June 7

A Beacon-Light

He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness. — Mark 3:29

Few words in the Bible have caused more anxiety and fear than these. Learned men do not agree in their idea as to what it is to blaspheme against the Holy Ghost. But not matter about the exact meaning of the words; they stand here as a warning against a terrible danger. They are like a red light hung over a perilous rock. While we may not know just what constitutes the sin, it certainly is our duty to keep as far from its edge as possible.

And surely all wilful and determined resistance to the influence of the Holy Spirit is a step toward this point of awful peril. This utterance of our Lord should lead us to treat with the utmost reverence every appeal, persuasion, or bidding of the Holy Ghost, never to resist, but always to yield to his every influence. We have no other Friend in this world who can guide us home. If we drive him away from us for ever, we shall be left in the darkness of eternal night. How long we may continue to reject Him and not go beyond the line that marks the limit of hope, we know not; but the very thought that there is such a line somewhere ought to startle us into instant acceptance of the offered guidance.

Oh, where is this mysterious line
  That crosses every path,—
The hidden boundary between
  God’s patience and his wrath?

How far may we go in sin?
  How long will God forbear?
Where does hope end, and where begin
  The confines of despair?

An answer from the skies is sent:
  “Ye that from God depart,
While it is called Today, repent,
  And harden not your heart.”