Leviathan eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 732 pages of information about Leviathan.

Leviathan eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 732 pages of information about Leviathan.

The Originall Of The Kingdome Of God After this, it pleased God to speak to Abraham, and (Gen. 17.7,8.) to make a Covenant with him in these words, “I will establish my Covenant between me, and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting Covenant, to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee; And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession.”  And for a memoriall, and a token of this Covenant, he ordaineth (verse 11.) the Sacrament of Circumcision.  This is it which is called the Old Covenant, or Testament; and containeth a Contract between God and Abraham; by which Abraham obligeth himself, and his posterity, in a peculiar manner to be subject to Gods positive Law; for to the Law Morall he was obliged before, as by an Oath of Allegiance.  And though the name of King be not yet given to God, nor of Kingdome to Abraham and his seed; yet the thing is the same; namely, an Institution by pact, of Gods peculiar Soveraignty over the seed of Abraham; which in the renewing of the same Covenant by Moses, at Mount Sinai, is expressely called a peculiar Kingdome of God over the Jews:  and it is of Abraham (not of Moses) St. Paul saith (Rom. 4.11.) that he is the “Father of the Faithfull,” that is, of those that are loyall, and doe not violate their Allegiance sworn to God, then by Circumcision, and afterwards in the New Covenant by Baptisme.

That The Kingdome Of God Is Properly His Civill Soveraignty Over A Peculiar People By Pact This Covenant, at the Foot of Mount Sinai, was renewed by Moses (Exod. 19.5.) where the Lord commandeth Moses to speak to the people in this manner, “If you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my Covenant, then yee shall be a peculiar people to me, for all the Earth is mine; and yee shall be unto me a Sacerdotall Kingdome, and an holy Nation.”  For a “Peculiar people” the vulgar Latine hath, Peculium De Cunctis Populis:  the English translation made in the beginning of the Reign of King James, hath, a “Peculiar treasure unto me above all Nations;” and the Geneva French, “the most precious Jewel of all Nations.”  But the truest Translation is the first, because it is confirmed by St. Paul himself (Tit. 2.14.) where he saith, alluding to that place, that our blessed Saviour “gave himself for us, that he might purifie us to himself, a peculiar (that is, an extraordinary) people:”  for the word is in the Greek periousios, which is opposed commonly to the word epiousios:  and as this signifieth Ordinary, Quotidian, or (as in the Lords Prayer) Of Daily Use; so the other signifieth that which is Overplus, and Stored Up, and Enjoyed In A Speciall Manner; which the Latines call Peculium; and this meaning of the place is confirmed by the reason God rendereth of it, which followeth immediately, in that he addeth, “For all the Earth is mine,” as if he should say, “All the Nations of the world are mine;” but it is not so that you are mine, but in a Speciall Manner:  For they are all mine, by reason of my Power; but you shall be mine, by your own Consent, and Covenant; which is an addition to his ordinary title, to all nations.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Leviathan from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.