Trollope on Article XVI: Of Sin after Baptism

mortal and venial sins, of which the latter are affirmed to be amenable only to temporal punishment. Since ’ the wages ‘of sin is death’ (Rom. vi. 23.), all sins are in their na- ture deadly, though all may not be equal in magnitude: and death would mevitably be the punishment of all, had not the sacriiice of Chrat propitiated the wrath of God against his offending creatures.

2. Is not every sin committed against the Holy Spirit ; and, being so, is it therefore unpardonable ?

Every sin, wilfiilly committed after baptism, is undoubt- edly conmiitted against the influence or the Holy Ghost, whose godly motions are thereby resisted and despised ; and it is therefore of a more deadly or heinous nature, than are sins of ignorance and infirmity. It does not, however, appear that any such sin is beyond the efficacy of a sincere repentance, except the unpardonable sin of bUigphemy against the Holy Ghost, to which forgiveness is denied by our Lord himself; and which is probably the same with that emphatically described b^ St .John, as a sin unto death (1 John V. 16.), for whose remission Prayer wiU not prevail.

3. What then do you mean by the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost?

See Questions on St. Matthew, chap. xii. qq. 43, 44.

4. Can this sin be now committed ; and what is the simple declaration of our Church respecting it ?

Strictly speaking, the sin of the Pharisees, which our Lord declared to be unpardonable, can no longer be com- mitted, since the age of miracles has passed away ; though it would be presumptuous to say that the denunciation does not extend to men in all as;es, who labour to set aside the evidence which the Gospel miracles afford to the truth of Christianity. With her usual moderation, our Church neither restrains nor extends the simple declaration of Scripture ; merely affirming that the sin in question is the only one which is absolutely unpardonable.

5. Against whom is the Sixteenth Article di-

62 QUBSTIOirS XVD AVSWSBS ON

rected ; and what are the doctrines which it main- tains?

In opposition to the Novatians and other Sectarians, this Article asserts the efficacy of repentance for the for-

fiveness of sins committed after Baptism, and the defeoti- ility of divine grace in those who have once received it.

6. Who were the Novations; and what was their distinguishing tenet ?

The Novatians were followers oiNovatian^ a presbyter of the Church of Rome, whose opinions on Ecclesiastical dis- cipline gave rise to much dincussion about the middle of the third century. Scarcely admitting that the Lapsedf or those who fell info sin after baptism, could hope for Salvation, they excluded all such from their communion, and refused to receive them again as members of the Church.

7. Shew that the Liturgy of our Church abides by the doctrine maintained in this Article.

Fi-om the Collects for Ash- Wednesday y for the third Sunday after JStister, for the thirteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-fourth Sundays after Trinity, and from the office for the Visitation of the Sick, it will appear that the Liturgy of the Church of England is drawn up in strict conformity with the doctrine of this Article.

8. Prove from the Scriptures that Repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after Baptism.

The Apostolic Epistles, which are all addressed to bap- tized Christians, abound with exhortations to repentance and amendment of life ; which plainly indicate that men do constantly sin after baptism, but that by God’s grace they may rise again. Hence St. Paul directs that * if a man be ‘overtaken in a fault, those which are spiritual iffe to ‘restore him in the spirit of meekness’ (Gtd. vi. 1.)*

9. What text has been urged in support of the position against which this Article is directed ; and how far is the interpretation admissible ?

In Heb. vi. 4* it is said to be ’ impossible for those who ‘have once been enlightened and made partakers of the ’ Holy Ghost, if they shall fall away, to be renewed again ’ unto repentance/ Extreme difficulty is perhaps all that’ is here intended ; though it must be remarked, that the Apostle is speaking of a particular sin, that of Apoatctcy : ana it is clear that those who cast away their former convictions are very unlikely to be convinced again.

10. Whence arose the doctrine that those who have received the Holy Ghost cannot fall from grace ; and how was the matter viewed at the Hampton Court Conference ?

The doctrine of Final perseverance was revived by the Puritans as a necessary consequence of their belief in ahso^ lute Predestination and Election ; and accordingly, at the Hampton Court Conference, they pressed the insertion of the words, though notjinally, in this Article, after we may depart from grace given. The Bishops resisted the addition, as being opposed to the word of God.

11. Shew that the doctrine of Final Persever- ance is contradicted by the Scriptures.

Our Lord praved for Peter, whom * Satan desired to sift * as wheat, that his faith might not fail’ (Luke xxii. 31.) ; and St. John points to the propitiation of Christ as the remedy for the sins of Christians generally (1 John ii. 2.). St. Paul also was earnestly anxious, Mest when he had ‘preached to others, he himself should be a castaway’ (1 Cor. ix. 27.). Compare 1 Cor. x. 12.

12. Explain the allusion contained in the ex- pression, place of forgiveness.

There is probably an allusion to the particular place assigned to the Penitents in the early Church. The Latin Article has ve7iia locum,

13. Is the testimony of Antiquity in favour of the doctrine of this Article ?

Of the sin against the Holy Ghost, Jerome (Epist. ad Marcel, c. Novat.) affirms that they only are guilty, rvho.

though in ndradea they tee the true work of God, yet alanaerotisly ascribe them to the devil. — The doore, says Clement of Alexandria (Quia div. Salv. c. 39.)* are open to every one, who, in truth and with his whole heart, returns to God; and the Father most willingly receives a son who repents, St. Cyprian (Epist. 57.) wonders that there are some so obstinate, as not to think that repentance ought to he given to such as are faUen, and suppose that pardon should be denial to penitents, when it is written. Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works {Rev, ii. 6.). See also Clem. K. ad Cor. C. 7. Ig^t. ad Phil. c. 8. Iren. Haer. ill. 37.