III.^12621262    From Athanasius, as above, p. 155.

Then he says again: As the Saviour converses with those not yet able to receive what is perfect,^12631263    τὰ τέλεια. condescending to their littleness, while the Holy Spirit communes with the perfected, and yet we could never say on that account that the teaching of the Spirit is superior to the teaching of the Son, but only that the Son condescends to the imperfect, while the Spirit is the seal of the perfected; even so it is not on account of the superiority of the Spirit over the Son that the blasphemy against the Spirit is a sin excluding impunity and pardon, but because for the imperfect there is pardon, while for those who have tasted the heavenly gift,^12641264    Heb. vi. 4. [Compare Matt. xii. 31.] and been made perfect, there remains no plea or prayer for pardon.

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