day, hearken to his voice, left we be har dened with the deceitfulneß of fin. But if any be under thofe Fears that he has brought himself to that fad ftate, this is the only true fatisfaction can be given him; Whilft he is willing to Repent, and has a juft fenfe of his Sins, and of his ill ftate, he is not hardened, and if Gods Grace doth fo far work upon his Mind as to make him fee and apprehend the neceffity of Repentance, and the forfaking all his evil wayes, then it is not quite withdrawn from him; and if he be willing to try all means, and use his best endeavours to get rid of his Sins, there is great hopes that he may effect this, for God will never be wanting to af fift our fincere Wills and hearty Endeavours; and if his Spirit worketh in us to will and to defire to leave our Sins from a right apprehenfion of the danger and mifchief of them, and produce fuch convictions and illuminations in our Mind, it is certain it hath not abandoned or deferted us, and it will work in us to do alfo, and to effect and perform thofe good thoughts and purposes if we perfift in them, and endeavour with our utmost power to P 2 make make them good and effectual. No Man is cut off from Pardon who Repents and becomes a good Man, tho' he has been never fo bad an one, and no Man will have Gods Grace denyed him, who is at any time fincerely willing and defirous to make use of it, but 'tis a hard and infenfible ftate that has finn'd away its Life, and its day of Grace, and has only deep horrours and fruit lefs forrows when it is too late to amend and become a good Man, that is hopeless and despe rate. SECT. II. Of the Sin against the Holy Ghost, its Nature, and whether Pardonable or no. What the Sin against the Holy Ghoft, and wherein that which is fo dreadful does truly confift, the Scripture methinks is very plain, though they who have left that, and followed their own or others conjectures and opinions about it, are very confused and intricate, and very different and divided They divided among themselves. have made a great many Sins against the Holy Ghost when God has no where in Scripture made but one, and that being of fo dreadful and heinous a Nature, we must be careful to apply it no further than we have warrant from the Word of God, and from our Saviour who beft knew it; and it appears clearly from his Difcourfe about it to be this, A blafphemous charging of the Miracles he did by the Power of the Holy Ghoft to the Power of the Devil. This the Pharifees did Matth. 12. 24. when Chrift had wrought a mighty Cure and Miracle upon a Demoniack to the admiration of all the People that had brought him unto him, ver. 21. Then was brought unto him one poffeffed of a Devil, blind and dumb, and he healed him, infamuch that the blind and dumb both pake and faw. And all the people were amazed, and faid, Is not this the Son of David? But when the Pharifees heard it, they faid, This fellow doth not caft out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. Our Saviour when he had confuted that unreasonable and malicious Calumny against him, P 3 him, by fhowing how unlikely it was that the Devil fhould thus deftroy his own Kingdom and Intereft by being divided against himself, and lending him his Power to caft out Devils, and that it might as well be pretended that all Miracles that were done by their Prophets of old, or by others amongst them afterwards, were performed by a Diabolical Power as well as his, and fo they would deftroy the force and credit of their own Miracles as well as thofe he did, he immediately proceeds to difcourfe of this Sin, Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of fin and blafphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blafphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto them. And he repeats it again in the next Verfe, And whosoever speaketh a word against the son of man it shall be forgiven him; that is, ye may with lefs guilt and danger abufe me, for any thing else that does not fo immediately reflect upon, and reproach the Spirit of God, as when ye called me wine-bibber, and glutton, and a friend of Publicans and Sinners, but whofoever Speaketh against the Holy Ghoft; if ye ufe any reproachful fayings against the Spirit of God by which I do my Miracles, this fhall not be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come. Neither here, nor as fome of you vainly expect hereafter, but shall be certainly and feverely punish'd in both. Now here is no mention at all, nor the leaft intimation of thofe other Sins in which fome have placed this Sin against the Holy Ghoft; as in final Impenitence, which the Pharifees could not then be charged with, not Apoftacy from Chriftianity, which they had not at all profeffed, nor were by this very likely to do; nor denying the Truth for fear of Suffering, as in the inftance of Francis Spira, which is often faid to be his Sin, nor any of the fix Sins in which the Schoolmen have placed it, as Envying our Brothers Graces, Impugning the known Truth, Obftinacy, Impenitency, Def peration and Prefumption, which two latter are unluckily put together to make this one Sin, when they are fo contrary to themselves. Whatever mixture there might be of thefe, or any of thefe, or the like Sins, in the Minds of the Pharifees who committed this Sin against the Holy Ghost, |