Among the passages adduced in this controversy by those who differ from us, we have observed many which simply state the fact that salvation is of the Lord; that his people are made willing in the day of his power; that all Zion's children are taught of the Lord; and are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of man, but of God, Psalm iii. 8, cx. 3; Isa. liv. 13; John i. 13.

Undoubtedly these are highly important and decisive passages, as to the fact that the conversion of a sinner is in every case produced by divine influence; a fact to the cordial admission of which by the author the present volume bears ample and unequivocal testimony. But how does the assertion of this fact bear upon the question at issue? Here are two causes supposed, namely, the inability and the aversion of man, either of which will operate to render the Spirit's influence necessary to the conversion of a sinner; whichever of them may be conceived to be in operation, therefore, the necessity of that influence is consistently maintained, and consequently the fact that conversion never takes place but by virtue of it. Texts of scripture which merely assert this assert an important truth, but they contain nothing which affects the point under discussion. This ground is occupied in common by both parties in the dispute, and is quite remote from the field in which the

contest is to be decided. The introduction of these passages may excite the more observation, because they have often been brought forward with great ostentation, and exhibited with much parade of scripture proof, as though they alone were decisive of the controversy; while, in fact, this proceeding indicates nothing more than an entire misunderstanding of the subject, unless it should be taken as discovering too, what we are very unwilling to suspect, a wish to depreciate an argument by raising a prejudice against those who advance it.

The import and bearing of holy scripture in other aspects has been, or yet will be, noticed in other parts of this volume. It has been our object here to observe the passages which bear upon our subject directly, and to show that they are in unison with the general argument; which we trust has been satisfactorily done. It would occasion the writer the deepest affliction, if, however unconsciously, he should have been led by these remarks to alter or to diminish the full and true import of the divine word; and unutterably would he be ashamed of himself, if he could harbour a wish to evade, in however unwelcome a direction, the force of truth: but as, on the one hand, he hopes he has no aim but to know the mind of Christ; so, on the other, he solemnly believes what he has stated to be the correct expression of that mind, so far as the passages

examined are concerned. He has not, perhaps, adduced every text on which stress has been laid in this discussion; but those which have been brought forward he hopes are fair specimens of the classes to which they belong, and sufficient to establish and illustrate the principles on which the whole are to be interpreted. Nothing is more true or more important than the sentiment, that the express and direct sense of scripture, wherever it can be ascertained, must determine every matter of religious opinion; but the case before us is one in which this very maxim has been made the foundation and the bulwark of an extensive and long prevalent error. The declaration that men cannot come to Christ having been once supposed to mean that they have no power to do so, the force with which this is asserted seems to have attached to the mistake a most unmerited character of sacredness and inviolability. Whatever might be disputed, this must not be called in question, because it was expressly asserted, and he who would dare to suggest a doubt of it could not but incur the heaviest accusations of heterodoxy. Slender basis for so vast a superstructure! Upon what films can wide-spread errors be established! The whole is but an oversight, a mere inadvertency, in misinterpreting analogical phraseology as though it were literal, and thus throwing out of view other portions of the divine word, a due regard to which would

instantly have dispelled the delusion.

The

writer yields to no man in his willingness to submit to the sense of the scriptures: he has no higher aim than to ascertain the mind of the Spirit therein. If he contends against what has long been held to be such, it is because he is convinced that it is a mistake; and he calls upon his brethren opposed to him in argument to abide by their own principle, and to vindicate their claim to a supreme veneration for God's word. Which do they love best-their system, which they have long imagined the word of God to support; or the word of God, which they may now perceive leaves their system to its fall? The writer hopes and believes the latter; but the result will declare it.

CHAP. XIII.

Whether the sentiment which ascribes power to man does not pre-eminently humble the sinner and glorify God:-the argument from the tendency of the doctrine.

If we were to say that the apparent tendency of a sentiment should in all cases be held decisive of its real character and truth, we should doubtless be going too far. With our limited and imperfect knowledge, we may not always be

competent judges on such a point; we may ourselves be misled by error, or blinded by our feelings. Yet there are grounds on which an inquiry into the tendency of an opinion is both reasonable and important. Everything which is just in sentiment must also be right in tendency; rectitude in sentiment being nothing more than a view of things as they really exist, and things as they really exist being adapted by divine wisdom to exert a right influence on the heart. If an opinion, therefore, according to its legitimate use, tends apparently to evil, this is presumptive evidence of its fallacy; as, on the other hand, there is a presumption in favour of its truth if it tends to good. Though this is not to be considered as a principal argument, it is an important auxiliary one; and it is pro per that every sentiment should be brought to this test, as a help towards ascertaining its character. With respect to the accordance of religious opinions with the truth of the gospel in this point, we have considerable facility of judgment. The divine dispensation of mercy has very distinct and peculiar features. Its aspect is by no means vague or equivocal. By virtue of its boundless condescension and riches of grace, its tendency is manifestly to abase man and to exalt his Maker. To the former is allotted shame and confusion of face, deep criminality and ill-desert; to the latter is ascribed unbounded