This mysterious background, which our fathers at Dort called “His pervading the inmost recesses of man by the efficacy of the, regenerating Spirit,” is evidently the same as what we call “the divine operation which penetrates the center of our being to implant the germ of the new life.”

And what is this mysterious working? According to the universal testimony based upon Scripture, it is an operation of the Holy Spirit in man’s innermost being.

Hence the question, whether this regenerating act precedes, accompanies,orfollowsthe hearing of the Word. And this question should be well understood, for it involves the solution of this seeming disagreement.

We answer: The Holy Spirit may perform this work in the sinner’s heart *before, during,*or afterthe preaching of the Word. The

inward call may be associated with the outward call, or it may follow it. But that which precedes the inward call, viz., the opening of the deaf ear,so that it may be heard, is not dependent upon the preaching of the Word; and therefore mayprecedethe preaching.

Correct discrimination in this respect is of greatest importance.

If I designate the whole consciouswork of grace from conversion until death, “regeneration,” without any regard to its mysterious background, then Imayand mustsay with the Confession (article 24): “That this faith, being wrought in man by the hearing of the Word, and the operation of the Holy Spirit, doth regenerate him and make him a new man.”

But if I distinguish in this work of grace, according to the claims of the sacraments, between the originof the new life, for which God gave us the sacrament of holy Baptism, and its support, for which God gave the sacrament of the holy Supper, then regeneration ceases immediately after man is born again, and that which follows is called “sanctification.”

And discriminating again between that which the Holy Spirit wrought in us consciously and *unconsciously,*then regeneration designates that which was wrought in us unconsciously, while conversion is the term we apply to the awakening of this implanted life in our consciousness.

Hence God’s work of grace runs through these three successive stages:

1st. Regeneration in its firststage, when the Lord plants the new life in the dead heart.

2d. Regeneration in its secondstage, when the new-born man comes to conversion.

3d. Regeneration in its thirdstage, when conversion merges into sanctification.

In each of these three God performs a wonderful and mysterious work in man’s inward being. From God proceed quickening, conversion, and sanctification, and in each God is the Worker: only with this difference, that in the quickening He works *alone,*finding and leaving man *inactive;that in conversion He findsusinactive,*but makes usactive; that in sanctification He works in us in such a manner that we work ourselvesthrough Him.

Describing it still more closely, we say that in the first stage of regeneration, that of quickening, God works *without means;*in the

second stage, that of conversion, He employs means, viz., the preaching of the Word; and in the third stage, that of sanctification, He uses means in addition to ourselves, whom He uses as means.

Condensing the foregoing, there is one great act of God which re-creates the corrupt sinner into a new man, viz., the comprehensive act of regeneration, which contains three parts—quickening, conversion, and sanctification.

For the ministry of the Word it is preferable to consider only the last two, conversion and sanctification, since this is the appointed means to effect them. The first, regeneration, is preferably a subject of private meditation, since in it man is passive and God only active; and also because in it the majesty of the divine operation is most apparent.

Hence there is no conflict or opposition. Referring, according to the Confession, article 17, only to conversion and sanctification, the unstopping of the deaf ear as preceding the hearing of the Word is not denied. And penetrating into the work which antedates conversion, “In which God works in us without our aid” (article 12 of the canons of Dort), it is not denied, but confessed, that conversion and sanctification follow the unstopping of the deaf ear, and that, in the proper sense, regeneration is completed only at the death of the sinner.

Do not suppose that we make these two to conflict. In writing a biography of Napoleon it would be sufficient simply to mention his *birth,*but one might also mention, more in particular, the things that took place beforehis birth. Just so in this respect: I may refer either to the two parts of regeneration, conversion and sanctification, or I may include also that which precedesconversion, and speak also of the quickening. This implies no antagonism, but a mere difference of exactness. It is more exhaustive, with reference to regeneration, to speak of threestages—quickening, conversion, and sanctification; altho it is customary and more practical to speak only of the last two.

Our purpose, however, calls for greater completeness. The aim of this work is not to preach the Word, but to uncover the foundations of the truth, so as to stop the building of crooked walls upon the foundation-stone, after the manner of Ethicals, Rationalists, and Supernaturalists.

Exhaustiveness in treatment requires to ask not only, “How and

what does the quickened sinner hear?” but also, “Who has given him hearing ears? “

And this is all the more to be insisted upon because our children must not be ignored in this respect. At Dort, in 1618, our children were taken into account, and we may not deny ourselves this pleasant obligation.

And herein lies a real danger. For to speak of the little ones without considering the first stage of regeneration—i.e., the quickening—causes confusion and perplexity from which there is no escape.

Salvation depends upon faith, and faith upon the hearing of the Word; hence our deceased infants must be lost, for they can not hear the Word. To escape this fearful thought it is often said that the children are saved by virtue of the parents’ faith—a misunderstanding which greatly confused our entire conception of Baptism, and made our baptismal form very perplexing. But as soon as we distinguish *quickening,*as a stage of regeneration, from conversion and *sanctification,*the light enters. For since quickening is an unaided act of God in us, independent of the Word, and frequently separated from the second stage, *conversion,*by an interval of many days, there is nothing to prevent God from performing His work even in the babe, and the apparent conflict dissolves into beautiful harmony. Moreover, as soon as I regard my still unconverted children as not yet regenerate, their training must run in the direction of a questionable Methodism.¹ What is the use of the call so long as I suppose and know: “This ear can not yet hear”?

Touching the question concerning. “faith,” we are fully prepared to apply the same distinction to this matter. You have only to discriminate between the organor the *faculty of faith,*the *Power to exercise faith,*and *the working of faith.*The first of these three, viz., the facultyof faith, is implanted in the first stage of regeneration—i.e., in quickening; the powerof faith is imparted in the second stage of regeneration—i.e., in conversion; and the workingof faith is wrought in the third stage—i.e., in sanctification. Hence if faith is wrought only by the hearing of the Word, the preaching of the Word does not create the facultyof faith.

Look only at what our fathers confessed at Dort: “He who works in man both to will and to do produces both the will to believe

and the act of believingalso” (Third and Fourth Heads of Doctrine, article 14).

Or to express it still more strongly: when the Word is preached, I know it; and when I hear it and believe it, I know whence this workingof faith comes. But the implanting of the faith-faculty is an entirely different thing; for of this the Lord Jesus says: “Thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh; and whither it goeth”;² and as the wind, so is also the regeneration of man.

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Footnotes

1. See the author’s explanation of Methodism in section 5 of the Preface. ↩

2. [John iii. 8] ↩