have mercy upon you, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon."

3. "But does. not St. John cut us off from this hope, by what he says of the sin unto death? Is not, I do not say that he shall pray for it, equivalent with, I say he shall not pray for it? And does not this imply, that God has determined not to hear that prayer? That he will not give life to such a sinner, no, not through the prayer of a righteous man?"

4. I answer, I do not say that he shall pray for it, certainly means, he shall not pray for it. And it doubtless implies, that God will not give life unto them that have sinned this sin: that their sentence is passed, and God has determined that it shall not be revoked. It cannot be altered even by that "effectual fervent prayer,” which, in other cases, "availeth much."

IV. But I ask, first, What is the sin unto death? And, secondly, What is the death which is annexed to it?

And, first, What is the sin unto death? It is now many years since, being among a people the most experienced in the things of God of any I had ever seen, I asked some of them, What do you understand by the sin unto death, mentioned in the first Epistle of St. John? They answered, "If any one is sick among us, he sends for the elders of the church; and they pray over him, and the prayer of faith saves the sick, and the Lord raises him up. And if he hath committed sins, which God was punishing by that sickness, they are forgiven him. But sometimes none of us can pray that God would raise him up. And we are constrained to tell him, We are afraid that you have sinned a sin unto death; a sin which God has determined to punish with death; we cannot pray for your recovery.' And we have never yet known an instance of such a person recovering."

2. I see no absurdity at all in this interpretation of the word. It seems to be one meaning at least, of the expression, a sin unto death; a sin which God is determined to punish by the death of the sinner. If, therefore, you have sinned a sin of this kind, and your sin has overtaken you; if God is chastising you by some severe disease, it will not avail to pray for your life; you are irrevocably sentenced to die. But, observe! This has no reference to eternal death. It does by no means imply that you are condemned to die the second death. No it rather implies the contrary; the body is destroyed, that the soul may escape destruction. I have myself, during a course of many years, seen numerous instances of this. I have known many sinners, (chiefly notorious backsliders from high degrees of holiness; and such as had given great occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme,) whom God has cut short in the midst of their journey, yea, before they had lived out half their days. These I apprehend, had sinned a sin unto death; in consequence of which they were cut off, sometimes more swiftly, sometimes more slowly, by an unexpected stroke. But in most of these cases it has been observed, that "mercy rejoiced over judgment." And the persons themselves were fully convinced of the goodness as well as justice of God. They acknowledged, that he

destroyed the body, in order to save the soul. Before they went hence, he healed their backsliding. So they died, that they might live for ever.

3. A very remarkable instance of this occurred many years ago, A young collier in Kingswood, near Bristol, was an eminent sinner, and afterwards an eminent saint. But by little and little he renewed his acquaintance with his old companions, who, by degrees, wrought upon him, till he dropped all his religion, and was two-fold more a child of hell than before. One day he was working in the pit with a serious young man, who suddenly stopped and cried out, "O Tommy, what a man was you once! How did your words and example provoke many to love and to good works! And what are you now? What would become of you, if you were to die as you are ?" "Nay, God forbid," said Thomas, "for then I should fall into hell headlong! O let us cry to God!" They did so for a considerable time, first the one, and then the other. They called upon God with strong cries and tears, wrestling with him in mighty prayer. After some time, Thomas broke out, "Now I know God hath healed my backsliding. I know again that my Redeemer liveth, and that he hath washed me from my sins with his own blood. I am willing to go to him." Instantly part of the pit calved in, and crushed him to death in a moment. Whoever thou art that has sinned a sin unto death, lay this to heart! It may be, God will require thy soul of thee in an hour when thou lookest not for it! But if he doth, there is mercy in the midst of judgment: thou shalt not die eternally.

4. "But what say you to that other scripture, namely, the tenth of the Hebrews? Does that leave any hope to notorious backsliders, that they shall not die eternally: that they can ever recover the favour of God, or escape the damnation of hell? If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no other sacrifice for sins; but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' Law, died without mercy. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and done despite unto the Spirit of grace ?"

5. "And is not the same thing, namely, the desperate, irrecoverable state of wilful backsliders, fully confirmed by that parallel passage in the sixth chapter? It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,-and have fallen away, (so it is in the original,) to renew them again unto repentance seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.""

6. These passages seem to me parallel to each other, and deserve our deepest consideration. And in order to understand them, it will be necessary to know, 1. Who are the persons here spoken of, and, 2. What is the sin they have committed, which made their case nearly, if not quite desperate.

As to the first, it will be clear to all who impartially consider and compare both these passages, that the persons spoken of herein, are those, and those only, that have been justified, that have had the eyes of their understanding opened and enlightened, to see the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. These only have tasted of the heavenly gift, remission of sins, eminently so called. These have been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, both of the witness and the fruit of the Spirit. This character cannot, with any propriety, be applied to any but those who have been justified.

And they had been sanctified too; at least, in the first degree, as far as all are who receive remission of sins. So the second passage expressly affirms, "Who hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing."

7. Hence it follows, that this scripture concerns those alone, who have been justified, and at least in part sanctified. Therefore, all of you, who never were thus enlightened with the light of the glory of God; all who never did taste of the heavenly gift, who never received remission of sins; all who never were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, of the witness and fruit of the Spirit; in a word, all you who never were sanctified by the blood of the everlasting covenant; you are not concerned here. Whatever other passages of Scripture may condemn you, it is certain, you are not condemned either by the sixth or the tenth of the Hebrews. For both those passages speak wholly and solely of apostates from the faith which you never had. Therefore, it was not possible that you should lose it, for you could not lośc what you had not. Therefore, whatever judgments are denounced in these scriptures, they are not denounced against you. You are not the persons here described, against whom only they are denounced.

8. Inquire we next, What was the sin which the persons here described were guilty of? In order to understand this, we should remember, that whenever the Jews prevailed on a Christian to aposta-. tize, they required him to declare, in express terms, and that in the public assembly, That Jesus of Nazareth was a deceiver of the people; and that he had suffered no more punishment, than his erimes justly deserved. This is the sin which St. Paul, in the first passage, terms emphatically "falling away; crucifying the Son of God afresh, and putting him to an open shame." This is that which he terms in the second," counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, treading under foot the Son of God, and doing despite to the Spirit of grace." Now which of you has thus fallen away? Which of you has thus crucified the Son of God afresh? Not one: nor has one of you thus put him to an open shame. If you had thus formally renounced that only sacrifice for sin, there had no other sacrifice remained; so that you must have perished without mercy. But this is not your case. Not one of you has thus renounced that saerifice, by which the Son of God made a full and perfect satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. Bad as you are, you shudder at the thought therefore, that sacrifice still remains for you. Come then, cast away your needless fears! "Come boldly to the throne of

grace!" The way is still open. You shall again" find mercy and grace to help in time of need."

V. 1. "But do not the well-known words of our Lord himself, cut us off from all hope of mercy? Does he not say, 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 a word against the Holy Ghost, it shall never be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come?' Therefore it is plain, if we have been guilty of this sin, there is no room for mercy. And is not the same thing repeated by St. Mark, almost in the same words? Verily I say unto you,' (a solemn preface! always denoting the great importance of that which follows:) 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 under the sentence of eternal damnation.""

2. How immense is the number in every nation, throughout the Christian world, of those who have been more or less distressed on account of this scripture? What multitudes in this kingdom have been perplexed above measure upon this very account? Nay, there are few that are truly convinced of sin, and seriously endeavour to save their souls, who have not felt some uneasiness, for fear they had committed, or should commit, this unpardonable sin. What has frequently increased their uneasiness was, that they could hardly find any to comfort them. For their acquaintances, even the most religious of them, understood no more of the matter than themselves. And they could not find any writer, who had published any thing satisfactory upon the subject. Indeed, in the seven sermons of Mr. Russel, which are common among us, there is one expressly written upon it. But it will give little satisfaction to a troubled spirit. He talks about it, and about it, but makes nothing out: he takes much pains, but misses the mark at last.

3. But was there ever in the world a more deplorable proof of the littleness of human understanding, even in those that have honest hearts, and are desirous of knowing the truth! How is it possible, that any one who reads his Bible, can one hour remain in doubt concerning it, when our Lord himself, in the very passage cited above, has so clearly told us, what that blasphemy is? "He that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, hath never forgiveness; because they said, he hath an unclean spirit." ver. 29, 30. This then, and, this alone, (if we allow our Lord to understand his own meaning,) is the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost; The saying, he had an unclean spirit; the affirming that Christ wrought his miracles by the power of an evil spirit; or more particularly, that he cast out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. Now have you been guilty of this? Have you affirmed that he cast out devils by the prince of devils? No more than you have cut your neighbour's throat, and set his house on fire. How marvellously then have you been afraid, where no fear is? Dismiss

that vain terror: let your fear be more rational for the time to come. Be afraid of giving way to pride; be afraid of yielding to anger; be afraid of loving the world; or the things of the world; be afraid of foolish and hurtful desires: but never more be afraid of committing the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost! You are in no more danger of doing this, than of pulling the sun out of the firmament.

4. Ye have then no reason in scripture, for imagining that "the Lord hath forgotten to be gracious." The arguments drawn from thence, you see, are of no weight, are utterly inconclusive. Is there any more weight in that which has been drawn from experience or matter of fact?

5. This is a point which may exactly be determined: and that with the utmost certainty. If it be asked, Do any real apostates find mercy from God? Do any that have made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, recover what they have lost? Do you know, have you seen any instance of persons, who found redemption in the blood of Jesus, and afterwards fell away, and yet were restored ? "Renewed again to repentance?" Yea, verily and not one, or a hundred only, but, I am persuaded, several thousands. In every place where the arm of the Lord has been revealed, and many sinners converted to God, there are several found, who "turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them." For a great part of these "it had been better never to have known the way of righteousness." It only increases their damnation, seeing they die in their sins. But others there are, who "look unto him they have pierced, and mourn," refusing to be comforted. And, sooner or later, he surely lifts up the light of his countenance upon them. He strengthens the hands that hang down, and confirms the feeble knees. He teaches them again to say, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour." Innumerable are the instances of this kind, of those who had fallen, but now stand upright. Indeed it is so far from being an uncommon thing, for a believer ta fall and be restored, that it is rather uncommon to find any believers who are not conscious of having been backsliders from God, in a higher or lower degree, and perhaps more than once before they were established in faith.

6. "But have any that had fallen from sanctifying grace, been restored to the blessing they had lost?" This also is a point of experience; and we have had the opportunity of repeating our observations during a considerable course of years, and from the one end of the kingdom to the other.

7. And, first, we have known a large number of persons, of every age and sex, from early childhood to extreme old age, who have given all the proofs which the nature of the thing admits, that they were "sanctified throughout," "cleansed from all pollution both of flesh and spirit:" that they "loved the Lord their God with all their heart, and mind, and soul, and strength:" that they continually "presented". their souls and bodies "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God:" in consequence of which, they "rejoiced evermore, prayed without VOL. 7.-F