A Theologico-Political Treatise part 3 | Page 4

the Lord to be faithful" (1 Cor. vii:25), and so on in many other
passages. (8) We must also remark that in the aforesaid chapter the
Apostle says that when he states that he has or has not the precept or
commandment of God, he does not mean the precept or commandment
of God revealed to himself, but only the words uttered by Christ in His
Sermon on the Mount. (9) Furthermore, if we examine the manner in
which the Apostles give out evangelical doctrine, we shall see that it
differs materially from the method adopted by the prophets. (10) The
Apostles everywhere reason as if they were arguing rather than
prophesying; the prophecies, on the other hand, contain only dogmas
and commands. (11) God is therein introduced not as speaking to
reason, but as issuing decrees by His absolute fiat. (12) The authority of
the prophets does not submit to discussion, for whosoever wishes to
find rational ground for his arguments, by that very wish submits them
to everyone's private judgment. (13) This Paul, inasmuch as he uses
reason, appears to have done, for he says in 1 Cor. x:15, "I speak as to
wise men, judge ye what I say." (14) The prophets, as we showed at the
end of
Chapter I
., did not perceive what was revealed by virtue of their natural reason,
and though there are certain passages in the Pentateuch which seem to
be appeals to induction, they turn out, on nearer examination, to be
nothing but peremptory commands. (15) For instance, when Moses
says, Deut. xxxi:27, "Behold, while I am yet alive with you, this day ye
have been rebellious against the Lord; and how much more after my
death," we must by no means conclude that Moses wished to convince
the Israelites by reason that they would necessarily fall away from the

worship of the Lord after his death; for the argument would have been
false, as Scripture itself shows: the Israelites continued faithful during
the lives of Joshua and the elders, and afterwards during the time of
Samuel, David, and Solomon. (16) Therefore the words of Moses are
merely a moral injunction, in which he predicts rhetorically the future
backsliding of the people so as to impress it vividly on their
imagination. (17) I say that Moses spoke of himself in order to lend
likelihood to his prediction, and not as a prophet by revelation, because
in verse 21 of the same chapter we are told that God revealed the same
thing to Moses in different words, and there was no need to make
Moses certain by argument of God's prediction and decree; it was only
necessary that it should be vividly impressed on his imagination, and
this could not be better accomplished than by imagining the existing
contumacy of the people, of which he had had frequent experience, as
likely to extend into the future.
(18) All the arguments employed by Moses in the five books are to be
understood in a similar manner; they are not drawn from the armoury
of reason, but are merely, modes of expression calculated to instil with
efficacy, and present vividly to the imagination the commands of God.
(19) However, I do not wish absolutely to deny that the prophets ever
argued from revelation; I only maintain that the prophets made more
legitimate use of argument in proportion as their knowledge
approached more nearly to ordinary knowledge, and by this we know
that they possessed a knowledge above the ordinary, inasmuch as they
proclaimed absolute dogmas, decrees, or judgments. (20) Thus Moses,
the chief of the prophets, never used legitimate argument, and, on the
other hand, the long deductions and arguments of Paul, such as we find
in the Epistle to the Romans, are in nowise written from supernatural
revelation.
(21) The modes of expression and discourse adopted by the Apostles in
the Epistles, show very clearly that the latter were not written by
revelation and Divine command, but merely by the natural powers and
judgment of the authors. (22) They consist in brotherly admonitions
and courteous expressions such as would never be employed in
prophecy, as for instance, Paul's excuse in Romans xv:15, "I have
written the more boldly unto you in some sort, my brethren."
(23) We may arrive at the same conclusion from observing that we

never read that the Apostles were commanded to write, but only that
they went everywhere preaching, and confirmed their words with signs.
(24) Their personal presence and signs were absolutely necessary for
the conversion and establishment in religion of the Gentiles; as Paul
himself expressly states in Rom. i:11, "But I long to see you, that I may
impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end that ye may be
established."
(25) It may be objected