Of Natural, Moral, and Civil Liberty. 63 government is exerted in repeated alts, HI S E R M, the eafier it groweth, and the more fatif- III. fying. Therefore when I fay, that liberty is "°t"--1 the privilege of mankind, I do not mean that this fort of liberty laft mentioned is a6tually in the poßéfíion of every man, with the fenfe and enjoyment of it : There is a foundation laid for it in the frame of our na- ture, or a capacity ; but, like all other intel- lec`lual and moral endowments, the attain- ment dependeth on the proper improve- ment and exercife of our own faculties. No man is born with knowledge or virtue, but with a capacity of both, by a due exer- tion of his own powers, with a diligent ufe of the means which are afforded him ; and the cafe is the fame with refpeél to moral liberty. This is a glorious part of that liberty wherewith Chrifl hath made his difciples free. I do not fay it is what the apoflle particularly intended in the text, for it ap- peareth from the context, that he fpeaketh of deliverance from the ceremonial law; but this is the firfl, the fundamental liberty of chriftians, for which they are indebted to their great Malter, and without which no other privilege will be available to them, for the purpofes of religion or happinefs. 4 When
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=