From the estate of
PROFESSOR WILLISTON WALKER
1924

REGENERATION

GEORGE NYE BOARDMAN,
Professor of Systematic Theology; Chicago Theological
Seminary '.

Fleming H. Revell Company,
NEW YORK: | CHICAGO:
30 Union Square: East. j 148 and 150 Madison Street,
Publishers of Evangelical Literature.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1891, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
All, Rights Reserved.

PREFACE.

The doctrine of regeneration may be stated
in few words: God renews the heart of the
sinner. The method of renewal being unknown
— "the wind bloweth where it listeth" —
treatises upon the subject have generally dis
cussed theories or described the accompanying
circumstances without bringing to view, as the
chief object of attention, the divine regenerat
ing act. The aim of the present work is mainly
to set forth the regeneration itself ; — first, the
import of the term as it relates to man in his
fallen state ; secondly, the work of God upon
the soul.
Regeneration is the cardinal doctrine in the
scheme of salvation. It is, indeed, the saving
act. While it has never been overlooked, the
difficulty of bringing it under discussion has
probably been the reason for its' being left
somewhat in the background. Theological
treatises generally give to this doctrine only
one-third or one-fourth the space that is given
to the atonement, and but a small portion of
this is commonly given to regeneration proper.
(3)

PREFA CE.

It is n,ot strange that the atonement should be
accorded a large space, but it should not for a
moment be forgotten that it is devised for the
sake of regeneration. The atonement brings
before us the most impressive view of the divine
government which we are capable of attaining;
it throws a strong and clear light on the at
tributes of God, and its parts are susceptible
of an orderly arrangement so as to form a
plausible theory. It should, however, be always
borne in mind that it is to be valued, not as a
scholastic statement, but as a working power.
And it should be remembered, too, that the
power of the atonement is effective in our sal
vation only as it goes over into, and coalesces
with, the purpose to regenerate men and make
them new creatures. The scheme of salvation
as taught in our churches might have taken a
somewhat different form if these facts had been
more impressed upon theologians. The doc
trines concerning man's salvation have generally
been designated the scheme of redemption; yet
redemption does not include salvation. It
would be well if the expression, scheme of res
toration, were made more familiar, and if the
atonement were associated in mind with its
great aim, the new birth. There might have
been less discussion over the extent of the
atonement and the order of decrees, if the en
tire scheme, man's admission into the family of

PREFA CE.

God, had been more constantly in mind and
the logical connection of the parts had been in
ferred from the final effect. In the present
treatise the atonement is presupposed, and the
attempt made to give a simple statement of the
Bible doctrine of the spirit-birth.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Preface, .  3
CHAPTER I.
Every Man Must be Twice Born, . . . 9-22
The Scriptures Teach this Truth, .... 9
No Time-Relation Between the First and Second
Birth,  10
The Second Birth Not in the Course of Nature,. 11
The Second Birth Necessary Because of Forfeiture
of Privilege, .  IO
The Possible Not Realized, .... 20
CHAPTER I.
Death in Life — The Life of Legality, . 23-40
Adam Spiritually Dead, but Under Law, . . 23
The Best Legal Development — ThroughPrudence,
Morals, Art, 
The Best Schemes Delusive, .
They Fail Because of Diversions, .
The Amiable Virtues Not Restorative, .
Man's Helplessness Proved from Pscychology,
CHAPTER III.
The New Life,  41-69
New Testament Use of the Word Life, ... 41
The New Life a Change of Disposition, . . 44
The Work of the Divine Spirit in this Change, . 47
1. The New Life is Spontaneous Obedience
to God  48
2. Regeneration as the Healing of the Soul, 49
3. Regeneration as a Quickening, . . 51
4. Regeneration as a Resurrection, . . 52
5. Regeneration as an Illumination, . . 52
(7)

2428293436

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

6. Regeneration as a Call of God, . . 56
7. Regeneration as the Producing of Faith, . 59
8. Regeneration as the Producing of Love, 60
9. Regeneration as Partaking of the Divine
Nature,  63
The Views of Various Authors, .... 65
CHAPTER IV.
Regeneration a Fact,  70-86
The New Life Manifests Itself,  70
Illustrated in the Lives of Paul and Augustine . 70
Illustrated in Ordinary Christian Lives, . . 72
Illustrated by the New Ideas Resulting From It, . 73
Instances : 1. God Our Only Judge, . . 74
2. Fellowship with Christ, 75
3. The Substantiality of Faith, . . 75
4. Universal Indebtedness,' ... 77
5. Belief in the Incarnation, . . 79
6. The System of Christian Morals, . 80
CHAPTER V.
Author of Regeneration, .... 87-95
God The Sole Author of Regeneration, . . 87
Proved by the Nature of Regeneration, ... 87
The Scriptures Assert It,  89
Proved from the Nature of Sin, .... 90
Proved from the Nature of Human Character, . 92
CHAPTER VI.
Conversion,  96-116
Regeneration Is for the Sake of Good Works, . 96
Holy Life a Present Duty,  97
Man's Work in Conversion,  99
Efficacy of Ministerial Work,  103
The Means of Grace Productive of Good, . . 105
Instances of Effective Christian Work, . . . 107
Appendix I — Faith,  117
Appendix II — The Justice of God in Requiring
Holiness in Men,  122

CHAPTER I.
EVERY MAN MUST BE TWICE-BORN.
THE Scriptures teach the necessity of a sec
ond birth. The first birth, that of the flesh,
does not introduce one into a spiritual life. The
life of the flesh is not in accord with the divine
will, but must give way to a spirit life before one
can be in harmony with the "will of God. Rom.
viii. 8 : " So, then, they that are in the flesh
cannot please God." Rom. viii. 7: "The carnal
mind is enmity against God." The life follow
ing the second birth is the only real life. Rom.
viii. 13 : " For if ye live after the flesh ye shall
die; but if ye, through the Spirit do mortify the
deeds of the body, ye shall live." The absolute
necessity of the second birth is asserted by our
Lord. John iii. 3: "Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God." The words yewrfii] avutiev
may be translated born anew or born from
above, but in either case equally set forth the
necessity of a birth other than that of flesh — the
spirit-birth. John iii. 6: "That which is born
of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of
(9)

10 REGENERA TION.
the spirit is spirit." The change which takes
place through the new birth is a radical one,
which gives rise to new deeds and new methods
of lite ; — a new morality and a new aim in labor,
as much as if one were created a new and dif
ferent person. Eph. iv. 22-24. "That ye put
off concerning the former conversation the old
man, which is corrupt according to the deceit
ful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your
mind ; and that ye put on the new man, which,
after God, is created in righteousness and true
holiness." There is no fixed relation as to time be
tween the first and second birth. Nicodemus
asked Christ if a man could be born when
he is old; Christ answered (John iii. 8):
" The wind bloweth where it listeth, and
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth ; so is every one that is born of the
Spirit." There is no age at which the spirit
birth is impossible. With Jeremiah and John
the Baptist it was coetaneous with the birth
of the flesh, with many who are found in our
churches it occurred so early that they do not
remember the event or recall any time when
they consider themselves to have been really
without the true life of the spirit. There are

MAN MUST BE TWICE-BORN. 11
some regenerated in advanced years, a few even
in extreme old age. The great majority of
those who enter on the new life, do so in
youth ; — perhaps in the latter part of childhood
and the earlier part of youth.
There is no connection, belonging to the
course of nature, between the second birth and
any means leading to it. There are no quali
ties of the soul to be developed into spirit life,
there is no germ within the soul which in its
proper time bursts into a life that is the spirit-
life of which the Scriptures speak. There
comes a time when some believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, but no known external event fixes
the time, and if the will of the one who believes
has any force in determining it, yet his choice is
not a co-efficient in the regeneration, it merely
performs a work which God has made a condi
tion but not a means. In John i : 13 the chil
dren of God are described as those "Which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God."
The effect of the spirit birth is not the exist
ence of a new spirit, but is a new disposition of
the spirit already existing. The body and (if
we hold to the doctrine of traducianism), the
spirit are transmitted from parents. But no
one is born with the spirit in affiliation with the

12 REGENERA TION.
Spirit of God. This quality is the impartation
of the Holy Ghost. The conformity of soul to
the divine will is not transmitted by parents
but is a gift of God and with its bestowment
the person is born into the family of God.
With Jesus of Nazareth the two births occurred
together, when the Logos became flesh the rea
sonable soul of Jesus was full of grace and
truth. The conception was by the Holy Ghost
and the body and spirit were together from the
first both human and divine. Cor. 15: 45.
" The last Adam was made a quickening spirit."
The contrast between the first Adam and the
second consisted in part at least in this, that
one was a living soul the other a quickening
spirit. When God breathed into the nostrils
of the first man the breath of life he became a
living soul. In this he was raised above the
brute creation and endowed, we may believe,
with immortality ; he became possessed of a
soul that did not require food for its sustenance
or the impulse of outward things to be set in
motion, but continued and acted from its own
internal force. Yet it fell under influences
from the body and from other spirits which
swayed its movements and modified its charac
ter. The spirit was not quickening, did not
mould and control the entire internal force of

MAN MUST BE TWICE-BORN. 13
the man. The internal intelligent power within
the body is called the soul or the spirit, each
term designating the same substance or entity.
Yet one of the words has reference to a con
nection of this entity with the body more
prominently than the other. The Greek terms
designating the animating force within the
body are sometimes used as English terms, viz :
Psyche soul, nous reason, pneuma spirit, (y»xh,
viAiq, Trvev/ia). These three designate one and
the same substance. Yet psyche indicates
a nearer relation to the animal life than
pneuma, while pneuma points to a kinship with
God more distinctly than pysche. Nous takes
its place between the two, a rational faculty
that gives law to the psyche, and that accepts,
should accept, the higher intuitions and tend-
dencies of the pneuma as in some respects
higher than itself. But neither of these ele
ments of man's inner nature exercises an im
perial sway. Reason does not hold the pas
sions and appetites in check, there are no such
spiritual affinities as to hold man in loyal alle
giance to God, and the soul, the pyschic nature,
is akin to the animal in many of its traits.
The spirit is not in any view quickening,
life-producing, ; there is no power within it
which obtains the mastery and controls the

14 REGENERA TION.
character, much less secures the right character,
the life that is life indeed. Hence there is need
of some additional force in the soul ; this force,
according to the scriptures is secured by the
second birth, or spirit-birth.
The second birth is not to be considered a
repair of the defects of the first birth, but as a
supplementary birth, completing indeed the
ideal of humanity but not by a completion of
the natural birth, not by a development of any
thing already belonging to nature. It is a
work of the Spirit of God upon the human
spirit by which the human spirit enters on a
higher, a heavenly, alliance. Adam had not in
his state of innocence this affinity to the divine
which the redeemed soul has. Had he pos
sessed it he would not have fallen away from
God. We shall notice soon the method by
which he might, perhaps, have attained the
position of sainthood, but now notice that the
flesh-birth does not even in idea involve the
spirit-birth. Flesh in its tendencies, left to
itself, opposes and resists the control of the
spirit, or spirit-life. The apostle Paul uses
the word flesh, to designate man's sinful
nature, as defined in Thayer's New Testament
Lexicon, " The earthly nature of man apart
from divine influence, and therefore prone to

MAN MUST BE TWICE-BORN. 15
sin and opposed to God." This meaning of
the word is emphatically set forth in Gal. 5:17.
" For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and
the spirit against the flesh ; for these are con
trary the one to the other." The expression
born again, John 3 : 3, does not exclude
the view which we here oppose, but the Revised
Version translates born anew and gives in the
margin born from above. The latter is the more
natural translation of the words, though
the question of Nicodemus would indicate that
he understood the thought to refer rather to
the repetition of a former act than the perform
ance of a new one. His understanding of the
matter, however, is not decisive, while John
1:13 seems explicit in support of the view here
maintained. Believers are described in this
passage as those " born, not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but
of God." Blood is the favorite term for ex
pressing the unity of the generations, but the
birth now in question is expressly excluded
from it. The Greek word iraliyyeveoia found
in Matt. 19 : 28 and Titus 3 : 5 would, from its
composition favor the idea of a second and more
perfect natural birth, but in Matthew it has no
reference to the regeneration of the individual
soul, and in Titus the explanation of the term

16 REGENERATION.
favors the idea of a spirit-birth outside the
course of nature. The regeneration seems to
refer to baptism, which symbolizes the renewing
of the Holy Ghost bestowed upon us by the
Father for Christ's sake. The supplementary
character of the new birth is also indicated by
the fact that by it we enter a new family, the
family of God, John i : 12. "As many as re
ceived Him, to them gave He power [the priv
ilege] to become the sons of God," Rom. 8: 14.
" For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
they are the sons of God," Gal. 3 : 26. " For
ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus." The need of a spirit-birth rose from forfeiture
of a possible development. The first man fell
from an opportunity to enter on a life of full
communion with God. We are not to suppose
that Adam entered on the duties of life with any
special formality, but that his attention was
called to present duties and that he was required
to meet occasions as men now are. " Starting in
business" is the expression used when a young
man sets up for himself in the world. Adam
was obliged to begin and pursue his course in
accordance with rules and in accordance with
the demands of circumstances. By divine or
dinance there was a peculiar " law of Paradise,"

MAN MUST BE TWICE-BORN. 17
but not a mysterious law, or one difficult to
obey. There was a labor to perform, he was to
dress and to keep the garden. We have no
where any intimation of peculiar solemnities
connected with the inauguration of the first
man in the duties of manhood. The garden
was very good, the man was very good, the
work was very good. There seems to have
been a fitness of part to part.
Adam had not at this time an abiding hold
upon spiritual life. He was a living soul, he
was not a quickening spirit. If we may judge
of the ideal character of a man by the attain
ment of the Christian man, we can say, that he
must be immovably fixed in his adherence to
God. This is sainthood. Perseverance belongs
to the spiritual man's trust in God. This quality
Adam did not possess. He was innocent but
not fixed in holiness. It may be assumed that
the discipline to which he was subject in the
garden was adapted to confirm him in innocence,
and to enlarge his range of religious life so as to
embrace an absolute loyalty to God as a part
of it. But if such a position were to be at
tained, it was to be attained by education, by
culture through a life of probation. While it
is possible that Adam might through a moral
discipline have reached the position of a man of

18 REGENERA TION.
God, have been assured against becoming a
child of the Devil, it is certain that he did not
secure this result, and there is no one of his
posterity whom moral culture even tends to
bring to sainthood.
Moreover it is probable that the man would
have had aid to a divine life beyond the moral
force of motives coming to him in the course of
nature. God was his teacher. The probation
to which he was subjected was of divine appoint
ment. If he had learned to know and value his
divine friend he would soon have found it im
possible to disregard his wishes. God's will
would have been his law. Temptation would
not have drawn him away from his Divine Mas
ter but have driven him to cling more tenacious
ly to him. The Divine Being did not come
into close intimacy with the first man as the
Holy Spirit comes to us in regeneration, did not
impart that divine alliance of which the Apostle
John speaks in describing the one born of God ;
it was not impossible for him to renounce his
divine sonship as it is for those who have ex
perienced the spirit-birth, but he did not, like
sinning men, need the second birth in order to
have access to God, and a full and unshaken al
liance with Deity might in time have been estab
lished. Moreover we may well believe that

MAN MUST BE TWICE-BORN. 19
God would have advanced his pupil from one
grade to another and have taken him more
closely to Himself if he had gone successfully
through temptation, or the series of tempta
tions, designed for him. We have probably
some intimation of the attainments possible to
the sinless Adam in that tree of life from which
he was driven after his fall. Partaking of that
fruit would perhaps have completed the charac
ter required by the human ideal and he might
have passed from a living soul to a life-giving
spirit, — a spirit competent to invigorate, and
control his own entire being. It may be that
God had in store other and higher gifts to be
bestowed upon his son and pupil as he should
become able to receive them. He may have
been ready by creative force to advance him to
a higher spiritual standing. But if we can only
speak by surmise here, we know that character
tends to permanency and may firmly believe
that the habit of obedience would soon have
secured the original man against the wiles of
the adversary. Determinations remain in part
when once formed, they easily repeat them
selves, and they soon become fixed as the per
manent form of the will. They are the organ
ization of the will, the will without them is no
will, mere formless substance having the possi-

20 REGENERA TION.
bility of becoming a will. Hence the will be
comes self-conscious through its determinations,
knows itself in them. If once the will of Adam
could have been consciously determined in
the right and recognized itself as the embodi
ment of law, it may be that it would of its own
force have repelled solicitations to evil. It
might have said, as our Lord later said : " The
prince of this world cometh and hath nothing
in me." And it may be that this disposition
and force of will would have descended by
heredity to his posterity.
Whatever development or acquisition in
righteousness may have been possible to the
father of the human family, the possibility was
not realized. He did not form such a habit of
obedience to law as to be secure against tempta
tion. He did not so avail himself of the in
structions of the Lord God as to be proof
against the insinuations of God's enemy. God
did not interpose either by miracle or by warn
ing in the hour of trial to restrain him from
transgression. Adam deliberately, without be
ing deceived, ate the fruit which he had been
commanded not to eat. He was left to the free
dom of his own will and made use of it to carry
out his impulses, the spontaneous promptings
of nature. He sinned as a living soul, not as a

MAN MUST BE TWICE-BORN. 21
life-giving, i. e., action-controlling, spirit, not
even as an action-controlling reason. Had he
followed an enlightened self-interest, acted upon
the dictates of a sound worldly judgment, he
would have chosen to adhere to God's way, but
his impulses carried him away and he adopted
a course of opposition to God. He had now
fallen from his innocence and had become
guilty. Probably a distinct consciousness of
guilt came over him earlier than a distinct con
sciousness of sin. Impulse blinded him, but
reflection at leisure wakened his mind, he be
gan to have second thoughts, and saw the dif
ference between good and evil. He saw that
he had forfeited God's approbation and hid
himself ; he saw that he was naked and under
took to clothe himself. God accepted the
judgment and self-condemnation of the human
pair as true, he clothed them, he cursed the
ground for their sakes. Henceforth there is
separation between man and God. The way
to God is sealed. Men feel after God, there is
no open communion as heretofore. Cain and
Abel offer sacrifices, one offering is accepted
the other is rejected. God is known in threat
ening and punishment, but is not a guide and
companion in the occupations of the day.
There is now no possibility that Adam should

22 REGENERATION.
by self-development attain a permanent com
munion with God. He is enclosed in world-
liness, there is no bridge across the gulf between
himself and God. He may long for a better
life, but the longing is earth-born and earthly
to the end. No breath from heaven falls upon
him, his sentiments and aspirations are terrene
and temporal.

CHAPTER II.
DEATH IN LIFE; — THE LIFE OF LEGALITY.
Adam was spiritually dead, i. e., was cut off
from the means of true spiritual growth, but
his spirit was not annihilated, it still had a large
range of activity and many inherent forces to
be developed. What kind of life was he to
live? A loving adoration of God was not open
to him ; free divine communion was closed
against him ; ardent aspirations for enjoyment
among loving friends higher and better than
himself were no longer possible ; the free self-
forgetting, untrammeled impulses of love,
against which there is no law however intense
they may become, had no longer a place in his
soul. But his soul was the home of law ; his
nature called for self-control and self-culture;
the opportunities of life were to summon him
to choose between the too little and too much,
and to adopt the golden mean ; coming events
were to require of him the exercise of courage,
of endurance, of perseverance amid misfortunes
and disappointments ; the wants of others were
to demand of him self-denial and benevolence. (23)

24 REGENERA TION.
Here was opened before him a large range of
spiritual activity. What development can be
expected in such circumstances ? Has the man
an opportunity to work out his salvation ? His
soul carries within itself a law, and that a law
of righteousness. He has a conscience that
continually reminds him of the law and enforces
on him the duties which the law enjoins. Can
the man live a blessed life without the immediate
friendship of God ? or if not a blessed life a
holy life? Is the man rounded off and com
plete within himself, and so competent to the
fulfillment of his calling?
The best probable development of humanity,
on the supposition that the spirit puts forth its
energies from itself as a centre, we may sup
pose, would be in accord with the following
principles. There is possible to the spirit a development
which should bring to view much that is com
mendable and admirable. Socrates' estimate
of honor and duty, the virtues of Marcus Aure-
lius, the amiability and serenity of Epictetus
will always elicit applause. The soul may as
sert its own dignity in relation to the flesh ; it
may repress appetite and restrain greed, it may
apply a spiritual standard to the questions
which relate to the life of humanity, it may

DEA TH IN LIFE. 25
look forward to old age and beyond this world ;
it may, in accordance with one of President
Edwards' resolutions, judge of actions as the
entire existence shall demand, taking into ac
count not only present interests but those of
never so many ages hence ; actuated by such
broad considerations, the soul may pass through
a career which the world will pronounce one of
splendor, one worthy of imitation. The soul
may find evidence of its immortality in its pres
ent life, evidence perhaps confirmed by the fact
that godliness is not its annihilation. It would
be possible, it would be even natural, that the
human spirit, in view of such things, should
hold that the soul is its own place, has a home
within itself, can of its own force make life — an
endless life, blissful.
The worldly spirit might devise a broad pub
lic morality as well as a strict private morality.
It might cherish honesty as the best policy, it
might cherish righteousness as the highest wis
dom, a clear conscience as the highest happi
ness. It might see the weakness, the futility,
of too great selfishness, and devise a scheme of
morals on the principles of a generous altruism.
Indeed the worldly spirit often seems more
genial and free in its fellowships than the soul
regenerated by the Divine Spirit. This may

26 REGENERA TION.
be to the discredit of the soul professing regen
eration, but such a result may also grow out of
this fact, that the worldly mind is shut up to a
narrower view of life and duty than the mind
of the disciple of our Lord. Still it must be
granted that there are noble exhibitions of
sympathy and self-sacrifice on the part of many
whose wisdom is the wisdom of this world.
The worldly spirit also has open before it the
broad and inviting fields of society, of science,
and of art. The sons of Cain seem to have
been in advance of the children of Seth in the
adornments of life. In admiration of earthly
beauty those might be expected to take the
precedence who should find their heaven upon
earth. We might expect that the builders of
cities, the builders of stately mansions, the pos
sessors of horses and chariots and of gay equi
pages would be those whose minds were not at
tracted to the things eternal and invisible. We
should suppose that they who were clothed in
fine linen and fared sumptuously every day
would be those who received their good things
in this life. We should expect that the lovers
of theatres and games would be those who had
little thought of the incorruptible crown. But
we can see that the worldly mind might develop
much to win admiration by its works of genius,

DEA TH IN LIFE. 27
by its achievements in architecture, sculpture,
and painting. We can well see that things
spiritual and heavenly might seem dim, faint,
colorless, when contrasted with the products of
human imagination. David Friedrich Strauss,
who went from Christianity to paganism, who
made art his religion and Cosmos his God, in
speaking of his substitute for religion says : "To
the end of forming just conclusions in these
things, we study history ; * * * at the
same time we endeavor to enlarge our knowl
edge of the natural sciences ; * * and in the
writings of our great poets, in the performances
of cur great musicians, we find a satisfying
stimulus for the intellect and the heart, and for
fancy in her deepest and most sportive moods."1
He says also: "The function of art in all its
branches is, no doubt, to reveal the harmony of
the universe, or at least display it to us in mini
ature, for though it ever maintains itself amid
the apparent confusion of phenomena, it ex
ceeds our comprehension as an infinite whole.
This is the reason of the intimate connection
which, with all nations, has always existed be
tween art and religion. The great creations of
the plastic arts have always in this sense a relig
ious influence."1 Such a means of culture, such
 1. The Old Faith and the New. II. 120, 122.

28 REGENERA TION.
an imitation of religion is possible to one who
makes the story of Jesus a myth and denies the
existence of a personal God.
But this best and highest culture under the
most favorable circumstances is delusive and
for the world at large is of little account. It is
always confined within the compass of the
human faculties, its law of morals is prudence,
its highest devotion is a devotion to humanity,
its power over the sentiments and emotions is
through an address to the esthetic nature. In
experience those who resort to this method of
culture are ever sensible of defect in their under
takings and are obliged to confess that their
deepest longings are unsatisfied. Those who
most fully put in practice the moral scheme of
worldly culture are continually conscious of per
sonal failures, while they see the world at large
drifting into heedless, reckless and selfish courses
of conduct. Such schemes lack attractive force.
There is no example to follow. The Christian
presents in his scheme of life a pattern to be
followed. He can imitate his Master and thus
fulfill his calling. The devotee of morality can
only look upon his scheme as an abstraction,
and must expect to realize it only in part,
through experimental endeavor and studied
subjection to rule.

DEA TH IN LIFE. 29
We are not permitted to judge of human
nature as if it simply developed itself from
within, and as if only the best within was ef
ficient, and productive of results. The devel
opments of humanity in view of law are through
transgression of law as often as in obedience to
it. And the forces that act upon the soul are
temptations from without as often as prompt
ings from within. The best supposable develop
ment through law, through society, through
science, through art, is never actually attained,
and those manifestations that excite our won
der and commendation are exceptional. The
worldly mind does not find its way heavenward.
The culture it achieves in general does not give
evidence of a heaven-creating power. When
we survey humanity in its length and breadth
we can have no hesitation in affirming its way
wardness and wantoness. When we see that
among men honor is mostly a triumph over
others, that enjoyment is mostly a gratification
of vanity, we are obliged to confess that man's
mind is greatly perverted. When we see that
the homes of the masses are uncertain as to
place and provision for want, that comfort in
life is at the mercy of circumstances, almost of
accidents, we are compelled to admit the frailty
of our humanity. When we see, that marriage

30 REGENERA TION.
is often soon followed by divorce, still oftener
by contention and wretchedness, that single
life is often a life of shame frightfully delineated
before the world by early death, suicide and
murder, we see that the name of home is almost
a mockery. When we see the large mass of
hired laborers which our race affords swayed
hither and thither by prejudice or whim, when
we see the war between capital and labor, the
greed of the employer and the privations sub
mitted to by the employed for the sake of
vengeance on the employer, we are tempted
to believe that the mission of men on earth is
to bite and devour one another. When we see
the self-indulgences of the rich, the envy of the
poor, the moral degredation of the communist
and the recklessness of the anarchist, the simple
suggestion of development according to law
seems like grim satire. When we see that,
apart from the influences of the gospel, there
are very few of our race who do not fall into
one or other of these classes, we can have no
hesitation in accepting the assertion that the
worldly mind has no element of salvation in it,
that spiritual death reigns over the natural life.
A consideration of the forces that impel and
control our human experience confirms the im
pressions made by a mere glance at men in the

DEA TH IN LIFE. 31
mass. The business of the world tends to or
ganize itself around a centre of its own. It
forms a system of forces allied and adjusted to
each other which is known as the business
world. In this systematized scheme there are
generated habits and principles which form a
scheme of business morals separate from ideal
morals and from religious teachings. It is not
necessary to hold that such morals are false in
principle and corrupting in practice, though at
times that cannot be denied, — but they flow
from another source than that of the principles
approved by our natural intuitions and reli
gious instincts. The virtues commended by the
books, the habits commended from the pulpit
are often set aside with the smile of pity and
contempt, accompanied by the remark that
their authors knew nothing of practical life.
There often grows up a conventional morality
which displaces the pure morals of the Bible
and of common sense. And the artificial
scheme of morals adapts itself to varying cir
cumstances. There are the morals of the camp
and of the mining gulch, the morals of the
robber's haunts and of the artisan's guild, the
morals of social life and of business life. One
of the biographers of Aaron Burr claimed that
he should be judged by the code of morals

32 REGENERA TION.
which he had adopted ; said it was not fair to
judge and condemn him by the principles of
Christianity, but that, since he had deliberately
adopted the life of a man of the world, he
should be judged as such. When we see that
conventionalisms become the rule, that the
simplicity of nature is taken as evidence of a
want of culture, we cannot but admit that
through the realm of morals the artificial rather
than the true will prevail, that conduct will not
only not be divine, but not even human as hu
manity would develop itself under its primary
laws, it will be the conduct of humanity dis
torted by pride, or greed, or vanity, or some
other single emotion in excess.
There are, moreover, stronger forces actua
ting human nature than society or business.
The religious instinct is deeply imbedded in
the soul. When the spirit is cut off from God,
— the support of its true life,— this instinct is
not eradicated. It asserts itself continually,
and since it finds little response in nature and
is cut off from the communion which Adam
had when God was accustomed to walk in
Eden, it is compelled to devise its own objects
of worship, to set up its own gods. And when
we consider the motives that prompt its activ
ity we can well perceive that its gods may be

DEA TH IN LIFE. 33
personified vices and its worship may be crime.
The sense of absolute dependence, with no clear
view of that on which we depend opens the
way to unlimited superstition. If the most
gifted and etherial human spirits can maintain
that the sense of entire dependence is the basis
of all religion and gives it a full and sufficient
support without any reference to the teachings
of the intellect, it is not strange that those who
have no communion with God and no revelation
from Him should make this sense a dominant
power and be swayed by gross and debasing
superstitions. Man is so helpless before the
forces of nature that he will inevitably cower
before them in abject fear if his imagination
gives them personal form. He is so dependent
on the fruitfulness of nature that he may be
expected to consecrate everything to" the pow
ers that control her productive energies. The
destroying forces of nature,— wind, fire, disease,
— are so desolating that man may be expected
to yield that which he most loves to satisfy
their fierce cravings. Accordingly they have
given their young children to Moloch to be
burned ; they have made the temples of Venus
and Ceres — of love and of corn — brothels in
which debauchery is made the worship of Deity,
while the heathen world in its lower realms,

34 REGENERA TION.
where temples and rituals are unknown, is domi
nated by superstitions which make every life in
secure, destroy the repose of every soul, which
fill every mind with suspicions or dread of witch
craft and sorcery and put every life at the
mercy of the charlatan and juggler. It is not
clear that amid such terrors self-imposed man
needs to be born again ? It may be argued,
that there are some persons of true and invin
cible amiability of character, and that they show
what human nature is capable, of becoming. It
is true that there are men and women of gentle
disposition, who, not drawn into excesses by
false religions or false standards of morals, by
the promptings of inate kindness are helpful
to their friends, and are friends of all whom
they know. They are an honor to our human
ity. We could wish their number were greater.
They do show what human nature is capable
of becoming, but they do not prove that it is
capable of raising itself unaided into compan
ionship with God, not that it is able to dispense
with 'God in reaching the highest human ideal.
But persons of such character do not exhibit all
that is in humanity. They themselves, in dif
ferent circumstances, might have been vicious
while many in their actual circumstances
have fallen into gross vices. If some are ami-

DEA TH IN LIFE. 35
able, others, and probably an equal number,
are wanting in this quality. There are always
those who even in youth are lovers of mischief,
those who have pleasure in causing and witness
ing distress. There are ever to be found " sons
of Belial " who are ready to take advantage of
others' misfortune or ready to bear false wit
ness for a reward. There is no lack of incen
diaries or assassins if one desires to employ
them at a price. There is an overplus of those
who would baulk and thwart attempts to pro
mote strict morals in a community. There are
multitudes who are prompt to vindicate their
right to demoralizing indulgences even if they
have no desire for them.
The necessity of a new birth is perhaps not
more obvious in any view of human nature
than in this. Here are two classes somewhat
apart from the common mass of men, more
self-centred, developing character somewhat in
dependently because of native endowments,
more than ordinarily free from external influ
ences, yet, at the best, not manifesting any new
trait or power, only the effect of happy circum
stances, and, at the worst, not manifesting any
thing unknown to humanity at large, not recog
nized as possible by any member of the race.
So true is this that those who are engaged in

36 REGENERA TION.
schemes for the reform of criminals base their
undertakings on the brotherhood of man. The
philanthropist says: you and I might have
been the criminal and the convict.
A convincing argument for the helplessness
of man and his need of renewal from without
is to be drawn from psychology. Paul has pre
sented it with great vigor and cogency in the
seventh chapter of his epistle to the Romans.
He says: (5: 14, 15) "For we know that the
law is spiritual : but I am carnal, sold under
sin. For that which I do I allow not, for what
I would, that do I not ; but what I hate, that
do I." And bewailing his weakness he says :
(5: 24) " O wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death ?" What
is the body of death which every one carries with
him and which works his ruin? It is the tend
ency of soul, the internal motive force that car
ries one into the wrong. The basis of it is the
fact that man is not a life-giving spirit but only
a living soul acting as he is acted upon, and the
motives which act upon him come up from an
unknown and unfathomable abyss of surround
ing nature. God is free because his knowledge
extends to the entire sphere of his action and
His will is constantly, spontaneously, in accord
with his knowledge. We do not conceive of

DEA TH IN LIFE. 37
God as falling back on principles of conduct
previously established and deliberating over
the choices which he makes. When principles
have been stored up for use and the will con
sults them for its determinations, a certain kind
of freedom is lost. It makes no difference
whether the choice be the right one or the
wrong, that way of choosing puts the will under
bonds. Adam may have had within a range
that highest kind of freedom — the divine free
dom, but the range was not co-extensive with
his power of action. If he had confined him
self to the necessary round of practical duties
he might at each moment have acted from
present knowledge and have had that freedom
which some have attempted (not with perfect
success) to set forth under the designation free
dom of indifference ; — freedom of a choice with
out falling back on previous principles. Our
first parents did not confine themselves to this
range of action but went beyond their knowl
edge in choosing. Eve saw the tree, saw that
the fruit was to be desired to make one wise.
She longed for knowledge beyond that which
God gave. God's commandment, thou shalt
not eat, was in the place of knowledge, removed
all uncertainties as to conduct, and afforded
adequate ground of action. But she ventured

38 REGENERA TION.
upon unknown ground, the desire of knowledge
being the reason for the choice. Here was a
dead something, a desired unknown thing that
acted as a cause in moving the will. As Cole
ridge has expressed it, a nature was admitted
into the will. A cherished desire controlled it.
Adam yielded to a like influence, though not
deceived, and was still more guilty. From that
time on the will has acted in darkness. What
ever may be said of Adam there can be no
doubt that his posterity came into the world
with the will weighted. We deliberate and fall
back upon our principles or habits or ten
dencies and they make our choices for us.
Eve had a desire to be wise, her descend
ants after thousands of years inherit many
desires, a vast body of motive force which acts
on the will. They come into life as if they had
brought with them from another world a char
acter already formed. So strong on many
points, especially where the claims of God con
flict with the wishes of men, is man's bias that
when he has found how a course of conduct is
related to it, he is already decided, his choice is
made. Man really comes into the world with
many choices, his religious choices already made,
and he is enslaved to them. This state of ex
istence is very properly described as that of a

DEA TH IN LIFE. 39
dead will, or that of spiritual death. The pen
alty of eating the forbidden fruit was death in
that self-same day; and this death the spirit
then died. This body of motive force acting
on the will, this mass of ready-made choices, is
man's original sin. It is a body of death which
he brings with him and which he must cast
off if he is to live a true life of the spirit.
Paul ascribed deliverance from it to the Lord
Jesus Christ. There are theologians who
would rescue man from this weighted will
through the energy of the will itself. Let a
man gather up himself into an independent
force, they say, let him make himself a new
whole over against the world, says Ritschl, let
him put forth his actions from himself as a
centre, discarding the causal force of motives,
asserting his supremacy above nature, and in
this way he will become a new creature. There
are other theologians who affirm man's ability
to achieve such a deliverance of himself and
hold him responsible for it who yet have no ex
pectation of seeing the deliverance ever accom
plished. But the difficulty in the case is that
the body of death, the nature-force which en
slaves the will is in the soul itself, is the will
itself degraded to nature, as the apostle ex
presses it, "sold under sin." It is a body of

40 REGENERA TION.
choices, ready-made, called character which has
inserted itself between knowledge and con
science on the one hand and the will on the
other. Separating one's self from the world
does not therefore separate one from his bur
den. The burden is not the world but dead
spirit, spirit in its forms of existence and action
reduced to nature. Its actions even in at
tempts at reform are vitiated by its modes of
action. Its attempted obedience to law is only
in acts forbidden by the law. True life is
never to be expected as a product of death.
Spirit-life must be through a new spirit, i. e.,
a new kind of spirit, a spirit born of the Divine
Spirit.

CHAPTER III.
THE NEW LIFE.
THE Scriptures speak of a new life set over
against the death which has now been spoken of.
This life is the result of a spirit-birth, or a
second birth. Those who partake of the new
life are born of the spirit, or born of God.
John 3:8, 1 : 13. This birth is designated by
the following terms among others: regenera
tion, conversion, newness of life, change of
heart, change of disposition, new nature, be
gotten of the truth, born from above, received
the spirit of adoption, taught of God, entered
into life, passed from death into life, loving,
believing, enlightened. The Scriptural senti
ment is that the soul does not really live till
this second birth takes place. It is dead while
it serves the portion of humanity which lives
by the first birth. " To be carnally minded is
death," Rom. 8 : 6. One enters into life when
he is renewed by the creative spirit. The word
life is used nearly a hundred times in the New
Testament to express the state attained by this
spiritual change. The forms of representation («)

42 REGENERA TION.
vary, but the same idea pervades all the texts
in which the new life is referred to. Some
times the life is a treasure to be possessed, the
pearl of great price. " He that heareth my
word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath
everlasting life." John 5 : 24. " That they may
lay hold on eternal life (jm bvrac luijc, the
life which is life indeed), 1 Tim. 6 : 19. Some
times the life is conceived of as a state of
blessedness, independent of persons, in which
they may find rest and peace. " It is better
for thee to enter into life (the life) halt and
maimed, rather than having two hands or two
feet to be cast into everlasting fire." Matt. 18: 8.
Sometimes the life is conceived of as an inher
itance descending from the Father to his chil
dren. " And every one that hath forsaken
houses, etc., shall inherit everlasting life." Matt.
19 : 29. As being heirs together of the grace
of life. I Peter 3 : 7. Sometimes this life is
represented as a force within the man manifest
ing itself by its own inherent energy, or sus
taining itself by processes appropriate to a liv
ing being. " But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing
up into everlasting life." John 4: 14. "He that
believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."

THE NE W LIFE. 43
John 7: 38. In the following passage energy
supported by appropriate means rather than
spontaneous energy is in the mind of the
speaker. "Then Jesus said unto them, verily,
verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye
have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life ; and
I will raise him up at the last day. For my
flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink in
deed," — (true food and true drink) John 6:
53-55- We may infer that the great blessing which
God bestows upon the follower of Christ is life,
— eternal life, the life which is life indeed. It
is an object of hope, the full enjoyment of
which is to be realized in the heavenly world.
But some participation in it is possible at the
present time. The believer has already passed
from death to life. Paul lived his earthly life
by the faith of the Son of God. The present
possession of a new life was understood to be
the privilege and reward of the Christian, as
may be inferred from these words: "When
they heard these things, they held their peace,
and glorified God, saying, then hath God also
to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life."
Acts 11 : 18.

44 REGENERATION.
The change by which a new life is entered
upon is often spoken of as a change of heart ;
we can, perhaps, apprehend it as readily if we
call it a change of disposition. Spirit as well
as matter needs to be disposed in order to be
effective. The materials of which a clock is
made are the same unwrought as when so con
structed as to keep time. It is the disposition
of the parts which transforms wood and iron
and brass into an instrument that strikes off
minutes and hours and days. The difference
between Cologne Cathedral and a quarry of
rock is in the disposition which is made of the
material. In like manner spirits derive their
significance from their disposition. There is
not, indeed, a disposition of parts, for spirit is
believed to be simple in substance, but a dis
position or array of forces. Simple spirit, its
activities directed no-whither, is of no account.
It could not make itself known or felt. Spirit,
as it appears in an individual person, must tend
towards something, have a determination, be
ready to move towards a definite object when
the fit occasion occurs, or its is powerless,
worthless, out of relation with the world. The
spirit of man in its fallen state has a disposi
tion, it is a working spirit, an effective spirit.
It is possessed of a determination and we know

THE NEW LIFE. 45
well what it tends to as its goal. A general
term which will express the aim of its move
ments is worldliness. It may be that some are
given to the service of Satan, the prince of
spiritual evil, but if there are such we will let
them pass. The men whom we meet seem ab
sorbed in worldliness. They plan for pleasure,
or wealth, or power, or applause. The begin
ning and end of their movements are found in
this world. The forces of the soul are so dis
posed that the resultant of effort is a product
belonging to the life of the flesh. That they
may be children of God, there is needed a new
disposition of these forces. The be-all and end-
all should not pertain to this life. An im
mortal spirit should contemplate an immortal
destiny. A spirit in the image of God and
allied to the heavenly powers should find its
end and aim in another world and in the glory
of God. This new disposition of the forces of
the soul is only effected by a power from with
out, by the immediate power of God and is
known as the birth by the Spirit. The depend
ence of the soul upon God for the new birth is
clear in practical life, whatever may be held in
theory. The spirit acts only through its dis
position and a worldly disposition, while worldly,
would not destroy itself; if there were an-

46 REGENERA TION.
other disposition able to destroy it, it would
not require to be destroyed because it would
have been already displaced, which contradicts
our supposition. But upon this point there is
really no difference of opinion. We need re
newal, need to be transformed in the spirit and
temper of our minds, by the Spirit of God.
There is no difficulty in describing the change
of disposition which takes place in entering the
new life, but it is impossible to describe the
process by which it is effected. We can only
say it takes place through the power of God.
Christ is set before the mind in place of the
world. This opens a way for a radical change
of disposition. The interests earthly and heav
enly which are involved in the term Christ,
which he represents, form for the soul an ob
ject of attraction and pursuit which is wholly
new. The direction of the soul's movement is
changed ; it is now away from the world not
towards it; the goal or terminal point is re
moved, it is no longer on earth, this side the
termination of the fleshly life, but is placed far
onward, and invites the soul to a career to be
pursued in the eternal ages. This change of
an object of pursuit is not of itself regenera
tion. The view of that far on in the future is
possible to the worldly mind and may be made

THE NE W LIFE. 47
an object of thought, and in some sense of
desire, by those still given to worldliness. The
soul must be internally disposed to pursue the
new object set before it. Its desires must be
so changed that it will find its pleasure in Christ
and the Christlike, its will must act from such
new motives that the world will be rejected and
Christ the supreme object of affection, its views
of the good and the true and desirable must be
such as to make him the only object worthy of
full approbation and service. The change of
the soul must be such that it will have a new
nature or be new-natured, from being ill-natured
it becomes good-natured, from being worldly-
natured it becomes heavenly-natured or heav
enly-minded. There rises an alliance be
tween the soul and the object set before it as
cordial and firm as before existed between it
and the world. The adhesion of the soul to its
new Lord is not the result of struggle and the
response to duty in opposition to desire and
affection, but is an adhesion that carries heart
and soul, affection and desire with it.
How the soul is delivered from itself and
brought into this state of communion with God,
with God in Christ is not revealed. We only
know that the Spirit of God takes possession of
the spirit of man and from that time it is a

48 REGENERA TION.
new creature. It is from its transformation by
the divine power created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. But while we have no power to
observe the method of this regeneration we
may find in the Scriptures some glimpses of
the kind of force by which the Divine Spirit
takes hold of the soul and imparts to it new
sentiments. We see that sometimes at one
point, sometimes at another, he impinges upon
and overpowers the human spirit and works
upon it to will and to do according to his own
pleasure. We must here follow the Bible rep
resentations. i. The new relation of man to God, entered
upon as the second birth, is characterized by
spontaneous obedience to his will. In the nat
ural state, men are under the authority of an ex
ternal law. They hear its commands, deliberate
upon them, consult their own interests and feel
ings, then perhaps obey, perhaps disobey. On the
great and vital interests of humanity delibera
tion has been excluded and disobedience is a
state of existence into which one is born.
When the soul is regenerated it is born into a
state of alliance with the law, or rather into uni
son with the entire nature of Deity, into alliance
with a law of life of which the old law was but
a fragment. This truth is set forth in the Old

THE NEW LIFE. 49
Testament, not so minutely as in the New, but
with great positiveness and clearness. "But
this shall be the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, saith the
LORD. I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts ; and will be
their God, and they shall be my people." Jer.
31: 33. "And I will give them one heart, and I
will put a new spirit within you ; and I will take
the stony heart out of their flesh ; and will give
them a heart of flesh ; that they may walk in
my statutes and keep mine ordinances, and do
them : and they shall be my people, and I will
be their God." Ezekiel 11: 19, 20.
We have here the new life achieved. The
sovereign power of God is the source of the
change, the change itself seems not so much a
transformation as an exchange of substances, a
new put in the place of the old. But there are
other representations in which the identity of
the new and the old is maintained.
2. The salvation of the soul is sometimes con
ceived of as a healing of its diseases, or as
quickening of the soul after life is extinct, or as
a resurrection after one has been counted among
the dead. In this method of imparting divine
life the soul is represented as coming under the
immediate power of God. The healing is not

50 REGENERA TION.
effected by the aid of medicines but by the re
viving touch of the Almighty, as quicken
ing and resurrection are effected by the creative
word of Deity. The idea of diseaseand healing
is more akin to Old Testament thought, that of
new life to New Testament thought. Jehovah
says to Israel after the deliverance from Fgypt,
"I am the Lord that healeth thee." Ex. 15: 26.
Bodily diseases may have been in mind, but
probably the thought reaches beyond the phys
ical nature. In Ps. 41 : 4 we have this prayer :
"Lord, be merciful unto me ; heal my soul ; for I
have sinned against thee." In Ps. 103 : 3, are
these words: "Who forgiveth.all thine iniquities ;
who healeth all thy diseases." The better mind
and heart of God's wayward people is connected
with this promise: "I will heal yourbackslidings."
Jer. 3 : 22, 23, and Hos. 14: 4. The New Test
ament represents the salvation of the soul as a
healing. To convert and be healed would have
been the result of seeing with the eyes and
hearing with the ears, Is. 6: 10, quoted Mk.
4: 12, Mt. 13: 14, Luke 8: 10, Jn. 12: 40.
This thought must have made a deep impression
upon Christ's disciples. The salvation by
Christ is typified by the healing effected by
means of the brazen serpent. In immediate
connection with the conversation with Nicode-

THE NE W LIFE. 51
mus we have these words : Jn. 3 : 14, 15, "And
as Moses lifted up. the serpent in the wilderness
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up ; that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have everlasting life." The greater part of
our Lord's miracles seem to have been healings
of diseases. Probably this form of aiding men
most readily suggested his power to remove
sin and guilt. Sometimes' deliverance of the
soul from its ailments accompanied the cure of
the body. "And Jesus seeing their faith said
unto the sick of the palsy : Son, be of good
cheer ; thy sins be forgiven thee." Mt. 9 : 2.
3. As we advance in knowledge we feel more
and more deeply our helplessness in the spiritual
life, our dependence on divine aid. The same
truth appears in the prayers of the church.
That men are dead is more clearly stated in
the New Testament than in the old ; and is
more clearly taught in the Latin than in the
Greek theology. The language of the New
Testament very clearly teaches that man's
salvation is a life succeeding to death. His
entrance on a career of godliness is represented
both as a quickening and a resurrection. " For
as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth
them, even so the Son also quickeneth whom
he will." Jn. 5:21. God quickens those who

52 REGENERA TION.
are dead in trespasses and sins. See Eph. 2 :
4 5, Col., 2: 13, Rom. 4: 17. The word
quicken, denoting spiritual vivification is used
in the Old Testament, but not with so distinct
contrast with death as in the New. (See Ps.
71: 20, 80: 18, 119: 50). The Hebrew word
translated quicken is hiyyah the Piel of hayah.
The Greek word is froTTodu. This is the word
used in I Cor. 15: 22, where the great result
of Christ's work is set forth. " For as in Adam
all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.'
Both words mean to impart life.
4. Still more marked is the representation of
the new life as a resurrection. The apostle
Paul elaborately sets forth the rising to a new
life in two of his epistles. The follower of
Christ has died, been buried, has arisen and
lives again. These truths are affirmed and
realized in baptism. '' We were buried there
fore with him through baptism into death :
that like as Christ was raised from the dead
through the glory of the Father, so we also
might walk in newness of life." Rom. 6: 4
(Revision). We are urged to consider ourselves
alive from the dead and created anew in Christ
Jesus. Rom. 6: 3-1 1, Col. 2; 12, 13.
5. Regeneration is an illumination of the
mind. The mind is made competent to discern

THE NEW LIFE. 53
spiritual truth. One of the tokens of conver
sion is seeing things differently. Recent con
verts often express surprise that they have not
before seen religious truth in the light in which
it now appears. They suppose they can pre
sent it so clearly that any one who hears will
accept, but soon find that their own demonstra
tions are of little effect. In the new life there
are new standards of judgment established,
new standards of the desirable and the beauti
ful. Merely argumentative demonstration is
powerless unless the old standards are set aside.
It is a change in the person that gives a differ
ent aspect to truth, not a new force in the truth.
Men in their natural state are alienated from
God and their attitude affects their views, of
him. They are prejudiced in mind, their
appreciation of the divine excellences is partial
and distorted. They impute harsh and heart
less qualities to the divine nature because they
view God with discolored and distorted vision.
When man becomes a child of God those traits
which are at discord with the divine nature are
transformed and the soul is brought into har
mony and sympathy with it. The intellect
brought into affinity and alliance with the
spirit of God apprehends the truth as it is.
This method of describing regeneration finds

54 REGENERA TION.
abundant support in the Scriptures. " For
God who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in
the face of Jesus Christ." II Cor. 4:6. "Who
soever sinneth hath not seen him nor known
him." I Jn. 3 : 6. "And this is eternal life,
that they may know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." Jn.
17: 3. This light which is a spiritual under
standing of the truth, is an immediate gift of
God. " I thank thee, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these
things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes." Mt. 11 : 25.
Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold won
drous things out of thy law." Ps. 119 : 18.
The illumination which institutes the new
life, — the application of regeneration to the cog
nitive faculties, — results in new experimental
knowledge and new powers of spiritual intuition.
Our Lord says : "If any man willeth to do his
will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it
be of God, or whether I speak of myself." Jn.
7: 17. One's personal consciousness thus be
comes a source of new knowledge. Much of
Christian knowledge is of this kind. The chil
dren of God have assurances which are the

THE NEW LIFE. 55

testimony of the Divine Spirit with their spirits.
Such assurance is no demonstration to the
world, but to its possessor is a firm and confi
dent conviction. Preachers sometimes have
Saturday assurances ; earnest Christians become
confident of their own salvation, confident that
their requests in prayer will be .granted.
Knowledge of this kind may be associated with
fanatical assumptions, but is not to be rejected
on that account. It is a clear and most satis
factory kind of knowledge. This regenerative
illumination also opens the way to higher in
tuitions. The removal of prejudices, false stand
ards of judgment and perverted tastes is some
times spoken of as opening blind eyes, unstop
ping deaf ears, removing a heart of stone. This
knowledge of intuition is set forth in such
words as these : " The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are
foolishness unto him, neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned." i Cor.
2 : 14. Christ said to his disciples, setting them
in contrast with the men of the world : "It is
given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given."
Mt. 13: 11. Paul says to the Christians at
Colosse : "Ye have put on the njew man, which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of

56 REGENERA TION.
Him that created him.'' Col. 3 : 10. Edwards,
in his treatise on the Religious Affections, says:
"Spiritual understanding consists in a sense of
the heart of supreme beauty and sweetness of
the holiness or moral perfection of divine things,
together with all that discerning and knowledge
of things of religion, that depends upon and
flows from such a sense." In his sermon on the
reality of spiritual light he says : "This light,
and this only-, will bring the soul to a saving
close with Christ. It conforms the heart to the
gospel, mortifies its enmity and opposition
against the sch ;me of salvation therein revealed ;
it causes the heart to embrace the joyful tid
ings, and entirely adhere to, acquiesce in, the
revelation of Christ as our Saviour ; it causes the
whole soul to accord and symphonize with it,
admitting it with entire credit and respect,
cleaving to it with full inclination and affection."
6. Entering on the new life takes place at the
call of God. Theologians formerly treated of
regeneration under the general head of voca
tion. They had in mind a call of peculiar
power by which the soul was so summoned to
enter the kingdom of God as to obey. The
word is not used exclusively in this sense. It
often includes a summons which is not obeyed.
" For many are called but few chosen." Mt.

THE NEW LIFE. 57
22 : 14. It is necessary, therefore, to qualify
the word if it is to be used to designate regen
erating power. It has, accordingly, been termed
the gra-cious call, the effectual call, the call
according to God's purpose, the internal call.
Paul speaks of two acts of God by which he
was prepared for the ministry, — separation,
which took place at birth, and a call by grace,
which must have been the call received on the
way to Damascus. Effectual call has been
used as a synonym of special grace,- — an ex
pression used in contrast with common grace.
This internal call not only addresses the intel
lect but persuades it and moves the will. It is
an effectual call. Its distinguishing character
istic is that it changes the ultimate inclination
of the will by working upon it directly, or, as
some psychologists would state it, upon the
emotive powers that govern the will. This
operative force is the special grace which in
heres in the call. The power of the Holy Spirit
over the will is constituted a call by the effect
which it produces on the soul. The soul is
called to God and obeys because the principle
of opposition, — its beginning-point, hence the
power of opposition, — is taken away. The
will is not destroyed — is not paralyzed by the
call, but guided in its action. " Work out your

5S REGENERA TION.
own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is
God which worketh in you both to will and to
do of his good pleasure.' Phil. 2 : 12,13. The
action of the will, or of the man under the call
and in response to it is designated conversion.
The call is a drawing into the kingdom of God
and the response is a pressing into the kingdom.
The one called effectually is a man drawn
rather than addressed, a man chosen of God,
on whom he lays his hand, whom he takes
to himself, yet draws by forces and in ways
wholly accordant with human activities. Em
mons sets common grace and special grace in
contrast thus : " But since sinners are unwill
ing to be saved, when they see their danger
and feel their guilt, and when the salvation
by Christ is clearly pointed out no moral
suasion or objective light can have the least
tendency to make them willing. Though
the gradual exhibition of objective light may
gradually expel the darkness of their under
standing, yet nothing can remove their per
verse opposition to light itself but the instanta
neous and powerful operation of the divine
Spirit upon their hearts." The peculiar power
of converting grace in addition to the spoken
word is implied in 1 Thesa. 1:5. " For our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but

THE NEW LIFE. 69
also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in
much assurance."
7. Regeneration is the production of faith in
the soul by the work of the Holy Ghost ; more
strictly, we might say, is the production of that
part of faith which belongs to the will. True
faith is practical. The reply in the Westmin
ster Shorter Catechism to the question, "What
is faith? " is, " Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving
grace whereby we receive and rest upon him
alone for salvation, as he is offered to us in the
gospel." This attitude of repose in Christ is
indispensable to true faith, the lack of it is un
belief. The want of faith is not disbelief ; the
demonstration of the truth before the intellect
may be too clear for that, but is unbelief, an
aversion to the truth, an opposition of senti
ment against it, an unwillingness to submit to
it. It is associated with coldness of feeling and
hardness of heart. "Take heed, brethren, lest
there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief
in departing from the living God." Heb. 3 : 12.
The essence of unbelief is the implication
that God is not to be trusted with human inter
ests. It is a most offensive vice. "And he did
not many mighty works there because of their
unbelief. Mt. 13: 58. This unbelief, the sin of
Eve in the Garden when she accepted the words

60 REGENERA TION.
of the serpent, " Thou shalt not surely die," is
removed by the Holy Spirit in regeneration.
The renewed man then cleaves to God instead
of turning from him to the world.
Faith is often spoken of as if it were an act
of man rather than a work of God, but as a
state of the soul, not an intellectual conviction,
it is a state in which God places the soul. This
will appear more clearly if we contrast the
worldly and the Christian faith. The faith of
the worldly man is faith in self, i. e., in human na
ture, i. e., in Adam as he lives anew and is trans
mitted in the generations which follow each oth
er. Every man feels within himself that he
can acquire happiness, blessedness, in this world.
He labors for its wealth and pleasure and is con
fident of satisfaction in them. When God
changes his reliance upon the world to reliance
upon a divine support, the man takes Jesus
Christ as the proper object of his faith. Christ
takes the place of Adam in this trust and reli
ance. The renewed soul looks to its new Mas
ter for its peace and blessedness. The faith
thus wrought in the heart is given in the spirit-
birth as trust in the old Adam comes with the
natural birth.
8. Regeneration is that act of Goa by which
he produces love in the heart of man. Love is

THE NE W LIFE. 61
affection for and attachment to a person. Chris
tian love is affection for Christ, and implies that
will-portion of faith which has been spoken of.
The Apostle John dwells with a peculiar rap
ture upon this view of regeneration: "Every
one that loveth is born of God and knoweth
God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God ;
for God is love." I Jn. 4 : 7, 8. There are
many kinds of love, there is much sinful love.
Still the truest and highest exercise of human
powier is love ; — love of God and of the godly.
This is the love which the apostle had in mind.
"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that he loved us." The thought is, our love is
a response to, a reflection of God's love. "WTe
love him because he first loved us." The
ground and consummation of the religious life
is set forth in these words : "God is love, and he
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God
in him." 1 Jn. 4: 7-21. God is a personal
being, and when it is said that he is love, the
meaning is, it is his nature to love, or love is
the spontaneous expression of himself. The
word lover is connected in thought and in liter
ature with sentimental and romantic love, oth
erwise we might use the expression, "God is
love" as the equivalent of "God is the Lover."
He has assumed this relation to his people in

62 REGENERA TION.
representing himself as the husband of his peo
ple. Under the Old Covenant the people of
God were bound to him by the allegiance of a
wife to her husband. The church is known as
the bride of Christ, the wife of the Lamb. " Hus
bands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the church, and gave himself for it, that he
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing
of water by the word, that he might present it
to himself a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that
it should be holy and without blemish." Eph.
5 : 25-27. The human lover is attracted to
a woman whose qualities he admires ; wins ¦
her affection, takes her to his home and re
joices over his bride. The Heavenly Bride
groom is attracted to the bride not by the qual
ities she has, but which she is to have through
the creative energy of the love which he be
stows. As a friend and Saviour he attracts con
fidence and wins love. One by one his people
love him because he first loved them. Not one
admires him till he opens the eye, not one loves
till he touches the heart; but when he is seen in
his beauty he is altogether lovely. The church
is one mystical person devoting herself to her
Lord with absolute and adoring loyalty ; Christ's
love will be a sanctifying power of irresistible

THE NEW LIFE. 63

energy, and he will present the bride to himself
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
9- Regeneration may be described as partak
ing of the divine nature. There is a union and
partnership between God and man in which
the human is brought into accord with the
divine. If we might coin a word *for the pur
pose we might say the human soul is theized,
and not simply by association but by co-respon
sive operations. There is the assertion that
on certain conditions the Father and the Son
will take up their abode with the friend of
Christ. There is also a command to men to
work out their salvation, for God works in them
to will and to do. Here the divine will pene
trates and actuates, yet leaves free, the hu
man will. And as we ascribe the prevailing
will of the universe to the Father we may
assume that here is the realization of the prom
ised abiding in the heart. The Son comes into
more open relations to the soul. He repre
sents himself as the bread which came down from
heaven, and says : " He that eateth me, even
he shall live by me ; " and he says again :
" Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man,
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you."
This reception of the Son of God is still more
amply set forth in the communion supper.

64 REGENERATION.
The bread is one and eaten by all to show that
all live by one vitalizing force imparted by
Jesus Christ. We are to eat the bread as dis
cerning the Lord's body. The risen and glori
fied body of Christ is a kind of expanding and
diffusive force which leavens so much of hu
manity as receives it and transforms it to itself.
However much of figure there may be here,
the idea of an intimate unison between Christ
and the man, in which the divine gives charac
ter to the human, cannot be doubted. We
have Christ ; we have his mind, we are members
of his flesh and of his bones. The church is
his body and lives because he lives.
Like the Father and the Son, the Holy
Spirit dwells in the believer and gives the
character to his thoughts and prayers. The
world cannot receive him, cannot see him,
cannot know him, but he is known to the dis
ciple of Christ for he dwells with him and is in
him. And the spirit not only makes himself
known, but informs the disciple of his divine
sonship, helps his infirmities, delivers him from
the bondage of fear and becomes the spirit of
adoption, seals and completes the adoption, so
that we cry, Abba, Father. Thus the Divine
Trinity imparts itself to the chosen humanity
and rescues it from the corruption of the world,

THE NE W LIFE. 65
giving it a place in the household of God. The
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost combine to im
part a heavenly life to the followers of Christ.
It will be of interest to notice a few state
ments concerning the method of regeneration by
authors who have given attention to this sub
ject. Anderson. " The change of regeneration be
ing mental, it is effected, not on the faculties of
the understanding, but on the passions and affec
tions of the will." 28. " No new passion is super
added : " " It is the old love of the heart newly
directed!' 40. " The change of heart in regen
eration is produced by a previous change of
judgment." 92. " The word of God is a seed
which impregnates the soul." 98. "There is no
speculative faith ; faith is a simple act and
always regenerates." 100. " Believe in your
own need, in Christ as a Saviour, and that you
are welcomed, and your regeneration is certain."
1 16. " No regeneration without the Holy Spirit,
but the word is from the Spirit." 128. "The
Holy Spirit produces the favorable circum
stances." 131. "There is no holy disposition
preceding the truth, to prepare it to relish the
truth," etc. 1 56. " The spirit causes the truth to
be believed by a direct operation on the mind
in opposition to prejudices, aversions," etc. 160.

66 REGENERA TION.
" The unregenerate responsible because help is
waiting to be prayerfully applied for." 163.
" Prayer is answered if conscientiously uttered,
though answered for Christ's sake." 165.
Turrettin. " Conversion habitual or passive
is effected by an infusion from the Holy Spirit
of spiritual habits." Though the Holy Spirit
does not act without the word, yet He acts
immediately on the soul, so that vocation nec
essarily assigns (sortiatur) its own effect.
Tom. II, 460, 3.
Finney. " Regeneration is nothing else than
the will being duly influenced by the truth."
The Holy Spirit presents the truth to the mind
in a passive state ; this is no part of regenera
tion, but induces it. 289.
Charnock. " From the foregoing considera
tions it is fully proved that man in all his
capacities, is too weak to produce in himself the
work of regeneration ; therefore God alone is
the prime efficient cause of this glorious work."
Shedd. " Man is passive in regeneration.
He cannot actively originate spiritual life. His
relation to regeneration is that of a recipient.
In this instant when the new life is. imparted,
the activity is solely that of God the Holy
Ghost." II, 501.
Dr. Charles Hodge. " Regeneration itself,

THE NE W LIFE. 67
the infusion of a new life into the soul, is the
immediate work of the Spirit." II. 685. " The
assertion that regeneration is an act of God's
omnipotence, is, and is intended to be, a denial
that it is an act of moral suasion. It is an
affirmation that it is " physical " in the old
sense of that word, as opposed to moral ; and
that it is immediate, as opposed to mediate,
or through or by the truth." Ill, 31.
Prof. H. B. Smith. " The term regeneration,
in its strictest sense, may be said to signify or
have reference to an instantaneous act, an act
of the Holy Spirit in a moment of time, where
by the soul is renewed, changed from the love
of sin to the love of holiness. Regeneration
includes, and in a Christian sense cannot be
used without reference to, the relation to
Christ, to the union of the soul by faith to
Christ. The union with Christ is vital, and is
what constitutes the new life." Syst. Theol.
558, 9-
Van Oosterzee. " The nature of a true con
version is apparent from the different descrip
tions and images, under which it is presented
in Holy Scripture, viewed in the light of the
reality of spiritual experience. From regener
ation conversion is only distinguished in form:
it is the same thing, conceived there on the

68 REGENERA TION.
Divine side, here on the human ; men must be
born again by God, but they must themselves
repent, though this be by the aid of a higher
power. That this latter is not effected in all in
the same manner, is evident." 645, 6.
Dorner. " Christianity has completed but
one work — atonement, which through justifica
tion is made completely, not merely partially,
man's own possession. Everything else, like
regeneration, sanctification and glorification, is
still left incomplete, nothing but the certainly
efficacious principle of these being implanted
in humanity." He makes regeneration the
faith which appropriates justification. "Faith
is an inner movement of the entire soul to
Christ." " The Spirit of God restores to man
his freedom, regeneration fixes the freedom as
real freedom, leaves it no longer a vacillating
power." IV, 186-230.
Calvin. "Repentance consists of two parts — ¦
the mortification of the flesh and the vivifica
tion of the spirit. Both these branches of re
pentance are effects of our participation of
Christ. In one word, I apprehend repentance
to be regeneration, the end of which is the res
toration of the divine image within us ; which
was defaced, and almost obliterated by the
transgression of Adam. Whomsoever God

THE NE W LIFE. 69
chooses to rescue from destruction, them he
vivifies by the spirit or regeneration." Inst.
HI, 3.
Dr. Samuel Hopkins. "The divine agency
and operation, which is first, and lays the foun
dation for all right views and exercises in the
person who is the subject, is called by divines
regeneration. The holy views and exercises of
the subject, in which he receives Christ, or be
lieves on his name, is called conversion, and
sometimes active conversion, to distinguish it
from that previous operation and change
wrought by the Spirit of God, in which God is
the only agent, and man, the subject, does not
act, but is perfectly passive." Ill, 546.
Archbishop Leighton. " Now whether you
call this renovation or change of the mind, re
pentance, or divine love, it makes no difference ;
for all these, and. indeed, all the Christian graces
in general, are at bottom, one and the same,
and, taken together, constitute what we may
call the health and vigor of the mind. But
whatever name it is conveyed by, the change
itself is effected by the right hand of the Most
High." Works, 687.

CHAPTER IV.
Regeneration a Fact.
While we are unable to trace the working of
the Spirit of God in the transformation of the
heart, we are able to trace the results of the
work. So vital a change as that said to be pro
duced by the spirit-birth surely ought to make
itself known : we believe it is known through
clear and unmistakable effects. From the na
ture of the case, however, doubts on this point
may be plausibly stated and ingeniously main
tained. Regeneration passes slowly into pub
lic life, and moral reforms may produce many
of the effects ascribed to it. Still there is a
regenerate life which cannot be counterfeited.
It is common to refer to changes of personal
character as evidence of implanted grace, and the
evidence is on the whole unimpeachable. The
Apostle Paul was by nature a Puritan, and one
more ready to censure himself than any one
else. But notwithstanding this self-criticism he
claimed for himself a splendid Pharisaic right
eousness. This merit, however, he counted loss
for Christ. His acquaintance with his Lord and
(70)

REGENERATION A FACT. 71
acceptance of his authority, absolutely reversed
his course of conduct. He considered himself
nothing except as Christ controlled him and
formed his character. It may be said that others
have been transformed as thoroughly as he, and
that without resorting to a superhuman cause
for explanation. A strong will, it is said, or
some strong desire, has at times overcome the
bent of nature. But Paul believed that it was
not his own will or desire that moved him, and
on this he is a good witness. He believed that
God revealed his Son in him that he might
preach him among the Gentiles. If some
should say, in this he was deluded by his own
excitable and imaginative temper, it can be
replied that there is no proof of it, and the
assumption is purely gratuitous. But it is not
necessary to discuss the Apostle's character
or defend his opinions. Let each one judge of
him as the facts require.
Augustine is another character often referred
to as furnishing marked evidence of renewal of
the Spirit of God. He was a perfect contrast
to Paul in native character. He was a voluptu
ary, fond of display, heedless of consequences,
as lawless as Paul was strict. But he overcame
his passions and his pride through prayer and
divine aid. He, too counted the things which

72 REGENERA TION.
had been gain to him loss for the excellency of
Christ Jesus his Lord. It may be, some
will say that he, like Paul, in his uncontrolled
enthusiasm, saw a divine cause where only a
human cause was demanded. It is in any case,
certain that his character was transformed from
profligacy to sanctity. He thought, others
thought, the change was due to the work of God
on the heart. But extreme cases do not best
illustrate the matter before us. Men of heroic
mould, or men so before the world as to be im
pelled to heroic deeds, do not best set forth
truths of general import, truths as really illus
trated in the humblest as in the most exalted
life. There have been avaricious men so moved
in view of the wants of those for whom Christ
died that they have given of their possessions
year by year, and with pleasure, to aid the
neglected to a knowledge of the truth ; there
have been obscure but pleasure-loving men who
have taken up the cross and followed Christ ;
there have been wronged and misunderstood
men who have borne reproach for the love of
Christ ; there have been those who had no
¦ thought that their deeds would be chronicled,
who have kept the faith steadfast unto death
in honor of the Lord ; men of calmest minds and
soberest judgment have in times of trial said,

REGENERATION A FACT. 73
"Here we stand; we must testify to that which
we know." It is from such witnesses that the
testimony to the transforming power of grace
comes. And the sound of their voices comes
up like the sound of many waters from all quar
ters of the earth. There is no question that
this innumerable company believe themselves
to have been renewed in heart by the regener
ating power of the Holy Ghost. If any should
still hold that this is a delusion, though hon-
estly entertained, the retort of the apostle will
be of at least equal force. " But the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God ; for they are foolishness unto him ; neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all
things." There is evidence of the regenerating power
of the Spirit of God afforded by broader and
larger views than any connected with individual
experiences. Ideas have been introduced into
the world by the Christian religion which tes
tify to a new element in human life. Symonds,
writing of the Renaissance,1 says : The fine
arts " had, before all things, to give form to the
ideas evolved by Christianity, and to embody
1 Renaissance in Italy. The Fine Arts, 6.

74 REGENERA TION.
a class of emotions unknown to the ancients."
This was the problem set before artists at
the opening of modern civilization. They
were to provide forms of beauty for the Chris
tian sentiments profoundly apprehended but
crudely expressed in the schools and cloisters
of the Middle Ages. The artists gave atten
tion to some of the results of Christian doc
trines rather than the doctrines themselves ;
but the fruits and flowers of truths which they
cherished are evidence of the reality of the
truths themselves. We notice now the ele
mentary doctrines rather than the forms of
beauty. I. One of the ideas that has made a perma
nent lodgement in the human mind because
of regeneration is that God is man's only
authoritative judge. If he has renewed the
soul, put his law in the heart, brought it into
a state of obedience to his will, then we
are not to be condemned, indeed not to be
justified, without an appeal to him. Each act
is to be referred to him, his decision is final
with us. The mass of Christians live looking
to the disclosure of the final day. It is a
small thing to be judged by man's judgment.
The one suspected by his fellows, at times
despondent himself, will in his heart say to

REGENERA TION A FACT. 75
Christ, "Thou knowest that I love thee." The
whole of human life is raised by this sentiment
above the earth and linked by its chief inter
ests to another world.
2. Another of the ideas of regenerate human
ity is the expectation of fellowship with Christ.
If he has redeemed us and renewed us, so that
we shall be fitted for his dwelling-place, then
he will doubtless come and take us to himself.
The attitude of waiting and expectation has
characterized the followers of Christ from the
days of the Apostles. " Looking for that
blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
Titus 2: 13. This longing to be with Christ
is a sentiment of the redeemed soul ; it belongs
to Paul not to Cesar; it is the aspiration of
John, not of Annas and Caiaphas. There is no
full and discriminating view of Christ that is
attractive to the natural heart : it is the Christ
within us that reaches out to the Christ in
heaven. 3. Another of the Christian ideas established
by regeneration, is the substantiality of faith.
" Faith is the substance of the things hoped
for." There are different degrees of faith, and
it may have saving power while it is still falter
ing. It is the combined product of the intel-

76 REGENERA TION.
lect and the heart. How much from the heart
must enter into the composite sentiment to
render it the means of our justification cannot
be definitely stated, but there must be some
degree of personal reliance. Faith, however
does not stand complete when it is simply ac
cepted for righteousness. It becomes a sub
stance, the underlying material in which qual
ities inhere. As we hold to a substance in
which the qualities of a block of granite inhere
a base which is hard and colored and of a cer
tain form, friable, incompressible, etc., so we
hold concerning the redeemed, that they are
under God's care, that he will judge them here
after, that he will reward the righteous and pun
ish the wicked, that he will gather in one the
followers of Christ and bestow upon them the
joys of salvation. These items, taken one by one,
are fragmentary, open to question, apparently
vague surmises. But the regenerate man has
experiences which give these doctrines form
and connection one with another, and, finally
they combine in a unit, and with other doctrines
form a scheme or system of truth which he
calls his faith. His faith is the substance in
which they inhere. He comes to believe them
as doctrines not open to question, and as attri
butes of the faith which God has given him and

REGENERATION A FACT. 77
on which he rests. So firm is this foundation,
the Christian faith of the redeemed, that many
have considered it the best established reality
entering into our human life. Many have ac
tually found their warrant for believing in the
reality of the earth, of physical nature, in their
Christian faith. It is no difficult thing to
argue with plausibility that outer nature is a
delusion, that the forms of things are but
shadows, that sounds have their birth in the
ear, that all about us is such stuff as dreams
are made of ; but the Christian thinker says
that the renewal of his heart is a fact, and from
this fact he starts in his scheme of philosophy
as well as of theology. It cannot be doubted
by any one that the chief corner-stone of phi
losophy, — a philosophy rising above crude sci
ence, — is the existence of God. And no one
has better assurance of the divine existence
than he whose heart has been created anew.
It is therefore true, that not only the church
but the world, finds a support of its doctrines
in the faith communicated to the saints.
4. Another of the realities introduced into
Christian life by regeneration is brought to
view in the assertion of the Apostle Paul,
(Rom. 1: 14): "I am a debtor both to the
Greeks, and to the Barbarians ; both to the wise,

78 REGENERA TION.
and to the unwise." A fundamental doctrine
of Christianity is the communion of saints.
The followers of Christ are brethren ; they
belong to one family and have a common in
heritance. The riches of grace — i. e., the hopes
of the Christian, his assurances, his privilege of
prayer, his peace, his fellowship, his reception
of the Holy Ghost, — are the property of the
household of God. The revelations, the vis
ions, the convictions may come through one,
but the gift is for all ; to hoard would be to
nullify ; " It is more blessed to give than to
receive." But when any fail to receive these
gifts, it becomes the duty of those who pos
sess to bestow upon those who lack. Christ
died for all ; if any are incapable of receiving
the benefits of his death for lack of the spirit-
birth and the spiritual suceptibility, those
who serve the Divine Master are under bonds
to open to them the way of the spirit-birth
and to offer them the grace of God. Paul was
a Steward of that grace ; it was not his to retain ;
it ceases to be grace if it remain inactive ; it
was his to communicate, and he would have
been unfaithful to his calling if he had not
made the proffer of salvation to those for whom
Christ died. Hence he was literally a debtor
to the heathen world. Here is a demonstra-

REGENERATION A FACT. 79
tion, if this statement is true, of the realness
and substantiality of the new life. It opens
new susceptibilities ; it creates new wealth ; it
puts in office stewards, and clerks, and account
ants, and establishes a system of debt and
credit in the realm of spirit life.
5. Another of the ideas made real by the fact
of regeneration is the incarnation. It is only re
newed humanity that has maintained a full and
clear doctrine of the incarnation. The ancient
heathens held, indeed, to incarnations of their
gods, but had no fair and consistent view that
any deity had become human flesh. The god
had wings or became invisible at will ; was im
mortal or destroyed only by the annihilating
power of a mightier god. But Christianity
traces a divine life from birth to death, and finds
it spotless at each step. By this means Chris
tianity maintains a realism of the body to
gether with its possible sinlessness, — a doctrine
midway between Manicheism and a docetic
spiritism. It holds that in the experience o
the same person, a life of growth and decay is
consistent with the highest and mightiest
forces of spirit life. This doctrine does not
accord with our natural feelings ; it would to
the unrenewed mind seem a contradiction.
The heathen would consider the very assertion

80 REGENERA TION.
of growth and decay, a denial of divinity. The
sentiment requires such an absorption of the
material into the spiritual as is inconceivable
to the mind unsanctified. The mind most
richly endowed and most thoroughly sanctified
feels itself incompetent to picture the physical
form of the flesh partaking of the divine per
sonality, and makes little attempt to portray
the bodily features of the divine man. Art has
been fascinated by the Mother of our Lord,
but has seldom been bold enough to attempt
his portraiture. Most of the likenesses of
him betray a sameness that evidences imita
tion and timidity. Human genius has felt it
self limited to the Madonna and the Child.
But the reveling of art over these personalities
proves that the faith of the church adheres
firmly to the divine humanity.
6. The fact of regeneration, — the truth that
there is a spirit-birth by which one enters on a
new life, — is attested by the contrast between
Christian morals and secular morals. The mor
als of a worldy life and of a Christian life are, to a
great extent, the same, but the schemes of mor
als in the two departments differ. Philosophy
is not able to furnish a basis on which human
morals may be exhaustively arranged in a
scientific form. The Christian can lay down a

REGENERATION A FACT. 81
principle of action by which all of moral con
duct may be tested. Mr. Martineau has treated
of no less than seven types of ethical theory.
The number of theories might be made much
larger. We may, indeed, say that all moral con
duct takes the form of duty, and is enforced by
the conscience, but the conscience furnishes no
law by which the entire conduct of man is to be
guided ; it is obliged to resort to different rules
in different departments of man's activity, and
to enforce as its own demand that which is pre
viously demanded by. some other authority.
The morals of society go before any theory —
are the prompting of the active powers of nature
and never originate in the law by which they
are judged. They are primarily the customs of
men and society, as the name imports. Con
science selects and approves of certain customs,
others it condemns. It has, however, no prin
ciple by which it can create or, to a great ex
tent, regulate customs. There may be customs
— many of them — which are tolerated by con
science because they are duly established,
which it would discountenance if they had not
already acquired a standing. Conscience would
not enforce with any original authority the ob
servance of the birthday of a king as a day of
festivity, or the observance of the day of a na-

82 REGENERA TION.
tion's independence as a day of civic and mili
tary celebration ; but when their observance
has entered into a nation's morals, it may very
well insist upon the continuance of the practice.
There are certain relations in life which fur
nish their own law of moral conduct ; conscience
must accept the law and the items of conduct
must be accepted as so much entitled to a place
in the accumulating morals of mankind. It is
supposable that a father might impose duties
on a son which the son would reject as not du
ties if they came from another source. An in
dolent and intemperate vagabond might be re
jected from a home of virtue and industry and
thrown out to be supported by public charity.
But a son would not be justified in turning
his own father out of doors, even if he were a
vagabond. There are many relations in life
which in like manner create or give form to
duties which must be accepted as portions
of human morals, which yet do not fall
under a priori theories of morals. Domestic
life, social life, family traditions, inherited friend
ships all impose duties, and yet are accidental
— not of the essence of humanity. Sometimes
they exist, sometimes they are wanting, and
when they exist are not of one type. There
cannot, therefore, be a basis of morals which will

RE GENERA TION A FACT. 83
involve these items and combine them with
other duties in a scientific classification.
Reference to different principles which afford
each its own point of view from which morals
may be surveyed, and each an independent
standard by which they are to be tested, will
show that a complete science of morals embrac
ing all as a unit is impossible. There are mor
als based on intuitive truths, such as the univer
sal claims of justice, the universal propriety of
gratitude in response to kindnesses; there are
moral considerations connected with one's in
tentions when perhaps the wrong deed has been
performed ; there are deeds that acquire an eth
ical quality from their utility; certain self-denials
would be wrong if they would do no good, as a
life among the Esquimaux ; certain deeds, again,
demand attention and performance with divine
authority, because they are expedient. An in
nocent man, suspected of a great crime, may
not be under obligation to exculpate himself
because of his own guilt, yet may feel it an im
perious duty to allay public excitement by dis
closing facts which, under other circumstances,
it were better to keep secret. Sympathy
also has its influence in the moral world. It
may be almost at war with expediency and
utility, and may set aside duties that, but for

84 REGENERA TION.
it, would be imperious. The moral require
ments it enforces may prevail over others so
that they all consist together in harmony, yet
they cannot all flow from the same source. A
seHse of propriety would also furnish the basis
of many moral duties, yet not of the more
serious and awe-inspiring duties that come up
from the depth of one's nature. It has been
the fashion sometimes to find the sum of all
virtue in love, but the attempt has never been
wholly successful, and has not been at all suc
cessful except the- love be that of the regener
ate heart. There is a sinful as well as a holy
love ; the love of money or the love of pre-em
inence has no claim to be the basis of the moral
system. While secular morals are thus dependent
upon circumstances and vary with the times,
while they modify each other and at times con
tend in unsettled strife, the Christian can take
them all up into a higher life and assign to each
its place. They do not receive a scientific or
ganization at his hands, but they fall into place
as Christian duties and Christian graces. He
who is born of the Spirit has entered the family
of God ; in this family perfect loyalty prevails,
the might of the Divine Spirit is such, that
those who have passed through the transforma-

REGENERA TION A FACT. 85
tion which he works are of kin to each other and
to God. They form a sacred society which is
through and through of one mind and heart.
The great dominant trait of each is love to God,
the one law that controls all is the will of God.
Since the will of God is the divine creative en
ergy which has gone forth and formed the uni
verse of being and the energy which now pre
serves the world and in providence orders its
affairs, obedience to that will is the discharge of
human duties. The soul born of the Spirit has
a new name and a new life, and if it does
not perform new works, its works are
made new by being transfigured and glorified
in an absorption into processes going forth from
the throne of God. The state of the soul uni
ted to the Spirit is sometimes described as the
attitude of benevolence, the love of being in
general, sometimes as a state of sympathy with
the end for which God made the world, but it
may be better conceived as a state of constant
dependence on God, of unceasing commun'ion
with, and direction from, the Holy Ghost. So
far as man's soul is brought into coincidence
with the Spirit of God human duties are dis
charged spontaneously and the consequent
traits of character, known in ethical language as
virtues, are called fruits of the Spirit. President

86 REGENERA TION.
Edwards says : "The graces of Christianity are
all from the same spirit of Christ sent forth
into the heart and dwelling there as a holy, and
powerful, and divine nature ; and therefore all
graces are only different ways of acting on the
part of the same divine nature ; as there may be
different reflections of the light of the sun ; and
yet all in origin of the same kind of light, be
cause it all comes from the same source or body
of light. Grace in the soul is the Holy Spirit
acting in the soul, and thus communicating his
own holy nature. As it is with water in the
fountain, so here it is all one and the same holy
nature, only diversified by the variety of
streams sent forth from it. These streams must
all be of the same nature, seeing they all thus
come from the same source, and the difference
of many of them whereby they have different'
names, is chiefly relative, and more from refer
ence to their various objects and modes of ex
ercise than from a real difference in their ab
stract nature.1 1 Christian Love, 397.

CHAPTER V.
AUTHOR OF REGENERATION.
God is the sole author of regeneration.
This is taught in the Scriptures and is easily
proved from the nature of the work. When
God works in men to will and to do of
his good pleasure they are enabled to work
out their own salvation. In turning from the
world to the service of God man is active ; he
turns in the exercise of his own energy ; this is
his conversion, but he turns because it is a
pleasure to him to do so. He acts, to use
Edwards's language, in accordance with the
strongest motive when he turns ; his choice is
as the greatest apparent good. Heretofore
choices of this kind have kept him in the ser
vice of the world. He has followed pleasure
because it was the greatest apparent good, or
pursued wealth because it was the greatest
apparent good, now he serves God because
that is the greatest apparent good. The
change in the apparent good is due to a change
in the man not a change in the objects of pur
suit, and the change is so radical, that it must
be traced to a power without the man. He
(87)

88 REGENERA TION.
had no elements within out of which his new
views have grown. The change within the
soul is the work of God and is regeneration.
The person who can make choices so wholly
new must be a new creature. The preference
of God above all other good is the preference
of a heart, as that word is used in the Scrip
tures, not before within the man. It is now
within because God has put it within. This
change is a work wrought by the almighty
power of God. No one can devise means by
which it may be wrought. A friend may
waken new emotions by entreaty ; truth may
be stated with new clearness, but these do not
affect soul affinities ; aversion to God remains
aversion still. When this aversion becomes
affection for and longing towards God the
quality of the heart must be changed. This
change of quality is the work of infinite skill
and of a perfect knowledge of human nature.
We are not to associate it with violence or dis
play of force, but with a subtle power that takes
away the love of the world and, unobserved at
the moment, infuses the love of God. It is a
power which robs the will of its motive to
rebel against its rightful Ruler and makes it
obedient to the motives of godliness. When
this change in the heart has taken place the

A UTHOR OF REGENERA TION. 89
soul has a new principle of action and turns
naturally into a new course of conduct. Con
version is the prompt and inevitable result of
regeneration. The Bible states this same truth, the divine
authorship of regeneration, in many ways. It
describes regeneration as a birth of the spirit,
a birth by the will of God, a renewal by the
Holy Ghost, a life by the words of Christ, a life
by eating the flesh of Christ, a transformation, a
resurrection, a quickening, a creation. The
terms which designate a change of heart all
express a work which only God can perform.
The nature of the change in regeneration and
the Scripture terms describing it warrant us
in ascribing it to an immediate divine act. We
certainly are not conversant with any means
by which it can be effected. We know of
no means except persuasion by which change
in human purpose and conduct is produced,
and in this case the change is not one
which persuasion even tends1 to effect. If
one is born from above the means of the new
life are not earthly. If one loves that which
he before hated, the reason is the soul has a
new relish or a new affinity, the love is not in
obedience to a command but a response to
that without which is attractive and lovely.

90 REGENERA TION.
If regeneration is an illumination of the mind
then the mind sees and judges in accordance
with new standards. There is no new object
before the mind, but a new estimation is put
upon the objects under consideration. If re
generation is faith, then the faith is a disposition
to rest on the scheme of salvation as a substance ;
and its firm reality, its power to support the
soul, is known because of an assurance in the
heart of the goodness of God which is at once
an illumination of the mind and a love of him
who first loved us.
The need of God's power in regeneration
is obvious from the nature of human sinful
ness. Sin comes to view in deeds which grow
out of the natural inherited state. The
promptings of a nature lead us to self-seeking,
to disregard of the rights of others, to rejection
of God's authority. No one can tell where
the movement begins which leads to these
results. The results are often reached before
we are aware of it ; the process by which we
are led to them is, to a great extent, unnoticed ;
we have no thought of connecting moral char
acter with it, and the initiation of the move
ment takes place in the operations of nature
passing in unconsciousness. If this basis of
iniquity is to be removed, the origin of sin to

A UTHOR OF REGENERA TION. 91
be eradicated, it must be done by some one
who knows us better than we know ourselves,
one who " understands our thought afar off."
The Creator only can renew the soul in the
elements of its being, he only can do the work
when a new creation is demanded.
The connection between man's sin and
Satan also seems to require the interposition
of God for its eradiction. As the new life
comes from beyond man, so the disease that
makes the new life necessary comes from be
yond man. Sin is not indigenous to humanity.
It is an inoculated suspicion of God. This
seems to be the first motion of sin in humane
ity. In whatever form sin .may appear it
seems never to lose this primal quality. The
man gathered up himself as if in self-defense
against God. He raised the question of sep
arate and warring interests in his relation to his
Maker. This sentiment did not originate in
his mind but was instilled into it by a tempter
who had found access to him. Sin which be
gan here has never been wholly separated from
its extra-human source. Satan's suggestions
have been repeated daily and hourly since the
fall. Sin has been fomented by infernal agen
cies in all the history of the race. The amount
of temptation to which men have been sub-

REGENERA TION.

jected has been limited. God has restrained
the adversary; he afflicted Job by permission ;
still this world has been the scene of his mach
inations and his triumphs. However strong
men may be against him, he is yet called the
god of this world, and too many are led cap
tive at his will. There is only one who is able
to bruise him under his feet ; — none but the
divine man can destroy the works of the
devil. In regeneration the tie that binds
human action with superhuman influences is
changed. The connection between man and
Satan is severed, that between man and Christ
is formed. There is no human power that
can effect this change, it must be the work
of God.
The nature of human character shows that a
change of heart must be the work of God.
As a moral being the natural man already
has a character, and that character practically
throws off the authority of God. It accepts
the world as the chief good, its affinity is with
worldliness, and therefore its allegiance is to
worldliness. The natural nian says, must say,
" I love the world." This love which is the
ultimate basis of character is not changed by
a resolution or by a demonstration of its folly,
it remains the relish, or the taste, or the

AUTHOR OF REGENERATION. 93
affinity of the man ; if there is a certain willing
against it, it is only conditional willing, not
personal determination ; the love of the world
is the will's choice, settled into an emotion
and not subject to change through any volun
tary actions which grow out of it. If this love
is changed, suppressed, it must be done by
some power stronger than itself. Stronger
than anything in man.
If one should attempt a change of his own
heart, the attempt would be abortive. The
effort to love and serve God would be in
obedience to a command from without, and
the act of obedience would be merely an act
of legality, which can never be an act of love.
We must obey God from love, not love as an
act of obedience. Obedience is the proof of
love, not the means of it. The law must be in
the heart, the heart's law, obedience its free,
spontaneous action, or there is no affinity
between the soul and God. If the command
to be obeyed is to be itself the expression of
the heart, and the obedience the correspond
ing action of the heart, then the heart, the spirit
of the man, must have some new principle of
action within. The soul must put forth its
acts of service from a new vantage ground, a
precedent affinity for God.

94 REGENERA TION.
Love, then, as the basis of character in the
natural man is defective, for it is pre-engaged in
opposition to God ; and in service to God he is
defective, for the service he aims at is legal, and
so no service. God looks on the heart, does not
ask for help, but for loving co-operation.
Therefore, there does not come from humanity,
either from its capacity to love, or its spiritual
power of obedience to law, any proper accept
ance of God as Ruler and Friend. This brings
us to the point of man's dependence on God.
He must be born anew, receive the spirit-birth,
be created anew, in order to fulfill the command
that lies upon him. His duty has not changed,
the call and command are in nowise different,
the discovery of helplessness does not introduce
any new essential element into the condition of
sinful men. Men are always to aim at serving
God and doing his pleasure, and to call on him
for help in that which is beyond their power.
This help he has promised, is ready to render,
more than ready to bestow in full measure.
The difficulty is, men are not willing to ask for
it or to receive it, but in many cases it is
granted. God brings the spirit into alliance with
himself, so that it acts from a new principle.
Here is the spirit-birth, and from this principle
a turning to God takes place, and the man is

A UTHOR OF REGENERA TION. 95
converted. Or God illuminates the mind so that
the love of the world is seen to be folly, and
gives a new relish for spiritual things, so that
worldliness is distasteful: and thus, to adopt
an expression once common, " He slays the sin
ner's enmity to divine things," and imparts to
him an affinity for them.

CHAPTER VI.
CONVERSION.
We are all called upon to turn from sin and
to serve God. The actual turning is known
as conversion. It is for the sake of good
works, a holy life, that men are called by divine
grace. The saints are chosen that they may
" be holy and without blame ; " the new crea
tion is a creation unto good works ; Christ
" gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself
a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
Titus 2 : 14. Peter exhorts the disciples thus :
" Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers
and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which
war against the soul, having your conversation
honest among the Gentiles ; that, whereas
they speak against you as evil doers, they may
by your good works, which they shall behold,
glorify God in the day of visitation." I Peter
2: 11, 12. The command that we should live
holy lives, do good, avoid evil, is upon us
always. It comes from the Bible, from the
conscience, from the church, AH the author-
(96)

CONVERSION. 97
ity which we acknowledge as having a right
to impose duties upon us utters the same
command, that we cease to do evil that we
never fail to do well. And the time when we
are to obey the command is ever present.
We have as much right to defer good works
for a lifetime as to defer them a moment ; we
have as much right to live in sin fifty years as
a half-hour. To turn to God, then, to convert,
is the instant and pressing duty of each one.
The chief duty, the one at the foundation of
all others, is to love God. This is the sum of
the commandments ; when this command is
obeyed, all are obeyed ; when this is disregarded,
no duty is properly performed. Every person
is therefore to set himself to loving God this
moment. The question for each one is not,
Can he do it ? but, Is that what he is called
to do? and what he must aim at? what he
is to struggle to do? The answer to this is
not doubtful. Men are commanded to love
God and serve him as they are commanded
to deal justly with their neighbors. The Scrip
tures prescribe the highest duties precisely as
they do the lowest, making no allowance for
an inability to perform them. Moses gave to
Israel the law which is summed up in love to
God apd Jove to man, and said, " Set your

98 REGENERA TION.
heart unto all the words which I testify unto
you this day ; which ye shall command your
children to observe to do, all the words of this
law. For it is no vain thing for you, because
it is your life." Deut. 32 : 46, 47. God said
to Solomon after the dedication of the temple :
" If my people which are called by my name,
shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek
my face, and turn from their wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land." II Chron,
7 : 14. The fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah is an
exhortation to Israel to come to God and re
ceive the blessings which he is ready to be
stow ; the seventh verse is : " Let the wicked
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him ; and to our
God for he will abundantly pardon." Peter
calls upon the people at Jerusalem to turn to
God. Acts 3 : 19 is thus translated in the
Revised Version : " Repent ye, therefore, and
turn again, that your sins may be blotted out,
that so there may come seasons of refreshing
from the presence of the Lord." The apostle
Paul expressed the terms of salvation thus:
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved." Acceptance of the govern-

CONVERSION.

ment of God as of supreme authority, immedi
ate submission to the will of God, absolute
love of him as a person and a ruler are the
first duties of every soul.
This brings to view man's work. While
God is the sole author of regeneration, men
are to seek the Kingdom of God, to seek
after righteousness, to strive to enter in at the
strait gate. While God is not in covenant
with the unregenerate as he is with those who
have accepted the service of Christ — is not
bound by pledge to answer their prayers as pre
sented in Christ's name — he does address
the impenitent and invites them into his king
dom. He makes full promise of salvation to
all who come to him. His call and his promise
are ancient, older than the New Testament
times. He says: Is. 45:22, "Look unto me
and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth:
for I am God, and there is none else." Christ
said, " Come unto me all ye that labor and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Mt.
1 1 : 28. The parable of the marriage of the
King's son, Mt. 21 :2-i4, shows that men of all
classes are invited to enter the kingdom of
heaven, and that those who fail to enter have
only themselves to blame for it. They reject
the invitation, they prefer this world's occupa-

100 REGENERA TION.
tions, they excuse themselves on the ground
that they have more important duties. These
invitations are given to the impenitent, they
are called upon to act, the promises of God are
to be fulfilled on condition of their action.
The actions of men are not directly efficient in
the transforming work which the soul under
goes in regeneration, but may be indispensable
to it. Coming within the sound of a herald's
voice has no efficiency in the utterance of his
message, but is indispensable to the hearing of
it. The antecedents of regeneration, many of
them human actions, come as truly within the
decree of God as regeneration itself. There are
among these antecedents, deeds and sentiments
that are intimately associated with the work of
the spirit on the heart, and they naturally ex
cite hopes that the performer of the deeds will
be found among the accepted friends of God.
There are positions which one may take in
which there is a probability, not to say certainty,
that the Spirit of God will meet him with con
verting power. Man may put forth deeds
which seem to afford means of access to the
heart, which the Spirit uses in his work. The
divine power is not limited to means of any
kind, but acts in methods, as observation shows,
which have some degree of uniformity. The

CONVERSION. 101
question arises, Can man put forth the deeds
that seem to meet with response from the Spirit
of God?
We may reply, many men can. It is true that
all the members of our race are by nature averse
to God, they do not love him, or his government,
or his way of saving men. The relish for these
things is not in the heart, and no act of will can
put it there. They may for some purpose pre
tend to possess it, but it is still absent, and of
such God says : they draw near me with the
lips, but the heart is far from me. Then there
are men who are averse to the followers of
Christ and could not prevail upon themselves
to associate with them ; there are those who
despise the gospel of Christ and will not give
it a sober thought, just as there are some who
despise profane revelling and will not even
debate the question whether they shall indulge
in it. But the great majority of men are not
mad in intellect though they are depraved in
taste — especially the relish for righteousness.
The natural man can examine the evidences of
Christianity, he can study the Bible, he can
estimate the value of earthly pleasures, he can
see the superiority of the pleasures of a godly
life, he can confess that his pursuit of the world
is folly. These things do not change his aver-

102 REGENERA TION.
sion to true piety of heart, any more than a
desire of health gives one a relish for bitter
and nauseous drugs. The heart by nature
hates confession of sin, penitence, entreaty,
confession of helplessness. But one's convic
tions may be against himself and he may long
for deliverance from himself. He may wish
that his pleasures and affinities were wholly
reversed. It is -perfectly within the reach of
candid men to condemn themselves, to re
nounce all hope of ultimate pleasure in their
worldly pursuits, to study and admire the
scheme of salvation. Such a state of mind is
utterly devoid of divine grace, yet it is an
acceptance of certain truths which are associ
ated with the doctrines of grace. And one
might go much farther than this, he might
so despair of the world as to be repelled
by it, he might so admire a Christian life as to
long after it, he might so desire to understand
the way of life as to make the Bible his chief
study, he might so hope that he should be
come a true child of God as to give himself
to the duties of Christian life, prayer and
praise ; he is able to do all these things in
the unregenerate state. It may be that no one
ever does come into such a state of mind
except through what is called prevenient grace,

CONVERSION. 103

but it is no impossibility to the natural man.
And here we have the answer to the question,
whether one can take an attitude which ren
ders his regeneration by the Holy Spirit prob
able. We could have no doubt that God would
bring into his own house one thus waiting at
the doors. It would require the same work
of almighty power to remove his aversion of
heart to holiness that is required in every other
case, but we know that God is disposed to save
men, has promised to save, is eager to save, and
we should have confidence that he would save
in instances like those supposed. Indeed in
such instances we should believe, though the
supposed state of mind is possible through the
promptings of reason, that God had gone be
fore, by the power of the Spirit, and wakened
the emotions to which he would respond with
regenerating grace.
If there are positions which one can take in
which there is a high degree of probability that
he will be made the subject of gracious influ
ences, not less is it true that Christian men en
dued with the Holy Spirit are able to affect others
and secure manifestations of converting power
among those whom they address. When Paul
preached to the Thessalonians the gospel came to
them not in word only, but in power and in the

104 REGENERA TION.
Holy Ghost. Christ takes up his abode with
men so that they are actuated and inspired by
him. And the presence of Christ is the presence
of the Holy Spirit. The good man's body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost. Some men are so
endued with the Divine Spirit that they mani
fest the supernatural indwelling by their words
and looks. At such times they exercise an
influence over some minds that is more than
human. Though the Spirit may move men
by a power exercised without visible means, as
Paul was overwhelmed when on the way to
Damascus, still it seems the ordinary method
of God to enter the impenitent heart through
the penitent heart. It has pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. It has pleased him to reach men
through men. The Holy Spirit seems to
sanctify human sympathy and make it the
vehicle by which he passes from the regenerate
heart to the heart to be regenerate. All the
means of access by which one person presses
himself upon another may be made sacred as
paths over which the Holy Spirit moves to
penetrate the soul and bring it into fellowship
with the saints. The Holy Spirit is in the
earth, he is with the people of God, working
with them, responding to their prayers, helping

CONVERSION. 105
'them in their infirmities, praying with them,
infusing into them feelings , which they can
express only in groaning not to be put into
words, and it is within the range of his influ
ence of this kind that sinners are most numer
ously converted. We cannot doubt that God
often responds to the entreaties of unregener
ate men, but we cannot affirm the certainty
of regenerating influences in response to such
supplications as we can in response to the
prayers of his people. When they unite in
address to the throne of grace we know that
some movement will be made. The prayer
will prevail, the word as preached by those
thus in league with God will not return void.
We can say, therefore, that the use of means
in the spiritual world is as sure to be product
ive of good fruits as in the natural world. We
cannot tell which shall prosper this or that, but
we know that seed-time and harvest will not
fail. We are dependent on God for the in
crease of the field, for daily bread, for each
moment of life, we are not more dependent for
converting power bestowed by the Spirit.
We know that God is more ready to give the
latter than the former. As men are not dis
couraged in plowing and planting so they
should not be in teaching the truths of the

106 REGENERA TION. .
gospel and calling men into the Kingdom
of God.
An appeal to facts would show that nothing
is more productive of good results than spirit
ual labor. The glory of the Father is that the
disciples of Christ bear much fruit. The entire
scheme of the gospel is ordered for the salva
tion of men. If it should at first seem that the
result of human effort is uncertain because re
generating grace depends on the gift of God,
on second thought it will appear that the large
ness of the result is due to the fact that it is
God who. bestows mercy. He is ready to do
abundantly above all that we can ask or think.
God furnishes a divine power to men that they
may work successfully in building up his king
dom. We preach Christ, whom God has
appointed a Saviour, the wisdom of God and
the power of God unto salvation. Besides
Christ, the effective truth and demonstration of
God's love, the Holy Spirit is given as the aid
and helper of the followers of Christ. Through
him the preacher at times exercises a superhu
man power. The apostles were to wait at Jeru
salem till they were endued with power from
on high. The Lord had said to his disciples
before his ascension. "Ye shall receive power
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you ;

CONVERSION. 107
and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jeru
salem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and
unto the uttermost part of the earth." ' All
these promises have been manifoldly fulfiled.
Preachers have had power. Sinners have been
converted when men have worked in their be
half. God has regenerated souls when his truth
has been preached. If anything can be proved
it is proved that earnest work leads men to
Christ, — languid effort is comparatively fruitless.
No exact ratio can be fixed between effort and
the salvation of men, but that regenerating
power accompanies effort it would be the part1
of blindness to deny.
The life of David Brainard furnishes illustra
tions of the means by which the impenitent
are roused and brought under the influence of
the Spirit of God. In speaking of the difficul
ties which he encountered in preaching to the
Indians he notices as very trying the stupid
ity and indifference of his interpreter. But
when his hearers began to be affected, became
sober, attentive, and finally concerned, he
makes this entry in his diary : " Went to the
Indians and discoursed to them near an hour,
without any power to come close to their
»Acts i : 8.

108 REGENERA TION.
hearts. But at last I felt some fervency, and
God helped me to speak with warmth. My
Interpreter also was amazingly assisted ; and
I doubt not but that the Spirit of God was
upon him ; though I had no reason to think
he had any true and saving grace, but was
only under conviction of his lost state ; and
presently upon this most of the grown persons
were much affected, and the tears ran down
their cheeks. " One old man, I suppose an
hundred years old, was so much affected, that
he wept, and seemed convinced of the impor
tance of what I taught them." ' Of a service
some weeks later he says : " In the afternoon
it pleased God to grant me great freedom and
fervency in my discourse ; and I was enabled
to imitate the example of Christ in the text,
who stood and cried. I think I was scarce
ever enabled to offer the free grace of God to
perishing sinners with more freedom and plain
ness in my life. There were many tears in
the assembly ; and I doubt not but that the
Spirit of God was there, convincing poor sin
ners of their need of Christ." * About six
months later he writes : " I discoursed upon
'Life of Brainard, p. 177.
2 Page 185.

CONVERSION. 109

Luke 14: 16-23, and was favored with uncom
mon freedom in my discourse. There was
much visible concern among them (the Indians),
while I was discoursing publicly ; but afterwards,
when I spoke to one and another more partic
ularly, whom I perceived under much concern,
the power of God seemed to descend upon the
assembly 'like a mighty rushing wind,' and
with astonishing energy bore down all before
it. I stood amazed at the influence which
seized the audience almost universally ; and
could compare it to nothing more aptly than
the irresistible force of a mighty torrent or
a swelling deluge, that with its insupportable
weight and pressure bears down and sweeps
before it whatever comes in its way. The
most stubborn hearts were now obliged to
bow."1 His own idea of power through the
Spirit he expresses thus : " When ministers
feel these special gracious influences on their
hearts, it wonderfully assists them to ceme
at the consciences of men, and, as it were, to
handle them ; whereas, without them, what
ever reason and oratory we make use of, we
do but make use of stumps instead of hands."
Edwards remarks in his reflections at the close
of the Memoirs, that there was scarcely an

1 Page 209.

110 REGENERA TION.
instance in which his days of fasting and
prayer were not followed with a remarkable
blessing ; but adds, " when he set about this
duty he did it in good earnest ; stirring up
himself to take hold of God and continuing
instant in prayer, with much of the spirit of
Jacob, who said to the angel, I will not let
thee go except thou bless me."1 The " good
earnest " of which Edwards speaks is illustrated
in the following from his diary : " God enabled
me so to agonize in prayer that I was quite
wet with sweat, though in the shade and cool
wind. My soul was drawn out very much for
the world ; I grasped for multitudes of souls."
The Memoirs of President Charles G. Finney
exhibit on almost every page the effect of the
most energetic effort, in dependence upon the
work of the Divine Spirit, in the conversion of
men. A few sentences from this work will
sufficiently illustrate this point. " I spoke
with many persons that day, and I believe the
Spirit of God made a lasting impression upon
every one of them. I cannot remember one
whom I spoke with, who was not soon after
converted."2 " He (a ministerial friend) had
fallen short of receiving the baptism of the
1 Page 240.
2 Autobiography of Finney.

CONVERSION. Ill
Holy Ghost, which is indispensable to minis
terial success." " Without the direct teaching
of the Holy Spirit, a man will never make
much progress in preaching the gospel." ] " In
regard to my own experience, I will say that
unless I had the spirit of prayer I could do
nothing. If even for a day or an hour I lost
the spirit of grace and supplication, I found
myself unable to preach with power and effici
ency, or to win souls by personal conversa
tion." " Of his labor in one place he says :
" The spirit of prayer in the meantime had
come powerfully upon me, as had been the
case for some time with Miss S — . The pray
ing power so manifestly spreading and increas
ing, the work soon took on a very powerful
type ; so much so that the word of the Lord
would cut the strongest men down, and render
them entirely helpless. I could name many
cases of this kind.'' 3 Commenting on a very
effective series of services he says : " Sinners
were not encouraged to expect the Holy Ghost
to convert them, while they were passive ; and
never told to wait God's time, but were taught,
unequivocally, that their first and immediate
' Page 26.
2 Page 55. H2-
3 Page 229.

1 1 2 RE GENERA TION.
duty was, to submit themselves to God, to
renounce their own will, their own way, and
themselves, and instantly to deliver up all that
they were, and all that they had, to their right
ful owner, the Lord Jesus Christ. They were
taught here, as everywhere in those revivals,
that the only obstacle in the way was their
own stubborn will ; that God was trying to
gain their own unqualified consent to give up
their sins, and accept the Lord Jesus Christ as
their righteousness and salvation.1" Yet Mr.
Finney notices one instance in which he did
not think " the conviction of sin sufficiently
ripened to make it wise to urge an immediate
acceptance of Christ.2 " He also says concern
ing public services on one occasion : " I was
going on from night to night, but had not
thought my somewhat new and select audience
yet prepared for me to call for any decision, on
the part of inquirers." 3
Dr. A. J. Gordon derives this lesson from
the teachings of George Muller : " The short
est way to our neighbor's heart is through the
gates of heaven." And of William Grimshaw,
pastor of Haworth, he says, that when he came
1 Page 163.
2 Page 311.
5 Page 360.

CONVERSION. 113

to his parish, having twelve communicants,
" he could ride half a day on horseback towards
either point of the compass without meeting
a single serious soul. But as this Spirits-bap
tized pastor began to preach, such power at
tended his ministry, that where at first he
found hardly more than a score of worshippers,
the church now became so crowded that many
had to stand without and listen through the
windows. His words were like a flame of fire,
and as he preached ' it was amazing to see and
hear what weeping, roaring and agony many
people were seized with at their apprehension of
their sinful state and the wrath of God," * * *
His spiritual communion meanwhile was so
exalted that he sometimes had to ask the
Lord to stay his hand, lest his mortal frame
should be overpowered." ' The communicants
in Grimshaw's sparsely settled parish rose from
twelve to twelve hundred.
The life of Rev. John G. Paton, missionary
to the New Hebrides, presents in a most re
markable way the efficacy of the ordinary
means of grace. The inhabitants of the island
of Aniwa became almost wholly Christian
under his influence. And the seed which he
sowed in Tanna afterward bore fruit. The
1 The Two-fold Life, p. 207, 8,

114 REGENERA TION.
heathenism of these South Sea Islanders did
not differ greatly from that of the Indians to
whom Brainard preached, but the method of
conversion was very different. The Holy
Spirit wrought upon the minds of Brainard's
hearers, so that they were in great distress of
soul under deep conviction of sin. Paton
allied himself with Jehovah as the God of
Providence. He faced the greatest dangers
with the calmest assurance that Jehovah would
take care of him. Often expecting instant
death he preserved the utmost coolness, assert
ing that his God would certainly punish any
wrong that was done him. Events which were
favorable to his mission were attributed at
once to God. Untoward events, he firmly
asserted, would be overruled for the further
ance of the gospel. His alliance with Provi
dence came to be a positive fact, palpable and
obtrusive before the minds of the heathen, and
finally became a means by which the island
was perfectly Christianized. One of the chiefs
for a time rejected the missionary's idea of
God, and forbade the missionary access to his
village with his pestilent teachings. He
denied that there was any such being as Jeho
vah. But two orphan children from that vil
lage came under the care of the missionary

CONVERSION. 115

and his wife, and their visits to their old home
broke down opposition. The chief's wife
came to the worship one day and said :
" Nerwa's opposition dies fast. The story
of the orphans did it. He has allowed me to
attend the church, and to get the Christian's
book." Pastor Harms (Ludwig Harms) seems to
have been the most efficient of modern Ger
man preachers in leading men to Christ. At
the age of thirty-six he became colleague pastor
with his father at Hermannsburg, a town near
Hanover. His work has given the town a
reputation through the world. He preached
steadily to crowded congregations, the com
municants in his church numbered nine thou
sand, though the population of the town was
only thirty-five hundred. There were no
seasons of excitement, no marked awakenings
during his ministry, but by his personal power
he drew and held the people to himself in such
a way that his influence pervaded the entire
community and thoroughly transformed it in
religious and moral life.
The central element of his power was his
love for his people. His earnest longing for
their good with an absolute forgetfulness of
self opened a way to their hearts. His sincer-

116 REGENERA TION.
ity in proclaiming the gospel, his firm faith in
its promises and threatenings, carried convic
tion to his hearers. While a student these
words: "And this is life eternal, that they
may know thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent," suddenly flashed
through his mind like a beam of light. He
was permanently inspired by the words as
Luther had been by the words : " The just shall
live by faith." He came in immediate contact
with the people, visiting from house to house,
opening his own house to all comers. His
study was thronged for three hours every Sun
day by the coming and going of those who
sought instruction and counsel. He under
stood the people thoroughly, peasant life and
peasant feeling ; he had perfect command of
the popular language, happy skill in narrative
and a remarkable ability to address the masses.
With such a basis for pulpit work his sermons
were the chief source of his power. He was
what would be called a faithful preacher. He
denounced sins unsparingly, he used concrete
terms, and left the sinner no escape. "As few
others, Harms preached from the life and for
the life."

APPENDIX I.
The true character of faith may be understood from
a study of the ordinary faith of men. The natural man
has faith in himself and in the world. Men who occupy
themselves with the business and pleasures of the world
have faith in their plans and in nature, so far as it is
expected to respond to their plans. We hear such ex
pressions as " faith in humanity," " faith in the perfecti
bility of nature," " faith in the future," " faith in the
ultimate destiny of the race." We may picture to our
selves a young man just entering on his career of re
sponsible life, asking how he shall work out his destiny,
or perhaps better, achieve the realization of what his
nature craves. He recalls the experiences of his father,
he contemplates the attempts and successes of honored
and influential men, and selects both the pathway and
the goal that please him best. He believes, though he
has seen many defects, that, by avoiding some errors
into which others have fallen, he can by industry
and reasonably good fortune, reach the goal of his
ambition. Here is his intellectual faith. He at once
adopts the plans he has devised, he earnestly and
energetically pursues the course he has marked out, his
will and affections coincide with his intellect. Here
is his practical faith. This man's repose on nature and
confidence in it is as truly faith as any human state and
sentiment can be. In ordinary cases the faith is not
developed in the way supposed, practical faith precedes
intellectual and is often the cause of it. The child is
brought up to an occupation or a course of life, grows
into it, trusts it, loves it, lives by it, and then forms
theories concerning it. But in this case as in that more
(117)

118 APPENDIX.

deliberately formed, there is a true and living, — so far
as this world is concerned, — living faith. This might
be said to be faith in the old Adam. We may designate
by that term the common inheritance of humanity that
descends from generation to generation. Men are sub
stantially alike in all ages. They have the same hopes
and fears, the same aims, the same likes and dislikes in
every nation and in every period of history. The un
covering of an ancient city, for centuries forgotten
brings to light the fact that thousands of years ago men
ate and drank, bought and sold, had their feasts and
celebrations, their worship and their revelry as they do
now. Children were pleased with the same toys
women adorned themselves with the same ornaments,
men gave themselves to the same contests in the days
of Pompeii as at the present time. The substance of
humanity remains the same, the difference is in the
accidents. It might be said the spinal column of hu
manity is one. This spinal column might be called the
old Adam. Men, as they come and go, put their trust
for this life, and the life to come, — so far as they think
of it apart from religious doctrines, — in humanity as it
is common to all men in the old Adam.
In the true Christian faith the second Adam is sub
stituted for the first. We come to the Lord Jesus Christ
and adopt his ways. We confess that the world is a
failure. Its highest pleasures are not unalloyed and
they soon pass away. No one can make a heaven of
this world. The realization of human ideals by means
of anything this world affords is impossible. With this
conviction we resort to Christ. We accept his views
of life and of death, his views of this life and of the life
to come. We adopt the duties he points out, we accept
the promises which he makes. This is faith in him. Our
faith in the old Adam is our destruction, our salvation
is our faith in the new. The faith in neither case is
simply conviction of the intelligence, it includes the

APPENDIX. 119

adoption of the intelligence as the guide of action. The
consent of the heart and the resolve of the will accom
pany the conviction. A stronger faith is required in
the religious than in the worldly life, but this does not
change its nature. In the worldly life we have houses
and lands, food and raiment, plans and realizations
which are palpable to sense and undoubted facts ; but in
the spiritual life we are obliged to make our faith the
substance of the things hoped for and the evidence of
things not seen. It is true we modify the earthly
through the spiritual, we have houses of God, we have
songs of the Sanctuary, we have a divine citizenship
but when we have made the most of the forms of
worship it is still true that we are saved by hope,
and it doth not appear what we shall be. The breadth
of the faith does not, however, change its character ;
it remains the trust of the entire being to a system of
doctrine and a method of life.
This faith which rests on the Lord Jesus Christ is a
new form of spiritual life. It enlarges the range of
one's spiritual activities by making the heavenly reali
ties, — God, the future life, future blessedness, — present
realities with power over the thoughts and the conduct.
This opens to the soul a new range of activity in which
new powerful motives are operative. The world of
spiritual life on which the soul enters by this faith dif
fers from its former spiritual world as much as that
differs from the world of flesh. The spiritual world of
the unregenerate is a world without God, centered in
self, not in harmony with the infinite, eternal realm
where God's will is accepted as law. Faith therefore
carries one outside his own spiritual world into a new
world, and both enlarges his range of spiritual life and
subjects his former spirit-world to that which he now
enters. This faith is sometimes said to be a new faculty of
knowledge. It rather brings into exercise new powers

120 APPENDIX.
of mind, and brings the soul into contact with new
objects. It brings the soul into communion with God.
It opens to the soul new experiences and, with the ex
perience, new knowledge. The experiences which come
to the regenerate soul through faith afford it new
views of all religious doctrines, specially of the glory of
God and the grace manifested in the scheme of redemp
tion. Enlarged knowledge imparts depth and intensity
to the religious emotions, while the emotions in turn
strengthen the intellectual convictions of the truth. In
the end it comes to be true, that the Christian finds in
himself the strongest evidences of Christianity ; he
even attains an assurance that lends its aid to his belief
in the moral and physical realities of the world.
Imparting true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is regen
eration, or is the Spirit-birth, and is the work of the
Holy Ghost. But there are positions often taken by the
human soul apart from special influences of grace which
seem like movements towards the true faith. The soul
often sees the folly of reliance upon the world. It de
spairs of the old Adam. It says of temporal enjoy
ments, " Vanity and vexation of spirit." From this
point there are two steps possible. One may in the
state of despair of the world look to God with longing
desire to be delivered from the bondage of corruption,
with the intellectual belief that there is a perfect deliv
erance possible through Jesus Christ, or one may
assume that the God who made the soul will, after the
enjoyments of earth are ended, open to it another sphere
of activity and enjoyment in another world. The latter
is the poetic faith, the philosophic faith, but not the
Christian faith. This is the politician's faith, the sol
dier's faith : its sentiment is : " God secures the right and
takes care of ther ighteous." It might be asked, which
is nearer the true Christian faith, this faith of philoso
phy or the simple despair of one renouncing the world ?
But an answer can hardly be given. One knowing the

APPENDIX. 121

way of salvation would be departing from God to adopt
this faith of philosophy, but the unenlightened mind
struggling after God may, perhaps, in heathen lands,
often have found uncertain and indefinite trust the
ground on which the Divine Spirit has met him with
the grace bestowed through an unknown Saviour.

APPENDIX II.
God commands all men to be holy. The requirement
is no less imperious before the second birth than after
it. Is God just in making this demand ? The discus
sion of this question is "the conflict of ages." It is
possible to make a difference between the demand made
upon the natural man and that made upon the spiritual
man, since the former is called upon to obey law and
the latter to follow the promptings of the new nature,
yet this difference is not of importance here, since holi
ness in either case meets the requirement of God. How
can God require of man a life of spiritual holiness
before he is born of the Spirit ? is the question which
presses itself upon every mind, and everywhere occa
sions utmost perplexity. I shall attempt no solution of
the problem, but merely notice some of the more promi
nent solutions offered.
I. It may be denied that the problem before us is one
of practical import. If holiness is defined ideal human
perfection, and sin is looked upon as the innocent
weakness of an undeveloped state, then the requirement
to be holy is simply a prompting to go forward in the
development of nature. In this case the Spirit-birth
would not be properly a birth but an attainment
achieved through struggle and discipline. The com
mand to be holy would really be binding only on the
favored few, while the mass of the race could be ex
pected to seek only the comforts of a tolerable existence,
and to leave the world none the better for its experiences.
This view accords well with a pantheistic philosophy,
and is readily allied with, though not necessarily im
plied in any of the forms of Monism. If God is the
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APPENDIX. 133
soul of the world going through a development, man is
one of the stages of development and is neither to be
praised nor blamed for what he is. Rebuke, encourage
ment, command, are means to be used in the develop
ment, but have no meaning except as motive forces, and
have no authority except as a higher development may
become an example for a lower.
There are many who, without regard to any scheme
of philosophy, interpret the experiences of life as a dis
cipline. God is a father educating his children. The
doctrine of the Christian is that the trials of life, after
regeneration and adoption into the family of God, are
chastisements, not punishments; Heb. 12:5-11. Those
who estimate life by ethical standards rather than re
ligious, are apt to apply this Christian judgment to the
natural life and find in the ill besetments which precede
the Spirit-birth a discipline not a punishment. Such a
view is not very fully in accord with the ordinary doc
trine of sin and ill-desert, may often be held in opposi
tion to it, but is often entertained as a sentiment rather
than as a part of a scientific scheme. It may embrace
much of truth in practical life, but is too vague to be of
value in rigid philosophical expositions of truth.
II. It may be maintained that God is not unjust in
requiring holiness of the natural man because he does
not require anything impossible. Many shades of
thought are included in this general statement.
1. Pelagians make each man, in himself, a complete
whole and maintain that he is able to do all that God
requires him to do. Their doctrine maintains that man
inherits by birth no essential hindrance to a holy life,
that any untoward accidents may be resisted and re
pelled, and that all may, and many do, keep the whole
law. This view has never received the assent of the
Christian church, it has never carried with it the con
victions of profound thinkers or of men of deep and
broad human sympathies. The heart of humanity has

124 APPENDIX.

ever been oppressed with the belief that the race natu
rally drifts into sin and guilt.
2. Another view, known as the New England view,
but appearing more or less distinctly throughout the
church, is, that man has the natural ability to keep the
law of God. This ability renders him responsible for
every moral delinquency, yet such is his natural tend
ency to evil that it is certain, he never will, of him
self, perform a single absolutely sinless act. Man's
moral impotence is such that it is certain that every
moral act will be unholy, while his natural powers are
such that he is justly required to be holy in thought,
word, and deed. Practically it is necessary that man be
regenerated in order to keep the law of God, naturally
it is not necessary. This view, though ably advocated,
has never received the cordial assent of the church. It
separates the action of the will from its motive force
more than is practicable in real life. Some attempts have
been made to adjust the theory to the practical work
ings of the will, but these have been repudiated by the
advocates of the theory themselves. It has been held
that the will can choose from a state of indifference
however powerful the motives to a given choice may be,
but this has generally been considered as no choice at
all. Ritschl represents man as possibly a world in him
self, a world beside the world in which we live, and
holds that when man asserts himself, realizes his high
privilege, he is renewed, regenerated, a new creature.
On the ground of this possibility man is commanded to
be perfect, in the exercise of this power he is perfect.
But this view is not really different from the Arminian
doctrine of the liberty of indifference.
III. It is maintained that God is just in requiring man
to be holy though unable to obey the law, because he
has lost the power of obedience through his own fault.
Man was created with powers adequate to his obliga
tions, he may now be held to the same obligations

APPENDIX. 125

though he has thrown away his powers. This view is
on the whole more widely and more generally accepted
than any other. It however does not perfectly satisfy
the mind, as is evident from the different forms in which
it is presented. The more prominent forms will be
noticed. i. It is held by some that men are the fallen beings of
another world brought here that they may enjoy a
second probation. The supposition is, that each man
fell for himself, forfeited the privileges of an obedient
subject of God's government, and might have been
justly consigned to hopeless punishment. But God in
mercy gives to the fallen a chance of recovery and
restoration. This view is associated with Origen and
has recently been advocated by Dr. Edward Beecher.
It is beset with so many difficulties that it can never be
popularly accepted. Julius Miiller has maintained that
men sin in a timeless state, and thus are in time sin
ners from the first. This I consider simply the adoption
of the liberty of indifference to account for the fall of
man instead of adopting it as a ground of his responsi
bility. It is equally objectionable in either case.
2. The theory known as Augustinian maintains that
all men partook of that act by which Adam lost his
integrity, so that individually they lost their integrity.
And as Adam was not excused from obedience to law
because he threw away the power, so his posterity are
not excused. In Adam the race apostatised from God,
and each one is held responsible for the consequences
of the rebellion. God may therefore require all his
human subjects to be holy while not one has the power
to be holy.
3. The Federal theory teaches that the race is so
related to Adam that his act of apostasy is justly im
puted to his posterity. The relation here is based on a
covenant, not on the unity of the spiritual substance.
Adam as head of the race was its representative, and

126 APPENDIX.
what he did may be charged upon those whom he repre
sented, those in whose place he stood. God may, it is
held in this case, justly hold men responsible for a life
to which they have been made incompetent by their
sponsor. This theory differs very little from the Augustinian
That seems at first thought to accord more fully with
natural justice : this has a broader ethical basis and is
more affiliated with government and law. Men of the
present day will have but little choice between these
two ways of being made sinners. The vital question is,
Are they responsible for the use of faculties which they
have lost?
IV. It is possible to hold that God as a sovereign may
do as he pleases with his creatures. He may make men
sinners, may so constitute them that they will become
sinners of necessity, or may create and preserve them in
holiness. Men are to be judged by their character as it
now is not by the way in which they reached their
present state. Dr. Charles Hodge says : " The Bible,
the church, the mass of mankind, and the conscience,
hold a man responsible for his character, no matter how
that character was formed or whence it was derived."
II. 252. But such bold views of sovereignty are not
often entertained. Hodge held firmly to the Federal
view of man's relation to God, and held that the cove
nant had its basis in nature.

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