The Spirit of Bondage and Adoption, Treatise 1 · Chapter 24
CHAP. XXIV. Objections of another nature anſwered.
Object. YEa, But if this be ſo, poſſibly it may be as much for Gods honor to reject me if I do really ſubmit my ſelf to my old Maſter, and reduce my ſoul under the Spirits Bondage again; ſo that here is a greater diſcouragement. I fear God wil not receive ſo deſperate an Apoſtate as I have been, though I could be humbled never ſo much.
Anſw. 1. True, it may be much for Caution to others to take heed of affronting, reſiſting, quenching the Spirit of grace, that hee ſhould let thy Conſcience looſe upon thee in damning terrours here, and ſend thee to hel with them upon thy ſpirit to be thy companions to eternity. But
2. That thou acknowledgeſt the Juſtice of God herein, gives good hope of thee. To accept of the puniſhment of our iniquity, and to acquit God, is one good ſign of the truth and ſoundneſſe of humiliation. When a man is humbled as low as hell, takes it for his portion, and deſerved too; ſure, God uſeth not to be deaf to ſuch an acknowledgment as this. The Judg at the Bench is never more inclined to mercy, then when an Offendor takes his guilt on him, and acquits the Bench, and the Jury, and confeſſeth his condemnation is, and execution will be juſt.
3. (We may poſſibly offend in bringing down God to the line of men in this caſe;) and therefore there are Promiſes of acceptance to ſuch as thou art, Hoſ. 14. 4. Jer. 3. 22. Though thou canſt not go to God upon meer grounds of probability, yet thou maiſt upon his own Promiſes and Engagements.
Object. But poſſibly I have ſinned againſt the Holy Ghoſt.
Anſw. 1. Every ſin againſt the Holy Ghoſt is not the ſin againſt the Holy Ghoſt, the emphatical ſin againſt the Holy Ghoſt. Every Apoſtaſie is not that ſin; then Peter had ſinn'd unpardonably, and Cranmer, and divers others in the late times, that have recanted the Truth, and have returned againe to their ſtedfaſtneſſe, and dyed for it.
Every wilful ſin againſt convictions is not that ſin; then had David (no doubt) in his plotted murder and adultery ſinned againſt the Holy Ghoſt, in this unpardonable way. So had Abraham in denying his wife, and Peter alſo in denying his Maſter; ſure they knew ſuch acts were ſins. That ſin is all theſe, but you muſt add to make up the full nature of it, that it muſt be a total Apoſtacy againſt full light, ending in a malicious perſecution of the knowne Truth and wayes of holineſſe. The Phariſees were ſuch Perſecutors, and Reproachers of the Doctrine and Works of Chriſt, as coming from Satan, (which by the miracles that accompanied him, they could not but in their conſciences believe came from God,) and therefore Chriſt chargeth them juſtly with that ſin▪ Malice there muſt be; for perſecution out of ignorance, in Pauls example, is pardonable, 1 Tim. 1. 17, 18. And in an heat of paſſion one godly man hath perſecuted another. So Aſa, 2 Chron. 16. 10.
Laſtly, That thou haſt not ſinned that ſin, is clear, in that thou art affraid of it, and that fear is thy greateſt grief and burthen, &c. That ſinne carries with it an heart that cannot repent, a ſeared conſcience. However, look on thy preſent condition as very dangerous, although not deſperate. Penal hardneſſe of heart, and the fore-mentioned attendants of it, are a rode way to it. Timely caution may prevent thy falling ſo far. Pleaſe not thy ſelfe in ſuch ſins, with this conceit, that yet thou haſt not ſinned the ſin againſt the Holy Ghoſt, and therefore mayſt yet go on in them with hope of mercy. Preſumptuous ſinnes are the uſhers to the great tranſgreſſion, Pſalm 19. 13. (as we render the word.)