The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 356

REGENERATION

3i6

Holy Ghost, who works

by the by the use of the sacraments." And also the canons of Dort, Third and Fourth Heads of doctrine, section 17: "As the almighty operation of God, whereby He prolongs and supports this our natural life, does not exclude, but requires the use of means by which God of His infinite mercy and eth from the

faith in our hearts

preaching of the Gospel, and confirms

it

goodness hath chosen to exert His influence so also the beforementioned supernatural operation of God, by which we are regenerated, in no wise excludes or subverts the use of the Gospel, which the most wise God hath ordained to be the seed of regeneration and food of the soul. Wherefore, as the apostles and the teachers who succeeded them piously instructed the people concerning this grace of God, to His glory and the abasement of all pride, and in the mean time, however, neglected not to keep them by the sacred precepts of the Gospel in the exercise of the Word, the sacraments, and discipline so even to this day, be it far from either instructors or instructed to presume to tempt God in the Church, by separating ;

;

what He of His good pleasure hath most intimately joined together. For grace is conferred by means of admonitions; and the more readily we perform our duty, the more eminent usually is this blessing of God working in us, and the more directly is His work advanced."

And now,

in order to eradicate every suspicion that

against this representation,

we

give

We

it

we

we contend

declare openly and definitely that

our most hearty assent.

only beg

it

be considered that in this presentation both

Scripture and the symbols of faith always point to the mysterious

work of God hiding back of it, to an inscrutable mystery without which all this comes to naught. The canons of Dort describe this mysterious, inscrutable, and wonderful background most elaborately and most beautifully in article 12, Third and Fourth Heads of Doctrine " And this is the regeneration so highly celebrated in Scripture and denominated a new creation; a resurrection from the dead, a making alive, which God works in us without our aid. But this is in no wise effected merely by the external preaching of the Gospel, by moral suasion, or such a mode of operation that, after God has performed His part, it still remains in the power of man to be regenerated or not, to be conbackground, to a wonderful

:

verted or to continue unconverted; but ural work, most powerful and

at the

it is

evidently a supernat-

same time most

delightful,

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