Either
binds us with the same chain of necessity, in thought, word and deed,
from the cradle to the grave. To escape this charge, fanaticism can
only add a few links to the chain of necessitating cause, and tell you
it is necessity no longer. Now, our most perfect conception of sin is
found in a will which sets itself in opposition to God's will. This is
the characteristic of the father of evil and his fallen hosts. Our
highest idea of virtue is found in the creature's conforming his will
to that of his Maker; this is the trait of the angels who were
steadfast in their faith. How can you here couple fatality and will?
If ours be a state of probation, it is only by a certain freedom of
action, an originating power of causation in ourselves, that we can
conceive of our being put to proof. Possibly, in fallen man, that
freedom is limited to the power of rejecting or yielding to the
influences of grace. Yet within that narrow range it may be still a
perfect freedom. God said, 'let us make man in our image and after our
likeness,' and this likeness between the 'cause of causes' and his
creature, may well consist in man's being endowed with a spark from
the Creator's nature, gifted with an originating will, and made a
source of causes in himself.
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