Book: A Theologico Political Treatise [Part I]

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(51) Lastly, from Job xxxviii:28, it is plain that God had ordained for the
whole human race the law to reverence God, to keep from evil doing, or to do
well, and that Job, although a Gentile, was of all men most acceptable to
God, because he exceeded all in piety and religion. (52) Lastly, from Jonah
iv:2, it is very evident that, not only to the Jews but to all men, God was
gracious, merciful, long- suffering, and of great goodness, and repented Him
of the evil, for Jonah says: "Therefore I determined to flee before unto
Tarshish, for I know that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to
anger, and of great kindness," &c., and that, therefore, God would pardon
the Ninevites. (53) We conclude, therefore (inasmuch as God is to all men
equally gracious, and the Hebrews were only, chosen by him in respect to
their social organization and government), that the individual Jew, taken
apart from his social organization and government, possessed no
gift of God above other men, and that there was no difference between Jew
and Gentile. (54) As it is a fact that God is equally gracious, merciful,
and the rest, to all men; and as the function of the prophet was to teach
men not so much the laws of their country, as true virtue, and to exhort
them thereto, it is not to be doubted that all nations possessed prophets,
and that the prophetic gift was not peculiar to the Jews. (55) Indeed,
history, both profane and sacred, bears witness to the fact. (56) Although,
from the sacred histories of the Old Testament, it is not evident that the
other nations had as many prophets as the Hebrews, or that any Gentile
prophet was expressly sent by God to the nations, this does not affect the
question, for the Hebrews were careful to record their own affairs, not
those of other nations. (57) It suffices, then, that we find in the Old
Testament Gentiles, and uncircumcised, as Noah, Enoch, Abimelech,
Balaam, &c., exercising prophetic gifts; further, that Hebrew prophets were
sent by God, not only to their own nation but to many others also. (58)
Ezekiel prophesied to all the nations then known; Obadiah to none, that we
are aware of, save the Idumeans; and Jonah was chiefly the prophet to the
Ninevites. (59) Isaiah bewails and predicts the calamities, and hails the
restoration not only of the Jews but also of other nations, for he says
(chap. xvi:9), "Therefore I will bewail Jazer with weeping;" and in chap.
xix. he foretells first the calamities and then the restoration of
the Egyptians (see verses 19, 20, 21, 25), saying that God shall send them a
Saviour to free them, that the Lord shall be known in Egypt, and, further,
that the Egyptians shall worship God with sacrifice and oblation; and, at
last, he calls that nation the blessed Egyptian people of God; all of which
particulars are specially noteworthy.

(60) Jeremiah is called, not the prophet of the Hebrew nation, but simply
the prophet of the nations (see Jer:i.5). (61) He also mournfully foretells
the calamities of the nations, and predicts their restoration, for he says
(xlviii:31) of the Moabites, "Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will
cryout for all Moab" (verse 36), "and therefore mine heart shall sound
for Moab like pipes;" in the end he prophesies their restoration, as also
the restoration of the Egyptians, Ammonites, and Elamites. (62) Wherefore it
is beyond doubt that other nations also, like the Jews, had their
prophets, who prophesied to them.

(63) Although Scripture only, makes mention of one man, Balaam, to whom the
future of the Jews and the other nations was revealed, we must not suppose
that Balaam prophesied only once, for from the narrative itself it is
abundantly clear that he had long previously been famous for prophesy and
other Divine gifts. (64) For when Balak bade him to come to him, he said
(Num. xxii:6), "For I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he
whom thou cursest is cursed." (65) Thus we see that he possessed the gift
which God had bestowed on Abraham. Further, as accustomed to prophesy,
Balaam bade the messengers wait for him till the will of the Lord was
revealed to him. (66) When he prophesied, that is, when he interpreted
the true mind of God, he was wont to say this of himself: "He hath said,
which heard the words of God and knew the knowledge of the Most High, which
saw the vision of the Almighty falling into a trance, but having his eyes
open." (67) Further, after he had blessed the Hebrews by the command of God,
he began (as was his custom) to prophesy to other nations, and to predict
their future; all of which abundantly shows that he had always been a
prophet, or had often prophesied, and (as we may also remark here) possessed
that which afforded the chief certainty to prophets of the truth of their
prophecy, namely, a mind turned wholly to what is right and good, for he did
not bless those whom he wished to bless, nor curse those whom he wished to
curse, as Balak supposed, but only those whom God wished to be blessed or
cursed. (68) Thus he answered Balak: "If Balak should give me his house full
of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord to do
either good or bad of my own mind; but what the Lord saith, that will I
speak." (69) As for God being angry with him in the way, the same happened
to Moses when he set out to Egypt by the command of the Lord; and as to his
receiving money for prophesying, Samuel did the same (1 Sam. ix:7, 8); if in
anyway he sinned, "there is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and
sinneth not," Eccles. vii:20. (Vide 2 Epist. Peter ii:15, 16, and
Jude 5:11.)

(70) His speeches must certainly have had much weight with God, and His
power for cursing must assuredly have been very great from the number of
times that we find stated in Scripture, in proof of God's great mercy to the
Jews, that God would not hear Balaam, and that He changed the cursing to
blessing (see Deut. xxiii:6, Josh. xxiv:10, Neh. xiii:2). (71) Wherefore he
was without doubt most acceptable to God, for the speeches and cursings of
the wicked move God not at all. (72) As then he was a true prophet, and
nevertheless Joshua calls him a soothsayer or augur, it is certain that this
title had an honourable signification, and that those whom the Gentiles
called augurs and soothsayers were true prophets, while those whom Scripture
often accuses and condemns were false soothsayers, who deceived the
Gentiles as false prophets deceived the Jews; indeed, this is made evident
from other passages in the Bible, whence we conclude that the gift of
prophecy was not peculiar to the Jews, but common to all nations. (73) The
Pharisees, however, vehemently contend that this Divine gift was peculiar to
their nation, and that the other nations foretold the future (what will
superstition invent next?) by some unexplained diabolical faculty. (74) The
principal passage of Scripture which they cite, by way of confirming their
theory with its authority, is Exodus xxxiii:16, where Moses says to God,
"For wherein shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace
in Thy sight? is it not in that Thou goest with us? so shall we be
separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of
the earth." (75) From this they would infer that Moses asked of God that He
should be present to the Jews, and should reveal Himself to them
prophetically; further, that He should grant this favour to no other nation.
(76) It is surely absurd that Moses should have been jealous of God's
presence among the Gentiles, or that he should have dared to ask any such
thing. (77) The act is, as Moses knew that the disposition and spirit of his
nation was rebellious, he clearly saw that they could not carry out what
they had begun without very great miracles and special external aid from
God; nay, that without such aid they must necessarily perish: as it was
evident that God wished them to be preserved, he asked for this special
external aid. (78) Thus he says (Ex. xxxiv:9), "If now I have found grace in
Thy sight, 0 Lord, let my Lord, I pray Thee, go among us; for it is a
stiffnecked people." (79) The reason, therefore, for his seeking special
external aid from God was the stiffneckedness of the people, and it is made
still more plain, that he asked for nothing beyond this special external aid
by God's answer - for God answered at once (verse 10 of the same chapter) -
"Behold, I make a covenant: before all Thy people I will do marvels, such as
have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation." (80) Therefore
Moses had in view nothing beyond the special election of the Jews, as I have
explained it, and made no other request to God. (81) I confess that in
Paul's Epistle to the Romans, I find another text which carries more weight,
namely, where Paul seems to teach a different doctrine from that here set
down, for he there says (Rom. iii:1): "What advantage then hath the Jew? or
what profit is there of circumcision? (82) Much every way: chiefly, because
that unto them were committed the oracles of God."

(83) But if we look to the doctrine which Paul especially desired to teach,
we shall find nothing repugnant to our present contention; on the contrary,
his doctrine is the same as ours, for he says (Rom. iii:29) "that God is the
God of the Jews and of the Gentiles, and" (ch. ii:25, 26) "But,

if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
(84) Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law,
shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?" (85) Further, in
chap. iv:verse 9, he says that all alike, Jew and Gentile, were under sin,
and that without commandment and law there is no sin. (86) Wherefore it is
most evident that to all men absolutely was revealed the law under which all
lived - namely, the law which has regard only to true virtue, not the law
established in respect to, and in the formation of a particular state and
adapted to the disposition of a particular people. (87) Lastly, Paul
concludes that since God is the God of all nations, that is, is equally
gracious to all, and since all men equally live under the law and under sin,
so also to all nations did God send His Christ, to free all men equally from
the bondage of the law, that they should no more do right by the
command of the law, but by the constant determination of their hearts. (88)
So that Paul teaches exactly the same as ourselves. (89) When, therefore, he
says "To the Jews only were entrusted the oracles of God," we must either
understand that to them only were the laws entrusted in writing, while they
were given to other nations merely in revelation and conception, or else (as
none but Jews would object to the doctrine he desired to advance) that Paul
was answering only in accordance with the understanding and current ideas of
the Jews, for in respect to teaching things which he had partly seen, partly
heard, he was to the Greeks a Greek, and to the Jews a Jew.

(90) It now only remains to us to answer the arguments of those who would
persuade themselves that the election of the Jews was not temporal, and
merely in respect of their commonwealth, but eternal; for, they say, we see
the Jews after the loss of their commonwealth, and after being scattered so
many years and separated from all other nations, still surviving, which is
without parallel among other peoples, and further the Scriptures seem to
teach that God has chosen for Himself the Jews for ever, so that though they
have lost their commonwealth, they still nevertheless remain God's elect.

(91) The passages which they think teach most clearly this eternal election, are chiefly:
(1.) Jer. xxxi:36, where the prophet testifies that the seed of Israel
shall for ever remain the nation of God, comparing them with the
stability of the heavens and nature;

(2.) Ezek. xx:32, where the prophet seems to intend that though the Jews
wanted after the help afforded them to turn their backs on the worship of
the Lord, that God would nevertheless gather them together again from all
the lands in which they were dispersed, and lead them to the wilderness of
the peoples - as He had led their fathers to the wilderness of the land of
Egypt - and would at length, after purging out from among them the rebels
and transgressors, bring them thence to his Holy mountain, where the whole
house of Israel should worship Him. Other passages are also cited,
especially by the Pharisees, but I think I shall satisfy everyone if I
answer these two, and this I shall easily accomplish after showing from
Scripture itself that God chose not the Hebrews for ever, but only on the
condition under which He had formerly chosen the Canaanites, for these last,
as we have shown, had priests who religiously worshipped God, and whom God
at length rejected because of their luxury, pride, and corrupt worship.

(92) Moses (Lev. xviii:27) warned the Israelites that they be not polluted
with whoredoms, lest the land spue them out as it had spued out the nations
who had dwelt there before, and in Deut. viii:19, 20, in the plainest terms
He threatens their total ruin, for He says, "I testify against you that ye
shall surely perish. (93) As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before
your face, so shall ye perish." In like manner many other passages are found
in the law which expressly show that God chose the Hebrews neither
absolutely nor for ever. (94) If, then, the prophets foretold for them a new
covenant of the knowledge of God, love, and grace, such a promise is easily
proved to be only made to the elect, for Ezekiel in the chapter which we
have just quoted expressly says that God will separate from them the
rebellious and transgressors, and Zephaniah (iii:12, 13), says that "God
will take away the proud from the midst of them, and leave the poor." (95)
Now, inasmuch as their election has regard to true virtue, it is not to be
thought that it was promised to the Jews alone to the exclusion of others,
but we must evidently believe that the true Gentile prophets (and every
nation, as we have shown, possessed such) promised the same to the faithful
of their own people, who were thereby comforted. (96) Wherefore this eternal
covenant of the knowledge of God and love is universal, as is clear,
moreover, from Zeph. iii:10, 11 : no difference in this respect can be
admitted between Jew and Gentile, nor did the former enjoy any special
election beyond that which we have pointed out.

(97) When the prophets, in speaking of this election which regards only true
virtue, mixed up much concerning sacrifices and ceremonies, and the
rebuilding of the temple and city, they wished by such figurative
expressions, after the manner and nature of prophecy, to expound matters
spiritual, so as at the same time to show to the Jews, whose prophets they
were, the true restoration of the state and of the temple to be expected
about the time of Cyrus.

(98) At the present time, therefore, there is absolutely nothing which the
Jews can arrogate to themselves beyond other people.

(99) As to their continuance so long after dispersion and the loss of
empire, there is nothing marvellous in it, for they so separated themselves
from every other nation as to draw down upon themselves universal hate, not
only by their outward rites, rites conflicting with those of other nations,
but also by the sign of circumcision which they most scrupulously observe.

(100) That they have been preserved in great measure by Gentile hatred,
experience demonstrates. (101) When the king of Spain formerly
compelled the Jews to embrace the State religion or to go into exile, a
large number of Jews accepted Catholicism. (102) Now, as these renegades
were admitted to all the native privileges of Spaniards, and deemed worthy
of filling all honourable offices, it came to pass that they straightway
became so intermingled with the Spaniards as to leave of themselves no relic
or remembrance. (103) But exactly the opposite happened to those whom the
king of Portugal compelled to become Christians, for they always, though
converted, lived apart, inasmuch as they were considered unworthy of any
civic honours.

(104) The sign of circumcision is, as I think, so important, that I could
persuade myself that it alone would preserve the nation for ever. (105) Nay,
I would go so far as to believe that if the foundations of their religion
have not emasculated their minds they may even, if occasion offers, so
changeable are human affairs, raise up their empire afresh, and that God may
a second time elect them.

(106) Of such a possibility we have a very famous example in the Chinese.
(107) They, too, have some distinctive mark on their heads which they most
scrupulously observe, and by which they keep themselves apart from everyone
else, and have thus kept themselves during so many thousand years that they
far surpass all other nations in antiquity. (108) They have not always
retained empire, but they have recovered it when lost, and doubtless will do
so again after the spirit of the Tartars becomes relaxed through the luxury
of riches and pride.

(109) Lastly, if any one wishes to maintain that the Jews, from this or from
any other cause, have been chosen by God for ever, I will not gainsay him if
he will admit that this choice, whether temporary or eternal, has no regard,
in so far as it is peculiar to the Jews, to aught but dominion and physical
advantages (for by such alone can one nation be distinguished from
another), whereas in regard to intellect and true virtue, every nation is on
a par with the rest, and God has not in these respects chosen one people
rather than another.





CHAPTER IV. - OF THE DIVINE LAW.

(1) The word law, taken in the abstract, means that by which an individual,
or all things, or as many things as belong to a particular species, act in
one and the same fixed and definite manner, which manner depends either on
natural necessity or on human decree. (2) A law which depends on natural
necessity is one which necessarily follows from the nature, or from the
definition of the thing in question; a law which depends on human decree,
and which is more correctly called an ordinance, is one which men have laid
down for themselves and others in order to live more safely or conveniently,
or from some similar reason.

(3) For example, the law that all bodies impinging on lesser bodies, lose as
much of their own motion as they communicate to the latter is a universal
law of all bodies, and depends on natural necessity. (4) So, too, the law
that a man in remembering one thing, straightway remembers another either
like it, or which he had perceived simultaneously with it, is a law which
necessarily follows from the nature of man. (5) But the law that men must
yield, or be compelled to yield, somewhat of their natural right, and that
they bind themselves to live in a certain way, depends on human decree. (6)
Now, though I freely admit that all things are predetermined by universal
natural laws to exist and operate in a given, fixed, and definite
manner, I still assert that the laws I have just mentioned depend on human
decree.

(1.) (7) Because man, in so far as he is a part of nature, constitutes a
part of the power of nature. (8) Whatever, therefore, follows necessarily
from the necessity of human nature (that is, from nature herself, in so far
as we conceive of her as acting through man) follows, even though it be
necessarily, from human power. (9) Hence the sanction of such laws may very
well be said to depend on man's decree, for it principally depends on the
power of the human mind; so that the human mind in respect to its perception
of things as true and false, can readily be conceived as without such laws,
but not without necessary law as we have just defined it.

(2.) (10) I have stated that these laws depend on human decree because it is
well to define and explain things by their proximate causes. (11) The
general consideration of fate and the concatenation of causes would aid us
very little in forming and arranging our ideas concerning particular
questions. (12) Let us add that as to the actual coordination and
concatenation of things, that is how things are ordained and linked
together, we are obviously ignorant; therefore, it is more profitable for
right living, nay, it is necessary for us to consider things as contingent.
(13) So much about law in the abstract.

(14) Now the word law seems to be only applied to natural phenomena by
analogy, and is commonly taken to signify a command which men can either
obey or neglect, inasmuch as it restrains human nature within certain
originally exceeded limits, and therefore lays down no rule beyond human
strength. (15) Thus it is expedient to define law more particularly as a
plan of life laid down by man for himself or others with a certain object.

(16) However, as the true object of legislation is only perceived by a few,
and most men are almost incapable of grasping it, though they live under its
conditions, legislators, with a view to exacting general obedience, have
wisely put forward another object, very different from that which
necessarily follows from the nature of law: they promise to the observers of
the law that which the masses chiefly desire, and threaten its violators
with that which they chiefly fear: thus endeavouring to restrain the masses,
as far as may be, like a horse with a curb; whence it follows that the word
law is chiefly applied to the modes of life enjoined on men by the sway of
others; hence those who obey the law are said to live under it and to be
under compulsion. (17) In truth, a man who renders everyone their due
because he fears the gallows, acts under the sway and compulsion of others,
and cannot be called just. (18) But a man who does the same from a knowledge
of the true reason for laws and their necessity, acts from a firm purpose
and of his own accord, and is therefore properly called just. (19) This, I
take it, is Paul's meaning when he says, that those who live under the law
cannot be justified through the law, for justice, as commonly defined, is
the constant and perpetual will to render every man his due. (20) Thus
Solomon says (Prov. xxi:15), "It is a joy to the just to do judgment," but
the wicked fear.

(21) Law, then, being a plan of living which men have for a certain object
laid down for themselves or others, may, as it seems, be divided into human
law and Divine law. {But both are opposite sides of the same coin}

(22) By human law I mean a plan of living which serves only to render life
and the state secure. (23) By Divine law I mean that which only regards the
highest good, in other words, the true knowledge of God and love.

(24) I call this law Divine because of the nature of the highest good, which
I will here shortly explain as clearly as I can.

(25) Inasmuch as the intellect is the best part of our being, it is evident
that we should make every effort to perfect it as far as possible if we
desire to search for what is really profitable to us. (26) For in
intellectual perfection the highest good should consist. (27) Now, since all
our knowledge, and the certainty which removes every doubt, depend solely on
the knowledge of God;- firstly, because without God nothing can exist or be
conceived; secondly, because so long as we have no clear and distinct idea
of God we may remain in universal doubt - it follows that our highest good
and perfection also depend solely on the knowledge of God. (28) Further,
since without God nothing can exist or be conceived, it is evident that all
natural phenomena involve and express the conception of God as far as their
essence and perfection extend, so that we have greater and more perfect
knowledge of God in proportion to our knowledge of natural phenomena:
conversely (since the knowledge of an effect through its cause is the same
thing as the knowledge of a particular property of a cause) the greater our
knowledge of natural phenomena, the more perfect is our knowledge of the
essence of God (which is the cause of all things). (29) So, then, our
highest good not only depends on the knowledge of God, but wholly consists
therein; and it further follows that man is perfect or the reverse in
proportion to the nature and perfection of the object of his special desire;
hence the most perfect and the chief sharer in the highest blessedness is he
who prizes above all else, and takes especial delight in, the intellectual
knowledge of God, the most perfect Being.

(30) Hither, then, our highest good and our highest blessedness aim -
namely, to the knowledge and love of God; therefore the means demanded by
this aim of all human actions, that is, by God in so far as the idea of him
is in us, may be called the commands of God, because they proceed, as it
were, from God Himself, inasmuch as He exists in our minds, and the plan of
life which has regard to this aim may be fitly called the law of God.

(31) The nature of the means, and the plan of life which this aim demands,
how the foundations of the best states follow its lines, and how men's life
is conducted, are questions pertaining to general ethics. (32) Here I only
proceed to treat of the Divine law in a particular application.

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