VOL. II.
50 ,xcnE]) o wr[Tsus])x'r. [sEs. xxxn. pro Fy»ica, when thoughts procoed out of the mind; but those thoughts remain stl in the mind within, and bave no separate subsistence in themselves: and then there le proco yFerFysica, which is this which we ek and find in out souls, but hot in our tones, a preing of the Ho]y Gho so from Faner and Son, as that he remains a subsistence a]one, a distinct person of himself. This is far the schoel can reh, ortu, qui relationis est, on et a se; au, qui personw e, per subsistit: eonsider him in his preeding, he must neeesrily bave relation to nother, consider him aetually in his person, so he substs of himself. And de modo, for the manner of his procoeding, we noed, we can say but ts, as the Son proeeeds per modum intellectus, (so as the mind of man conceives a thought) so the Ho]y Ghost procoe modum voluntatis; when the mind bath produced a thought, that mind, and that scourse and ratiocination pruce a will; fir o derstanding is sett]ed, and that understanding leads our II. And nearer than this (though God knows this be far off) we cannot go, the procoeding of the Ho]y Ghost. This then is the Sirit, the third peroen in the Trinity, but the fit person in our text, the other is onr irit, The Siit beaeth itness with out sirit. I told you before, that among the manifold acceptations of the word spirit, as it bath relation paicularly fo man, it is either the soul itse]f, or the viol spirits, (the thin and active pas of the blood) or the superior faculties of the sou], in a regenerate man; and that is our place. So St. Paul distinishes soul and spirit, The wd pierces to the diidiny asuer sl and sirlt that which inanimates the body, and enables the organs ofthe sens to see and hear; the spirit is that which enables the so see God, and to hear his Goel. The saine pse bath the me e in another place, ] pray God your splrlt, and sl, and body ay be preserred blameless«: where it is hot so abroey said, (though a ve eat man call it an abord eosition) that the so, ani«a, is that, 9ua animales kines, (as the a]e cal them) that by which men are men, narval men, carnal men;
ER. XXXlI.] PREACHED ON ,VHITSUNDAY, and the spirit is the spirit of regeneration, by which man is a new creature, a spiritual rnan; but that expositor hirnself bath said enough to out present purpose, the soul is the seat of affections, the spirit is rectifled reason. It is truc, this reason is the sovereign, these affections are the officers, this body is the executioner: reason authorizes, affections comrnand, the body executes: and when we conceive in our rnind, desire in our heart, perform in or body nothing that displeases God, then have we had benefit of St. Paul's prayer, Tkat in body, and »oul, and »loirit we raay be blamele». In some, we need seek no farther for a word to express this #pi'it, but that whieh is farniliar to us, the con»cience: a reetified conscience is this spirit; 3ly conscience bea'iny me u'itne», says the apostle »: and so we bave both the persons in this judieial proeeeding; the q,i'it is the Hdy Ghost; out »1oirit is our conscience; and now their office is fo testify, to bear witness, which is out second general part, Tle Sloirit vitness, &c. To be a witness, is hot an mworthy office for the I-Ioly Ghost hirnself: hereties in their pestilent doetrines, tyrants in their bloody persecations, cal1 Goal himself so often, so far into question, as that it needs strong and pregnant testirnony to acquit hirn. First, against heretics, we sec the whole Seripture is but a testament; and testamettu»z is téstatio raentis, it is but an attestation, a proof what the will of God is: and therefore when Tertullian deprehended himself to have slipped into another word, and to have ealled the Bible Instruraentum, he retracts and eorreets himself thus, 2llayi sui et diceee testamentum quan ¢nstrumentura, It is rnore proper to eall the Seripture a Testa,. ment, than a eonveyanee or eovenant: all the Bible is testament, attestation, declaration, proof, evidence of the will of God fo man. And those tu'o u'itesses spoken of in the Revelation*, are very eonveniently, very probably interpreted fo be the two Testarnents; and to the Seriptures Christ hirnself refers the Jews, S'earch them, for they bear witne of me ». The word of God written by the I-Ioly Ghost is a witness, and so the I-Ioly Ghost is a witness against heretics. Against tyrants and persecutors, the office of a witness is an honourable office too; for that Rom. ix. I. Rev. xi. 2. John v. 39.
which we call more passionately, and more gloriously martyrdom, is but testimony; a martyr is nothing but a witness. He that pledges Christ in his own wine, in his own cup, in hlood; he that washes away his sins in a second baptism, and hath found a lawful way of re-baptizing, even in blood; he that waters the prophet's ploughing, and the apostle's sowing with blood; he that can be content to bleed as long as a tyrant can foam, or an executioner sweat; he that is piced, nay embalmed in hlood, salted with tire, and preserved in his own ashes; he that (fo contract all, nay fo enlarge bevond all) suffers in the inquisition, when his body is upon tlle rack, when the rags are in his throat, when the boots are upon his legs, when the splinters are under his nails, if in those agonies he bave the vigour to say, I suffit this to show what my Saviour suflred, must yet make this difference, he suffered as a Saviour, I suflèr but as a witness. But yet to him that suffers as a martyr, as a witness, a crown is reserved; it is a happy and a harmonious meeting in Stephen's martyrdom; proto-mart!tr, and,çtqhanus; that the iïrst maoEyr for Christ should bave a crown in his naine. Such a blessed meeting there is in Joash his COl'onation, osuit u]er eum diadema et testimonium, They put the crown upon kis head, aut the testimony"; that is, the law, whieh testified, that as he had the erown froln God, so he had it ',vith a witness, with an obligation, that his govemment, his life, and (if need were) his death should testify his zeal to him that gave him that erown. Thus the Holy Ghost himself is a witness against hereties in the word; and those men who are full of the Holy Ghost (as Stephen was) are witnesses against perseeution, in action, in passion. At this rime, and by occasion of these words, we eonsider prineipally the first, the testifieation of the Holy Ghost himself; and therein we eonsider thus mueh more, that a ',vitness ever testifies of some matter of fact, of something done before; the Holy Ghost, the Spirit here, (as we shall see anon) witnesses that we are the children of God. l'ow if a witness prove that I ara a tenant to such land, or lord or it, I do not become lord nor tenant by this witne, but his testimony Woves that I ",vas so hefore. I bave therefore a former riht to he the child of God, » 2 Kin ii. 12.
that is, the eternal election of God in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus could as we]l bave disobeyed his Father, and said, I will hot go, or disappointed his Father, and said, I will hot go yet, as he could bave disfurnished his Father, and said, He would hot redeem me. The Holy Ghost bears witness, that is, he pleads, he produces that eternal decree for my election. And upon such evidence shall I gi'e sentence against myself. ,'i testaretur a»yelus, vel archan.qelus, posset qztisquam addubitare. I shouldnot doubt the testimony of an angel, or archangel, and yet angels and archangels, ail sorts of angels were deceivers in the serpent. And therefore the apostle presents it (though impossible in itself) as a thing that might fall into our mis-apprehension: If we, (that is the apostles) or if an anyd from hearen preach any other Gospel, aiathema sit, let kim be accursed *. But quando JDeus testatur, quls locus reli.nquitur dubitationi. when God testifies to me, it is a rebellious sin fo doubt: and therefore how hyperbolically soever St. Paul argue there, If apostles, if angels teach the contrary, teach false doctrine, it nec'er entered into his argument (though an argannent ab imTossibili) to say, if God should teach, or testify false doctrine. Though then there be a former e'idence for my being the child of God, a decree in heaven, yet it is hOt enough that there is such a record, but it must be produced, it must be pleaded, it must be testified to be that, it must ha-e the witness of the Spirit, and by that, innotêscit, though it do hOt become my election then, it makes my election appear then, and though it be hOt introductory, it is declaratory. The foot is in the decree, the first fruits are in the testimony of the Spirit; but even that spirit will hOt be testis sinyularls, he will hot be heard alone, and single, but it is cure,çloirita nostro, Te,çpirit testifles wi our spirit, &c. The Holy Ghost will fulfil his own law, In ore duorum, In the nouth oftwo witnesses. Sometimes out spirit bears witness of some things appertaining to the next world, without the testimony of the Holy Ghost. Tertullian in that excellent book of his, De testimodo admw, Of the testimony which the soul of man gives of itself to itself, where he speaks of the soul of a natural, a] unregenerate man, gives us just occasion to stop a » ClnTsostom" s Gai. i. 8.
little upon that consideration. If, says ho, we for our religion produce your own authors aainst you, (ho speaks te natural mon, secular philosophers) and show you out of them, what passions, what vices even they impute te those whom you have ruade your gods, thon you say, they were but poetw vanl, those authors were but vain, and frivolous poets: but when those authors speak anything which sounds against our religion, thon theyare philosophers, and reverend and classic authors. And therefore, says ho, I will draw no witness frein them, Perversoe fellcitatis, quibus in falso potiu creditur, quam ir vero, Because they have this perverse, this left-handed happiness, te ho believed when they lie, botter than when they say truc. Novum testimonium adduvo, says ho; I waive all them, and I call upon a new witness: a witness, ornni literaturoe notius, more legible than any character, than any text-hand, for it is the intimation of my own sou], and conscience; and orani editione vulyatius, more public, more conspicuous than any addition, any impression of any author, for editions may be ealled in, but who can call in the testimony of his own sou]. Ho proceeds, Te sirnplicem, et idioticum compello, I require but a simple, an unlearned sou], Qualem te habent, te solam habent, Sueh a seul, as that man bath, who hath nothing but a seul, no learning; Iraperitia tua mihi opus est, uoniam aliquantulw perltioe tuw wrno credit; I shall bave the more use of thy testimony, the more ignorant thou art, for, in such cases, art is suspicious, and from them who are able te prove anything, we beliove nothing: and thorefore, says ho, 2Vole acaderalls, bible othecis instructam, I call net a seul nmde in an university, or nursed in a library, but let this sou] eome new, as it came te me in my mother's womb, an inartificial, an inexperieneed sou]; and then, te (contraet Tertullian's eontomplation) he proeeeds te show the notions of the Christian religion, whieh are in sueh a seul naturally, and which his spirit, that is, his reetified reason, rectified but by nature, is able te infuse into him. And eertainly some of that, whieh is proved by the testimony, mentioned in this text, is proved by the testimony of our own natural sou], in that poet whom the apostle cites, that said, lVe are the off-spriny of God si.
So then out spirit bears witness sometimes when tle Spirit does hot; tlat is, nature testifies some things, withont addition of particular grace: and then the Spirit, the Holy Ghost oftentimes testifies, wlen ours does hot: How often stands he at the door, and knocks . How often spread.s he his wings, to gatler as a hen ber chickens . How often presents he fo us the power of God in the mouth of tle preacher, and we bear witness to one another of the wit and of the eloquence of tle preacher, and no more. How often he bears witness, that such an action is odious in the siglt of God, and out spirit bears witness, that it acceptable, profitable, honourable in the sight of man. Hov often he bears witness, for God's judgments, and out spirit deposes for mercy, by presumption, and how often he testifies for mercy, and out spirit swears for judgment, in desperation But when the Spirit, and our spirit agree in their testimony, that he hath spoke comfortably to my soul, and my soul hath apprehended comfort by that speech, that, (to use Christ's similitude) He piped, and we have danoed, he hath showed me my Saviour, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour, he deposes for the decree of my election, and I depose for the seals and marks of that decree, these tvo witnesses, the çTirit, and my s]ffr[t, induce a third witness, the world itse]f, to testify that which is the testimony of this text, T/«t cm t/e cM[d of God. And so we pass from the two former parts, the persons, the Spirit, and our spirit, and their oflïce, to witness and to agree in their witness, and we are fallen into our third part, the testimony itself, That -we are the childre of God. This part bath also two branches; first, that the testimony concerns ourselves, Ié are, and then, that that which we are is this, We are the children of God. And in the first branela, there will he two twigs, two sub-eonsiderations; we, a personal appropriation of the grace of God to ourlves, We are, we are now, a present possession of those graces. First, consider we the consolation in tlae particle of appropriation, é. In tlae great ant-laill of the whole world, I ara an ant; I bave my part in the creation, I am a creature; but there are ignoble creatures. God cornes nearer; in the great field of clay, of red earth, that man was ruade of, and mankind, I am a clod; I ara a man, I haro my
. rIEACHED ON 'HITSUI'gDAY. [SEI. XXXII. art n the huanity but an was worse than annihilated aain. Ven Satan in that serpent was corne, as Hercules with his club into a potters shop, and had broke all the vessels, destroyed all ankind, and the racious promise of a Messiah m redeem all mankind, was shed and spread upon all, I had my drop of that dew of heaven, my spark of that tire of heaven, in the nniversal promise, in which I was involved; but this pr mise w appropriated after, in a particular covenant, to one people, to the Jews, fo the seed of Abraham. But for ail that, I bave my portion there; for all that profess Crist Jesus are by a spiritual engrafting, and transmigration, and transplantation, in and of that stock, and that seed of Abraham; and I ara one of thooe. But then, of those who do profess Christ Jesus, some grovel still in tbe superstitions tbey were fallen into, and some are raised, by God's good grace, out of them; and I ara one of those; God bath afforded me my station, in that church, which is departed from Babvlon. ow, all tbis while, my soul is in a eheerful progress; when I consider what God did for Goshen in Eg)Tt, for a little park in the midst of a forest; what he did for Jewry, in the midst of enemies, as a shire that should stand out against kingdom round about it: how many Sancerras he hatb delivered from lamines, bow many Genevas from plot, and machinations against her, all this while my soul is in a progress: but I ara at home, when I consider bulls of excommunications, and solicitations of rebellions, and pistols, and poisons, and the disco'eries of those; there is out nos, we, testimonies that we are in the fa'our, and care of God; we, out nation, we, our church; there I ara at home; but I am in my cabinet at home, when I consider, what God hath donc for me, and my soul; there is the eyo, the particular, the individual, I. This appropriation is the consoIation, re are; But who are they or how are we of them Testimo- ittn est clamor ilse, says St. Cbryoestom to our eat advantage, Even this, that we are able to cry Abba, Farder, by te irit OE adoption , is this testimony, tkat u'e are is cMldren; if we ean tru]y do that, that testifies for us. The Spirit testifies two ways; directly, exprcssly, personally, as in tiret, 3Jan, thy »i» are Ver. 15.
forgiven tkee s, and 8o to David by Nathan, Transtullt, The Lord bath taken acay tkff »in; and then he testifies, per indicia, by constant marks, and infallible evidences. Ve are not to look for the first, for it is a kind of revelation; nor are ve to doubt of the second, for the marks are infallible. And therefore, as St. Augustine said of the Manichees, eoncerning the Scriptures, Insani sunt adrersus antidotum, quo sani esse possunt, They are enraged against that, which only can cure them of their rage, that was, the Scriptures; so there are men, which will still be in ignorance of that which might cure them of their ignorance, beeause they vill hot labour to find in themselves, the marks and seals of those who are ordained to salvation, they will needs think, that no man ean have any such testimony. They say, It is truc, there is a blessed comfort, in this appropriation, if we could be sure of it; they may; we are; we are already in possession of it. The marks of out spiritual filiation, are less subject to error, than of temporal. Shall the mother's honesty be the evidence. Alas, ve bave some such examples of their falsehood, as will discredit any argument, built merely upon their truth. He is like the father; is that the evidence . lma- " gination may impl'int those characters: he hath his land; a supposititious child may have that. Spiritual marks are not 8o fallible as these: they have so much in them, as creates even a knowledge, 2*ow cee are the sons of God, and cee know that we shall be like him; and cee know, tkat cee are of God "°. ls ail this but a conjectural knowledge, but a moral certitude. ]go tincture of faith in it. Can I aequire, and must I bring certitudinem fldei, an assurance out of faith, that a eouncil calmot err; and then, such another faithful assurance, that file Council of Trent vas a truc council; and then another, that the Couneil of Trent did truly and duly proceed in all ways essential to the truth of a council, in constituting their decree against this doctrine. And may I not bring this assurance of faith to St. Paul, and St. John vhen they say the contrary. ls not St. Paul's stmtts, and St. John's scimus, as good a ground for out faith, as the servile and mercenary voices of a herd of new pensionary bishops, shovelled together at Trent for that purpose, are for the contrary. » Luke v. 20. «o i John iii. 2; v. 19.
A paicr bishop in the man church ', cites an iversal bishop, a pope hse in this point, and he ys weH, credl satui lex slini, oever we may py for, we may, we must believe C«rtudin J, With an sunce of faith; if I may py, and say Pa ose, if I m), caH Goal Father, I may believe with a faitul surance, that I ara the child of God. çt invita pauli sentenia, Let the aposfle's trine, says that bishop, remain unshaked; Et velut sayia, says he, This doctrine, as an arrow shot at them, wi put out their eyes that think te sec beyond St. Paul. It is truc, says that bishop the are differences amongst Catholics themselves in this point; and then, why de they charge us, whom they deçame, by the naine of heretic with beginning this doctrine, which was among themselves beçore we were at ail, iç they did date us aright estatur piritus, ci damus fidem, et ide i sumus, says that bishop: The Hdy Ghost bears tness, and our irit th him, and thereby we are ste: but, says he, they wiH nee make a doubt whether this be a knowledge out & faith; which doubt, says he, Secumrt absurditatem, There is an absurdity, contradiction in the very doubt: Ex Siritu çancto, et humana? Is it a owledge from the Holy Ghost, and is it net a divine knowledge then But, say they, (as that bishop presses their objections) the Hdy Gho doth net make them know, that it the Holy Ghost that assures them; this is, says he, as absurd as the other; for, isi se testantem insinud, non testatur, Except ho make them discern, that he is a witness, he is no tness te them: he ends it thm, çtinere countur qt«od ezcidit; and that is inde the case, in very many things contveed; then when it conduced te their advantage in argaent, or te their profit in purse, such and such things fell frein them, and new that opp sition is ruade again such yings of theirs, their profit lies at stake, and their reputation toe, te make good, and te maintain that wch they have once, how indiscrely soever, said. Seine of their severest later men, even of their Jesuits «, acknowledge that we may know ourselves te be the children of God, with as good a knowledge, as that there a Rome, or a Conantinople, and such an assance ddivers them frein aH fear that ey catnus. ¢= Vegm. Perefim.
shall fall awy; and is hot this more than that rnce which we tke ourselves çVe give no such surance as may occ ion secuty, or sloekness in the service of God, and they give such an aurance may remove ail fear and suicion of falling from God. It w truly good counæl in St. Gregory, when, writing to one of the empresses bedchmber, religious lady of his o naine, who had written to him, that she shonld never leave imçortuning him, till he sent ber word, that he had received a reve]tion from God tht she ws sved: for, ys he, em dclem ostd, et inutilem, It is hard matter you require, and an impeinent, and usele matter: for I ara hot a man wohy to reoeive revelations, and besid, such revelation you require, might make you too oecure: and 3laer neyliyentiw sole esse securitas, (says he) Such a security might make you negligent in the duties whieh should make sure your salvation. St. Augustine felt the witness of the pirit, but hot of his spirit, when he std out many solieit tions of the Holy Ghost, and defeed and put off the outward means, his baptism. In that state, when he had a disposition to baptism, he says of himself, ItoEerui exultando, sed inhorri imendo; Still I had a fervent joy in me, because I saw the way thee, and intended to put myself into that way, but yet, because I was hot yet in it, I had a trembling, a jealou, a su pieion of mysel£ Insituati sun mihi in proEndo nutts ti, In that haff-darkness, in that twilight I diseerned thine eye fo be upon me; E yaens infide, laudavi nn uum, And this, says he, created a kind of faith, a confidence in me, and this induced an inward joy, and flaat produced a praising of thy goodnes Sed ea fides curttm me non esse siteba, But ail this did hot imprint, and establish that seeurity, that assurance whieh I found as soon as I came the outward seals, and marks, and testimonies of thine inseparable presence with me, in thy bapti, and other ordinances. St. Bernard puts the marks of as mueh assurance, we ach, in these words of our Saviour, rye, toile yrabam, et ambda, Arise, take tp thy bed, ad walk. 8urye ad divina, ise thy thoughts upon the next world; Tolle corpus, t non te ferat, s u illd, Take up thy body, bring thy body into thy power, that thou govern it, and hot it thee; and then, A mbula,
0 PREACHED ON XVtIIT8UIIDAY. SEII. XXXII. on 'etrospicias, ,Valk on, proceed forward, md look hot back with a delight pon thy former sins: and a great deal an elder man than Bernard «, expresses it well, ee v[entibus peribe testlmonium, çuod jom s«mus fllii Dei, Tohlm that liv according fo a right faith, the Spirit testifies that he is now the child of God, t quod talia fociendo, perserobimus in ea flllotione, He earries this testimony thus mueh faher, that if we endeavour fo continue in that course, we shall continue in that state, of being the ehildren of G, and never be east ofl never disinherited. Herein is out assurance, an eltion there is; the Spirit bears witness to out spirit, that if is ours; we testify this in a holy lire; and the ehureh of G, and the whole world joins in this testimony, Thag ce are te cildren God; whieh is out last braneh, and eOllelusion of all. The Holy Glmst eould hot express more danger fo a man, than when he eal]s him Filium sæculi, Te cMld tMs worM «"; nor xvorse disposition, than when he ealls him, Filium ddentie, Te cild OE dden¢e, and distrust in God «; nor a worsc pursuer of that iii dispition, than when he ealls him Filium dlaboli, (as St. Peter ealls EIymas) Te cild te deril ««; nor a worse possessing of the devil, flmn when he ealls him Filium perditionis, Te ciM OE perdition «; nor s worse exeeution of all this, than when ho calls him Filium geennw, Te ciM " ell ««: the child of this world, the ehild of desperation, the ehild of the devil, tho ehiM of perdition, the ehild of hell, is a high expressing, u deep aggravating of Iris damnation; that his damnation is hot only his purchase, as he bath aequired it, but it is his inheritanee, he is the child of dmnation. So is if also high exaltation, when the Holy Ghost dmws out pediee from any gd thing, and eMls us the ehildren of that: as, when he ealls us Filios lucis, Te cildren OE ligt ', tht we bave seen the day-star arise, when he ealls us Filios sponsl, Te cildren of te bridecamber «o, begot in lawful marriage upon the true ehurch, these are fait approaches to the highest ride of ail, to be Filii Del, Te c ildren God; and hot ehil&-en of God, per flliationem estigii, (so « emius. « Luke xvi. 18. ca Ephes. x-. 6. t« &ets . 10. * John x-fi. lMt. iii. i. « Jolm . 36.;o Matt. ix. 18.
lqEno XXXll.] PREACHED O VIlITSUN°DAY. 1 every creatul'e is ehild of God) by lmving an image, and impression of God, lu the very being thereof, but children so, as that we are helr, and heirs so, as that we are o-heirs with Christ, as it follows in the next verse, and is implied in this naine, Children Of God. Heirs of heaven, whieh la not a gavel-kind, every son, every man alike; but it is an universal primogeniture, every man full, so full, as that every man hath ail, in sueh measure, as that there is nothiag in heaven, which any man in heaven xvants. Heirs of the joys of heaven; joy in a eontinual dilatation of thy heart, to reeeive augmentation of that whieh is infinite, in the accumulation of essential and aeeidental joy. Joy in a eontinual mdting of indissoluble bovels, in joyful, and y eompassionate beholding thy Saviour; rejoieing at thy being there, and almost lamenting (in a kind of affwtion, whieh we ean eall by no naine) that thou eodst not eome thither, but by those wounds, which are still xvounds, though xvounds glorified. Heirs of the joy, and heirs of the glory of heaven; where if thou look down, and see kings fighting for erowns, thou eanst look off as easily, as from boys at stool-ball for points here; aad from kiugs triumphing after victories, as easily, as a philosopher from a pageant of ehildren here. SVhere thou shalt not be subjeet to any other title of dominion iu oflaers, but Jesus %zareth biny the Jews, nor ambitious of any other title in thyself, but that whieh thou possessest, To be the child God. Heirs of joy, heirs of glory, and heirs of the eternity of heaven; where, in the possession of this joy, and this glory, the angels whieh were there almost six thousand years before thee, and so prescribe, and those souls which shall eome at Christ's last eoming," and so enter but then, shall hot survive thee, but they, and thou, and ail, shall lire as long as he that gives you ail that life, as God himself. Heirs to heaven, and eo-heirs with Christ: there is much to be said of that eireumstance; but who shall say it I that should say it, have raid ill of it already, in calling it a eireumstance. To be eo-heirs with Christ, is that essential salvation itself; and to that he entitled us, when after his resurreetion he said of us, 6'0 tell my brethren that I ara yone . When ho was Jo . 17.
ut born of a oman, and submtted fo the minority, he was but a carpenter, and at full age, but a preher when they accused him in general, that he w a maleftor, or else they would hot bave delivered him , but they knew hot the naine of his fau]t, when a fau]t of secu]ar cognizance w objected to him, that he moved sedition, that he denied tribute, and then a fault of ecclesiastical cognizance, that he spoke against the law, and against the temple, when Barabb a seditious mder w preferred before him, and saved, and yet two thieves left to company him, in his torment and death, in these diminutions of Christ, there was no great honour, no eat cause why any man should bave any great desire to be of his kindd; be brother, or co-heir to his. cross. But if to be his brethren, when he had begun his triumph in his resurrection, were a high dignity, what is it to be co-heirs with him in heaven, after his ascension But these are inexpressible, inconceivable things; bring it back to that which is nearest us; to those seals and marks which we bave in this life; that by a holy, a sanctified psage through this life, and out of this life, fl'om out first seal in baptism, to our last seal upon our death-bed, The,Ypirit may bear witess to out spirit, that we are the children of God. Amen.
V,'herefore I say unto you, AI1 mauner of sin and blasphemy shal] be forglven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall net be forgiven unto Inen.
,As when a merchant hath a fair and large, a deep and open sea, into that harbour to which he is bound with his merchandise, it were an impertinent thing for him, to sound, and search for lands, John xviii. 30.
ing, so high, a that even the mercy of God does hot reach toit. And in the first we shall proceed thus, in the magnifying God's mercy, first, in the first terre, sin, we sha]] see that sin is even a wound, a violence upon God; and then Onne peccatum, Every sin is so; and nothing is so various, so diverse as sin; and even that sin, that amounts to blasphemy, a sin hot on]y conceived in the thought, but expressed in contume]ious words; and those contumelious and blasphemous words nttered against the on, (for soit is expressed in the very next verse) all this shall bforyiven: but yet it is infuturo, They shall b: no man's sins are forgiven him, then when he sins them; but by repentante they shall be forgiven;.lbryiren nnto men; that is, first, unto any man, and then, unto none but men; for the sin of the angels shall never be forgiven: and these will be the branches of the first part. And in the second part, we shall look as far as this text occasions it, upon that debated sin, the sln ayainst the Holy Gkost, and the irremLsibleness of that; of which part, we shall derive and raise the partieular branches anon, vhen we corne to handle them. First then, for the first term, sin, we use to ask in the sehool, whether any action of man's tan have 'ationem demeriti, whether it tan be said to offend God, or to deserve iii of God: for whatsoever does so, must have some proportion with God. Vith things vhich are inanimate, things that have no will, and so no good nor bad purpose, as dust, or the vind, or such, a man cannot properly be so of/nded, as to say that they deserve iii of him. Vith those things which have no use, no command of their will, as children, and fools, and madmen, it is so too; and then, there is no creature so poor, so childish, so impotent, in respect of man, as the best man is in respect of God: how then ean he sin, that is, offend, that is, deserve ill of him. The question begun hot in the school; it was asked belote of Job a: If thou sinnest, chat doest thou ayainst him? or if thy transyreslons be multiplied, ehat doe»t thou unto him? Tk!! wickedne» may hurt a man a» thou art; but what is it to God. For, as Gregory says upon that plaee, Humana impietas el nocet, 9uem perrertendo inquinat, Our sins hurt them, whom our example leads into temptation; but our sins eannot draw God to be aeeessory to our sins, or to make him sin with us. Our sin cannot hurt him so; nor hurt him directly any way; hot his person: but his subjects, whom ho bath taken iuto his protection, it may; his law, which ho bath giron for direction, it may jealous, which honour consists much in Dur honouring of him, it may. Vherein is a king's person violated, by coining a false penny, or counterfeiting a seal. And yet this is treason. God cannot be robbed, ho cannot be damnified; whatsoever is taken from him (and there is a sacrilege in all unjust takings) wheresoever it be laid, ho sees it, and it is sti]l in his possession, and in his house, and in his hands. God cannot be robbed, nor God cannot be violated, ho cannot be wounded, for ho bath no limbs. But God is Utimu8 finis, The end to which we all go, and his law is the way to that end; and Transilire lineam, To transeTess that law, to leave that way, is a neglecting of him: and even negligences, and pretermissiotts, and slightings, are as great offences, as actual injuries. So God is commtnis Pater, the Father of ail creatures; and so the abuse of the creature reflects upon God, as the injuries done to the children, do upon the parents. If then we can sin so against God, as we can against the king, and against the law, and against propriety, and against parents; we bave ways enow of sinning against God. Sin is hOt therefore so absolutely nothing, as that it is (in no consideration) other than a privation, only absentia recti, and nothing at ail in itself: but, hot to enter farther into that inextricable point, we test in this, that sin is actus inordiatts, it is hot only an obliquity, a privation, but it is an action deprived of that rectitude, whidx it should bave; it does not only waut that rectitude, but it should have that rectitude, and therefore bath a sinful want. Ve shall not dare to call sin merely, absolutely nothing, if we consider either the punishment due to sin, or the pardon of that punishment, or the price of that pardon. The punishment is everlasting; why should I believe it to be so. Os Domlni locutum, The mouth of the Lord bath said it. But why should it be so . Justum est nt qui in suo wte,'no loeccarit co»tra Deum, i Dei wterno puniatur , It is but justice, that he that sins in his eternity, should be lmnished in God's eternity: nov to sin in our eternity, is to sin as long as Gregory. VOL. II. F we live, and if we could lire eternally, to desire to sin eternally. God can cut off our eternity, he can shorten our lire; if we could cut off his eternity, and quench heil, out punishment were not eternal. We consider sin to be uoddam in.finitum; as it is an aversion from God, who is infinite goodness, it is an infinite thing: and as it is a turning upon the creature, it is finite, and determined; for ail pleasure taken in the creature, is so: and accordingly sin hath a finite, which we call iooentm sensts, infinite; (otherwise, than by and an infinite punishment: that the torment which we feel, is hot duration) for that torment is not equal in all the damned, and that which is infinite must necessarily be equal; but that which we call yoenam damni, the everlasting loss of the sight of the everliving God, that is infinite, and alike, and equal in ail the damned. Sin is something then, if wo consider the punishment; and so it is, if we consider out deliverance from this punishment: that which God could hOt pardon in the way of justico without satisfaction, that for which nothing could be a satisfaction, but the lire of ail men, or of one man worth ail, the Son of God, that that fore the Son out of the arms of his Father, il» the Quid dereli9uisti, when he cried out, SVhy hast thou forsaken me. That which imprinted in him, who was anointed with the oil of gladness above his feilows, a deadly heaviness, in his tristis affma, when his soul was heavy unto death, that which had power to open heaven in his descent hither, and to open hell, in his descent thither, to open the womb of the Virgin in his incarnation, and the womb of the earth in his resurrection, that which could change the frame of nature in miracles, and the (;od of nature in becoming man, that that deserved that punishment, that that needed that ransom (say the schoolmen what they will of privations) cannot be merely, absolutely nothing, but the greatest thing that can be conceived; and yet that shail be forgiven. That, and ail that; si., and all si; and there is not so much of anything in the world, as of sin. Every virtue bath two extremes, two vices opposed to it; there is two fo one; but Abraham's task was an easy task t« tell the stars of heaven; so it were to teil the sands, or hairs, or atoms, in respect of tdling but out own sins. And will God say to me, C.tidefil«; " 3Iy son,
SEIo XXXIIL] PIEACHED ON 'W'HITSl)'NDA'Y. be of çood cheer, th in are forçi thee" Does ho mean ail my ins He know what original sin i,. nd I do n; nd will ho forgivo me in in thnt foot. and in in tho brnnehe,. originl in. and actual in too He know my,ecret in. a I do hOt; will ho forgivo my manifest sins, and thoso He knws my repses into sine repented; and wiH he forgive my fnint repentances, and my rebellio relapses ter them Will hie mercy dire iuto my hrt, and frgive my sinfuI thoughts there, and ehed upon my lips, and forgive my blas- çhemous words there, and bathe the members of this body, and forgive mine unclean actions there Will he contract himseff into himself, and meet me there, and forgive my sine against himseff, and seatter himseff upon the wodd, and forgive my sine ainet my neighbour, nnd imprison himself in me, and forgive my sins again myself WiH he forgive tho sine, vherein my practice bath exceeded my parents, nnd those wherein my example hnth misled my children Will he forgive that dint eight which I bave of sin now, when sins scrce appear tobe sins unto me, and will he forgive that over-quick sight, when I shall soe my sins through Satan's multiplying glass of desperation, when I shall think them greater than I tha he oaid all, he l' out nothi9", is the apostle's arment: and, he is hot afighty, if he cannot; his mercy endures hot for ever, if he do hot forve all. A'in, and all oint, even blasTky: now blasphemy is hot Rrained to God alone; other persons bedes God, other things, besides persos, may be bsphemed. The word of God, the doctrine, religion nay be blasphemed s. Magistracy and dignities may be blasphemed «. ay, Omtia çuw iynorant, ys that postle, blasTh.eme all thin9s Itiçh they kow ot. And for persons, the apostle takes it to his o peon, einy blasThed yd 'o intrea; and he communicates it to blasThate, Dlaheme o man . Blasphemy, as it is a contumelious speech, derogating from any man, that good that is in him, or attributing to any man, that ill that is hot in him, may be ftened upon any man. For the most pa it Iatt. ix. 2. « Heb. ri. 8. 1 T. . 1. Jude , 10. F2 sin ains od, and that directly; and here, by the manner of hrist expressin himself it is ruade the reatest sin; a even blaslhemy. And yet, a drunkard that cannot naine God, will spcw out a blasphcmy against God: a child that cannot spell God, will stammer out a blasphemy against God: if we smart, we blaspheme God, and we blaspheme him if we be tickled; if I lose at phy, I blaspheme, and if my fellow lose, he blasphemcs, so that God is alwa7s sure to be a loser. An usurer can show me his bags, and an extortioner his houses, the fruits, the revenues of his sin; but where will the blasphemer show me his blasphemy, or what he bath got by it. The licentious man bath had his love in his arms, and the envious man bath had his enemy in the dust, but wherein bath the blasphemer hurt God In the school ° we put it for the consummation of the torment of the damned, that at the resurrection, they shall bave bodies, and so be able, even verbally, to blasphenle God; herein we exceed the devil already, that we can speak blasphemously. There is a rebellious part of the body, that Adam covered with fig-leaves, that hath danmed many a wretched soul; but yet, I think, hot more than the tongue; and therefore the whole torment that Dives suffered in hell, is expressed in that part, 'atier Abraham, bave mercy on me, and send Lazarus, tlat he may the tip of his finger in u'ater, and cool my tongue °. The Jews that crucified God, will hot sound the naine of God, and we for whom he was erucified, belch him out in our surfeits, and foam him out in our fury: an impertinent siu, without occasion before, and an unprofitable sin, without recompense after, aud an incorrigible sin too; for, almost what father dares chide his son for blasphemy, that may hOt tell him, sir, I learnt it of you. Or what master his servant, that cannot lay the sme reerimination upon him . How mueh then do we need this exen of God's merey, that he will forgive sin, and all »in, and even this sin of blasphemy, and (which is also another addition) blasphemy affainst the çon. This emphatical addition arises out of the connexion in the next verse,.4 word, (that is, a blasphcmous word) against tle on, lmll be forgiren. And herc we carry not the word »on so Aen. 22 x. % 13. ax. 4. z0 Luke xvi. 24.
s. xxxm.] Pcv os wrrssvy. 69 hh, as tat te n scà e te etea] Son words spoken against the eternal Son of God by many bitter and blasphemou0 heretics bave been forgiven: God forbid that all the Photinians who thought that Chri was hot af ail, till he was bore of the Virgin Ma', that all the atitarians, that thought ho was from aH etemity with God, but yet w hot the Son of God, that all the Arians, that thought him the Son of God, but yet hot essentially, hOt by nature, but by oee and adoption, God forbid that all the should be damned, and because they once spoke ain0t the Son, therefore they never repented, or were no received upon repennce. We carry hot the word, son, w high, as tobe the eternal n of God, for itis in the text, Filius hominis, Te,'on of an; and, in that acceptation, we do not mean it, of all blasphemies that have been spoken of Christ, te 'o man, that is, of Christ invested in the human nature; though blasphemies in that kind bave been forgiven toe: God forbid that ail the Arians, that thought Christ so mueh the Son of man as that he toek a human body, but hot so much, as that he took a human soul, but that the Goead itself (such Godhead as they allowed him) was his ul; God forbid that all the Anabaptis, that eonfess he toek a body, but not a body of the substance of the Virgin; that all the Carpoetians, that thought only his soul, and hot his body seended into heaven, God forbid ail these should be damned, and never ealled fo repentanee, or not admitted upon it: there were fearful blasphemies again tho Son, as the Son of God, and as the Son of man, against his Divine, and against his human nature, and those, in some of them, by God's aee forgiven toe. But here we eonsider him only as the Son of man, merely as man; but as such a man, so good a man, as to ealmnniate him, to blaspheme him, was an inexcusable sin. To say of him, who had fasted foy days and foy nights, homo oraoe, BehoM a man çluonous, and a wine-bibber t, to say of him, of whom themselves had aid elsewher, Jlaster, at ou art true, and earest for o man TM, that h was a friend of Iublicans, and dnners, that thi man who wa te Prince of Peace, hould edure 8uc eontradfction', this wa an inexeusabl in. If any man threfor hav had hi good intention mis-
The kings of the earth are fait and glorious resemblances of the King of heaven; they are beams of that sun, tapers of that torch, they are liko gods they are gods: The Lord killeth and maketh alie he brinffeth down te the ffrae and brinffeth ¢his is che Lord of heaven; Che Lord' anointed, kings oî the earth de se too; they bave the dispensation of judgrnent, and of mercy, they execute, and they pardon: but yet, with this differenco amongst many other, that kings of the earth (for the most part, and tho best, most) bind themselves with an oath, net te pardon seine offices; tho King of heaven swears, and swears by himself, that there is no sinner but ho can, and would pardon. At first, Illuminat omnem homin.em IIe if the t'ue li.qh, ehid li9hteneth eer!t man that cometh into the world; let that light (because many de interpret that place se)let that be but that natural light, which only man, and every man bath; yet that light makes him capable of the super-natural light of grace; for if he had net that reasonable seul, he could net bave graee; and even by this natural light, he is able te sec the invisible God, in the visible creature, and is inexcusable if he de net se. But because this light is (though net put out) brought te a dimness, by man's first fall, therefore John Baptist came te bear cltness ofthat lçqht, that ai1 men, throuTh him, miyht beliere ": God raises up a John Baptist in every man; every man finds a testimony in himself, that ho draws eurtains between the light and him; that he runs into eorners frein that light; that he doth net make that use of those helps whieh God hath afforded him, as he might. Thus God hath merey upon ail belote, by way of prevention thus he enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world: but, because for all this men de stumble, even at noon, God bath given collyrium, an eye-sa&e te ai1, by which they may menti their eye-sight; he hath opened a pool of Bethesda te ai1, where net only he that cornes at first, but he that cornes even at last, he that cornes washed with the water of baptism in his int'ancy, and he that cornes washed with the tenrs of repentanee in his age, may receive health and eleanness; for, the font,t first, and the deathbed nt last, are eisterns frein this pool, and ail men, and
72 PIEACHED ON 'IIITSUNDAY. [SER. XKXIII. at all rimes, may wash therein: and from this poer, and this love of God, is derived both that catholic çromise, çu«JocuoEue, At u'hat rime soezer a singer rets, and that catholic and extensive commission, Quorrtm riseritis, Whose sins soeter ou ferait, shall be ritted. Ail men were in Adam; bause the whole nature, mankind, was in him; and then, can anv be without sin Ail men were in Christ too, because the whole nature, mankind, was in him; and then, can any man be excluded from a possibility of mercy There were whole sts, whole bies of heretics, that denied the communication of G's groee to others; the Cathari denied that any man had it but themselves: the ovatians denied that any man cod bave it again, after he had once lost it, by any deadly sin committed after baptism, but there was never any sect that denied it to themselves, no sect of despairing men. We bave some somewhere sprinkled; one in the Old Tesmment, Cain, and one in the ew, Judas, and one in the Ecclesiastical Stop, Julian; but no by, no sect of despairing men. And therefore he that abandons himseff to this sin of desperation, sins th the least reason of any, for he prefers his in above God's mercy, and he sins th the fewe examples of any, for ( hath diflhsed this light, with an evidence to ail, that ail sins may be forgiven unto men, that is, unto ail men; and then, herein also is God's mercy to man nmified, that it is to man, that is, only to man. 'othing can fall into this comparison, but angels; and angels shall hot be forgiven: we shall be like the angels, we shall participate of their glory which stand; but the angels shall never be like us; never return to mercç after they are fallen. They were rimoyeffti Dei, G's first born, and yet disinherited; and disinherited wi&out any power, at least, without puose of revocation, without annuities, without pensions, without any present supply, without any future hope. XVhen the angels were ruade, and when they fell, we dispute; but when they shaH return, falls hOt into question. Howoeever Origen vary in himself, or howsoever he fell under that jealousy, or misinte@reration, that he thought thc devil should be saved at last, I ara sure his books that are extant, bave prenant aud abundant testimony of their everlasting, and irreparable eondemnation. To
SElf. XXXIII.] PREACHED ON 'HITSUNDAY. 73 judge by out evidence, the evidence of Scriptures, for their sin, and the evidence of out conscience, for ours, there is none of us that bath hot sinned more than any of them at fir; and }t Christ bath hot taken the nature of angels, but of man, and redeemed us, having eserred them D ezerlastiy cais, nde darkne : How long Uto the judmet of the 9reat day, says that apostle; and is it but till then, then to have an end Alas no; itis hot until that day, but unto that day; hOt that that day shall end or case their torments whieh they bave, but inflict aecidental torments, whieh they bave hot yet; that is, an utter evacuation of that power of dueing, whieh, till that day corne, they shall bave leave to exercise upon the sons of men: to that are they reoerved, and we to that glory, whieh they bave lost, and lost for ever; and upon us, is that prayer of the apost]e fallen effectua]ly, Jlercy, and Teace, and love is multitdled unto ust"; for, sin, and all tin, blasphêmy, and blasphemy ayalnt the,on,,hall be, that i is hot, nor was hot, but may be ]bryien to men, to ail men, to none but men; and so ve pass to out second part. In this second pa, which seems to preoent a bank even to this sen, this infinite sea of the blood of Christ Jesus; and an horizon even to this hean of heavens, the meoey of God, we shall peeed thus: first, we shall inquire, but modestly, what that blashemy, which is eommonly ealled The sin ayainst tl, e Holy Ght, is: and secondly, how, and wherein it is irremissib]e, that it shall never be forgiven: and then thirdly, upon what plac of Scripture it is grounded; anaongst which, if this text do hot eonstitute and establish that sin, the sln ayainst the Holy Ghost, yet we shall find, that that sin which is directly intended in this text, is a branch of that sin, the si ayainst the Holy Ghost: and fl]erefore we shall take just occasion from thenee, to arm you with corne instructions against those ways which lead into that irrecoverable doetruction, into that irremiible sin: for though the sin itlf be hot so edent, yet the limbs of the sin, and the ways to the sin, are plain enough. St. Augustine says, There is no question in the Scripture harder than this, what this sin is: and St. Ambrose gives some reason of the diculty in this, Sicut una #&inltas, una obnsa: Jude 6. a Ver. 2.
As there is but one Goed, so there is no sin sginst God all sin is so) but it is against the whole Trinity: and that is true; but there are ceain attributes proper to every several pemon of the Tnity, so there are ceain sin more directly against the several attributes and propeaies of tho persons, and in such a coideration, against the peinons themselves. Of which there are divers sins against power, and they are principally against the Father; for to the Father we attribute power; and divers sins against isdom, and isdom we attribute to the Son and divers aainst yoess, and lofe, and these we attribute to the Holy Ghost. Of those against the Holy Ghost, considered in that attribute of goodness, and of love, the place to speak, will be our conclusion. But for this paicular sin, te sin ayaist the Ho/Gost, as hard as St. Augustine makes it, and justly, yet he says toe, Exerure nos zol««it dultate quwstionis, non eipere fid, itate setentiw, God would exercise us with a hard question, but he would not deceive us with a false opinion: Quid sit olult, non negari; God would bave us modestly inquire what it is, not peremptorily deny that there is any such sin. It is (for the most pa) aeed, that it is a total falling away from the Gospel of Christ Jesus formerly acknowledged and professed, into a verbal calumniating, and a real persecuting of that Gospel, with a deliberate puose to continue so to the end, and actually to do so, to peroevere till then, and then to pass away in that disposition. It falls only upon the professors of the Gospel, and it is total, and it is practical, and it is deliberate, and it is final. Here we bave that sin, but, by God's grace, that sinner no where. It is therefore somewhat early, somewhat forwaM]y pronounced, though by a reverend man, Certum reprobationls hum, in,çirit«m blaspe»,ia °, That it is an infallible assurance, hat that nmn is a reprobate that blahemes the Holy Ghost. For, whatsoever is an infallible sign, must be notorious to us; if we must know another thing by that, as a sign, we must know that thing which is our sign, in itself: and can we know what this blaspheming of the Holy Ghost is Did we ever hear any man say, or see any man do anything against the Holy Ghost, of u Cal.
his mercy; and his mercy is abov ail his works. But God can do nothing tht implies contradiction; and God having declared, by what means only his mercy and forgiveness shall be conveyed te man, God should contradict himsclf, if he should give forgiveness to them, who will fully exclude those means of mercy. And thcrefore it were not boldly, nor irreverently said, that God could not give grace to a beast, nor mercy to the devil, because either they are naturally destitute, or bave wilfuily despoiled themselves of the capacity of race, and mercy. Vhen we consider, that (od the Father, whom, as the root of all, we consider principally in the creation, crcated man in a possibility, and ability, to persist in that rgoodness, in which he created him, and consider that God thc Son came, and wrouht a reconciliation for man to God, and so brought in a trcasure, in the nature thcreof, a sufficient ransom for ail the world, but then a man knows hot this, or believes not this, otherwise than historicaily, morally, civilly, and so evacuates, and shakes off the God the Son, and then consider that the I-Ioly Ghost cornes, and prcsents means of applying all this, and making the general satisfaction of Christ reach and spread itself upon my soul, in particular, in the preaching of the word, in the seals of the sacraments, in the absolution of the church, and I preclude the ways, and shut up myself against the Holy Ghost, and so evacuate him, and shake him off, when I have resisted Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is there . fourth person in the Godhead to work upon me. If I blaspheme, that is, deliberately pronounce against the Holy Ghost, my sin is irremissible therefore, because there is no body left to forgive it, nor way left, 'herein forgiveness should work upon me; so far it is irremissible on God's part, and on mine too. And then, take it there, in that state of irremissibleness, and consider seriously the fearfulness of it. I have been anyry; and then, (as Christ tells me ) I bave been in dmç(/er ofajudyment; but in judgment, I may have counsel, I may be heard; I have said A'aca, expressed my anger and so been in danger of a council; but a council does but consult, what punishment is fit to be inflicted; and so long there is hope of mitigation, and commutation of penance; but I have said fatue, I have called Iatt. v. 22.
my brother.to[, and so ara in danyer ofhellflre. In the first, there is ira 2", an inward commotion, an irregular distemper; in the second, there is ira et vox; in the first it is but ira carnls, non anima, it is but my passion, it is not I that ara anTy, but in the second I have suffered my passion to vent and utter itself; but in the third, there is ira, vox et vituperatio, a distemper within, a declaration to evil example without, and an injury and defamation to a third person, and this exalts the offence to the height: but when this third person cornes tobe the third person in the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, in ail the other cases, there is danger, danger of judgment, danger of a council, danger of hell, but here is irremissibleness, hell itself, and no avoiding of hell, no cooling in hell, no deliverance from hell; irremissible; those hands that reached fo the ends of the world, in creating it, and span the world in preserving it, and stretched over all in redeeming it, those hands bave I manacled, that they cannot open unto me: that tenderness that is affected to ail, bave I damped, retarded that proneness, stupified that alacrity, confounded that voice, diverted those eyes, that are naturally disposed to ail: and all this, irremissibly, for ever; not, though he would, but because he will not show mercy; hot, though I would, but because I cannot ask mercy; and therefore beware all approaches towards that sin, from which there is no returning, no redemption. We are corne now, in our order, to out third and last branch of this last part, that this doctrine of a h ayainst te Holy Ghot, is hot a dream of the schoolmen, though they bave spoken many things frivolously of it, but grounded in evident places of Scriptures: amongst which, we look especially, how far this text conduces to that doctrine. There are two places ordinarily cited, which seem directly to concern this sin; and two others, which to me seem hot to do so. Those of the first kind, are both in the Epistle to the Hebrews: there the apostle says, For thoe u'ho were once enliyhtened, aud bave tasted of the heavenly yift, and were made partaker of the Itoly Ghost, if they fall away, if i i»ossible to renew them by rentance 2. Now, if final impenitente had been added, there could bave been no question, but that this must be the sin against the Ho]y Ghost; and because the apostle speaks of such a total falllng away, as precludes all way of repentance, it includes final impenitence, and se makes up that sin. The other place frein,vhich it rises most pregnantly, is, Of how sore a punishnent shall they be thouykt wortky, who bave trodden nnder foot the £;on of God, and bave done despite nnto the,_'pirit of yraee "«? As he had said belote, If we sin wilfidly, aftn" we haze receized the knowled9e of truth, tkere remainetk no nore sacrifice for sins, but a eertain fearfd lookiçq for of jud9ment, and flery indiynation . But yet, though from these places, there arises evidenee, that such a sin there is, as naturally shuts out repentante, and o is thereby irremissible, yet there arise no marks, by whieh I tan say, this man is such a sinner; net though he himself would swear te me, that he were se new, and that he would eodtinue se, till death. The other places that de net se dirictly concern this sin, and yct are ometimes used in this aflhir, are, one in St. John, and this text anothcr. That in St. John is, Ther« is a sin nto death, I de wt say, that « 8hall ray for ¢t . It is true, that the toaster of the sentences, and frein him, many of the school, and many of out later interpreters too, de understand this, of the sin against the Holy Ghost, because we are (almost) forbidden te pray for it; but yet we are net absolutcly îorbidden, in th,at we are net bidden. And if we were îorbidden, whcn God says to Jremy, Pray ot tho for this people, eitker lift 1 ery, nor 1r«yer.fbr them, «teither nake intercession to ne, for I will not hear tkee ', and again, Pr«y hot for them, for I will hot hear them ', hot them, though they should eome to pray for themselves, God forbid that we should therefore say, that ail that people had committed the sin against the Holy Ghost. And for this particular place of St. John, that answer may suffice, which very good divines have given, pray not for them, is indeed pray hot with them, adroit them to no part in the public prayers for the congregation, but if they sin a sin unto death, 3 notorious, an inexcusable sin, let them be persons excommunicated to thee. For the words in this text, which seem to many appliable to eb. x. 29. Ver. 26. 1 John v. 16. Jer. vil 16. 0 Jer. xL 14.
that great nin, it in net clear, it is net much probable, that they can be se apphed. Take the words invested in their cireumstance, in the context and coherence, and if will appear evideut. Christ speaks this te the Pharisees, upon occasion of that which they had said te him, and of him before, and ho carries it, intends if no farther. That appears by the first word of our text, Pro_pterea, Tlwrefore I ay unto you; Therefore, that is, bec,use you have used sueh words unto me. Aud St. llark makes it more clear , He said tis te tliem, because they said, lw liad an u,cleat spirit; because they said ho did his miracles by the power of the devil. New, this was certainly a sin against the Holy Ghost, se far, as that it was distinguished frein the sins against the Son of man; but it was net the sin against the Holy Ghost: ibr, Christ being a mixed person, God and man, did seine things, in which his divinity had nothing te de, but were only actions of a mere natural man, and when they slandered him in these, they blasphemed the Son of man. Seine things ho did in the power of his Godhead, in which his humanity contributed nothing; as all his miracles; and when they attributed these works te the devil, they blasphemed the Holy Ghost. And therefore St. Augustine says, that Christ in this place, did net se much accuse the Pharisees, that they had already incurred the sin of the Holy Ghost, as admonish them, that by adventuring upon such sins as were sins against the Holy Ghost, they might at last rail into the sin, that impenitibh, and therefore irremissible sin. But that sin, this could net be, because the Pharisees had net embraced the Gospel before, and se this could net be a falling frein the Gospel, in them: neither does it appear te haro continued te a final impenitence; se far frein it, as that St. Chrysostom makes no doubt, but that seine of these Pharisees did repent upon Crist's admonition. 1%w, bdoved, since we sec by this collation of places, that if is net sale te say of any man, ho is this sinner, ner very constantly agreed upon, what is this sin, but yet we are sure, that such a sin there is, that captivates even God himself, and takes frein him the exercise of his mercy, and casts a dumbness, a speechlessness upon the church itself, that she may net pray for t Iark iii. 30.
such a sinner; and since we see, that Christ, with so much earnestness, rebukes the Pharisees for this sin in the text, because it was a linab of that sin, and conduced toit, let us use ail religious diligence, to keep ourselves in a sale distance ri'oto it. To which purpose, be pleased to cast a particular, but short and transitory glance, upon some such sins, as therefore, because they conduce to that, are sometimes called sins against the Holy Ghost. Sins against power, (that is the 'atlwr'» attribute) sins of infirmityare easily forgiven; sins against wisdom, (that is the,S'on's attribute) sins of ignorance are easily forgiven; but sins against yoodness, (that is the Holy Ghost's attribute,) sins of an hard and iii nature are hardly forgiven: not at ail, when it eomes to be The sin; not easily, when they are Those sins, those that conduce to ît, and are branches of it. For branches, the schoolmen have named three couples, whieh they have caiied sins «yainst the Holy Ghost, beeause naturally they shut out those means by which the Holy Ghost might work upon us. The first couple is, 19resumtgtioz aud desioeration; for presumption takes avay the fear of God, and desperation the love of God. And then, they name impenitence, and hardness of heart; for impenitence removes ail sorroxv for sins past, and hardness of heart ail tenderness toxvards future tentations. And lastly, they naine Tlw resistiny o.fa truth acknooeleclyed belote, and the enryby of other men, wlw hare ruade better ns of God's yrace than we bave donc; for this resisting of a truth, is a shutting up of oursel-es against.it, and this envying of others, is a sorrow, that that truth should prevail upon them. And truly (to refleet very little upon these three couples again) to presume upon God, that God cannot danm me eternally in the next wofld, for a few half hours in this; what is a fornication, or what is an idolatry to God. what is a jest, or a ballad, or a libel to a king. Or to despair, that God will hot save me, how well soever I lire, after a sin. SVhat is a tear, what is a sigh, what is a prayer to God. what is a petition to a king. To be impenitent, senseless of sins past; I passed yesterday in riot, and yesternight in wantonness, and yet I hear of some place, some office, some good fortune fallen to me to-day; to be hardened against future sins; shall I forbear sonle company, because that company leads me into tentation. Why, that very tentation will lead ne to preferment; to forsake the truth Ibrmerly professed, because the times are changed, and wiser men than [ change with them; fo envy and hate another, another state, another church, another man, because they stand out in defence of the truth, (for, if they would change, [ might have the better colour, the better excuse of changing too) all these are shrewd and slippery approaches towards the sin against the Ho]y G.host, and therefore the schoolmen Imve called all these six, (not without just reason, and good use) by that heavy naine. And some of the fathers have extended if farther, than to these six. St. Bernard, in particularç says, Nolle oedire, To resist lawïul authority; and another, Smulta TwMtetia, To delude God vith re]apses, and counterfeit repentances; and another also, Oe schisma, Ail schismatical renting of the peace of the church, all these they call in that sense, sins yist the Holy G/ost. Now, a]l sins against the Holy Ghost: are hot irremissible. Stephen told his persecutors, Tey reisted t/e Holy G/ost , and yet he prayed for them. But because these sins may, and ordinarily do corne to that sin, stop betimes. David was far from the murder of Uriah, when he did but look upon his wiib, as she was bathing. A man is far from defying the Holy Ghost, when he does but neglect him; and yet David did corne, and he will corne to the bottom quickly. ]t may lnake some impression in you, to tell, and to apply a short story. In a great schism at Rome, Ladislaus took that occasion to debauch and corrupt some of the nobility; it was discerned; and then, to those seven governors, whom they had before, whom they called sapientes, wise men, they added seven more, and cal]ed them bonos, good men, honest men, and relied, and confided in them. Goodness is the attribute of the Holy Ghost; if you have greatness, you may seem to bave some of the Father, for power is his if)'ou bave wisdom, you may seem to bave some of the Son, for that is his: if you bave goodness, you have the Holy Ghost, who shall lead you into ail truth. And goodness is, to be good and easy in receiving his impressions, and good and constant in retaining them, and good and diffusive in deriving them upon others: to embmce Acts vii. 51, 60. VOL. 11. G
82 PREACHED ON,VHITSUNDA3 °. [El.l. XXXHIo the Gospel, to hold fast the Gospel, to propagate the Gospel, this is the goodness of the Holy Ghost. And to resist the entrance of the Gospel, to abandon it after we bave professed it, to forsake them, whom we should assist and succour in the maintenance of it, this is to depart from the goodness of the Holy Ghost: and by these sins against hhn, to corne too near the sin, the irremissible sin, in which the calamities of this world shal| enwrap us, and deliver us over to the everlasting condemnation of the next. This is as much as these words do justly occasion us to say of that sin and into a more curious search thereof, it is hot holy sobriety to pierce.