VI. The Punishment and the Sin--High Treason Against God--Spirit-Murder. REFERENCES. The works and Scriptures cited in the body of the lesson. _SPECIAL TEXT: "It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, * * * if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance." (Hebrews v:4, 6.)_ DISCUSSION. _1. Possibility and Enormity of the Sin:_ It is possible to so sin against the Holy Ghost as to forfeit the spiritual life which his presence in the human soul gives, and that conformation to the Divine type which his effectual working would otherwise bring to pass. That being true, the sin against the Holy Ghost must be the most appalling act that can enter into human experience. Perhaps the most heinous crime known to human law is the crime of murder, wherein innocent blood is shed. But that sin which effectually kills spirit-life, which has for its victim not a human being but a divine being--that overtops in atrocity any possible physical murder. In this concluding chapter of our treatise let us contemplate this awful sin--this master crime. And first let us be sure from the word of God that there is such a sin. _2. The Teaching of the Christ Upon the Subject:_ According to St. Matthew Jesus said: "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."[A] [Footnote A: St. Matt, xii:31, 32.] St. Mark puts it in this form: "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."[A] St. Luke's version is--"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."[B] [Footnote A: St. Mark iii:28, 29.] [Footnote B: St. Luke xii:10.] _3. St. John on the Sin Unto Death:_ This represents practical unanimity in the testimony of these three evangelists upon the subject. And although St. John has nothing directly upon the subject in his Gospel, yet in his epistle he has a passage which brings him into harmony with the others upon the subject: "If a man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death:[A] I do not say that he shall pray for that. All unrighteousness is sin [transgression of the law, ch. iii:4] and there is a sin not unto death;"[B] but also, as above stated, there is a sin unto death.