IHOLY SPIRIT good in us, wherein alsowe shall have a true discovery of the spring and cause of all that is evil; without a competent knowledge of both which, we can do nothing as we ought. Sect. l4. Fifthly; God lets us know that the only peculiarly remediless sin, and way ofsinning under the gospel, is to sin in an especial manner against the Holy Ghost. And this of itself is sufficient to convince us how needful it is for us to be well instructed in what concerns him. For there is somewhat that doth so, which is accompanied with irrecoverable and eternal ruin. And so is nothing else in the world. So Mark iii. 28, 29. « All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness. Or, he that speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be for- given him, neither in this world nor in the world to come," Matth. xii. 32. There remains nothing for him who Both despite to the Spirit of grace, but a « certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, that shall devour the adversaries," Heb. x. 27, 29. This is that sinunto death, whose remission is not to be prayed for, 1 John v. 16. For he having taken up- on him to make effectual unto us the great remedy pro- vided in the blood of Christ for the pardon of our sins, if he, in the prosecution of that work, be despised, blas- phemed, despitefully used, there neither is relief, nor can there be pardon for that sin. For whence, in that case, should they arise or spring? As. God bath not another son to offer another sacrifice for sin, so that he by whom his sacrifice is despised can have none remain- ing for him; no more hath he another Spirit to make that sacrifice effectual unto us, if the Holy Ghost, in his work, be despised and rejected. This therefore is a tender place. " We cannot use too much holy dili- gence in our inquiries after what God hath revealed in AND HIS WORIK.. 9 his word concerning his Spirit and his work; seeing there may be so fatal a miscarriage in an opposition un- to him, as the nature of man is incapable of in any other instance. And these considerations belong unto the first head of reasons of the importance, use, and necessityof the doctrineproposed tobe inquired into. They are enough to manifest what is the concernment of all believers herein. For, on the account of these things, the scrip- ture plainly declares, as we observed before, « that he who path not the Spirit of Christ is none of hiss" their portion is not in him; they shall have no benefit by his mediation. Men may please themselves with a profes- sion of being Christians, and owning the gospel, whilst they despise the Spirit of God, both name and thing. Their condition we shall examine and judge by the scripture before we come to the end of this discourse. And for the scripture itself, whoever reads the books of the New Testament, besides the great and precious pro-, mises that are given concerning him in the Old, will find and conclude, unless he be prepossessed with pre- judice, that the whole of what is declared in those writ- ings, turns on this only hinge, Remove from them the consideration of the Spirit of God and his work, and it will be hard to find out what they aim at, or tend unto. Sect. 15.Secondly; The great deceit and abuse that hath been in all ages of the church, under the pretence of the name and work of the Spirit, make the thorough consideration of what we are taught concerning them, exceeding necessary. Had not these things been excel- lent in themselves, and so acknowledged by all Chris- tians, they would never have been by so many falsely pretended unto. Men do not seek to adorn themselves with rags, or to boast of what on its own account is un- der just contempt. And, according to the worth of things, so are they liable to abuse. And the more ex- cellent any thing is, the more vile and pernicious is an undue pretence unto it. Such have been the false pre. tences of some in all ages unto the Spirit of God and his work, whose real excellencies in themselves, have made those pretences abominable and unspeakably dan- gerous. For the better the things are which are coun- terfeited, the worse always are the ends they are em. ployed unto. In the whole world there is nothing so vile as that which pretendeth to be God, and is not; nor Omnibus gulden; qua divina sunt cum Reverentiaet vehement cura Spurtet intendere, maxime autem his quo rle Spiritus Sancti diviniate dicuntur, prresertim cum Blasphem sine venia sit; ita ut bias- phemantis pana tendatur non solnmin oureprocess seculum, sed edam in futurum Ait quippeSatvator, Blaspbemanti in Spiritato Sanctum non esse remissionem, neque in iatoseculo neque in future: untie magi. ac magia intendere oportet qua Scripturarum de eo sit reletio, ne in ali. quern, sattem per ignorantam, Blasphemie error obrepatLtydyen. de Spir. Sanct. lib. 1. Interpret. Hieron.
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