Christ, and shift his offer; fince God hath openly declared, that "this is a faithful faying, and worthy of all acceptation, Chrift came to fave finners, whereof I am chief." Even he who is chief of finners in his own apprehenfion is bound to believe and "accept this faying." Object. My fins have fome aggravating circumftances beyond the fame fins in other perfons, which doth much terrify me.

Anf. What can the aggravations of thy fins be, which are not parallel in the forecited examples? Is thy fin againft great light? fo behoved many of thefe we fpake of before. Was it againft fingular mercies and deliverances? fo was that of Lot's and Noah's drunkenness. Was thy fin done with much deliberation ? fo was David's, whilst he wrote the letter againft Uriah. Was it against or after any fingular manifeftation of God? fo was Solomon's. Was it by a fmall and defpicable temptation? fo was that of Jonah and of Peter; if we confider the heinoufnefs of their tranfgreffion. Haft thou reiterated the fin, and committed it over again? fo did Lot, fo did Peter, fo did Jehoshaphat in joining with Ahab and Jehoram, 1 Kings xxii. 2 Kings iii. Are there many grofs fins concurring together in thee? fo were there in Manaffeh. Haft thou ftood long out in rebellion? (that, as the former, is thy fhame: but) fo did the thief on the crofs;" he food it out to the last gasp, Luke xxiii. 42, 43. If "thou haft an ear to hear,' thou art commanded to "hear." Although thou haft long "fpent thy money for that which is not bread," thou haft the greater need now to make hafte, and to flee for refuge; and if thou do fo, he fhall welcome thee, and "in no wife caft thee out," efpecially, fince he hath ufed no prefeription of time in fcripture. So that all thofe aggravations of thy fin will not excufe thy fhifting of the Lord's offer.

yet

Object. In all these inftances given you have not named the particulars whereof I am guilty; nor know I

any who ever obtained mercy before God being guilty of fuch things as are in me.

Anfw. It is hard to condefcend upon every particular tranfgreffion which may vex the confcience; yea, lesfer fins than some of those I have mentioned may hugely difquiet, if the Lord blow the fire. But for thy fatisfaction, I fhall condefcend upon fome truths of Scripture, which do reach fins and cafes more univerfally than any man can do particularly. See Exod. xxxiv. 7. "God pardoneth iniquity, tranfgreffion and fin;" that is, all manner of fin. "If a man turn from all his wickedness, it fhall no more be remembered, or prove his ruin." "Him that cometh, he will in no wife caft out" that is, whatsoever be his fins, or the aggravations of them. "Whofoever believeth fhall have everlafting life" that is, without exception of any fin, or any cafe." "He is able to fave to the uttermoft those who come to God through him :" no man can fufficiently declare what is God's uttermoft. " All manner of fin and blafphemy fhall be forgiven unto men; that is, there is no fort of fin, whereof one inftance fhall not be forgiven in one perfon or other, "except the fin against the Holy Ghoft." Thefe and the like Scriptures do carry all forts of fin before them: fo that let thy fins be what they will, or can be, they may be funk in one of these truths: fo as thy fin can be no excufe to thee for fhifting the offer of peace and falvation through Chrift fince" any man who will," is allowed to "come and take."

We will not multiply words: the great God of heaven and earth hath fovereignly commanded all who fee their need of relief to betake themselves unto Christ Jefus, and to clofe cordially with God's device of faving finners by him, laying afide all objections and excuses, as they fhall be answerable unto him in the day he shall judge the quick and the dead, and fhall drive away out of his prefence all these who would dare to say, their fins and condition were fuch as that they durft not adventure 0

upon Chrift's perfect righteousness for their relief, notwithstanding of the Lord's own command often interpofed, and in a manner his credit engaged.

Chapter IV.

Of the Sin against the Holy Ghoft.

I

Object. SUSPECT I am guilty of the "fin against the Holy Ghoft," and fo am incapable of pardon; and therefore I need not think of believing on Chrift Jefus for saving of my foul.

Anfw. Although none fhould charge this fin on themfelves, or on others, unless they can prove and instruct the charge according to Chrift's example, Mat. xii. 25, 26, 32, yet, for fatisfying of the doubt, I fhall, 1ft, fhew what is not the fin against the Holy Ghoft, properly fo called, because there be fome grofs fins which people do unwarrantably judge to be this unpardonable fin. adly, I fhall fhew what is the fin against the Holy Ghost. gdly, I fhall draw fome conclufions in anfwer directly to the objection.

As for the firft, There be many grofs fins, which although, as all other fins, they be fins against the Holy Ghoft, who is God equal and one with the Father and the Son, and are done against fome of his operations and motions: yet are they not "the fin against the Holy Ghoft," which is the unpardonable fin. As 1ft, Blafpheming of God under bodily tortures is not that fin for fome faints fell into this, Acts xxvi. 11. " And I punifhed them oft in every fynagogue, and compelled them to blafpheme:" much lefs blafpheming of God in a fit of diftraction or frenzy; for a man is not a free rational agent at that time: and he that fpareth his people, as a father doth the fon that ferveth him," "and pitieth them that fear him, as a father pitieth his chil dren," fo doth he fpare and pity in thefe rovings; for

fo would our fathers according to the flefh do, if we blafphemed them in a fit of diftraction. Much less are horrid blafphemies against God darted in upon the foul, and not allowed there, this unpardonable fin; for such things were offered to Chrift, Mat. iv. and are often caft in upon the faints.

2dly, The hating of good in others, whilst I am not convinced that it is good, but in my light do judge it to be evil; yea, the speaking against it, yea, the perfecuting of it in that cafe, is not the fin against the Holy Ghoft; for all thefe will be found in Paul before he was converted; and he obtained mercy, because he did thefe things ignorantly.

3dly, Heart-rifing at the thriving of others in the work and way of God whilft I love it in myfelf; yea, the rifing of heart againft Providence, which often expreffeth itself against the creatures nearest our hand : yea, this rifing of heart entertained and maintained, (although they be horrid things leading towards that unpardonable fin, yet) are not that fin; for thefe may be in the faints, proceeding from felf-love, which cannot endure to be darkened by another, and proceeding from fome crofs in their idol under a fit of temptation: the moft part of all this was in Jonah, chap. iv.

4thly, Not only are not decays in what once was in the man, and falling into grofs fins againft light after the receiving of the truth, this unpardonable fin; for then many of the faints in fcripture were undone: but further apoftacy from much of the truth is not that fin; for that was in Solomon, and in the church of Corinth and Galatia yea, denying, yea, forfwearing of the moft fundamental truth under a great temptation is not this fin; for then Peter had been undone.

5thly, As refifting, quenching, grieving, and vexing of the Spirit of God by many finful ways, are not this unpardonable fin; for they are charged with thefe who are called to repentance in Scripture, and not fhut out as guilty of this fin; fo neither reiterating fin against

the Holy Ghoft, although it leadeth towards it; for fuch was Peter's fin in denying Chrift; fo was Jehofhaphat's fin in joining with Ahab and Jehoram.

6thly, Purposes and effays of felf-murder, and even purposes of murdering godly men, the party being under a fad fit of temptation; yea, actual felf-murder, (although probably it often joineth in the iffue with this unpardonable fin, which ought to make every foul look upon the very temptation to it with horror and abhorrence, yet) is not the fin againft the Holy Ghoft. The Jailor intended to kill himfelfupon a worse account than many poor people do, in the fight and fenfe of God's wrath, and of their own fin and corruption; yet that Jailor obtained pardon, Acts xvi. 27, 34; and Paul, before his effectual calling, was acceffary unto the murder of many faints, and intended to kill more as himself granteth, As xxvi. 9, 10, 11, 12.

Although all these are dreadful fins, each of them deferving wrath everlasting, and not being repented of, bring endless vengeance; efpecially the laft cuts off hope of relief, for ought can be expected in an ordinary way; yet none of thefe is the unpardonable fin against the Holy Ghoft and fo under any of thefe there is hope to him that hath an ear to hear the joyful found of the covenant. All manner of fuch fin and blafphemy may be forgiven, as is clear in the Scripture, where these things are mentioned.

As for the fecond thing. Let us fee what the fin against the Holy Ghoft is. It is not a fimple act of tranfgreffion, but a complex of many mifchievous things, invol ving foul and body ordinarily in guilt. We thus defcribe it: "It is a rejecting and oppofing of the chief gofpel-truth, and way of falvation, made out fingularly to a man by the fpirit of God, in the truth and good thereof; and that avowedly, freely, wilfully, malicioufly, and defpitefully, breeding hopeless fear." There be three places of fcripture which do speak moft of this fin, and thence we will prove every part of this defcription,