the Power to change the Heart is not in the Creature it is God's Work on the Soul 't is he that stamps his own Image upon us and if he withdraws the Influences of his Holy Spirit from Men or refuses to give Grace to them in order to bring them to Repentance and to believe in Christ they must perish Now God will not afford these Persons that so fall away the Assistance of his Spirit in order to the working the great Work of Faith in them therefore it is impossible for them to be renewed He saith not saith one it is impossible they should be saved but that it is impossible they should be renewed unto Repentance these Apostates Salvation is impossible because their Repentance is impossible He that never repenteth can never be saved for he that repenteth not shall not have Remission of Sin and if the Holy Spirit be utterly withdrawn from Men it is impossible they should ever be renewed to Repentance 2. The Persons therefore here intended do not repent cannot repent Repentance is hid from their Eyes they never endeavour after Repentance they are left to hardness of Heart and to final Impenitency by the Lord as a just Judgment for their horrid Evil and cursed Apostacy possibly they may fall under Terror and Despair yet never desire or look after Repentance on God's Terms Brethren it is not impossible for the greatest Sinner in the World to be renewed that hath not sinned against the Holy Ghost or whom God hath not wholly given up to blindness of Mind and to hardness of Heart All manner of Sins and Blasphemy against the Father and the Sun shall be forgiven unto Men but the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto Men. And all Vnrighteousness is Sin and there is a Sin unto Death 3. God leaves these Persons for ever he utterly casts them off And wo unto them saith he when I depart And may say unto them and much more as he said once unto Ephraim Ephraim is joined unto Idols let him alone He commands his Ministers to let them alone and not striâ—e with them reprove not exhort them any more He saith unto Conscience Let them alone check curb reitrain nor rebuke them any more He saith unto his Spirit Let them alone move them or excite them to perform Religious Duties no more strive with them no more for ever No Doctrine no Word no Rod no Affliction or Judgment shall do them good any more for ever This Spiritual Judgment is the worst of all Judgments and so makes it impossible for them ever to be renewed unto Repentance for there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment and fiery Indignation which shall devour the Adversaries 4. God puts an end unto all expectation concerning them he looks for no more Good from them he exercises no more Care about them no more Labour Pains nor Patience towards them God affords no more Means of Grace for their Conversion Repentance is hid from their Eyes he says Let this Ground lie barren for ever it shall never be plowed sowed nor watered any more for ever He looks for no more Fruit he will not dress it nor dung it any more his Sun shall shine upon it no more nor shall the Rain fall upon it from Heaven any more wo unto such Souls God saith to them as Christ said when he cursed the barren Fig-tree Never Fruit grow on you any more 5. God in Judgment and Wrath gives these up to a reprobate Sense to hardness of Heart to blindness of Mind and to a seared Conscience and they become notoriously Wicked being filled with Rage and Madness full of Envy and Malice against God and against Christ and against all that fear God 6. And usually they are left in severity to their sensual Lusts and become notoriously Wicked and Prophane nay rather worse than the worst of Carnal Persons that never were enlightned at all And so he gave them up to their own Hearts Lusts and they walked in their own Counsel They are left or given up unto Satan to be led acted and influenced by him and are commonly also carried away into pernicious Errors and Delusions even to believe a Lie that so they may be damned because they received not the Truth in the Love of it that they might be saved And many times they become Persecutors of God's People reproaching vilifying and contemning all Religion Quest What a kind of Sin is the Sin against the Holy Ghost And what sort of Persons are they who may sin this Sin Answ 1. I shall shew you first in the Negative what a Sin it is not Namely all Sin or Sins whatsoever that any carnal Person who to this Day abode under the Power of Natural Ignorance and never was inlightned by any Operations of the Spirit commits for such cannot commit the Sin against the Holy Ghost it being positively said That they are such who were once enlightned 2. It is not every Sin which is against Light and Knowledg for no doubt but David and Peter sinned against Knowledg and the Light of their own Consciences and after they had been enlightned yet were recovered and renewed unto Repentance 3. The Sin against the Holy Ghost is not every Sin that is committed against the Holy Ghost for he that grieves the Holy Spirit and that quencheth the Holy Spirit sins against the Holy Spirit nay all wicked Men who sit under the Preaching of the Gospel no doubt sin against the Spirit whilst they resist the Strivings and Motions thereof 4. It is not any hainous and abominable Sin as Whoredom Perjury Murder no not Self-Murder not the murdering of the Saints of God nor putting Christ himself to Death by wicked Hands or the murdering of the Lord of Life and Glory Paul was guilty of the Blood of Stephen and many of the Jews were pardoned who might have a Hand in the barbarous Murder of the Son of God 5. It is not every wilful and presumptuous Sin for multitudes of wicked ignorant Persons so sin daily for whom there is Mercy and Pardon upon Repentance though they have a Whore's Forehead and refuse to be ashamed 6. It is not every degree of Apostacy or Backsliding from God A true Child of God may be guilty of a partial Apostacy for thus Israel sinned and fell from God nay backslid so far as to turn to cursed Idolatry yet God offered them Pardon Return backsliding Israel saith the Lord and I will not cause mine Anger to fall upon you for I am merciful saith the Lord c. 7. Nay I will not say that every malicious Sin against God's People is the Sin against the Holy Ghost when Men hate the Saints for their Religion and Goodness though it be one of the highest Degrees of Wickedness because therein their hatred against God himself is manifested But what may not a Man do that
is acted and influenced by the Devil in the Times of his Ignorance 8. It is not the Sin of Unbelief though that be a damning Sin yea the damning Sin as it is a Sin against the Remedy God hath provided and against the highest manifestation of God's Goodness and against the highest Testimony and Witness yet many that thus sin nay continue at present in and under the Power of Unbelief may come to see their horrid Evil and by the Grace of God may believe and be forgiven this as well as other Sins Lastly I have shewed you that no true Believer can commit this Sin He that is born of God cannot commit Sin viz. he cannot sin unto Death So much in the Negative what Sin the Sin against the Holy Ghost is not Secondly I shall shew you in the Affirmative according to that Light I have what Sin this Sin is or open the Nature thereof and what sort of Persons they are who do or may commit it 1. The Persons that may commit the Sin against the Holy Ghost our Text informs us are such who have been once enlightned and that have attained to the Knowledg of the Truth or true way of Salvation by Jesus Christ and have had such a kind of Taste of the Heavenly Gift and of the good Word of God and Powers of the World to come more or less of which I have shewed they have received the Gifts and common Graces of the Spirit 2. And also have escaped the Corruptions of the World through the Knowledg of Jesus Christ or attained to a great Reformation of Life in so much that they were look'd upon as Saints and eminent Christians many of them being Professors of the Gospel and might be great Preachers thereof Tho it seems that others who never professed the Gospel were and may be guilty of committing of this Sin as those Jews no doubt were who said our Blessed Saviour did cast out Devils by Beelzebub the Prince of Devils 3. It is a sinning wilfully after a Person hath received the Knowledg of the Truth or Gospel of Christ For if we sin wilfully after we have received the Knowledg of the Truth there remains no more Sacrifice for Sin Though every wilful sinning is not this Sin yet every one that is guilty thereof doth sin wilfully and that in the highest degree Pray note it 't is a wilful casting off and forsaking the Truth of God and an utter deserting the Church and People of God nay a wilful rejecting the Truth which they before had embraced and tasted some sweetness in opposing and contradicting that which the Holy Spirit testifies to their Consciences is the Truth of Christ therefore they wilfully reject the Motions of the Holy Ghost nay contemn the Operations thereof 4. And as it is a rejecting of the Motions and Operations of the Holy Spirit after those Illuminations they had received so also it is done maliciously or from Spite and Malice And hath done Despite unto the Spirit of Grace They wilfully desert the Assemblies of God's Church and People and esteem the Blood of Christ whereby he was consecrated a Sacrifice unto God or as some whereby they thought once they had been sanctified an unholy Thing and accounting the Motions of the Holy Spirit and his Operations a meer Delusion of the Devil And thus some of the Pharisees sinned Christ healed one possessed of an unclean Spirit a Work wrought by the Power of the Holy Ghost they imputed it to the Devil saying This Fellow casteth out Devils by the Prince of Devils This was a wilful Sin and done no doubt in Malice and against the Convictions of their own Consciences for they could not certainly but know that he was the Son of God by the wonderful Works he did See ver 31 32. Upon this our Saviour doth intimate that they were guilty of sinning the Sin against the Holy Ghost that shall never be forgiven unto Men. 5. It is a treading under Foot the Son of God contemning and vilifying him as these Pharisies seem'd to do and which as it is thought by many Julian the Apostate was guilty of who in difdain when he was wounded threw his Blood up towards Heaven crying Thou Galilean thou hast overcome me or to that purpose he in reproach and hatred seemed to call Christ a Galilean would not call him by any one of his own proper Names 6. And lastly It doth consist in a fatal and utter renunciation of the Christian Religion and all the Institutions Doctrines and Principles thereof and a turning to Judaism or Idolatry or else to perfect Atheism and all this as Dr. Owen signifies with an avowed and professed Enmity to Christ and Christianity and therefore not without the highest Reproach and Contempt imaginable against the Person of Christ as well as against the Gospel imbracing the Love of Sin or of the Riches and Honours of this present evil World valuing their Lusts above the Comfort of the Holy Ghost We have as if they should say tasted of the Spirit and of heavenly Things and do disclaim him and them and witness against him and by that Experience we have had do disown all that pretended Good that some boast of 〈◊〉 be in their Divine Things and contemn that Spirit they glory in and are led by APPLICATION First Take heed of those Sins that tend or lead to this unpardonable Sin 1. Take heed of a malicious Thought against the Holy Ghost don't think it is the Devil that disquiets and disturbs you about Sin Wrath and Hell you convicted Sinners look to it that you charge not these Convictions you have of the Evil of your Sin upon Satan He you may be sure will not trouble you for your Sins but let you go on peaceably in your wicked Ways though when you are awakened he may perswade you that there is no Mercy for you Doubts and desparing Thoughts commonly rise from Satan but not Sorrow and Grief for Sin No no that is from your Conscience a it is influenced by the Holy Ghost 2. Beware of harbouring a malicious Thought of Religion or of praying by the Holy Spirit as I heard lately or a wicked Man who hearing a Minister pray in a most excellent manner that said How doth the Devil help him or to that effect O this is dangerous 3. Take heed of blasphemous Words against the Holy Spirit Will any dare to say that the Devil is in God's People that they are so resolute in their Ways and will not conform to the National Church 4. Beware you that make a Profession of Religion and that have been enlightned how you fall away and turn again to Folly and to your sinful Practices for this is the high Way to the unpardonable Sin or Sin unto Death you know not but that a partial Apostacy may end in a total one at last 5. Above all things look to it that you rest not on a common Work of the
final falling away and that because it is said It is impossible to renew them again unto Repentance 2. It doth intend or comprehend such Persons that have received the Knowledg of the Truth or of the Way of Righteousness according to that in 2 Pet. 2. 20 21. They are such who have not only been enlightned but also are such who had tasted of the Heavenly Gift 3. Yet never were savingly illuminated wrought upon or regenerated by the Spirit and Grace of God Brethren there are great Attainments which Persons may arrive unto without one Dram of true saving Grace as the young Man also the foolish Virgins and those meant by the stony and thorny Ground Mat. 13. I shall now come to the Text it self And First Consider the Words with the Connexion of those things preceding and succeeding Secondly The Subjects or Persons spoken of under their divers Qualifications Thirdly What it is that is said concerning these Persons First As touching the Connexion of the Words with what precedes it is evident that the Hebrew Church or some among them had been slow and dull of hearing or very ill Proficients in the School of Christ viz. they had not attained to that Knowledg and Experience which for the time they had they might have arrived unto Chap. 5. 12. They seemed but Infants or Babes in Knowledg and had need to be taught again which were the first Principles of the Doctrine of Christ And from hence the Apostle acquaints them with the Danger of not persevering in the Knowledg of Christ and of not pressing forward or going on to Perfection And also intimates that this would give just Cause or Ground to fear that they were not sincere Christians and from thence gives them an Account of those that might sin the Sin against the Holy Ghost or of the miserable State and Condition of such who after high Illuminations and great Knowledg of the Divine Truth and a Profession of the Gospel do fall away whose Apostacy though at first it might be but partial yet might they not being truly regenerated end at last in a total and final falling away And that deadness dulness and non-proficiency in Godliness might and would end if their Hearts were not right with God in a final Apostacy Or as a worthy Writer notes he presupposeth Except they study to make Progress they shall go backwards and that going backwards tendeth to Apostacy And that voluntary and compleat Apostacy from known Truth doth harden the Heart from Repentance and cutteth off a Man from Mercy He accounteth our natural Security so great that there is need of most fearful Threatnings to awaken us out of it and that the way to be freed from final falling is to make a good Progression From hence note Doct. 1. That the severest Doctrine is not only useful but exceeding necessary towards Persons that are observed to be remiss and slothful in their Profession Yet Charity becomes a Minister nevertheless and not to censure a People from hence And this we may gather from what he saith with the Connexion of the Words with what succeeds But Beloved we are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany Salvation though we thus speak ver 9. Secondly We shall consider the Persons here spoken of under their divers Qualifications and great Attainments which are five-fold and yet notwithstanding all that they might fall away and perish for ever and if they did fall totally before they were truly regenerated their Apostacy would be final or it would be impossible for them to be renewed again by Repentance either to that State in which they were before or unto a better from whence there is no possibility of their final falling In this general Description of the Persons here mentioned let us consider four or five things more particularly 1 st Consider the Apostle's Design which is to declare or discover the fearful State and just Judgment of God against the Persons here meant or intended 2 dly That those five Attainments he here speaks of are acquired by some who had been Professors of the Gospel and look'd upon as eminent Christians such that had made a Profession of Repentance from dead Works and of Faith towards God and had been baptized and owned all other Principles of the Doctrine of Christ See ver 1 2 3. 3 dly That all those high Privileges and Attainments whereof they were made Partakers by the Gospel they afterwards despised or when under their Apostacy did contemn which loudly proclaims their Destruction from God to be just and deserved 4 thly That all their Privileges and Attainments as Reverend Dr. Owen observes do consist in certain Operations of the Holy Ghost under the Dispensation of the Gospel and therefore not such Persons that never professed it or had been enlightned thereby 5 thly And let it be well and for ever observed that the Apostle mentions not one of those special and distinguishing Marks or Characters of true Believers or Sanctified Christians As 1. Here is not a word of the Covenant of Grace into which they had been received nothing spoken of the Faith of the Operation of God in all those five Attainments they had arrived at 2. Not a word of their having attained to Union with Christ or of the Implantation of the Holy Spirit though they had had some kind of taste thereof 3. Not a word of Regeneration he doth not say It is impossible for such that have been born of God begotten of the Spirit No no nothing of that 4 Here is nothing spoken of their being justified or of Justification unto Life 5. Not a word in all their fivefold Attainments of Sanctification by the Spirit we read not of any effectual Calling they had arrived unto 6. Nothing is mentioned of their Election of Adoption nor of their Love to God or to his poor Saints none of these things are expressed or assigned unto them which do all appertain to every true Christian 6 thly It ought also carefully to be noted that when the Apostle comes to speak of his Hope of the Saints to whom he wrote i. e. that they were not such he lays down or describes by way of Intimation the Characters of true Believers by other distinguishing Qualifications But Beloved we are perswaded better things of you and things that accompany Salvation though we thus speak Now observe if those Persons he mentions that had been once enlightned and had tasted of the Heavenly Gift c. had been true Christians what better things could the Apostle be perswaded was in these Hebrews than was in them Are there better things than Vnion with Christ than Justification than Regeneration true Faith Pardon of Sin Love to God and to his People Sanctification of the Spirit and Adoption No no there are no better things that any Christian can attain unto in this Life than these Moreover 7 thly The Apostle clearly intimates that they were such who