omnipotent and ever present Helper to all he has become, or can hope and desire to be.

But I answer, in the second place, to the objection above stated, that the distinction to which it refers between human effort and the agency or influence of the divine Spirit, is an unnecessary, a fruitless refinement,if extended beyond the general sense of cooperation and aid; and even in this sense it does not, from the nature of the case, admit of being so accurately defined, that the province and measure of each may be exactly designated, and distinctly apprehended. It would be as useless and impracticable to attempt so subtle a discrimination, as, in some of the cases above mentioned, to ascertain the measure and extent of control on one part, and of voluntary choice and free decision in yielding to it, on the other;-to distinguish minutely between the influence which one person exerts upon another, and that which is wrought upon the latter by the operations of his own mind; between our obligations for our improvement in virtue, to counsel and example, to the discipline of Providence, and nameless circumstances, on one hand, and our own individual exertions on the other; or to determine how much of the proficiency of the scholar, is to be attributed to the assistance of his teacher, and how much to his own efforts to acquire knowledge, to appropriate the instructions, and improve the aids he receives; or to mark the exact degree and measure of efficiency in Paul that plants and Apollos that waters, considered separately and apart from God that gives the increase. The truth chiefly important to be known and acknowledged, is a very intelligible and practical one, that in the production of that entire effect which we denominate regeneration, neither the influence of the divine Spirit, nor the agency of man, is exerted in disconnection with or independantly of the other, but both are exerted in cooperation to one combined result; that the divine influence exercised in every part of it, is precisely of that

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kind and measure, suited to the nature and wants of man; less would leave him destitute of what he needs, and what it becomes a gracious Father to bestow; more would be an abridgement of his moral agency, and incompatible with the true character of moral and religious obedience. It is enough to know that it is 'of God' that the religion of Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sauctification, and redemption, that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord;' that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; that they who will do the will of God, shall know of the work, and will feel and confess, that it is not of human strength, but of divine. It is enough to know, and of this our Saviour assures us, that they who ask, shall obtain; that they who seek, shall find; that to them who knock, it shall be opened; that whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance.' It is enough to know that the religion of Christ is in itself a dispensation of divine influences; that it is the chosen medium through which are conveyed to the human soul, in the largest extent and richest variety, the blessed influences of God's Holy Spirit; that when the heart turns to Christ as a divine teacher, as the only and allsufficient Saviour, embraces with sincere and affectionate reception, the words of eternal life,' the message of pardon, reconciliation, and acceptance with God, which he came to communicate, and lays hold on the hope set before it' in the Gospel; when it submits, labors, and prays to be formed to the same mind that was in Jesus, and reflects from its whole spirit, and habitual dispositions, and the outward character, the lustre and excellence of that divine religion by which his followers' are sealed unto the day of redemption,' -in that heart the Spirit of God is in effectual operation to regenerate, sanctify, and guide to Heaven.

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We have now concluded the observations we propos

ed to make on certain questions that have been connected with the doctrine of regeneration. It will be the object chiefly of the few remarks that follow, to meet one or two objections that may deserve notice.

1. In the first place, it will perhaps be objected to the views we have given of regeneration, that they divest the whole subject of its mysterious and peculiar character; that according to our representation of it, it contains nothing extraordinary, nothing out of the common course of things; that we have brought it down to what is plain and practicable. This objection, thus fully stated, may be rather felt than expressed; but something of this nature would probably be tacitly objected to what has been said by those who have long cherished different views. In reply, I readily admit that the doctrine of regeneration has indeed been divested of much of that mystery which, it seems to be conceived by many, necessarily hangs over it. And this has been done simply by explaining what is, neither in its own nature, nor as exhibited in Scripture, a peculiarly mysterious subject of inquiry. Many minds appear to labor under a no inconsiderable mistake on this point, and to take it for granted, that the doctrine in question is really invested with as much of the superhuman and inexplicable in Scripture, as in their own imaginations. But I know not where it is held up in this light in the discourses of Christ, or the writings of his Apostles. Their instructions respecting it seem to contain nothing that is not level to the most ordinary understanding, and to involve no duty or work, that is above the ability of any. Accordingly, I have only endeavored to explain, and free or guard from misapprehension and mistake, what they have taught and inculcated in the general, popular language they usually adopted on all occasions. Nay more; it may be regarded as a recommendation of these views, that they harmonize with the tenor of Scripture in this respect not less than in others, that they throw no more an air of mystery around the doc

trine of regeneration, than any other doctrine of religion. Regeneration has been explained as relating simply to a moral and religious effect upon the mind and char acter; the effect, namely, of the religion of Christ giving birth and exercise to the affections it is its nature to inspire, forming the temper, dispositions, and principles it inculcates, and establishing those traits of character and habits of conduct, to which its legitimate operation and genuine influence tend. Now I cannot understand in relation to this effect, why on the one hand it should be regarded as peculiarly inexplicable and mysterious, because it is of a religious nature, nor any reason on the other hand for supposing it to be raised immeasurably above and out of the province of human agency, because it is accompanied with the cooperating influences of God's Spirit. It takes place indeed, is wrought and completed in the mind, and thus is not open to the cognizance of the senses, and so far is not palpable and visible, nor always distinctly perceptible, in every degree of operation and progress, to the subject of it himself. But this is not peculiar to religion. The mind is the seat of all principles, and of all character; and of whatever description they may be, they must be formed by a similarly internal and indiscernible process. There is nothing in the nature of religion in distinction from other principles and sources of influence upon the mind and character, which requires that new faculties should be imparted to the soul, before this can admit its light and embrace it in its power to renovate and fill with its own heavenly spirit. It requires, indeed, to this end, a new direction of those faculties, a new exercise of those capacities, with which God has originally endowed us;a direction and exercise altogether unlike that to which man would surrender himself, if left uninfluenced by the religion of Jesus. But I perceive no reason to suppose that we have not naturally the same control over our thoughts, desires and resolves, the same power of regulating our affections, principles, and conduct, and of forming our

character, in the sphere of religious truth and duty, as in any other province of thought and action; especially since we are encouraged to seek, and with humble confidence to rely upon the aid of divine influence in the exercise of this very controlling and regulating power over our own spirits. To represent man as utterly passive and inert and absolutely helpless, laboring under an irremediable and total inability in his regeneration, seems to exclude all personal responsibility, and to be calculated, to say the least, to lull the mind into the fatal conclusion, that all efforts of one's own are useless, and that the only hope is the presumptuous one, that God will in his own time interpose by his almighty and sovereign power to work that effect upon the heart, which not a single human endeavor is put forth to produce.

To no such practical consequences, as absurd as they are ruinous, do the views we have given of regeneration, lead. Whatever else be denied concerning them, it will not be denied, that they leave the lines of human duty most distinctly drawn, and the motives to personal effort, fortified with all the weight with which it is possible to conceive that they can be clothed; that they leave resting upon man an awfully momentous responsibility in connexion with his own salvation; they leave him to the conclusion, deeply affecting and impressive to a serious mind, that though all needed succors and gracious influences are proffered from above, yet it is left to each individual to seek and promote, or neglect and give over to ruin, the interests, the well being, the happiness of a deathless soul; to obtain, or to lose, a title to participation in the promises, the present aud future benefits, of that religion on which hang the hopes of man for eternity.

It cannot then with truth or justice be objected to the preceding observations that they detract from the respect and awe and seriousness, with which religion should be regarded. Religion may certainly be regarded with such sentiments, though nothing of the mirac

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