Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

the throne of his glory, you shall also sit upon twelve thrones";* and
of St. Paul, "Having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace";*(2) and is compared by our Saviour to fishing; that is,
to winning men to obedience, not by coercion and punishing, but by
persuasion. And therefore he said not to his Apostles he would make
them so many Nimrods, hunters of men; but fishers of men. It is
compared also to leaven, to sowing of seed, and to the
multiplication of a grain of mustard-seed; by all which compulsion
is excluded; and consequently there can in that time be no actual
reigning. The work of Christ's ministers is evangelization; that is, a
proclamation of Christ, and a preparation for his second coming; as
the evangelization of John the Baptist was a preparation to his
first coming.
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* Matthew, 19. 28
*(2) Ephesians, 6. 15
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Again, the office of Christ's ministers in this world is to make men
believe and have faith in Christ: but faith hath no relation to, nor
dependence at all upon, compulsion or commandment; but only upon
certainty, or probability of arguments drawn from reason, or from
something men believe already. Therefore the ministers of Christ in
this world have no power by that title to punish any man for not
believing or for contradicting what they say: they have, I say, no
power by that title of Christ's ministers to punish such; but if
they have sovereign civil power, by politic institution, then they may
indeed lawfully punish any contradiction to their laws whatsoever: and
St. Paul, of himself and other the then preachers of the Gospel, saith
in express words, "We have no dominion over your faith, but are
helpers of your joy."*
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* II Corinthians, 1. 24
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Another argument, that the ministers of Christ in this present world
have no right of commanding, may be drawn from the lawful authority
which Christ hath left to all princes, as well Christians as infidels.
St. Paul saith, "Children, obey your parents in all things; for this
is well pleasing to the Lord."* And, "Servants, obey in all things
your masters according to the flesh, not with eye-service, as
men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, as fearing the Lord":*(2)
this is spoken to them whose masters were infidels; and yet they are
bidden to obey them in all things. And again, concerning obedience
to princes, exhorting "to be subject to the higher powers," he
saith, "that all power is ordained of God"; and "that we ought to
subject to them not only for" fear of incurring their "wrath, but also
for conscience sake."*(3) And St. Peter, "Submit yourselves to every
ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king, as
supreme, or unto governors, as to them that be sent by him for the
punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well;
for so is the will of God."*(4) And again St. Paul, "Put men in mind
to be subject to principalities, and powers, and to obey
magistrates."*(5) These princes and powers whereof St. Peter and St.
Paul here speak were all infidels: much more therefore we are to
obey those Christians whom God hath ordained to have sovereign power
over us. How then can we be obliged to obey any minister of Christ
if he should command us to do anything contrary to the command of
the king or other sovereign representant of the Commonwealth whereof