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REGENERATIow,
AND
PREPARATzon For Dr.A.T.H.
BY EZRA STILES ELY, D. D.
THERE is much discussion, at the present time, among Calvinistic
divines, on the subject of REGENERATION; and it seems likely to con-
tinue until the disputants learn to distinguish between cause and effect,
and can more thoroughly agree in their use of language, . The word
regeneration, for instance, is used by many to denote both cause and
sºftect, or that which God does in producing a saving change in the
sinner's mind, and the change itself. Hence a dispute arises on the
question whether a man is active or fiassive in regeneration; and
some affirm that a man is active, and others that he is wholly flassive in
regeneration. We might just as well ask whether a man is active or
passive in the natural generation of himself. Since, however, the ques-
tion is asked, we will answer, that by regeneration we mean nothing but
the influence which God exerts, or the work which he performs, in
consequence of which a sinner first begins to exercise himself in some act
of right moral agency. The mind of a free moral agent is the object to
which the agency or influence of the Holy Spirit passes over from him-
self; and in this sense thé human mind may be said correctly, as in
our Confession, to be fiassive in regeneration; by which we mean,
that the sinner does not perform the work, which the Holy Ghost per-
forms. A man who begins to live a holy life is not his own spiritual
father, generator, or quickener; any more than a son according to the
flesh has begotten himself. The new 6irth, being born again, conver-
sion, turning to God, reflentance, the saving moral change, beginning
to live to God, the commencing of holy exercises, all denote the same
thing—all denote that moral effect of which regeneration is the originat-
ing, ultimate moral cause. God quickens us, and we, who were, morally
speaking, dead to holiness, in our sins, are quickened; he effectually
calls, and we obediently answer; he regenerates, and we are borº,
again; he begets us in Christ Jesus, and we become alive to God, the
"shiritual sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty,
In conversion, in repentance, in beginning to live to God, in becoming
new creatures, in the great moral change of the soul, in turning to God,
º fire free and active, as in any former or subsequent operation of the
SOUli, º
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God then exerts a real, holy, moral, spiritual influence upon us; the
rational, free, efficient mind of man is the object on which that influ-
ence terminates; and in consequence of it, without any violence being
done to his intelligent and active nature, the sinner begins to attend to
divine things, consider his ways, understand aright, believe the Gospel,
repent of sin, consent to serve God, confide in his promises, and hope
in mercy, and thus old things have passed away, all things have became
new, and he is a new creature, having been created anew, figuratively
speaking, in Christ Jesus unto good works. -
By the work of regeneration God produces no new faculties of the
mind, no change in the material or mental essence of the man, no new
light of truth, no new habit, bias or taste; in short, he occasions no-
thing new but the new sight, thoughts, feelings, purposes, and voluntary
efforts of the free, accountable soul of man. A change of mental habit
and a new firedishosition or bias in relation to holy activity soon suc-
ceed conversion to God; but they are not conversion itself.
A man must begin to act in a holy manner before any habit of holy
activity will be formed. A change in his mental acts must begin before
there can be any change in his mental disposition to future activity.
As for bias, we know not what it means, unless it be a certain predisposi-
tion of mind to feel in a certain way, from having already had and loved
certain feelings, which are readily repeated.
It being settled in our opinion, that when a sinner first begins to act
aright in his soul, he is born again; and that this great, essential, saving
change results from the influence of the Holy Spirit, agreeably to the
gracious purpose of God, as the ultimate moral cause or occasion of this
mental change; an inquiry arises concerning the manner in which the
Shirit offerates, or exerts his influence on the soul of man, so that this
free moral revolution in the sinner’s moral conduct commences.
This is the subject on which most of the dispute among orthodox
divines about regeneration, has been maintained. We hold him to be
essentially orthodox on this point in theology, who ascribes the free
turning of a sinner unto God, to the work of the Holy Spirit, performed
according to the good pleasure of the Almighty. . If he holds to the ne:
cessity of regeneration in consequence of the universal wickedness of
man, and that every man must be renewed by the Holy Ghost, so as to
commence a holy, spiritual life; without whose influence no sinner
ever repents; we shall regard him as no heretic on this article, how-
ever he may dissent from our views of the mode of the Shirit's agency
in converting rebels.
Still, the mode of the Spirit’s operation on all who are capable of ac-
tual sin and of actual faith, and repentance, we think a matter of im-
portance, about which the Scriptures are sufficiently explicit to satisfy
reasonable inquirers and prevent injurious opinions.
ON THE MoDE of THE SPIRIT's INFLUENCE IN THE WORK OF
REGENERATION. -
Regeneration is wholly the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a moral and
not a physical work. It is exerted not upon the essence of matter or of
mind; but upon an intelligent, free, moral, efficient agent. It is the
morai cause of conversion of soul to God. The exertion of regenerating
influence is always followed by that moral change in the operations, of
the mind of a sinner, which is figuratively called the new birth, being be-,
gotten again to a living, h9pe, being born again, being created anew,
§eing born of the Spirit, being quickened, and becoming a new creature.
Höw God regenerates infants, who have not arrived at a state of mo-
ral agency, we stop not here to inquire, being satisfied that what the
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law saith, it saith to those who are under the law. Any thing which
the Bible says about moral agents, is to be applied to moral agents alone.
Now in bringing a sinner to commence a course of holy moral agency,
the Holy Ghost does not himself become the direct and immediate au-
zhor of the first holy act of godly sorrow for sin, or faith in Christ, or
hope in God’s mercy, for in that case it would be the Holy Ghost, and
not the sinner, who repents, believes, has hope, and is converted. It
is mediately through the mind of the sinner himself, that the first holy
mental act is brought forth; so that the Spirit is the author of faith and
repentance in no other sense than this, that he so operates on the sin-
ner’s mind, that the sinner himself really believes, sorrows for sin,
hopes in God, and returns to the Lord. !
Since, then, the Holy Spirit indirectly and mediately produces faith
and repentance, by inducing the sinner to repent and believe, the inqui-
ry still recurs, in what manner the Spirit acts upon the mind so as to
induce faith, and secure the result of the sinner’s freely returning to
God. Between the influence of the Spirit and the act of believing, in-
tervenes the sinner’s imind; and it is this mind which is influenced,
moved, excited, or in some way acted upon, so that it freely commences
a course of holy activity.
We now ask, Does the Spirit act directly and primarily on the heart,
or faculty of feeling, so as to produce holy feelings independently of
any antecedent operations of the mind which has those feelings? And
we answer, no; for this would be doing violence to the constitution of
the human mind; it would render the feelings thus excited wholly irra-
tional; for the human mind is never conscious of any feeling which
does not result from some antecedent perception or thought of some
kind. In governing the human mind, so as to produce holy feelings of
love, hope, gratitude, godly sorrow, and the like, the Maker of man
does not abandon the system of mental empire which he has established.
He deranges not the constitution of the mind, nor the natural order of
mental operation. -
Again, we ask, Does the Spirit act directly and primarily on the hu-
man will, that is, on the faculty of volition, so as to produce a holy
choice, preference, volition, determination, or other act of the will, in-
dependently of any antecedent operation of the mind, which is the sub-
ject of this holy act of the ºvill:” We answer, no: for man never wills,
prefers, chooses, determines, purposes, resolves, but in consequence of
some motive. It would be irrational to do otherwise. We were never
conscious of any sort of volition without some motive to that volition:
and this motive is always some antecedent thought, or feeling of the
mind. In short, man commences each and every train of mental ope-
ration by some thought; by which we mean some conception, percep-
tion, judgment, act of memory, or other intellectual exercise of soul:
his thoughts are followed by feelings; and his thoughts and feelings are
followed by volitions; and his volitions by all sorts of voluntary exer-
tions: so that if he chooses he has some assignable motive for his
choice; and if he feels, he can give some reason, or show the occasion
of his feeling as he does. . These are laws of mental operation which
have been fixed by the Maker of the human mind, and they are as
unchangeable as the laws of bodily attraction, repulsion, and affinity,
When, therefore, the Holy Spirit in his work of regeneration operates
on a sinner’s mind, it is in a way suited to the nature of that mind, and
conformably to the order of mental exercises which he has himself es-
tablished. • - -
.*
4
Should it now be demanded, on which of the faculties of the humafi
mind does the Holy Spirit primarily operate, so as ultimately to pro-
duce holy feelings and volitions? we answer, on some one of the fa-
culties of the mind comprehended under the general expression of the
zunderstanding. . . The Spirit of God arrests the attention, excites right
affirehensions of -divine things, convinces the soul, enlightens the judg-
ment, and quickens the conscience and memory; and by this influence
exerted upon the intellectual faculties, secures a change in the feelings
of the heart, and volitions of the will. This is the true doctrine of
effectual calling, which is the regene, ation of our Presbyterian Confes-
sion of Faith. A man never wills to come to Christ, to turn to God,
to deny himself, to become a follower of the Lamb, or to do any other
holy, voluntary act of mind, until he first conceives such an act to be de-
sirable, is convinced that it ought to be done, and from these intellectual
operations, actually has the feeling of desire to do the action resolved
upon. Until a sinner feels his need of a Saviour, he never wills to
come to Christ for salvation: and he never feels his need until he has
been convinced of sin; and he is never convinced of sin until he has
considered the law and character of God, and has begun to have some
just thoughts, (commonly called intellectual views,) of himself as a sin-
ner, and of his obligations as an intelligent, free, accountable, active
Creature of God. - -
Having thus settled it, to our own entire satisfaction, that in regene-
rating a sinner, the Holy Spirit operates primarily on the understand-
ing, so as to rectify the thoughts and convince the judgment; and then,
mediately, through these right operations of the intellect to renew the
heart and the will in their exercises, so that they love Christ, hate
sin, and choose him for a Saviour from sin and hell; we propose the
further inquiry, In what way does the Holy Spirit enlighten and con-
vince the mind? Does the Spirit, in renewing adults, operate directly,
and without any instrumental medium on the understanding; so that the
sinner’s having right thoughts is a matter of physical necessity, in Cons
sequence of a physical energy exerted on his intellectual faculties?
We answer, the regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit employed sav-
ingly to enlighten the mind and convince it of sin, is a moral not a fiftysical
influence: it is mediate through the truth, and not immediate, that is,
without any medium: it is real, and secures an instantaneous change
in the moral acts of a renewed soul; but it is not comfulsory; it is not
chemical, it is not literally creative; it sets not aside the free agency of
man in thinking, feeling, willing, and doing as he wills. The renewed
man is rendered willing, but not forced to be willing, not compelled to
will.
That the Holy Spirit operates on the intellectual faculties of the
soul, through the instrumental and secondary agency of the truth of
the gospel, in order thereby to renew a sinner in his thoughts, feelings,
volitions, and voluntary moral conduct, is clearly asserted in the Bible,
“Of his owns will begat he us, with the word of truth?’” So that we are
“born not of corruptible, but of incorruptible seed; even by the word of
God which liveth and abideth for ever.” Hence, we read, that the
Scriptures “are ABLE to make men wise unto salvation.” The com-
mencement of sanctification is regeneration, and our Saviouſ, who
knew how God makes sinners holy, prayed for all who shall be his, say-
ing, “ sanctify them, through thy truth:-thy word is truth.” Hence
the Spirit is said to take of the things of Christ and SHow then untº us;
to convince the world of sin; and to lead men into all truth. Hence
5
also he inspired the writers of the Bible, and caused his revelations to
be recorded, that these things being written, men might believe that Je-
sus is the Christ, and believing might have life through his name. .
The plain and obvious import of these and many similar assertions
of the word of God is, that God who gives the increase to the seed
sown and watered, as truly employs his word in making men Spiritually
live, as he employs secondary agents in the production of the natural
fruits of the earth. The truth of itself would never convert a soul,
nor would a seed of corn cast into the earth of itself grow: but as the
seed is the instrumental cause of the growth of the future plant, so the
truth is the instrumental cause of the commencement and continuance
of holy activity in the depraved soul of man. *
The truth being the immediate means by which God regenerates
the soul, we may remark, that the Holy Spirit employs various remote
means of regeneration, by which he brings the truth to the mind, and
applies it with power. All the dealings of Providence by which sin-
ners are taught, rendered anxious about salvation, and brought to
contemplate steadily the truth; and particularly the preaching of the
gospel; the reading of the scriptures; the dispensation of the sacraments,
family worship and government; private and public prayer; and the
discreet conversation of the pious, are means in the hands of the Holy
Ghost, whereby he brings the truth into moral operation on the soul
£or its conversion.
If further inquiries are pressed, and it is demanded of us how the teach-
ings and strivings of the Holy Ghost, through all the means of apply-
ing the truth to the mind, are rendered effectual at some times, and
not all times; over the minds of some and not of all in similar external
circumstances; and over the same mind at one time and not before,
we answer that we do not know, any more than we know why we
commence a train of thought at one moment which we did not com-
mence a day or a second sooner; or how we, whom God has made ac-
tive beings, ever begin to act in any case whatever, There are myste-
ries in the free agency of our Maker, and of his creature man, which
we cannot at present disclose, because they have not been discerned
by our minds. Certain we are, that God exerts a real and an effectua.
**
influence through the truth, on the human mind, when it turns to God 3 -
and that the mind nevertheless turns as truly, and as freely, without
any fiſhysical or creative energy exerted upon it, as if this turning were
wholly independent of the regenerating influence, or the divine moral
suasion, of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
THE DUTY of CôNvKRSION TO GOD.
Regeneration is not required of man, for this good reason, that it is a
work of God, which he alone can perform. But conversion is a duty
required of every man to whom the word of the Lord comes, God
commands all men to repent, to turn to him, to be converted, to come
to Christ, to believe the gospel, to forsake sin, to lay hold on eternal
life; and whatever God requires of us is conduct due, called our duty.
To “repent and turn ourselves from all our iniquities,” to love God, #3
hºpe in his mercy, to choose the Lord for out God, are duties which
allow of no delay: they ought to be done instantly; and non-conformity
to the commands of God on this subject is renewed rebellion. Sing:
mºreover, turning to God or conversion means the same thing which
is figuratively styled a new birth, it is the duty of men to be born again:
that is, they ought to begin to repent, believe, love, and in every i.
ter obey, their Maker, without mº objection, neglect, procrasti.
2 sº
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tion, -or rebellion. Self-regeneration would be an absurd expression,
but self-conversion is the very thing God has demanded by Ezekiel
when he says “turn yourselves.” . The duty of becoming new crea-
tures in spiritual, things, at once, has its foundation in our faculties of
free agency, our liberty to act aright, our freedom from compulsion to
do wrong, and the command of God, that we should begin to live a
holy life. * - - -
While the essentials of free agency are continued to the sinner, and
he has a space for repentance, and is not judicially abandoned by the spi-
rit of grace, he may turn to God,—he ought to turn to God, he could
turn to God if he desired to turn; and it is his crime if he does not
turn at once. Were his mind disflosed to turn he would turn; and so
soon as he chooses to do it, he actually turns to the Lord, who shows
him mercy. Without this space for repentance continued to him,
and the renewing influences of the Spirit, he will not be disſiosed, he
will never be willing, to return to the Lord, from whom he has griev-
ously departed, ever since he became a moral agent. To begin to fier-
form any act of holy obedience to the moral law is to be converted, to be
born again; and the moral law demands of all who are under it, instant
and entire obedience: so that unless a man may lawfully be disobedient
in the sight of God to every divine precept it is his duty to be converted.
“Repent and be converted” is tantamount to saying, “change ye your
minds, and be ye changed:” which form of expression seems to imply,
that man is active in conversion, but active only under divine influence
in turning to God with all his soul. -
Should the Lord, however, judicially take away those influences of
his Holy Spirit, and close the day of salvation, during which multitudes
of sinners become MoRALLY ABLE, under the teachings and draw-
ings of the Almighty, to turn to God, the judicially abandoned, sinner
would still be bound, from having all the natural faculties of an intelli-
gent, free, accountable, efficient agent, to commence a course of holy
obedience and continue in it. On this principle, hardened, blinded,
derelict reprobates, and even the devils in hell, are in duty bound to
know, acknowledge, love, and serve God in spirit and in truth. The
only reason why it is not proper to speak of a man’s “borning him-
self again,” is the incongruity of this figurative language; for it is the
duty of every one to repent, to change his mind, to become a child of
Goâ. If a man were under any real necessity of continuing hard in
heart, stupid in his understanding of divine things, dead in sins, and
without hôly obedience; if he were compelled to be impenitent, and
could not be willing to return unto the Lord, nor turn if willing, then
conversion would be no duty, and continuance under the dominion of
sin no crime. For any thing which is a matter of natural or physi-
cal necessity no one is blameworthy; and to do that for which we have
not what is commonly called natural ability is incumbent on no one.
Moral duty and natural faculties together with opportunity and liberty
for performing that duty must always correspond.
One principal reason why many think they are under no obligations
to be born again, but must wait until the Spirit renews them, without
any attempt on their part to return to their Heavenly Father as peni-
tent prodigals, is this, that they have perverted the use of the figura-
tive language of the Bible. When Christ had said “ye must be born
again,” he added, “that which is born of the flesh is flesh,” to teach his
disciples not to expect a physical and literal birth, but a spiritual
change. In like manner, when he had said “except ye eat the flesh
of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you,” he
7. -
presently subjoined, to denote that, he meant a spiritual exercise of
soul, a féeding upon his flesh and drinking his blood by faith, “the flesh
profiteth nothing, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and
they are life.” His words were of spiritual import and power. In dis-
coursing with Nicodemus, when he explained his highly figurative
expression about being born again, he intimated that baptism with wa;
ter might be regarded as a symbolical birth into the visible kingdom of
heaven; so that if a man would begin to live in the visible church as
an acknowledged member he must be baptized; and if he would begin to
live a spiritual life in the spiritual kingdom of heaven he must be born of
the Shirit. We might as well hold to transubstantiation, and that Christ
was a doctor in medicine, who literally prescribed physic for the soul,
as to defend a physical instead of a moral regeneration:- and it is only
on the assumption of a creative, immediate, physical operation of the
Deity on some one or more of the faculties of the human soul in the
work of regeneration, that any can think it is not a duty to be born
again; that is, to begiº to know, love, and serve God With all the under-
standing, heart, will, and power.
Ev1DENCEs of THE NEW BIRTH.
Neither the actual agency of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, nor
the mode of thºut agency, whatever it may be, is an object of fiercefution
or of conscious vess to the mind on which that real agency through the
truth is exerted. The author of shiritual quickening is himself con-
scious of his own work, and fully comprehends its nature and form.
We are conscious of no operations of mind but our own: of the work
of other minds we may have knowledge by testimony, observation and
induction of causes from their known effects. “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.” While, however, we cannot see the wind, nor follow any
portion of air in all its circulations round the globe, still we may know,
even by straws, which way the wind blows, and that it has actually
passed over us.
In disclosing some of the evidences of the new birth, we shall at the
same time incidentally illustrate its nature, duty, and necessity, and the
7means by which it is produced.
We assert this broad principle of reasoning on this subject, that each
and every act of sincere and real obedience to the moral law is conclu-
sive evidence that the Holy Ghost has fierformed the work of regenera-
tion on the mind of him who is thus obedient; and that he is born again;
is converted, is the subject of the new birth, has a new heart and a right
spirit, is created anew in-Christ Jesus unto good works, and has passed
from death to life. We repeat these various expressions which denote
the same thing, that there may be no misconception of the ideas we in-
tend to excite in the minds of our readers, and of the doctrine which
we inculcate. We know of no holy obedience in a sinner which is not
the result of regeneration; and of no holy obedience which any one ren-
ders before he begins to render it; which beginning of holy obedience is
conversion. If any, then all holy obedience might be rendered by a sin-
ner, without the renewing of the Holy Ghost; and without any such
change in his moral conduct as that of ceasing to do evil and beginning
to do well. But if there is no holy obedience without that conversion of
the soul in its moral exercises which results from the work of rege-
neration by the Spirit, then the very existence of each and every act
8 .
of holy obedience is as much evidence of regeneration and the new birth,
as any effect is evidence of the operation of an adequate cause. All holy
bbedience, is represented in the Bible under the description of “the
fruits of the Spirit,” and where these fruits are, the seed of the word
Ymust not only have been filanted and watered, but God must have made
it to grow: he must have given the increase.
1. The right knowledge of God is evidence of the new birth, and con-
sequently of regeneration. The law of God primarily requires sinners
to know the true God; and the infallible teacher has said, “this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent.” Describing this knowledge by its effects, an in-
spired writer says, “they that know thy name will put their trust in
thee.” Such knowledge as produces right feelings, and purposes, and
voluntary efforts is saving knowledge, is the result of the Spirit’s enlight-
€ning of the mind in the knowledge of Christ. To say that this know-
dedge means love, as the old fashioned Hopkinsians do, is perfectly gra-
tuitous; for how&should any one love, an unknown God? It is the law
of our mental nature that every feeling of love, trust, hope, fear, and
the like, should be consequent upon some knowledge of the mind, and
from experience we know it to be the truth, that when a sinner begins
to have new feeliugs in relation to God, Christ, and all divine objects, it
is in consequence of new mental views. Hence he says that he sees God
as he never saw him before; and that religious things seem different to
him from what they did. -
2. A right faith in the truth of God is an evidence of the new birth
and regeneration. “Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he
that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a re-
warder of them that diligently seek him.” “Whosoever believeth that
Jesus is the Christ is born of God.” “He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved.” Now, no one shall be saved who is not born again; but
every one who believeth in the being of God, in his moral government,
and in Jesus Christ, so as to realize the being and perfections of God,
and to become obedient in feelings and external duties to the truth of the
gospel, is born of God. Otherwise he would not live to God in the exer-
cise of faith and of the holy activity which springs from the belief of the
truth as it is in Jesus.
Thus to believe in God so soon as we have the opportunity of knowing
him, and to believe in the gospel so as to be conformed in heart and con-
duct to it, is a duty; and he who begins to perform this duty experiences
in his own moral exercises that moral revolution which is called the
new birth. Hence the first and every subsequent act of the soul in cor-
dially and practically believing the testimony, of God concerning him-
self, his government, and the way of salvation, is evidence of conversion.
If God had not exerted his regenerating influences the sinner would not
have believed so as to feel and choose aright; but he does thus believe,
and therefore the work of regeneration has produced this conversion to
God, and the subsequent life of faith.
3. Holy love to God, Christ, the people of God, the divine word and
ordinances, and to our duty in general, is evidence of conversion and re-
generation. All are required to begin to exercise this love, and
to keep themselves in it. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.” “Keep
yourselves in the love of God.” “Love is of God; and every one that
loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” His love proves his know-
ledge; and his knowledge and love unitedly prove his spiritual birth."
Hence, if we are conscious of the feeling of love, we mav infer the re-
{} .
newing work of the Spirit from our bearing this fruit of the Spirit. Pro-
bably this is one of the most general, Satisfying, and Consolatory evidences
of the new birth to Christians, and especially to young converts. When
the Spirit of God has so influenced our minds, by turning our attention
to divine things, and by correcting our views of them, that we begin
to love God supremely, and our neighbour as ourselves, we have passed
from death to life: we may safely infer the accomplishment of the work
of regeneration. - s -
So operative is love in the production of everd kind of obedience, that
the sum of the law is said to be comprehended in love to God and our
neighbour, “Love is the fulfilling of the law,” so far as it exists and
operates; for it induces a man to perform every thing else which is re-
quired. If a man loves God he will keep his commandments; and “this
is the love of God,” that is, the manifestation of it, “that we keep his
commandments.”
4. Hatred of sin, godly sorrow for it, confession of it and frayer for
pardon and purification, are evidences of the new birth, and of the di-
vine moral suasion which occasions it. We may dread the punishment
of sin, without hating sin itself: but “if any say, I have sinned, and per-
verted that which was right, and it profited me not; he will deliver his
soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.” “He shall
pray unto God, and he will be. favourable unto him.” “Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved,” “If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness.” Now, God will not be favourable to unrenewed
sinners; nor will he deliver from the pit any one who is not born again;
noy will he forgive any one who is not repentant: therefore, since the
persons who pray, confess their sins, and call on the Lord shall be saved,
they must be already born again, for without being born again they
cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. -
In this way we might proceed to consider each and every act of holy
obedience, in connexion with which there is a promise of everlasting
life; and we may say, the man who is poor in spirit, who is meek, who
hungers and thirsts after righteousness, who is a peace-maker, who is
pure in heart, is blessed, and shall inherit the promises; but none are
blessed of God who are still under the curse; none are truly happy and
secure of everlasting life who have not been converted: those, therefore,
who are pronounced to be blessed by our Saviour have been renewed by
his Holy Spirit. *
CoNCLUDING REMARKs on REGENERATION.
Entertaining these views of regeheration and conversion, we can just
as consistently exhort men to repent and be converted, to be born again,
and make them new hearts, as we can enjoin it upon them, in the name
of the Lord, to know God, to believe his testimony, to hate sin, to come
to Christ, to lay hold on eternal life, and to love God supremely.
While we show all men that it is their duty, without delay, to commence
a course of holy obedience to the moral law, we at the same time main-
tain that no one ever did or ever will begin to serve God without being
the subject of the teaching, striving, drawing, reproving, convincing,
and converting influences of the Spirit. Hence we urge the danger of
grieving, resisting, and quenching the Holy Spirit, until he shall depart
from the sinner and give him over to believe lies, be hardened, and be
damned. We not only tell sinners to “seek the Lord;” and that they
may and can seek the Lord while the day of merciful visitation lasts, but
1()
that they must seek the Lord “while he may be found.” We require
men to “call upon the name of the Lord,” promising that then they
shall be saved; but at the same time we warn them “to call upon him
while he is near;” lest the day of grace being past, Jehovah should
swear in his wrath, “then shall they call upon me but I will not answer;
they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me.”
To make sinners realize at the same time their accountability and de-
pendence on this subject is equally difficult and important. If they learn
that they have all the requisite natural faculties for keeping the law of
God perfectly, and of beginning to do it forthwith, they become pre-
sumptuous, and flatter themselves that they will, at some future time,
repent and secure salvation, when it may suit their convenience. If we
teach them, that to constitute a moral ability for turning to God, the
influences of the Holy Spirit are necessary, they become fatalists, feel
that it is no crime not to be born again, and quiet themselves with the
delusion that they desire to be converted, and are waiting for the motions
of the Holy Spirit. But if we inculcate both of these doctrines in such a
way as has been done in this short essay on the subject, we apprehend
that we pursue the.happy mean, and are supported by the common sense
of mankind and the oracles of divine wisdom.
There are means of regeneration, and means of conversion; means
which God employs to accomplish his work of persuading, inclining,
disposing and morally enabling the sinner to repent and return to the
Lord. There are also means of conversion, which are found in the
natural faculties, powers and circumstances of the unconverted sinner
lyſmself; so that if ever he is converted, he works out his own salvationi
with fear and trembling, while God works in him both to will and to do
of his good pleasure; * º
PREPARATION Fort DEATH.
“Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.”
• * ISAIAH xXxviii, 1.
LET every reader º within himself, I will consider this friend-
ly warning as being addressed to myself, in particular. It is as
certain I must die, as that king Hezekiah has died, to whom these
words were first addressed. . . Yes, I must die, for it is appointed
unto all men once to die; and I may die soon; for multitudes are
going every day to the grave. The whole of life will seem short
to me, when it is past. I may die suddenly; for thousands die
every year with little or no K. sickness. The Cholera, and
other diseases are hurrying hundreds, with a few hours notice, out
of the present world. The apoplexy gives no warning to the per-
son whom it affects. I may sicken and die in a few days or hours;
I may drink cold water, and die at the pump: I may go to slee
in my bed, and awake in the world to come. And O' I shall
awake either in heaven or in hell! -
One Mr. Scofield, in Connecticut, having prayed, and given a
short exhortation in a religious meeting, sat down in his chair, say.
ing, “and be ye also ready,” and expired in the same moment,
without having been previously sick. Many years ago, a minister
of the gospel, in Maryland, died in his pulpit while preaching
from the words, “This year thou shalt die.” President Davies
also died not long after he had preached a New Year’s sermon
from the same words: and about three years ago, a preacher in
Maine walked to his pulpit, in blooming health, with a sermon in
his pocket on the same text, intending to preach it; but lo! he
breathed his last before the time for commencing public worship
arrived. A few months since two persons in Philadelphia eat a
hearty dinner on Saturday, and died the next day; and a woman
in Pine street, last winter, having prepared a dinner for herself
and husband, partook of it, removed the table, and sitting down
beside her bed, deceased in an instant.
On the 3d of August, a stout healthy young man, scoffing at
God’s judgments, said, “Well, I wish I could get a taste of the
Cholera;” and the next day, before noon, he died with it, and was
buried. Another stout man, the other day, was walking about his
room, and swearing at his physician for detaining him, “when he
had nothing but the cramp;” and in three hours he was a corpse.
Another man left his wife at home well, and a few hours afterward
returned, and followed her to a hospital, where he found her in
the agonies of death.
Some such sudden death may be my lot; or the lightning ma
blast me; or I may be drowned while on an excursion for health
OI’ Fº or I may be dashed from some carriage while riding;
or I may be bitten by a mad dog and endure the most horrible ago-
nies; or the plague may sweep me away with hundreds to the com-
mon grave of the rich and the poor. *
19,
To die in any way without preparation for death and heaven
must be a most dreadful evil. I will,—in humble dependence on
God, who is willing and ready to hear prayer and give grace,—l
WILL, therefore, now obey the Lord and set my house in order,
because I may soon die, and cannot live always, even if I should
be permitted to live to old age, When I am told to set my house
in order, the meaning is, that I must get ready to die; that
I must make my peace with God, through Jesus Christ the
only Saviour of sinners; that I must arrange all my affairs
so as to be ready to leave them; that I must give all the
counsel to children or friends which I wish to give; and that
I must, without delay, do every duty which I have hitherto
left undone. Well, I will settle my accounts as fast as I can:
I will make my will: I will get out of debt if possible: I will set
a godly example: I will pray in my family: I will make a profes-
sion of religion and be baptized, and celebrate the Lord’s supper.
fwili do aſſiſtan to make my children, my brothers, my sisters,
my parents, and all my acquaintance pious: I will think much of
death, judgment and heaven: I will seek the salvation of the world:
and thus will set my house in order. So may God help me to do;
and make me always know that he watches my conduct, and will
mark whether I fulfil these resolutions or not. I will avoid all
wicked company, on every day, and will seek to spend the Sab-
bath, and every day, as if it were my last. I will be sober, and
for example sake will drink no strong drink. ... I will attend the
ublic worship of God on the Lord’s day: I will frequent meet-
ings for social prayer and exhortation: I will endeavour to search
and understand the Bible, and to send it to those who are desti-
tute: I will pray for, and assist as far as I am able, the endea-
vours of good men to convert this wicked world from sin to holi-
ness; and thus I will live, prepared to die well; and will die,
when God calls me, that I may live for ever.
Reader, are these your purposes of soul? If they are, you are
a Christian indeed, and death to you will be but a passage to ever-
lasting rest. \
... O glorious hour! O, blest abode!
You shall be near, and like your God;
And sense and sin no more controul
- The sacred pleasures of your soul.
But, reader, if you will not take this friendly warning, you
must nevertheless die;—without having your house set in order;
and the wrath of the Almighty will abide on you for ever. Wh
should you die? Oh! be entreated not to destroy yourself. Think
again of this little, silent, preacher, and prepare for death. Be
wise; be wise to-day. Repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and be saved. Then may you, and the writer, meet in
heaven, and rejoice through eternity in the God of our salvation.
Printed by Wm. F. Geddes, at the office of the Philadelphian, No 9 Library street