dered " original righteousness" not as a part of the primitive nature of man, but as an adventitious ornament or additional gift from God to Adam: and that the Fall consisted in God's withdrawing this ornament or gift, and in leaving him. to his own real unassisted nature. This idea has been adopted by very few of our English divines, by far the greater number maintaining, that the Fall produced a positive depravation of the moral and intellectual powers of man. And indeed the words of the Article seem scarcely reconcileable with the scholastic notion; " Original Sin is the corruption of the nature of every man;" if human nature was corrupted, it must have been al tered, depraved-a change for the worse must have been made in the nature of man, and not merely a superinduced quality removed. If original righteousness, in the opinion of our Reformers, had consisted in supernatural assistance, and the Fall in the removal of that assistance, they would have said, "whereby man has lost original righteousness," and not," whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness:" still less would they have said, that, in consequence of the Fall," man is of his own nature inclined to evil," because, according to the doctrine of the Schoolmen, man at his original formation inclined to evil, and was only restrained by extraneous influence.

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influence, "This infection of nature, continues the Article, doth remain:" there was, then, according to the Church of England, an infection of nature at the Fall, that is, the original nature of man became then actually depraved. There is not a single passage in the Old or New Testament, which, in its plain and obvious sense, favours the idea of a superinduced quality or adventitious aid conferred on Adam prior to the Fall, over and above what really belonged to his nature; and as this opinion seems to militate against the words of the Article, I do not think it necessary to discuss the texts which by a forced construction have been made to apply to it (m).

In the Article upon Free-will, it is said, "The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works, to faith and calling upon God;" that is, A man cannot, by his own natural faculties and unassisted exertions, so counteract and correct the imperfection

and

(m) Whoever wishes to see the arguments urged in favour of this opinion, may read Archbishop King's Sermon on the Fall of Man, and Bishop Bull's Discourse concerning the First Covenant and the State of Man be fore the Fall. These two are, I believe, the only authors of distinction, who have supported this opinion. The subject is also treated very fully by Gerhardus de Pec. Or. cap. 5, and the opposite opinion clearly established.

and corruption derived from the fall of Adam, as to be able of himself to acquire that true and lively faith which would secure his salvation, or to call upon God with that sincerity, fervour, and devotion, which can alone give efficacy to our prayers. The human mind is so weakened and vitiated by the sin of our first parents, that we cannot by our own natural strength prepare it, or put it into a proper state, for the reception of a saving faith, or for the performance of the spiritual worship required in the Gospel: this mental purification cannot be effected without divine assistance. The faith here spoken of, is not a bare belief in the divine mission of Christ; nor is it an instantaneous communication, a sudden acquisition. Deliberation and reflection are necessary, but not sufficient, to obtain it. It is the

joint

It ought however to be mentioned, that although Bishop Bull maintained" that our First Parents, besides the seeds of natural Virtue and Religion sown in their minds in their very creation, and besides the natural innocence and rectitude wherein also they were created, were endowed with certain Gifts and Powers supernatural," of which they were deprived in consequence of their eating the forbidden fruit, yet he admitted that the natural Powers of man were vitiated by the Fall: defectus illi omnes atque infirmitates, quæ prorsus necessario profluunt a vitioso humani corporis temperamento primum peccatum consecuto. App. ad Exam. Animad. 17. Sect. 13.

joint result of human exertion and divine grace. It is indeed the Gift of God, for, without God's assistance, no man can possess it; but it is a gift not bestowed arbitrarily, capriciously, or irrespectively. This is the true sense of the words of the Article; and we can by no means allow the inferences attempted to be drawn from them by modern Calvinistic writers, namely, that "of our own nature we are without any spark of goodness in us," and that man has no ability or disposition whatever with respect either to faith or good works." Our Reformers were convinced that the Papists exalted the powers of the human mind too high; but, in framing this Article against that error, they were cautious not to fall into the opposite extreme, by denying to man all exercise of Free-will in the formation of religious principle, or in the discharge of religious duty (n). They were too well acquainted with Scripture, and entertained too just notions of the character of moral responsible beings, to intend any such degradation of human nature. We have seen, that in the days of the Apostles men were required, when opportunity was offered them, to perform

(n)" Neither so preaching the Grace of God, that we take away thereby Free-will; nor on the other side, so extolling Free-will, that injury be done to the Grace of God." Necessary Erudition.

perform their part towards their conversion, and actually did perform it, although the perfecting of their faith to the purpose of salvation was unquestionably the work of the Spirit. Miracles were performed, to excite notice and belief at the first publication of the Gospel; and the Apostles appealed to the antient Scriptures, to shew that the prophecies relative to the Messiah were all accomplished in Jesus. Why were these miracles recorded by inspired writers, and these prophecies transmitted through so long a series of years, if men are not to "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest" those Holy Scriptures as the only ground of rational belief? Our Church ascribes the composition and preservation of these writings to divine interposition, and evidently considers them as calculated to instruct and improve, to induce men to embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. St. Paul, when any of his converts fell into errors either of doctrine or of practice, endeavoured to bring them back to the truth as it is in Jesus, by argument, and by referring them either to the written word of God, or to the instructions which they had received from himself. He did not tell them to consult their own internal feelings, whether they were in the way to heaven, but to compare their actions and opinions with the Gospel which he

had