“It is a divine evidence and conviction, first that God hath promised [pg 247]it in the holy Scriptures; secondly, that what God hath promised he is able to perform; thirdly, that he is able and willingto do it now. To this, is to be added one thing more: a divine conviction that he doeth it. In that hour it is done.”[18]
That is, in order to be justified and sanctified we must have a divine evidence and conviction that God is able and willing, and actually does now give the justification and sanctification we seek. In other words, in order to gain what we seek we must believe that we have gained it. In order to get a blessing we must believe that we possess it.
Thus it is, that one of the largest sects of our country is instructed by its founder and his most intelligent and learned followers, as to the way of salvation from everlasting and inconceivable misery. It will be remembered, that this class of divines teach that the depravity of man's mind consists in the deprivation of God's Spirit, which is withheld from all the descendants of Adam on account of his sin.
The following presents the mode of instruction in which the author was educated. It is contained in a letter from Dr. Nettleton, a celebrated revival preacher, who often resided with the author's father during revivals in which they were co-laborers. This letter was written to oppose the views of the New Haven divines, who maintained that, although in consequence of Adam's sin, there is a tendency or bias to evil so powerful as to insure “sin, and only sin” till regeneration occurs, yet that the act of regeneration consists in a choice or purpose on the part of man himself.
In reference to these views of Dr. Taylor and others, Dr. Nettleton says:
“They adopt a new theory of regeneration. It has been said by some that regeneration consists in removing this sinful bias, which is anterior to actual volition; this they deny. But whether we call this propensity sinful or not, all orthodox divines who have admitted its existence have, I believe, united in the opinion that regeneration does consist in removing it,” [which the New Haven divines denying, they are excluded from the “orthodox” ranks, in the view of Dr. N.]
He continues thus:
“No sinner ever did or ever will make a holy choice prior to an inclination, bias or tendency to holiness.
“On the whole their [i.e., the New Haven divines] views of depravity, of regeneration and of the mode of preaching to sinners can not fail, I think, of doing very great mischief. This exhibition [i.e., that regeneration consists in man's choice] overlooks the most alarming feature of human depravity and the very essence of experimental religion. It is directly calculated to prevent sinners from coming under conviction of sin....”
“The progress of conviction ordinarily is as follows: Trouble and alarm first, on account of outward sins; secondly, on account of hardness of heart, deadness and insensibility to divine things,—tendency, bias, proneness or propensity to sin, both inferred and felt; and this the convicted sinner always regards, not merely as calamitous, but as awfully criminal in the sight of God. And the sinner utterly despairs of salvation without a change in this propensity to sin. And while he feels this propensity to be thus criminal, he is fully aware that if God, by a sovereign act of his grace, does not interpose to remove or change it, he shall never give his heart to God, nor make one holy choice.”