February Twenty-third.
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN.
"He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness."—Mark iii. 29.
WHEN we consider that the Lord has said, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men," with the exception of this one, called the blasphemy or sin against the Holy Spirit,[1] which alone is unpardonable, because it hath never forgiveness, neither in this nor the future world (Matt. xii. 32), the mind must, be solemnly impressed with the polluting nature of this sin, and most anxious to know in what it consists, in order the more effectually to avoid the commission of that which for ever excludes from the presence of God.
Gracious Father! "thou who keepest mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin," enlighten our minds that we may know what this unpardonable sin is, that we may thus avoid the miseries it entails.
A correct knowledge of this sin, is doubtless grounded in a correct knowledge of God. Man, created as he is, in the Divine image and likeness, can have no other idea of God than that which is impressed upon his own nature; and being his Creator's image and likeness, he is a living witness that God is One Perfect Being, infinite in Love, Wisdom, and Power. This is the Scriptural idea of God—the revelation which, in his written Word, the Perfect One has been pleased to make of himself. O depart not
- ↑ Greek, το Πνευμα τὸ αγιον, Holy Spirit, not Ghost.
