now to doubt whether God will save you or no, but to believe, because
all things are finished as to our justification: the covenant not only
made, but also sealed; the debt paid, the prison doors flung off of the
hooks, with a proclamation from Heaven of deliverance to the prisoners
of hope, saying, “Turn you to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope,
even today do I declare,” saith God, “that I will render double unto
thee” (Zech 9:12). And, saith Christ, when He was come, “The Spirit of
the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel,”
that is, good tidings “to the poor,” that their sins should be
pardoned, that their souls shall be saved. “He hath sent Me to heal the
broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,” and to
comfort them that mourn, “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord”
(Luke 4:18,19).
Therefore here, soul, thou mayst come to Jesus Christ for anything thou
wantest, as to a common treasure-house, being the principal Man for the
distributing of the things made mention of in the new covenant, He
having them all in His own custody by right of purchase; for He hath
bought them all, paid for them all. Dost thou want faith? then come for
it to the Man Christ Jesus (Heb 12:2). Dost thou want the Spirit? then
ask it of Jesus. Dost thou want wisdom? Dost thou want grace of any
sort? Dost thou want a new heart? Dost thou want strength against thy
lusts, against the devil’s temptations? Dost thou want strength to
carry thee through afflictions of body, and afflictions of spirit,
through persecutions? Wouldst thou willingly hold out, stand to the
last, and be more than a conqueror? then be sure thou meditate enough
on the merits of the blood of Jesus, how He hath undertaken for thee,
that He hath done the work of thy salvation in thy room, that He is
filled of God on purpose to fill thee, and is willing to communicate
whatsoever is in Him or about Him to thee. Consider this, I say, and
triumph in it.
Again; this may inform us of the safe state of the saints as touching
their perseverance, that they shall stand though Hell rages, though the
devil roareth, and all the world endeavoureth the ruin of the saints of
God, though some, through ignorance of the virtue of the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ, do say a man may be a child of God today, and
a child of the devil tomorrow, which is gross ignorance; for what? Is
the blood of Christ, the death of Christ, the resurrection of Christ,
of no more virtue than to bring in for us an uncertain salvation? or
must the effectualness of Christ’s merits, as touching our
perseverance, be helped on by the doings of man? Surely they that are
predestinated are also justified; and they that are justified, they
shall be glorified (Rom 8:30). Saints, do not doubt of the salvation of
your souls, unless you do intend to undervalue Christ’s blood; and do
not think but that He that hath begun the good work of His grace in you
will perfect it to the second coming of our Lord Jesus (Phil 1:6).
Should not we, as well as Paul, say, I am persuaded that nothing shall
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus (Rom 8). O
let the saints know, that unless the devil can pluck Christ out of
Heaven, he cannot pull a true believer out of Christ. When I say a true
believer, I do mean such an one as hath the faith of the operation of
God in his soul.
Lastly, Is there such mercy as this? such privileges as these? Is there
so much ground of comfort, and so much cause to be glad? Is there so
much store in Christ, and such a ready heart in Him to give it to me?
Hath His bleeding wounds so much in them, as that the fruits thereof
should be the salvation of my soul, of my sinful soul, as to save me,
sinful me, rebellious me, desperate me? What then? Shall not I now be
holy? Shall not I now study, strive, and lay out myself for Him that
hath laid out Himself soul and body for me? Shall I now love ever a
lust or sin? Shall I now be ashamed of the cause, ways, people, or
saints of Jesus Christ? Shall I now yield my members as instruments of
righteousness, seeing my end is everlasting life? (Rom 6). Shall Christ
think nothing too dear for me? and shall I count anything too dear for
Him? Shall I grieve Him with my foolish carriage? Shall I slight His
counsel by following of my own will? Thus, therefore, the doctrine of
the new covenant doth call for holiness, engage to holiness, and maketh
the children of that covenant to take pleasure therein. Let no man,
therefore, conclude on this, that the doctrine of the Gospel is a
licentious doctrine; but if they do, it is because they are fools, and
such as have not tasted of the virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ;
neither did they ever feel the nature and sway that the love of Christ
hath in the hearts of His. And thus also you may see that the doctrine
of the Gospel is of great advantage to the people of God that are
already come in, or to them that shall at the consideration hereof be
willing to come in, to partake of the glorious benefits of this
glorious covenant. But, saith the poor soul,
Object. Alas! I doubt this is too good for me.
Inquirer. Why so, I pray you?
Object. Alas! because I am a sinner.
Reply. Why, all this is bestowed upon none but sinners, as it is
written, While we were ungodly, Christ died for us (Rom 5:6,8). “He
came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim 1:15).
Object. O, but I am one of the chief of sinners.
Reply. Why, this is for the chief of sinners—“Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief,” saith Paul (1 Tim
1:15).
Object. O, but my sins are so big, that I cannot conceive how I should
have mercy.
Reply. Why, soul? Didst thou ever kill anybody? Didst thou ever burn
any of thy children in the fire to idols? Hast thou been a witch? Didst
thou ever use enchantments and conjuration? [You that are resolved to
go on in your sins, meddle not with this]. Didst thou ever curse, and
swear, and deny Christ? And yet if thou hast, there is yet hopes of
pardon; yea, such sinners as these have been pardoned, as appears by
these and the like Scriptures, 2 Chronicles 33:1-10, compared with
verses 12, 13. Again, Acts 19:19, 20; 8:22, compared with verse 9;
Matthew 26:74, 75.
Object. But though I have not sinned in such kind of sins, yet it may
be I have sinned as bad.
Answ. That cannot likely be; yet though thou hast, still there is
ground of mercy for thee, forasmuch as thou art under the promise (John
6:37).
The unpardonable sin.
Object. Alas! man, I am afraid that I have sinned the unpardonable sin,
and therefore there is no hope for me.
Answ. Dost thou know what the unpardonable sin, the sin against the
Holy Ghost, is? and when it is committed?
Reply. It is a sin against light.
Answ. That is true; yet every sin against light is not the sin against
the Holy Ghost.
Reply. Say you so?
Answ. Yea, and I prove it thus—If every sin against light had been the
sin that is unpardonable, then had David and Peter and others sinned
that sin; but though they did sin against light, yet they did not sin
that sin; therefore every sin against light is not the sin against the
Holy Ghost, the unpardonable sin.
Object. But the Scripture saith, “If we sin willfully after that we
have received the knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth no more
sacrifice for sins; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.”
Answ. Do you know what that willful sin is?
Reply. Why, what is it? Is it not for a man to sin willingly after
enlightening?
Answ. 1. Yes; yet doubtless every willing sin is not that; for then
David had sinned it when he lay with Bathsheba; and Jonah, when he fled
from the presence of the Lord; and Solomon also, when he had so many
concubines. 2. But that sin is a sin that is of another nature, which
is this—For a man after he hath made some profession of salvation to
come alone by the blood of Jesus, together with some light and power of
the same upon his spirit; I say, for him after this knowingly,
willfully, and despitefully to trample upon the blood of Christ shed on
the Cross, and to count it an unholy thing, or no better than the blood
of another man, and rather to venture his soul any other way than to be
saved by this precious blood. And this must be done, I say, after some
light (Heb 6:4,5) despitefully (Heb 10:29) knowingly (2 Peter 2:21) and
willfully (Heb 10:26 compared with verse 29) and that not in a hurry
and sudden fit, as Peter’s was, but with some time beforehand to pause
upon it first, with Judas; and also with a continued resolution never
to turn or be converted again; “for it is impossible to renew such
again to repentance,” they are so resolved and so desperate (Heb 6).
Quest. And how sayest thou now? Didst thou ever, after thou hadst
received some blessed light from Christ, willfully, despitefully, and
knowingly stamp or trample the blood of the Man Christ Jesus under thy
feet? and art thou for ever resolved so to do?
Answ. O no; I would not do that willfully, despitefully, and knowingly,
not for all the world.
Inquiry. But yet I must tell you, now you put me in mind of it, surely
sometimes I have most horrible blasphemous thoughts in me against God,
Christ, and the Spirit. May not these be that sin I trow?
Answ. Dost thou delight in them? Are they such things as thou takest
pleasure in?
Reply. O no; neither would I do it for a thousand worlds. O, methinks
they make me sometimes tremble to think of them. But how and if I
should delight in them before I am aware?
Answ. Beg of God for strength against them, and if at any time thou
findest thy wicked heart to give way in the least thereto, for that is
likely enough, and though thou find it may on a sudden give way to that
Hell-bred wickedness that is in it, yet do not despair, forasmuch as
Christ hath said, “All manner of sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven
to the sons of men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of
man,” that is Christ, as he may do with Peter, through temptation, yet
upon repentance, “it shall be forgiven him” (Matt 12:31, 32).
Object. But I thought it might have been committed all on a sudden,
either by some blasphemous thought, or else by committing some other
horrible sin.
Answ. For certain, this sin and the commission of it doth lie in a
knowing, willful, malicious, or despiteful, together with a final
trampling the blood of sweet Jesus under foot (Heb 10).
Object. But it seems to be rather a resisting of the Spirit, and the
motions thereof, than this which you say; for, first, its proper title
is the sin against the Holy Ghost; and again, “They have done despite
unto the Spirit of grace”; so that it rather seems to be, I say, that a
resisting of the Spirit, and the movings thereof, is that sin.
Answ. First. For certain, the sin is committed by them that do as
before I have said—that is, by a final, knowing, willful, malicious
trampling under foot the blood of Christ, which was shed on Mount
Calvary when Jesus was there crucified. And though it be called the sin
against the Spirit, yet as I said before, every sin against the Spirit
is not that; for if it were, then every sin against the light and
convictions of the Spirit would be unpardonable; but that is an evident
untruth, for these reasons—First, Because there be those who have
sinned against the movings of the Spirit, and that knowingly too, and
yet did not commit that sin; as Jonah, who when God had expressly by
His Spirit bid him go to Nineveh, he runs thereupon quite another way.
Secondly, Because the very people that have sinned against the movings
of the Spirit are yet, if they do return, received to mercy. Witness
also Jonah, who though he had sinned against the movings of the Spirit
of the Lord in doing contrary thereunto, “yet when he called,” as he
saith, “to the Lord,” out of the belly of Hell, “the LORD heard him,
and gave him deliverance, and set him again about his work.” Read the
whole story of that Prophet. But,
Answ. Second. I shall show you that it must needs be willfully,
knowingly, and a malicious rejecting of the Man Christ Jesus as the
Saviour—that is, counting His blood, His righteousness, His
intercession in His own Person, for he that rejects one rejects all, to
be of no value as to salvation; I say, this I shall show you is the
unpardonable sin, and then afterwards in brief show you why it is
called the sin against the Holy Ghost.
[Must be a willfully and maliciously rejecting the Saviour.]
1. That man that doth reject, as aforesaid, the blood, death,
righteousness, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of the Man
Christ, doth reject that sacrifice, that blood, that righteousness,
that victory, that rest, that God alone hath appointed for
salvation—“Behold the Lamb,” or sacrifice, “of God” (John 1:29). “We
have redemption through His blood” (Eph 1:7). That I may “be found in
Him”—to wit, in Christ’s righteousness, with Christ’s own personal
obedience to His Father’s will (Phil 3:7-10). By His resurrection comes
justification (Rom 4:25). His intercession now in His own Person in the
Heavens, now absent from His saints, is the cause of the saints’
perseverance (Rom 8:33-39).
2. They that reject this sacrifice, and the merits of this Christ,
which He by Himself hath brought in for sinners, have rejected Him
through whom alone all the promises of the New Testament, together with
all the mercy discovered thereby, doth come unto poor creatures—“For
all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory
of God” (2 Cor 1:20). And all spiritual blessings are made over to us
through Him; that is, through and in this Man, which is Christ, we have
all our spiritual, heavenly, and eternal mercies (Eph 1:3,4).
3. He that doth knowingly, willfully, and despitefully reject this Man
for salvation doth sin the unpardonable sin, because there is never
another sacrifice to be offered. “There is no more offering for
sin.—There remaineth no more sacrifice for sin,” (Heb 10:18-26);
namely, than the offering of the body of Jesus Christ a sacrifice once
for all (Heb 10:10,14, compared with 18, 26). No; but they that shall,
after light and clear conviction, reject the first offering of His body
for salvation, do crucify Him the second time, which irrecoverably
merits their own damnation—“For it is impossible for those who were
once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good Word of God, and
the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them
again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God
afresh, and put Him to an open shame” (Heb 6:4-6). “If they shall fall
away, to renew them again unto repentance.” And why so? Seeing, saith
the Apostle, they do crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and
do put Him to an open shame. O, then, how miserably hath the devil
deceived some, in that he hath got them to reject the merits of the
first offering of the body of Christ, which was for salvation, and got
them to trust in a fresh crucifying of Christ, which unavoidably brings
their speedy damnation.
4. They that do reject this Man, as aforesaid, do sin the unpardonable
sin, because in rejecting Him they do make way for the justice of God
to break out upon them, and to handle them as it shall find them; which
will be, in the first place, sinners against the first covenant; and
also despising of, even the life, and glory, and consolations, pardon,
grace, and love, that is discovered in the second covenant, forasmuch
as they reject the Mediator and priest of the same, which is the Man
Jesus. And the man that doth so, I would fain see how his sins should
be pardoned, and his soul saved, seeing the means, which is the Son of
Man, the Son of Mary, and His merits, are rejected; “for,” saith He,
“if you believe not that I am He, you shall,” mark, “you shall,” do
what you can; “you shall,” appear where you can; “you shall,” follow
Moses’ law, or any holiness whatsoever, “ye shall die in your sins”
(John 8:24). So that, I say, the sin that is called the unpardonable
sin is a knowing, willful, and despiteful rejecting of the sacrificing
of the Son of Man the first time for sin.
[Why it is called the sin against the Holy Ghost.]
And now to show you why it is called the sin against the Holy Ghost, as
in these Scriptures, (Matt 12; Heb 10; Mark 3).
1. Because they sin against the manifest light of the Spirit, as I said
before; it is a sin against the light of the Spirit—that is, they have
been formerly enlightened into the nature of the Gospel and the merits
of the Man Christ, and His blood, righteousness, intercession, etc.;
and also professed and confessed the same, with some life and comfort
in and through the profession of Him; yet now against all that light,
maliciously, and with despite to all their former profession, turn
their backs and trample upon the same.
2. It is called the sin against the Holy Ghost because such a person
doth, as I may say, lay violent hands on it; one that sets himself in
opposition to, and is resolved to resist all the motions that do come
in from the Spirit to persuade the contrary. For I do verily believe
that men, in this very rejecting of the Son of God, after some
knowledge of Him, especially at their first resisting and refusing of
Him, they have certain motions of the Spirit of God to dissuade them
from so great a soul-damning act. But they, being filled with an
overpowering measure of the spirit of the devil, do despite unto these
convictions and motions by studying and contriving how they may answer
them, and get from under the convincing nature of them, and therefore
it is called a doing despite unto the Spirit of Grace (Heb 10:29). And
so,
3. In that they do reject the beseeching of the Spirit, and all its
gentle entreatings of the soul to tarry still in the same doctrine.
4. In that they do reject the very testimony of the Prophets and
Apostles with Christ Himself; I say, their testimony, through the
Spirit, of the power, virtue, sufficiency, and prevalency of the blood,
sacrifice, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of the Man
Christ Jesus, of which the Scriptures are full both in the Old and New
Testament, as the Apostle saith, for all the Prophets from Samuel, with
them that follow after, have showed of these days—that is, in which
Christ should be a sacrifice for sin (Acts 3:24, compared with verses
6, 13-15, 18, 26). Again, saith, he, “He therefore that despiseth not
man, but God; who hath also given unto us His Holy Spirit” (1
Thessalonians 4:8); that is, he rejecteth or despiseth the very
testimony of the Spirit.
5. It is called the sin against the Holy Ghost, because he that doth
reject and disown the doctrine of salvation by the Man Christ Jesus,
through believing in Him, doth despise, resist, and reject the wisdom
of the Spirit; for the wisdom of God’s Spirit did never more appear
than its finding out a way for sinners to be reconciled to God by the
death of this Man; and therefore Christ, as He is a sacrifice, is
called the wisdom of God. And again, when it doth reveal the Lord Jesus
it is called the “Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of
Him” (Eph 1:17).
Object. But, some may say, the slighting or rejecting of the Son of
Man, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Mary, cannot be the sin that is
unpardonable, as is clear from that Scripture in Matthew 12:32, where
He Himself saith, “Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it
shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost,
it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the
world to come.” Now by this it is clear that the sin that is
unpardonable is one thing, and the sin against the Son of Man another;
that sin that is against the Son of Man is pardonable; but if that was
the sin against the Holy Ghost, it would not be pardonable; therefore
the sin against the Son of Man is not the sin against the Holy Ghost,
the unpardonable sin.