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St. Paul certainly had great malice in his heart when he went on so furiously to persecute the church of God, and yet he was converted, and became a preacher of the gospel of Christ, which before he persecuted.
5. And lastly. It is not final unbelief, nor final impenitence, that is the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost, tho' some be of opinion that it is, because that sin is unpardonable, and Christ himself hath said, Mat. xxii. 31. "That all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, except it be the sin against the Holy Ghost," But you are to take the words of our Saviour in their true sense and meaning; it is all manner of sin and blasphemy committed within the compass of a man's life, that shall be forgiven, except the sin against the Holy Ghost; for the sin of final impenitence, and final unbelief, is not completed until the very moment of a man's death; and then you know that there is no repentance, and consequently no pardon after death; for Christ said, "He that sins against the Holy Ghost, hath no forgiveness, neither in this world nor in the world to come." Now, why should Christ say, "In this world," if there be no space to be forgiven in this world? But a man may commit the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost even many years before his death.—Besides, there are many thousands that die in impenitence and unbelief and are damned and yet never committed the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost.
