The INTRODUCTION .

I HAVE alwaies thought it a great excess in those who take upon them to answer other Mens Writings , to hold themselves oblig'd to find fault with every thing that they say , and to answer every Clause , Period , and Proposition which he , to whom they have made themselves an Adversary , hath laid down ; by which , besides the voluminousness that it produces , which in it self is grievous to any Reader , they cannot but be guilty of many impertinences , and expose themselve● to the just censures of others , and to the advantage of their Antagonists ; since there are few Books which do not contain many things which are true , and cannot , or need not be contradicted . And considering withall , that those Books have in all times don most mischief , and scatter'd abroad the most pernicious errors , in which the Authors , by the Ornament of their Style , and the pleasantness of their method , and subtilty of their Wit , have from specious Premises , drawn their unskilful and unwary Readers into unwarrantable Opinions and Conclusions , being intoxicated with terms and Allegorical expressions , which puzzel their understandings , and lead them into perplexities , from whence they cannot disentangle themselves ; I have proposed to my self , to make some Animad-versions upon such particulars , as may in my judgment produce much mischief in the World ; in a Book of great Name , and which is entertain'd and celebrated ( at least enough ) in the World ; a Book which contains in it good Learning of all kinds , politely extracted , and very wittily and cunningly disgested , in a very commendable method , and in a vigorous and pleasant Style : which hath prevailed over too many , to swallow many new Tenets as Maximes without chewing ; which manner of diet for the indisgestion Mr. Hobbes himself doth much dislike . The thorough novelty ( to which the present Age , if ever any , is too much inclin'd ) of the work , receives great credit and autority from the known Name of the Author , a Man of excellent parts , of great wit , some reading , and somwhat more thinking ; One who has spent many years in foreign parts , and observation ; understands the Learned as well as modern Languages , hath long had the reputation of a great Philosopher and Mathematician , and in his Age hath had conversation with very many worthy and extraordinary Men , to which , it may be , if he had bin more indulgent in the more vigorous part of his life , it might have had a greater influence upon the temper of his mind , whereas age seldom submits to those questions , enquiries , and contradictions , which the Laws and liberty of Conversation require : and it hath bin alwaies a lamentation amongst Mr. Hobbes his Friends , that he spent too much time in thinking , and too little in ex●●●ising those thoughts in the company of other Men of the same , or of as good faculties ; for want whereof his natural constitution , with age , contracted such a morosity , that doubting and contradicting Men were never grateful to him . In a word , Mr. Hobbes is one of the most ancient acquaintance I have in the World , and of whom I have alwaies had a great esteem , as a Man who besides his eminent parts of Learning and Knowledg , hah bin alwaies looked upon as a Man of Probity , and a life free from scandal ; and it may be there are few Men now alive , who have bin longer known to him then I have bin in a fair and friendly conversation and sociableness ; and I had the honor to introduce those , in whose perfections he seemed to take much delight , and whose memory he seems most to extol , first into his acquaintance . In all which respects , both of the Author and the work , it cannot reasonably be imagined , that any vanity hath transported me , who know my self so incompetent for the full disquisition of this whole work , which contains in it many parts of Knowledg and Learning , in which I am not conversant ; and also the disadvantage , that so many years have passed since the publication of this Book , without any thing like an answer to the most mischievous parts of it , as to Civil Government ; at least I had seen none such , till after I had finished this discourse , which was a● Montpelier in the moneth of April , One thousand six hundred and seventy , where I wanted many of those Books which had bin necessary to have bin carefully consulted and perused , if I had propos'd to my self to have answer'd many of those Scholastic Points , which seem to me enough expos'd to just cen●ure and reproch , and which I did suppose some University Men would have taken occasion from , to have vindicated those venerable Nurseries from that vice and ignorance , his superciliousness hath thought fit to asperse them with . I do confess since that time I have read several Answers and Reflexions , made by Learned Men of both the Universities , in English and in Latine upon his Leviathan , or his other works published before and after ; which several Answers ( though they have very pregnantly discover'd many gross errors , and grosser over-sights in those parts of Science in which Mr. Hobbes would be thought to excel , which are like to put him more out of countenance then any thing I can urge against him , by how much he values himself more upon being thought a good Philosopher , and a good Geometrician , then a modest Man , or a good Christian ) have not so far discouraged me , as to cause me , either to believe what I had thought of and prepared before , to be the less pertinent to be communicated , or at all to inlarge , or contract my former conceptions ( though probably many things which I offer are more vigorously urg'd , and expressed in some of the other Answers . Notwithstanding all which , his Person is by many received with respect , and his Books continue still to be esteem'd as well abroad as at home : which might very well have prevail●d , with those before 〈◊〉 Arguments , to have 〈◊〉 pretending to see farther into them then other Men had don , and to discover a malignity undiscerned that should make them odious . But then how prevalent soever these motives were with me ; when I reflected upon the most mischievous Principles , and most destructive to the Peace both of Church and Sta●e , which are scatter'd though 〈◊〉 that Book of his Leviathan , ( which I only take upon me to discover ) and the unhappy impression they have made in the minds of too many ; I thought my self the more oblig'd , and not the less comp●tent for those animadversions , by the part I had acted for many years in the public Administration of Justice , and in the Policy of the Kingdom . And the leasure to which God hath condemn'd me , seems an invitation and obligation upon me , to give a testimony to the World , that my duty and affection for my King and Country , is not less then it hath ever bin , when it was better interpreted , by giving warning to both , of the danger they are in , by the seditious Principles of this Books , that they may in time provide for their Security by their abolishing and extirpating those , and the like excesses . And as it could not reasonably be expected , that such a Book would be answer'd in the time when it was published , which had bin to have disputed with a Man that commanded thirty Legions , ( for Cromwel had bin oblig'd to have supported him , who defended his Usurpation ; ) so afterwards men thought it would be too much ill nature to call men in question for what they had said in ill times , and for saying which they had a plenary Indulgence and Absolution . And I am still of opinion , that even of those who have read his Book , and not frequented his Company , there are many , who being delighted with some new notions , and the pleasant and clear Style throughout the Book , have not taken notice of those down-right Conclusions , which overthrow or undermine all those Principles of Government , which have preserv'd the Peace of this Kingdom through so many Ages , even from the time of its first Institution ; or restor'd it to Peace , when it had at some times bin interrupted : and much less of those odious insinuations , and perverting some Texts of Scripture , which do dishonor , and would destroy the very Essence of the Religion of Christ . And when I called to mind the good acquaintance that had bin between us , and what I had said to many who I knew had inform'd him of it , and which indeed I had sent to himself upon the first publishing of his Leviathan , I thought my self eve● bound to give him some satisfaction why I had entertained so evil an opinion of his Book .

When the Prince went first to Paris from Iersey , and My Lords Capel and Hopton stayed in Iersey together with my self , I heard shortly after , that Mr. Hobbes who was then at Paris , had printed his Book De Cive there . I writ to Dr. Earles , who was then the Princes Chaplain , and his Tutor , to remember me kindly to Mr. Hobbes with whom I was well acquainted , and to desire him to send me his Book De Cive , by the same token that Sid. Godolphin ( who had bin kill'd in the late War ) had left him a Legacy of two hundred pounds . The Book was immediately sent to me by Mr. Hobbes , with a desire that I would tell him , whether I was sure that there was such a Legacy , and how he migh● take notice of it to receive it . I sent him word that he might depend upon it for a truth , and that I believed that if he found some way secretly ( to the end there might be no public notice of it in regard of the Parliament ) to demand it of his Brother Francis Godolphin , ( who in truth had told me of it ) he would pay it . This information was the ground of the Dedication of this Book to him , whom Mr. Hobbes had never seen .

When I went some few years after from Holland with the King ( after the Murder of his Father ) to Paris , from whence I went shortly his Majesties Ambassador into Spain , Mr. Hobbes visited me , and told me that Mr. Godolphin confessed the Legacy , and had paid him one hundred pounds , and promised to pay the other in a short time ; for all which he thank'd me , and said he owed it to me , for he had never otherwise known of it . When I return'd from Spain by Paris he frequently came to me , and told me his Book ( which he would call Leviathan ) was then Printing in England , and that he receiv'd every week a Sheet to correct , of which he shewed me one or two Sheets , and thought it would be finished within little more then a moneth ; and shewed me the Epistle to Mr. Godolphin which he meant to set before it , and read it to me , and concluded , that he knew when I read his Book I would not like it , and thereupon mention'd some of his Conclusions ; upon which I asked him , why he would publish such doctrine : to which , after a discourse between jest and earnest upon the Subject , he said , The truth is , I have a mind to go home .

Within a very short time after I came into Flanders , which was not much more then a moneth from the time that Mr. Hobbes had conferred with me , Leviathan was sent to me from London ; which I read with much appetite and impatience . Yet I had scarce finish'd it , when Sir Charles Cavendish ( the noble Brother of the Duke of Newcastle who was then at Antwerp , and a Gentleman of all the accomplishments of mind that he wanted of body , being in all other respects a wonderful Person ) shewed me a Letter he had then receiv'd from Mr. Hobbes , in which he desir'd he would let him know freely what my opinion was of his Book . Upon which I wished he would tell him , that I could not enough wonder , that a Man , who had so great a reverence for Civil Government , that he resolv'd all Wisdom and Religion it self into a simple obedience and submission to it , should publish a Book , for which , by the constitution of any Government now establish'd in Europe , whether Monarchical or Democratical , the Author must be punish'd in the highest degree , and with the most severe penalties . With which answer ( which Sir Charles sent to him ) he was hot pleased ▪ and found afterwards when I return'd to the King to Paris , that I very much censur'd his Book , which he had presented , engross'd in ●●llam in a marvellous fair hand , to the King ; and likewise found my judgment so far confirmed , that few daies before I came thither , he was compell'd secretly to fly out of Paris , the Justice having endeavour'd to apprehend him , and soon after escap'd into England , where he never receiv'd any disturbance . After the Kings return he came frequently to the Court , where he had too many Disciples ; and once visited me . I receiv'd him very kindly , and invited him to see me often , but he heard from so many hands that I had no good opinion of his Book , that he came to me only that one time : and methinks I am in a degree indebted to him , to let him know some reason , why I look with so much prejudice upon his Book , which hath gotten him so much credit and estimation with some other men .

I am not without some doubt , that I shall in this discourse , which I am now engaged in , transgress in a way I do very heartily dislike , and frequently censure in others , which is sharpness of Language , and too much reproching the Person against whom I write ; which is by no means warrantable , when it can be possibly avoided without wronging the truth in debate . Yet I hope nothing hath fallen from my Pen , which implies the least undervaluing of Mr. Hobbes his Person , or his Parts . But if he , to advance his opinion in Policy , too imperiously reproches all men who do not consent to his Doctrine , it can hardly be avoided , to reprehend so great presumtion , and to make his Doctrines appear as odious as they ought to be esteemed : and when he shakes the Principles of Christian Religion , by his new and bold Interpretations of Scripture , a man can hardly avoid saying , He hath no Religion , or that he is no good Christian ; and escape endeavouring to manifest and expose the poison that lies hid and conceled . Yet I have chosen , rather to pass by many of his enormous sayings with light expressions , to make his Assertions ridiculous , then to make his Person odious , for infusing such destructive Doctrine into the minds of men , who are already too licentious in judging the Precepts , or observing the Practice of Christianity .

The Survey of Mr. Hobbes's Introduction .

IT is no wonder that Mr. Hobbes runs into so many mistakes and errors throughout his whole discourse of the nature of Government from the nature of Mankind , when he laies so wrong a foundation in the very entrance and Introduction of his Book , as to make a judgment of the Passions , and Nature of all other Men , by his own observations of himself ; and believes , ( pag. 2. ) that by looking into himself , and considering what he doth when he do's think , opine , reason , hope , fear , &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 . And indeed by his distinction in the very subsequent words ( pag. 2. ) between the similitude of passions ; and the similitude of the object of the passions , and his confession , that the constitution individual and particular education do make so great a difference and disparity , he reduces that general Proposition to signify so very little , that he leaves very little to be observed , and very few Persons competent to observe . We have too much cause to believe , that much the major part of mankind do not think at all , are not endued with reason enough to opine , or think of what they did last , or what they are to do next , have no reflexion , without which there can be no thinking to this purpose : and the number is much greater of those who know not how to comprehend the smilitude of the objects from the passions , nor enough understand the nature of fear , as it is distinguish'd from the object that is fear'd : so that none of these Persons ( which constitute a vast number ) are capable to make that observation , which must produce that knowledg which may enable them to judg of all the World . And how many there are left , who are fit from their individual constitutions or particular educations , and notwithstanding the corruption introduced by dissembling , lying , counterfeiting , and erroneous Doctrine , to make that judgment , I leave to Mr. Hobbes to determine . And 't is probable , that those very few may conclude , that what they do when they think , opine , reason , hope , fear , contributes very little to their knowing what the thoughts and passions of other men are . And they may the rather be induced to make that conclusion , since there are so very few who think and opine as Mr. Hobbes doth , and whose hopes and fears are like his , with reference to the objects , or the nature it self of those passions , and that the dissimilitude is greater between the passions themselves , then between the objects ; and that men are not more unlike each other in their faces , or in their clothes , then in their thinking , hoping , and fearing . Since then Mr. Hobbes founds so much of his whole discourse upon the verity and Evidence of this first Proposition , that we shall very often have occasion to resort to it as we keep him company ; and since the same seems to me to be very far from being the true Key to open the cipher of other mens thoughts ; it will not be amiss to examine , and insist a little longer on this Conclusion , that we may discern whether all , or any of us are endued with such an infallible Faculty , that we can conclude what the thoughts and passions of other men are , by a strict observation and consideration of our own thoughts and passions ; which would very much enable us to countermine and disappoint each others thoughts and passions , and would be a high point of wisdom . In the disquisition whereof , that we may not entangle the passion and the object together , for want of skill to severe them , it may not be amiss to suppose the same passion to be in two several men whose passions have the same object , and then consider whether they are like to discover each others thoughts and passions , their hopes and their fears , by each mans looking into himself , and considering what he do's when he thinks , hopes , or fears . If Mr. Hobbes , loved , to as great a height as his passion can rise to , the same object that is likewise loved by another , he would hardly be able to make any judgment of the others love by his own ; and upon a mutual confession and communication , their passions would not be found to be the same . If Mr. Hobbes , and some other man were both condemn'd to death , ( which is the most formidable thing Mr. Hobbes can conceive ) the other could no more by looking into himself know Mr. Hobbe's present thoughts , and the extent of his fear , then he could , by looking in his face , know what he hath in his Pocket . Not only the several complexions , and constitutions of the body , the different educations , and climates dispose the affections and passions of men to different objects , but have a great influence upon the passions themselves . As the fears , so the hopes of men are as unlike as their gate , and meen . If a Sang●ine , and a Melancholic man hope the same thing , their hopes are no more alike each others , then their complexions are ; the hope of the one retaining still somwhat like despair , whilst the hope of the other looks like fruition : so little similitude there is in the passions themselves without any relation to their objects . That a man of great courage , and a very cowardly man have not the same countenance , and presence of mind in an approch of danger , proceeds not from the ones liking to be killed more then the others , but rather from the difference of their natural courage . But let us suppose a man of courage , and a coward equally guilty , or equally innocent ( that there may be no difference from the operation of conscience ) to be brought to die together by a judgment which they cannot avoid , and so to be equally without hope of life ( and death in Mr. Hobbes's judgment is equally terrible to all , and with equal care to be avoided , or resisted . ) How comes it to pass , that one of these undergo's death with no other concernment , then as if he were going any other journy , and the other with such confusion and trembling , that he is even without life before he dies ; if it were true that all men fear alike upon the like occasion ? There will be the same uncertainty in concluding what others do , by observing what we our selves do , when we think , opine , or reason . How shall that man , who thinks deliberately , opines modestly , and reasons dispassionately , and by his excellent temper satisfies his own judgment in a conclusion , in which at the same time he discerns others may differ from him : I say , how shall such a man by his own way of reasoning judg another mans , who usually thinks precipitately , opines arrogantly , and reasons superciliously , and concludes imperiously that man to be mistaken , who determines otherwise then he do's ? To conclude , Mr. Hobbes might as naturally have introduced his unreasonable Doctrine of the Similitude of the Passions , from the wisdom that he saies is acquired by the reading of Men , as from his method of reading ones self . That saying of Nosce teipsum , in the sense of Solon who prescribed it , was a sober truth , but was never intended as an expedient to discover the similitude of the thoughts of other men by what he found in himself , but as the best means to suppress and destroy that pride and self-conceit , which might temt him to undervalue other men , and to plant that modesty and humility in himself , as would preserve him from such presumtion .

The Survey of Chapter 1 , 2 , 3.

HAving resolved not to enter into the Lists with Mr. Hobbes upon the Signification of words , or Propriety of expressions , in which he exercises an absolute Dictatorship ; and indeed not to enlarge upon any particular that to me seems erroneous , except it be an Error of that kind and consequence , as carries with it , or in it , somwhat that is hurtful to the Peace and Policy of the Kingdom , or prejudicial to the sincerity of Religion ; I should have passed over the first , second , and third Chapters without any Animadversion , not troubling my self whether the imagination and memory are but one thing , which for divers considerations hath divers names , ( p. 5. ) if I had not some apprehension , that by an unnecessary reflexion upon the Scholes in the close of his second Chapter , and finding fault with the using some words in the sense they ought not to be used , he hopes to dispose his Readers to such a prejudice and contemt towards them , that they may more easily undervalue them in more serious instances : the principal foundation that he laies for the support of all his Novelties , being to lessen and vilifie all the Principles , and all the Persons , which he well foresees most like to be applied to the demolishing his new Structure .

Amongst the many excellent parts and faculties with which Mr. Hobbes is plentifully endowed , his order and method in Writing , and his clear expressing his conceptions in weighty , proper , and significant words , are very remarkable and commendable ; and it is some part of his Art to introduce , upon the suddain , instances and remarques , which are the more grateful , and make the more impression upon his Reader , by the unexpectedness of meeting them where somwhat else is talk'd of : for thereby he prepares and disposes the fancy to be pleased with them in a more proper and important place . No man would have imagin'd , that in a Philosophical Discourse of Dreams , and Fayries , and Ghosts , and Goblins , Exorcisms , Crosses , and Holy-water , he would have taken occasion to have reproved Iob for saying , that the inspiration of the Almighty giveth men understanding , Job 32. 8. which can be no good expression , if it be incongruity to say , that good thoughts are inspired into a man by God : and 't is pity that St. Paul did not better weigh his words , when he said , that we are not sufficient of our selves to think any thing of our selves , but our sufficiency is of God , 2 Cor. 3. 5. or when he said to the Philippians , that it is God which worketh in you both to will , and to do of his good pleasure , Phil. 2. 13. and that St. Iohn had not bin better advised , when he said , He that committeth sin , is of the Devil , 1 Joh. 3. 8. Upon any of which Texts a man can hardly enlarge in discourse , without saying , that good thoughts are inspir'd , or infus'd ( which he thinks he hath made the more ridiculous , by turning into other words of the like signification ) by God , and evil thoughts by the devil , which in his understanding , are amongst the many words making nothing understood ; whereas there are few expressions in which the sense of the speaker is better understood , or by which the sense of the Apostles can be made more clear then by those expressionss But this momical mention of the power and goodness of God , and of the Devils activity and malignity , in a place so improper and unnatural for those reflexions , will the more incline his Disciples to undervalue those common notions of the goodness and assistance of God , and of the malice and vigilance of the Devil ; and by making themselves merry with that proper and devout custom of speaking , and the natural results from thence , by degrees to undervalue those other conceptions of Religion and Piety , which would restrain and controul the licentious imagination of the excellency of their own understandings ; and prepare them to believe , that all the discourses of Sanctity , and the obligations of Christianity , and the essentials of a Church , Faith , and Obedience to the dictates of Gods Spirit , are but the artifice and invention of Church-men , to advance their own pomp and worldly interest , and that Heaven and Hell are but words to flatter or terrifie men ; at least , that the places of either are so situated , and have no other extent or degree of pain and pleasure , then he had thought fit to assign to them towards the end of his Leviathan .

Nor is his instance of the train of imaginations , in his third Chapter , less wonderful . And indeed , Mr. Hobbes had the more reason for his opinion of the similitude of thoughts , and that by looking into himself when he thinks , and upon what grounds , he can thereby know the thoughts of other men , when he was with the velocity of a thought , in a moment of time , able to decipher that impertinent Question , What was the value of a Roman penny ; and to discover a succession of thoughts in the Enquirer , the last of which determined in the resolution of delivering up the King : which was so rare a faculty , that such a similitude of thoughts cannot be concluded to be in other men . And since erroneous Doctrines have so great an influence upon the minds of men , as to corrupt the natural motives , he knows best whether he had not before this formed his new Scheme of Loyalty , and digested all those imaginations towards the dissolution of Allegiance , and eluding the obligation of all Oaths ; which if he had don , he had the Key ready to decipher by , and might easily discover that which no man in England could discover who had not the same Key .

The Survey of Chapters 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9.

WE shall with less reflexion pass over his fourth Chapter of Speech , which he saies , was the noblest and most profitable Invention of all other , whether properly or improperly , he shall do well to consider ; together with his fifth and sixth Chapters , which with those which precede , and two or three which follow , he intends as a Dictionary , for the better understanding and defining very many terms and words , which he is to make use of throughout the rest of his Work ; and which whoever can carry with him in his memory , as he expects every man shall do , shall be often more confounded in the understanding many parts of his Book , then if he forgets them all . In which yet many things are said very wittily and pleasantly ; tho it may be many critical men , whom he hath provoked , may believe many of his Expressions to be incongruous ; and his Definitions not so exact as might have bin expected from so great an Artist ; and that all those Chapters are rather for delight , in the novelty and boldness of the expression , then for any real information in the substantial part of knowledg : since few men , upon the most exact reading them over , find themselves wiser then they were before , but rather think that they better understood before what Contemt signifies , then by being now told , ( pag. 24. ) that it is nothing else but an immobility or contumacy of the heart , in resisting the action of certain things , and proceeding from that the heart is already moved otherwise , by other more potent objects , or from want of experience of them ; or that they do better understand the nature and original of Laughter , by being informed ( pag. 27. ) that suddain glory is the passion which maketh some grimaces call●d Laughter , and is caused either by some suddain act of their own that pleaseth them , or by the apprehension of some deform●d thing in another , by comparison whereof they suddainly applaud themselves . In which kind of Illustrations those Chapters , and in truth his whole Book abounds , and discovers a master faculty in making easie things hard to be understood : and men will probably with the more impatience and curiosity , tho with the less reverence , enter upon the third part of his Book , which is to define Christian Politics , after he hath so well defin'd and describ'd Religion to be Fear of Power invisible , feigned by the mind , or imagined from tales publicly allowed , ( p. 26. ) all which I leave to his Friends of the Universities . Nor shall I spend more time upon the seventh , eighth , a●d ninth Chapters , leaving them to the Schole-men to examine , who are in his debt for much mirth which he hath made out of them , I for my part being very indifferent between them , as believing that the Schole-men have contributed very little more to the advancement of any noble or substantial part of Learning , then Mr. Hobbes hath don to the reformation or improvement of Philosophy and Policy . Yet I may reasonably say so much on their behalf , that if Mr. Hobbes may take upon him to translate all those terms of Art ( the proper signification whereof is unanimously understood , and agreed between all who use them , and which in truth are a cipher to which all men of moderate Learning have the Key ) into the vulgar Language by the assistance of Ryders Dictionary , he hath found a way to render and expose the worthiest Professors of any Science , and all Science it self to the cheap laughter of all illiterate men ; which is contrary to Mr. Hobbes's own rule and determination , ( pag. 17. ) where he saies , That when a man upon the hearing any Speech , hath those thoughts which the words of that Speech , and their connexion , were ordained and constituted to signifie , then he is said to understand it . And surely the signification of words and terms , is no less ordain'd and constituted by custom and acceptation , then by Grammar and Etymologies . If it were otherwise , Mr. Hobbes himself would be as much exposed to ignorant Auditors , when he reads a Lecture upon the Optics , or even in his ador'd Geometry , if a pleasant Translator should render all his terms as literally , as he hath don the Title of the sixth Chapter of Suarez : for every Age , as new things happen , finds new words in all Languages to signifie them . The Civilians , who are amongst the best Judges of Latine , can hardly tell how investitura came into their Books , to signifie that which it hath ever signified since the Quarrel begun between the Emperor and the Pope upon that subject , which is now as well understood in Latine as any word in Tully . And if Bombarda had no original but from the sound , as Petavius ( a very good Grammarian , besides his other great Learning ) saies it had not , we have no reason to be offended with the Schole-men for finding words to discover their own Conceptions , which equally serveour own turn .

The Survey of Chapters 10 , 11 , 12.

I Do acknowledg , that in the tenth , eleventh , and twelfth Chapters , many things are very well said : and tho somethings as ill , with reference to Religion , and to the Clergy , as if there were a combination between the Priests of the Gentiles , Aristotle , the Schole-men , and the Clergy of all Professions , to defame , pervert , and corrupt Religion : yet he resumes that Argument so frequently , that I shall chuse to examine the reason and justice of all his Allegations rather in another place , then upon either of these three Chapters ; to which I shall only add , that according to his natural delight in Novelties of all kinds , in Religion as well as Policy , he hath supplied the Gentiles with a new God , which was never before found in any of their Catalogues , The God Chaos , ( pag. 55. ) to which he might as warrantably have made them an additional present of his own Idol , Confusion . And he will as hardly find a good autority for the aspersion with which he traduces the Policy of the Roman Common-wealth in all its greatness and lustre , ( pag. 57. ) that it made no scruple of tolerating any Religion whatsoever in the City of Rome it self , unless it had somthing in it that could not consist with their Civil Government . Which how untrue soever , was a very unseasonable intimation of the wisdom of Olivers's Politics , at that time when he published his Leviathan : whereas in truth , that great People were not more solicitous in any thing , then in preserving the unity and integrity of their Religion from any mixtures : and the Institution of the Office of Pontifex Maximus was principally out of that jealousie , and that he might carefully watch that no alteration or innovation might be made in their Religion . And tho they had that general awe for Religion , that they would not suffer the Gods of their Enemies , whom they did not acknowledg for Gods , to be rudely treated and violated ; and therefore they both punished their Consul for having robb'd the Temple of Proserpine , and caused the full damages to be restored to the injur'd Goddess : yet they neither acknowledg'd her Divinity , nor suffer'd her to have a Temple , or to have any Devotion paid to her within their Dominions ; nor indeed any other God or Goddess to be ador'd , then those to whom Sacrifices were made by the Autority of the State . Nor will Mr. Hobbes be able to name one Christian Kingdom in the World , where it is believed , that the King hath not his Autority from Christ , unless a Bishop Crown him ; tho all Christian Kingdoms have had that reverence for Bishops , as to assign the highest Ecclesiastical Functions to be alwaies perform'd by them : but they well know the King to have the same Autority in all respects before he is crown'd , as after . And what extravagant Power soever the Court of Rome hath in some evil Conjunctures heretofore usurp'd , and would be as glad of the like opportunities again ; yet in those Kingdoms where that Autority is own'd and acknowledg'd , there want not those who loudly protest against that Doctrine , That a King may be depos'd by a Pope , or that the Clergy and Regulars shall be exemt from the Jurisdiction of their King . And yet upon these unwarrantable suggestions , he presumes to declare , That all the changes of Religion may be attributed to one and the same Cause , and that is , unpleasing Priests ; and those not only amongst Papists , but even in that Church that hath presumed most of Reformation , by which he intends the Church of England , at that time under the most severe and barbarous Persecution : and therefore it was the more enviously and maliciously , as well as dishonestly alledged .