Choice Specimens of American Literature, And Literary Reader | Page 8

certain country in America with _Reformed Churches_; nothing in _doctrine_, little in _discipline_, different from that of Geneva. Mankind will pardon _me_, a native of that country, if smitten with a just fear of encroaching and ill-bodied _degeneracies_, I shall use my modest endeavors to prevent the loss of a country so signalized for the profession of the purest _Religion_, and for the protection of God upon it in that holy profession. I shall count my country _lost_, in the loss of the primitive _principles_, and the primitive _practices_, upon which it was at first established: but certainly one good way to save that _loss_, would be to do something, that the memory of _the great things done for us by our God_, may not be _lost_, and that the story of the circumstances attending the foundation and formation of this country, and of its preservation hitherto, may be impartially handed unto posterity. THIS is the undertaking whereto I now address myself; and now, _Grant me thy gracious assistances, O my God! that in this my undertaking I may be kept from every false way._
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=_Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758_=. (Manual, p. 479.)
From the "Inquiry, &c., into the Freedom of the Will."
=_3._= MEANING OF THE PHRASE "MORAL INABILITY."
It must be observed concerning Moral Inability, in each kind of it, that the word Inability is used in a sense very diverse from its original import.... In the strictest propriety of speech, a man has a thing in his power, if he has it in his choice, or at his election; and a man cannot be truly said to be unable to do a thing, when he can do it if he will. It is improperly said, that a person cannot perform those external actions which are dependent on the act of the will, and which would be easily performed, if the act of the will were present. And if it be improperly said, that he cannot perform those external voluntary actions which depend on the will, it is in some respect more improperly said, that he is unable to exert the acts of the will themselves; because it is more evidently false, with respect to these, that he cannot if he will; for to say so is a downright contradiction: it is to say he cannot will if he does will. And in this case, not only is it true, that it is easy for a man to do the thing if he will, but the very willing is the doing; when once he has willed, the thing is performed; and nothing else remains to be done. Therefore, in these things to ascribe a non-performance to the want of power or ability, is not just; because the thing wanting is not a being able, but a being willing. There are faculties of mind, and capacity of nature, and everything else sufficient, but a disposition; nothing is wanting but a will.
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=_Samuel Davies, 1725-1761._= (Manual, p. 480.)
From his "Sermons."
=_4._= LIFE AND IMMORTALITY REVEALED THROUGH THE GOSPEL.
So extensive have been the havoc and devastation which death has made in the world for near six thousand years, ever since it was first introduced by the sin of man, that this earth is now become one vast grave-yard or burying-place for her sons. The many generations that have followed upon each other, in so quick a succession, from Adam to this day, are now in the mansions under ground.... Some make a short journey from the womb to the grave; they rise from nothing at the creative fiat of the Almighty, and take an immediate flight into the world of spirits.... Like a bird on the wing, they perch on our globe, rest a day, a month, or a year, and then fly off for some other regions. It is evident these were not formed for the purposes of the present state, where they make so short a stay; and yet we are sure they are not made in vain by an all-wise Creator; and therefore we conclude they are young immortals, that immediately ripen in the world of spirits, and there enter upon scenes for which it was worth their while coming into existence.... A few creep into their beds of dust under the burden of old age and the gradual decays of nature. In short, the grave is _the place appointed for all living_; the general rendezvous of all the sons of Adam. There the prince and the beggar, the conqueror and the slave, the giant and the infant, the scheming politician and the simple peasant, the wise and the fool, Heathens, Jews, Mahometans, and Christians, all lie equally low, and mingle their dust without distinction.... There lie our ancestors, our neighbors, our friends, our relatives, with whom we