(2.) Actual Sin. Sin which we ourselves commit.
(3.) Deadly Sin. (See Article xvi.) The Church of Rome divides sin into two classes: mortal sin, that sin which is in its nature gross, and is committed knowingly, wilfully, deliberately; and venial sin, sins of ignorance, and negligence, and the like. We also make a distinction between sins of greater or less enormity; we admit that there is a difference of degree, but the Romanists make a difference in their nature and kind, a distinction we cannot admit. According to the Romans, no amount of venial sins would ever make a mortal sin. We consider every sin to be in its nature mortal or deadly, and deserving of God's wrath and condemnation (James ii. 10, 11), and only hope to be saved through the intercession of our "Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation for our sins."
(4.) Sin against the Holy Ghost. (See Article xvi.) What is the nature of this terrible sin which "shall not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come?" (Matt. xii. 31, 32.)
The Church clearly teaches in Article xvi. that wilful sin after baptism is not, as some have taught, the unforgivable sin, but it seems rather to be "obstinate, resolute, and wilful impenitence, after all the means of grace and with all the strivings of the Spirit, under the Christian dispensation as distinguished from the Jewish, and amid all the blessings and privileges of the Church of Christ." (Harold Browne on the Thirty-nine Articles.) This, in effect, is the teaching of St. Augustine, that the sin against the Holy Ghost is a final and obdurate continuance in wickedness, despite the calls of God to repentance, joined with a desperation of the mercy of God. In Matt. xii. 31, 32, it would seem that the unpardonable sin was committed by those who ascribed our Lord's miracles to the power of Beelzebub.
SOCIETIES, CHURCH. It will be possible to mention a few only of the chief societies, &c., connected with the Church, in a work like the present. They will be described under the headings (1) Charitable, (2) Educational, (3) Missionary, (4) Building, (5) General.
1. Charitable. Each diocese has charities of its own in addition to those which are not of limited area,—
The Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy. Founded 1655. Registrar, W. P. Bowman, Esq. Office, 2, Bloomsbury Place, London. Objects, assistance to necessitous clergymen, their widows and maiden daughters; education of children of poor clergymen, and the starting of them in life.
The Friend of the Clergy Corporation, 1849. Secretary, Rev. H. Jona, 4, St. Martin's Place, Trafalgar Square, London. Objects much the same as above.
The Poor Clergy Relief Corporation, 1856. Secretary, Dr. Robert Turtle Pigott, 36, Southampton Street, Strand. Objects, immediate relief, both in money and clothing, to poor clergymen, their widows and orphans, in sickness and other temporary distress.
The Cholmondeley Charities. Treasurer, John Hanby, Esq., 1, Middle Scotland Yard, Whitehall, S.W. Class I., Augmentation of certain stipends. Class II., Much the same as above Societies. Class III., Exhibitions to sons of clergymen to the Universities. Class IV., Allowance for starting the children of clergymen in life.