in this world, and what we are taught to expect in that which is to come. The Baptismal Service in the Liturgy is exactly conformable to our interpretation of the 9th and 10th Articles. It declares, that "all men are conceived and born in sin;" it represents baptism as washing away the sin of children, as the means of delivering them from the wrath of God, and of sanctifying them with the Holy Ghost; and it describes the Christian religion as a covenant between God and man, and asserts that Christ," for his part, will most surely keep and perform the promise he has made in his Gospel," and that the infant, by his sureties, must, "for his part, promise to renounce the devil and all his works, and constantly believe God's holy word, and obediently keep his commandments.' The form, therefore, by which persons are admitted members of our Church, while it acknowledges the corruption of human nature and the communication of supernatural aid, implies, that faith and obedience are in some degree in our own power. It cannot escape the observation of an attentive reader, that the Morning and Evening Services of our Church scarcely allude to the corruption of man by the fall of Adam; and it is remarkable, that in several of the prayers, which are translated from from prayers in more ancient liturgies, passages are omitted, which relate to this nice and delicate subject (z). In one collect (a), however, we pray thus: "O God! who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; grant to us such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations;" which words imply, that though we cannot always avoid sin, yet the frailty of our nature does not cause us invariably and necessarily to fall in every danger, or to yield to every temptation; but that all dangers cannot be escaped, or all temptations resisted, without divine assistance. In a second collect (b) 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. (z) Laurence's Sermons, p. 281. (a) 4th of Epiphany, (b) 1st Sunday after Trinity. form. Upon a third occasion we pray in these words, "We beseech thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants, and stretch forth the right hand of thy majesty, to be our defence against all our enemies (c)." 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. In many of the prayers of our Liturgy, the doctrines of Free-will and Divine grace, as asserted in the 10th Article, are fully and clearly recognized; and human exertions are considered both as possible and necessary. In the collect for Easterday we pray thus, "Almighty God,. . . . we humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace preventing us, thou dost put into our minds good desires; so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect:" here preventing grace is acknowledged as putting good desires into our minds, but we are represented as ourselves bringing them to good effect through the continual help of God; that is, in bringing good desires to effect, divine grace and human exertions cooperate. In the collect for the sixth Sunday after the (c) Third Sunday in Lent. Epiphany, we pray, "O God, whose blessed Son was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil, and make us the Sons of God, and heirs of eternal life; grant us, we beseech thee, that having this hope, we may purify ourselves, even as he is pure :" 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. In the collect for the second Sunday after Easter, we pray God to give us grace, that we may daily endeavour ourselves to follow the blesesd steps of Christ's most holy life;" by the sugge3tion therefore, and with the help, of God's grace, we endeavour to follow the example of Christ, which shews that the grace of God does not act with compulsory force, but only directs and assists our endeavours. In the collect for the ninth Sunday after Trinity, we pray to God, that "we, who cannot do any thing that is good without him, may by him be enabled to live according to his will:" we here confess our own weakness, and pray God to enable us to obey his will; which seems incom patible with the idea of his acting solely and irresistibly. In the collect for the first Sunday after Epiphany, we pray to God not only that "we may perceive and know what things we ought to do, but that we may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil the same:" were grace irresistible, did it necessarily and solely produce a godly life, there would be no room for faithfulness on our part. In this prayer we entreat our Heavenly Father to enable us to know and perceive our duty, and therefore admit the insufficiency of our natural strength for this purpose, without the aid of the Spirit of God; but at the same time we acknowledge, that our own faithfulness, our sincere and uniform endeavour to obey the known will of God, is necessary to render this divine grace efficacious, and to produce a right application of this supernatural power. Faithfulness implies free-agency, a power to obey or to disobey. A servant is faithful to his master, but a machine necessarily executes the will of its maker. A kind master will reward the fidelity of a servant, although he has only done what it was his duty to do; and an all-merciful God has graciously promised to reward the faithfulness of his rational creatures with everlasting happiness, for the sake of his blessed Son. A grateful servant will |