I shall utter, will, I hope, be accompanied by the important additional advantage, that it will be true.

In the Text we are informed, that the carnal mind is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be. The words translated the carnal mind, are ro ogovnμa rns dagxos, the minding of the flesh. To mind, is to regard with attention, respect, or desire. Here it plainly signifies that general course of desires, which is exercised by mankind, in certain circumstances, towards certain objects; and which, in the preceding verse, is declared to be a state of spiritual death; or to terminate in future, everlasting death. It is obviously the prevailing, characteristical course of desire; the whole minding of the flesh. In the Text it is declared to be enmity against God. What is intended by the flesh is explained to us by Christ, John iii. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. In other words, that which is born of man is possessed of the proper character of man. There are but two kinds of birth, mentioned in the Scriptures; and both these are expressed by our Saviour in this passage: viz. the Natural Birth, and Regeneration. All that, which experiences the Natural Birth, and this only, is declared by Christ to be flesh; as that, which experiences the Spiritual Birth, or Regeneration, is declared to be spirit. The moral character, here intended, is strongly indicated by our Saviour, when he informs us, that, that which is born of the flesh only, cannot, and that, that which is born of the Spirit, can, see the Kingdom of God. This moral character is still more particularly delineated by St. Paul, Galatians v. 19-23. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like. Of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they, which do such things, shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. It will hardly need proof, that the former of these classes of affections and actions, and such as these, are characteristical of man in his natural, unrenewed state; nor that the latter are exhibited by the Scriptures as constituting the true character of the Children of God.

That the affections, here mentioned, are not subject to the Law of God, will not admit of a question: since they are the very things forbidden by that Law. That they cannot be thus subject, while they continue to exist, is equally evident. Nor is it less certain from the proofs, given both by Revelation and Experience, that, where the soul is not renewed by the Spirit of God, they continue to exist through life. Revelation teaches us, that, unless a man be born again of the Spirit of God, he will continue to sustain the fleshly or natural character, while he lives; and that all those, who receive Christ, and become the Children of God, are born, not of

blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Experience shows, also, with a regular testimony, that the native moral character of man continues, in the ordinary course of things, the same through life.

The Nature of this Inability to obey the Law of God is, in my own view, completely indicated by the word Indisposition, or the word Disinclination. To elucidate this position I observe,

1. That the Divine Law originally requires nothing but Affec

tion.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Here love to God and man is the only thing, expressly required. But it hardly needs to be observed, that to be inclined, or disposed to love God and our neighbour, is to possess that character, out of which all direct exercises of Love spring of course. He, therefore, who possessed this character, would, whenever his mind was active at all, exercise the affection, which is here required. He would be, and do, all which the Law enjoins, when considered in this point of view: for his disposition, and his exercises, would be the very things which are enjoined. Indisposition, or disinclination, to obey, then, is the only difficulty in the way of obedience; and, with respect to this subject, the only inability of man.

2. When the Divine Law, in its various Precepts, requires external actions, as affections; if our disposition accord with the Precept, the action will of course be performed.

I speak, here, of such actions, as are in our power: for the Law of God never requires any other.

For example, children are required to honour their Parents; particularly to support them, when, from their age, or infirmity, they are unable to support themselves. It will not be doubted, that, if Children are disposed thus to support them, they will actually furnish the support. Men are forbidden to steal. The case, it may be confidently affirmed, was never known, and never will be, in which a man, inclined upon the whole to obey this Command, or entirely disinclined to steal, was guilty of theft. Mankind are forbidden to murder. No man, absolutely indisposed to murder, ever perpetrated this crime. As in these, so in all other cases; as with respect to these Precepts, so with respect to all others; active obedience follows, inseparably, the disposition to obey. Wherever the inclination accords with the Precept, the tongue, the hands, and the feet, conform of course, and entirely, to its decisions.

3. If an Angel were to descend from Heaven, and reside upon the earth; he would, if he preserved his present disposition, obey the Divine Law as truly and as perfectly as he does now.

If an Angel were in this world, and were to possess exactly the same disposition which he possesses in the Heavenly world; he would obviously feel, and act, in the same manner. In other

words, he would be an Angel still. Were we to suppose his faculties lessened to the measure of ours, so that his understanding, and other natural powers, should in no respect exceed those of men; still, if his angelic disposition remained, he would perfectly obey the Divine Law. He would love God with all the heart, and his neighbour as himself. Should we suppose him to be lowered down, still farther, to the level of a child, and to possess no natural powers superior to those usually found in children; he would, nevertheless, if he retained his angelic disposition, continue to be perfectly obedient. Should any person question this; let him remember, that the Child Jesus is, in the Scriptures, pronounced to have been holy, and perfectly obedient, from the womb; and throughout all the successive periods of his life. When his faculties were in the earliest stages of their progress, he as perfectly obeyed, as he did, after he began his public Ministry. It cannot, then, be rationally doubted, that the angelic disposition, whatever might be the natural powers which it governed, would be, and would accomplish, all that is meant by perfect obedience to the Law of God. Of course, the real and only reason, why we perform not this obedience, is, that we do not possess such a disposition, as that of Angels. Our natural powers are plainly sufficient: our inclination only is defective.

4. This disinclination to obedience is still so obstinate and enduring, that it is never relinquished by man, except when under the renewing influence of the Spirit of God.

I have already observed, that those, who receive Christ, and become the Children of God, are declared by St. John, to be born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God; and by our Saviour, to be born of the Divine Spirit. The following passage from the prophet Ezekiel, chapter xxxvii. 24-28, will, I suppose, prove beyond a doubt, if not beyond a cavil, that this disposition is changed only by God Himself. For I will take you from among the Heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you; and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness; and from your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes; and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. In this passage God declares, that he will gather the Israelites out of all countries into their own land; that he will cleanse them from all their filthiness; that he will give them a new heart, and a new spirit; that he will take away their stony heart, and give them an heart of flesh; that he will put his Spirit within them, and cause them to walk in his statutes; that they shall be his people; and that he will be their God. When all this is accomplished, he says, Then shall ye remember your own evil ways, and your doings that

were not good; and shall loath yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities, and for your abominations. Here, the renovation of the human heart is described by sprinkling clean water; cleansing them from all their filthiness; giving them a new heart; putting in them a new spirit; taking away their stony heart; giving them a heart of flesh; putting the Spirit of God within them; and causing them to walk in his statutes. All this, God says, and that in the plainest terms possible, He himself will do for them. As consequences of it all, God says, that they shall remember their own evil ways; shall loath themselves in their own sight for their iniquities; and shall keep His statutes, and do them. As a further consequence, He says, that they shall be his people, and that He will be their God. The nature of this renovation cannot, here, be mistaken. It consists in having a new heart, differing from that which they originally possessed, as a heart of flesh differs from a heart of stone. It is also a heart, cleansed from the filthiness of sin, and inclined to walk in the statutes and judgments of God. It is also a heart, which will induce him, to whom it is given, to remember his own evil ways, to loath himself for his own iniquities, and to keep the Judgments, or Commands, of God, and do them. That this is the moral character, exhibited every where in the Scriptures, as required by the Law of God, as unpossessed by man in his original or natural state, and as given him in what is called the New Birth, cannot, if the words be allowed to have their own meaning, or any meaning, consistent with their use elsewhere in the Scriptures, be questioned. But of this change in the Israelites, at the period specified, God, in the most determinate language, declares himself to be the Efficient. Of this change, then, He certainly will, and man certainly will not, be the Efficient. But if God will be the Author of this change in the Israelites, He is unquestionably the Author of it, wherever it is experienced. Thus it is completely evident from the Scriptures, that the natural disinclination of man to obey the Divine Law is so obstinate, that it will not be overcome, or removed, by itself.

The proof of this truth from Experience is, I acknowledge, less decisive, than that from Revelation; and is formed by an induction of too many particulars, as I observed in a former discourse, to be adduced on such an occasion as the present. The evidence, furnished by Reason and Experience concerning this doctrine, must be merely auxiliary. Concerning subjects of this kind, concerning the agency of voluntary beings, the nature of causation universally, and the manner in which causes operate, metaphysically considered, our knowledge must be confessed to be very imperfect. It deserves our attention however, that the whole evidence, furnished by Experience, goes to support this doctrine. All men of plainly acknowledged piety, so far as my information extends, have agreed in attributing their own renovation to the Agency of the Divine Spirit. To this attribution they have been led, also,

by a deep and solicitous attention to facts, existing in their own minds. Although these facts have been greatly diversified in many respects, yet such men testify with a single voice, that they have been greatly alarmed on account of their guilt and danger; that, with an obvious or secret, but ultimately discovered, reliance on their own efforts, they have laboured with great earnestness to escape from both; that, in the end, they have clearly discerned all these efforts to be vain; that, with a full conviction of their own insufficiency, they have cast themselves upon the Divine Mercy; realizing, that all their sufficiency for the great purpose in view must be of God. In this situation, they unitedly testify, they found, commencing in them sooner or later, a disposition, not perceptibly connected, as an effect, with any efforts of their own, prompting them to loath themselves for their iniquities; to confide in Christ as their Saviour; to love and fear God; and to keep his commandments, and do them. This disposition, also, they unitedly declare, irregularly but really increased, as they advanced in life; while the propensity to disobedience lessened in the same manner. Now, let me ask, Is it credible, that all these men should radically err with respect to this subject? Is it credible, that they should all mistake the facts? Is it credible, that all should draw from them the same, and yet a false conclusion? This supposition involves another, which must, I think, be reluctantly admitted by every religious man; viz. That God, in accomplishing the salvation of mankind, orders things in such a manner, as that those who are renewed, are, to say the least, in almost all instances deceived with respect to the Author of their renovation; and that, while employed, not with integrity merely, but with deep solicitude, in exploring the state of their own minds and lives. According to this supposition, not only must their apprehensions concerning these important facts be false, and, so far as I can see, necessarily false, but all their emotions of gratitude, and all their ascriptions of praise, to their Creator, for his agency in effectuating this happy change in their character, must be also false and unfounded. These ascriptions were begun in the early days of religion. Prophets and Apostles set the example. All that was morally good in themselves, or in others, they attributed to the efficacious Grace of God. In this attribution, Christians have followed them throughout every succeeding age. Thus, according to this supposition, a succession of false, and therefore indefensible, ascriptions of praise, has ascended to God from the great body of pious persons in all the ages of the Church; which, yet, they could not honestly, and in consistence with the best views, which they were able to form, have failed to render.

At the same time, no instances have occurred, in which men have, by direct efforts of their own, without the efficacious influence of the Divine Spirit, changed their moral character from sin to holiness. Not only have no such instances occurred, which