The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-06-18
PULPIT UTTERANCES.
TALMAcE ON lRREvocAsLE MISTAKES.
Eternity Wrapped Up in Every Ono OF the
Golden Moments of Youth.


Rev. DR.. I. Dewitt Talmage preached
Sunday on The objectionable Sin, and
Those Mistakes Which can not Be Re
paired. He chose two texts. The first
was from Mdtthelc ali, 3l-32: Gan manner
of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven un.
to men; but the blasphemy against the
Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto
men. And whosoever speaketh a word
against the Son of Man, itshall be forgiven
him; but whosoever speaketh against the
Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him,
neither in this world, neither in the world
to come" The second text was from He
6relrS 1ii., II: "He found no place of re-
pentance, though ho sought it carefully
with tears"
You see from the first passage that there
Is sin against the Holy Ghost for which
man is never pardoned. Once having
committed it, he is bound hand and foot
for the dungeons of despair. He is o cap
tive for this world and q captive for the
world that is to come. All sins are against
the Holy Ghost, but my text speaks Of one
especially. 1t is very clear to my own
mind that the sin against the Holy Ghost
was the ascribing the works of the Spirit
TO the agency of the devil in the time
Of the Apostles. Indeed, the Bible dis.
tinctly tells us that. In other words, il q
man had sight given to him, or il another
was raised from the dead, and some one
standing there should say: "This man got
his sight by Satanic power: the Holy
s-,N 4 10 nl,,h
plished IT." or "This man raised from the
dead was raised by Satanic influence;"
the man who said that dropped down un-
der the curse of the text, and has commit
ted the fatal sin against the Holy Ghost
Now, do not think 1t possible in this day
to commit that sin. think it was possible
only in Apostolic times. But it is a very
terrible thing ever to say anything against
the Holy Ghost, and 1t is a marked fact
that our race have been marvellously kept
back from that profanity. You hear man
swear by the eternal God and by the name
Of Jesus Christ, but you never heard a man
swear by the name of the Holy Ghost.
There are those in this house who fear they
are guilty of the objectionable sin. Have
positively that you have not committed
that sin, because the very anxiety is the
result Of movement of the gracious Spir.
it, and your anxiety is proof positive, as
certainlySas anything that can be demon.
strated in mathematics, that you have not
committed the sin that have been speak.
ing Of. can look or upon this audience
/ aud faoI t1,a., T. .o1,vakg,,, go,. oII
But while have said do not think il is
possible for us TO commit the particular
sin spoken of in the first text, have, by
reason Of the second text, to call your at.
tention to the fact that there arc sins
which, though they may be pardoned, are
in some respects irreyocable, and you can
find no place for repentance, though you
seek IL carefully with tears. There is an
impression in almost every mans mind
that somewhere in the future there will be
! a chance where he can correct all his mis-.
takes. Live as we may, II we only repent
in time God will forgive us, and then all
will be as well as though we had never
committed sin. Ny discourse shall come
in collision with that theory. shall show
] y u
cessful repentance; that there are things
done wrong that always stay wrong, and
for them you may seel, some place of re.
pentance, and see'. It carefully, but never
/ find 1t.
Belonging TO this class Of irrayocablo
mistakes is the folly Of misspent youth.
We may look back TO our college days and
think how We neglected chemistry or geol.
ogy or botany or mathematics. We may
be sorry about 1t all our days. Can
we eyer get the discipline or tho
advantage that we would have had
had we attended to those duties in
early lifei Aman wakes up at forty years
OF ago and finds that his youth has been
wasted, and he strives 10 got bacI, his
early advantages They. are gone, gone.
You may be very sorry about It, aud God
may forgive, so that you may at last roach
Heaven; but you will mover get over soma
Of the misbaps that have come to your
soul as a result of your neglect Of early
duty You may try to undo it; you eau
not undo IL.
I A man says at fifty years Of ago: al do
wish could get over these habits Of indo.
lence." When ala you get tIiam? At
twenty or twenty-five years OF aye. You
can not shake l:lom,OT. They will hang
70 you 70 the very day Of your death. Oh,
young man, the sin Of yesterday, the sin
OF to-day, the sin Of tomorrow will reach
over ten thousand y5ars--ayc, over the
great and unending eternity. You may,
after awhile say: 81 Gm very sorry.
Now have got to be thirty or forty years
Of age, and do wish had never commit
ted those sins" What does that amount
TO? God may pardon you; but get over
those things you never will, you never
can.
In this same category Of irrevocablc mis-
takes put all parental neglect. We bo-
gin the education of our children too late.
By the time they get TO be ten or fifteen we
wake up to our mistakes and try to eradi-
cate this or that bad habit Of tho child; !;
but It Is too late. That parent who omits
in the first ten years OF the child's life to
make an eternal impression for Christ
never makes It. The child will probably
go on with all the disadvantages which
might have boon avoided by parental
faithfulness. Oh, there Is such n thing as
coming TO Christ soon enough 10 save our
selves, but not soon enough 10 save others.
How many parents wake up IN the latter
part ofllie TO find out the mistaltel The