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Cicero concludes his argument thus:"No one therefore was ever great (excellent) without some divine afflatus.”5

And Seneca, "No mind is good without God."-Again, "God is near, is with thee, is in thee. This I say, Lucilus, a divine spirit dwells within us, the guardian of our good, and the observer of our evil works. Hence as he is treated by us, so he treats us; but no one is a good man without God. Can Can any rise superior to fortune unless assisted by him? He gives honourable and upright purposes to every man.

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The doctrine of divine agency cannot

5 Nemo igitur vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu divino unquam fuit.-De Nat. Deor. Lib. Secund, Sub finem.

6 Nulla sine Deo mens bona est.-Epist. lxxiii. 517.

Propè Deus est, tecum est, intus est. Ita dico, Lucile, sacer inter nos spiritus sedet, bonorum malorumque nostrorum observator et custos. Hic ut à nobis tractatur, ita nos tractat ipse; bonus verò vir

An po

sine Deo nemo est.
test aliquis supra fortunam,
nisi ab illo adjutus, exsurgere?
Ille dat consilia magnifica et
erecta in unoquoque bono
viro.-Epist. xli. 453.

Vide also Hesiod Oper. et
Dier. Lib. i. 1-10. Xenoph.
Cyropæd. Lib. i. sub fin. Heb.
Bamp. Lect. vi. notes, p. 374,
&c. and Dodd. Course of Lect.
Prop. 139. schol. 9.

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therefore be objected to on the ground of its being unreasonable. It is a dictate of unsophisticated reason.

Should it, however, be supposed that the habits and virtues of genuine religion may be acquired in the same manner as other habits and virtues are acquired, it should be remembered, that even from the latter the divine agency cannot be excluded without merging into practical atheism. But, if that be not maintained, a general providence is of course admitted, which being made up of particular interferences, the principle pleaded for is at once granted: since most, if not all, our habits and virtues are relative, depending, in some measure, on the rela tions we form, and the various trials and scenes of life through which we pass-all of which are under the direction and control of Providence. Consequently, a remote agency, to say the least, of the Deity is exerted in their formation, increase, and continuance. If, then, divine agency not only may, but actually must, interest

itself in behalf of a subordinate end, is there any thing unreasonable in supposing that it may interest itself in behalf of an end infinitely higher and confessedly more important? Let the natural world be carefully examined and be correctly understood, then shall we be prepared, as far as means are concerned, for the better understanding of the spiritual. The one will, in most instances, be found to be the counterpart of the other. Whatever objections therefore may be urged against the spiritual, may with equal, if not greater weight, be also urged against the natural world.

Nor should our ignorance of the mode of operating in the latter case be regarded in any other light than as an ample apology for our ignorance of the mode of operating in the former.

The supposition, however, that the habits and virtues of religion may be acquired by our own unaided efforts proceeds on an entirely mistaken view of the subject. For what are the habits and

virtues to be acquired? They are supreme love to God, an entire subjection to his will, a lively faith in the Redeemer's death as an atonement for sin, a profound and unfeigned humility, a renunciation of self, both righteous and sinful, and a complete mastery over everything prohibited by the divine precepts. But our own experience, the moral history of mankind, as well as the confessions and prayers of good and great men in all ages, prove that the acquirement of these are painful and laborious; and if painful and laborious they are not natural, and if not natural, it seems impossible to escape from the conclusion, that divine assistance is necessary, therefore reasonable.

Where reason, however, leaves off, revelation begins. Reason may, indeed, prove the proneness of the mind to evil by appealing to the confessions and complaints of the heathen,' to the moral his

7 Many of which are selected in Howe's Living Temple, Part II. ch. iv. vol. i.

310, and in Apb. Leighton's Lect. xvi. vol. iv.

tory of mankind, and to individual experience but revelation, while it bears ample testimony to the fact, alone traces it to its source, describes its nature, and directs us to the influence by which it is corrected. That which is restored is that which was lost. For the real wants of man are, in this, as in all other cases, the exact measure of the aid afforded. Is the understanding darkened?—it must be enlightened. Is the disposition opposed to spiritual things?-it must be changed. Before, however, I proceed to show wherein it consists, it may be proper first of all to adduce some of those passages which insist upon, or necessarily imply that a change is necessary.

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"I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart."—" I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.". "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: I will

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