vi The Unpardonable Sin. 117 



soever they shall blaspheme ; but whosoever shall 

 blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath not forgive- 

 ness for ever, but is guilty of an eternal sin." ] And 

 the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches the same even 

 more emphatically : " If we sin wilfully after we 

 have received the knowledge of the truth, there 

 remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain 

 fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of 

 fire which shall devour the adversaries." 2 This 

 passage explains Christ's saying : the sin against 

 the Holy Spirit is sin against light, and abuse of 

 religious privileges. Christ says that all other sins 

 not only may be, but shall be, forgiven. 



Now the sins of unmercifulness against which, in 

 the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Our Lord 

 threatens punishment in eternal fire, are not of the 

 unpardonable class; for they have not been com- 

 mitted by those who, in the language of the Epistle 

 to the Hebrews, "were once enlightened." 3 This 

 is shown by their question : " When saw we thee 

 hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or 

 sick, or in prison, and ministered not unto thee 1 " 

 Christ's prayer for His executioners, "Father, for- 

 give them, for they know not what they do," is for 

 such as these, and shall be granted for them. The 

 parable of the Sheep and the Goats represents the 

 judgment of the world ; the parables of the Virgins 

 and of the Talents represent respectively the judg- 



1 Mark iii. 28, 29 (Revised Version). 

 2 Hebrews x. 26, 27. 3 Hebrews vi. 4. 



