a rule of life, derived from their Maker and interwoven in their frame; and that they were capable of obeying it, although in fact their obedience has been very rare, and always imperfect. This has arisen from the extreme difficulty of resisting "another law in their members warring against the law of their minds, and bringing them into captivity to the law of sin, which was in their members (a)." It will scarcely be denied that some acts of mercy, justice, and self-denial are recorded in profane history; and therefore upon these occasions, as far at least as external deeds are concerned, men were able to counteract the depravity introduced into their nature by the Fall of Adam (b). The proneness to sin in every individual of the human race, and the predo minance of wickedness at every period and in every country of the heathen world, are most readily granted; and it is only contended, that the temporary or occasional control of their sinful passions was never physically impossible. The understanding was greatly impaired by the Fall; but no one will maintain that it was utterly destroyed, or that what remains is incapable of improvement: and in like manner, the heart was (a) Rom. c. 7. v. 23. in (b) Nec est quisquam gentis ullius, qui ducem natu ram nactus, ad virtutem venire non possit. Cic. de Leg. in a high degree depraved, but every good affection towards God and towards man was not totally extinguished (c); and our feeble sense of duty may be strengthened by the exercise of our reason, which is not given us as an unmeaning privilege, or as an useless distinction between ourselves and the beasts that perish. Man was created "in the image of God (d);” but a great part of that resemblance is lost, and cannot be regained in this mortal life. He was "made a little lower than the Angels (e);" but immense is now the distance between the best of men, and the (c) Est ergo vera definitio legis naturæ, legem naturæ esse notitiam legis divinæ, naturæ hominis insitam. Ideo enim dicitur homo ad imaginem Dei conditus esse, quia in eo lucebat imago, hoc est, notitia Dei et similitudo quædam mentis divinæ; id est, discrimen honestorum et turpium, et cum his notitiis congruebant vires hominis. Voluntas erat conversa ad Deum ante lapsum; ardebant et in mente veræ notitiæ; et in voluntate amor erga Deum; et assentiebantur corda, sine ulla dubitatione, veris notitiis. Ac statuebant nos conditos esse ad agnoscendum et celebrandum Deum, et ad obediendum huic Domino qui nos condidit, alit, impressit imaginem sui, qui justa postulat et approbat, e contra vero damnat et punit injusta. Quanquam autem in hac naturæ corruptione, deformata imagine Dei, non ita fulgent notitiæ, manent tamen, sed cor repugnat, et incurrunt dubitationes propter quædam quæ pugnare videntur cum illis notitiis. Melancthon Loci Theol. (d) Gen, c. I. V. 27. (e) Ps. 8. v. 5. the lowest inhabitant of heaven. It has nevertheless been an invariable property of the human species, from the first Creation to the present moment, that their propensities, affections, and faculties, have been capable, in different degrees under different circumstances, of control, cultivation, and enlargement. This capacity is manifested in the history of mankind, and is inseparable from a state of probation. We have seen it acknowledged in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, and expressly declared by an inspired Apostle when speaking of the Gentiles prior to the coming of Christ; and I shall now proceed to shew, that abundant proof of some discrimination of moral character, and of some power of religious improvement, is found in the parts of the New Testament, which relate to those, who heard the preaching of our Saviour, and to whom the glad tidings of the Gospel were afterwards conveyed. "I am not come," says Christ," to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (f);" we may therefore affirm, upon the authority of our Blessed Saviour himself, that there is at least a degree of righteousness in some men. I am aware that Commentators, who wish to reconcile this passage to the Calvinistic system, explain the word (f) Matt. c. 9. v. 13. word "Righteous" by "those who consider themselves righteous:" but it is evident from the occasion on which this declaration was made, that the word will not admit of that interpretation; "And it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye, and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. By the righteous, (says Whitby, very justly,) we are not to understand those who are only righteous in their own conceits, such as the Pharisees were, who justified themselves before men (g), and trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others (h), in comparison of themselves; for such are not whole, but have great need of the spiritual physician; and such especially the Gospel calleth to repentance (i).Moreover, the word sinners here imports such persons (g) Luke, c. 16. v. 15. (h) Luke, c. 18. v. 9. Rey. c. 3. v. 19. persons as live in a customary practice of sin, so that the tenor of their lives is wicked, and who are therefore to be called to that repentance which consists in the change of their lives, from the service of sin to holiness, from slavery to Satan to the fear of God; and therefore, by the righteous who need no repentance, we are not to understand those who are entirely free from sin; for so, there is not a just man upon earth, nor any man who is not a sinner (k); but those who are truly and sincerely righteous, have truly reformed their lives, who carefully endeavour to abstain from all known sins, and set themselves sincerely to the performance of their whole duty both to God and man, and so are righteous and acceptable in the sight of God; in which sense Job was righteous and eschewed evil; Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous, walking in all the commandments of the Lord (1); and Simeon (m); and so they needed not that repentance which consists in the change of the life from a course of sinning to a living unto God." By the word "righteous" then, in this and several other pas sages of Scripture, we are to understand those who are comparatively righteous, which is fully sufficient (k) Job, c. 9. v. 2. Eccl. c. 7. v. 20. 1 Kings, c. 8. v. 46. Jas. c. 3. v. 2. 1 John, c. 1. v. 8. (1) Luke, c. I. v. 6. (m) Luke, c. 2. v. 25. |