him for Christ's sake."* They, who know not this, know nothing truly (whatever * See eight excellent letters very much upon this subject, and particularly the two last of them, in Mr. NEWTON's Cardiphonia, vol. 1. These letters cannot be too much considered by those, who are inclined to amalgamate Grace and Reason, or substitute the latter for the former, and to insist upon Repentance and Holiness, not as primarily, entirely, and effectually, from a prece-. ding faith, freely given and implanted in the soul by God the Spirit, but as resulting from a man's own reflections and reception of the truth, when openly laid before him. The power of the truth is not in se, or in its most convincing arguments, but is derived wholly from the Author of the truth himself, who by his own act applies it to the soul, in such degrees and at such times, as He is pleased to enforce it. To the same purpose says the admirable Archbishop Leighton: "The truth is pure and purifying; yet can it not of itself purify the soul, but by the obeying or believing it. And the soul cannot obey or believe, but by the Spirit, which works in it that faith, and by that faith purifies it and works love . (whatever be their pretensions) either of duty or privilege, or, in other words, either of Law or Gospel. Again. in it." Com. on 1 Fet. chap. i. v. 23. To the same purpose, also, are the following sentiments "The of that great divine, Du MOULIN: new man is not created by mere moral suasion, but by the gracious infusion of a new life. The Christian himself believes indeed, and repents; and, so far as regards his repentance, the love of God, and faith, these are certainly acts of the human will; nor can any one believe and repent, unless he be willing: but the grace of God alone creates in us that faith, and supports it when created; preventing the unwilling, that they may have a good will; and leading on the willing with fresh and fresh assistance, that they may not will in vain.-To believe in Christ, then, is not a debt due to the moral law; for, this law in its principle hath nothing to do with Christ or Redemption, but relates to the natural obligation of man as a creature, and therefore enjoins nothing but. what man was able to do before his fall. A man before the fall was not bound to believe in Christ, who has relation to sinners only; but to obe dience; Again. If Faith in Christ as my Redeemer be a Duty, which I am to perform; then it is a Work, which I am able to perform; and if it be dience; and an obedience not of faith in another, but of perfect duty from himself. In this point of view, therefore, the Law and Faith are directly opposed to each other. Gal. iii. 12. He was bound, indeed, to believe in God before he fell, but in Him as his Creator, who could say and do nothing but what was right. But to believe savingly in Christ, after he became a sinner, and consequently incapable, for the remission of sins; this is only or entirely the efficacious work of God in his new creation. To the first motions or inchoation of regeneration, the will of man brings nothing, and is purely passive; nay, with respect to the very first principle of the new man, opposes itself fully with all its might. Afterwards, indeed, when God has begun the work, the will freely and cheerfully moves according to the pleasure. of the divine will, and farther increases in its volitions and actings, as it increases in strength."MOLINEUS de lib. arb. apud Thes. Sedan. Vol. i. p. 227, &c. a Work a Work, which I can perform, then it must be a right or demand of the Law of Works against me, to which I must yield a perfect obedience, or remain a transgressor of Law, which can receive nothing less: Faith, then, would not be of Grace, which is given to those, who are without strength and feel its want; who enter the kingdom of God as a little Child, owning their ignorance and folly; and who lament with the Apostle, in the 7th Chapter to the Romans, the Body of Death, nourished by the strong Law of Sin which is in their members, insuperable by themselves and vanquished only by their omnipotent Deliverer Christ Jesus. If therefore, Faith be not of grace, but of my own working, reasoning, or endeavouring; then it appears in flat contradiction to the Holy Scriptures, which state, that Christians are saved and called of God, with a holy call ing, not according to their works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given them in Christ Jesus before the world began. Then also, as Faith would not be the gift of God, nor the operation of his Holy Spirit, it must be the effect of a man's own will to begin it and the effort of a man's own power to carry it on; all which is an error so fundamental, and so boldly contrary to the whole, plan and analogy of Re-: demption, that it cannot be reprobated in terms too. severe, nor too much abhorred for its blasphemous opposition to the gracious office of God the Holy Ghost. The Apostletreats it accordingly, in Gal. i. 6—9. Nor will it mend the matter to say,' that, by the co-OPERATION of the Divine Spirit, Faith is exercised in the soul; for, if the introduction or interference of a superior Power be at all necessary to the existence or exercise |