The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-07-24
TOO LATE TO RECALL.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE on WRONGS That
CANNOT BE RlGHTED.

CANNOl SS HlGI CC
His Opinion of the objectionable Sim.
Not Possible Today to Commit II Some
IrrcvocabIe Mistakes Enumcratcd--Thc
Signal Gun of the Gospel.
New loRK, July 14.--h his ser
mon for today Rev DR.. Talmage, who
is still in the west on his annual sum-
lner tour. chose subject which has
been a fruitful theme of theological
disputation for centuries past-yiZ,
The objectionable sin The text
selected were: 'AlImanner OF sin and
blasphcmy shall be forgiven unto
meu, but the biasphcmy against the
HOLY Chest shall not be forgiven un-
to men. And whosoever speaketh a
word against the Son Of man, it shall
be forgiven hlm, but whosoever speak
eth against the Holy Ghost it shall
not be forgiven him, neither in this
world, neither in the world to come
Matthew Xii, 81, 80
lie found no place Of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with
tears Hebrews Xii, II.
As sometimes you gather the whole
family around the evening stand to
hear some book read. so now we gath
era 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 a sin against the
Holy Ghost for which 4 man is never
partloned. 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 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 tina. 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 as
cribing of the works of the Spirit to
the agency OF the devil in the time Of
the apostles. Indeed the Bible dis
tinctlv 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. Belzebub accomplished it, or,
This man raised from the dead was
raised by santanic influence, " the man
who said that dropped down under
the curse of the text and had commit
ted the fatal sin against the Holy
Ghost.
Now. do not think it is 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 it is a marked fact that o:::r race
has been marvelously kept back from
that profanity. You hear man swear
by the name of the Eternal Gcd and
by the name of Jesus Christ, but you
never hear man swear by the name
of the Holy Ghost. There are those
here today who fear they are guilty of
the objectionable sin. Have you such
anxiety? Then I have to tell you pos
itively that you have not committed
that sin, because the very anXl-
ETY. is reeult of the move
ment 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
salvation for ALL It is not like when
they put out with those lifeboats from
the Loeb Earn for the Vile du havre.
They knew there was not room for all
the passengers, but 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
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 while l have said | do not think
it is possible for US to commit the par
ticular sin spoken Of in the first tex,
have bv reason of the second text to
cali YOUR attention to the fact that
there are sins which, though they
may be pardoned, are in some respects
irrevocable, and YOU can find no place
for repentance, though you seek it
carefully with tears. Esau had a
birthright given him. In olden times
it meant not only temporal but spirit.
ual blessing. One day Esau took his
birthright and traded it off for some
thing 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 60
| into a restaurant and in a fit of reck-
lessness and hunger throw all those
securities on the counter and ask for a
plate of food, making that exchange.
This was the one Esau made. lie sold
his birthright for a mess of pottage,
and he was very sorry about it after
ward, but ''he found no place for re
pentance, though he sought 1t careful
ly with tears
There is an impression in almost
every mans mind that somewhere in
the future there will be 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 as though we had new
er 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 a
thing as unsuccessful repentance; that
there are things done wrong that al
ways stay wrong and for them YOU
may seek some place Of repentance
and seek it carefully, but never find
it.