Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-01-19
The Sin Against the Holy GhOst-Ser-
mon by Henry Ward Beecher.

Plymouth church had not its usual
crowd yesterday morning. Every
seat was occupied, but the crowds
who stand around the pews during
the entire service were not there.
The subject of Mr.. Beecher's dis
course was 1.-THE Sin against the Holy
Ghost, and How it Manifests itself
To-day.u 1t was treated with more
than the usual ability and power in
variably shown by this great and
popular preacher.
The sermon was founded on Mat
thew xii, 81, 32-''Wherefore / say
unto you, all manner of sin and bias
phemy shall be forgiven unto men
but the blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
And whOsoever speaketh a word
against the Son of Man it shall be
forgiven him; but whOsOever speak.
eth against the Holy Ghost, it shall
not be forgiven him, neither in
this world, neither in the world to
come" Upon the subject mentioned
in this text Mr.. Beecher said there
was much anxiety, but very little
knowledge. The text was, however
neither mysterious nor obscure; ii
contained a truth that belongs to
Scripture from the beginning to the
end. The circumstances under which
the text was uttered would give the
clue to its meaning. The controversy
of the Master detailed in the chapter
was not about heresy, but about mira
cles.
Mr.. Beecher then summarized the
truths taught in this chapter. The
deliverance of the Sabbath from the
yoke of bondage, the healing of the
withered hand, the casting out of the
blind and dumb devil-when these
things were seen by the Pharisees,
and when the mortal truth within
these miracles, was lit up by the di.
vine rays of the Masters holy spirit
they showed so entire q preservation
of their moral nature as to indicate
that they so naturally and systemat.
ically reviled Gods goodness thai
they had gone beyond all spiritual
remedy.
That was the real sin against the
Holy Ghost, and it was set forth ovel
and over again in the Scriptures, the
so bunting and cauterizing the mora
sense that evil shall become good, anC
/ good shall become evil. Men so per
verting all that was once good in then
as that they shall come to believe
that vices were justified and to cal
/ them virtues; and virtues vices, anC
the virtues contemned. The ligh
that was within them had becomt
darkness; and when that was so i
was a very profound darkness.
( Now, how was the soul brough
into this state? Well, no man eoult
90 against the convictions of his owl
soul, the glimmer of truth that wa
to be found there, unless he had be
come of a reprObate mind; and n
man would unless he had becOm
thus reprobate. Then this was a sil
that could not be committed by acci
dent and without knowing that
was committed.
1t was true that men got the nOtiOl
that they had committed the si
against the Holy Ghost, very often q
the result of bodily weakness opel
ating upon the mind. 1t assume
then the form of a religious melaI
choly or insanity; but when men ha
any anxiety at all about it it Shove
that there was a conscience left an
they were not reprobate. Good Chri:
tian men sometimes got that notion
One of the predecessors in his father
chuTch-Dr. Champin, of LitchfielC
Conn.-had this conviction, and b
never showed himself so much
Christian as when he thought tina
God was about to send him to hell
for if it was His will he would Q
willingly. Well, he was very miseI
able about it until one bright day tn
thought struck him that when he &c
to hell he would open a prayer NEE!
ing there.
Mr.. Beecher then proceeded t
sketch the characters most suscepti
BILE to the condition of soul tha
would bring about the reprobate min
referred to. Among these he instan
ced gamblers, licentiOus, dissipate
debauchees, who amidst all thei
wickedness, had a kind of chape
within their souls where they kept
conscience, where, if the bolt cOul,
be struck, it would open up to view
sensibility that would be surprising
That class of men, so long as the,
kept the chapel, were not likely to sil
against the Holy Ghost. 1t was tn
men who knew they had a conscience
who knew they had light, who knew
the truth, who did not pretend o
assume their ignorance of it, but VIII,
sinned in spite of these. There cam
a time in the spiritual history of suel
men when the soul was in what tn
physicians say of the body, a want o
resiliency, in which the soul was dis
cerning enough but had no power t
throw off the influences of evil tina
surrounded it.-Nelg York Herald, 81
inst.