These Sections briefly state and contrast the various conditions which characterize the free agency of man in his four different estates of innocency, hereditary sin, grace and glory. In all these estates man is unchangeably a free, responsible agent, and in all cases choosi^ig or refusing as, upon the whole, he prefers to do. A.

man's volition is as his desires are in the given case. His desires in any given case are as they are determined to be by the general and permanent tastes, tendencies and habitudes of his character. He is responsible for his desires, because they are determined by th^ nn,tnrf> and permanent characteristics of his o^n roilL. He is responsible for these, because they are the tendencies and qualities of his oion nature. If these are immoral, he and his actions are immoral. If these are holy, he and his actions are holy.

When we say that man is a free agent, we mean (1) that he has the power of originating action ; that he is self-moved, and does not only move as he is moved upon from without. (2.) That he always wills that which, upon the whole view of the case presented by his understanding at the time, he desires to will. (3.) That man is furnished with a reason to distinguish between the true and the false, and a conscience to distinguish between the right and the wrong, in order that his desires and consequent volitions may be both rational and righteous ; and yet his desires are not necessarily either rational or righteous, but they are formed under the light of reason and conscience, either conformable or contrary to them, according to the permanent habitual disposition or moral character of the soul itself.

1st. Adam in his estate of innocency was a free agent created with holy affections and moral tendencies, ^et with a <^bnrn^'^M' '-^^y^'^ iiiifMuf^rmpdj fvip^ibl^ ^)f pK^rlmnr.Q^ vet liable to b^ s^diicpd by PYter»a.l temptfitioiyajad by the inordinate excitement of t^f^ propp.nsions of his anirpa 1 nature, such as in their proper degree and due subordination are innocent. Of this state of a holy yet fallible

nature we have no experience, and consequently very imperfect comprehension.

2d. As to man's present estate, our Standards teach (1.) that man is still a free agent, and able to will as upon the whole he desires to will. (2.) That he has likewise ability to discharge many of the natural obligations which spring out of his relations to his fellow-men. (3.) That his soul by reason of the fall being morally corrupted and spiritually dead, his understanding being spiritually blind and his affections perverted, he is " utterly indisposed, disabled and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to evil'' (Conf. Faith, ch. vi., § 4, and ch. xvi., § 3 ; L. Cat. Q. 25) ; and hence he "hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation," so that he "is not able of his own strength to convert himself," or even " to prepare himself thereunto." Conf. Faith, ch. ix., § 3. The same view is taught in all the Protestant Confessions, Lutheran and Reformed.

Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, Art. 10: "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. Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasing and acceptable to God, w^ithout the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have a good will."

Articles of Synod of Dort, chap, iii. Art. 3: "All men are conceived in sin, and born childrt^n of wrath, indisposed to all saving good, })repense to evil, dead in sins and the slaves of sin, and without the grace of the

regenerating Holy Spirit they are neither willing nor able to return to God, to correct their depraved nature, or to dispose themselves to the correction of itJ^

Form, of Concord, p. 579, Hase's Collection (Lutheran): " Therefore we believe that as it is impossible for a dead body to revive itself, or to communicate animal life to itself, in the same degree is it impossible for a man, spiritually dead by reason of sin, to recal spiritual life within himself lb. p. 653: "We believe that neither the intellect, heart nor will of the unregenerate man is able of its own natural strength either to understand, believe, embrace, will, begin, perfect, perform, operate or co-operate anything in things divine and spiritual ; but man is so far dead and corrupt in respect to good that in the nature of man since the fall, and before regeneration, there is not even a scintilla of spiritual strength remaining whereby he can prepare himself for the grace of God, or apprehend that grace when offered, or is able in whole or in half, or in the least part, to apply or accommodate himself to that grace, or to confer or to act, or to operate or to co-operate anything for his own conversion.''

By liberty we mean the inalienable prerogative of the human soul of exercising volition as it pleases. In this sense man is as fvee now as before the fall. By ability we mean the capacity either to will in opposition to the desires and affections of the soul at the time, or by a bare exercise of volition to make oneself desire and love that which one does not spontaneously desire or love. We affirm that liberty is, and that ability in this sense is not, an element of the constitution of the soul. A man always wills as upon the whole he pleases, but he cannot will himself to please differently from wl at he does please. The moral condition of the heart determines the act of the will, bnt the act of the will cannot change the moral condition of the heart.

This inability is (1) absolute. Man has no power, direct or indirect, to fulfil the moral law, or to accept Christ, or to change his nature so as to increase his power, and so can neither do his duty without grace, nor prepare himself by himself for grace. (2.) It is purely moral, because man possesses since the fall as much as before all the constitutional faculties requisite to moral agency, and his inability has its ground solely in the wrong moral state of those faculties. It is simply the evil moral disposition of the soul. (3.) It is natural, because it is not accidental, but innate and inheres in the universal and radical moral state of our souls by nature ; that is, as that nature is naturally propagated since the fall. (4.) It is not natural in the sense of belonging to the nature of man as originally formed by God, or as resulting from any constitutional deficiency, or development of our natural moral faculties as originally given by God.

That this doctrine is true is proved (1) from direct declarations of Scripture. " Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil." Jer. xiii. 23. "No man can come unto me except the Father who hath sent me draw him. . . . No man can come unto me except it be given him of my Father." John vi. 44, 65; Rom. ix. 16; 1 Cor. ii. 14. (2.) From what Scriptures say of man's state by nature. It is declared to be a state of " blindness " and " darkness " and of

"spiritual death." Eph. iv. 18; Col. ii. 13. The unregenerate are the " servants of sin " and " subject to Satan.'' Rom. vi. 20; v. 6; 2 Tim. ii. 26; Matt. xxii. 33-35 (3.) From what the Scriptures say of the nature and the universal and absolute necessity of regeneration : " Except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven." John iii. 3. It is called "a new birth/^ " a new creation/^ " a begetting anew/' " a giving a new heart.'' In this work God is the agent, man is the subject. It is so great that it requires the " mighty power of God." Eph. i. 18-20. All Christian duties are declared to be the fruits of the Spirit. Gal. v. 22, 23. (4.) From the experience of every true Christian. (5.) From the consciousness of every convinced sinner. The great burden of all true conviction is not chiefly the sins committed, but the sinful deadness of heart and aversion to divine things which is the root of actual transgression, and which remains immovable in spite of all we do. (6.) From the universal experience of the human race. If any man has ever naturally possessed ability to perform his spiritual duties, it is certain that no one has ever exercised it.

3d. As to the estate into which the regenerate are introduced by grace, our Standards affirm — (1.) The regenerated Christian remains, as before, a free agent, willing always as upon the whole he desires to will. (2.) In^ the act of regeneration the Holy Spirit has implanted a new spiritual principle, habit or tendency in the affections of the soul, whicli, being subsequently nourished and directed by the indwelling Spirit^irees the man from his natural bondage under sin,-and enables him prevailingly to will freely that which is spiritually

good. And yet, because of the lingering remains of his old corrupt moral habit of soul, there remains a conflict of tendencies, so that the Christian does not perfectly nor only will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil. These points will be discussed under Chapters x. and xiii.

4th. As to the estate of glorified men in heaven, our Confession teaches that they continue, as before, free agents, but that all the remains of their old corrupt moral tendencies being extirpated for ever, and the gracious dispositions implanted in regeneration being perfected, and the whole man being brought to the measure of the stature of perfect manhood in the likeness of Christ's glorified humanity, they remain for ever perfectly free and immutably disposed to perfect holiness. Adam was holy and unstable. Unregenerate men are unholy and stable; that is, fixed in unholiness. Eegenerate men have two opposite moral tendencies contesting for empire in their hearts. They are cast about between them, yet the tendency graciously implanted gradually in the end perfectly prevails. Glorified men are holy and stable. All are free, and therefore responsible.

The human will is not a distinct agent, but only a power of tlie rational soul. It is essential to a soul to have a moral * Adam Gib on Liberty and Necessity ; Contemplations, p. 484.

dlsjMsition, good or bad, or a mixture of both ; and, according to what is the prevailing moral disposition of the soul, must be the moral actings of the will. Hence there is a great diflPerence in regard to the freedom of the will in the different states of man. In the state of innocence, the natural inclination of man's will was only to good ; but it was liable to change through the power of temptation, and therefore free to choose evil. In his natural cornipt state, man freely chooses evil, without any compulsion or constraint on his will ; and he cannot do otherwise, being under the bondage of sin. In the state of grace, he has a free will partly to good and partly to evil. In this state there is a mixture of two opposite moral dispositions, and as sometimes the one, and sometimes the other, prevails, so the will sometimes chooses that which is good, and sometimes that which is evil. In the state of glory, the blessed freely choose what is good ; and, being confirmed in a state of perfect holiness, they can only will what is good.

The important truth laid down in the third section concerning man's inability, in his fallen state, to will or do that which is spiritually good, claims some further notice. It has been opposed by various sects. The Pelagians maintained " that mankind are capable of repentance and amendment, and of arriving to the highest degrees of piety and virtue by the use of their natural faculties and powers." The SemiPelagians, though they allowed that assisting grace is necessary to enable a man to continui in a course of religious duties, yet they held " that inward preventing grace was not necessary to form in the soul the first beginnings of true repentance and amendment ; that every man was capable of producing these by the mere power of his natural faculties ; as also of exercising faith in Christ, and forming the purposes of a holy and sincere obedience." * The Arminians, in words, ascribe the conversion of the sinner to the grace of God ; yet they ultimately resolve it into the free-will of man. In opposition to these various forms of error, our Confession asserts that man, in his natural cornipt state, " has lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation," and that " a natural man is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto." This may be confirmed, — 1. By the representations given in Scripture of the natural condition of mankind sinners. They are said to be " dead in trespasses and sins ;" to be not only blind, but " darkness" itself ; to be " the servants of sin ;" to be " enemies of God," who are not, and cannot be, subject to his law. — * Mosheim, cent, v., p. 2, ch. 5.

118 CONFESSION OF FAITH. []ciIAP. X.

Eph. ii. 1, V. 8 ; Rom. vi. 17 ; Col. i. 21 ; Roin. viii. 7. 2. The Scripture contains explicit declarations of man's inability to exercise faith in Christ, or to do anything spiritually good — John vi. 44, xv. 5. 3. God claims the conversion of sinners as his own work, which he promises to accomplish. — Ezek. xi. 19, 20, xxxvi. 26, 27; Jer. xxxi. 33, 4. The conversion of sinners is uniformly ascribed to the efficacy of divine grace. — Acts xvi. 14 ; 1 Thess. i. 5. 5. The conversion of the soul is described in Scripture by such figurative terms as imply that it is a divine work. It is called a creation, — Eph. ii. 10; a resurrection, — John v. 21; a new birth, — John i. 13. 6. If the sinner could convert himself, then he would have something of which he might boast — something which he

had not received 1 Cor. i. 29, 30, iv. 7. 7. The increase

of Chiistians in faith and holiness is spoken of as the work of God ; which must more strongly imply that the fii'st beginnings of it is to be ascribed to hira. — Phil. i. 6, ii. 13; Heb. xiii. 20, 21. We only add, that man's incapacity of willing or doing that which is spiritually good, being a moral inability^ is not inconsistent with his responsibility.