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By Root 646 0

or shall not believe, shall think or shall not think, shall be or shall not be, tomorrow, or next year, or for the rest of your life—and especially when you crystallize this determination by a solemn act of the will like a vow—you are not leaving yourself open to the action of the Paraclete; but you are, by that very act, shutting Him out. If you are to receive the guidance of God, Divine Wisdom, it is absolutely essential that you have an open mind, because it so often happens that the part of wisdom is not in accord with your own personal feelings or present opinions. But if you have taken a vow or made a promise concerning your soul, for tomorrow, you are no longer uncommitted; and unless you are uncommitted, the action of the Holy Spirit cannot take place. This, in fact, is nothing less than the sin against the Holy Ghost of which the Bible speaks, which has caused so much terror to sensitive hearts. and concerning which there seems to be a very general misunderstanding.

What is the sin against the Holy Ghost? The sin against the Holy Ghost is any action on your part which prevents the activity of the Holy Ghost from taking place in your soul; anything which shuts you off from the ever-fresh energizing action of God that is spiritual life itself. The penalty for this mistake is spiritual stagnation and, since the only remedy in such a case consists in the direct action of the Holy Spirit, and this mistake in itself tends to prevent that very action from taking place, a condition of vicious deadlock results. Now it is obvious that this condition must necessarily remain as long as the mistake is persisted in, and so, in this sense, the sin is unforgivable. The problem cannot be solved in any way until the victim is prepared to change his attitude. The symptoms of this malady are spiritual stagnation, and all-round failure to demonstrate, and these are only too often accompanied by much self-righteousness and spiritual pride.

Of course, Jesus does not mean that you are not to enter into ordinary business engagements, such as taking up the lease of a house, signing an agreement for certain services, entering into partnership, and so on. Nor does he mean that the ordinary oath administered in a court of law is inadmissible. These things are matters of legal convenience for the transaction of business between man and man, and they are right and necessary in an ordered society. The Sermon on the Mount, as we have seen, is a treatise on the spiritual life, for the spiritual life controls all the rest. One who understands the spiritual teaching of Jesus, and practices it, will be in no danger of breaking honorable agreements. He will be an ideal tenant. a desirable business partner, and a reliable witness in court.

Many of the churches still require their ministers, upon ordination—and usually while they are still quite young, immature minds—solemnly to promise or vow that they will, for the whole of their future lives, continue to believe the doctrines of their particular sect; and this is what Jesus especially wished to prevent. If one is praying every day, as he should, for enlightenment and guidance, the one certain thing is that he will not go on holding to the same ideas as he grows older, but that he will be continually revising, enlarging, and expanding them. He will die daily, as the man he is, to be reborn bigger and wiser and better on the morrow.

Other religious movements require even their private members to accept some kind of Rule Book or written instructions for their perpetual guidance; but any such thing is quite fatal, because it automatically shuts out the action of the Holy Spirit. In this respect some of the youngest and most up-to-date churches are just as sadly unspiritual as the oldest ones. You must always be perfectly free at any moment to conduct the affairs of your soul as the action of Divine Wisdom may lead you; to pray or not to pray, to pray in this way or that way, and for this or that purpose; to read or not to read any book; to attend or not to attend any church or meeting, as you may feel