Hobbes - Leviathan.pdf

same is again repeated, it is not improbable to say they have relation
to the Transfiguration, which is described in the verses immediately
following, where it is said that "After six days Jesus taketh with him
Peter, and James, and John" (not all, but some of his Disciples), "and
leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves, and was
transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding
white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there
appeared unto them Elias with Moses, and they were talking with
Jesus," etc. So that they saw Christ in glory and majesty, as he is to
come; insomuch as "they were sore afraid." And thus the promise of our
Saviour was accomplished by way of vision. For it was a vision, as may
probably be inferred out of St. Luke, that reciteth the same story,
and saith that Peter and they that were with him were heavy with
sleep:*(2) but most certainly out of Matthew 17. 9 where the same is
again related; for our Saviour charged them, saying, "Tell no man
the vision until the Son of Man be risen from the dead." Howsoever
it be, yet there can from thence be taken no argument to prove that
the kingdom of God taketh beginning till the day of judgement.
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* John, 21. 22
*(2) Luke, 9. 28
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As for some other texts to prove the Pope's power over civil
sovereigns (besides those of Bellarmine), as that the two swords
that Christ and his Apostles had amongst them were the spiritual and
the temporal sword, which they say St. Peter had given him by
Christ; and that of the two luminaries, the greater signifies the
Pope, and the lesser the king; one might as well infer out of the
first verse of the Bible that by heaven is meant the Pope, and by
earth the king: which is not arguing from Scripture, but a wanton
insulting over princes that came in fashion after the time the popes
were grown so secure of their greatness as to contemn all Christian
kings; and treading on the necks of emperors, to mock both them and
the Scripture, in the words of the ninety-first Psalm, "Thou shalt
tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the dragon
thou shalt trample under thy feet."
As for the rites of consecration, though they depend for the most
part upon the discretion and judgement of the governors of the Church,
and not upon the Scriptures; yet those governors are obliged to such
direction as the nature of the action itself requireth; as that the
ceremonies, words, gestures be both decent and significant, or at
least conformable to the action. When Moses consecrated the
tabernacle, the altar, and the vessels belonging to them, he
anointed them with the oil which God had commanded to be made for that
purpose:* and they were holy. There was nothing exorcized, to drive
away phantasms. The same Moses (the civil sovereign of Israel), when
he consecrated Aaron (the high priest) and his sons, did wash them
with water (not exorcized water), put their garments upon them, and
anointed them with oil; and they were sanctified, to minister unto the
Lord in the priest's office, which was a simple and decent cleansing
and adorning them before he presented them to God, to be His servants.
When King Solomon (the civil sovereign of Israel) consecrated the
temple he had built, he stood before all the congregation of Israel;
and having blessed them, he gave thanks to God for putting into the
heart of his father to build it, and for giving to himself the grace
to accomplish the same; and then prayed unto Him, first, to accept
that house, though it were not suitable to His infinite greatness, and