from all good. And, as hell is a place of infinite misery, and never-ending woe, dreadful must the malice of sin be, which alone condemns a soul to that never-ending torment. Now, sin is the only thing that can do either of these things. All the malice. of man, though joined with all the rage of devils, can never deprive us of heaven, nor bring us to hell, if we be free from the guilt of sin. But the malice of sin is so dreadful, that one mortal sin alone is sufficient for that purpose; for,

(1.) That sin for ever banishes us out of heaven, is thus declared in holy writ, "Know ye not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liars with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners, shall possess the kingdom of God," 1 Cor. vi. 9. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, contentions, emulations, wrath, quarrels, dissentions, sects, envy, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, of the which I foretel you, as I have foretold unto you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God," Gal. v. 9. "Know this and understand, that no fornicator, nor unclean, nor covetous person, which is a serving of idols, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God," Eph. v. 5. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God," Heb. xii. 14.

(2.) That sin condemns those who are guilty of it to the eternal torments of hell, is no less manifestly declared in these divine oracles. Thus the portion of sinners is described by the Prophet, "Their land shall be soaked with blood, and their ground with the fat of fat ones.... the streams

thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the ground thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch; night and day it shall not be quenched, and the smoke thereof shall go up for ever and ever," Is. xxxiv. 7. And Christ him self thus assures us, "At the end of the world, the Son of Man shall send his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all scandals, and them that work iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnance of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth," Matth. xiii. 40. For they shall be cast into the hell of unquenchable fire; where their worm dieth not, and their fire is not extinguished....for every one shall be salted with fire, and every victim shall be salted with salt," Mark ix. 44, 48. And at the last day the Judge will say to the wicked, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matth. xxv. 41. But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, they shall have their portion in the pool, burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death," Rev. xxi. 8.

Q. 17. These truths are dreadful indeed, and shew beyond reply what a monster sin must be; but is it not amazing that Christians who believe these truths should ever dare to sin?

A. Amazing it certainly is to the highest degree; but the reason is given us in the holy Scripture, to wit, that they never think seriously upon these things; bewitched by the pleasures, and vanities, and amusements of this world, they spend their lives in a continual round of unprofitable and hurtful dissipations, and never find a moment's time seriously to consider the great truths which their holy faith teaches them. On this account, these

truths make no impression upon them; they easily forget them, and, therefore, lead the lives of heathens, as if they believed no such things. Thus the Scripture says, "With desolation is all the land made desolate; because there is none that considereth in the heart," Jerem. xii. 11. And again, "The harp and the lyre, and the timbrel, and the pipe, and the wine, are in your feasts; and the work of the Lord you regard not, nor do you consider the work of his hands........therefore hath hell enlarged her soul, and opened her mouth without any bounds, and their strong ones, and their people, and their high and glorious ones, shall go down into it," Is. v. 14. That is, as Job expresses it, "They take the timbrel and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ; they spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to hell," Job xxi. 12. Oh, that men would be wise, and think on these things!

SECTION II,

OF VENIAL SIN.

Q. 18. What is venial sin?

A. It is a smaller transgression of the law, a more pardonable offence, which, though it does not kill the soul as mortal sin does, nor deserve eternal punishment, yet it obscures the beauty of the soul before God, and displeases him, and deserves a temporal chastisement.

Q. 19. How is this explained?

A. The grace of God, which beautifies the soul, may be in the soul in a greater or less degree; and, of course, the soul may be more or less beautiful in the eyes of God, more or less pure, more or less holy. Now, the malignity of mortal sin is such, that it banishes the grace of God entirely from the

soul, and makes it positively ugly and loathsome in his sight; whereas yenial sin does not banish the grace of God away from the soul; but it obscures its lustre, d.minishes its splendour, and stains its brightness. It does not make the soul positively hateful to God; but it makes her less pure, less holy, less beautiful, and consequently less agreeable in his sight. It does not destroy friendship between God and the soul, so as to make them enemies; but it cools the fervour of that charity and love which subsisted between them, and begets a degree of indifference on each side; and, as even the smallest venial sin is in some degree against the will of God, therefore it displeases him, and is disagreeable to him, and deserves to be punished by him.

Q. 20. How does it appear from Scripture that there are such venial sins which do not break our peace with God?

A. That is plain from many places of Scripture. (1.) It is said the just man shall fall seven times, and shall rise again," Prov. xxiv. 16. Now, by these falls cannot be meant mortal sins, otherwise he would be no longer the just man; but only smaller imperfections, such as even good people are apt to fall into, but which do not break their peace with God. To the same purpose St. James. says, "In many things we all offend," Jam. iii. 2.; and St. John, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us," 1 John i. 8.; where both these apostles put themselves among the number of those who sin, yet nobody will say that they committed mortal sins, and were sepa-rated from Christ, or in a state of damnation; on the contrary, St. Paul assures us of himself and. brethren, that "nothing should ever be able to separate them from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," Rom. viii. 38.; nay, he

declares, that there is now no condemnation (that is, nothing worthy of damnation) to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh," Rom. viii. 1. Now, the apostles were the friends of Jesus Christ, and, therefore, any sins or imperfections in them were by no means mortal, or such as deserved damnation. The same truth we learn from our Lord's prayer; for in it he requires of his apostles, as well as of his followers, to pray, "forgive us our sins;" now, we cannot suppose the apostles, and all the great saints of God, had mortal sins of which to ask forgiveness; yet they were not free from smaller imperfections, which being sins, stood also in need of forgiveness. (2.) The Scripture makes the distinction between mortal and venial sins in very plain terms. Thus, our Saviour says, "Whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of judgment, and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, (a word expressing contempt,) shall be indanger of the council; and whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire," Matth. v. 22.; where he expressly distinguishes the different degrees of guilt in sin, and declares, that the smaller degrees deserve not hell fire, but the greater do. Again he says, "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it at the day of judgment,' Matth. xii. 36. ; but an idle word does not deserve hell fire; for even a word of anger does not deserve it, as he told in the former text; yet an idle word is sinful, because we must give an account of it in judgment. Some sins are compared by Jesus Christ to beams in the eye, and others to small motes, Matth. vii, 3.; which shews the great difference between mortal and venial sins; for a beam in one's eyes must destroy the sight entirely, whereas a mote only weakens it. To the same purpose, he says, "You pay tithe of mint, and