his _own Words_ with any secret Pleasure,
but purely to shew Mr. _J--s_, how agreeable such a Liberty will
appear, when, in return, it may be offered to himself.

Why is this favourite Distinction urged, unless it be to shew, that
because Man has natural Powers, 'tis his _own_ Fault, if he does not
employ them aright; but how does it appear, that such a Power
_only_, can render _Man_ a whit better, or _more_ a _moral Agent_,
than he is, or would be, without it? If Inclination to _Virtue_,
must _precede_ every truly virtuous Action; and Man's Depravity
under the Fall, be _such_ as prevents his ever having such good
Inclinations, his natural Ability to do Good, must needs be a mere
_Joke_ and a _Cypher_. Just the same as, on the other hand, would
be, the strongest Inclinations to Virtue, and _no_ natural Power of
complying with them in Practice. As nothing short of _Knowledge_ and
_Power_, Power of both kinds, _natural_ and _moral_, can constitute
Man a _moral Agent_, or proper Subject of _Law_, of Rewards and
Punishments, either here, or hereafter; one would wonder to see this
insignificant Distinction urged at all in this Controversy: for it
is, at the best, a mere _Parade of Words;_ which prove nothing,
except it be the Want of Truth and Righteousness, in this Doctrine
of _Original Sin;_ or great _Bigotry_, and Defect of Understanding,
in its most accomplished Patrons. And after all that is, or can be
said, concerning _natural_ and _moral_ Powers; it is doubtful, if
such a depraved miserable Wretch, as Man under the Fall is said by
the _Assemblies Catechism_ to be, can (strictly speaking) have any
Power at all over his own Thoughts and Actions; The immediate Cause
and Spring of Action _is_ the _Soul_, to which the _Body_ is
subservient only as an _Instrument_, but has in itself, according to
the best Philosophy, no Power to produce _voluntary_ or _self
Motion_. What is called _natural_ Power in Man, as opposed to
_moral_, is at least, a Power lodged in the Soul, to give Motion to
the Body. But these _Volitions_ of the Mind, and the immediate Act
of the Soul upon the Body, in order to produce _Virtue_, depending
on the Mind's being in a State of _Freedom_, able to chuse and
prefer Virtue, as better than Vice; it is evident, that in a Mind,
totally abandoned to Evil, _moral_ Motives have not their due Power
over the Man; and what we call his _natural_ Power to be virtuous,
is either suspended, or quite overpowered, by a