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    vitct el necis co ^ npetehat ; ne pagani in shspiaonem adducerentur , talia crimina apud Chrjsfiarws parvi fieri . According to this commentator , John dissuades his Christiaa brethren from inter *

    ceding with the magistrate in behalf of any individual of their number who has committed a crime of so high a degree : and the apostle ' s motive in

    suggesting the caution is * to prevent the heathens from supposing that the disciples of Jesus deemed lightly of such offences . On the sime principle , Rosenmiiller , of course , explains the sin not unto death—videtur

    esse levtor culpa transgressione legis aticujits cpvilzs contracta , quuni , a Christiano admissam facile tya exaggerare poterant magislratus pagani , ut supplidi reum pronuntiarent eum , qui mitiori poena Hffectus dimitti potuisset . JPro ejusynodi

    peccatore deprecan poterat frater Christictnus , ut vita ei tfonaretur . If a professor of the gospel were convicted of d cfrrne far less heinous than any of the class just adverted to . for him his

    fellotv-believers might petition the ju ; dge , and imptdre that life the forfeiture Of which might too easily be decreed b y the " prejudices , suspicions ^ arijd jealousies of a heathen mag isttate : is

    T ^ i'is very ingenious , but , like the preceditig interpretations , has no countendhcfe from the apostle ' s context . Hoseftmuller acknowledges indeed that the basis ^ of the exposition is hypotheileSkz ftcec mea tst conjectura . Jri

    pfbdf pT it '§ having no solidity , let us cbrhparc together the foutteenth , the fifte ^ ht ^ i and th ^ e sixteenth verses . , 14 . - ^ " this is the confidence that we % iave in him [ in God . See Ben-S ^ htn loc " . and 1 John iii . 21 . ] , that it we ask ^( Xttcoi ^ eOoc ] any thing actardipg to his will , he heareth us . li . And if w ^ e knovt ^ that he hear us

    whatsoever we ask [ q ccy curw ^ tScz ] , Wje know that we have the petitions { Tp , ourryAOtroc ] that we desired [ or as fad , a > yrriKa . UL £ v ~ \ of him . 16 . If any man , see xiis brother sin a sin which is ^ not unto death , he shall ask { aflyicsi ] - and he [ God ] shall give him life for them that sin not unto is

    death ; Th ^ re a sin unto death : I do not ^ y t ^ a t he shall pray [ efcoTrja-pl for it-T < If any person be inclined to place a ? tres 6 on a supposed difference between

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    the verbs ctitevj and epajlotou , let him consider that in John xvii . 9 , the l atter is used , as in numerous other passages , for prayer to God : sycu Tt £ f >\ , avluj y tpuorw , h . T . A . ** I pruy for

    them , &c . " Now in the fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the fifth chapter of the first of John ' s Epistles , prayer t < God is confessedly spoken of : how perfectly incongruous therefore is the interpretation which , in ver . 16 , assigns to the words aC \ r < xti , and

    zpuotTfOrr } the sense of intercession with the civil magistrate . This single objection would seem decisive against Rosenmuller ' s exposition . IV . Though I can scarcely hope to he successful where so accurate a critic

    has failed , 1 am not discouraged however from making the attempt : in his own language , and with the diffidence which becomes me , I say , ** Si < juia rectius quid docuerit , ego ei libenter

    adstipulabor : " my object is to elicit truth , by inducing more diligent and skilful labourers than myself in the field of sacred criticism to favour me

    with their assistance . The sin unto death I take to be apostacyjrom the Christian doctrine , such apostacy as the writer to the Hebrews describes in vi . 4 , 2 x . c . : consequently , the sin not unto death is guilt of am inferior degree and kind . By death 1 understand , in both cases , the second

    death , or the future punishment which awaits impenitence . In the former parf of this interpretation I have the- pleasure of finding myself confirmed by the opinion of Archbishop Neweocne ( note in loc ) , who thus paraphrases the words a sin

    unto death * ' aggravated apostacy , blasphemy against the holy spirit . ** For what remains of my exposition I have not , it is true , the advantage of the same great authority . Yet whoever conside r * that , in Scriptural phraseology , death often signifies condemnation to severe and final punishmerU , as in John v . 24 , 1 John iii . 14 , may wkh » out difficulty receive it under this sense in the verses before us . The * whole

    passage will then appear to be consistent with itself , with the apostle ' s subject and style , and with the - spirit : and the truths of the Christian relation .

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    On the " sin unto death" spoken ofty the jipo&tle John . 107

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    ¦ K . "' VBiBMiflBBBiMWM * v t ¦ ¦< .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1817, page 107, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2461/page/43/