Selected quad for the lemma: world_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
world_n	blasphemy_n	forgive_v	ghost_n	1,829	5	9.1420	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A57945	The sin against the Holy Ghost: or, The sin unto death briefly discours'd of I. Proving what this sin is. And, II. That all other sins, how great and heinous soever, may be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. To which is added, some instructions how a man may walk and not commit this unpardonable sin. By Mr. Robert Russel.	Russel, Robert, fl. 1692.	1700 (1700)	Wing R2348C; ESTC R220884	7,334	18

THE Sin against the Holy Ghost Or The Sin unto Death Briefly discours'd of I. Proving what this Sin is And II. That all other Sins how Great and Heinous soever may be forgiven unto Men but the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven neither in this World nor in the World to come To which is added Some Instructions how a Man may walk and not commit this unpardonable Sin Mat. 12 31. That all manner of Sin and Blasphemy shall be forgiven unto Men except it be the Sin against the Holy Ghost By Mr. Robert Russel EDINBURGH Printed by James Watson for John Crossby 1700. Of the Unpardonable Sin AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST Or The Sin unto DEATH 1 John V. part of Vers 16. There is a Sin unto Death THere is no meer Man since the Fall that can live without Sin for all are Sinners But yet there are Degrees of Sin some Sins in their own Nature are small others are more great and heinous Many Sins there are that are great yet pardonable and one Sin there is unpardonable and whosoever commits that one Sin shall have no forgiveness but must for ever bear the weight and punishment both of that and of all his other Sins There is such a Sin as St John speaks of here in my Text that this is a Sin unto Death And now I come to the Explication of the Words from whence I shall raise this Point of Doctrine Doct. That amongst other Sins committed by fallen Mankind there is only one Sin that is a Sin unto Death whosoever committeth that he hath no Forgiveness neither in this World nor in the World to come Now for my further proceeding on this Subject I shall lay open to you First What the Sin unto Death is Secondly That all our Sins how great and heinous soever may be forgiven Thirdly That this sin alone shall never be forgiven Fourthly The reason why that Sin alone is unpardonable And then Lastly I shall conclude all with a few words of Application I shall begin first with the Description of this unpardonable Sin where I shall endeavour to make as plain a Description of it as possible I can and in doing of it I shall I. shew you Negatively what is not this Sin II. I shall shew you positively what it is I. I shall shew you Negatively what is not this Sin unto Death or in what Degree a Man may Sin and yet not commit that unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost 1. It is not every quenching of the motions of the spirit that is that sin it is true when the Holy Ghost comes with a still Voice knocks at the Doors of Sinners hearts for Entrance he often comes strives with them and secretly Wooes beseeches them to leave their Sins be converted yet they quench and stifle all his Motions and bear up their Hearts against him and will not be obedient to his Heavenly Calls now such sin grievously against the Holy Ghost But yet this alone is not the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost for many who have stood it out a long time have often quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit yet at last they have been wrought upon unto sincere Conversion 2. A Man may commit many heinous crying Sins yet not be guilty of the unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost A Man may be an Idolater a Whoremonger a Furnicator a Murderer and work Witchcraft and sin with a very high hand nay he may live in all manner of Filthineness and Lewdness and yet not be under the Guilt of unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost Thus we read 2 Chron. 23. that Manasses sinned with a very high Hand he was an Idolater an Inchanter and worked Witchcraft and dealt with Familiar Spirits and wrought much evil in the Sight of the Lord. And Mary Magdalen had Seven Devils cast out of her Luke 8.2 and yet both were pardoned 3. A Man may sin presumptuously against great Light and Knowledge and yet not commit this Sin unto Death For Peter when he denied Christ he did it against great knowledge of Christ he knew Christ to be his Lord and Saviour he was one of Christ's beloved Disciples and for all that how strongly he denied Christ and that with an Oath too and yet for all that Christ looked upon him with a merciful Eye and that 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 was converted and became a Preacher of the Gospel of Christ which before he persecuted 5. And lastsy It is not final Unbelief nor final Impenitence that is the unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost tho some be of Opnion that it is because that Sin is unpardonable and Christ himself hath said Mat. 12.31 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 impenitency and final Unbelief is not compleated untill the very Moment of a Man's Death and then you all know that there is no Repentance and consequently no Pardon after Death for Christ saith 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 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 Impenitency 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 these Sins in particular is that Sin II. I come now to shew you positively what this Sin unto Death is and wherein this unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost doth consist Now there are several Opinions in the World about it some hold one thing some another But I have not time nor room to dispute concerning others Opinions about it but I will endeavour through God's help to lead you to the plain sight of it by the Light of the Holy Scripture Now in the first place you must know that there are two sorts of People that cannot commit this unpardonable Sin 1. The true Believer cannot commit it tho many times for their Trial God suffers them to fall foully into many grievous Sins yet they being rooted into Christ they are upheld by free Grace and Mercy that they cane not fall into this unpardonable Sin 2. The grosly ignorant cannot

commit it because it is a Sin against great Light and Knowledge Indeed the greatest part of the World shall be damned yet amongst the greater part there is but few of them that can commit that unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost Some have both Light and Grace these shall not commit the unpardonable Sin Again some have neither Light nor Grace these cannot commit it But there are some again that have Light and no Grace these are they that are liable to commit the unpardonable Sin again the Holy Ghost Now there must be two ingredients to make up this unpardonable Sin that is Light in the head and Malice in the heart without these two the Sin against the Holy Ghost cannot be committed For to sin against great light and knowledge is not that Sin alone nor yet to sin ignorantly out of that Malice is not that Sin but they must joyn both together to make up this unpardonable Sin This we see by the example of St. Peter and St. Paul Peter he denied Christ and forswore himself too and that grievously against Light and knowledge for he knew Christ to be the only begotten Son of God and he knew God in him he was one of Christ's Disciples one of his beloved Disciples too he was taught of Christ and had experimental Knowledge of his Love and Favour and yet he wickedly with an Oath denied him Now if Peter had done his out of Malice and Spight then he had committed that Sin unto Death for which there is no Forgiveness But Peter had no Malice in his Heart all this while even at that time when he denied Christ as you may see Mat. 29. when Christ told him Before the Cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice He answered If I should die with thee I will not deny thee And then denying him thro' Infirmity and Weakness of the Flesh When he considered what he had done he went out and weept bitterly V. 75. And Paul he had great Malice and Spight against the ways and People of God as you may see Acts 9.1 Now here was a great Rage and Malice in Saul against the Ways and People of God but doing it ignorantly he at last hearing a Voice saying Saul Saul why persecutest thou me And receiving of a Light from Heaven that it was Jesus that he persecuted he was pricked at the Heart and trembling and astonished said Lord what wilt thou have me to do Now by these two places of Scripture you may plainly see that Peter sinned against great Light And Paul out of great Malice yet none of them both committed the unpardonable Sin again the Holy Ghost But whensoever Light and Malice meet together in one Man then there is a Sin against the Holy Ghost Now as all other Sins so this Sin against the Holy Ghost may be committed in Thought Word or Action 1. In Thought that is when a wicked Man against his clear Light and Knowledge doth but conceive a malicious Thought or Purpose towards persecuting the Gospel of Christ or of the Saints of Christ to hinder the Work of the Holy Ghost in them This Sin is to be thought was the Sin of the lost Angels for which Cause they were lost without all Hopes of Pardon Now some dispure whether their Sin was a Sin of the thought but I say with all likelihood it was For the Angels being only Spirits without Bodies and so have no use of bodily Tongues it could not be committed in Word nor yet could they commit it in Action because they were cast out of Heaven before they could bring it into Practise therefore it must be a Sin of the Thought Now their Sin was this Their Habitation being in the highest Heavens next under God himself they had exceeding great light and Knowledge they had more knowledge than all the Men in the World ever had and were happy above all other Creatures but when not being contented with this Estate they thought to be as high as God himself therefore maliciously sought to make War against the Son of God and put him out of his Throne for which Cause they were immediatly thrust out of Heaven never more to see the Face of Mercy Thus their Sin being of the same Nature with the Sin against the Holy Ghost they were excluded all hopes of Pardon 2. This may be committed in Word too that is when a Man speaks blasphemously and maliciously of Christ and his holy way This was the Sin of the Scribes and Parisees Mark 3.22 Therefore saith Christ unto them Ver. 28.29 Now the Reason of this Speech of our blessed Saviour is shewed in Vers 22. because they said He hath an unclean spirit which plainly shews that these Scribes had spoken Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost These Scribes were great learned Men and they could know no other but that Christ was the Son of God and they knew that he cast out Devils by the Spirit of God and yet but of spite to Christ maliciously and blasphemously said That he cast ut Devils by Belzebub the Chief of Devils Thus these Scribes committed the unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost And that in a Word 3. This Sin may be committed in Action too that is when a Man being once throughly enlightned and entered upon a holy course of Life and tasted the Comforts of God's spirit and had some forettaste of the Joys of Heaven and not only makes Profession of the Gospel but teaches it to others he at last takes a dislike of these holy Courses and thro' spite and malice utterly forsakes opposes and persecutes those good ways of God which he before profest and taught But to sum up this Point This unpardonable Sin against the Holy Ghost is fully described by the Apostle to the Hebrews Chap 10.29.27.28 Likewise Heb. 6.4.5 6. Now the Sin against the Holy Ghost is briefly this It is a wilful and malicious Opposing of the known Truth 1. This Sin unto Death is an opposing Sin now to oppose a thing is to contradict it or gain say when a Man says so and so denies it and says it is not so when a Man says a thing must be done he says again it must not nor shall not be done but a Man may be an opposing Man and yet cannot commit this sin Therefore 2. It is the Truth that we must oppose that is we must utterly oppose and reject Christ who said I am the Truth John 14.6 He opposeth all his Threatnings and will not believe his promises and counts him to be a Seducer of the People and counts the Blood of the Covenant to be an unholy thing nay he also opposes the Spirit of Christ who is the Spirit of Truth So that he will not obey his Motions and will not be led nor guided by him but a Man may oppose the truth and yet do it ignorantly Therefore 3. It must be the known truth thatheopposeth he must be once enlightned But you must know that it