for all that, Christ looked upon him with a merciful eye, and he repented and was forgiven.
4. It is not every malicious sin that is the unpardonable sin against the holy Ghost; for St. Paul certainly had great malice in his heart, when he went on so furiously to persecute the church of God, and yet he was converted, and became a preacher of the gospel of Christ, which before he persecuted
5. And Lastly, It is not final unbelief, nor final impenitence, that is the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, though some be of opinion that it is, because that sin is unpardonable, and Christ himself hath said, Matth. xxii. 31. That all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto man, except it be the sin against the Holy Ghost. But you are to take the words of our Saviour in their true sense and meaning; it is all manner of sin and blasphemy committed within the compass of a man’s life that shall be forgiven, except the sin against the Holy Ghost; for the sin of final impenitence and final unbelief, is not compleated until the very moment of a man’s death; and then you shall know that there is no repentance, and consequently no pardon after death; for Christ said, He that sins against the Holy Ghost, hath no forgiveness, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. Now, why should Christ say in this world, if there be no space to be forgiven in this world? but a man may commit the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, even many years before his death. Besides, there are many thousands that die in impenitence and unbelief, and are damned, and yet never committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost.
Thus have I shewed you negatively, what is not this unpardonable sin; none of those sins in particular is that sin.
II. I come how to shew you positively, what this sin unto death is, and wherein this unpardonable sinagainst
