Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

design a man, or any other thing, by the hand to the eye is less
subject to mistake than when it is done to the ear by a name.
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* Genesis, 48. 14
*(2) Exodus, 29. 10
*(3) Ibid., 29. 15
*(4) Numbers, 27. 23
*(5) Ibid., 8. 10
*(6) Leviticus, 24. 14
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And so much was this ceremony observed that in blessing the whole
congregation at once, which cannot be done by laying on of hands,
yet Aaron "did lift up his hand towards the people when he blessed
them."* And we read also of the like ceremony of consecration of
temples amongst the heathen, as that the priest laid his hands on some
post of the temple, all the while he was uttering the words of
consecration. So natural it is to design any individual thing rather
by the hand, to assure the eyes, than by words to inform the ear, in
matters of God's public service.
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* Leviticus, 9. 22
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This ceremony was not therefore new in our Saviour's time. For
Jairus, whose daughter was sick, besought our Saviour not to heal her,
but "to lay his hands upon her, that she might be healed."* And
"they brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands
on them, and pray."*(2)
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* Mark, 5. 23
*(2) Matthew, 19. 13
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According to this ancient rite, the Apostles and presbyters and
the presbytery itself laid hands on them whom they ordained pastors,
and withal prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost; and
that not only once, but sometimes oftener, when a new occasion was
presented: but the end was still the same, namely a punctual and
religious designation of the person ordained either to the pastoral
charge in general or to a particular mission. So "The Apostles prayed,
and laid their hands"* on the seven deacons; which was done, not to
give them the Holy Ghost (for they were full of the Holy Ghost
before they were chosen, as appeareth immediately before*(2)), but
to design them to that office. And after Philip the Deacon had
converted certain persons in Samaria, Peter and John went down "and
laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost."*(3) And
not only an Apostle, but a presbyter had this power: for St. Paul
adviseth Timothy, "Lay hands suddenly on no man";*(4) that is,
design no man rashly to the office of a pastor. The whole presbytery
laid their hands on Timothy, as we read, I Timothy, 4. 14, but this is
to be understood as that some did it by the appointment of the
presbytery, and most likely their proestos, or prolocutor, which it
may be was St. Paul himself. For in his second Epistle to Timothy,
verse 6, he saith to him, "Stir up the gift of God which is in thee,
by the laying on of my hands": where note, by the way, that by the
Holy Ghost is not meant the third person in the Trinity, but the gifts
necessary to the pastoral office. We read also that St. Paul had
imposition of hands twice; once from Ananias at Damascus at the time
of his baptism;*(5) and again at Antioch, when he was first sent out