Veneer on Article XVI: Of Sin after Baptism

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The Exposition.

All Sins are Pardonable,

certain.

PAUL tells us, Rom. vi. 23. That fZ; rrj 0/ Sin is Death lb that every Sin is in its Nature deadly, and deserves Damnation. And, ‘tis that every Sin is committed against the xceptthe Sin jq (host, as well as against the Father and gtheHoly Son but still ‘tis pardonable, if it be not that Sin against the Holy Ghost, which is called 4 jyefcrlptlon Y Y of Eminence. 1 take St. Mark’ Ac- f this sin. count of this Sin, Mark ii. 28, 29, 30. to be thecleareftj Verily I fay unto you All Sin fh all

It

Tbirty-Nifie Articles. 54p

he forgiven unto the Sons of Men and Blafphe- Article xvi. Mies wherewith foever they hlafpheme : But he V-/VN. thatjhall hlafpheme against the Holy Ghost hath ne’ver Forgiveness hut is in Danger of eternal Damnation : Because they said He hath an tm- clean Spirit. It was their rejeding the clearest Evidence that God could give to prove any Thing by : The Power by which those Miracles were wrought, and which was afterwards commu- nicated to the Apostles, and is called in several Places of the New Testament the Holy Ghojl, By which is not to be meant here the Third Person of the Ever-blefled and Adorable Trinity, but the wonderful Effufion of those extraordi- nary Gifts and Powers that were then com- municated 5 the Oeconomy and Difpcnfation of which, are said to be derived from that One Spirit. This was the utmost Proof that could be given of the Truth ; and when Men fet themselves to blafpheme this, and to afcribe the Works of God to a CoUufion with the Devil, they did thereby fo wilfully oppose God, and reproach his Power j they did fo llifle their own Conviction, and fet themielves against the Convid:ion of others, that nothing could be done further for their Convi6i:ion 3 this being the highest Degree of Evidence and Proof: And this was fo high an Indignity to God, when he condefcended io far to satisfy their Scruples, that it was not to be pardoned ; as their Im- penitence and Incredulity was fo obftinate as not to be overcome. Upon this Occasion given, our Saviour makes a Difference between their Blafpheming the Holy Ghost and Bhiphcming Him. and instead of owning him to be the Meffias calling him a Deceiver, a Glutton, and a Wine-bibber, of which upon hearing his Dodrine, and feeing his Life, they wtte

ft.ll

^ 50 Jn Expofjtion on the

Article XVI. ftiJI guilty. This was, indeed, a great Sin, y but yet there were Means left of convincing them of his being the great Prophet fent from God 5 and by these they might be lb far pre- vailed on, as to repent and believe, and fo to obtain Pardon. But when they had thole Means let before them , when they faw plain and uncontefted Miracles done before them ; and when, instead of yielding to them, they fct up such an Opposition to them as might as realbnably have been brought against every , Miracle that could have been wrought, then it

was not poflible to convince them. This is an impious rejeding of the highest Method that God himself ules for proving a Thing to us. The Scorn put upon it, as it flows from a Nature fo depraved, that it cannot be wrought on 5 lb it is a Sin not to be pardoned. All Things of extreme Severity, in a Doctrine that is fo full of Grace and Mercy as the Gospel is, ought to be restrained as much as may be : From thence we infer, that those dreadful Words of our Saviour ought to be restrained to the Words to which they are applied, and ought not to be carried further : And therefore, fmce Miracles have ceased, no Man is any more capable of this Sin. To imagine that Sins committed against the Third Person in the Ever-bleifed Trinity, as a Person^ are more unpardonable, than such as are committed against the First and the Second, is to believe that the Holy Ghost is greater than the Father or the Son, or not endued with the fame great and glorious Attributes of Goodnels and Mercy, an infinite Degree of which is fo often alcribed to the Godhead in Holy Scripture, when it is Ipoken of colledti\i^y, that is, under the Notion of a Trinity in baity. S. Jerome therefore

jrightly

Thirty-lSline Articles. 351 .

rightly observes, that they only are guilty of Article xvl

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Works of God, slander them, and fay that they

are done by the Devil , and afcribe all those

Signs and Wonders which have been wrought

for the Confirmation of the Truth, to the Devil,

and not to the Power of God *. In relation

to all other Sins, we are (as St. Clement of

Rome observes) to fix our Eyes on the Blood

of Christ, which was ihed for our Salvation,

and hath obtained the Grace of Repentance for

the whole World f.

This being the Cafe, it follows, that the Grant of Repentance is not to be denied to Repentance to such as fall into Sin after Baptism. This Do- ’” drine is further confirmed by what St. Paul *J’ says. Gal, vi. i. Brethren if a Man he over- taken in a Faulty ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the Spirit of Meeknefs ; considering thyfelf left thou also he tempted. Ignatius tells us §, that the Lord pardons all such as repent, if they repent in Unity and Communion with their Bishop. St. Clement o£ Alexandria that the Doors are open to every one that in Truth, and with his whole Heart returns to God , and that our Heavenly Father receives with triple Joy a Son of his that truly repents t- The

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f Eptft. ad Cor. c. 7. See Tillotfon on Mat. xii. 31, 32. KcttlereelVs Mealures of Obedience, Book V. ch. 6, Archbp. Sharpe on Mat.yin. 31, 31. Dr. Hammond, Dr. Whitby, and Mr. Bnrkit on the fame. Mr. GlanviWs Sermons, page 206, 2.07. Dr. P/Tj’w^ on Repentance. %{ho^ Taylor’ iUnnm Necef- farium, and BiO-.op Burnet on this Article.

§ Ep’ifl. ad Fhiladelph.

[…] falv, cap. 39.

2 Fear

^^1 Jn Exposition 07i the

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repent God bellows Mercy .

Many Learned and Good Writers are of Opinion, That in fome Cafes, where Men have > obftinately aded against the clear Light of their own Confciences, and reje6led the Offers of Divine Grace, it may please God, after long Forbearance, to withdraw his Grace from them, and fo to permit them to proceed in a Course of Hardness and Impenitency to their own Deftrudion , but Divines of all the Commu- mons now in the World, are universally agreed, , as far as I have heard, that God, who does

nothing in vain, never beftows on those Per- fbns the Grace of Repentance, whom he is not willing to pardon ; and that, consequently, there is a never-failing Connexion betwixt Re- pentance and Forgivenels. In the Scriptures there are many Examples of God’s pardoning the most enormous Crimes , as for Instance, of Idolatry against Himself, and Murder, and Adul- tery against our Neighbour. Whence in the Primitive Times, when the Discipline of the Church was most ftrid, tho’ fome Offenders were obliged to severe Penances for many Years, and others not admitted to Communion ‘till even the Time of Death^ yet none were finally excluded, who gave fufHcient Proof of their Repentance. Indeed, Montanus in the Second, and Nonjatian in the Third Century, would have had Idolaters, and fome other notorious Criminals, perpetually and irrevocably fepa-

rated

Thirty -^ Nine Articles. 55;

rated from the Church , on which, and other Article xvr. Accounts, they were excommunicated them- OOT selves, and universally looked upon as Hereticks. Nevertheless, it appears from the Answer of one of the Novatiamfi Bishops to the Emperor Con Jiantine as recorded by Socrates f, that tho’ the Followers of Novatian thought it not conve- nient or lawful to readmit theaforefaid Criminals to the Church’s Communion, yet they did not wholly exclude them from the Mercy of God. From whence it is plain, that even those, who for their great Severity in the fevereft Times were accounted Hereticks, did not deny, but that any penitent Sinner whatibever might be pardoned by God, which is agreeable to the constant Tenor both of the Old and New Testament, where the Divine Mercy is, in Places innumerable, promiled to all Sinners without Exception, on their true Repentance ; and if fome obscure PafTages, when, perhaps, imperfedly understood, ihould seem to imply the contrary, the fame Rule must be observed in this, which is always prefcribedin other Cafes, “viz. That Words obscure, doubtful, and which seldom occur, must be explained by others, the Sense whereof is clear and certain, and often inculcated. In a Word, no serious Writer of any Credit, hath ever believed even the Sin against the Holy Ghofl unpardonable, but as it is incurable ; and though Archbiiliop I’lllotfon contends very flrenuoufly for the Unpardon-* ablenefs of this Sin, yet he says, that if thoie who committed it, had had their Hearts fb fbfcened and changed as to have repented, it cannot be denied but that they would have

f Lib. 4, cd^. 28.

Z been

3 54 ^^^ Exposition on the

ArticleJCVI. been forgiven. For, indeed, nothing can be more undeniably evident, than that whofoever is horn of God^ and led by the Spirit of God, as every true Penitent is, must be dear to God, through Jesus Christ , and that he who hath paffed out of the Kingdom of Darkness, into that of Light, is already paffed from Death to Life, and shall not come into Condemnation.

That we may fall into Sin after we have received the Holy Ghost, depart from Grace given, and afterwards by the Grace of Go3 arise again and amend our Lives, appears from the Examples of David and St. Peter pic. And fmce God i pleased to admit repenting Sinners into his Favour, the Church ought to do the fame : They therefore are to be condemned vhich fay, they can no more fin while they live here, as appears likewile from i J-ohn i. lo. already cited under the foregoing Article j If we fay that we have no Sin., &c. : So like wife are they that deny the Place of Forgiveness to such as truly repent. So true is this, th.t St. Faul 2 Cor. ii. 6, 7, 8. speaking even of a Person that had been guilty of Inct. hath these Words , Suf- ficient to such a Man is this Pimifimenty which was iufliiied of many. So that contrarywife ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him left perhaps such a one JJjould he fw allowed up with over-much Sorrow. IVherefore I hefeech you that ye would confirm your Love toward him. I con- dude my Diicourfe upon this Article, with a Paffage out of St. Cyprians 57th Epiftle ; ” We ” had ordained long since, dearefb Brother, ’ after due Consultation had. That they, who ’ during the Troubles of Persecution were foiled ’ by the Enemy, and had lapfed, and had ’ defiled themfclves with unlawful Sacrifices,

” should

Thtrty-lSlme Articles. 355

’^ should undergo a full and Jong Penance ; and Article xvi.

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^’ receive Abfblution a little before their Death ^

” for it did not seem to be right, or agreeable

” to Fatherly Love, or Divine Mercy, that

*’ the Church should be shut against such as

” knock for AdmifHon, or that the Comfort of

” Hope of Salvation should be denied to those

” who grieve, and pray earneftly for Pardon,

” fb as to make them leave the World, and go

” to God without Communion and Peace with

“the Church; fmce our great Law-giver, as

*’ he hath affured us, that what is bound on

’^ Earth, shall be bound in Heaven ; fb hath

” he like wife promised, that what is first loofed

’^ in the Church here, fhall be loofed in Heaven

” also \

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Z 2 Art

ICLE

35^ An Expofitioii on the

Notes

• : Acher. Hay. lib. 3. cap. 37.