Andy Underhile: "T" of TULIP, Does it Matter Much?

Andy Underhile, a friend and fellow Churchman, a brother-elect in Christ’s Majesty, a justified sinner, a wicked man but justified, a Calvinist, but better, he is a man with biblical insight and has begun a series on TULIP. 

He develops the first point, “T” in his first post. See: http://andycontramundum.blogspot.com/2012/03/defining-t-in-tulip.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FDofecr+%28Contra+Mundum%29. Does the "T" in TULIP matter much?  We post responses for the sake of the youth, the younger theologues and the next generation.

We post Andy’s comments in black.  Reformation Anglicanism will amplify, revise and extend on Andy salutary post.  These revisions and extensions are not corrections, but are amplifications.  Our comments will be in blue. As the Rev. Dr. Jack Gerstner, Ph.D., Harvard, a mentor to this scribe in the 1970s, once exclaimed, TULIP is the “fairest flower in God’s garden.”  RA will never forget Dr. Gerstner’s lecture in the early 1970s at First Presbyterian, Pittsburg, PA.  This fair flower involves every loci of systematic theology.  Our audience must be young people, young theologues, young inquirers, collegians and others.  Old people, like me, have had our time and exposure, making our culpability or exonerations what they will be.  For the older, have we taught these things? If older, have you taught and defended these things?  If younger, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.  Think and reach your own conclusions, as you assuredly will do, one way or another. We will offer a few annotations in the endnotes or the brief, annotated bibliography.  This is not a scholarly post, but a musing from an older Churchman.  I pray that my own children may read this.  Again, Andy Underhile’s notes are in black and RA’s in blue. 

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The acronym TULIP is a mnemonic device for Reformed soteriology;[i] that is, the doctrine of salvation. There are five letters, hence the frequent reference to 5-point Calvinism.

Does Canterbury teach TULIP?
ACNA? AMiA?  PEARUSA? CANA?

RA:  For the younger crowd, “Soteriology” is the “doctrine of salvation,” a standard locus or focus in all theologies.  My audience must be the younger crowd.  I should advise the younger crowd to procure and master Berkhok’s Systematic Theology.[ii]  Get it and read it.  Modern ministers will not advise you of this. The older man offers you this counsel. 

Apparently, as we write, there is a renaissance of inquiry into “TULIP” by what is called the “Young, Restless and Reformed,”[iii] a movement amongst American Baptists and Baptacostalists, e.g. Mahaney, Driscoll, Chandler, Piper, Mohler.   These men are “new joins” to the discussion of TULIP, arising since the 1990s. TULIP is standard fare amongst old school Confessional Presbyterians and Reformed Churchmen, but it is entirely new—coming off revivalist doctrine, worship and piety—amongst Baptists over the last twenty years.  Hence, to study “TULIP” is to study historic Presbyterianism, old school Anglicanism, and a part of Lutheranism.  Modern Baptists and Pentecostalists know little of these things.  Dr. Al Mohler, Southern Seminary, however, a “Southern Baptist,” stumbled into TULIP in the 1990s and has been aflame, ablaze and on fire since then.  Mohler’s fellow Baptists, the majority of them, are not amused by a discovery of TULIP.  RA well remembers Al’s energetic presentations at Ligonier Ministries in the late 90s.  Alas, Mohler “warmly” asserted TULIP, as if the second coming had occurred.  TULIP also, in better times, was accepted in the Church of England.  King James 1 and the Archbishop of Canterbury accepted the conclusions of the Synod of Dordt, 1618-1619, although, to their injury, it was not codified in doctrine.  To study TULIP is to study basic Biblical essentials in soteriology.

The letters stand for the following:  [RA:  For collegians and young theologies, this mnemonic needs to be memorized, along with the relevant biblical texts. TULIP, the fairest flower in God’s garden.]

Total Depravity [RA:  In this post, Andy deals with just the “T.”]

Unconditional Election

Limited Atonement

Irresistible Grace

Perseverance of the Saints

Over the course of this series of posts, Lord willing, we will briefly explain what is meant by each of the five points. [RA:  Thanks Andy, an important issue.  Andy, Articles 9-12 of the “Thirty-nine Articles” for the Church of England and Chapter Six of the “The Westminster Confession of Faith” provides an excellent preliminary study.   Also, the Irish Articles of 1615, 11-17, 22-28.  We ask the young theologues to ask, review and draw their own conclusions. ] After so many more weighty theological posts, why something so fundamental and basic now? [RA: Exactly, because TULIP is foundational, basic and essential.] I take nothing for granted. [RA: Wise.]  I have been a Christian long enough to know that much of Christian doctrine goes unexplained and it is simply assumed by preachers and teachers that their congregations are fully conversant with these things. I feel it wise to, every now and again, go back and refresh our memories about some of the simple basic truths of our most holy faith.

 

RA:  We share Andy’s concern re: the five points and that’s why his post is important.  One cannot, as Andy indicates, take this for granted.  To settle this issue is to deal with a host of other related issues as well. Every loci of theology is affected:  God, humanity, Christ, redemption, church and sacraments, and eschatology.  Further, Andy is correct to note that “preachers and teachers” assume these things.  The neo-Calvinists, as they call themselves at Gospel Coalition, Together for the Gospel, and at Mohler’s seminary are pressing these things.  For this RA is thankful, however, these Anabaptists have other things to learn.  We recommend a book here by R. Scott Clark, Recovering the Reformed Confessions. While Scott’s book does not amplify on TULIP per se, it does offer a wider review of Reformed life in the Confessions which includes the Synod of Dort.[iv]

Total Depravity

RA:  The “total” in Total Depravity refers to the entirety of a person’s constitution: mind, thoughts, will, decisions, feelings, affections and body. 

 

The doctrine of Total Depravity, or as it is sometimes known, Total Inability, teaches the complete inability of man to save himself, or indeed to have any part in saving himself because of the effects of sin in the soul. [RA:  One must read Martin Luther’s exquisite Bondage of the Will.”[v] For young people, collegians, and novices, this is eminently readable.  It’s a book that must be digested.  Roman Catholics will never discuss this.  Mainline liberal clerics exist in some other parallel universe.  You can easily dismiss mainline clerics as not knowing, understanding or believing in the "T."  American “evangelicals” essentially dismiss this.  As noted, some neo-Calvinists—to use their term—are rediscovering this.  Confessionally Reformed Churchmen have long taught these matters.)  Man is dead in his sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1). Therefore he can do nothing, as a corpse, to bring himself back to life. Every part of man's nature was corrupted by sin, therefore, we say that man has a sinful nature, which longs only to rebel against God (Hosea 6:7; Gen. 6:5; Psalm 58:3). [RA:  There are important implications here for evangelism and discipleship.  First, there is confidence for the Bishop (Senior Presbyter and Churchman amongst fellow Presbyters, juniors), Presbyter and Deacon.  Teach the Christian faith.  Leave the results to God, since God alone “raises” the “dead” to faith in the teaching of the faith.  This writer has seen it many, many times.  In an earlier life, when teaching and living amongst Marines and Sailors, I would tell a young man or small group, allow me to teach the Christian faith.  Upon permission, the teaching would occur.  I’d teach the essentials without American salesmanship, revivalism or gimmicks.  I told the novices this was my approach.  Give me six weeks, men, to present the case for classical Christianity.  Let me teach.  Further, let us learn together.  I told them I was a fellow-learner, reviewing old lessons, and the Chief in the class…but no pressure. Decide in six weeks if you wanted more.  These lads always wanted more.  No pressure.  Yet, many times, a lad would come to me sometimes weeks later—without my solicitation—plop down and say, “Sir, I gave my life to Christ last night…”  Again, trust in God’s work alone to raise the dead.  Two of those men went into and continue in full time ministry.  The Word alone controls the landscape.  While men are dead in sins and trespasses, His Majesty raises the dead to lives of faith, repentance and duty.

Man’s sin is extensive as well as intensive. Individuals may not be as bad as they can be; they are as bad off as they can be. The effect of the fall upon man is that sin has corrupted every part of his personality: intelligence, emotions and will. [RA: We noted this earlier.] The unregenerate person is declared to be "dead" in sin. Apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit the natural man is "blind" and "deaf" to the message of the gospel. [RA: Regeneration is entirely in God’s hands, not our’s.  While we must present an intelligent, develop and cogent case from Scriptures, there is no need for gimmicks, tricks or other manipulative devices to gain an audience.]There is a natural but total inability to come to faith in Christ apart from a divine work of grace in the heart. [RA: Amen.]

 

Every act of an unbeliever is done outside of faith in Christ. Scripture says that whatever is not of faith is sin (1 Cor. 14:23). In our flesh there dwells "no good thing" (Rom. 7:18). [RA:  Of recent inquiry, is our study of literature. The darkness, melancholy, despairs and hopelessness of humans apart from Christ is underscored.  RA asked the literature teacher this week, “Based upon all our readings this semester, is everything dark and dreary?  Am I reading these things correctly?”  She responded that she, a 30somethingish near finishing her doctorate in English, had the same response during her undergraduate days, to wit, “Does anyone just write for “shits and giggles?”  In other words, she saw what I was seeing.  She concurred that even in the comedies, there is darkness and dreariness, but, in literature, one gets used to it.  A theological analysis of literature is a standing order for RA’s day.)   All of our righteousness is as "filthy rags" (Isa. 64:6). Even acts of apparent self-sacrifice mean nothing to God, for even the "sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination (Pro. 21:27).

What about the "good" in the world? What about the fact that unsaved husbands and wives usually loves each other and their children? First of all, total depravity takes into account what we call Common Grace, that is, God's restraining power over the sinfulness of men. [RA:  In this mix, one may add the federal and state courts.  A federal Judge told me recently, “Judges view themselves on the frontlines containing chaos.  The Judges see the disorders and dysfunctions of depravity.  We may thank His Majesty for courts in the order of common grace.  More could be said, but we shan't.]  Secondly, all who do not worship God are idolaters. [RA:  Here one must teach and press the issues of the first commandment.  This first commandment leads us to Christ, the Cross, the atonement, forgiveness, saving faith, saving repentance and justification by faith alone. The Westminster Larger Catechism lays these issues out, enlightening all readers.  Convicting, invincibly, any reader. Apart from regeneration, there is no interest in this issue.  For converted Churchman, this question is lively and active.
 

Here’s a wise voice in the Westminster Larger Catechism.  Young inquirers, non-Christians, and collegians, you can learn these things, objectively. 

“Question 104: What are the duties required in the first commandment?

“Answer: The duties required in the first commandment are, the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly, by thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of him; believing him; trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in him; being zealous for him; calling upon him, giving all praise and thanks, and yielding all obedience and submission to him with the whole man; being careful in all things to please him, and sorrowful when in anything he is offended; and walking humbly with him.

“Question 105: What are the sins forbidden in the first commandment?

“Answer: The sins forbidden in the first commandment are, atheism, in denying or not having a God; idolatry, in having or worshiping more gods than one, or any with or instead of the true God; the not having and avouching him for God, and our God; the omission or neglect of anything due to him, required in this commandment; ignorance, forgetfulness, misapprehensions, false opinions, unworthy and wicked thoughts of him; bold and curious searching into his secrets; all profaneness, hatred of God; self-love, self-seeking, and all other inordinate and immoderate setting of our mind, will, or affections upon other things, and taking them off from him in whole or in part; vain credulity, unbelief, heresy, misbelief, distrust, despair, incorrigibleness, and insensibleness under judgments, hardness of heart, pride, presumption, carnal security, tempting of God; using unlawful means, and trusting in lawful means; carnal delights and joys; corrupt, blind, and indiscreet zeal; lukewarmness, and deadness in the things of God; estranging ourselves, and apostatizing from God; praying, or giving any religious worship, to saints, angels, or any other creatures; all compacts and consulting with the devil, and hearkening to his suggestions; making men the lords of our faith and conscience; slighting and despising God and his commands; resisting and grieving of his Spirit, discontent and impatience at his dispensations, charging him foolishly for the evils he inflicts on us; and ascribing the praise of any good we either are, have, or can do, to fortune, idols, ourselves, or any other creature.

As such, you can see that no one, repeat, no one, of any station, position or attainment, has kept this law.  Hence, Christ, the Cross and the atonement.

If one truly assesses the first commandment, the “T” of TULIP gains clarity. 

Herein, one stands before St. Paul’s clear lesson in “The Epistle to the Romans.”

For old Prayer Book Anglicans, it gives the sense of the confession in Morning and Evening Prayer, that we have erred and strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep, having trusted too much in the devices and desires of our own hearts.  Fellow Prayer Book Churchmen, you know the rest.  You know the prayer of confession for Holy Communion.  It "is what it is" and "was what it is."

The essence of idolatry is actually self-worship and the image merely becomes the tool or instrument for the attainment of the worshippers’ desired ends. Thus, we are on solid Biblical ground for saying that much of the "good" in the world is simply the result of self-interest. If I kill my customers, I can't get them to buy my products, thus murder cramps my style. Moreover, it seems warranted by Scripture, in light of language about sinners' deadness and blindness and alienation of mind, to assert that our depravity is so bad that we misread our world and see in it as a much better place than it is.

 

RA:  It is very, very important to study the texts noted in the briefly annotated bibliography, including the Biblical texts.

This is, no doubt, an unpopular doctrine, because our world unquestioningly accepts the idea that all men are basically good, that there is good in everyone. True Christians much abominate such a belief. Scripture declares that all men are sinners, all men seek only evil continually, all men are at enmity with God and all men stand before God with nothing but the menstrual rags of our "righteousness."

Posted by Andy at 10:30 AM

RA:  What Andy Underhile has noted here about the “T” of TULIP is emphatically underscored by Confessional Lutherans, old school Anglicans (in better days, but still in the BCP) and Presbyterians. 

The "T" of TULIP, does it matter?  Indeed it does.  It is foundational to Christian Churchmanship, conversion, saving faith, saving repentance, justification, joy, gratitude, worship, praise and piety.

Young inquirers about Christianity, you will need to think this matter through, from Genesis to Revelation.  It is of the essence of Christianity.  Young people, be careful, it's dangerous out there.  Read, mark, think and digest.

Young inquirers, you are on your own, essentially.  The modern salesmen will not teach these things.  Andy has.  So has the historic, biblical, catholic, and apostolic church, so deeply obscured by Pastorpreneurs, liberals, charismatics, Baptacostals and other mobocrats, democrats and enthusiasts. It's tough being young in these days.  But, read and follow this old scribe's musings, Andy's post, and the bibliography.

Thank you, Andy, for your timely post.   "T" matters.

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[i] Boettner, Loraine. The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination.  Grand Rapids, MI:  Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1991.  Print.  A must-have and must-read for young theologues and collegians.  This volume is not optional. This suggests, as we write, the production of a basic bibliography for young theologies.

[ii] Berkhof, Louis.  Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996. Print.  My father handed this volume to me at age eighteen and fresh out of high school.  He also handed me Charles Hodges’s three-volume Systematic Theology.  Dad’s counsel was simple.  “Read ten pages a day, ten chapters from the Old Testament and ten chapters from the New Testament every day.”  I don’t think that counsel can be improved by anyone.  Young people should still heed this counsel. 

[iii] Hansen, Collin.  The Young, Restless and Reformed.”   Wheaton, IL:  Crossway, 2008.  Print.  For students of Baptacostalist and Baptist developments in the US, this journalist volume should be read.  It’s a fast read, a few hours.

[iv] Clark, R. Scott.  Recovering the Reformed Confessions. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 2008.  Print.  This is another must-have and must-read.  Again, young thinkers in Christ must read and review Scott’s book.  Any bloggers reading this must assess Scott’s book.

[v] Luther, Martin.  Bondage of the Will.  We believe Greensboro, NC: Empire Books, 2012, is one publisher, but there are others.  Print.  Clearly, a must-have and must-read for the young theologue.  It entails an important discussion between Martin Luther and Erasmus.

Archibald Alexander of Old Princeton Seminary (1772-1851)

H/T to Tim Naab who posted at: http://www.seeking4truth.com/a_practical_view_of_regeneration.htm

A Practical View of Regeneration Part I

Archibald Alexander: (April 17, 1772 – October 22, 1851) American Presbyterian theologian and professor at the Princeton Theological Seminary.

Published in The Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review, volume 8 (1836).

That human nature has lost that moral purity and perfection with which it was originally endued, is a truth which lies at the heart of the Christian religion. Indeed, we see not how it can be denied by the deist, without casting a gross reflection on the character of God. It is only from the Scriptures, however, that we learn the origin of evil. Here we read, that God made man upright, but he hath sought out many inventions. Man being in honor continued not. When God created man he formed him in his own image and after his own likeness; and what that image consisted in, the apostle Paul informs us, when he speaks of the new creation. "And that ye 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." The phrase "after God," means after the image of God. This is expressed in the parallel passage, "Seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." By the fall this moral image was effaced. The mind which had been illumined by divine truth became spiritually blind; the heart whose exercises had been holy and harmonious, became corrupt, the hot-bed of every vicious propensity, and the center of darkness and disorder. Instead of moral beauty, there was now deformity. In the place of pure felicity, misery succeeded. The soul was now turned with aversion from God and holiness, and the affections attached themselves to the creature. Reason and conscience no longer had control over the inferior passions and appetites; but these, seizing the reins of government, urged man on to carnal indulgences inconsistent with purity and peace. Being now alienated from God, man became his own center around which he endeavored to make all things revolve, from which the most direful disorder ensued; yet he persists in acting upon this principle of supreme selfishness. Although this depravity was from its commencement total, inasmuch as all holy exercise and all holy motives were banished from the mind; yet is human iniquity capable of indefinite increase. Its natural progress is from bad to worse, without a conceivable limit. All therefore are not equal in sin and guilt. The same person is comparatively innocent when he commences his course, to what he becomes at the end of a long life of transgression. And the enormity of his guilt, as well as the obstinate perverseness of his evil nature, depends on the clearness of the light resisted, and the multitude of the mercies abused. Wickedness may attain its greatest visible height among the heathen, but in the sight of God, self-righteous Pharisees are more guilty than Publicans; and Bethsaida, Chorazin and Capernaum will have a more intolerable doom than Tyre and Sidon, or even than Sodom itself. The deepest guilt is contracted under the clear sunshine of the gospel, and by those whose privileges, opportunities, calls and professions, lay them under the strongest obligations to love and serve their Creator.

The proof of the wickedness of man is found in every part of the Bible; and it is a truth confirmed by all history and experience. That a reformation would be desirable, and that all men need to be made better than they are, will not be denied. But there is a deep-rooted opinion in the minds of men, that this reformation and return to the service of God, will be easy whenever they shall determine upon it. The need for supernatural power to regenerate the soul is not commonly felt; and when men begin to be convinced of their impotence as it relates to holy acts, they are prone to make their depravity, which is the only cause of their inability, their excuse.

The necessity of regeneration arises from the fact, that man by the fall has become dead in sin. Spiritual life is extinct, and, therefore, if any are saved, they must be regenerated. Life cannot spring from death. Life is a gift of God in all cases. He breathed into man, when his body was formed out of the clay, the breath of life. It would be as reasonable to believe that the organized body could inspire itself with life, as that the dead soul can perform acts of spiritual life. All men having fallen into the same spiritual death, all need regeneration. Some men are amiable in their natural temper, and regular in their external behavior; but these also are naturally blind and depraved. They have no right apprehensions of God, no holy affections towards him, no cheerful and habitual purpose to serve him. They need therefore to be converted, however highly they may be esteemed among men. Though such, like the young ruler who came to Christ, may have many amiable qualities which entitle them to the love of their friends, yet, like him, they may lack one thing. Their hearts may be fixed, like his, on worldly objects. Let all such, therefore, be assured that, as well as others, they must be born again. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but God searcheth the heart; and often that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Under a fair exterior there often lies concealed a heart full of unbelief, pride, and ingratitude. By the restraints of education, an enlightened conscience, and a regard to reputation, sin may be kept from breaking out into enormous and shameful actions; but the seeds of all iniquity are concealed in every heart. Men are satisfied commonly if they can so regulate their lives as to escape the censure of men, and the disgrace which follows wicked actions, but they pay little attention to their hearts which are as a cage of unclean birds. Most men are not in the habit of judging of their thoughts, imaginations and feelings, by the holy law of God, which condemns every wandering of desire, every unhallowed temper, and every want of supreme and perfect love. If we look upon our own hearts we must be convinced that all is not right within. If our hearts are naturally good, why do they turn away with strong secret aversion from the spiritual service of God? If our hearts are not dead to God, why are we not daily delighted with the contemplation of his glorious attributes? Why is prayer a burden? Why are we so entirely engrossed with sensible and worldly pursuits and pleasures? And if the moral and amiable need regeneration, what shall we say of the multitudes who are living in open rebellion against God? The profane, the unjust, the intemperate, the licentious, the scoffer, the false-swearer, the defrauder of the widow and the orphan, the sabbath-breaker, the liar, the neglecters of God's worship, the slanderer, and a multitude of others who live habitually in known sin, surely need to be reformed, and they will never be thoroughly reformed until they are regenerated. Such must put off the old man with his corrupt deeds, and put on the new man. "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 who will abundantly pardon." There is an urgent necessity that every sinner should repent, for true repentance is unto life. And what our Lord declared to the Jews is true of all, and was intended for all. "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish," and Paul preached to the Athenians that "God now commandeth all men every where to repent, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, of which he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead." Evangelical repentance, conversion and regeneration, are substantially the same. They all signify a thorough change of views, affections, purposes and conduct; and this change is every where declared to be essential to salvation. And this is not a merely arbitrary constitution. No one is capable of the enjoyment of heavenly felicity who has never been born again. Without spiritual life, what would the sinner do in heaven? If men have no love to God, nor relish for his service, heaven is no place for them. Heaven is a holy place, and all the exercises and employments are holy, therefore, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." And to be holy, ye must be born again.

Having considered the necessity of regeneration, we come now to speak of the power by which it is effected — of the instrument in accomplishing it — and of its nature and effects.

Regeneration must be the peculiar work of God, because it is "a new creation," and no power but that of God is adequate to such a work. It is a resurrection from the worst kind of death, and none can inspire the dead with life but the Almighty. It is giving sight to the blind, and opening the eyes which never saw the light of day, to behold the beauty of holiness, and the glory of God; but the same power which in the beginning caused light to shine out of darkness, must shine into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. "Except a man be born of water and the spirit he cannot see the kingdom of God." "The wind bloweth where it listeth, etc., so is every one that is born of the spirit." "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit." Those who are the sons of God are not "born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Paul calls this change "the washing of regeneration," and "the renewing of the Holy Ghost." And David prays, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." But why multiply proofs of a truth so evident from reason as well as Scripture? If there be any such internal change of the heart, God must be its author; for how else could it be produced? "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." If a tree be evil, who can make it good, but he who created it? If the heart be deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, will it purify itself? If all the thoughts and imaginations of man's heart are evil and only evil and that continually, whence will spring a holy nature? For a sinner to regenerate himself would be as absurd an idea, as for a man to create or beget himself. It is God that begins this good work within his people, and he will carry it on.

As God the Holy Spirit is the Author of regeneration; so the instrument employed is the Word of God. This is as clearly taught in Scripture as that God is the author or efficient cause. God is able to work without means, but both in the worlds of nature and grace it has pleased him to employ appropriate means for the accomplishment of his own ends. But although we know the fact that there is an established connection between means and ends; yet we are not competent to explain, in any case, how the end is produced by the means employed. Our animal frame is formed, and organized, and nourished, and kept alive, and recovered from disease by means adapted to these ends, but no one can explain the secret process of nature in these operations. Curious inquiries respecting the way in which the word is instrumental in the production of this change are not for edification. Sometimes regeneration is considered distinctly from the acts and exercises of the mind which proceed from it, but in the Holy Scriptures the cause and effect are included; and we shall therefore treat the subject in this practical and popular form. The instrumentality of the word can never derogate from the efficient agency of the Spirit in this work. The Spirit operates by and through the word. The word derives all its power and penetrating energy from the Spirit. Without the omnipotence of God the word would be as inefficient as clay and spittle, to restore sight to the blind. Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy over the dry bones in the valley of vision. Thus ministers are now sent to call upon those who are dead in trespasses and sins, to awake and arise from the dead, but none will obey their voice, unless a divine power accompanies their words. Men, it is true, are rational and accountable agents, and are therefore proper subjects of commands and exhortations; yet are they destitute of spiritual life, and no power but that of God as we have seen can communicate life. When the Spirit operates by the word, the soul before dead in sin is rendered susceptible of impressions from divine truth. The entrance of the truth under this divine influence gives light, and excites holy affections, which prompt to good purposes, and as a matter of course, the external actions are in obedience to the law of God. The man becomes a new creature. His wicked life is reformed. Actions before materially good are now performed from love to God and with a view to his glory. That the word of God is indeed the instrument or means of producing this change is evident from many plain testimonies of Scripture; such as the following, "The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." "The testimonies of the Lord are sure making wise the simple." "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." "Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth." "Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever." Therefore the word of God is called "the sword of the Spirit," and is said to be "quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner to the thoughts and intents of the heart." So in the exposition of the parable of the sower, our Lord says, "The seed is the word of God." And this seed, when sown on good ground bringeth forth fruit manifold. "For these are they which hear the word and receive it and bring forth fruit." The most precious seed never vegetates nor brings forth fruit, until it receives a vivifying influence from without; so the word of God, unaccompanied by the influences of the Holy Spirit, remains unfruitful, however often it may be heard or read; or however it may be treasured in the memory or theoretically understood. To have fruit it is not only necessary to have good seed, but good ground. Make the tree good and the fruit shall be good; for a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit. There is need of a quickening influence on the dead soul of the sinner to render it capable of apprehending and appreciating the truth. In the order of causation life must precede action, but in the order of time the communication of life and the acts of the new creature are simultaneous. Lazarus was called from the dead by the voice of Christ, but he must have been inspired with life before he could hear that voice. But still it is proper to say, that he was called into life by the omnipotent voice of our Savior. So when the gospel is preached, the dead hear the voice of the Son of God and live. Or we may illustrate the instrumentality of the word by the case of the blind man whose eyes our Lord opened. This man, when he first looked up, saw objects indistinctly, "men as trees walking;" but when he looked a second time, he saw things clearly. Christ caused this man to see by the light of heaven which shone around him; but the power causing him to see was exerted on the eye, removing the obstacles to vision, or supplying what was defective in the organ. As soon as this was done, the light was the medium of the perception of surrounding objects. Thus the soul of every man is by nature blind. The light may shine around him, but he comprehendeth it not. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned." By the energy of the Holy Spirit this incapacity of spiritual vision is taken away; the eyes of the understanding are enlightened. The blindness is removed, and spiritual objects are perceived; but alas! with most, very indistinctly at first. "The light of the just increaseth more and more unto the perfect day." Truth is just as necessary to every spiritual act and exercise, as light is to vision. Where the truth is not apprehended there can be no faith, for faith is a belief of the truth; there can be no love, for it is by the truth that the excellencies of the character of God and Christ are made known. Without the knowledge of the truth, there can be no repentance, for this is the light which shows the holiness and extent of the law and the evil of sin. Thus it is evident that without the truth there can be no holy exercise and no true obedience. Therefore, we never find the Holy Spirit operating on adults but as accompanying the word of truth. We can conceive of a preparation of the heart to receive the truth before it is known, as in fact the knowledge of the truth is acquired very gradually. Thus we can conceive of a divine agency on the heart of a heathen, by which he would be disposed to receive the truth as soon as it should be made known. Such a divine influence does probably prepare the way for the success of the gospel; but where the word is never sent, there we have no evidence that the Spirit exerts his renovating influence on the minds of men. Thus also we can form some idea how infants are regenerated. As they are capable of no moral exercises at present, they do not need the truth; but the Spirit of God can so renovate their depraved souls as to render them capable of apprehending and feeling the truth, as soon as their faculties are sufficiently developed; whether in this world or in another. And as we are all by nature the children of wrath — conceived in sin — and dead, infants need regeneration as really as adults, and cannot enjoy the holy happiness of heaven without such a renovation of their fallen nature.

From the connection which God has established in ordinary cases between the word and regeneration, we see the importance of sending the gospel to the heathen, and of having the good seed of the word sown as much as possible in every soul. The word should be preached in season and out of season, and the truth should be inculcated on the minds of children from their earliest years. Here is work in which all may engage and be useful. Hence also we learn how precious the book of God is which contains his holy word, and how desirable it is to have it faithfully translated into all languages, and circulated round the earth, until every family shall be in possession of the oracles of God. For not only in the preaching of the word of God, but also the reading of the Holy Scriptures, an effectual means of salvation. Agreeably to that in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, "The Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort, through faith unto salvation." Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, "for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth."

That usually a conviction of sin takes place previously to a change of heart, is a fact of common experience: and there seems to be a solid reason for this, that the sinful moral agent may be sensible of his miserable condition before he is delivered from it. As man naturally seeks to justify himself by his own righteousness, it is necessary that he should be cut off from this dependence on a broken law, which is now 'weak through the flesh,' and cannot bring him to life; and that he should see and feel that he is already justly condemned, and must despair of relief from the law. God permits the awakened sinner to try what he can do towards saving himself, until wearied with his own ineffectual efforts, he is brought to feel that he is indeed a lost sinner, and that there is no hope for him but in the sovereign mercy of God, on which he has no claim. It is suitable that when so great a benefit as pardon and eternal life is bestowed, it should be so conferred, as that the unworthy recipient should be fully convinced that it is a free gift, and an undeserved favor which might be most justly withheld. Otherwise the saved sinner would not feel a deep sense of his obligations; and his gratitude for free grace through eternity would not be so ardent. Some, however, are inclined to the opinion that conviction of sin, which is of any real value, is subsequent to regeneration, and forms a part of that evangelical repentance which all the chosen of God experience. They suppose, that mere legal terrors, which are often felt by the reprobate here, and by all the wicked in hell, can have no necessary connection with regeneration; and that that deep sense of the turpitude and demerit of sin, which commonly precedes a sense of reconciliation, and is by many thought to precede regeneration, is really a consequence of that spiritual change, and a sure evidence that it has taken place. As the question only relates to the order of the exercises of the true penitent, it seems unnecessary to occupy time in discussing it. On both sides it is agreed that mere legal convictions, however the conscious may be awakened, and the soul agitated with terror, are no evidences of a change of heart. And it is also agreed, that all regenerate persons are brought to a deep sense of the intrinsic evil of sin, and this leads them inevitably to the conclusion, that God would be just if he should inflict upon them the condign punishment which he has threatened in his word. Indeed, when the mind is spiritually enlightened to see something of the great evil of sin, the penitent soul cannot help taking the part of God against itself, and approving of its own condemnation.