apart and consecrated to be temples of God. And then St. Paul declares, that If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple are ye' (1 Cor. iii. 17). In like manner, we know that in baptism we are made members of Christ (see Gal. iii. 27; Ephes. iv. 15, 16, &c.). And St. Paul, reminding the Corinthians of this, says; What, know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid' (1 Cor. vi. 15). Such sayings prove, with exceeding force, the great wickedness of sin, and especially of sins of uncleanness when committed by a baptized Christian; who thereby sinneth against his own body' (1 Cor. vi. 18), and against the Holy Ghost, whose temple his body has been made. So our blessed Saviour, speaking of Christians as branches of the Vine, whose root and stem is Christ, says that, 'If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered' (John xv. 6).

These passages, however, though they shew the great guilt of sinning against grace, do not prove such sins to be unpardonable, though probably they suggested the opinion that sin after baptism was the sin against the Holy Ghost, which hath never forgiveness.

There are strong and very fearful passages in the first epistle of St. John, which have still more led to some of the opinions, disclaimed by the Article we are now considering. In 1 John iii. 6, 8, 9, we read that Whosoever abideth in Him, sinneth not.... He that committeth sin is of the devil.... Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.' This passage led Jovinian to teach that a baptized Christian could never sin; and has been one argument, from which it has been inferred, that, if by any means this high estate of purity should be lost, it would be lost irrecoverably. Jerome, in his

answer to Jovinian', well explains the general tenour of St. John's reasoning. He remarks, that St. John exhorts those whom he addresses as little children, to keep themselves from idols (1 John v. 21); shewing that they were liable to be tempted like others, and to fall; that he writes to them not to sin; and assures them still that, if they sin, they have an Advocate in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John ii. 1, 2); that their best way of knowing that they knew Christ is to keep His commandments (ver. 4); that he, who says he abides in Him, ought to walk as He walked (ver. 6). Therefore,' he continues, 'St. John says, "I write unto you, little children," since "every one who is born of God sinneth not," that ye sin not, and that ye may know that ye abide in the generation of God, so long as ye do not sin; yea, those who continue in God's generation cannot sin. For what communion hath Christ with Belial? If we have received Christ as a guest into our hearts, we put to flight the devil. But if we sin again, the devil enters through the door of sin, and then Christ departs.' This seems a correct account of St. John's reasoning, and shews that what he means is, that the regenerate man, so long as he continues in the regenerate state, overcomes sin and casts it out; but if he falls from the regenerate state and sins, then he becomes again the servant of the devil. But it neither proves that the regenerate man cannot sin, nor that, if he does, his fall is irrecoverable. But St. John (1 John v. 16, 17) speaks of the distinction. between sin unto death,' and 'sin not unto death;' and encourages us to pray for the latter, but not for the former. Jeremy Taylor has some good remarks on this verse. 'Every Christian,' he says, 'is in some degree in the state of grace, so long as he is invited to repentance, and so long as he is capable of the prayers of the Church. This we learn from those words of St. John, "All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not

1 Adv. Jovinian. Lib. II. circ. init.

Bp.

unto death;" that is, some sorts of sin are so incident to the condition of men, and their state of imperfection, that the man who hath committed them is still within the methods of pardon, and hath not forfeited his title to the promises and covenant of repentance; but "there is a sin unto death;" that is, some men proceed beyond the measures and economy of the Gospel, and the usual methods and probabilities of repentance, by obstinacy, and preserving a sin, by a wilful, spiteful resisting, or despising the offers of grace and the means of pardon; for such a man St. John does not encourage us to pray; if he be such a person as St. John described, our prayers will do him no good; but because no man can tell the last minute or period of pardon, nor just when a man is gone beyond the limit; and because the limit itself can be enlarged, and God's mercies stay for some longer than for others, therefore St. John left us under the indefinite restraint and caution; which was decretory enough to represent that sad state of things in which the refractory and impenitent have immerged themselves, and yet so indefinite and cautious, that we may not be too forward in applying it to particulars, nor in prescribing measures to the Divine mercy, nor in passing final sentences upon our brother, before we have heard our Judge Himself speak. Sinning a sin not unto death" is an expression fully signifying that there are some sins, which though they be committed and displeased God, and must be repented of, and need many and mighty prayers for their pardon, yet the man is in the state of grace and pardon, that is, he is within the covenant of mercy; he may be admitted, if he will return to his duty: so that being in a state of grace is having a title to God's lovingkindness, a not being rejected of God, but a being beloved of Him to certain purposes of mercy, and that hath these measures and degrees.'

Again, Every act of sin takes away something from the contrary grace, but if the root abides in the ground, the plant is still alive, and may bring forth fruit again. "But he only is

very

dead who hath thrown off God for ever, or entirely with his heart." So St. Ambrose. To be "dead in trespasses and sins," which is the phrase of St. Paul (Eph. ii. 1), is the same with that expression of St. John, of "sinning a sin unto death," that is habitual, refractory, pertinacious, and incorrigible sinners, in whom there is scarcely any hope or sign of life. These are they upon whom, as St. Paul's expression is, (1 Thess. ii. 16) "the wrath of God is come upon them to the uttermost, eis tò téλos, unto death." So was their sin, it was a sin unto death; so is their punishment'.'

But by far the most terrible passages in Scripture, on the danger of backsliding and the difficulty or impossibility of renewal, are to be found in the Epistle to the Hebrews. We learn indeed from Tertullian (De Pudicitia), that the difficulty of the 6th chapter of that Epistle was the main reason why the Roman Church was so long in admitting it into the Canon.

In the 10th chapter we read that, 'If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall consume the wicked. He that despised Moses' law, perished without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be thought worthy, who had trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the Blood of the Covenant an unholy thing, and hath done despite to the Spirit of Grace?" (Heb. x. 26-29). The peculiar strength of this passage is in the words, 'If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.' The word 'sin' in the first clause, is here supposed by many to mean 'apostatize.' So in Hos. xiii. 2, we read Non Day Now they add moreover to sin;' where the sin spoken of is a revolting from God, and apostatizing to Baal. And, as regards

1 Of Repentance, ch. iv. § 2.

the remaining no more sacrifice for sin,' the Apostle had been shewing, throughout the early verses of the chapter, that the priests under the Law kept constantly offering sacrifices, year by year and day by day (vv. 1-11). But Christ offered but one sacrifice for sin, and by that one sacrifice hath perfected all that are sanctified (vv. 12-14). So then, if we reject the sacrifice of Christ, and after a knowledge of its saving efficacy, apostatize willingly from the faith, there are not now fresh sacrifices, 'offered year by year continually;' and by rejecting the one sacrifice of Christ, we cut ourselves off from the benefit of His death; and since we have chosen sin instead of God, there is no new sacrifice to bring us to God.

1

6

Another of the hard sentences, which has led to a belief in the irremissibility of post-baptismal sin, is Heb. xii. 17. The Apostle, warning against the danger of falling from grace, bids us take heed, lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited a blessing, he was rejected; for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.' There can be no doubt that Esau is here propounded to us as a type of those who, having been made sons of God by baptism, and so, having a birthright and promised inheritance, by thoughtlessness and sensuality, for one morsel of meat,' throw themselves out of God's favour, and, leaving God's family, return to the condition of mere sons of Adam. St. Paul reminding us that, when Esau had sold his birthright, he found no place for repentance, even when he sought it with tears, puts us on our guard against the like folly, by fear of the like fate. Yet it does not follow of course, that every person, who lives unworthily of his baptis

1 ékovoiws 7 with a high hand, presumptuously. Seo Numb. xv. 29, 30; and Rosenmüller thereon; Kuinoel on Heb. x. 26. VOL. II.

C