that broken covenant, This Do, and thou shalt live ; but the milder language of gracious economy, BELIEVE, and thou shalt be saved. Of this covenant, faith in Christ is that part which is fulfilled by the believer. He believes; and upon the principles of this covenant, the first act of faith gives him an humble claim to the promise.

Every Christian grace is the effect of the immediate agency, and the Almighty power of God upon the heart. Faith is expressly declared by the Apostle to be the gift of God, though it is at the same time the act of the creature*. It is uniform

* Every Christian grace is the gift of God, and at the same time, the act of the creature. The dependence and the activity of man, are perfectly reconcileable. God worketh in man; but He worketh in him both to wILL, and to DO. In the day of God's power, kis people are made wILLING. The enmity of the heart is slain, and they are made willing to do what they were able to do before.

From the note on the 35th page of this volume, the reader will perceive that the author is aware of some difference in the mode of representing this subject, by divines that profess to be equally attached to the great doctrines of grace. But for protracting that note, he should then have exhibited the views of a number of men of deserved eminence, substantiating the remarks which were there made. Such an exhibition, it is hoped, will soften down some of the prejudices of plain Christians, if it does not blunt the edge of opposition on

ly represented as of the operation of God. It is one of the fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the

the part of those who are persevering adherents to the doctrine of man's natural inability.

If any one will take the trouble to turn to Scott's Family Bible, he will find the following sentiment in his remarks on Rom. viii. 7, 8. Because the carnal mind is enmity, &c.

"This carnal mind is not subject to the divine law, and in"deed cannot be so; it is MORALLY UNABLE to do any thing "but rebel against it, and refuse obedience to it.”

The observations of the same author on John vi. 44. No man can come, &c. are of the same import.

"The ground of this impossibility lies in the contrariety "which subsists between the proud, worldly, unholy, rebel❝lious, and ungodly nature of fallen man, and the humbling, "spiritual, holy nature of the gospel. The gospel finds none "willing to be saved," &c.*

Let the reader also advert to President Witherspoon's Essay on Justification. In vol. i. and page 53 of his Works, he will find the following paragraph.

"Since mention has been made of perfect conformity to "the will of God, or perfect obedience to his law, as the duty “of man, which is indeed the foundation of this whole doc"trine," (that is, the doctrine of Justification,) "I think it ne❝cessary to observe, that some deny this to be properly re"quired of man as his duty in the present fallen state, be"cause He is not able to perform it. But such do not seem "to attend either to the meaning of perfect obedience, or

* In regard to the controversy between Marshall and Bellamy, concern. ing the nature of faith, Scott is most decidedly in favour of Bellamy's view of the subject. Vid. Scott's Theological Works, vol. 4th, p. 248, 249, 250

Spirit is love, joy, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, FAITH. No man can say, that Jesus is the

"the nature or cause of this inability. Perfect obedience is "obedience by any creature, to the utmost extent of his na"tural powers. Even in a state of innocence, the holy dispo"sitions of Adam would not have been equal in strength " and activity to those of creatures of an higher rank; but "surely to love God, who is infinitely amiable, with all the "heart, and above all, to consecrate all his powers and "faculties without exception, and without intermission, "to God's service, must be undeniably the duty of every "intelligent creature. And what sort of inability are we "under to pay this? Our natural faculties are surely "6 as fit for the service of God as for any baser purpose.THE "INABILITY IS ONLY MORAL, and lies wholly IN THE " AVERSION OF OUR HEARTS from such employ"ment. Does this then take away the guilt? Must God re"lax his law because we are not willing to obey it?"

The same great man, in a sermon on the "absolute ne"cessity of salvation by Christ," has also a sentence which is full of meaning. "For I hope NO CHRISTIAN will assert, that any person in the world who hath the exercise "of reason, is under a natural, but only a moral impossibility " of coming to the knowledge, and doing the will of God. "If the first were the case, it would TAKE AWAY ALL SIN; "but the last is such an obstinate disinclination, as is still con"sistent with guilt and blame." Vid. Witherspoon's Works, vol. ii. p. 357. Philadelphia edition.

The following representation of the subject, I take the liberty of giving to the public, principally because it is from an unexpected quarter. It is extracted from a "Catechism adopted by the Consistories of the REFORMED DUTCH

Lord, BUT BY THE HOLY GHOST.

It is expressly said of those who believed on Christ in the days

"CHURCHES in the town of Rhinebeck, for the use of their "people, and published by their order*."

"Q. Why do men thus break and transgress the law of "God?"

A. "The reason is, the reigning aversion of their hearts "to it, so that they are unable to keep it."

Q. "And does not this their inability release from obliga❝tion?"

A. "No, for it is of such a nature, as tends not in the "least, to break or weaken our obligation."

Q. "Of what kind is it then?"

A. "It is not of a natural, but of a moral kind."

Q. "What is natural inability ?"

A. "Natural inability consists in a defect of rational facul"ties, bodily powers, or rational advantages."

Q. "What is moral inability?"

A. "Moral inability consists in a want of a proper disposi"tion of heart to use our natural ability aright."

Q. "Can you illustrate the distinction by producing an "instance?"

A. "Yes, the case of Joseph's brethren who hated him so, "that they could not speak peaceably to him.”

Not viewing this sufficient, the Catechists then subjoin the following Note.

* When this Catechism was adopted by these churches, the Rev. Dr. John B. Romeyn, now the Pastor of the Cedar-street Church, New-York, was the stated minister of the gospel in Rhinebeck, and was himself one of the committee appointed to revise and re-publish the original Catechism of John Sutcliffe, of Olney, England. The above Note forms part of a work which the American publishers say, in their advertisement, "is among the best Cate"chisms extant."

of his humanity, that they were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, It is also unequivocally declared, that whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, Is Faith then is the exercise of the

BUT OF GOD.

BORN OF GOD. new heart.

It is difficult to give a definition of faith that comprehends all its properties. In its most general character, it is reliance upon the testimony of God's word. It is receiving the truth in the love of it. The apostle Paul uses the phrase, received not the love of the truth, as synonymous with the phrase,

"Thus we say of a man destitute of an honest principle, "that he cannot refrain from cheating you if he has an op"portunity; that some are such profane wretches, that they "cannot open their mouths without an oath; and others are "such liars, that they cannot speak the truth; that some are "so revengeful, that they cannot forgive an injury; and "others so easily provoked, that they cannot keep their "temper, if you contradict them. So a carnal mind CANNOT "be subject to God's law; for a man that hates God cannot serve him, cannot rejoice in seeing him glorified; cannot ❝ love his image; cannot see any comeliness in Christ, nor "fall in with the gospel plan of salvation. The difference "between moral, inability, and that which is termed natural, “is plain au self-evident. It is said of the mariners, that "they rowed hard to bring the ship to land, but they could ❝ not, Lonah i. 13. Also of Joseph's brethren, that they suld not speak peaceably to him. In the former case

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