{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>49. Let them understand, therefore, that it is not every sin,\r\nbut only some sin, against the Holy Ghost which is incapable\r\nof forgiveness. For just as when our Lord said, \"If I had not\r\ncome and spoken unto them, they had not had sin,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_1267_1267\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_1267_1267\">[1267]</a> it is clear\r\nthat He did not wish it to be understood that they would\r\nhave been free from all sin, since they were filled with many\r\ngrievous sins, but that they would have been free from some\r\nspecial sin, the absence of which would have left them in a\r\nposition to receive remission of all the sins which yet remained\r\nin them, viz. the sin of not believing in Him when He came\r\nto them; for they could not have had this sin, had He not\r\ncome. In like manner, also, when He said, \"Whosoever\r\nsinneth against the Holy Ghost,\" or, \"Whosoever speaketh\r\nagainst the Holy Ghost;\" it is clear that He does not refer to\r\nevery sin of whatsoever kind against the Holy Ghost, in word\r\nor deed, but would have us understand some special and\r\npeculiar sin. But this is the hardness of heart even to the end\r\nof this life, which leads a man to refuse to accept remission of\r\nhis sins in the unity of the body of Christ, to which life is\r\ngiven by the Holy Ghost. For when He had said to His\r\ndisciples, \"Receive the Holy Ghost,\" He immediately added,\r\n\"Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them;\r\nand whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_1268_1268\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_1268_1268\">[1268]</a> Whoso<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_519\">[Pg 519]</a></span>ever\r\ntherefore has resisted or fought against this gift of the\r\ngrace of God, or has been estranged from it in any way whatever\r\nto the end of this mortal life, shall not receive the remission\r\nof that sin, either in this world, or in the world to come,\r\nseeing that it is so great a sin that in it is included every sin;\r\nbut it cannot be proved to have been committed by any one,\r\ntill he has passed away from life. But so long as he lives\r\nhere, \"the goodness of God,\" as the apostle says, \"is leading\r\nhim to repentance;\" but if he deliberately, with the utmost\r\nperseverance in iniquity, as the apostle adds in the succeeding\r\nverse, \"after his hardness and impenitent heart, treasures up\r\nunto himself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of\r\nthe righteous judgment of God,\"<a id=\"FNanchor_1269_1269\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_1269_1269\">[1269]</a> he shall not receive forgiveness,\r\nneither in this world, neither in that which is to come.</p>","headings":["WRITINGS IN CONNECTION WITH THE DONATIST CONTROVERSY.","A TREATISE CONCERNING THE CORRECTION OF THE DONATISTS; FORMING EPISTLE 185 IN MIGNE'S EDITION OF AUGUSTINE'S WORKS."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45843-paragraph-803"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"cd36ae02c075dba7b8ba1089c750afdc3a6f2ba484701d70db68ba414a4e81dd","edition_title":"Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy","edition_translators":["John Richard King"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"ROM","chapter":2,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Rom. ii. 4","verse":4,"verse_end":4}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45843-Footnote_1269_1269","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Title leaves identify J. R. King, T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1872; catalog identifies translator John Richard King (1835-1907). Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/American Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_1269_1269","source_ebook":45843,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_1269_1269\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_1269_1269\"><span class=\"label\">[1269]</span></a> Rom. ii. 4, 5.</p></div>","source_sha256":"a7a04003f4d3c49eb73db6c5936713979fcecadd86884373a9914ac54373ac5b","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45843/pg45843-images.html#Footnote_1269_1269","text_sha256":"a55b13abc852f956e28bcf987dd5ac313a73efe4889286a4a1dd1fb6af850a13","verified":false,"work_id":null}