Connecticut western news., 1895-07-18
THE UNPARDONED SIN
REV. DR. TALMAGE THINKS IT IS NOT
 COMMITTED TODAY.

Hut There Are Other Sins That In somo
 Respects Are Irrevocable-A Category of Awful Sins.
 NEW YORK, July 14.-In his sermon for today Rev. Dr. Talmage, who is still in the west on his annual summer tour, chose subject which has been a fruit ful theme of theological disputation for centuries past-viz, "The Unpardonable Sin. '' The texts selected were:
 All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blas- pheny against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoeyer speaketh word against the Son of Man it shall 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.- Matthew xii, 31, 32.
 He found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. Hebrews xii, IT.
 As sometimes you gather the whole family around the evening stand to hear some book read, so now we gather, a great Christian family group, to study this text, and now may one and the same lamp cast it's glow on all the circle.
 You see from the first passage that l read that there is a sin against the Holy Ghost for which man is never pardon ed. Once having committed 1t, he IS bound hand and foot for the dungeons of despair. Sermons may be preached to him, songs may be sung to him, prayers may be offered in his behalf, but all to no purpose. He is a captive for this world and a captive for the world that is to come. Do you suppose that there is any one here who has committed that sin? All sins are against the Holy Ghost, but my text speaks of one especially. It is very clear to my own mind that the sin against the Holy Ghost was the ascrib- ing of the works of the spirit to the agency of the devil in the time of the apostles
 Indeed the Bible distinctly tells us that. In other words, if man had sight given to him, or if another was raised from the dead, and some one standing there should say, "This man got his sight by satanic power; the Holy Spirit did not do this Beelzebub accomplished it." or, ''This man raised from the dead was raised by satanic influence" the man who said that dropped down under the curse of the text and had committed the fatal sin against the Holy Ghost.
 Not Possible Today.
 Now, I do not think it is possible in this day to commit that sin. I 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 marked fact that our race has been marvelously kept back from that profanity. You hear a man swear by the name of the eternal God, and by the name of Jesus Christ, but you never heard man swear by the name of the Holy Ghost. There are those here today who fear they are guilty of the unpar- donable sin. Have you such anxiety? Then have to tell you positively that you have not committed that sin, be- cause the very anxiety is a result of the movement of the gracious Spirit, and your anxiety is proof positive, as cer- tainly as anything that can be demon strated in mathematics, that you have not committed the sin that I have been speaking of. can look off upon this audience and feel that there is saliva tion for all. It is not like when they put out with those lifeboats from the Loch Earn for the Vile de Havre. They knew there was not room for all the passengers, but they were going to do as p,,f the lifeboat of the gospel, and we cry out over the sea, "Room for all!" Oh, that the Lord Jesus Christ would this hour bring you all out of the flood of sin and plant you on the deck of the glorious old gospel craft
 But whilo have said do not think it is possible for us to commit the par ticular sin spoken of in the first text I have, by reason of the second text, to are sins which, though they may be par doned, are i'll some respects irrevocable, and you can find no place for repentance, though you seek it carefully with tears. Esau had q birthright given him. In olden times it meant not only temporal but spiritual blessing. One day Esau took this birthright and traded it off for something to eat. Oh, the folly But let us not be too severe upon him, for some of us have committed the same folly. After he had made the trade he wanted to get it back. Just as though you tomorrow morning should take all your notes and bonds and government securities and should go into restau- rant and in fit of recklessness and hun ger throw all those securities on the counter and ask for a plate of food, mak- ing that exchange This was the one Esau made He sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, and he was very sorry about it afterward, but ihe found nc place for repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.''
 There is an impression in almost ev. cry mans mind that somewhere ill the future there will be chance where he can correct all his mistakes. Live as we may, if we only repent in time Goo will forgive us, and then all will be al we'll as though we had never committed sin. My discourse shall come i'll collision with that theory. shall show you, my friends, as God will help me, that ther' is such thing as unsuccessful repent ance; that there are things done wrong that always stay wrong, and for then you may seek some place of repentanc, and seek it carefully, but never find it.
 Irrevocable Mistakes.
 Belonging to this class of irrevocabl mistakes is the folly of misspen youth. We may look back to our colleg days and think how we neglected chem istry or geology or botany or mathemat ics. We may be sorry about it all ou days. Car we ever get the discipline O the advantage that we would have had had we attended to those duties in early life? A man wakes up at 40 years oi age and finds that his youth has beer wasted, and he strives to get back his early advantages. Does he get then back-the days of boyhood, the days 1T