And first, seeing to speake against the Holy Ghost, as
being the third Person of the Trinity, is to speake against the Church,
in which the Holy Ghost resideth; it seemeth the comparison is made,
betweene the Easinesse of our Saviour, in bearing with offences done to
him while he was on earth, and the of the Pastors after him,
against those which should deny their authority, which was from the Holy
Ghost: As if he should say, You that deny my Power; nay you that shall
crucifie me, shall be pardoned by mee, as often as you turne unto mee by
Repentance: But if you deny the Power of them that teach you hereafter,
by vertue of the Holy Ghost, they shall be inexorable, and shall not
forgive you, but persecute you in this World, and leave you without
absolution, (though you turn to me, unlesse you turn also to them,) to
the punishments (as much as lies in them) of the World to come: And
so the words may be taken as a Prophecy, or Praediction concerning the
times, as they have along been in the Christian Church: Or if this be
not the meaning, (for I am not peremptory in such difficult places,)
perhaps there may be place left after the Resurrection for the
Repentance of some sinners: And there is also another place, that
seemeth to agree therewith.
being the third Person of the Trinity, is to speake against the Church,
in which the Holy Ghost resideth; it seemeth the comparison is made,
betweene the Easinesse of our Saviour, in bearing with offences done to
him while he was on earth, and the of the Pastors after him,
against those which should deny their authority, which was from the Holy
Ghost: As if he should say, You that deny my Power; nay you that shall
crucifie me, shall be pardoned by mee, as often as you turne unto mee by
Repentance: But if you deny the Power of them that teach you hereafter,
by vertue of the Holy Ghost, they shall be inexorable, and shall not
forgive you, but persecute you in this World, and leave you without
absolution, (though you turn to me, unlesse you turn also to them,) to
the punishments (as much as lies in them) of the World to come: And
so the words may be taken as a Prophecy, or Praediction concerning the
times, as they have along been in the Christian Church: Or if this be
not the meaning, (for I am not peremptory in such difficult places,)
perhaps there may be place left after the Resurrection for the
Repentance of some sinners: And there is also another place, that
seemeth to agree therewith.
Hobbes - Leviathan
