The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 03 (of 11) — Thomas Hobbes — John Shaqi
The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 03 (of 11)
Thomas Hobbes · en
Paul says farther to the Galatians, (_Gal._
i. 8.) that _if himself, or an angel from heaven preach another gospel
to them, than he had preached, let him be accursed_. That gospel was,
that Christ was King; so that all preaching against the power of the
king received, in consequence to these words, is by St. Paul accursed.
For his speech is addressed to those, who by his preaching had already
received Jesus for the Christ, that is to say, for King of the Jews.
[Sidenote: The marks of a prophet in the old law, miracles, and doctrine
comformable to the law.]
And as miracles, without preaching that doctrine which God hath
established; so preaching the true doctrine, without the doing of
miracles, is an insufficient argument of immediate revelation. For if a
man that teacheth not false doctrine, should pretend to be a prophet
without showing any miracle, he is never the more to be regarded for his
pretence, as is evident by _Deut._ xviii. v. 21, 22, _If thou say in thy
heart, How shall we know that the word_ (of the prophet) _is not that
which the Lord hath spoken? when the prophet shall have spoken in the
name of the Lord, that which shall not come to pass, that is the word
which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet has spoken it out of the
pride of his own heart, fear him not._ But a man may here again ask,
when the prophet hath foretold a thing, how shall we know whether it
will come to pass or not? For he may foretell it as a thing to arrive
after a certain long time, longer than the time of man’s life; or
indefinitely, that it will come to pass one time or other: in which case
this mark of a prophet is unuseful; and therefore the miracles that
oblige us to believe a prophet, ought to be confirmed by an immediate,
or a not long deferred event. So that it is manifest, that the teaching
of the religion which God hath established, and the showing of a present
miracle, joined together, were the only marks whereby the Scripture
would have a true prophet, that is to say, immediate revelation, to be
acknowledged; neither of them being singly sufficient to oblige any
other man to regard what he saith.
[Sidenote: Miracles ceasing, prophets cease, and the Scripture supplies
their place.]