. So also the Ecdesiastiques vanish away from the Tribunals of Civill Justice. The Ecdesiastiques take from young men, the use of Reason, by certain Charms compounded of Metaphysiques, and Miracles, and Traditions, and Abused Scripture, where- by they are good for nothing else, but to execute what they command them. The Fairies likewise are said to take young Children out of their Cradles, and to change them into Naturall Fools, which Common people do therefore call Elves, and are apt to mischief In what Shop, or Operatory the Fairies make their En- chantment, the old Wives have not determined. But the Operatories of the Clergy, are well enough known to be the Universities, that received their Discipline from Authority Pontificiall. 387 When the Fairies are displeased with anybody, they are ' said to send their Elves, to pinch them. The Ecdesiastiques, when they are displeased with any Civill State, make also their Elves, that is, Superstitious, Enchanted Subjects, to pinch their Princes, by preaching Sedition ; or one Prince enchanted with promises, to pinch another. The Fairies marry not ; but there be amongst them Incubi, that have copulation with flesh and bloud. The Priests also marry not. The Ecdesiastiques take the Cream of the Land, by Dona- tions of ignorant men, that stand in aw of them, and by Tythes : So also it is in the Fable of Fairies, that they enter 20 into SC2 Part 4. THE KINGUOME OF DARKNESSE. Chap. 47- into the Dairies, and Feast upon the Cream, which they skim from the Milk. What kind of Money is currant in the Kingdome of Fairies, is not recorded in the Story. But the Ecdesiastigues in their Receipts accept of the same Money that we doe ; though when they are to make any Payment, it is in Canon- izations, Indulgences, and Masses. To this, and such like resemblances between the Papacy, and the Kingdome of Fairies, may be added this, that as the Fairies have no existence, but in the Fancies of ignorant people, rising from the Traditions of old Wives, or old Poets : so the Spirituall Power of the Fope (without the bounds of his own Civill Dominion) consisteth onely in the Fear that Seduced people stand in, of their Excommunications ; upon hearing of false Miracles, false Traditions, and false Inter- pretations of the Scripture. It was not therefore a very difficult matter, for Henry 8. by his Exorcisme ; nor for Qu. Elizabeth by hers, to cast them out. But who knows that this Spirit of Rome, now gone out, and walking by Missions through the dry places of China, Japan, and the Indies, that yeeld him little fruit, may not return, or rather an Assembly of Spirits worse than he, enter, and inhabite this clean swept house, and make the End thereof worse than the Beginning? For it is not the Romane Clergy onely, that pretends the Kingdome of God to be of this World and thereby to have a Power therein, distinct from that of the Civill State. And this is all I had a designe to say, concerning the Doctrine of the POLI- TIQUES. Which when I have reviewed, I shall willingly expose it to the censure of my Countrey. 563 389 A RE VIE W, and CONCL US ION. FRom the contrariety of some of the Naturall Faculties of the Mind, one to another, as also of one Passion to another, and from their reference to Conversation, there has been an argument taken, to inferre an impossibility that any one man should be sufficiently disposed to all sorts of Civill duty. The Severity of Judgment, they say, makes men Censorious, and unapt to pardon the Errours and In- firmities of other men : and on the other side, Celerity of Fancy, makes the thoughts lesse steddy than is necessary, to discern exactly between Right and Wrong. Again, in all Deliberations, and in all Pleadings, the faculty of solid Reasoning, is necessary : for without it, the Resolutions of men are rash, and their Sentences unjust : and yet if there be not powerfuU Eloquence, which procureth attention and Consent, the effect of Reason will be little. But these are contrary Faculties ; the former being grounded upon prin- ciples of Truth ; the other upon Opinions already received, true, or false ; and upon the Passions and Interests of men, which are different, and mutable. And amongst the Passions, Courage, (by which I mean the Contempt of Wounds, and violent Death) enclineth men to private Revenges, and sometimes to endeavour the un- setling of the Publique Peace : And Timorous7iesse, many times disposeth to the desertion of the Publique Defence. Both these they say cannot stand together in the same person. And to consider the contrariety of mens Opinions, and Manners in generall. It is they say, impossible to entertain a constant Civill Amity with all those, with whom the Busi- nesse of the world constrains us to converse : Which Busi- nesse, consisteth almost in nothing else but a perpetuall contention for Honor, Riches, and Authority. To S64 A REVIEW, To which I answer, that these are indeed great difficulties, but not Impossibilities : For by Education, and Discipline, they may bee, and are sometimes reconciled. Judgment, and Fancy may have place in the same man ; but by turnes; as the end which he aimeth at requireth. As the Israelites in Egypt, were sometimes fastened to their labour of making Bricks, and other times were ranging abroad to gather Straw : So also may the Judgement sometimes be fixed upon one certain Consideration, and the Fancy at another time wandring about the world. So also Reason, and Eloquence, (though not perhaps in the Naturall Sciences, yet in the Morall) may stand very well together. For where- soever there is place for adorning and preferring of Errour, 390 there is much more place for adorning and preferring of Truth, if they have it to adorn. Nor is there any repugnancy between fearing the Laws, and not fearing a publique Enemy ; nor between abstaining from Injury, and pardoning it in others. There is therefore no such Inconsistence of Humane Nature, with Civill Duties, as some think. I have known cleernesse of Judgment, and largenesse of Fancy ; strength of Reason, and graceful! Elocution ; a Courage for the Warre, and a Fear for the Laws, and all eminently in one man ; and that was my most noble and honored friend Mr. Sidney Godolphin ; who hating no man, nor hated of any, was unfortunately slain in the beginning of the late Civill warre, in the Publique quarrell, by an undiscerned, and an undiscerning hand. To the Laws of Nature, declared in the 15. Chapter, I would have this added. That every man is bound by Nature, as much as in him lieth, to protect in Warre, the Authority, by which he is himself protected in time of Peace. For he that pretendeth a Right of Nature to preserve his owne body, cannot pretend a Right of Nature to destroy him, by whose strength he is preserved : It is a manifest contradiction of himselfe. And though this Law may bee drawn by conse- quence, from some of those that are there already mentioned ; yet the Times require to have it inculcated, and remembred. And AND CONCLVSION. 565 And because I find by divers English Books lately printed, that the Civill warres have not yet sufficiently taught men, m what point of time it is, that a Subject becomes obliged to the Conquerour ; nor what is Conquest ; nor how it comes about, that it obliges men to obey his Laws : Therefore for farther satisfaction of men therein, I say, the point of time, wherein a man becomes subject to a Conquerour, is that point, wherein having liberty to submit to him, he consenteth, either by expresse words, or by other sufficient sign, to be his Subject. When it is that a man hath the liberty to submit, I have shewed before in the end of the 21. Chapter; namely, that for him that hath no obligation to his former Soveraign but that of an ordinary Subject, it is then, when the means of his life is within the Guards and Garrisons of the Enemy; for it is then, that he hath no longer Protection from him, but is protected by the adverse party for his Contribution. Seeing therefore such contribution is every where, as a thing inevitable, (notwithstanding it be an assist- ance to the Enemy,) esteemed lawfull ; a totall Submission, which is but an assistance to the Enemy, cannot be es- teemed unlawful Besides, if a man consider that they who submit, assist the Enemy but with part of their estates, whereas they that refuse, assist him with the whole, there is no reason to call their Submission, or Composition an As- sistance ; but rather a Detriment to the Enemy. But if a man, besides the obligation of a Subject, hath taken upon him a new obligation of a Souldier, then he hath not the liberty to submit to a new Power, as long as the old one keeps the field, and giveth him means of subsistence, either in his Armies, or Garrisons : for in this case, he cannot complain of want of Protection, and means to live as a 391 Souldier : But when that also failes, a Souldier also may seek his Protection wheresoever he has most hope to have it ; and may lawfully submit himself to his new Master. And so much for the Time when he may do it lawfully, if hee will. If therefore he doe it, he is undoubtedly bound to be a true Subject : For a Contract lawfully made, cannot lawfully be broken. By 566 A REVIEIV, By this also a man may understand, when it is, that men may be said to be Conquered ; and in what the nature of Conquest, and the Right of a Conquerour consisteth : For this Submission is it implyeth them all. Conquest, is not the Victory it self; but the Acquisition by Victory, of a Right, over the persons of men. He therefore that is slain, is Overcome, but not Conquered : He that is taken, and put into prison, or chaines, is not Conquered, though Over- come ; for he is still an Enemy, and may save himself if hee can : But he that upon promise of Obedience, hath his Life and Liberty allowed him, is then Conquered, and a Subject ; and not before. The Romanes used to say, that their Generall had Pacified such a Province^ that is to say, in English, Conquered it ; and that the Countrey was Pacified by Victory, when the people of it had promised Imperata facere, that is, To doe what the Pomarie People commanded them : this was to be Conquered. But this promise may be either expresse, or tacite : Expresse, by Promise : Tacite, by other signes. As for example, a man that hath not been called to make such an expresse Promise, (because he is one whose power perhaps is not considerable ;) yet if he live under their Protection openly, hee is understood to submit . himselfe to the Government : But if he live there secretly, he is lyable to any thing that may bee done to a Spie, and Enemy of the State. I say not, hee does any Injustice, (for acts of open Hostility bear not that name) ; but that he may be justly put to death. Likewise, if a man, when his Country is conquered, be out of it, he is not Conquered, nor Sub- ject : but if at his return, he submit to the Government, he is bound to obey it. So that Conquest (to define it) is the Acquiring of the Right of Soveraignty by Victory. Which Right, is acquired, in the peoples Submission, by which they contract with the Victor, promising Obedience, for Life and Liberty. In the 29. Chapter I have set down for one of the causes of the Dissolutions of Common-wealths, their Imperfect Generation, consisting in the want of an Absolute and Arbi- trary AND CONCLVSION. 567 trary Legislative Power ; for want whereof, the Civill Sove- raign is fain to handle the Sword of Justice unconstantly, and as if it were too hot for him to hold : One reason where- of (which I have not there mentioned) is this, That they will all of them justifie the War, by which their Power was at first gotten, and whereon (as they think) their Right de- pendeth, and not on the Possession. As if, for example, the Right of the Kings of England did depend on the goodnesse of the cause of William the Conquerour, and upon their lineall, and directest Descent from him ; by which means, there would perhaps be no tie of the Subjects obedience to their Soveraign at this day in all the world : wherein whilest they 392 needlessely think to justifie themselves, they justifie all the successefull Rebellions that Ambition shall at any time raise against them, and their Successors. Therefore I put down for one of the most effectuall seeds of the Death of any State, that the Conquerors require not onely a Submission of mens actions to them for the future,, but also an Approba- tion of all their actions past ; when there is scarce a Com- mon-wealth in the world, whose beginnings can in conscience be justified. And because the name of Tyranny, signifieth nothing more, nor lesse, than the name of Soveraignty, be it in one, or many men, saving that they that use the former word, are understood to bee angry with them they call Tyrants ; I think the toleration of a professed hatred of Tyranny, is a Toleration of hatred to Common-wealth in generall, and another evill seed, not differing much from the former. For to the Justification of the Cause of a Conqueror, the Re- proach of the Cause of the Conquered, is for the most part necessary : but neither of them necessary for the OWigation of the Conquered. And thus much I have thought fit to say upon the Review of the first and second part of this Discourse. In the 35. Chapter, I have sufficiently declared out of the Scripture, that in the Common-wealth of the Jewes, God himselfe was made the Soveraign, by Pact with the People ; who S68 A REVIEW, who were therefore called his Peculiar People, to distinguish them from the rest of the world, over whom God reigned not by their Consent, but by his own Power : And that in this Kingdome Moses was Gods Lieutenant on Earth ; and that it was he that told them what Laws God appointed them to be ruled by. But I have omitted to set down who were the Officers appointed to doe Execution ; especially in Capitall Punishments ; not then thinking it a matter of so necessary consideration, as I find it since. Wee know that generally in all Common-wealths, the Execution of Corpo- reall Punishments, was either put upon the Guards, or other Souldiers of the Soveraign Power ; or given to those, in whom want of means, contempt of honour, and hardnesse of heart, concurred, to make them sue for such an Office. But amongst the Israelites it was a Positive Law of God their Soveraign, that he that was convicted of a capitall Crime, should be stoned to death by the People ; and that the Witnesses should cast the first Stone, and after the Witnesses, then the rest of the People. This was a Law that designed who were to be the Executioners ; but not that any one should throw a Stone at him before Conviction and Sentence, where the Congregation was Judge. The Witnesses were neverthelesse to be heard before they proceeded to Execu- tion, unlesse the Fact were committed in the presence of the Congregation it self, or in sight of the lawful! Judges ; for then there needed no other Witnesses but the Judges themselves. Neverthelesse, this manner of proceeding being not throughly understood, hath given occasion to a dangerous opinion, that any man may kill another, in some cases, by a Right of Zeal ; as if the Executions done upon Offenders in the Kingdome of God in old time, proceeded not from the Soveraign Command, but from the Authority of Private 393 Zeal : which, if we consider the texts that seem to favour it, is quite contrary. First, where the Levites fell upon the People, that had made and worshipped the Golden Calfe, and slew three thousand of them ; it was by the Commandement of Moses, from AND CONCLVSION. 569 from the mouth of God ; as is manifest, Exod. 32. 27. And when the Son of a woman of Israel had blasphemed God, they that heard it, did not kill him, but brought him before Moses, who put him under custody, till God should give Sentence against him ; as appears, Levii. 25. 11, 12. Again, {Numbers 25. 6, 7.) when Phinehas killed Zimri and Cosbi, it was not by right of Private Zeale : Their Crime was committed in the sight of the Assembly ; there needed no Witnesses ; the Law was known, and he the heir apparent to the Sove- raignty ; and which is the principall point, the Lawfulnesse of his Act depended wholly upon a subsequent Ratification by Moses, whereof he had no cause to doubt. And this Pre- sumption of a future Ratification, is sometimes necessary to the safety a Common-wealth ; as in a sudden Rebellion, any man that can suppresse it by his own Power in the Countrey where it begins, without expresse Law or Commission, may lawfully doe it, and provide to have it Ratified, or Pardoned, whilest it is in doing, or after it is done. A\so Numb. 35. 30. it is expressely said. Whosoever shall kill the Murtherer, shall kill him upon the word of Witnesses : but Witnesses suppose a formall Judicature, and consequently condemn that pretence of lus Zelotarum. The Law of Moses con- cerning him that enticeth to Idolatry, (that is to say, in the Kingdome of God to a renouncing of his Allegiance {Dent. 13. 8.) forbids to conceal him, and commands the Accuser to cause him to be put to death, and to cast the first stone at him ; but not to kill him before he be Condemned. And {Deut. 17. ver. 4, 5, 6.) the Processe against Idolatry is exactly set down : For God there speaketh to the People, as Judge, and commandeth them, when a man is Accused of Idolatry, to Enquire diligently of the Fact, and finding it true, then to Stone him ; but still the hand of the Witnesse throweth the first stone. This is not Private Zeale, but Pub- lique Condemnation. In like manner when a Father hath a rebellious Son, the Law is {Deut. 21. 18.) that he shall bring him before the Judges of the Town, and all the people of the Town shall Stone him. Lastly, by pretence of these Laws ^jo A REVIEW, Laws it was, that St. Steven was Stoned, and not by pretence of Private Zeal : for before hee was carried away to Execution, he had Pleaded his Cause before the High Priest. There is nothing in all this, nor in any other part of the Bible, to countenance Executions by Private Zeal ; which being often- times but a conjunction of Ignorance and Passion, is against both the Justice and Peace of a Common-wealth. In the 36. Chapter I have said, that it is not declared in what manner God spake supernaturally to Moses : Not that he spake not to him sometimes by Dreams and Visions, and by a supernaturall Voice, as to other Prophets : For the manner how he spake unto him from the Mercy-Seat, is ex- pressely set down Numbers 7. 89. in these words, From that 394 time forward, when Moses entred into the Tabernacle of the Congregation to speak with God, he heard a Voice which spake unto him from over the Mercy-Seate, which is over the Arke of the Testimony, from between the Cherubins he spake unto him. But it is not declared in what consisted the praeeminence of the manner of Gods speaking to Moses, above that of his speaking to other Prophets, as to Samuel, and to Abraham, to whom he also spake by a Voice, (that is, by Vision) Un- lesse the difference consist in the cleernesse of the Vision. For Face to Face, and Mouth to Mouth, cannot be literally understood of the Infinitenesse, and Incomprehensibility of the Divine Nature. And as to the whole Doctrine, I see not yet, but the Prin- ciples of it are true and proper ; and the Ratiocination solid. For I ground the Civill Right of Soveraigns, and both the Duty and Liberty of Subjects, upon the known natural! In- clinations of Mankind, and upon the Articles of the Law of Nature ; of which no man, that pretends but reason enough to govern his private family, ought to be ignorant. And for the Power Ecclesiasticall of the same Soveraigns, I ground it on such Texts, as are both evident in themselves, and consonant to the Scope of the whole Scripture. And therefore am perswaded, that he that shall read it with a purpose onely to be informed, shall be informed by it. But for AND CONCLVSION. 571 for those that by Writing, or Publique Discourse, or by their eminent actions, have already engaged themselves to the maintaining of contrary opinions, they will not bee so easily satisfied. For in such cases, it is naturall for men, at one and the same time, both to proceed in reading, and to lose their attention in the search of objections to that they had read before : Of which, in a time wherein the interests of men are changed (seeing much of that Doctrine, which serveth to the establishing of a new Government, must needs be contrary to that which conduced to the dissolution of the old,) there cannot choose but be very many. In that part which treateth of a Christian Common-wealth, there are some new Doctrines, which, it may be, in a State where the contrary were already fully determined, were a fault for a Subject without leave to divulge, as being an usurpation of the place of a Teacher. But in this time, that men call not onely for Peace, but also for Truth, to offer such Doctrines as I think True, and that manifestly tend to Peace and Loyalty, to the consideration of those that are yet in deliberation, is no more, but to offer New Wine, to bee put into New Cask, that both may be preserved together. And I suppose, that then, when Novelty can breed no trouble, nor disorder in a State, men are not generally so much in- clined to the reverence of Antiquity, as to preferre Ancient Errors, before New and well proved Truth. There is nothing I distrust more than my Elocution ; which neverthelesse I am confident (excepting the Mischances of the Presse) is not obscure. That I have neglected the Ornament of quoting ancient Poets, Orators, and Philoso- phers, contrary to the custome of late time, (whether I have 395 done well or ill in it,) proceedeth from my judgment, grounded on many reasons. For first, all Truth of Doctrine dependeth either upon Reason, or upon Scripture; both which give credit to many, but never receive it from any Writer. Se- condly, the matters in question are not of Fact, but of Right, wherein there is no place for Witnesses. There is scarce any of those old Writers, that contradicteth not sometimes both himself, 572 A REVIEW, himself, and others ; which makes their Testimonies insuf- ficient. Fourthly, such Opinions as are taken onely upon Credit of Antiquity, are not intrinsecally the Judgment of those that cite them, but Words that passe (like gaping) from mouth to mouth. Fiftly, it is many times with a fraudulent Designe that men stick their corrupt Doctrine with the Cloves of other mens Wit. Sixtly, I find not that the Ancients they cite, took it for an Ornament, to doe the like with those that wrote before them. Seventhly, it is an argument of Indigestion, when Greek andrXatine Sentences unchewed come up again, as they used to doe, unchanged. Lastly, though I reverence those men of Ancient time, that either have written Truth perspicuously, or set us in a better way to find it out our selves ; yet to the Antiquity it self I think nothing due : For if we will reverence the Age, the Present is the Oldest. If the Antiquity of the Writer, I am not sure, that generally they to whom such honor is given, were more Ancient when they wrote, than I am that am Writing : But if it bee well considered, the praise of Ancient Authors, proceeds not from the reverence of the Dead, but from the competition, and mutuall envy of the Living. To conclude, there is nothing in this whole Discourse, nor in that I writ before of the same Subject in Latine, as far as I can perceive, contrary either to the Word of God, or to good Manners ; or to the disturbance of the Publique Tran- quillity. Therefore I think it may be profitably printed, and more profitably taught in the Universities, in case they also think so, to whom the judgment of the same belongeth. For seeing the Universities are the Fountains of Civill, and Morall Doctrine, from whence the Preachers, and the Gentry, drawing such water as they find, use to sprinkle the same (both from the Pulpit, and in their Conversation) upon the People, there ought certainly to be great care taken, to have it pure, both from the Venime of Heathen Politicians, and from the Incantation of Deceiving Spirits. And by that means the most men, knowing their Duties, will be the less subject to serve the Ambition of a few discontented persons, in AND CONCLVSION. 573 in their purposes against the State ; and be the lesse grieved with the Contributions necessary for their Peace, and De- fence ; and the Governours themselves have the lesse cause, to maintain at the Common charge any greater Army, than is necessary to make good the Publique Liberty, against the Invasions and Encroachments of forraign Enemies. And thus I have brought to an end my Discourse of Civill and Ecclesiasticall Government, occasioned by the disorders of the present time, without partiality, without application, and without other designe, than to set before mens eyes the 396 mutuall Relation between Protection and Obedience ; of which the condition of Humane Nature, and the Laws Divine, (both Naturall and Positive) require an inviolable observation. And though in the revolution of States, there can be no very good Constellation for Truths of this nature to be born under, (as having an angry aspect from the dissolvers of an old Government, and seeing but the backs of them that erect a new ;) yet I cannot think it will be condemned at this time, either by the Publique Judge of Doctrine, or by any that desires the continuance of Publique Peace. And in this hope I return to my interrupted Speculation of Bodies Naturall; wherein, (if God give me health to finish it,) I hope the Novelty will as much please, as in the Doctrine of this Artificiall Body it useth to offend. For such Truth, as opposeth no mans profit, nor pleasure, is to all men welcome. FINIS. UNWIN BROTHERS, PRINTERS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON. LAW AND POLITICAL ECONOMY. REMARKS on the USE and ABUSE of SOME POLITICAL TERMS. By the late Right Hon. Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bart., sometime Student of Christ Church, Oxford. A New Edition, with Notes and Appendix. By Sir Roland Knyvet Wilson, Bart., M.A., Barrister-at-Law ; late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. Author of 'History of Modern English Law.' Crown 8vo, 6s. FROM THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. ' The value of the book for educational purposes consists not so much in its positive results, as in the fact that it opens 3. vein of thought which the student may usefully follow out to any extent for himself, and that it affords an instructive example of a thoughtful, scientific, and in the best sense academical style of treating political questions. 'With regard to my own annotations, the object which I have chiefly kept in view has been to direct attention to such later writings as have expressly undertaken to fix the scientific mean- ing of the political terms here discussed, and above all "Austin's Lectures on Jurisprudence,'' to which the present work may be considered as a kind of companion volume.' QUESTIONS and EXERCISES in POLITICAL ECONOMY, with References to Adam Smith, Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Fawcett, Thorold Rogers, Bonamy Price, Twiss, Senior, Macleod, and others. Adap- ted to the Oxford Pass and Honour and the Cambridge Ordinary B.A. Examinations. Arranged and edited by W. P. Emerton, M.A., B.C.L., Christ Church, Oxford. Crown Svo, cloth, 3s. 6d. This volume consists of Questions mainly taken from various Examination Papers with references in the case of the easier questions, and hints, and in some cases formal statements of the arguments pro and con. to the more difficult questions. There are also two Appendixes on the debated questions — ' Is Political Economy a Science ?' and ' Is Political Economy Selfish?' JAMES THORNTON, 33, HIGH STREET, OXFORD. Law and Political 'E.co^ouY—coittimted. An ANALYSIS of ADAM SMITH'S INQUIRY into the NATURE and CAUSES of the WEALTH of NATIONS. With Notes and Appendixes. By W. P. Emerton, M.A., B.C.L. In Two Parts. Crown 8vo. cloth. Part I. Books I. and II. 4s. 6d. Part 11. Books III. IV. and V. 55. The two Parts, with additional Appen- dixes, in one volume 9s. \_Just ptcblished. An ANALYSIS of the ENGLISH LAW of REAL PROPERTY, chiefly from Blackstone's Com- mentary, with Tables and Indexes. By GORDON Campbell, M.A., Author of " A'n Analysis of Austin's Lectures on Jurisprudence,'' and of " A Compendium of Roman Law." Crown 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d. A BRIEF DIGEST of the ROMAN LAW of contracts: By F. W. Harvey, M.A., Hert- ford College. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. An ANALYSIS OF JUSTINIAN'S INSTITUTES of ROMAN LAW, with Tables. \In preparation. A CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY of the CHIEF REAL PROPERTY STATUTES, with their more important Provisions. For the use of Law Students. By P. F. Aldred, M.A., B.C.L. Crown 8vo. 2S. ELEMENTARY QUESTIONS on the LAW OF PROPERTY, REAL and PERSONAL. Sup- plemented by Advanced Questions on the Law of Contracts. With Copious References throughout, and an Index of Legal Terms. Crown 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d. The SPECIAL STATUTES requii;ed by Candidates for the School of Jurisprudence at Oxford. Fcp. 8vo. sewed, 2s. 6d. With brief Notes and Trans- lations by a B.C.L. Cloth, 5s. JAMES THORNTON, 33, HIGH STREET, OXFORD. 33 High Street, Oxford. JUNE 1881. JAMES THORNTON'S SELECT LIST OF PUBLICATIONS CHIEFLY EDUCATIONAL, MANY IN USE AT THE HIGHER SCHOOLS & UNIVERSITIES. COm'ENTS. Class Books Classical .... Law and Political Economy Miscellaneous . Oxford Study Guides Pal/EStra Oxoniensis Translations PAGE 4 2 6 2 8 5 3 A, o u u fSIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO. 1 . j Also Sold by|jj^]yjLTON, ADAMS, & CO., / ^°"'^°"- A Catalogue of these Publications laith fuller descriptions, some notices from the press, and specimen pages, ivill be forwarded gratis on application. James Thornton desires to direct attention to the accompany- ing List of Educational Works, many of which have now attained a wide circulation. The Authors and Compilers are mostly scholars of repute, as well as of large experience in teaching. Any notices of errors or defects in these publications will be gratefully received and acknowledged. The Books can generally be procured through local Booksellers in town and country; but if at any time difficulty should arise, James Thornton will feel much obliged by direct communication on the subject. MISCELLANEOUS. An UNDERGRADUATE'S TRIP to ITALY and ATTICA in the WINTER of 1880-1. '&'} J. L. Thomas, BaUiol College, Oxford. [Shortly. UMBRjE: Poems and Translations. By J. L. Postgate, Scholar of Queen's College, Oxford. Crown 4to. with loose parchment cover, 2s. 6d. [Just ready. CLASSICAL. The NICOMACHEAN ETHICS of ARISTOTLE. Books I.-IV. and Book X. Chap. 6 to 9, being the portion required in the Oxford Pass School, with Notes, &c. for the use of Passmen. By E. L. Hawkins, M.A. late Postmaster of Merton College. [In the press. The POETICS of ARISTO FLE. 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A New Edition, with Notes and Appendix. By Sir Eoland Kntvet Wilson, Bart., M.A., Barrister-at-Law ; late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge ; Author of ' History of Modern English Law.' Crown 8to. 6s. FROM THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. ' The value of the book for educational purposes consists not so much in its positive results, as in the fact that it opens a vein of thought which the student may usefully follow out to any extent for himself, and that it affords an instructive example of a thoughtful, scientific, and in the best sense academical style of treating political questions. '"With regard to my own annotations, the object which I have chiefly kept in view has been to direct attention to such later writings as have expressly undertaken to fix the scientific meaning of the political terms here discussed, and above all "Austin's Lectures on Jurisprudence," to which the present work may be considered as a kind of companion volume.' QUESTIONS and EXERCISES in POLITICAL ECONOMY, with Eeferences to Adam Smith, Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Fawcett, Thorold Rogers, Bonamy Price, Twiss, Senior, Macleod, and others. Adapted to the Oxford Pass and Honour and the Cambridge Ordinary B.A. Examinations. Arranged and edited by W. P. Emeeton, M.A., B.C.L., Christ Church, Oxford. Crown 8vo. cloth, 3s. 6d. This volume consists of Questions mainly taken from various Examina- tion Papers with references in the case of the easier questions, and hints, and in some cases formal statements of the arguments pro and con. to the more diificult questions. There are also two Appendixes on the debated questions — ' Is Political Economy a Science ? ' and ' Is Political Economy Selfish?" JAMES THORNTON, 33 HIGH STREET, OXFORD.