Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

after God had commanded him to deliver the Israelites from the
Egyptian bondage, when he said, "They will not believe me, but will
say the Lord hath not appeared unto me,"* God gave him power to turn
the rod he had in his hand into a serpent, and again to return it into
a rod; and by putting his hand into his bosom, to make it leprous, and
again by pulling it out to make it whole, to make the children of
Israel believe that the God of their fathers had appeared unto
him:*(2) and if that were not enough, He gave him power to turn
their waters into blood. And when he had done these miracles before
the people, it is said that "they believed him."*(3) Nevertheless, for
fear of Pharaoh, they durst not yet obey him. Therefore the other
works which were done to plague Pharaoh and the Egyptians tended all
to make the Israelites believe in Moses, and properly miracles. In
like manner if we consider all the miracles done by the hand of Moses,
and all the rest of the prophets till the Captivity, and those of
our Saviour and his Apostles afterwards, we shall find their end was
always to beget or confirm belief that they came not of their own
motion, but were sent by God. We may further observe in Scripture that
the end of miracles was to beget belief, not universally in all men,
elect and reprobate, but in the elect only; that is to say, in such as
God had determined should become His subjects. For those miraculous
plagues of Egypt had not for end the conversion of Pharaoh; for God
had told Moses before that He would harden the heart of Pharaoh,
that he should not let the people go: and when he let them go at last,
not the miracles persuaded him, but the plagues forced him to it. So
also of our Saviour it is written that He wrought not many miracles in
His own country, because of their unbelief;*(4) and instead of, "He
wrought not many," it is, "He could work none."*(5) It was not because
he wanted power; which, to say, were blasphemy against God; nor that
the end of miracles was not to convert incredulous men to Christ;
for the end of all the miracles of Moses, of the prophets, of our
Saviour and of his Apostles was to add men to the Church; but it was
because the end of their miracles was to add to the Church, not all
men, but such as should be saved; that is to say, such as God had
elected. Seeing therefore our Saviour was sent from His Father, He
could not use His power in the conversion of those whom His Father had
rejected. They that, expounding this place of St. Mark, say that
this word, "He could not," is put for, "He would not," do it without
example in the Greek tongue (where would not is put sometimes for
could not, in things inanimate that have no will; but could not, for
would not, never), and thereby lay a stumbling block before weak
Christians, as if Christ could do no miracles but amongst the
credulous.
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* Exodus, 4. 1
*(2) Ibid., 4. 5
*(3) Ibid., 4. 31
*(4) Matthew, 13. 58
*(5) Mark, 6. 5
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From that which I have here set down, of the nature and use of a
miracle, we may define it thus: a miracle is a work of God (besides
His operation by the way of nature, ordained in the Creation) done for
the making manifest to His elect the mission of an extraordinary
minister for their salvation.
And from this definition, we may infer: first, that in all
miracles the work done is not the effect of any virtue in the prophet,