Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1895-07-20

REV. DIR. TALMAGE THINKS IT IS NOT
COMMITTED TODAY.

| heV. bh, tALMS1E tF1tNhS ~ 10 W.
COMMITTED TODAY.
No One Now swears by the Holy Ghost,
but There Are other Sins That In Some
Respects Are Irrevocable--A Category
OF Awful Sins.
| NEW YoRK, July i4.-ln his sermon
for today Rev. Dr. Talmage. who is still
in the west on his annual summer tour,
chose subject which has been fruit
ful theme of theological disputation for
centuries past--viz. 1.-THE objectionable
Sim y The texts selected were:
All manner of sin and blasphenly
shall be forgiven unto men, but the BIAS
phelny against the Holy Ghost shall not
be forgiven unto men. And whatsoever
speaketh word against the Son OF Man
it shall be forgiven him, but whatsoever
speaketh against the Holy Ghost it shall
not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, neither in the world to come. -
Matthew xii, 81, 32.
He found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears.
Hebrews xii, II.
As sometimes you gather the whole
family around tho evening stand to hear
sOmo book road, so now we gather, a
Great Christian family group, to study
this text, and now may one and the
same lamp cast its glow on all the circle.
You see from the first passage that |
read that there is sin against the Holy
Ghost for which q man is never pardon
ell. Once having committed it, 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 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. 1t 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, do not think it is possible in
this day to commit that sim / think it
was possible only in apostolic times.
But it is very terrible thing ever to
say anything against the Holy Ghost,
and it is marked fact that our race has
been maryelously kept back from that
profanity. You hear 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 result of the
movement of the gracious Spirit, and
your anxiety is proof positive, as GER
tainly as anything that can be demon
strated in mathematics, that you have
not committed the sin that / have been
speaking Of l can look off upon this
audience and feel that there is saliva
tion fer all. 1t is not Ike when they
put ont with those lifeboats from the
Loeb Earn for the Vile de Havre They
knew there was not room for all the
passengers, bat they were going to do as
well as they could. But today we man
the lifeboat of the gospel, and we cry
out over the sea, Room for ALI" Oh,
that the Lord Jesus Christ would this
hour bring you all ont of the food of
sin and plant you ON the deck of the
glorious cid gospel craft!
But while have said do not think
| it is possible for us to commit the par
ticular stu spoken of in the first text /
have, by reason of the second text, to
call your attention to the fact that there
are sins which, though they may be par
doned, are in some respects irrevocable,
and you can find no place for repentance,
though yen seek it carefully with tears.
Esau had a 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 follyi But
let us not be too severe upon him, for
some of us hayo 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 i'll fit of recklessness and hun
ger throw all those securities on the
counter and ask for plate of food, max
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 she found nc
place for repentance, though he sought
| it carefully with tears.
There is an impression in almost ev-
| cry man S mind that somewhere i'll the
future there will be a chance where he
can correct all his mistakes. Live as we
may, if we only repent in time God
will forgive us, and then all will be as
well rs though we had never committed
sin My discourse shall come in collision
with that theory. | shall show you, my
friends, as God will help me, that there
is such thing us unsuccessful repent
anee; that there are things done wrong
that always stay wrong, and for them
you may seek some place of repentance
and seek it carefully, but never find it.
IrrevocabIe Mistakes.
Belonging to this class of irrevocablt
mistakes is the folly of misspen
youth. We may look back to our college
days and thmk how we neglected chem
istry or geology or botany or mathemat
les We may be sorry about it all our
days. Can we ever get the discipline o.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.