7. Our _own will_ is nothing else but a defection or apostasy from God. Defection verily is easy, smooth, and pleasant; but the recovery from it is bitter, troublesome, and difficult; yea, even beyond all the power of the creature. For man, by his own strength, can neither return, nor in any wise help himself, whether in will or deed. Man’s will is captive, and his works are dead. Christ alone is able to help, in the beginning, the progress, and the end. He lays before us two means, the _law_ and the _gospel_; or _repentance_ and _remission_ of sin. Through the _law_, in the first place, thou must die with Christ, and by true sorrow and brokenness of heart sacrifice thy own will. Thou must become as nothing in thine own eyes, and resign thyself wholly to Christ. Then grace and forgiveness of sin are conferred through the _gospel_, and man, that was dead before, is made alive by faith. Whence it appears, that no man can by his own strength convert and quicken himself. For it is absolutely necessary that he hate, deny, and lose himself; that he be displeased with, and die unto, himself; and that his hope be placed entirely in God alone, by whose grace he expects to live. 8. But even this self-hatred, denial, and mortification, are not the effect of our own will and ability. “It is not,” says St. Paul, “of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” Rom. 9:16. It is God therefore alone who operates all this in us by his grace, and by the power of his good Spirit: so that our justification is not derived from any creature whatsoever, but from God alone, whose work and gift it is. For the most dangerous enemy any man has, is _himself_; insomuch that we have great reason to implore the Lord to deliver us from ourselves and all that we have by nature, and then to bestow that which flows from his grace. By our own strength we are not able to perform the least good, if God, himself, even after conversion, do not graciously operate in us. Who is there that can endue us with love and mercy, but God, who is LOVE itself, and from whom all other graces proceed? Therefore, Christ _alone_ is our help and support, when the help of men cannot avail. But after all, be the condition ever so low to which man has been brought by the fall of Adam, he is now raised again by Christ, and even exalted to a higher degree than he possessed before. But of this more shall be said in Chapter XI. Chapter VII. Showing That In Order To Understand The True Nature Of Repentance, We Must Necessarily Know The Distinction Between The Old And The New Man; Or, How In Us Adam Must Die, And Christ Live; Or, How In Us The Old Man Must Die, And The New Man Live. _We know this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin._—ROM. 6:6.