BENEDICT DE SPINOZA: Theological-Political Treatise

Preface
make a fresh examinati on of Scr iptu re with a fre e and u nprejudice d mind,
and to a s s e r t nothing ab out it , and to acce pt nothing a s its te aching, which
I did not quite cle arly der ive fro m it. With this provis o in mind, I devis e d a
me tho d for in te r pre t ing the s acre d volu me s.
In acc ordance with this me tho d, I b e gan by inquir ing ¢rst of all: W hat is
prophe cy In what mann e r did Go d reve al hi ms elf to the prophe ts 10 Why
we re they acce pt able to Go d Wa s it b e c aus e they had elevate d c once ptions
of Go d and natu re, or wa s it s i mply due to the ir p i e ty Once I kn ew this ,
I wa s e a s ily able to c onclude that the author ity of the prophe ts c ar r i e s
we igh t only in m oral que st ions and with re gard to tr ue virtue , and that for
the re st the ir op inions matte r ve r y little to us. 11
Once I had u nde rsto o d this , I s ough t to know why it wa s that the
Heb rews we re c alle d the cho s e n of Go d. W he n I s aw that this wa s s i mply
b e c aus e Go d had cho s e n a ce r t ain par t of the e ar th for the m whe re they
c ould dwell in s afe ty and pro sp e r ity, I reali z e d that the Laws reve ale d by 10
Go d to Mo s e s we re nothing but the decre e s of the histor ic al Heb rew st ate
alon e , and acc ordingly that no on e n e e de d to adopt the m but the Heb rews ,
and eve n they we re only b ou nd by the m s o long a s the ir st ate su r vive d. 12
Next I s e t mys elf to dis c ove r whe the r we should re ally c onclude fro m
Scr iptu re that hu man u nderst anding is c or r upt by nature. To ¢nd this out ,
I b e gan to c ons ide r ¢rst whe the r u nive rs al relig ion, or the divin e law
reve ale d to the whole human race through the prophe ts and Ap o stle s , wa s
re ally anything othe r than the law which the natu ral ligh t of re a s on als o
te aches. 13 Se c ondly, I inquire d whe the r miracle s have o ccu r red c on trar y to
the order of natu re and whe the r they show the existe nce and provide nce of
Go d m ore su rely and cle arly than thing s which we u nde rst and cle arly and
dist inctly through the ir ow n ¢rst c aus e s. 14
I found nothing in what Scripture expressly teaches that does not concur
with our understanding and nothing that is in con£ict with it. I also
perceived that the prophets taught only very simple things which could be
easily understood by everyone, and had elaborated them with the kind of
style, and supported them with the sort of reasons that might most e¡ectively
sway the people’s mind towards God. In this way, I became completely
convinced that Scripture leaves reason absolutely free and has
nothing at all in common with philosophy, but that each of them stands on
its own separate footing. In order to demonstrate these things conclusively
10 Ch. 1 .
11 Ch. 2 .
12 Ch. 3 .
13 Ch. 4 .
14 Ch. 6.
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