ted strength of body, and powers of mind, are left to 'the will of man,' they are in all those, who are destitute of the Spirit of Christ, uniformly exerted in an unholy manner. And if any mere physical power of doing good be imparted, and left to the will of man,' without a new creation unto holiness; it will uniformly be, either perverted, or lie dormant till it be finally lost. But the scriptures, above quoted, lead us to conceive, not 'of a 'power, once imparted;' but of one, daily renewed, and increased, as exigencies require; and in proportion to the simplicity and strength of the faith, with which we depend on the Lord to strengthen us. To produce at first the willing mind, to what is good in the sight of God, is the effect of special preventing grace: yet the will to what is good, as well as the strength of faith, hope, love, and holy fear, needs to be daily invigorated, and rendered more decided and predominant; especially, when we are assailed by powerful temptations, or called forth to self denying services; or, exposed to severe sufferings in the cause of God, which might be evaded or escaped, by sinful compliances or omissions,

P. lxv. 1. 20. The attainment, &c.'* "He that "hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until "the day of Christ." "It is God, which worketh in

us both to will and to do."+ "He that trusteth in his "own heart is a fool." For the heart is deceitful "above all things and desperately wicked; who can

in like manner the pure and holy gifts of the Spirit, which are imparted to 'the human mind "by measure," are derived from a God of infinite purity and holiness, and the use of these limited gifts is also left to the will of 'man.'

The attainment of eternal happiness is made to depend upon our own choice and exertions. The slothful servant gains no credit with his earthly 'master-the indolent christian will receive no reward from his heavenly 'Lord."

"know it?" "Hold thou me up and I shall be safe."+ -Indolent nominal christians are, alas! very numerous: but an indolent true christian, one absolutely indolent, is an ens rationis, which no where exists, except in the

imaginations of speculating men.

P. lxvi 1. 24. 'The morning, &c.' That is, the name, or sin, of Adam is not mentioned in them. We "have followed too much the devices and desires of our

own hearts.' But why is it evil to follow the de'vices and desires of our own hearts,' if our hearts be not evil? and did God create them evil? or did this evil originate from the corruption of our nature by the fall of Adam?—' And there is no health in us.' Surely then our nature must be most desperately diseased! Did God create man in this totally distempered state? Or has our race become thus diseased by the fall of our progenitor? -I have seen some copies of the prayer book, printed by Reeves, in which the word help is substituted for health. I hope it is an error of the press, and not intentional: for certainly no authority, except that of the King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, is competent to make this alteration.

P. lxvii. l. 15. In a second collect, &c.' 'By 'natural good works, is here doubtless meant, those

1

"The morning and evening services of our church scarcely allude to the corruption of man by the fall of Adam..'

§ Confession.

¶'In a second collect we pray, “O God,—because through the weakness "of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without thee, grant us the "help of thy grace, that in keeping thy commandments we may please thee, "both in will and deed;" which is nothing more than altering the words of ' one of our articles, already explained, into the form of a prayer, and I have only to observe, that the "good thing" here mentioned, must mean good in the sight of God: such an action our weak and unassisted nature will, unquestionably, not allow us to perform.'

|| Art. x.

'works, which are outwardly and speciously good, and 'which are estimable in human judgment. That he can perform these, (civilem Justitiam et diligendas res rationi 'subjectas,) as the Augsburgh Confession expresses it, 'nobody denies. The question is not, what his powers 'are in respect of natural things, but in respect of spirit'ual things; not what he can do which may please men; 'but what, that is pleasing and acceptable to God; not 'how far he can conform himself to the laws of human 'society, but how far he can convert himself to true 'christianity; how far, by his own natural and unassisted 'powers, he can repent, and believe, and love God and 'his neighbour, and mortify sin, and pursue holiness, in the manner, and from the motives, which the gos'pel requires. Nor is it a natural, but a moral impotence, 'which is the subject of our discussion.'* What a grievous thing it is, that men will not bestow more pains, in understanding one another! His Lordship here fully concedes the grand point, which Mr. Overton, and the rest of us, contend for!

P. lxviii. 1. 5. The desires, &c.'t Certainly: when the Lord, by his special grace preventing us, 'does put into our hearts good desires.'‡

1. 23. In bringing, &c.') This has been repeatedly allowed: but the co-operation does not begin, till God has put into our hearts good desires.' This is precisely the point at issue, between sober. Calvinists and their opponents.

• Overton's True Churchman, p. 149.

'The desires therefore of the human heart are sometimes such that God may be supposed to view them with complacency, to assist, and promote 'them.'

# Collect Easter Sunday.

'In bringing good desires to effect, divine grace and human exertions 'co-operate.'

P. lxix. 1. 6. We here pray,* &c.'t Why do we pray for it, if able to do it of ourselves? The apostle says, "Now are we the sons of God," not, We hope to < become the sons of God.' Being sons of God, we hope for our holy and heavenly inheritance: " and every "man, that has this hope in him, purifieth himself even "as he is pure." "Now the God of hope fill you "with all peace and joy in believing; that ye may "abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost," Here the christian hope itself is ascribed to the power of the Holy Ghost. "And hope maketh not "ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in "our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto "us." He then, who is animated with this hope, is a true christian, to whom God has "given the Spirit of "adoption:" he has the longing desire of perfect conformity to Christ in purity; and all such christians are taught in our Liturgy to pray, that having this hope, they may purify themselves, even as he is pure.'— Special grace preventing them has put into their hearts

good desires.' God has given " them exceeding great "and precious promises," "that by these they might "be partakers of the divine nature." And, "having "these promises," they are exhorted, "to cleanse "themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, "perfecting holiness in the fear of God"** Yet, conscious of their inability in themselves to do this, they pray to God to enable them to do what they now ear.

* Collect sixth Sunday after Epiphany.

We here pray that we may purify ourselves, even as Christ himself is pure: which surely implies, that when animated by the hope of becoming the sons of God and heirs of eternal life, we have power to contribute in some degree to our purification, although we cannot attain, or even approach, the purity of Christ, without divine assistance.'

+ 1 John iii. 2-4.

§ Rom. xiv. 13.

Rom. v. 5

that men, of

nestly desire to do. How far this proves themselves, have some power to contribute to their own purification, which it is acknowledged they do not desire, till God has put the good desire into their hearts, must be left to the reader to determine.

P. lxix. 1. 20. The grace of God does not act 'with compulsory force. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts' to keep thy commandments, is all that we mean; but the frequent occurrence of compulsory and irresistible; not as quoted from our writings, (for we disclaim both the words and the ideas,) but erroneously ascribed to us, tends to make the reader suppose, that we mean something different from what we really do. God acts solely in rendering us willing; but our good works, as springing from a willing mind, are our own voluntary actions, by his special grace enabling us to bring our good desires to good effect.

Suppose a humane person to see a fellow creature drowning. He, plunging into the river, drags out the apparently lifeless body: others along with him, use proper means to resuscitate the suspended principle of life, and are successful. So far the drowned person has been passive; and what has been done, was the act of others entirely, without his co-operation. Still, however, he is extremely weak; but he desires and endeavours to walk home; and now, the same friends, or some others, assist him in rising; and he leans on them in walking. They assist him; yet his walking is his own voluntary act, and not their's, though they may be said to co-operate. Thus God quickens one dead in sin, and puts good desires into his heart. This is exclusively his act. "The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, "makes him free from the law of sin and death."*

• Rom. viii. 2.