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 an evil and irresistable Turn of Inclination, arising from the _Act_ of another; I mean, _Adam_. Man then, considered as a _moral_ Agent, has Power to _do_, or _not_ to _do_, the very same Thing; be it good or evil. But this Liberty of Choice and Action in the Creature, as the _Soul_ is but one, and also _the_ immediate Source of all Action in Man, cannot properly, I think, be called _two_ distinct Powers, but rather _different Applications_ of _one_ and the _same Power_ lodged in the Soul. On the other hand, in such a _depraved Creature_, as Man under the Fall is said to be, the Power of _choosing_ and _refusing_, of being virtuous or vicious, which he _pleases_, is