Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1895-07-26
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
The Eminent New York Dlvlnss Sun :
day Sermon.
"The objectionable Sim"

Shall De forgiven unto WoH Dut tuo DldS-
phemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be
forgiven unto men. And whatsoever speaketh
q word against the Son of Man it shall be for
given him. bat 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, 80. "He found no
place of repentance. though he sought 1t
carefully with tears. Hebrews xiii, II.
As sometimes you gather the whole family
around the evening stand to hear some book
read. 50 now we gather, n great Christian
family group, to study this text, and now
NAV one and the same lamp cast its glow on
all the circle
You see from the first passage that I read
that there is sin againstthe Holy Ghost for
which q man is never pardoned. Once
having committed it, he is bound hand aud
foot for the dungeons of despair. Sermons
NAV be preached to him, songs may be sung
90 him. prayers may be offered in his behalf,
but all to no purpose. He is captive torthlS
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 mind that the sin against the Holy Ghost
was the ascribing Of the works of the soirit
to the agency Of the devil in the time of the
apostles.
Indeed the Bible distinctly tells us that. I'm
other words, if man had sight given to
him, orif another was raised from the dead,
AMI some ono standing there should say,
''Ths man got his sight by satanic power;
the HOLY Spirit did nCe 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 ha | committed the
fatal sin against the Holy Ghost.
Now, do not think it is possible in this
dav to commit that sin. think it was pos
sible oDlv in apostolic times. But it is very
terrible thing ever to say anything against
the HOLY Ghost, AMI it is markell fact that
our race has been marvelOusly 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 hear n
n an swear by The name Of the Holy Ghost.
There are those here to-day Who fear they
are guilty of the objectionable sin. Hav0
YOU sIch anxiety? Then have TO tell you
positively that you have not committed that
sim because the very anxiety is result OF
the movement of the gracious Spirit. AMI
your anxiety is proof positive. as certainly as
ANYTHING that can be demonstrated in math-
ematics, that you have not committed the
sin that have been speaking Of. can look
of upon this audience aud feel that there is
salvation for all. l. is not like when they
put out with those ifeboats from the Loeb
Earn for the Vile de Havre, They knew
there was not room for all the passengers,
but they were going TO do as we'll as they
could. But today we man the lifebo1t OF
the gospel, AMI we cry out over the sea,
''Room for all!' Oh, that the Lord jesus
Christ would this hour bring you all out OF
the foo of sin and plant you on the deck OF
the glorious old gospel craft!
Bat while do not think it is possible fol
Us to commit the particular sin spoken OF IN
the first text have. by reason Of the second
text. to call your attention to the TACT that
there are sins which, though thoy may be
parlOned, are in some respects lrrevocaOle,
and you eau find 10 place for repentance,
though you seek it carefully with tears.
Esau Ia | birthright given him. In oldea
times it meant not only temporal but spirit
ual blessing. One day Esau took his birth
right aul traded it off for something to eaf,
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 restaurant and in lit
OF recklessness and hunger throw all those
securities on the counter aud ask Tor plate
of food, making that exchange. This was
the one Esau made. He sold his b'rthright
for n mess of pottage, and he was very sorry
about it afterward, but she found no place
for repentance. though he sought it care
fully 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 mistakes Live as we may IL we
only repent in time Col will forgive Us, and
then all will be as well as though we hal
never committed sin. My discourse shall
come in collision with that theory. L 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 always stay wrong. and for them you
may seek some place of repentance and seek
il carefully, but never find it,
Belonging to this class o. irrevocable mis-
takes is the folly Of msspent youth. We
NAV look back to our college days aud think
! how we neglected chemistry or geology or
botany or mathematics. We may be sorry
| about it all our days. Can we ever get the
discipline or the advantage that we would
| have had had we attended TO those duties in
early lisel 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 bacx-th'
DAYS of boyhOod the days in college, tn
DAYS under his fathers roof ooh, he says.
"if I could only get those times back again.
how would improve them My brother,
Won will never got them back. They are
gone. gone. You may be very sorry about
it. and God may forgive. 50 that you may at
last reach heaven, but you will never get
over some of the mishaps that have come to
YOUR soul as Il result of your neglect OF early
duty. You may try to undo it; you cannot
undo it. When you had a boys arms, and Il
bows eyes. and q boys heart, you ought to
have attended to those things. A man says
at Afty wears of age, 81 do wish could get
over these habits of Incidence. When did
YOU get them2 At twenty or twenty-five
wears of age You cannot shake them OIL.
| They will hang to you to the very day OF
YOUR death. If young man through Ions
| course of evil conduct undermines his physl
| cal health and then repents of it i'll after life,
the Lord may pardon him, but that does moi
bring back good physical condition. said
to minister of the gospel one Sabbath at the
close of the service, "Where are you preach
ing pow?" "Oh, :" he says. II am not preach
ing. am suffering from the physical effects
| of earlysin. / can't preachnow; am sick.
| A consecrated man he nowis, and he mournS
bitterly over early sins, but that does moi
arrest their bodily effects.
The simple fact is that men and women
often take twenty years Of their life to build
up influences that require all the rest oil
their life to break down. Talk about man
beginning life when he is twenty-one years
of age; talk about Il woman beginning life
when she is eighteen years of age! All, no
In many respects that is the time they close
life. In nine cases out of ten all the ques'
tions of eternity are decided before that
Talk about majority Of men getting theil
fortunes between thirty AMI fovty ScarA
They get or lose fortunes between ten anl
twenty. When you tell mo that II man i
| int hnrinninn Life tell Won he is lust clos