The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-15
ONLY ONE SIN OBJECTIONABLE.
TALMAGE breaches ON THE FATE
OF THE BLAsPHEMER-

OF THE BLASPHEMER.
The Pastor Convinced That the Sin Against
the Holy Ghost Was the Ascribing the
Works of the Spirit to the Agency of the
Devil i'm the Time of the APostles-He
Does Not Think 1t Possible In This Day
to Commit That sim
New York, July l8.-In his sermon for
to-day. Rev. DR.. Talmage. who is still In
the west on his annual summer tour. chose
q subject which has been a fruitful theme
OF theological disputation for centuries
past. viz: The objectionable Sin" The
texts selected were: All manner Of sin
and blasphemy 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 whatsoever speaketh against the Holy
Ghost. it shall not be forgiven him neith-
er in this world. neither in the world to
come" Matthew z: 51.S2.
He found no place Of repentance.
though he sought it carefully with tears"
Heb. u: II.
AS sometimes you gather the whole fam
fly 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
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 man is never pardoned.
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 offer
ed in his behalf; but all TO no purpose.
He is a captive for this world and a cap
tive 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. II is very clear
10 my own mind that the sin against the
Holy Ghost was the ascribing 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,
IL man had sight given 10 him, or II
another was raised from the dead, and
someone standing there should say This
man got his sight by satanic power; the
Holy Spirit did not do this; Beelzebub ac-
compllshed 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 COM
mitted the fatal sin against the Holy
Ghost
Now, 1 do not think il is possible in
this day to commit that sin. l think IT
was possible only in apostolic times. But
II is very terrible thing ever to say
anything against the Holy Ghost, and it
is a marked fact that our race has been
marvelously kept back from that profan-
lily. You hear a man swear by the name
OF the Eternal God, and the name of
Jesus Christ, but you never heard a man
swear by the name OF the Holy Ghost.
There are those here to-day who fear
they are guilty OF the objectionable sin.
Have you such anxiety? Then I have
TO tell you positively that you have not
committed that sin, because the very
anxiety is a result of the movement of
the gracious spirit, and your anxiety Is
proof positive, as certainly as anything
that can be demonstrated IN mathemat-
les, that you have not committed the sin
that have been speaking Of. I can look
on upon this audience and feel that there
is salvation for all. n is not like when
they put out with those lifeboats from
the Loeb Earn" for the ''Ville du Havre."
They knew there was not room for all
the passengers, but they We're going TO
do as well as they could. But to-day
we man the lifeboat of the Gospel and
we cry out over the sea, Room for ang'
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 have said I do not think
u is possible for us TO commit the par
ticular sin spoken of in the first text,
j have by reason of the second text to
call your attention to the fact that there
no cf inc rrrl,f . a.
ooned, are in some respects irreVocable;
and you can find no place for repent
ance, though you may seek 1t 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 follvl
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 a restaurant, and in a fit
of recklessness 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. He sold his birth
right for mess Of pottage, and he was
very sorry about 1t afterward; but The
1ounu no place Tor repentance, though he
sought 1t carefully 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 we'll as though we
had never committed sin. My discourse
shall come in collision with that theory 1
shall show you, my friends, as God will
help me, that there is such thing as I'M
successful repentance; that there are
things done wrong that always stay wrong,
and for them you may seek some place of
repentance, and seek ii carefully, but never
find it.
Belonging to this class of irrevocable
mistakes is the folly of a misspent youth.
We may look back to our college days,
and think how we neglected chemistry, or
geology, or botany, or mathematics. We
may be sorry about il all our days. Can
we ever get the discipline or the advantage
that we would have had had we attended
10 those duties in early life? A man wakes
up at forty years Of age and finds that his
youth has been wasted, and he strives TO
get back his early advantages. Does he
get them back-the days Of boyhood, the