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denunciation is to be understood in conformity with the well- * known rule of the Hebrew comparatives , All blasphemy shall be forgiven unto the sons of men sooner than the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit ; ' but perhaps the more probable meaning may be , that no kind of blasphemy , more than any other sin , can be forgiven until it be repented of and forsaken , and that in this instance repentance is particularly unlikely , and difficult to be
brought about . This interpretation is , I think , deducible from the idea which we reasonably form of the Divine mercy and justice combined , as applied to the case in question . God is said to be infinitely merciful , but he is also holy , and cannot look upon sin ; and none of his creatures , so long as they continue in any sin , can be fully admitted to his favour and acceptance . In respect of any sin in which they knowingly , avowedl y * and habitually allow themselves , they must always continue to be the objects of his just and righteous displeasure .
The fact is , that all these different moral attributes , or rather different forms of expression , which we use in speaking of God as the creator and moral governor of the world , are only so many modifications of his goodness ; and hence , when we say that ho cannot look upon sin , that there is no peace to the wicked , &c what is meant is , that such conduct is inconsistent with the happiness of the whole , and that the disposition from which it
proceeds , and which it implies , are equally inconsistent with the happiness of the agent . It is therefore , in the nature of things , impossible , and would imply a contradiction , conformably to the laws which are established for the government of the universe , that sinners , while ihey continue sinners , should be admitted to a state of heavenly bliss . To them , indeed , consisting , as it probably will do , in the exercise of pure , benevolent , devout , and
holy affections , which they have not cultivated , and which they are not prepared to indulge—the mere external circumstances in which the blessed will be placed , however fitted to promote immediate enjoyment , would not alone constitute a state of bliss * Now to apply this view of sin , and the forgiveness of it upon repentance , to the present case ;—is there not good reason to
suppose that the offence in question was one which was not likely to be repented of , either in this world , or age , or in the age to come ; that is , under the influence either of the Jewish or of the Christian dispensation ? Neither the one nor the other , as far as could be perceived , was likely , according to the natural course of things , to supply motives adequate to so great a moral change as
the production of this species of penitence required . The sin against the Holy Spirit appears , from the connexion , to have consisted in a disregard of the signal manifestations of the mighty power of God in the miracles of Jesus , and not only so , but in a blasphemous ascription of these benevolent works to evil spirits or demons . Now it is difficult to see what influences remaiped ,
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Scriplttte Criticistft . ? S 9
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1832, page 789, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1824/page/69/
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