Page:Unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost (2).pdf/5

 sin against the Holy Ghost. A man may be an idolator, a whoremonger, a fornicator, a murderer, and witchcraft, and sin with a very high hand; nay, he may live in all manner of filthiness and lewdness, and yet not be under the guilt of the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost. Thus we read, 2 Chrn. xxxii. and Manasseh 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 viii. 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: And yet, for all that, Christ looked upon him with a merciful eye and he repented and was forgiven.

4. is not every malicious sin that is the unpardonabeunpardonable [sic] 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 he was converted, and became a preacher of the gospel of Christ, which before he persecuted.

5. And lastly, it is not final unbelief, nor final impenitence, that is the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, tho' some be of opinion