When a nature is so depraved^ as ours from the foregoing statement appears to be, there can be no disposition to any thing truly and spiritually good : on the contrary, there must be an aversion to what is good, and, in consequence of that, an incapacity to engage successfully in the prosecution or performance of any good thing. But here we beg to be distinctly understood, that the incapacity to do any thing that is good is a moral, and not a physical, incapacity. A man is not under the same kiiid of incapacity to stop the progress of his corruptions that he is to stop the sun in its course : it is because of his inveterate inclination to evil, and aversion to what is good, that he cannot bring the powers of his mind to bear on the prosecution of any thing that is truly and spiri- tually good ; if he had the inclination and the desire, his exertions would be proportioned to the extent of those desires; and though we are far from saying that those exertions would be sufficient of themselves for the accomplishment of his object, they would certainly be accompanied with power from on high, and such a power too as should render them effectual for the desired end. It is the want of these pious inclinations that keeps us from looking unto God for his effectual aid ; and consequently from attaining that strength, whereby alone we can subdue and mortify our natural corruptions.
When therefore we say, that man is by nature altogether helpless, and incapable of doing any thing that is good, we wish it to be borne in mind, what the incapacity is of which we speak. Were it an incapacity that rendered all exertion nugatory, man's responsibility for his actions would, as far as relates to that point, be at an end ; but our incapacity arising altogether from the inveteracy of our love to sin, and the total alienation of our hearts from what is truly good, it ceases to be an extenuation of our guilt, and becomes rather an aggravation of it.
We have now spoken what will be sufficient to mark our sentiments respecting the corruption and helplessness of fallen man. We say of man, that he
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