247 
Mr. Reddie. — I think Mr. Warington has to a great extent answered 
himself. When he spoke of the enlightenment of the conscience through ob- 
taining the aid of God’s spirit, and when he said that man was free to ask for 
that aid, and to accept it or refuse it, he was really proving that man is a free 
agent, which is metaphysically a more correct expression than to speak of 
man’s free will, inasmuch as when the “ will ” is once determined, it is a 
definite thing, and there is no choice afterwards. “Free will,” therefore, is 
not an accurate, although it may he a good colloquial phrase. We should 
rather predicate of man’s personality and freedom, free agency. Man is free 
to will, but when he has once determined his will, each volition cannot be 
any other will than it is, though upon reflection he may change and will 
otherwise. Mr. Warington says that a person’s conduct in exercising his 
will is solely dependent upon circumstances. But that is only true with 
great qualification. Some influence of circumstances is not denied. What 
Mr. Row and others who contend for free agency argue is, that man can 
choose one of two things, and that is what is told us in Scripture itself, the 
highest of all authorities. It was exactly a crux of that kind, arising from 
circumstances, which our first father Adam had placed before him ; and 
Mr. Row very properly brings out the great importance of that which Adam 
failed to keep in mind when he fell from his original perfect freedom — that 
is, the importance of faith. It is not quite true, however, that faith was 
only taught by our Blessed Lord. The great revival of faith in God, no 
doubt, was due to Him ; but it was the faith of Abraham and of Enoch, and 
of the patriarchs of the Old Testament who went before ; and it was because 
Adam failed in faith in God, and believed what he ought not, that he made 
a wrong choice, and ate the forbidden fruit. Every circumstance under which 
the human will has to act turns upon some such choice as that which was 
made by Adam. The voice of God, even when given externally, as it was 
to Moses, can only operate on a human being when it touches him internally ; 
and if man has the power by his conscience, to any extent, of knowing right 
from wrong, he has that very faculty within him which ought to determine 
his choice ; and it is when he hears, or neglects to hear, that inward voice, 
that he becomes innocent or guilty when he acts. That is also the nature 
of the power given to man by the Spirit of God, and of the freedom pro- 
claimed in the Gospel for whomsoever will receive it : — “ Whosoever will, 
let him come ” — “ ask and ye shall receive.” But unless Mr. Warington is 
prepared to assume that the heathen were totally dark in their consciences — 
that they did not know right from wrong at all — he must admit the existence 
of conscience in their case also ; for it cannot be got rid of 
Mr. Warington. — I was endeavouring to point out in which part of 
human nature it lay. 
Mr. Reddie. — But you cannot cut up your nature into parts 
Mr. Warington. — I find it is divided in the New Testament. 
Mr. Reddie. — Only in a certain sense ; not as used by you. Take the 
case Mr. Warington suggested as to opening the book, and let us suppose 
it to have been a forbidden book. There is a French picture now in the 
