(48) When, therefore, it is said in Scripture (Deut. iv:7) that the Lord is
not so nigh to any other nation as He is to the Jews, reference is only made
to their government, and to the period when so many miracles happened to
them, for in respect of intellect and virtue - that is, in respect of
blessedness - God was, as we have said already, and are now demonstrating,
equally gracious to all. (49) Scripture itself bears testimony to this fact,
for the Psalmist says (cxlv:18), "The Lord is near unto all them that call
upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth." (50) So in the same Psalm,
verse 9, "The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all
His works." In Ps. xxxiii:16, it is clearly stated that God has granted to
all men the same intellect, in these words, He fashioneth their hearts
alike." The heart was considered by the Hebrews, as I suppose everyone
knows, to be the seat of the soul and the intellect.

(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.

(33) As the love of God is man's highest happiness and blessedness, and the
ultimate end and aim of all human actions, it follows that he alone lives by
the Divine law who loves God not from fear of punishment, or from love of
any other object, such as sensual pleasure, fame, or the like; but solely
because he has knowledge of God, or is convinced that the knowledge and love
of God is the highest good. (34) The sum and chief precept, then, of the
Divine law is to love God as the highest good, namely, as we have said, not
from fear of any pains and penalties, or from the love of any other object
in which we desire to take pleasure. (35) The idea of God lays down
the rule that God is our highest good - in other words, that the knowledge
and love of God is the ultimate aim to which all our actions should be
directed. (36) The worldling cannot understand these things, they appear
foolishness to him. because he has too meager a knowledge of God, and also
because in this highest good he can discover nothing which he can handle or
eat, or which affects the fleshly appetites wherein he chiefly delights, for
it consists solely in thought and the pure reason. (37) They, on the other
hand, who know that they possess no greater gift than intellect and sound
reason, will doubtless accept what I have said without question.

(38) We have now explained that wherein the Divine law chiefly consists, and
what are human laws, namely, all those which have a different aim
unless they have been ratified by revelation, for in this respect also
things are referred to God (as we have shown above) and in this sense the
law of Moses, although it was not universal, but entirely adapted to the
disposition and particular preservation of a single people, may yet be
called a law of God or Divine law, inasmuch as we believe that it was
ratified by prophetic insight. (39) If we consider the nature of natural
Divine law as we have just explained it, we shall see:

(40) I.- That it is universal or common to all men, for we have deduced it from universal human
nature.

(41) II. That it does not depend on the truth of any historical narrative
whatsoever, for inasmuch as this natural Divine law is comprehended solely
by the consideration of human nature, it is plain that we can conceive it as
existing as well in Adam as in any other man, as well in a man living among
his fellows, as in a man who lives by himself.

(42) The truth of a historical narrative, however assured, cannot give us
the knowledge nor consequently the love of God, for love of God springs from
knowledge of Him, and knowledge of Him should be derived from general ideas,
in themselves certain and known, so that the truth of a historical narrative
is very far from being a necessary requisite for our attaining our highest
good.

(43) Still, though the truth of histories cannot give us the knowledge and
love of God, I do not deny that reading them is very useful with a view to
life in the world, for the more we have observed and known of men's customs
and circumstances, which are best revealed by their actions, the more warily
we shall be able to order our lives among them, and so far as reason
dictates to adapt our actions to their dispositions.

(44) III. We see that this natural Divine law does not demand the
performance of ceremonies - that is, actions in themselves indifferent,
which are called good from the fact of their institution, or actions
symbolizing something profitable for salvation, or (if one prefers this
definition) actions of which the meaning surpasses human understanding. (45)
The natural light of reason does not demand anything which it is itself
unable to supply, but only such as it can very clearly show to be good, or a
means to our blessedness. (46) Such things as are good simply because they
have been commanded or instituted, or as being symbols of something good,
are mere shadows which cannot be reckoned among actions that are the
offsprings as it were, or fruit of a sound mind and of intellect. (47) There
is no need for me to go into this now in more detail.

(48) IV. Lastly, we see that the highest reward of the Divine law is the law
itself, namely, to know God and to love Him of our free choice, and with an
undivided and fruitful spirit; while its penalty is the absence of these
things, and being in bondage to the flesh - that is, having an inconstant
and wavering spirit.

(49) These points being noted, I must now inquire:
(50) I. Whether by the natural light of reason we can conceive of
        God as a law-giver or potentate ordaining laws for men?
(51) II. What is the teaching of Holy Writ concerning this
         natural light of reason and natural law?
(52) III. With what objects were ceremonies formerly instituted?
(53) IV. Lastly, what is the good gained by knowing the
         sacred histories and believing them?

(54) Of the first two I will treat in this chapter, of the remaining two in the following one.

(55) Our conclusion about the first is easily deduced from the nature of
God's will, which is only distinguished from His understanding in relation
to our intellect - that is, the will and the understanding of God are in
reality one and the same, and are only distinguished in relation to
our thoughts which we form concerning God's understanding. (56) For
instance, if we are only looking to the fact that the nature of a triangle
is from eternity contained in the Divine nature as an eternal verity, we say
that God possesses the idea of a triangle, or that He understands the
nature of a triangle; but if afterwards we look to the fact that the nature
of a triangle is thus contained in the Divine nature, solely by the
necessity of the Divine nature, and not by the necessity of the nature and
essence of a triangle - in fact, that the necessity of a triangle's essence
and nature, in so far as they are conceived of as eternal verities, depends
solely on the necessity of the Divine nature and intellect, we then style
God's will or decree, that which before we styled His intellect. (57)
Wherefore we make one and the same affirmation concerning God when we say
that He has from eternity decreed that three angles of a triangle are equal
to two right angles, as when we say that He has understood it.

(58) Hence the affirmations and the negations of God always involve
necessity or truth; so that, for example, if God said to Adam that He did
not wish him to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it would have
involved a contradiction that Adam should have been able to eat of it, and
would therefore have been impossible that he should have so eaten, for the
Divine command would have involved an eternal necessity and truth. (59) But
since Scripture nevertheless narrates that God did give this command to
Adam, and yet that none the less Adam ate of the tree, we must perforce say
that God revealed to Adam the evil which would surely follow if he should
eat of the tree, but did not disclose that such evil would of necessity
come to pass. (60) Thus it was that Adam took the revelation to be not an
eternal and necessary truth, but a law - that is, an ordinance followed by
gain or loss, not depending necessarily on the nature of the act performed,
but solely on the will and absolute power of some potentate, so that the
revelation in question was solely in relation to Adam, and solely through
his lack of knowledge a law, and God was, as it were, a lawgiver and
potentate. (61) From the same cause, namely, from lack of knowledge, the
Decalogue in relation to the Hebrews was a law, for since they knew not the
existence of God as an eternal truth, they must have taken as a law that
which was revealed to them in the Decalogue, namely, that God exists, and
that God only should be worshipped. (62) But if God had spoken to them
without the intervention of any bodily means, immediately they would have
perceived it not as a law, but as an eternal truth.

(63) What we have said about the Israelites and Adam, applies also to all
the prophets who wrote laws in God's name - they did not adequately conceive
God's decrees as eternal truths. (64) For instance, we must say of Moses
that from revelation, from the basis of what was revealed to him, he
perceived the method by which the Israelitish nation could best be united in
a particular territory, and could form a body politic or state, and further
that he perceived the method by which that nation could best be constrained
to obedience; but he did not perceive, nor was it revealed to him, that this
method was absolutely the best, nor that the obedience of the people in a
certain strip of territory would necessarily imply the end he had in view.
(65) Wherefore he perceived these things not as eternal truths, but as
precepts and ordinances, and he ordained them as laws of God, and thus it
came to be that he conceived God as a ruler, a legislator, a king, as
merciful, just, &c., whereas such qualities are simply attributes of human
nature, and utterly alien from the nature of the Deity. (66)Thus much we may
affirm of the prophets who wrote laws in the name of God; but we must not
affirm it of Christ, for Christ, although He too seems to have written laws
in the name of God, must be taken to have had a clear and adequate
perception, for Christ was not so much a prophet as the mouthpiece of God.
(67) For God made revelations to mankind through Christ as He had before
done through angels - that is, a created voice, visions, &c. (68) It would
be as unreasonable to say that God had accommodated his revelations to the
opinions of Christ as that He had before accommodated them to the opinions
of angels (that is, of a created voice or visions) as matters to be revealed
to the prophets, a wholly absurd hypothesis. (69) Moreover, Christ was sent
to teach not only the Jews but the whole human race, and therefore it was
not enough that His mind should be accommodated to the opinions the Jews
alone, but also to the opinion and fundamental teaching common to the whole
human race - in other words, to ideas universal and true. (70) Inasmuch as
God revealed Himself to Christ, or to Christ's mind immediately, and not as
to the prophets through words and symbols, we must needs suppose that Christ
perceived truly what was revealed, in other words, He understood it, for a,
matter is understood when it is perceived simply by the mind without words
or symbols.

(71) Christ, then, perceived (truly and adequately) what was revealed, and
if He ever proclaimed such revelations as laws, He did so because of the
ignorance and obstinacy of the people, acting in this respect the part of
God; inasmuch as He accommodated Himself to the comprehension of the
people, and though He spoke somewhat more clearly than the other prophets,
yet He taught what was revealed obscurely, and generally through parables,
especially when He was speaking to those to whom it was not yet given to
understand the kingdom of heaven. (See Matt. xiii:10, &c.) (72) To those to
whom it was given to understand the mysteries of heaven, He doubtless taught
His doctrines as eternal truths, and did not lay them down as laws, thus
freeing the minds of His hearers from the bondage of that law which He
further confirmed and established. (73) Paul apparently points to this more
than once (e.g. Rom. vii:6, and iii:28), though he never himself seems to
wish to speak openly, but, to quote his own words (Rom. iii:6, and vi:19),
"merely humanly." (74) This he expressly states when he calls God just, and
it was doubtless in concession to human weakness that he attributes mercy,
grace, anger, and similar qualities to God, adapting his language to the
popular mind, or, as he puts it (1 Cor. iii:1, 2), to carnal men. (75) In
Rom. ix:18, he teaches undisguisedly that God's auger and mercy depend not
on the actions of men, but on God's own nature or will; further, that no
one is justified by the works of the law, but only by faith, which he seems
to identify with the full assent of the soul; lastly, that no one is blessed
unless he have in him the mind of Christ (Rom. viii:9), whereby he perceives
the laws of God as eternal truths. (76) We conclude, therefore, that God is
described as a lawgiver or prince, and styled just, merciful, &c., merely in
concession to popular understanding, and the imperfection of popular
knowledge; that in reality God acts and directs all things simply by the
necessity of His nature and perfection, and that His decrees and volitions
are eternal truths, and always involve necessity. (77) So much for the first
point which I wished to explain and demonstrate.

(78) Passing on to the second point, let us search the sacred pages for
their teaching concerning the light of nature and this Divine law. (79) The
first doctrine we find in the history of the first man, where it is narrated
that God commanded Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil; this seems to mean that God commanded Adam to do
and to seek after righteousness because it was good, not because the
contrary was evil: that is, to seek the good for its own sake, not from fear
of evil. (80) We have seen that he who acts rightly from the true knowledge
and love of right, acts with freedom and constancy, whereas he who acts from
fear of evil, is under the constraint of evil, and acts in bondage under
external control. (81) So that this commandment of God to Adam comprehends
the whole Divine natural law, and absolutely agrees with the dictates of the
light of nature; nay, it would be easy to explain on this basis the whole
history or allegory of the first man. (82) But I prefer to pass over the
subject in silence, because, in the first place, I cannot be absolutely
certain that my explanation would be in accordance with the intention of the
sacred writer; and, secondly, because many do not admit that this history is
an allegory, maintaining it to be a simple narrative of facts. (83) It will
be better, therefore, to adduce other passages of Scripture, especially such
as were written by him, who speaks with all the strength of his natural
understanding, in which he surpassed all his contemporaries, and whose
sayings are accepted by the people as of equal weight with
those of the prophets. (84) I mean Solomon, whose prudence and wisdom are
commended in Scripture rather than his piety and gift of prophecy. (85) Life
being taken to mean the true life (as is evident from Deut. xxx:19), the
fruit of the understanding consists only in the true life, and its
absence constitutes punishment. (86) All this absolutely agrees with what
was set out in our fourth point concerning natural law. (87) Moreover our
position that it is the well-spring of life, and that the intellect alone
lays down laws for the wise, is plainly taught by, the sage, for he says
(Prov. xiii14): "The law of the wise is a fountain of life " - that is, as
we gather from the preceding text, the understanding. (88) In chap. iii:13,
he expressly teaches that the understanding renders man blessed and happy,
and gives him true peace of mind. "Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and
the man that getteth understanding," for "Wisdom gives length of days, and
riches and honour; her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths
peace" (xiiii6, 17). (89) According to Solomon, therefore, it is only,
the wise who live in peace and equanimity, not like the wicked whose minds
drift hither and thither, and (as Isaiah says, chap. Ivii:20) "are like the
troubled sea, for them there is no peace."

(90) Lastly, we should especially note the passage in chap. ii. of Solomon's
proverbs which most clearly confirms our contention: "If thou criest after
knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding . . . then shalt thou
understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God; for the Lord
giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding."
(91) These words clearly enunciate (1), that wisdom or intellect alone
teaches us to fear God wisely - that is, to worship Him truly; (2), that
wisdom and knowledge flow from God's mouth, and that God bestows on us this
gift; this we have already shown in proving that our understanding and our
knowledge depend on, spring from, and are perfected by the idea or
knowledge of God, and nothing else. (92) Solomon goes on to say in so many
words that this knowledge contains and involves the true principles of
ethics and politics: "When wisdom entereth into thy heart, and knowledge is
pleasant to thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall
keep thee, then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and
equity, yea every good path." (93) All of which is in obvious agreement with
natural knowledge: for after we have come to the understanding of things,
and have tasted the excellence of knowledge, she teaches us ethics and true
virtue.

(94) Thus the happiness and the peace of him who cultivates his natural
understanding lies, according to Solomon also, not so much under the
dominion of fortune (or God's external aid) as in inward personal virtue (or
God's internal aid), for the latter can to a great extent be preserved by
vigilance, right action, and thought.

(95) Lastly, we must by no means pass over the passage in Paul's Epistle to
the Romans, i:20, in which he says: "For the invisible things of God from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without
excuse, because, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither
were they thankful." (96) These words clearly show that everyone can by the
light of nature clearly understand the goodness and the eternal divinity of
God, and can thence know and deduce what they should seek for and what
avoid; wherefore the Apostle says that they are without excuse and cannot
plead ignorance, as they certainly might if it were a question of
supernatural light and the incarnation, passion, and resurrection of Christ.
(97) "Wherefore," he goes on to say (ib. 24), "God gave them up to
uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts;" and so on, through the
rest of the chapter, he describes the vices of ignorance, and sets them
forth as the punishment of ignorance. (98) This obviously agrees with the
verse of Solomon, already quoted, "The instruction of fools is folly," so
that it is easy to understand why Paul says that the wicked are without
excuse. (99) As every man sows so shall he reap: out of evil, evils
necessarily spring, unless they be wisely counteracted.

(100) Thus we see that Scripture literally approves of the light of natural
reason and the natural Divine law, and I have fulfilled the promises made at
the beginning of this chapter.





CHAPTER V. - OF THE CEREMONIAL LAW.
(1) In the foregoing chapter we have shown that the Divine law, which
renders men truly blessed, and teaches them the true life, is universal to
all men; nay, we have so intimately deduced it from human nature that it
must be esteemed innate, and, as it were, ingrained in the human mind.

(2) But with regard to the ceremonial observances which were ordained in the
Old Testament for the Hebrews only, and were so adapted to their state that
they could for the most part only be observed by the society as a whole and
not by each individual, it is evident that they formed no part of the Divine
law, and had nothing to do with blessedness and virtue, but had reference
only to the election of the Hebrews, that is (as I have shown in Chap. II.),
to their temporal bodily happiness and the tranquillity of their kingdom,
and that therefore they were only valid while that kingdom lasted. (3) If in
the Old Testament they are spoken of as the law of God, it is only because
they were founded on revelation, or a basis of revelation. (4) Still as
reason, however sound, has little weight with ordinary theologians, I will
adduce the authority of Scripture for what I here assert, and will further
show, for the sake of greater clearness, why and how these ceremonials
served to establish and preserve the Jewish kingdom. (5) Isaiah teaches most
plainly that the Divine law in its strict sense signifies that universal law
which consists in a true manner of life, and does not signify ceremonial
observances. (6) In chapter i:10, the prophet calls on his countrymen to
hearken to the Divine law as he delivers it, and first excluding all kinds
of sacrifices and all feasts, he at length sums up the law in these few
words, "Cease to do evil, learn to do well: seek judgment, relieve the
oppressed." (7) Not less striking testimony is given in Psalm xl:7- 9, where
the Psalmist addresses God: "Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire;
mine ears hast Thou opened; burnt offering and sin-offering hast Thou not
required; I delight to do Thy will, 0 my God; yea, Thy law is within my
heart." (8) Here the Psalmist reckons as the law of God only that which is
inscribed in his heart, and excludes ceremonies therefrom, for the latter
are good and inscribed on the heart only from the fact of their institution,
and not because of their intrinsic value.

(9) Other passages of Scripture testify to the same truth, but these two
will suffice. (10) We may also learn from the Bible that ceremonies are no
aid to blessedness, but only have reference to the temporal prosperity of
the kingdom; for the rewards promised for their observance are
merely temporal advantages and delights, blessedness being reserved for the
universal Divine law. (11) In all the five books commonly attributed to
Moses nothing is promised, as I have said, beyond temporal benefits, such as
honours, fame, victories, riches, enjoyments, and health. (12) Though many
moral precepts besides ceremonies are contained in these five books, they
appear not as moral doctrines universal to all men, but as commands
especially adapted to the understanding and character of the Hebrew people,
and as having reference only to the welfare of the kingdom. (13) For
instance, Moses does not teach the Jews as a prophet not to kill or to
steal, but gives these commandments solely as a lawgiver and judge; he does
not reason out the doctrine, but affixes for its non-observance a penalty
which may and very properly does vary in different nations. (14) So, too,
the command not to commit adultery is given merely with reference to the
welfare of the state; for if the moral doctrine had been intended, with
reference not only to the welfare of the state, but also to the tranquillity
and blessedness of the individual, Moses would have condemned not merely the
outward act, but also the mental acquiescence, as is done by Christ, Who
taught only universal moral precepts, and for this cause promises a
spiritual instead of a temporal reward. (15) Christ, as I have said, was
sent into the world, not to preserve the state nor to lay down laws, but
solely to teach the universal moral law, so we can easily understand that He
wished in nowise to do away with the law of Moses, inasmuch as He introduced
no new laws of His own - His sole care was to teach moral doctrines, and
distinguish them from the laws of the state; for the Pharisees, in their
ignorance, thought that the observance of the state law and the Mosaic law
was the sum total of morality; whereas such laws merely had reference to the
public welfare, and aimed not so much at instructing the Jews as at keeping
them under constraint. (16) But let us return to our subject, and cite other
passages of Scripture which set forth temporal benefits as rewards for
observing the ceremonial law, and blessedness as reward for the universal
law.

(17) None of the prophets puts the point more clearly than Isaiah. (18.)
After condemning hypocrisy he commends liberty and charity towards one's
self and one's neighbours, and promises as a reward: "Then shall thy light
break forth as the morning, and thy health shall spring forth speedily, thy
righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of the Lord shall be thy
reward" (chap. lviii:8). (19) Shortly afterwards he commends the Sabbath,
and for a due observance of it, promises: "Then shalt thou delight thyself
in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the
earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of
the Lord has spoken it." (20) Thus the prophet for liberty bestowed, and
charitable works, promises a healthy mind in a healthy body, and the glory
of the Lord even after death; whereas, for ceremonial exactitude, he only
promises security of rule, prosperity, and temporal happiness.