Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

we are members, and by whom we look to be protected It is therefore
manifest that Christ hath not left to his ministers in this world,
unless they be also endued with civil authority, any authority to
command other men.
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* Colossians, 3. 20
*(2) Ibid., 3. 22
*(3) Romans, 13. 1-6
*(4) I Peter, 2. 13, 14, 15
*(5) Titus, 3. 1
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But what, may some object, if a king, or a senate, or other
sovereign person forbid us to believe in Christ To this I answer that
such forbidding is of no effect; because belief and unbelief never
follow men's commands. Faith is a gift of God which man can neither
give nor take away by promise of rewards or menaces of torture. And,
if it be further asked, what if we be commanded by our lawful prince
to say with our tongue we believe not; must we obey such command
Profession with the tongue is but an external thing, and no more
than any other gesture whereby we signify our obedience; and wherein a
Christian, holding firmly in his heart the faith of Christ, hath the
same liberty which the prophet Elisha allowed to Naaman the Syrian.
Naaman was converted in his heart to the God of Israel, for he
saith, "Thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor
sacrifice unto other gods, but unto the Lord. In this thing the Lord
pardon thy servant, that when my master goeth into the house of Rimmon
to worship there, and he leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the
house of Rimmon; when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord
pardon thy servant in this thing."* This the Prophet approved, and bid
him "Go in peace." Here Naaman believed in his heart; but by bowing
before the idol Rimmon, he denied the true God in effect as much as if
he had done it with his lips. But then what shall we answer to our
Saviour's saying, "Whosoever denieth me before men, I will deny him
before my Father which is in heaven"*(2) This we may say, that
whatsoever a subject, as Naaman was, is compelled to in obedience to
his sovereign, and doth it not in order to his own mind, but in
order to the laws of his country, that action is not his, but his
sovereign's; nor is it he that in this case denieth Christ before men,
but his governor, and the law of his country. If any man shall
accuse this doctrine as repugnant to true and unfeigned
Christianity, I ask him, in case there should be a subject in any
Christian Commonwealth that should be inwardly in his heart of the
Mahomedan religion, whether if his sovereign command him to be present
at the divine service of the Christian church, and that on pain of
death, he think that Mahomedan obliged in conscience to suffer death
for that cause, rather than to obey that command of his lawful prince.
If he say he ought rather to suffer death, then he authorizeth all
private men to disobey their princes in maintenance of their religion,
true or false: if he say he ought to be obedient, then he alloweth
to himself that which he denieth to another, contrary to the words
of our Saviour, "Whatsoever you would that men should do unto you,
that do ye unto them";*(3) and contrary to the law of nature (which is
the indubitable everlasting law of God), "Do not to another that which
thou wouldest not he should do unto thee."
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* II Kings, 5. 17, 18
*(2) Matthew, 10. 33