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A Pictorial, Geographical, Chronological, and Historical Chart, being a Delineation of the Rise and Progress of the Evangelical or Christian Dispensation, from the commencement of the Gospel Narrative to the Ascension of our Lord. By R. MIMPRISS. A Key to the Pictorial Chart, &c. &c. A Harmony of the Four Gospels, with

Second Edition.

the English Authorized Version, arranged according to Greswell's "Harmonia Evangelica" in Greek, with References to his Dissertations on the same, by permission of the Author. Intended principally as an Accompaniment to a Pictorial and Geographical Chart (by R. MIMPRISS) of the History of the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ. London: Low. 1833. 8vo. Pp. x. 351.

Exercises on the Gospel Narrative of the Life of our Blessed Lord, (chronologically arranged) in a series of Questions and Answers. By ELIZABETH MARIA LLOYD. Second Edition. Accompanied by 50 Illustrations from Designs of the Old Masters. London: Low. 1833. Pp. 108.

THE illustrations in the last of the above works correspond with the most important particulars depicted in the Chart laid down by Mr. Mimpriss; and the catechetical history of our Lord's life is intended to strengthen the impression which the pictorial representations are admirably calculated to make upon the youthful mind. We regard the whole series as eminently useful, and the Chart in particular is no less meritorious as a vehicle of instruction, than as a work of art: but we are fearful that the high price, at which they are necessarily published, will prevent so extensive a circulation as they would otherwise unquestionably obtain. A liberal subscription, however, has disposed of a first edition, and we hope that the second will meet with the success which it deserves. Of Mr. Greswell's Greek Harmony it is superfluous for us to speak; but we may add, that the English work formed upon it, which may be used apart from the Chart, is decidedly the best evangelical arrangement extant. At first sight the Chart has

somewhat a confused appearance; but with the aid of the Key, the various events in our Lord's ministry will be readily traced, and the task will have the effect of fixing them firmly in the

memory.

Seven Sermons on our Lord's Temptation: grounded upon those of the learned Bishop Andrews. To which is added, from the same Author, a Sermon on the Passion. By the Rev. W. KIRBY, F. R. & L. S. &c. London: Longman. Ipswich: Raw. 1829. 8vo. Pp. xi. 209.

ALTHOUGH So long a period has elapsed since the publication of this volume, we are still unwilling to allow it, on that score, to pass unnoticed in our miscellany. Our attention has recently been called to its merits; and it is due to the author to make them more generally known. The subject matter is chiefly from the pious and powerful pen of Bishop Andrews; but the adaptation of the quaint and antiquated manner of the venerable prelate to the taste and turn of modern times is calculated to make the appeal of one, who, though dead, yet speaketh, more generally useful.

1834.

Reflections adapted to the Holy Seasons of the Christian and Ecclesiastical Year. By JOHN BREWSTER, M. A. Rector of Egglescliffe, in the County of Durham. London: Rivingtons. 12mo. Pp. xi. 360. WHETHER for private or family improvement, these Reflections will be found essentially important, both from their subject matter, and the pious, yet sober, spirit in which they are composed. Following the arrangement, and imbibing the sentiments of the Liturgy, the writer has inculcated, in simple and eloquent terms, the great doctrinal and practical truths, of which the Holy Seasons are appointed to put us in remembrance. The volume contains 7 Sections on Advent, 4 on Christmas, 3 on the Epiphany, 40 on Lent, 6 on Easter, and 5 on the Descent of the Holy Ghost.

A SERMON ON THE SIN AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST.

MATT. XII. 31, 32.

Wherefore I say unto you, 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 whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

Ir must, I think, be generally confessed, that the words which have been selected for my text, and those which answer to them in St. Mark's and St. Luke's gospels, are of a most awful and striking character; neither can it be denied that they are also hard to be understood, since the most learned and pious of men have ever found much difficulty in explaining their meaning; and yet it is most desirable, most important, that they should be rightly understood by all Christians. For, unhappily, there are few passages in the Scriptures which, from being misunderstood, have caused more serious uneasiness to fearful beings than those which are now before us. It is my intention, then, on the present occasion, to consider them at some length, for the purpose of explaining them. In so doing, however, I shall not attempt to advance any thing new on the subject, but shall content myself with taking from the explanations of others what may appear most satisfactory to my own mind. May He, who alone can give us power to understand the Scriptures, or enable us effectually to profit by them, send his blessing upon my humble endeavours, and make them tend to promote the glory of his great name, the comfort of fearful spirits, the timely conversion of hardened sinners, and the final salvation of immortal souls!

Now, when we meet with a difficult passage in the Holy Scriptures, it is often very useful to examine and consider the context, that is, what goes before and what follows after, in order that we may see whether we may not there meet with something to assist us in explaining the passage in question: and this we may do with considerable advantage in the present instance; for we shall find, in the first place, what led our blessed Lord to make the declaration :—and, secondly, we shall learn who, and what sort of persons they were, to whom he addressed himself.

It appears from the early part of the chapter in which the text occurs, that our blessed Lord had been displaying his divine power in behalf of one who, in the language of Scripture, "was possessed with a devil," and was, in consequence, both blind and dumb. We do not pretend now to understand, or to explain exactly, what is meant by the expression, being "possessed with a devil," because we find no very exact account given of the matter in Scripture, and because it seems clear that such things do not now occur; but thus much seems certain, that the persons so afflicted were really, in some way or other, under

the dominion of him who is called, in Scripture, by the name of Satan and the Devil, who is sometimes styled the Evil One and the Prince of Devils, whom moreover it was one great object of Jesus Christ's coming into the world to overcome and to destroy.

Be this, then, as it may; whatever was the nature of the affliction under which the poor sufferer was labouring, our Lord proved his decided dominion over the evil spirit, for he healed the man, and. that so effectually, that "the blind and dumb both spake and saw;" and the effect produced by the miracle on the greater part of those who witnessed it, was such, that we read that "all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the Son of David?" that is, they were preparing to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah who was to come.

But such was not the effect produced by the miracle on the minds of all. The proud, prejudiced, and envious Pharisees were, we know, ever on the watch to find something against Jesus, and ever ready to explain away, as far as they could, whatever was in his favour. On the present occasion they could not, it is clear, deny that a wonderful work had been performed by Jesus, which was far beyond the power of man. In order to do away the impression made on the minds of the people by the miracle, they had recourse, therefore, to a cunning device:"The Pharisees, when they heard it, said, This fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils." Our Lord detecting what was secretly passing amongst them, for he knew their thoughts, immediately addressed himself to them, and openly replied to their false and wicked insinuations; and, in so doing, he first pointed to them the folly of supposing that Satan would fight against himself, and assist in casting out his own ministers; spoke of his own casting out devils by the finger of God; and then, in the words of the text, cautioned them against the tremendous danger of, what he styles, blaspheming or speaking against the Holy Ghost. "Wherefore I say unto you," such were his words, " All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men," that is, of course, on the gospel terms of repentance and faith; "but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." And so anxious was he to impress this truth on the minds of his hearers, that he repeats the same declaration in somewhat different terms; for he continues, "And whosoever speaketh a 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."

From this view of the text, with its context, we might, I think, at once naturally conclude, that the sin here mentioned as unpardonable, must have some particular reference to the words spoken, just before, by the Pharisees; indeed the word "wherefore" implies as much; but we are further assured of it by St. Mark's account of the conversation; for, after having related that Jesus had thus addressed them, Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation :" that sacred historian adds, by way of explanation, " because they said, He hath an unclean spirit." (Mark iii. 28-30.) From this it is plain that our

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Lord referred to the words of those who had said that he cast out the evil spirits by the help of the prince of darkness.

The view then to be taken of the subject appears to be this: The Pharisees had spoken most blasphemous words against Christ and against his miracles; he therefore warns them, and all who are present, that those miracles are the work of the Holy Spirit, and consequently cautions them that if they wilfully continued to ascribe the miracles wrought by the Holy Spirit to the power of demons, they would be in danger of committing an unpardonable sin. He does not seem to say that they had as yet done this. What they had hitherto done, dreadful sin that it was, seems not to have amounted to blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Their blasphemy appears to have been blasphemy against the Son of man, that is, speaking evil against Jesus in his humble, human capacity whilst upon earth; an awful crime indeed! but yet such as might, in the mercy of God, on sincere repentance, be forgiven. They had gone as far as they could at that time, and under the circumstances of the case. But their state was not yet desperate. The very fact of our Lord's giving them this warning seems to prove that they might even then turn from their sins, believe on him, and thus obtain pardon; or they might go one step further in their blasphemy, and become entirely lost. They might, in spite of due warning and of sufficient evidence, ascribe the operations of the Holy Spirit to the evil one, and thus commit the unpardonable offence.

But it is also very probable that our Lord meant to refer, and perhaps more particularly, to the miracles which were about to be performed by his disciples through the power of the Holy Ghost, under that fulness and perfection of the dispensation of the Spirit, which was not to take place till after he had ascended himself into heaven, and had sent down the Holy Ghost upon them on the day of Pentecost. And in confirmation of this, it is worthy of remark, that on another occasion, when our Lord was speaking to his chosen disciples on the subject of their going forth to preach the gospel, he used words which are the very same as those which he here addressed to the Pharisees; for he said to them, as we read in St. Luke's gospel, "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: but he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God: and whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven." (Luke xii. 8-10.) From which we may conclude, that our Lord's mention of the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost may be applied to the speaking against the miracles to be performed by his disciples, at least as well as his own miracles.

The argument of our Lord may then be thus explained. The Son of God himself had come upon earth to obtain for mankind the eternal pardon of all their sins. He had performed the most wonderful miracles in proof of his being the Son of God. But he had come in a humble and a lowly character, contrary to the prejudices of the Jewish people; and the consequence had been, that they rejected him and his miracles. It pleased the Almighty, however, in his goodness, to use one more method to convince them. In a short time Jesus was about to be crucified, and afterwards to rise from the dead, to ascend up again into heaven, from

VOL. XVI. NO. VII.

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whence, being exalted at the right hand of God the Father, he was about to send down the Holy Ghost upon his disciples, to enable them to perform in his name many most amazing signs and wonders, in proof of his word and truth. Our Lord, therefore, warns those who are blaspheming and speaking against himself, that if they went on, and in like manner blasphemed against those last means of conviction, there would be no hope left for them. They must then die in their sins. They must remain without the possibility of forgiveness either here or hereafter.

And surely we must confess that such a decision was most natural, as well as most just. For without repentance, we know that no sin can be pardoned. But repentance, it is certain, can come from the Holy Spirit alone. And can it be expected, that if, after the most solemn warning and ample opportunities of conviction, any persons wilfully and deliberately blasphemed against the Holy Ghost, and denied his power, the Holy Ghost would then, as it were, continue to strive and force repentance upon them? Far from it. Thus, in fact, blasphemy against the Holy Ghost took away all hope of repentance, and therefore of pardon. It closed up the last and the only channel through which repentance and pardon could be conveyed; and those blasphemers must therefore necessarily be given over to final impenitence and hardness of heart. Their fate must be never to be pardoned, but to sink into the fathomless depths of everlasting perdition.

Such is the view taken of these passages by most of the ablest and best of commentators,* and it is one which certainly appears natural and consistent with truth. From this view also we may at once perceive, for our own satisfaction, that none ever could commit the sin which is pronounced in my text to be unpardonable, except those who themselves witnessed the miracles of Christ or those of his disciples, which were wrought by the Holy Spirit. To refer to one instance mentioned in Scripture of a great sin against the Holy Ghost, I mean, that of Simon Magus, who, when he offered to purchase of the Apostles the power of giving the Holy Ghost, even then it does not appear certain that the sin was unpardonable. For, awful as his crime was, St. Peter does not positively pronounce even him to be beyond the reach of mercy. His words are," Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." (Acts viii. 22.) But at all events, in our case, it is clear that, miracles having ceased, we cannot now, in the original sense of the text, be guilty of this sin.

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But we must not dismiss the subject without deriving from it some valuable warning. And this it is assuredly well fitted to convey. is a certain truth, and a truth very full of comfort, that we cannot now commit the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. But yet it is also true that men may in some degree approach to it. It appears from other parts of Scripture, that they may do something so very like it, that they may place themselves, if not in the same, yet in a very similar situation.

I. The first instance which I shall refer to is the following. In the Epistle to the Hebrews we read this passage, "It is impossible for them

* As Whitby, Macknight, Bishop Porteus, Bishop Mant, Scott, Henry and Doddridge.

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