sations and respects hath God revealed himself to us. Before the coming of Christ in the flesh, God was more known as a lawgiver ; God the Son was manifested obscurely, and the Spirit given sparingly. When God was manifested in our flesh and dwelt among us, the person, dignity, and office of the Son was set forth ; but upon his reception into heaven, the Spirit came as God's vicegerent or vicar-general. Now he hath a special inspection over all affairs of the church : Acts v. 3, 4, 'And Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost, and hast kept back part of the land ? While it remained, was it not thine own ? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power ? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart ? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God ; ' Acts xx. 28, ' Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.' He liveth, and walketh, and dwelleth in you : ' His temples we are.' All operations that belong to faith and repentance come from him. To resist them is to resist the Holy Ghost, Acts vii. 51. Therefore this sin, which questioneth the main evidence upon which faith is built, is called, ' The sin against the Holy Ghost.' Once more ; it is called ' a sin unto death ; ' 1 John v. 16, 17, ' There is a sin unto death, and tliere is a sin not unto death.' In some respect, all sins are sins unto death, as they deserve it ; but this is especially so. A sin may be called a sin unto death quo ad meritum, in respect of its desert : Eom. vi. 23, * The wages of sin is death.' Vel quoad eventum, or in respect of the event ; so is unbelief and irapenitency, or all that sin which men continue in till death : Prov. iii. 18, ' Her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead,' if continued in ; but if broken off, it is pardonable, or rather pardoned. But this sin is quoad 7iaturam, in its own nature, a sin which cannot be pardoned neither in this world nor the next : Mat. xii. 31, 32, ' Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven ; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neitlier in this world, neither in the world to come.' Why is this sin irremissible or unpardonable? Surely it is not in respect of God the Father, as if he wanted mercy enough to pardon it ; that cannot be, for his goodness and mercy is infinite. Not in respect of the Lord our propitiation, for his blood being of an infinite and matchless value and worth, is above the transgression of the creature. Nor merely subjectively in regard of the sinner, who by reason of former impieties and frequent convic- tions is given over to an hardened heart, an heart which cannot repent, and through custom of sin is seared and made as hard as the nether millstone ; but chiefly from the special nature of this sin, which lieth in some contradiction to the pardoning terras, or the way which God taketh to bring home sinners to himself. It is an aggravated sort of an impenitency in its own nature, which God will not pardon, it being an obstinate refusal of the means of conviction and conversion.
2. Observe the qualification of the object, the truth of the gospel represented by some powerful evidence of the Spirit ; for it is a bias-
YeR. 13.] SERMONS UPON PSALM XIX. 13. 401
pheray against the Holy Ghost, or an ohstinate refusal of the means of conviction and conversion. A sin of ignorance it cannot be, for the greatest blasphemy committed ignorantly may be forgiven : 1 Tim. i. 13, ' Who was before a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious ; but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.' A sin of in- cogitancy it cannot be, for of all sins, that hath the most of infirmity when a man is suddenly surprised. It is not a rash opposition, but. wittingly and willingly committed against some special operation of the Spirit ; and that operation of the Spirit in applying the gospel must be such as is a sufficient evidence to work faith concerning the truth of it. Now two ways doth the Holy Ghost evidence and witness the truth of the gospel to the souls of men — either objective or efficienter ; either as an objective testimony or argument : Acts v. 31, 32, ' Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a prince and a saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things, and so is also tlie Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.' Or efficiently : Eph. i. 17, 18, ' That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him ; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of the inheritance of the saints.' By miracles without, or some divine effects within, such as is illumination and taste. The outward work is enough, for it is full evidence. And the pharisees had no internal conviction from the Spirit, or illumination that we read of, but only maliciously slandered Christ's miracles, to whom Christ applieth the sin, Mat. xii. 31. They fathered these works of the Spirit on Satan. And it is possible some may have more illumination, as those that reject this evidence by mali- cious and total apostasy. They may be enlightened : Heb. vi. 4, ' For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost.' They may have a taste, some internal preparative work.