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Holy Ghost. As for this laft, the Sin against the Holy Ghoft, I fhall treat of it the next Time we meet: But for the other Texts, I hope I have made it appear, that the Perfons I now fpeak of are no ways concerned in any of them; for I suppose the Perfons that have these Apprehenfions of themfelves, do profess themselves Christians, and have never fallen off from that Profeffion; though, poffibly, they may have been guilty of many other grievous Sins: They have never renounced their Lord and Mafter Christ, or turned Apoftates from his Religion; but have always owned him and it, both in publick and private: Tho' poffibly their Lives and Practices have not been, in all refpects, fo fuitable as they ought to have been to fuch a Profeffion.

Now, if the Cafe be thus with them, I think it has been made out, with Evidence enough, that they cannot be guilty of any of the Crimes mentioned in thefe Texts; that is to fay, they have neither finned the wilful Sin, nor fallen away after enlightening, nor finned the Sin unto Death: Since these Crimes import neither more nor less than an Apoftafy from the Chriftian Religion, and going over either to Atheism, or Heathenifm, or fome other Religion that is contrary to the Christian.

But, Thirdly and Laftly; Let no Man from hence, or upon this Account that he hath not finned the Sin unto Death, encourage himself

himself in any evil Course or Habit of Sin, feem it never fo flight and excufable to him. There are a hundred Ways of going to Hell, befides thefe Sins I have been treating of; and far the greatest Part that are now concluded in eternal Mifery, it is probable, never finned in this kind. Every wilful Sin, or Habit of Sin, continued in, be it never fo plaufible or fashionable, be there never fo many Pleas and Apologies to be made for it, from Temper and Conftitution, from Business and Intereft, or from the Mode and Custom of the Place where we live; I fay, all fuch Sins perfifted in, will as certainly destroy a Man's Salvation, as the Sin against the Holy Ghost.

Oh, therefore, let no Man indulge himfelf in any evil Course, that God's Law hath declared againft, in Hopes that it will be eafily paffed by, because it is none of those enormous Crimes, that do continually fly in a Man's Face, and have a Mark of Infamy put upon them by the Laws of the Country. Why, any known Sin, encouraged and perfifted in, and never repented of, may prove as fatal to a Man's Soul, as a Torrent of open Impieties. And again; Let no Man indulge himfelf in any evil Courfe, in Confidence that he hath not yet finned beyond a Probability of Pardon, or in Profpect that hereafter he may repent: This is a moft intolerable Prefumption upon God's Mercy, and it is the readieft Courfe we can take to provoke God VOL III.

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to withdraw his Grace from us, and to give us up to Hardness of Heart, and final Impenitency. And when it once comes to that, our eternal State is concluded, and we have indeed finned a Sin unto Death in one Senfe, and no Prayers or Interceffions will be available for us. But as the Apostle faid in this very Cafe, so I hope I may fay to you, Brethren, I am perfuaded better Things of you, and Things that accompany Salvation, tho' I thus fpeak.

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I pray God give us all Grace to confider the Things that belong to our everlasting Salvation; and, in Purfuance thereof, to hold the Profeffion of our Faith unto the End, and to bring forth Fruits fuitable to that Profeffion, by a righteous, and fober, and godly Converfation: This God Almighty grant, for the fake of his dear Son; To whom, &c.

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MATT. XII. 31, 32. sil: to

Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of Sin › and Blafphemy shall be forgiven unto Men but the Blafphemy of the Holy Ghost fulf not be forgiven unto Men. And whosoever I Speaketh a Word against the Son of Man, it fhall be forgiven him, but whofoever. Speaketh a Word against the Holy Ghost, it fhall not be forgiven him, neither in this World, nor in the World to come.

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T is my Defign, at this Time, to give an Account of this difficult Text; and, in doing that, to explain the Nature of that. Sin, which, in common Speech, we call the Sin against the Holy Ghost. I have obferved how much that Sin is often mistaken, and what Trouble and Perplexities of Mind have hence arifen to well-meaning People, but especially those that are hypochondriack in their Tempers: I thought therefore that a plain Account of this might be of fome Service.

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There are many Sins against the Holy Ghoft; Whosoever grieveth the Spirit, or quencheth the Spirit, both which things St. Paul cautions the Chriftians against, finneth against the Holy Ghost. Ananias and Sapphira, in the Lye they told St. Peter, are faid to lye against the Holy Ghost. St. Stephen calls the Stubbornefs and Difobedience of the Jews to the Admonitions of the Prophets, a refifting the Holy Ghoft, and confequently a Sin againft him. Simon Magus's Sin, in offering to purchase the Gift of the Spirit with Money, was a Sin against the Holy Ghost.

But none of these feem to be the Sin against the Holy Ghoft; the Sin which, by way of Eminence, we call fo, and of which we are now to treat. The not obferving this Distinction, has given Occafion to many of thofe Notions, concerning this great Sin,, which have too often perplexed the Confciences of weak Perfons.

For the finding out what this Sin is, we muft take the Scriptures for our Guide, and them only; nay, we muft keep close to the Words and Phrafes in which it is there fpoken of, having alfo a fpecial Regard to the Occafion of thefe Speeches.

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The Neglect of this, is another Reason why Men have been fo different, and fome of them fo unlucky, in their Apprehenfions and Definitions of this Sin; running away with this, that the Sin is unpardonable, they

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