A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion/Chapter 24
XXIV. Reformation and Regeneration.
SINCE man is born with a propensity to evils of every kind, and yet was intended for heaven, it is necessary that the bias, which he has received hereditarily from his parents, and confirmed by actual life, be checked or restrained, and that new inclinations and new affections of an opposite tendency be gradually insinuated into him. This change of disposition and character is in the Word called the new birth, or regeneration, the several stages of which answer to those of man's natural conception, birth, and education. The necessity also of this change, before man can experience true heavenly happiness, is evident from our Lord's words to Nicodemus, "Verily verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," John iii. 3.
The first part of the new birth is called reformation, and has more immediate respect to the understanding, and the truths received by it, which teach the being of a God, the existence of a heaven and a hell, the immortality of the human soul, what is evil, and what is good, and that the one is to be refused, and the other embraced. In this state man also learns to know, not only that there is One God, the Creator of the universe, but that the same God is the Redeemer and Saviour of mankind, and that the Lord Jesus Christ is that One God; in whom nevertheless is a divine trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, united in one person, and not divided into three persons; that his essential divinity is called the Father, his divine humanity the Son, and his proceeding influence the Holy Spirit. When man is acquainted with these truths, he can then acknowledge, that all faith, and all charity, and consequently all truth, and all good, are derived solely from him; and therefore that he alone ought to be approached in prayer, and honoured as the sole object worthy of divine adoration.
The second part of the new birth is properly called regeneration, and may be distinguished into a first and second state. In the first state man begins actually to shun evils as sins, and by the truths of faith is led to the good of life. The formation of a new will also gradually takes place in him; and after many internal difficulties, struggles, and temptations, he at length enters into the enjoyment of heavenly tranquillity and peace, represented by the seventh day, or sabbath of rest. In this latter state he acts more immediately under the influence of good in the will, or of charity, and is thereby led to the contemplation of truth in the understanding. So that whereas the external man had rule in him before, the internal man has now the dominion, and the external is brought into subjection. Hence the order of his life is inverted, and he himself becomes a new man by regeneration from the Lord.
It is agreeable to divine order, that the internal man be first regenerated, and afterwards the external man; the latter by the former. For the internal man is regenerated by the doctrines of faith and charity influencing the understanding and the will; but the external man is regenerated by the same doctrines influencing his life and actions. This is the signification of our Lord's words, when he says, "Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also," Matt, xxiii. 26. And again, "Except a man be born of water, and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," John iii. 5. Water in it's spiritual sense signifies all truth, which is the object of faith; and spirit signifies a life in conformity with such truth.
