him, which will not submit, either to be saved or governed in so mysterious a way. In other sins he beholds only a re- sistance to his authority; but in this, a contempt of all the wonders of his wisdom and love. A person who has never received the knowledge of the truth, cannot commit this sin, or any sin of equal malignity. It is the resisting of light that has been imparted, and the acting contrary to it to such an extent as to call it darkness ; this it is which makes the guilt so great, that, humanly speaking, it can never be forgiven. Were it indeed repented of, and were mercy sought through the blood of Jesus, even this sin, great as it is, might be for- given : but the commission of it implies such desperate wicked- ness and obduracy, that it never can, without a miracle of mercy, be repented of "^.J
Hence then may be seen,
II. The danger of it —
This is declared,
1. From the very nature of the sin itself —
[Consider what the sin is : it is a discarding of the only remedy which God has provided for the necessities of fallen man. Under the Mosaic dispensation, God revealed himself to the Hebrews as the only true God ; and entered into cove- nant with them to be their God, if they would serve him in sincerity and truth. But, if any one made void that law^, and departed from him to worship other gods, he appointed, that, upon the fact being proved by two or three witnesses, the offender should be stoned to death^; and it was expressly forbidden to any person to conceal the crime: if it should have been committed by a man's dearest friend or relative, he must reveal it to the constituted authorities, and take the lead in executing sentence on the offender^. In this law the Hebrews had acquiesced as holy, and just, and good. (Here let me suggest, by the way, that the illustration here brought by the Apostle farther shews, what the sin was of which he spake ; namely, that it was not every wilful sin, but a wilful renunciation of the Gospel of Christ.) Now, says the Apostle, if so severe a sentence was executed, without any mercy, on the contemner of the Mosaic covenant, and the judges them- selves declared the offender to be " worthy of it **," " of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who has renounced the Christian covenant ; since he has trodden under-foot the Son of God, &c. ?" Here he appeals to them, and makes them judges in their own cause.
^ Heb. vi. 4 — 6. « dderrjaag, ver. 28. *" Deut. xvii. 2 — 7-
s Deut. xiii. 6 — 9. ^ Deut. xvii. (J.