Leviathan: Chapter 44 Summary & Analysis

There is another king of power named in Holy Scripture that is neither civil nor divine. Holy Scripture refers to the “Power of Darkness,” such as “the Rulers of the Darknesse of the world,” “the Kingdome of Satan,” and “the Principality of Beelzebub over Dæmons.” This Darkness, like Hell, is allegorical, and Hobbes defines it as: “a Confederacy of Deceivers, that to obtain dominion over men in this present world, endeavor by dark, and erroneous Doctrines, to extinguish in the them the Light, both of Nature, and the Gospell; as so to dis-prepare them for the Kingdome of God to come.” 

The modern church, Hobbes says, is not yet out of darkness, and he claims there are four major causes. First, darkness is caused by “putting out the light of Scripture,” which is the ignorance of Holy Scripture. Secondly, darkness is caused by the “Dæmonolgy of the Heathen Poets,” who write of demons, and ghosts, and fairies. The third cause of darkness is mixing Holy Scripture with the philosophies of the ancient Greeks, particularly Aristotle. Fourth, darkness is caused by mixing false traditions with dubious history. In this chapter, Hobbes will first talk of the abuse of Holy Scripture.

The “greatest, and main abuse” of Holy Scripture is the belief that the Kingdome of God is the Church, which Hobbes has already demonstrated is false. The Kingdome of God began with the Jews and God’s covenant with his “Peculiar People.” There has not been another common-wealth on Earth with God as the sovereign power since the Jews were freed from their captivity in Egypt. The Kingdome of God will not appear until the Second Coming, and the only covenant Christians belong to now is with their sovereign power. 

The erroneous belief that the Church is God’s Kingdome leads to a belief there is a single person or persons through whom Christ speaks from Heaven and gives laws to all of Christendom. This person is commonly known as the Pope, and the institution of the Pope is the cause of yet another erroneous belief—that a Christian monarch must be crowned by a bishop for their power to be official. Yet another erroneous belief is that all pastors, deacons, and ministers are each “Clergy,” and that their maintenance must be kept through tithes and offerings. This leads the people of a common-wealth to pay double taxes—one to the common-wealth and one to the Clergy.

From the mistaken belief that the Church is God’s Kingdome comes the distinction between civil laws and canonical laws. Civil law is the work of a sovereign, whereas canon is law passed by the Pope in the very same common-wealth. Yet another abuse of Holy Scripture is mistaking consecration for conjuration. In Holy Scripture, the word “Consecrate” is to “Offer, Give, or Dedicate,” which is not the same as conjuring some spirit through seemingly holy practices. For example, consider transubstantiation—“This is my Body” and “This is my Blood.” Wine and bread are supposedly turned to blood and flesh by way of a charm performed by a minister, but transubstantiation was not establish until the reign of Innocent III (1198-1216 CE).

There are many texts that contain these errors and mistaken beliefs, Hobbes explains, such as the works of Cardinal Bellarmine. Included in this list of erroneous texts are the works of Theodore Beza, although it is less clear whom Beza considers the supreme ecclesiastical power. Beza maintains that the Kingdome of God began with Christ’s Resurrection, and he uses Mark 9:1 to argue his point: “Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not tast of death, till they have seene the Kingdome of God come with power.” But, Hobbes says, all this scripture proves is that the Kingdome of God is not of the present world.

Hobbes moves on to consecration in Holy Scripture, another abuse that he claims has nothing to do whatsoever with exorcism. For instance, when Solomon, the first King of Israel, consecrated his temple, he stood before the people of Israel, blessed them, thanked God, and then prayed unto the people that they might accept his temple. Never anywhere is there any mention of excising ghosts or evil spirits. 

Next, Hobbes considers the separation of soul and body, after which the soul lives in eternal life. There are different places in Holy Scripture that prove this argument, such a Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes 12:7, “Then shall the Dust return to Dust, as it was, and the Spirit shall return to God that gave it,” or Ecclesiastes 9:5, “The living know they shall die, but the dead know not any thing.” 

In the New Testament, eternal life is often attributed to the sinners. “Everlasting fire, Everlasting torments, Everlasting punishments,” which Hobbes also dismisses, so he stops to revisit what he has already shown to be true. First, the Kingdome of God, or the Kingdome of Christ (which Christ rules by God’s order), will not begin until Judgement Day, on which day those who are faithful to Christ will rise again in their “spirituall Bodies” and be Christ’s subjects for all eternity. In Eternal life, the saved will not eat, drink, marry, or feel any desire of the flesh, and they will live in everlasting joy.   

On Judgement Day, the righteous who still live will immediately transform into their “spirituall Bodies” and join the others in Christ’s Kingdome, wherever that may be. However, nowhere in Holy Scripture does it indicate that sinners who do not repent or those who deny Christ are ever turned into a spiritual Body. “Eternal Torments” are spoken of in generalities of fire and death. Therefore, on Judgement Day, it can be assumed that the wicked will be left to “live as they did,” giving into hunger, thirst, and other desires and needs of the flesh, while the believers live in eternal bliss and happiness.   

When St. Paul speaks of the Resurrection in 1 Corinthians, he says the body is “Sown in Corruption, raised in Incorruption; sown in Dishonor, raised in Honour; sown in Weaknesse, raised in Power; sown a Narturall body, raised a Spirituall body.” But, Hobbes says, the same is not said for bodies sent for punishment. Upon this absence scripture is the founding of Purgatory, as it is argued by Cardinal Bellarmine.

Cardinal Bellarmine alleges other places within the New Testament that also prove the existence of Purgatory. For example, Matthew 12:32. “Whosoever speaketh a word against the Sonne of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not bee forgiven him neither in this world, nor in the world to come.” This passage goes a long way to proving Hobbes’s claim that the Kingdome of God is not of this world; however, it does not prove the existence of Purgatory or indicate a specific place.

Another piece of Holy Scripture thought by Bellarmine and others to prove the existence of Purgatory is I Corinthians, in which it says: “They themselves shall be saved; but as through Fire.” It is assumed that the “Fire” here is Purgatory, however these words are but an allusion to Zechariah 13:9, which speaks of the power of the Messiah, not Purgatory. There is also Matthew 13:9. “I will bring the third art through the Fire, and will Refine them.” But this passage, too, refers to Judgement Day and the power of Christ the Messiah, not Purgatory.