(28) Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: (29) But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: (30) Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
I beg the Reader's most earnest attention to this scripture, And yet more earnestly beg that GOD the HOLY GHOST, will be both his teacher and mine. Would you wish to know, in what the particular blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST consisted? it should most evidently seem to have been in ascribing the merciful works of GOD the SPRIT, to the agency of the devil. The Scribes and Pharisees, did not deny, but that CHRIST had cast out devils. And they could not but know, that no power but the power of GOD, could accomplish such acts. And yet, in the face of this very conviction, they blasphemously ascribed the gracious deeds, which so palpably proved the finger of GOD, to the agency of the devil. Here was blasphemy in the extreme. And what made it wholly unpardonable was this that as a recovery from so malicious and obdurate a state, could never be accomplished but by the HOLY GHOST's awakening true repentance in the soul; and there could be no hopes of such mercy; the sin continuing unlamented, must remain forever unpardoned: and hence, eternal damnation could not but follow. The LORD pardon me if I err, but I humbly conceive that this is the sin of blasphemy, against the HOLY GHOST, which is the SON of GOD, whose name is Mercy, (Luke 1:72.) declared to be without forgiveness, both in this world, and in the world to come. Matthew 12:32
But as many a child of GOD, partly from the unbelief of his own heart, and partly from the temptations of Satan; hath been much distressed on this subject, lest he should have committed this unpardonable sin: and very many of the LORD's tried ones have I seen, sharply exercised on this account, during my poor feeble ministry; I hope the Reader will indulge me, if I enlarge somewhat more particularly on the subject. Perhaps the LORD may give me grace to write, and some poor buffeted soul to read, what I shall offer, and commission it to his or her comfort, and the LORD's glory.
I begin with observing, that I humbly conceive, this blasphemy against GOD the HOLY GHOST, which the men of his generation in the days of CHRIST's flesh committed, was peculiarly and personally chargeable on them. Not that I would be understood as supposing, or in the least intimating as if I supposed, that the sin itself, was so peculiar to that age only, as not capable of being committed in any other. Indeed, I rather think the contrary. When we meet with men in the present day, as well as hear of numbers in the intermediate time from CHRIST's days to ours, who from the same cause as those Scribes and Pharisees, in the presumptuous reasonings of their own hearts, have dared to contemn the most sacred truths of our holy faith; I cannot hesitate to conclude, that there is the same capability of committing this unpardonable sin now, as much as then. But while I say this, in order to guard against all unwarrantable misapprehensions on this point, I am inclined to think, that the sin itself, is peculiar, and that men of their complexion only, are liable to fall into it. And I beg to state the grounds, on which I have been led to form this conclusion.
The LORD JESUS, hath exempted no other species of blasphemy from forgiveness. He hath mercifully said, that all manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven unto men. Yea, as if to denote, in yet more endearing characters, the love of his heart to his people, Jesus hath added, that whosoever speaketh a word, against the SON of man it shall be forgiven him. Not, that it is to be supposed, that the LORD intended thereby to intimate in the least, as if GOD the HOLY GHOST, was greater than GOD the SON: or that blasphemy against one person in the GODHEAD, was less sinful, than against the per son of another. Not so. But to shew, that, multitudes of sins, and blasphemies, against his person, had been, and should be, pardoned, while this one of blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST was forever excluded from the possibility of pardon.
And the special nature of this blasphemy, which is declared to be unpardonable, will appear in yet more striking characters, if we consider, how every other hath been pardoned, and is uniformly represented, as pardonable through the whole word of GOD. Against the person of GOD the FATHER, in how many scriptures are his people said to have blasphemed his name, and yet mercy proclaimed to them. Ezekiel 20. throughout, and Ezekiel 36. throughout. Against the person of GOD the SON, what blasphemies were uttered by numbers, who, like Paul, when in ignorance, were persecutors and blasphemers, and yet whose hearts were pricked at the day of Pentecost, and obtained mercy? And no less against the person, work, and glory, of GOD the HOLY GHOST; what proofs are there of multitudes, having long opposed, and resisted, the ministry of his holy word, and slighted the means of grace, and yet, have at length, been overcome by the LORD, in the day of his power? Hence it should seem, that the blasphemy against the HOLY GHOST, to which our LORD referred, and which he declared to be unpardonable, was a blasphemy, peculiar and personal: and had a special reference, to the Scribes, and Pharisees, with whom our LORD was conversing: and indeed the words imply as much: Because they said, he hath an unclean spirit.
And I cannot but venture to believe, that the thing itself, receives yet a further, and more decisive conclusion, to this point, when we consider the character of those, by whom this sin was committed. The LORD JESUS calls them, a generation of vipers, in the parallel passage, Matthew 12:24-34, and intimates that it is impossible for them being evil to speak good things. And elsewhere, the LORD ex presseth it more strongly: ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your fattier ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it. John 8:44-45. Now from hence, the conclusion is undeniable; that the generation and seed of the serpent, are in their very nature, not only liable to this sin, but ordained to this condemnation. Whereas John was commissioned by the HOLY GHOST to tell the Church; that Whoever is born of GOD doth not commit sin (unpardonable sin); for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of GOD. In this the children of GOD are manifest, and the children of the devil. 1 John 3:9-10.
Now after all this statement, I cannot for my own part hesitate to conclude, that the unpardonable sin, in this peculiar species of blasphemy, here spoken of against the person and glory of GOD the HOLY GHOST, consists, in ascribing to the LORD JESUS, the being under the influence of an unclean spirit, when working miracles by the spirit of GOD. And though I do not presume to speak at all decidedly upon a point of such infinite importance, but would rather humbly ask, to be informed, than determine for others, yet I would, venture to believe, that none of the children of GOD are permitted to fall into it, but are kept from it by the power of GOD, through faith, unto salvation. And in proof of it, we find those fearful, timid souls, who tremble, lest, in the days of their unregeneracy, they should have fallen into it, are the most unlikely persons in the world to have committed it. Your fears more than half testify you have not. Those Scribes and Pharisees who had committed it, were hardened in the commission of it, and neither felt, nor regarded their sin and danger. Whereas your apprehensions flow from the humblings of grace, and manifest the truth of that scripture; He keepeth the feet of his saints. The LORD bless, as far as his truth is in it, what is here said, to every child of GOD.