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Religion, throws off all the means whereby he ſhould be reclaimed & brought into a better ſtate. I cannot more fitly illuſtrat this matter than by this plain Similitude. He that eats and drinks intemperatly endangers his health and his life, but he that to avoid this danger will not eat at all, I need not tell you what will certainly become of him in a very ſhort ſpace.
There are ſome conſcientious perſons who abſtain from the Sacrament, upon an apprehenſion that the ſins which they ſhall commit afterwards are unpardonable. But this is a great miſtake; our Savior having ſo plainly declared, that all manner
of ſin ſhal be forgiven men, except the blaſphemy againſt the holy Ghoſt; ſuch as was that of the Phariſees, who as our Saviour tells us blaſphemed the Holy Ghoſt, in aſcribing thoſe great miracles which they ſaw him worke, and which he really wrought by the Spirit of God, to the power of the Devil. Indeed to ſin deliberately after ſo ſolemn an engagement to the contrary is a great aggravation of ſin, but not ſuch as to make it unpardonable. But the neglect of the Sacrament is not the way to prevent theſe ſins; but, on the contrary, the conſtant receiving of it, with the beſt preparation we can is one of the moſt effectual means to prevent ſin for the future, and to obtain the aſſiſtance of God's grace to that end. And if we fall into ſin afterwards we may be renewed by repentance; for we have an advocate with the Father, Jeſus Chriſt the righteous, who is the propitiation for our ſins; and as ſuch, is in a very lively and affecting manner exhibited to us, in this bleſſed Sacrament of his body broken, and his bloud ſhed for the remiſſion of our ſins. Can we think that the primitive Chriſtians, who ſo frequently received this holy Sacrament, did never after the receiving of it fall into any deliberate ſin? undoubtedly many of them did; but far be it from us to think, that ſuch ſins were unpardonable, and that ſo many good men ſhould becauſe of their careful and conſcientious obſervance of our Lord's Inſtitution unavoidably fall into condemnation.
To
