country, it seems to me that, unless in some very extraordinary case, a young minister of the gospel, not yet incumbered with a family, nor connected with a stated charge, must be considered as lamentably deficient in the spirit of his office, if he is not willing to go and preach, for one year at least, to the hundreds and thousands in our frontier settlements, who are perishing in ignorance and sin, and some of whom are uttering, in a very affecting manner, the Macedonian cry, "Come over and help us." The service I would here recommend, besides doing good to others, seems to me admirably calculated to benefit the missionary himself-to fill his heart with that tender compassion for perishing sinners, and to animate him with a holy zeal to instruct and lead them to the Saviour, which will be likely to shed a most benign influence over all his future ministrations.

As to those who are seriously thinking of devoting their whole lives to missionary labours, and of going to the heathen on our own borders, or in foreign lands, we may say of the enterprise to which they are looking forward, what the apostle says of the office of a bishop generally, he that desires it," desireth a good work." And O that there were more-many more than there are-who did properly desire this good work! But it is a work to be undertaken from no sudden impulse; from no flash of feeling; from no hasty, however ardent a desire, to do much good. If ever there was a work which demanded much previous thought, much prayer with fasting, much solemn and deep deliberation, and much self-examination, as to the fitness both of the body and the mind—it is the work of a missionary to the heathen, the Jews, or the Mohammedans. You who are making up your minds to this work, as I rejoice to know that some of you are, will scarcely need to be advised to read the lives of Brainerd, of Martyn, of Swartz, of Genecké, and of other devoted men of a similar character. Try to imbibe and cherish their spirit; and if you can and do imbibe it-then, in the name of the Lord, go forth to a work, the most honourable and heavenly, however laborious and painful, in which mortals ever were, or can be, employed.

I did intend to say something to you on the importance of your forming and fixing correct habits, in regard to study, and to deportment, and to care and exactness in all your money transactions, and to every thing relative to your visible conduct before the world. But I find myself in danger of run

ning into too much length, and will therefore only remind you, that you are now in that period of life when your habits, in regard to all the points I have mentioned, are fast forming, and will probably be soon unalterably fixed, and that the importance of forming and fixing them in such manner as shall promote, and not hinder your usefulness, is incalculably great. Think on this subject, therefore, very carefully and seriously; for, after all, it is probable you will not estimate it as highly as you ought.

I shall conclude what I have to offer on the present occasion, with a few observations on revivals of religion. We hope and trust there is no student in this seminary, who is not a cordial friend to such a display of divine grace, as is commonly called a revival of religion; for he who is a real enemy to this thing, must be hostile to the most glorious work of God in our guilty world, and utterly unfit for that ministerial vocation, that high and holy calling, to which every student of theology professes to aspire: and I think the most of you will do well to spend, at least, a part of your ensuing vacation, in some place or congregation-easily to be found, blessed be God, at the present time-where a revival of religion exists. But, my dear young brethren, it is of inconceivable importance that, in regard to revivals of religion, you do not entertain notions, and adopt practices, which are calculated to mar the blessed work which you seek to promote. On this account, it was with more pleasure than I can easily express, that yesterday I heard, in common with yourselves, the scriptural and sound teaching, on this topic, of the learned and eminently pious professor from the Andover Seminary, in a sermon which, in all its parts, was one of the most excellent to which I have ever listened. Fix in your minds, I beseech you, the great principle which he laboured to establish, and inculcate-that no human soul is ever converted, but by the special and almighty energy of the Holy Spirit; and that, in the part which men have to act in this great concern, they are to be careful to do that, and only that, which God has assigned to them as a matter of duty; that they are not to attempt to take the work out of

*The Rev. Dr. Woods attended a part of the examination of the Seminary, and preached in the church in Princeton on the day, (the Sabbath) preceding the delivery of this address. The text on which he discoursed was 1 Cor. iii. 6. "So then, neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." He had left Princeton before this address was delivered.

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God's hands, nor to use any means which he has not clearly authorized in his holy word; and that if they do, they commit the sin of preferring their own contrivances before the appointments of his infinite wisdom; on which there is no probability that he will ever confer his blessing. Be exceedingly careful, therefore, to adopt no measures, and to give no advice, but such as are plainly warranted in the scriptures of truth. But, keeping strictly to your inspired guide, and feeling at every step your dependence on God for success, go forward with a holy zeal and an inflexible perseverance, counting it your highest honour-though the world reproach and infidels sneer, as you must expect that they will-if you may be the humble instruments of saving souls from death, and hiding a multitude of sins. And now, praying that in this holy work, and in all your studies and preparations for the ministry of the gospel of Christ, you may receive a large portion of the grace and blessing of God our Saviour, I affectionately bid you farewell.

The preceding Address, in which it was the object of an aged minister of the gospel to give, in a very plain and familiar manner, some useful information, advice, and exhortation to his young brethren, was originally written in great haste, and without a thought that a word of it would ever appear in print. But he has yielded, perhaps indiscreetly, to the request of one of the conductors of the Biblical Repertory, to permit it to appear in this work, and with but little variation from the identical terms in which it was delivered.

ART. VI.-AN INQUIRY INTO THAT INABILITY UNDER WHICH THE SINNER LABOURS, AND WHETHER IT FURNISHES ANY EXCUSE FOR HIS NEGLECT OF DUTY.

THERE has occurred, within our recollection, a considerable difference in the manner of treating this subject, especially in addresses to the impenitent, from the pulpit. It was customary formerly, for Calvinistic preachers to insist much on the helpless inability of the sinner. He was represented, according to the language of the Scriptures, to be "dead in trespasses and sins," and utterly unable to put forth one act of spiritual life; and too often this true representation was so given, as to leave the impression, that the person labouring under this total inability was not culpable for the omission of acts, which he had

no power to perform. The fact of man's being a free accountable agent was not brought into view with sufficient prominence; and the consequence was, that, in many cases, the impenitent sinner felt as if he were excusable; and the conclusion was too commonly adopted that there was no encouragement to make any effort, until it should please a sovereign God to work. And, if at any time, the zealous preacher urged upon his hearers, in private, the duty of repentance, he was sure to hear the echo of his own doctrines; we are incapable of doing any thing; until God shall be pleased to work in us to will and to do of his good pleasure,' it is useless for us to attempt any thing. We do not say, that the inability of man was so represented by all as to produce these impressions, for we know that, by some, not only man's dependence, but also his duty, was distinctly and forcibly inculcated.

Some excellent men, who saw the danger of so insisting on the inability of man as to furnish an apology for the careless sinner, borrowed a little aid from the Arminian scheme, and taught, that, if the sinner would do what was in his power, and continue faithfully to use the outward means of grace, the Spirit of God would assist his endeavours: and thus a connection was formed between the strivings of the unregenerate and the grace of God. But this was not consistent with the other opinions of these men, and involved them in many practical difficulties, and contradicted many clear passages of Scripture, which teach, that "without faith it is impossible to please God:" and it seemed to be obviously absurd, that the promise of grace should be made to acts and exercises which, it could not be denied, were in their nature sinful. Some, indeed, spoke of a kind of sincerity which they supposed an unregenerate sinner might possess; but it was found difficult to tell what it was; and another difficulty was, to quiet the minds of those convinced sinners, who had been long using the means of grace. Such persons would allege, that they had prayed, and read, and heard the word, for a long time, and yet received no communications of grace. To such, nothing could, on this plan, be said, but to exhort them to wait God's time, and to entertain the confident hope, that no soul ever perished, that continued to the last seeking for mercy. The inconvenience and evil of these representations being perceived, many adopted, with readiness, a distinction of human ability into natural and moral. By the first, they understood, merely the possession of physical powers and opportunities; by the lat

ter, a mind rightly disposed. In accordance with this distinction, it was taught, that every man possessed a natural ability to do all that God required of him; but that every sinner laboured under a moral inability to obey God, which, however, could not be pleaded in excuse for his disobedience, as it consisted in corrupt dispositions of the heart, for which every man was responsible. Now, this view of the subject is substantially correct, and the distinction has always been made by every person, in his judgments of his own conduct and that of others. It is recognized in all courts of justice, and in all family government, and is by no means a modern discovery. And yet it is remarkable, that it is a distinction so seldom referred to, or brought distinctly into view, by old Calvinistic authors. The first writer among English theologians, that we have observed using this distinction explicitly, is the celebrated Dr. Twisse, the prolocutor of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, and the able opposer of Arminianism and advocate of the Supralapsarian doctrine of divine decrees. It was also resorted to by the celebrated Mr. Howe, and long afterwards, used freely by Dr. Isaac Watts, the popularity of whose evangelical writings, probably, had much influence in giving it currency. It is also found in the theological writings of Dr. Witherspoon, and many others, whose orthodoxy was never disputed. But, in this country, no man has had so great an influence in fixing the language of theology, as Jonathan Edwards, president of New-Jersey College. In his work on "The Freedom of the Will," this distinction holds a prominent place, and is very important to the argument which this profound writer has so ably discussed in that treatise. The general use of the distinction between natural and moral ability may, therefore, be ascribed to the writings of president Edwards, both in Europe and America. No distinguished writer on theology has made more use of it than Dr. Andrew Fuller; and it is well known, that he imbibed nearly all his views of theology from an acquaintance with the writings of president Edwards. And it may be said truly, that Jonathan Edwards has done more to give complexion to the theological system of Calvinists in America, than all other persons together. This is more especially true of New-England; but it is also true, to a great extent, in regard to a large number of the present ministers of the Presbyterian church. Those, indeed, who were accustomed either to the Scotch or Dutch writers, did not adopt this distinction, but were jealous of it as an innovation,