“Second conversion is the cleansing from sin, which the author [pg 252]says ‘is a work of indefinite length,’ and in this particular alone differs from the first conversion.
“But, in the examples cited by him, the experience of this second conversion has been as instantaneous as the first. Luther, climbing Pilate's stair-case on his hands and knees, for the purpose of gaining holiness, was brought to his feet by the truth, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ ‘Then,’ Luther says, ‘I felt myself born again. As a new man I entered by an open door into the very Paradise of God.’
“So in all the other examples of this author, the apprehension of Christ as the way, is instantaneous; and yet he says ‘the work of Christ remains yet to be done in the future.’ In this point only does it differ from the first conversion, that it is not all done in an instant, although, as I have said before, his examples all make the impression that in both cases the work is instantaneous.”
This extract is not given as a correct exhibition of the views of this author, for it may not do him justice. It is given to show how vague and indefinite are the teachings of religious writers and preachers on this subject. Here is a book recommended for its clear views by the highest class of minds. It is read and re-read by an intelligent, well-educated young man, who is studying theology in one of our first seminaries. He then gives this author's view of regeneration, as that which he supposes to be contained in that book, and also as “the one generally entertained.”
And what is this answer to the great question, “What must we do to be saved?”—a question on which the happiness of endless ages is suspended.
It is the pardon of sin, which “is instantaneous and entire.” This is something which God does, and this, as it would seem, is regeneration.
Next it is stated that “the moment a soul believes in Christ and accepts his atonement, that moment it experiences a complete sense of pardoned sin.” Here one [pg 253] must ask, “what is signified by believing in Christ and accepting his atonement? Is this also regeneration, and if so, does it consist in the intellectual assent to the proposition that Christ as God suffered and died, and by this act secured the pardon of our sin?” There is nothing given to decide these queries.
Next, it is stated that this act of faith is followed by “a complete sense of pardoned sin.” Is this regeneration, or is it a part of it? There is nothing given to decide this question.
It is certain that the young man, totally failed in his efforts to secure any clear and definite conceptions of the author's meaning, exactly as has been the case with the writer herself, for whom the above extract was prepared.
It has been the privilege of the writer, often to listen to the preaching of Dr. Bushnell, one of the most popular of all our religious teachers. On one such occasion during the present season, the object of his sermon seemed to be to teach what was that true knowledge of God, which he urged on his hearers.