Books: Leviathan

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Incantation In The Ceremonies Of Baptisme
The like incantation, in stead of Consecration, is used also
in the Sacrament of Baptisme: Where the abuse of Gods name
in 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, "I Conjure thee,
thou Creature of Water, in the name of God the Father Almighty,
and in the name of Jesus Christ his onely Son our Lord, and in vertue
of the 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 Phantasmes, 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 judge 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 Daemoniaques: Again, before his entrance into the Church,
he saith as before, "I Conjure thee, &c. to goe out, and depart
from this Servant of God:" And again the same Exorcisme is repeated
once more before he be Baptized. These, and some other Incantations,
and Consecrations, in administration of the Sacraments of Baptisme,
and the Lords Supper; wherein every thing that serveth to those
holy men (except the unhallowed Spittle of the Priest) hath some
set form of Exorcisme.

And In Marriage, In Visitation Of The Sick,
And In Consecration Of Places
Nor are the other rites, as of Marriage, of Extreme Unction,
of Visitation of the Sick, of Consecrating Churches, and Church-yards,
and the like, exempt from Charms; in as much as there is in them
the use of Enchanted Oyle, and Water, with the abuse of the Crosse,
and of the holy word of David, "Asperges me Domine Hyssopo,"
as things of efficacy to drive away Phantasmes, and Imaginery Spirits.

Errors From Mistaking Eternall Life,
And Everlasting Death:
Another generall Error, is from the Misinterpretation of the
words Eternall Life, Everlasting Death, and the Second Death.
For though we read plainly in Holy Scripture, that God created Adam
in an estate of Living for Ever, which was conditionall, that is
to say, if he disobeyed not his Commandement; which was not essentiall
to Humane Nature, but consequent to the vertue of the Tree of Life;
whereof hee had liberty to eat, as long as hee had not sinned;
and that hee was thrust out of Paradise after he had sinned,
lest hee should eate 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 Everlasting 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, God said, Let the water produce
Reptile Animae Viventis, the creeping thing that hath in it a
Living Soule; the English translate it, "that hath Life:" And again,
God created Whales, "& 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, "& factus est
Homo in animam viventem," that is, "and Man was made a Living Creature;"
And after Noah came out of the Arke, God saith, hee will no more smite
"omnem animam viventem," that is "every Living Creature;" And Deut. 12.23.
"Eate not the Bloud, for the Bloud is the Soule;" that is "the Life."
From which places, if by Soule were meant a Substance Incorporeall,
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 Testament, 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.

As The Doctrine Of Purgatory,
And Exorcismes, And Invocation Of Saints
This window it is, that gives entrance to the Dark Doctrine,
first, of Eternall Torments; and afterwards of Purgatory,
and consequently of the walking abroad, especially in places
Consecrated, Solitary, or Dark, of the Ghosts of men 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 Incorporeall 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 Daemonology 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 acknowledging therein any supernaturall
gift of Gods; the Doctors 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.

The Texts Alledged For The Doctrines
Aforementioned Have Been Answered Before
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 show of proof,) I have already
answered them; and made it evident, that the Kingdome 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
own 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 than can be brought, to prove the Kingdome of God
by Christ is already in this world, is alledged, 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
Soveraignes, 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 challengeth it universally.

Answer To The Text On Which Beza Infereth
That The Kingdome Of Christ Began At The Resurrection
The words are (Marke 9.1.) "Verily, I say unto you, that there be
some of them that stand here, which shall not tast of death,
till they have seene the Kingdome of God come with power."
Which words, if taken grammatically, make it certaine, that either
some of those men that stood by Christ at that time, are yet alive;
or else, that the Kingdome of 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.1.6.) "Wilt thou at this time restore
again the Kingdome to Israel," he answered them, "It 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 you, and yee shall be my (Martyrs) witnesses
both in Jerusalem, & in all Judaea, 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 Resurrection? And that which
St. Paul saies (1 Thessal. 1.9, 10.) "That they turned from Idols,
to serve the living and true God, and to waite for 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 this Kingdome
had beene then present. Againe, if the Kingdome of God began
(as Beza on that place (Mark 9.1.) would have it) at the Resurrection;
what reason is there for Christians ever since the Resurrection
to say in their prayers, "Let thy Kingdome Come"? It is therefore
manifest, that the words of St. 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 all? For they all lived
till after Christ was risen.

Explication Of The Place In Mark 9.1
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 I 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 lawfull 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 Transfiguration, which is described
in the verses immediately following; where it is said, that
"After six dayes Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John
(not all, but some of his Disciples) and leadeth them up into an high
mountaine apart by themselves, and was transfigured before them.
And his rayment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no Fuller
on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses,
and they were talking with Jesus, &c." So that they saw Christ in Glory
and Majestie, as he is to come; insomuch as "They were sore afraid."
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 certainly
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.

Abuse Of Some Other Texts In
Defence Of The Power Of The Pope
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 Spirituall and
the Temporall Sword, which they say St. Peter had given him by Christ:
And, that of the two 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 upon
the Lion and the Adder, the young Lion and the Dragon thou shalt
Trample under thy feet."

The Manner Of Consecrations In
The Scripture, Was Without Exorcisms
As for the rites of Consecration, though they depend for the
most part upon the discretion and judgement of the governors
of the Church, and not upon the Scriptures; yet those governors
are obliged to such direction, as the nature 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 Exorcised, to drive away Phantasmes. The same Moses
(the civill Soveraigne of Israel) when he consecrated Aaron
(the High Priest,) and his Sons, did wash them with Water,
(not Exorcised 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 adorning 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 thanks 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 should
pray therein, or (if they were absent) towards it; and lastly,
he offered a sacrifice of Peace-offering, 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 Exorcise the Water of Jordan; nor Philip the Water of the river
wherein he baptized the Eunuch; nor that any Pastor in the time
of the Apostles, did take his spittle, and put it to the nose of
the person to be Baptized, and say, "In odorem suavitatis," that is,
"for a sweet savour unto the Lord;" wherein neither the Ceremony
of Spittle, for the uncleannesse; nor the application of that Scripture
for the levity, can by any authority of man be justified.

The Immortality Of Mans Soule,
Not Proved By Scripture To Be Of Nature,
But Of Grace
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 himself, 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 Job, seem
to mee much more subject to a divers interpretation, than the words of Job.

And first there are the words of Solomon (Ecclesiastes 12.7.)
"Then shall the Dust return to Dust, as it was, and the Spirit
shall return to God that gave it." Which may bear 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 in the same sentence in the sense
I have given it: His words are, "All goe, (man and beast) to the
same place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again;
who knoweth that the spirit of Man goeth upward, and the spirit
of the Beast goeth downward to the earth?" 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 testimony, that he pleased God,"
making as much for the Immortality of the Body, as of the Soule,
proveth, that this his translation was peculiar to them that please God;
not common 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
praeeminence 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 Immortall Soule, were worse
than to have no Soule at all. And againe,(Chapt. 9.5.) "The 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 Immortality
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 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 directly 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 punishments; 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 without any end of time,
and with all the extremity of torture, that men can imagine, and more.
We are therefore to consider, 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 Faithfull 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 Immortall. 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 Reprobate.

Eternall Torments What
These things considered, the texts that mention Eternall Fire,
Eternal Torments, or the Word That Never Dieth, contradict 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 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 (1 Cor. 15.) understandeth
it onely of the Resurrection 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 Dishonour,
raised in Honour; sown in Weaknesse, raised in Power; sown a
Naturall body, raised a Spirituall body:" There is no such thing
can be said of the bodies of them that rise to Punishment.
The text is Luke 20. Verses 34,35,36. 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 absolute
Resurrection from the dead; but onely a short time, as inmates of
that world; and to the end onely to receive condign punishment for
their contumacy. The Elect are the onely children of the Resurrection;
that is to say the sole heirs of Eternall Life: they only can
die no more; it is they that are equall to the Angels, and that are
the children of God; and not the Reprobate. To the Reprobate there
remaineth after the Resurrection, a Second, and Eternall Death:
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 Eternally.