knowledged that he did it likewife by the fame power; V. 27. If I by Beelzebub caft out devils, by whom do your children caft them out? therefore they fhall be your judges; that is, this may be fufficient to convince you of malice to me. But if I caft out devils by the fpirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you; that is, the Meffias is come, because he wrought these and other miracles to prove that he was the Meffias. And then it follows, Wherefore I fay unto you, All manner of fin and blafphemy fhall be forgiven unto men; but the blafphemy against the Holy Ghoft shall not be forgiven unto men.

So that the Pharifees are the perfons charged with this fin, or blafphemy against the Holy Ghoft. And their blafphemy was plainly this, that when he cast out devils by the Spirit of God, they faid he did it by the power of the devil: they malicioufly afcribed these works of the Holy Ghost to the devil.

And that this is the ground why our Saviour chargeth them with this fin against the Holy Ghoft, is yet more plain from St Mark, Mark iii. 28. 29. 30. Verily I fay unto you, All fins fhall be forgiven unto the fons of men, and blafphemies wherewith foever they hall blafpheme= but he that blafphemeth against the Holy Ghoft, hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: becaufe they faid, He hath an unclean fpirit; that is, because the Pharifees charged him to be a magician, and to have a familiar fpirit, by whofe affistance he did those works; when in truth he did them by the Spirit of. God therefore our Saviour declares them guilty of this fin of blafpheming the Holy Ghoft, which fhould never be forgiven.

So that the nature of this fin did confift in a moft malicious oppofition to the utmost evidence that could be given to the truth of any religion. Our blessed Saviour, to fhew that he was fent by God, and came from him,, wrought miracles, fuch as did plainly evidence a divine power and prefence accompanying him. For in St Luke he is faid to do them by the finger of God, Luke xi. 20. By the finger of God; that is, to do fuch things as were undeniable evidence of the divine power and prefence." And this is the utmoft teftimony that God ever gave to any perfon that was fent by him. And the Pharifees were

B. b. 3

eyes

eye-witneffes of thofe miracles which our Saviour wrought, that they could not deny them; yet fuch was their oppofition to him and his doctrine, that tho they faw these things done by him, and could not deny the reality of them, yet, rather than they would own him to be the Meffias, and his doctrine to come from God, they moft maliciously and unreafonably afcribed them to the power of the devil. And this was the blafphemy which they were guilty of against the Holy Ghost. And herein lay the greatnefs of their fin, in refifting the evidence of thofe miracles which were fo plainly wrought by the Holy Ghoft; and which, though themselves saw, yet they maliciously imputed them to the devil, rather than they would be convinced by them. And this is fo very plain, that hardly any man that confiders our Saviour's difcourfe upon this occafion, can otherwise determine the nature of this fin; especially if he do but attend to thofe remarkable words which I cited before, Mark iii. 29. But he that blafphemeth against the Holy Ghoft, Bath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation becaufe they faid, He hath an unclean spirit. I come now to the

III. Third thing I propounded, namely, In what fenfe this fin is here faid to be peculiarly unpardonable? for this fin our Saviour pofitively affirms to be in this different from all other fins, that it is capable of no pardon : Ifay unto you, All manner of fin and blafphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blafphemy against the Holy Ghoft fhall not be forgiven unto men. And to fhew what he means by the not forgiving of it, he tells us, that eternal punishment fhall follow it in the other world :: Vhofoever fpeaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghoft, it fhall never be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. Which St Mark exprefeth more plainly, that it fhall bring those who are guilty of it to eternal damnation, Mark iii. 29. He that blafphemeth against the Holy Ghoft, bath never forgivenefs, but is liable to eternal damnation. So that when our Saviour fays, it shall never be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come, he does not intend to infinuate, that fome fins which are not forgiven in this world, may be forgiven in the other; but in these

words

words he either alludes to the opinion of the Jews concerning the effect of the higheft excommunication, the fentence whereof they held not to be reversible, neither in this world, nor the other; or else the reason of this expreffion may probably be, to meet with a common and falfe opinion amongst the Jews, which was, that fome fins which are not pardoned to men in this life, may by facrifices be expiated in the other; and therefore he fays, it fhall never be forgiven, neither in this world, nor the other; and St Mark more plainly, that thofe who are guilty of it, fhall never have forgiveness, but be liable to eternal damnation. So that our Saviour's meaning seems plainly to be this, that this fin is altogether incapable of forgivenefs. I know fome have endeavoured to mollify this matter, but I think without fufficient reason. Grotius understands the words comparatively, that any fort of fin fhall fooner be forgiven than this against the Holy Ghoft; and that our Saviour only intended to exprefs the greatnefs and heinoufness of this fin above others, in which respect the pardon of it would be more difficult than of any other fin; but yet that the cafe of fuch a perfon is not abfolutely defperate. But if our Saviour had intended to fay, that this fin was abfolutely unpardonable, I would fain know how could he have expreffed the matter in higher and fuller words? Dr Hammond mollifies the words another way, that this fin fhall never be pardoned, but upon a particular repentance for it as if our Saviour's meaning was, that a general repentance, which was fufficient for fins of ignorance, would not be fufficient in this cafe; but there must be a particular repentance for it, without which it would never be pardoned. But this is by no means agreeable to the scope of our Saviour's difcourfe; because he plainly intends to difference this from all other forts of fins: I fay unto you, All manner of fin and blafphemy shall be forgiven unto men. But, according to this interpretation, our Saviour muft mean, that all other fins would be forgiven upon a general repentance: which is not true: for there are many other fins befides fins of ignorance, there are wilful and heinous fins, fuch as wilful murder, and adultery, and blafphemy, that only excepted which is against the Holy Ghoft, and the like grofs fins, which all divines hold, fhall not be forgiven, but upon a par

ticular

ticular repentance. So that this interpretation does not fufficiently difference this fin from all other forts of fins, which, it is yet very plain, our Saviour intended to do.. It remains, then, that these words muft in all reafon be understood abfolutely, that the perfons that are guilty of this great fin, fhall never have it forgiven unto them. And it may be this will not feem fo harsh, when we have confidered, in the

IV. Fourth place, How comes it to pass that this fin is above all others incapable of pardon? and that upon these two accounts.

1. Because, by this fin, men refift their last remedy, and oppose the best and utmost means of their conviction. What can God be imagined to do more, to convince a man of a divine revelation, or of the truth of any doctrine or meffage that comes from him, than to work miracles to this purpose? and what greater affurance can men have that miracles are wrought, than to be eyewitneffes of them themselves? and if men will refift fuch evidence, what can God do more for their fatisfaction? If, when men fee plain miracles wrought, they will fay, that it is not the power of God that does them, but the power of the devil; and if, when men fee the devils caft out, they will fay that the devil confpires against himfelf: this is to outface the fun at noon-day, and there is no way left to convince fuch perverfe perfons of the truth of any divine revelation. So that there is no remedy but fuch perfons must continue in their oppofition to the truth. For this is fuch a fin, as does in its own nature fhut out and prevent all remedy. And he that thus perverfely and maliciously oppofeth the truth, muft upon the fame grounds unavoidably continue in his oppofition to it; because there is nothing left to be done for his conviction, more than is already done. If God fhould fend a perfon immediately from heaven to him, to convince. him of his error, he can give him no greater testimony that he comes from God than miracles: and if, when God enables that perfon to work these by the power of his Spirit, this man will obftinately impute them to the power of the devil, he defeats all the imaginable means of his own conviction. So that it is no wonder if that fin be unpardonable, which refifts the laft and utmost

means

means which God hath ever yet thought fit to use to bring men to repentance and falvation. And if God were willing to reveal himself, and the way to pardon and falvation, to fuch a one, he doth by this very temper and difpofition render himself incapable of being fatisfied and convinced concerning any divine revelation.

2. Because this fin is of that high nature, that God is therefore juftly provoked to withdraw his grace from fuch perfons; and it is probable refolved fo to do; without which grace they will continue impenitent. There is no doubt but God, if he will, can work fo powerfully upon the minds of men by his grace and Spirit, as to convince the most obstinate; and fuppofing them to be convinced, and repent, it cannot be denied, but that they would be forgiven, And therefore, when our Saviour here fays they fhall not be forgiven, it is reasonable to fuppofe, that he means, that when perfons are come to that degree of obftinacy and malice, God will, as juftly he may, withdraw his grace from them: His Spirit will not trive with them, to overcome their obftinacy, but will leave them to the bias of their own perverfe and malicious minds; which will ftill engage them in a farther oppofition to the truth, and finally fink them into perdition. So that, being deferted by God, and for want of the neceffary help and aid of his grace, juftly withdrawn from them, continuing finally impenitent, they become incapable of forgivenefs, both in this world, and that which is to come. And there is nothing that can seem harsh or unreasonable in this, to those who grant, as I think all men do, that God may be so provoked by men as juftly to withdraw his grace from them in this life, that grace which is neceffary to their repentance. And furely, if any provocation be likely to do it, this cannot be denied to be of all others the greateft, obftinately and maliciously to oppofe the utmost evidence that God ever gave to the truth of any doctrine revealed by him. And of this the Pharifees, who are here charged with this fin against the Holy Ghost, were notoriously guilty, in refifting the clear evidence of our Saviour's miracles.

And thus I have done with the four things I propounded to inquire into from these words, namely, the difference between speaking against the Son of man, and

Speaking