the scheme which ascribes to the sinner moral inability. You acknowledge, that divine power must remove this moral inability before the sinner can receive Christ; of course until this be done, the sinner is released from his obligations; for a little reflection will show that the inability is just as real and insuperable in the one case as in the other. Parishioner. If this be the condition of the sinner, he is surely to be pitied.

Pastor. He is indeed to be pitied as you say, but certainly not as an innocent person, for he is criminal in this defect, as we have already seen. But you may, on the same principle of sympathy, pity the Christian; for in himself considered, even after his renewal by the Holy Spirit, he is entirely dependent on gracious aid for all his ability. He cannot think a good thought, or perform a right action, without a divine influence. He feels this dependence; he recognizes it in all his prayers; and in all his undertakings he is sensible that his sufficiency is of God. Why then should we ascribe an ability to the sinner which does not even belong to a saint? or why should we consider it a case of hardship for a sinner to be wholly indebted to God, for all his ability to obey the law, when God's own chosen and beloved people can do nothing acceptably, but as they are aided by grace and help from on high?

Parishioner. I see the force of your remarks, but would it not be wise to insist upon the distinction between moral and natural ability, for the purpose of evincing to the sinner his inexcusableness, and inducing him to exert himself? I have sometimes thought, that to insist on the doctrine of total inability has a tendency to quiet the anxiety of a sinner, and induce inactivity, under an impression, that all he has to do, is to wait God's time.

Pastor. As to the propriety of insisting on the distinction for the purpose you propose, I cannot admit it; for first, if it be not a just distinction, it will create a false impression, and induce sinners to believe that they have powers which they really do not possess; and secondly, sinners may be led to conclude, that by virtue of these fancied powers, they have repented and believed, while actually impenitent; thus fatally deceiving their souls and contenting themselves with a spurious religion: or they may be induced under the same delusion, to postpone repentance to a dying hour, in the vain hope, that they may then successfully exert their powers in

preparing themselves for their last change. On the other hand, apathy and slothfulness are by no means the necessary consequences of a belief in human inability. The doctrine it is true, may be abused like any other doctrine of revelation, yet still, a genuine persuasion that we are utterly helpless, that we can do nothing effectively towards our own salvation, is precisely the state of mind in which we can perceive the value and necessity of the gospel provision. When once convinced that we can do nothing for ourselves, our self-righteous notions are dissipated, and we are driven to the Saviour with the appropriate petitions, "Lord, save, or I perish;" "God be merciful to me a sinner."

Parishioner. As connected with this subject permit me to ask, in what regeneration consists? I have heard it urged with some plausibility that all that was required of the sinner was, that he should change the governing purpose of his mind; or as I understood it, that he should undergo such an alteration in his diposition, as to incline to the things of religion.

Pastor. I have heard this language employed, and under circumstances which made me suppose, that the speaker intended to convince his hearers, that they could at once be religious, by a simple resolution to be so. If we rely for information on the illustrations which are employed, regeneration, according to this view, is a very inconsiderable change. Thus a physician becomes a merchant, and in doing so, he changes his governing purpose; and if the illustration holds good, a sinner becomes renewed, whenever he changes his external pursuits from interested motives. If, however, by this expression, something more is intended, and a change in the prevailing disposition of the heart is implied, then I would remark, that this change is beyond human power, and cannot be effected by a mere determination of the will. The Ethiopian cannot change his skin, neither the leopard his spots, and there is the same difficulty for him who has been accustomed to do evil, to learn to do well. A man may bring the whole weight of his natural power to bear upon his prevailing inclinations, and yet find them too stubborn in their resistance, to be

Overcome.

But I have another objection to this phraseology; it does not express with sufficient comprehensiveness the great change which we style regeneration. It is a much

more extensive and thorough work than this phraseology seems to imply. It is described in sacred Scripture as a new birth, a new creation, a resurrection from the dead; these are emphatic expressions and convey the idea of a marvellous transformation. Such in truth it is, evincing in every feature the mighty power of God. Spiritual things are discerned and relished, by a heart once blind and averse from them; love to God succeeds to enmity; alacrity in duty succeeds to indifference and reluctance; holy habits are substituted for habits earthly, sensual, devilish; in a word, old things pass away, and all things become new. The vile sinner who was an abhorrence to all holy beings, becomes entitled to take his place in their holy assembly.

Parishioner. Is the change of which you speak effected by a direct divine influence, or by the persuasive and constraining influence of motives presented to the mind?

Pastor. God does not work irrespective of means; he presents in his word and providence the most affecting motives; he appeals to a sinner's fears and hopes; to his reason, his conscience, his self interest, his sense of gratítude; and in the use of these means and motives, the sinner is often brought to the foot of the cross; but in none of these means is there any inherent energy. Truth may be presented to the mind without any sensible effect; the powerful appeals of Scripture may prove ineffectual to move it to repentance; and the gospel of grace may become to the sinner the savour of death. The precise condition of the sinner, in his inability to improve the truth without divine aid, is thus expressed by an apostle. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned." By mere moral suasion therefore, as it has been termed, no sinner has ever yet been converted from the error of his ways; and hence the necessity of a more efficient agency. God by a direct and supernatural influence, accompanies the presentation of the truth, and in that way alone it becomes effectual to salvation. "For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ." So manifest is this in every case of genuine conversion, that it is marvellous that any professing the Christian's hope, should imagine that a work so wonderful should

ever be accomplished by any other agency than the mighty power of God."

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This view will also show the absurdity of that scheme which ascribes activity to the sinner in his regeneration. God is the only actor, man is the passive subject. The only activity which man can display in relation to his regeneration is in resisting the Holy Ghost; to aid God in effecting it, would not only be impossible, but unnecessary. Should any active part in the work be ascribed to man, just so far it would not be of grace; but it is by grace alone we are saved from first to last; being "born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." While sinners therefore are passive in the hands of God, he creates them anew in Christ Jesus.

Parishioner. Do you say that the work of regeneration is completed at once? If so, how do you account for the many imperfections perceptible in the most advanced Christians?

Pastor. I say the work is instantaneously performed. There is no medium condition between life and death. A sinner must either be an heir of heaven, or an heir of hell; he must either be regenerate or unregenerate. The Spirit finds the sinner in his enmity and sin, and at once reconciles him to God; he finds him an heir of wrath, and at once makes him an heir of glory. Whatever may have been his preparatory exercises, there is a point at which he is translated from the kingdom of Satan into the kingdom of God's dear Son.

While I affirm that regeneration is complete at once, inasmuch as the sinner is thereby radically changed and placed in an entirely new relation to God, yet I have not said that the subject of it is thereby perfected. When regenerated, the sinner is converted or turned from the path of hell to the path of heaven, and as he pursues his pilgrimage, he is instructed, guided, strengthened, and comforted by the Holy Spirit. As he proceeds, he becomes more like God, more inimical to sin, more meet for heaven. Thus while regeneration is instantaneous, sanctification is progressive; and the latter is never completed until mortality is swallowed up of life.

Parishioner. My dear pastor, I cordially thank you for the instruction I have received in this interview. My doubts are removed; the painful state of my mind is relieved; and I now embrace the faith of my fathers with

more intelligence than formerly, and I trust I shall not so easily be moved by every wind of doctrine. The Catechisms of our Church which I learned in my youth, evidently set forth the same doctrines which you have enforced, and I am struck with astonishment that any one should profess to receive these formularies, and yet substantially overturn every principal statement contained in them. Will you oblige me by explaining the remarkable fact that ministers and others, professing to receive the same doctrinal standards, should still be characterized by such discrepancy of views?

Pastor. I will endeavour to do so. You are aware that creeds are not designed to supersede the Bible, but as the Bible is subject to conflicting interpretations, a creed is nothing more than a particular interpretation, which is adopted by any individual or class of individuals. Thus any number of persons who agree in what they suppose the Bible teaches, write their creed, which becomes to them a bond of union. It was in this way that the Westminster Confession of Faith was written, and all who could cordially receive it, were permitted upon a declaration of such concurrence, to unite with the Presbyterian Church of which this Confession became the symbol. The question proposed to every minister and elder of the Presbyterian Church, at their induction into their respective offices, is in the following words, viz: "Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith of this Church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures?" And to this an affirmative answer is returned.

In process of time, however, when the Presbyterian Church had increased and assumed a commanding stand, many felt inclined to enter her communion, who demurred at many of her doctrines. They accordingly began to torture the above form of subscription, to elicit from it a meaning which the words did not obviously express. They at length fell upon an expedient; it was that they adopted only "the system of doctrine" contained in the Confession, or, in other words, that they adopted it only " for substance of doctrine." To detect the subterfuge here employed, recur again to the words of the formula. "Do you sin. cerely, (that is, without prevarication or mental reservation) receive and adopt the Confession of Faith." The answer is, "I do adopt the Confession of Faith," that is wholly and