ings therein? There is no such parallel; and the attempt to reason from one to the other as they do, is therefore an absurdity. The attempt to defend the doctrine of immediate imputation, by pleading, as its advocates do, that "our natural corruption does not precede but follows the imputation of the Adamic sin," is saying nothing to the purpose. No one known to us supposes that our natural corruption occurred, or had an existence before Adam fell; and no Calvinist denies that Adam was the federal head and representative of his posterity, or that his sin was imputed to his posterity. There is no controversy between the school of immediate imputationists and their antagonists on any of these points. The question is whether the posterity of Adam were accounted corrupt because they are corrupt; or whether they were made corrupt because they were accounted guilty by imputation, and as the penalty of this imputed guilt? Is moral corruption, however derived, the ground on which guilt is imputed to us; or is it the penalty of imputed guilt? This is the point. And it would furnish no proof in favor of immediate imputation to repeat, even a thousand times, that "our natural corruption does not precede but follows the imputation of Adam's sin." It may follow it, without being any thing more than the natural result of it, (as some have charged Placæus with maintaining,) under the righteous government of God. And at all events, its following the Adamic sin does not prove that it is a penal infliction on account of an antecedent imputation of that sin. And yet this is the point to be proved; and which must be proved before the doctrine of immediate imputation can be sustained.

But we have already extended this essay beyond our prescribed limits; and will conclude with the following citations from Dr. John Witherspoon, the true forerunner and father of Princeton Theology. The bearing of the quotations upon the issues raised in the course of this essay, will be sufficiently apparent without specification.

In the Fourth Volume of his works, pp. 81, 82, this great

Corruptio nostra naturalis non præcedet sed sequetur imputationem peccati Adamici. See De Moor, Comment. Perpetuus, vol. III., p. 272.

divine, after speaking of the order of the divine decrees, remarks as follows:

"There is certainly a difference between the ordination of things natural, and those which are sinful or holy. The very sinful disposition, considered as becoming a part of the general plan, is certainly as holy an ordination as any other, yet the Scripture teaches us to consider this as a thing quite different from God's determining to send his Son into the world to save sinners. It seems to be a matter insisted on in the strongest manner in Scripture, that THE EVIL OR GUILT of EVERY CREATURE IS TO BE ASCRIBED TO THE CREATURE, AS TO ITS PROPER AND ADEQUATE CAUSE; at the same time it seems fully as plain that whatever connection there may be between one evil and another, the choice of the vessels of mercy is free and unconditional, and that the rejection of others is imputed to the sovereignty of God. Luke x: 21, John xii: 39. That the choice of the vessels of mercy is free and sovereign, appears from the words of Scripture; from their universal state dead in trespasses and sin; from their visible character, and from the means of their recovery - I mean the omnipotence of divine grace."

Then on page 96, after referring to Rom. v: 12-19 (in speakof the effects and penalty of Adam's sin upon his posterity,) he adds:

"And indeed when we consider the universality of the effects of the fall, it is not to be accounted for any other way, than from Adam's being the federal head of the human race, and they sinning in him and falling with him in his first transgression."

Thus he utterly condemns the attempt to explain the doctrine before us except on the old Calvinistic ground of our double relation to Adam.

The following is from pp. 97, 98, of the same volume:

"As to the nature of original sin and the transmission of it, I think a few remarks may suffice. We certainly discover in mankind, not only a disposition without restraint to commit errors of a gross nature, but in general an attachment to, and love of the creature, more than the Creator. It may not be improper here to consider the question, whether the whole nature is corrupt, " &c. . . . . "As to the transmission of original sin, the question is to be sure difficult, and we ought to

be reserved upon the subject. St. Augustine said it was of more consequence to know how we are delivered from sin by Christ, than how we derive it from Adam. Yet we shall say a few words on this topic. It seems to be agreed by the greatest part that the soul is not derived from our parents by natural generation, and yet it seems not reasonable to suppose that the soul is created impure. Therefore it should follow that a general corruption is communicated by the body, and that there is so close a union between the soul and body that the impressions conveyed to us through the bodily organs, do tend to attach the affections of the soul to things earthly and sensual. If it should be said, that the soul, on this supposition, must be united to the body, as an act of punishment or severity; I would answer, that the soul is united to the body, in consequence of an act of government, by which the Creator decreed, that men should be propagated by way of natural generation."

L.

ART. III. The Conducting of Public and Social Prayer.

The ordinary worship of Almighty God, under the New Tes tament dispensation, consists of prayer, praise, the reading and exposition of Scripture, the administration of the Sacraments, and alms-giving. The most solemn and comforting of these ordinances, and indeed that on which, in a great measure, the solemnity, impressiveness and profit, of all the others depend, is prayer. For it is in its believing use, we make our nearest approach unto God, by that new and living way, which is Christ; and bring up in remembrance, as it were by a memorial offering, that blessed work which He did on earth, vicariously for us, and through the boundless merits of which we sue for forgiveness and hope to obtain justification. It is fraught with rich blessings; for when rightly employed, with enlarged desires and an elevated faith, it is the appointed means of our securing those priceless benefits which we crave in our poorness of spirit; and which our Heavenly Father engages to bestow on his humble and contrite children, in copious abundance, when they devoutly ask Him. As this is

a service of great usefulness to the people of God, the conducting of it becomes one of the most difficult and delicate, and at the same time one of the most delightful duties of the Christian pastor; and, in like manner, it may become such to any and all of God's servants who are called on, under various circumstances, to take an active part in maintaining the observances of religion. We trust, therefore, that the conducting of public and social prayer may be found a subject of sufficient interest to our readers to warrant us in asking their attention to it for a brief season. We cannot attempt, indeed, in the space allotted to an article in this Quarterly, to give a full and exhaustive discussion of such a theme; but we hope to be able to make some suggestive observations, which may not be found devoid of profit to others.

The nature of prayer is well explained in the Shorter Catechism, where it is said: "Prayer is the offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to His will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies." When we attempt, in the public or social assembly, to lead, and to a certain extent direct the worship of others, we must remember that although the circumstances which surround us are different, the nature of prayer is the same that it is in our closets.

1. There must be a presentation or an "offering up of our desires unto God." There can be no such thing as prayer, until the soul is burdened with lamentable distresses, and, with wrestling, pours forth its ardent desires. It is not all that is needed for a man simply to know that he is a lost sinner; he must feel it. It is not enough for us to ascertain our state of abject wretchedness; we must have a deep, a realizing sense of it. Nor will it suffice for us to learn our helplessness, and at the same time be convinced of God's willingness to save, in order to make an acceptable approach unto Him. Before we can in any proper or scriptural sense be said to pray, we must lay our inly-felt wants open before God, as well as the convictions of the judgment; our beseechings must flow from the inmost soul; and our suppliant cry must arise from affectionate faith in God's compassionate promises. Hence in giving direction to the orisons of others, our great aim must be to present the common and es

pecial necessities of the people, and in general such petitions as may be presumed to express their anxious yearnings. But this ought to be done in such a manner as, with the Divine blessing, to quicken the pious affections, and to awaken into activity the dormant faith of humble Christians. For, although we may succeed in representing their instant wishes, unless it be accomplished with such effect as to lead them to the exercise, not only of genuine devoutness but also of an expansive faith and a holy confidence in God, we fail to become, in any just sense, the leaders of the devotions of the Church.

2. Our offerings to God, besides being the sincere desires of our hearts, must be made "for things agreeable to His will." It would indeed be impious to ask anything contrary to His known will. Nor need we be in doubt what God's will is; for the Bible has been given for the express purpose of revealing it. When we hunger and thirst after righteousness, when we seek the heavenly manna in the Sacred Oracles, when our aspirations take their scope from the inspired word, we can then, indeed and in truth, make "an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to His will;" with confidence we can present our supplications, and with hope we can look for an answer to them; and in the full enjoyment of the spirit of adoption, we can feed upon the sincere milk of the word until our souls are satisfied. Therefore, in order to success and usefulness, we must give expression to the requests which flow from our lips in a scriptural form, if not in the very words of the Bible. We have no other source of knowledge, as to what God's will is, except His word; and besides, when the faithful disciple, in his deep abasement, finds the very cravings of his spirit ascending to the merciful Throne, in the precise words of the Divine pledges, he is enabled to obtain an assurance of acceptance and an earnest expectation of an answer, which he cannot realize when the language employed fails to remind him of his heavenly Father's covenanted engagements.

Acceptable prayer is the breathing out of our souls unto God, in the spirit of adoption, and hence with the undoubting trustfulness of children. In coming before Him, we must believe that, through Jesus Christ, He is both able and willing to help us; we must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of all them VOL. I. — NO. 3.

5