Sin against the Holy Ghost

“ But this sin against the Holy Ghost called, "The sin unto death," because it binds man over to eternal death, without any possibility of recovery. Now, some there are, that hop on from one degree of sin to another; they heighten and aggravate their sin more and more, until they are brought to that height at last, as to commit that sin for which there is no forgiveness.
There is no mere man since the fall, can live without sin, for all are sinners: But yet there are degrees of sin; some sins, in their own nature, are small; others are more great and heinious. ”

“ A soul in the state of grace is beautiful beyond expression: it is a brilliant image of God himself; the Holy Ghost dwells in it. But when mortal sin is allowed to infect it, its beauty is lost, its light is extinguished, the Divine Spirit departs, the devil takes possession: all then is darkness, filth, and deformity. If a God-man, dying, was a dreadful spectacle, mortal sin is yet more dreadful; for Christ died but to atone for sin, and sin can daily frustrate all his merits: he is crucified over and over — his blood is trampled upon by ungrateful sinners. ”

“ That is, doubtless, a sin which kills the spiritual life in man; that breaks this union with God—the sin against the Holy Ghost which men have of God, and they become spiritually dead—and it is impossible to revive them to life again. ”

“ Nevertheless it is possible for a man, in his first sinful act, to sin against the Holy Ghost by contempt, both on account of his free-will, and on account of the many previous dispositions, or again, through being vehemently moved to evil, while but feebly attached to good. ”

“ He suggests dreadful thoughts of an incensed majesty, begets terrible apprehensions of infinite wrath and damnation, he aggravates all their sins to make them seem unpardonable. Every action he calls a sin, and every sin he represents as a wilful forsaking of God, and every deliberate transgression he tells them is ‘the sin against the Holy Ghost.’ He baffles them in their prayers and services, and then accuseth their duties for intolerable profanations of God’s name ”

“ It is Satan's way of hardening and deceiving the heart. Oh that we may watch against it, and ever keep a tender conscience! We may rest assured that when a true-hearted child of God is betrayed into sin the Holy Ghost will produce in him such a sense of it—will lead him into such intense self-loathing, such an abhorrence of the evil, such thorough self-judgment in the presence of God—as that he cannot lightly go and commit the sin again. ”

“ Now for a man to be thoroughly enlightened by the Holy Ghost, tha the comes to know the evil of sin, and his lost and undone condition without Christ, and that nothing but the meritn of Christ can save him: and, notwithstanding,s wilfully and maliciously oppose him, and the work of the spirit, and refuse to be beholden to him for salvation ”

“ The Unpardonable Sin This is the sin against the Holy Ghost:— To speak of bloody power as right divine, And call on God to guard each vile chief's house, And for such chiefs, turn men to wolves and swine:— To go forth killing in White Mercy's name, Making the trenches stink with spattered brains, Tearing the nerves and arteries apart, Sowing with flesh the unreaped golden plains. ”

“ The Papists richly deserve that the “Holy Ghost should forsake them,” and that they should go “wantonly to their destruction according to their desire.” In short, “It is better for people to be sunk in sin, to be prostitutes and utter scamps, for at least they may yet come to a knowledge of the truth; but these devil’s saints who go to Divine worship full of good works, when they hear the Holy Ghost openly testifying against them, strike Him on the mouth and say: it is all heresy and devilry.” ”

“ This means that, when a man continually resists the grace of the Holy Ghost, he falls by degrees into a condition of soul not far removed from that of the fallen angels or devils. The devils are hardened in sin, in resistance to, and hatred of God: their perverted will is incapable of conversion, so that for them redemption is impossible. ”

“ For them there is no forgiveness. But one must receive the Holy Ghost before he can sin against it, must have knowledge and power sufficient to entitle him to celestial exaltation; and then prove utterly recreant to the great light that has come to him. Such a sin can be committed only by men equipped with every qualification for the highest degree of eternal glory. It is an offense so heinous that the sinner cannot repent. This is what makes his case hopeless; salvation being predicated upon repentance. ”

“ Thou shouldst have tended to the ministry wherewith thou wast entrusted.
39:5 Know ye not, my son, that these things are an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost?
39:6 For behold, if ye deny the Holy Ghost when it once has had place in you, and ye know that ye deny it, behold, this is a sin which is unpardonable; yea, and whosoever murdereth against the light and knowledge of God, it is not easy for him to obtain forgiveness ”

“ SIN is the sharpest scourge that any chosen soul may be smitten with: which scourge thoroughly beateth [1] man and woman, and maketh him hateful in his own sight, so far forth that afterwhile [2] he thinketh himself he is not worthy but as to sink in hell,—till [that time] when contrition taketh him by touching of the Holy Ghost, and turneth the bitterness into hopes of God's mercy. ”

“ If God, in His mercy, allows the families of men to continue during another hundred years, this great fact will still stand out in the forefront of life. Sin will still be the skeleton at every feast, the horrid ghost haunting every home and every heart, the spectre, clothed with reproaches, ever ready to plunge his dripping sword into every breast. ”

“ Evil spirits, in the beginning created sinless, were equal in nature, power, and glory with the holy beings that are now God's messengers. But fallen through sin, they are leagued together for the dishonor of God and the destruction of men. United with Satan in his rebellion, and with him cast out from heaven, they have, through all succeeding ages, co-operated with him in his warfare against the divine authority. ”