see that every species of enormity has been pardoned. What horrible uncleanness had the Corinthians been guilty of! yet they were washed, justified, and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God^. Murders have in some instances been, not only committed, but multiplied : yet Manasseh, who, in addition to the most impious idolatries, had " filled the streets of Jerusalem with the blood of innocents," was pardoned^. The persecuting of God's Church and people also, though it is like the " piercing of the apple of God's eye," has been forgiven : yea, Saul, the most furious of all zealots, was stopped in the midst of his outrages, and transformed into a blessed Apostle, in order that he might be an everlasting monument of the power and grace of Christ''. To sum up all in one ; the very murder of the Son of God himself has been forgiven ; and thousands of those who cried out, " Crucify him, crucify him," were converted in answer to that petition of our Lord, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." We may extend our observation also to sins committed after conversion. Who can contemplate without horror the conduct of David ; who, though an eminent professor and patron of religion, defiled the wife of his faithful subject, and, in order to conceal his crime, laid a plot to destroy him ? Consider him, I say, murdering this man who was exposing his life con- tinually for his sake, murdering also a multitude of other persons together with him, involving another person in the guilt of all these murders as his instrument and accomplice, and making the very man, whose death he was contriving, the bearer of that letter, which was devoting him to destruction : consider him moreover, when he had accomplished his purpose, blasphemously ascribing the death of all these persons to God', then instantly taking the adulterous Bathsheba to live with him as his wife ; and, after all, living at least nine months in utter impenitence, as though he had committed no crime at all ! ! In an ignorant heathen, such conduct would have been inexpressibly vile ; but in a saint of God, the man after God's own heart — who would conceive it possible ? To believe that such iniquity was ever committed, seems almost a libel upon human nature. Yet even this, surpassing as it does almost the bounds of credibility, was forgiven, and that too, upon the very first motion of penitence in David's heart ^. Peter's sin, if viewed in all its aggravations, was scarcely less than this : yet, even while he was committing it, our Lord looked on him with pity and compassion ; and afterwards thrice repeated the commission, which restored him openly to his apostleship^"]
f 1 Cor. vi. 9—11.
B 2 Kings xxi. 16. with 2 Chron. xxxiii. 9, 12, 13.
h 1 Tim. i. IG. * 2 Sara. xi. 25. ^ 2 Sam. xii. 13.
' John xxi. 15 — 17.
1355.] THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST. ol7
2. From Scripture declarations —
[Consult we the Prophets ? They speak strongly on this point, declaring that we are redeemed from all sins, even those of a scarlet or crimson die ™. Ask we of the Apostles ? They speak in terms of similar import", and contrast the Gospel with the la\y in this particular ; that whereas there were some sins, for which there was no sacrifice appointed under the law of Moses, there is no iniquity whatever from which we may not be justified by the Gospel of Christ °. If we attend to the voice of Christ himself, we shall find him no less explicit: he as- sures us that whosoever believeth in him shall never die, shall never be cast out p. Thus universally do the Scriptures testify, that " all manner of sin," yea, even the most horrid " blasphe- mies wherewith any man can blaspheme," (except the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost) " shall be forgiven unto men."