This Doctrine Is Maintained By All The Christian Churches.

act of disobedience, “the law becomes our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith,” Galatians 3:10-24. THIS DOCTRINE IS MAINTAINED BY ALL THE

CHRISTIAN CHURCHES.

WHEN an evangelical minister insists upon the fall, the corruption and the danger of unregenerate man, he acts in conformity to the acknowledged opinions of the purest Churches. As I chiefly write for the French Protestants, I shall here cite the Confession of Faith now in use among the French Churches. “We believe,” say they in the ninth, tenth, and eleventh articles of their creed, “that man, having been created after the image of God, fell by his own fault from the grace he had received; and thus became alienated from God, who is the fountain of holiness and felicity; so that having his mind blinded, his heart depraved, and his whole nature corrupted, he lost all his innocence. We believe that the whole race of Adam is infected with this contagion, that in his person we forfeited every blessing, and sunk into a state of universal want and malediction: we believe also that sin, &c, is a perverseness producing the fruits of malice and rebellion!”

The Reformed Churches of Switzerland make as humiliating a confession. “Man,” say they, “by an abuse of his liberty, suffering himself to be seduced by the serpent, forsook his primitive integrity. Thus he rendered himself subject to sin, death, and every kind of misery; and such as the first man became by the fall, such are all his descendants, Romans 5:12. When we say, man is subject to sin, we mean by sin, that corruption of nature, which from the fall of the first man, has been transmitted from father to son; vicious passions, an aversion to that which is good, an inclination to that which is evil, a disposition to malice, a bold defiance and contempt of God. Behold the unhappy effects of that corruption, by which we are so wholly debilitated, that of ourselves we are not able to do, nor even to choose, that which is good.” (Helvetic Confession, chap. 8.) Every man may find in himself sufficient proofs of those painful truths. “God is the Creator of man,” say the fathers who composed the Synod of Berne, “and he intended that man should be entirely devoted to his God. But this is no longer his nature; since he looks to creatures, to his own pleasure, and makes an idol of himself.” (Acts of Synod, chap. 8.)

This doctrine is also set forth in the Augsburg Confession; as well as in the ninth and tenth articles of the Church of England, where it is expressed in the following terms: “Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam, but it is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man, whereby he is very far gone from original righteousness, and is, of his own nature, inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit; and therefore, in every person born into the world, it deserveth God’s wrath and damnation.” “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, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will.”

Nothing less than a lively conviction of the corruption, weakness, and misery described in these confessions of faith, can properly dispose a man for evangelical repentance.

WITHOUT EVANGELICAL REPENTANCE, A LIVELY

FAITH IN CHRIST, OR REGENERATION BY THE HOLY

SPIRIT, WILL APPEAR NOT ONLY UNNECESSARY, BUT

ABSURD.

AS the knowledge of our depravity is the source from whence evangelical repentance and Christian humility flow, so it is the only necessary preparation for that living faith, by which we are both justified and sanctified. He who obstinately closes his eyes upon his own wretchedness, shuts himself up in circumstances which will not suffer him to receive any advantage from that glorious Redeemer, whom “God hath anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor;” to heal the “broken hearted; to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord,” Luke 4:18, 19. Reason itself declares, that if sinful man is possessed of sufficient ability to secure his own salvation, he needs no other Saviour, and “Christ is dead in vain,” Galatians 2:21. In short, so far as we are unacquainted with our degenerate estate, so far the important doctrine of regeneration must necessarily appear superfluous and absurd. Here we may perceive one grand reason why the ministers of the present day, who are but superficially acquainted with the depravity of the human heart, discourse upon this mysterious subject in a slight and unsatisfactory manner.

The true minister, on the contrary, following the example of his great Master, speaks upon this momentous change with affection and power. Observe the terms in which our Lord himself declares this neglected doctrine: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God,” John 3:5. As though he should say, The natural man, how beautiful an appearance soever he may make, is possessed of a heart so desperately wicked, that unless it be broken by the repentance which John the Baptist preached, and regenerated by the faith which I declare, he can never become a citizen of heaven. For the doors of my kingdom must remain everlastingly barred against those “ravening wolves,” who disguise themselves as sheep, Matthew 7:15; and those painted hypocrites, who salute me as their Lord, without embracing my doctrines, and observing my commands. “Verily,” therefore, “I say unto you,” my first disciples and friends, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children,” who are strangers to envious, ambitious, or impure thoughts, “ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,” Matthew 18:3.

Such is the doctrine that is still able to convert every inquiring Nicodemus. At first it may perplex and confound them; but, at length, submitting to the wisdom of their heavenly Teacher, they will cry, “Impart to us, Lord, this regenerating faith:” and when once they have obtained their request, they will adopt the prayer of the disciples, Luke 17:5, and proceed, like them, from faith to faith, till all things in their regenerate hearts are become new.

But if this doctrine is a savour of life unto some, it is also a savour of death unto others. It gives offence to blinded bigots, while modern infidels strengthen themselves against it, as Pharaoh once strengthened himself against the authority of Jehovah. “Thus saith the Lord,” said Moses to that obstinate monarch, “Let my people go, that they may serve me,” Exodus 8:1; and the haughty infidel replied, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go,” Exodus 5:2. Come up out of mystic Egypt, saith the Son of God to every sinful soul: “Follow me in the regeneration,” Matthew 19:28, and I will teach you to “worship God in spirit and in truth,” John 4:24. “And who is the Son of God?” replies some petty Pharaoh: “I know neither