Augustine of Hippo, on 1John 5:16

“He that knoweth his brother to sin a sin which is not to death, let him ask, and life shall be given to him, who sinneth not to death. There is a sin unto death: for that I say not that any man ask.”

“In another place I defined the sin of a brother unto death [see above], but I should have added: "if he ends this life in a perversity of mind as wicked as this." For surely we must not despair of anyone, no matter how wicked he is, while he lives, and we should pray with confidence for him of whom we should not despair.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.