he ban, and securely to condemn us. They do
not permit themselves to be called tyrants, nor wicked, nor
temple-robbers. They wish to be styled most kind, holy and reverend
gentlemen.

137. The meaning, therefore, is not that which Lyra follows when he
understands "famous" as "notorious." As the world does not call the
pope Antichrist, but ascribes to him the name of the greatest saint
and admires him as if he and his carnal creatures were filled with the
Holy Spirit and incapable of error, and therefore humbly worships
whatever he commands or advises--exactly so those giants had a noble
name and were held in admiration by the whole world. On the contrary,
Noah with his followers was condemned as a rebel, as a heretic, as a
traducer of the dignity of State and Church. So today do bishops
regard us who profess the Gospel.

D. THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT.

138. This passage furnishes a description of the sins with which that
age was burdened: Men were averse to the Word; they were given over to
their own lusts and reprobate minds; they sinned against the Holy
Spirit by persistent impenitence, by defending their ungodly behavior
and by warring upon the recognized truth. Yet with all these
blasphemies they retained the name and authority, not only of the
State, but also of the Church, as if God had exalted them to the place
of the angels. When this was the state of things, and Noah and Lamech
with their pious ancestor Methuselah taught in vain, God turned them
over to the desires of their hearts (Ps 81, 12) and maintained silence
until they should experience the flood, the prophecy of which they
refused to believe.

139. This is falling away from God and Church and entering upon
illicit marriage. One sin, unless corrected at once, will lead to
another, and so on indefinitely until the state is reached which
Solomon describes in Proverbs 18, 3, "When the wicked cometh, there
cometh also contempt, and with ignominy Cometh reproach." They who
thus sin, even if afterward rebuked, do not heed. They imagine they
stand in need of no instructor, and think they represent a just cause.
They do not believe in a life after this, or even hope for salvation,
while living in open sin. Notwithstanding, scorn and shame shall
overwhelm them. It was this persistent impenitence and consummate
contempt for the Word that impelled God to visit all flesh with a
universal flood.

IV. GOD'S REPENTANCE AND GRIEF THAT HE MADE MAN.

A.