cannot contribute any thing towards the performance of Christian duty, or that that duty is to be suspended till he is sure he has necessary assistance; but he is therefore to attempt the performance of his duty with the most strenuous exertion, because he has full dependence on that assistance, which, as a child of God in Christ, he is entitled to receive in the proper use of the appointed means.

Now, although St. Augustine might occasionally be warmed into saying some very strong things in favour of the Divine agency, with the view of counteracting the Pelagian heresy; yet I should be inclined to think, that his deliberate judgment on this subject, did not widely differ from that which has been here drawn from the article in question. His words are these: "Si non est Dei gratia, quomodo salvat mundum? Si non est liberum arbitrium, quomodo judicat mundum? Quia ista questio, ubi de arbitrio voluntatis et Dei gratiâ disputatur, ita est ad discernendum difficilis, ut quando defenditur liberum arbitrium, negari Dei gratia videatur; quando autem asseritur Dei gratia, liberum arbitrium putetur auferri."

To draw the line between these two distinct powers of grace and free-will, our Church does not presume; she simply asserts, what, I trust, every Christian believes, that no man in his state of nature can do good works; but that good works, i. e. virtuous actions upon Christian principles, and as such pleasant and acceptable to God, may be performed by a man in a state of grace. These two powers are doubtless reconcileable in their nature, though we short-sighted mortals at present

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know not how perfectly to reconcile them. We receive the doctrine, therefore, as we do all others of amysterious nature, without attempting to explain it. If the doctrine contained in this article tend to rouse man to the actual performance of his baptismal engagement, considering himself as the agent in the work of salvation; at the same time that it keeps in view the power by which alone he is enabled to exert himself in the important business; the article answers the design for which it was originally composed. Man is to work out his salvation, not because of himself he is able so to do, but because he is assisted by that Being to whom all things are possible, and who can enable him "both to will and to do, of his good pleasure." And however difficult it may be to explain this in words, predicated as it is of God, we find no difficulty either in comprehending or believing, that though, like some other doctrines, it may be above reason, it is not contrary to it; perfectly consistent with the attributes of God, and not incompatible with the free-agency of God.

And it is surely of great importance to see all expressions about grace in such a light, that they shall leave the efficacy of rewards and punishments undiminished, and shall afford no pretence for remissness in spiritual diligence." Thus "do the doctrine of Divine grace and the doctrine of freewill unite and conspire, in a friendly manner, to our everlasting good. The first is adapted to excite in us gratitude, faith, and humility; the second, *Phill. ii. 13.

to awaken our cautions and quicken our diligence."*

Having given this plain account of the sense in which I understand those two articles, which you have been pleased to suppose I do not really believe, I proceed to the consideration of the conclusion you have drawn from me.

You say, page 40, “ that the utmost I will allow Christ to have done for sinners, is, that he has obtained for them a possibility of salvation; but their being made partakers of that salvation, and being brought into possession of it, must depend on themselves."

Upon this subject I say, what has been already said under the foregoing comment on the ninth and tenth articles, that Christ, in his mediatorial character, took off the condemnation laying upon our species; redeeming fallen man from the curse of the law, and placing him in a state of grace and acceptance with God: in which state he vouchsafes to him the assistance of his Holy Spirit, to enable him, by working out his salvation, to make his Jesus Christ, in his calling and election sure. character of Saviour, has done two things for fallen man-he has removed an incapacity, and furnished a capacity for salvation. He has not only taken away the hand-writing that was against us, but has moreover provided means for the renewal of our fallen nature, on the proper use of which our final salvation depends. From whence it follows, that that though the salvation of fallen man, wherever it takes place, is an act of free grace on the part of

* Dr. Jortin's Conclusion of first Dissertation.

God; yet the certainty of that salvation depends, in some degree, on the use which man makes of those means of grace, which have been vouchsafed for the purpose of securing it. "Every man (says Bishop Taylor) walks upon two legs; one is firm, invariable, constant, and eternal, but the other is his own. God's promises are the object of our faith; but the events and final conditions of our souls, which is consequent to our duty, can, at best, be but objects of our hope. And either there must in this be a less certainty, or else faith and hope are not two distinct graces. God's gifts and vocation are without repentance; meaning on God's part: but the very people, concerning whom St. Paul used the expression, were reprobate and cut off, and in good time shall be called again; in the mean time, many single persons perish. "There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus:" God will look to that, and it will never fail; but then they must secure the following period, and "not walk after the flesh, but after the spirit." "Behold the goodness of God towards thee (saith St. Paul to the Gentile, in having called thee out of thy state of nature into a state of grace under the Gospel) if thou continue in his goodness, (by walking worthy of thy Christian calling) otherwise thou shalt be cut off." And if this be true, concerning the whole Church of the Gentiles, to whom the Apostles then made the address, and concerning whose election the decree was public and manifest, that they might be cut off; and their abode in God's favour was upon condition of their perseverance in the faith; much more

is it true in single persons, whose election in particular is shut up in the abyss, and permitted to the condition of our faith, and the revelations of doomsday,"

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"Every one (you say, in page 40) who is taught of God, by the illuminations of the spirit, that in the flesh dwelleth no good thing; (in other words, that fallen man is naturally inclined to evil, and has in himself no power to do good works;) is thoroughly convinced that such a possibility of salvation must end in an impossibility of salvation; by putting man in a much worse state under the new covenant of grace, than he was when under the old covenant of works. As faith and repentance are more out of the reach of men fallen, than perfect unsinning obedience was of man in innocence."

I may not, perhaps, rightly understand you; should I therefore, Sir, misinterpret your meaning in the foregoing passage, you will give me credit, I trust, for no wilful design in so doing.

The "old covenant of works," and the "new covenant of grace," is common language, and as such generally received. But on examination it will be found not strictly correct. If by the "covenant of works" is to be understood (as from the contrast here drawn between that and the "new covenant of grace," the reader is led to conclude) a covenant, in consequence of which man had it in his power by his own works to acquire a right to immortality, it does not appear that any such covenant ever existed. The wages of sin was

* Taylor's Life of Christ, p. 400.