communication of humanity as it existed in fallen Adam to his descendants is by a natural process of organic development ; so the communication of the renovated humanity as it exists in Christ, to his people, and through the world, is also a natural process. It supposes no special interference or intervention on the part of God, any more than any other organic development in the vegetable or animal world. The only thing supernatural about it is the starting point in Christ.
Doctrine of the Latin Church.
In the later Latin Church the word regeneration is used as synonymous with justification, and is taken in a wide sense as including everything involved in the translation of the soul from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. In regeneration the sinner becomes a child of God. It is made, therefore, to include, (1.) The removal of the "reatus " or guilt of sin. (2.) The cleansing away of inherent moral corruption. (3.) The " infusion of new habits of grace ; " and (4.) Adop- tion, or recognition of the renewed as sons of God. The Council of Trent says,1 " Justificatio .... non est sola peccatorum remis- sio, sed et sanctificatio, et renovatio interioris hominis per volun- tariam susceptionem gratiae, et donorum, unde homo ex injusto fit Justus, et ex inimico amicus, ut sit heres secundum spem vitas asternae." The instrumental cause of justification in this sense, is declared to be " sacramentum baptismi, quod est sacramentum fidei, sine qua nulli umquam contigit justificatio." As to the effect of baptism, it is taught 2 that it takes away not only guilt, but everything of the nature of sin, and communicates a new life. " Si quis per Jesu Christi Domini gratiam ; quae in baptismate confertur, reatum originalis peccati remitti negat, aut etiam as- serit, non tolli totum id, quod veram, et propriam peccati ra- tionem habet ; sed illud dicit tantum radi, aut non imputari : anathema sit. In renatis enim nihil odit Deus, quia nihil est damnationis iis qui vere consepulti sunt cum Christo per baptisma in mortem : qui non secundum carnem ambulant, sed veterem hominem exuentes, et novum, qui secundum Deum creatus est, induentes, innocentes, immaculati, puri, innoxii, ac Deo dilecti effecti sunt, heredes quidem Dei, coheredes autem Christi, ita ut nihil prorsus eos ab ingressu coeli remoretur." 8
1 Sessio vi. cap. 7. 2 Ibid. v. 5.
• Streitwolf, Libri Symbolici, Gbttingen, 1846, pp. 24, 25, 19.
28 PART III. Ch. XV. — REGENERATION.
Regeneration, therefore, as effected in baptism, is the removal of the guilt and pollution of sin, the infusion of new habits of grace, and introduction into the family of God. It is in baptism that all the benefits of the redemption of Christ are conveyed to the soul, and this is its regeneration or birth into the kingdom of God.
Doctrine of the Church of England.
1. There has always been a class of theologians in the English Church who hold the theology of the Church of Rome in its lead- ing characteristics. They accept, therefore, the definition of regeneration, or justification, as they call it, as given by the Council of Trent, and quoted above.
2. Others make a distinction between conversion and regener- ation. The latter is that grace which attends baptism, and as that sacrament without sacrilege cannot be repeated, so regenera- tion can be experienced only once. Conversion is " a change of heart and life from sin to holiness." " To the heathen and infi- del conversion is absolutely and always necessary to salvation." To the baptized Christian conversion is not always necessary. " Some persons have confused conversion with regeneration, and have taught that all men, the baptized, and therefore in fact re- generate, must be regenerated afterwards, or they cannot be saved. Now this is in many ways false : for regeneration, which the Lord Jesus Christ himself has connected with holy baptism, cannot be repeated : moreover, not all men (though indeed most men do) fall into such sin after baptism, that conversion, or as they term it, regeneration, is necessary to their salvation ; and if a regeneration were necessary to them, it could only be obtained through repetition of baptism, which were an act of sacrilege." " They who object to the expression baptismal regeneration, by regeneration mean, for the most part, the first influx of irresisti- ble and indefectible grace; grace that cannot be repelled by its subject, and which must issue in its final salvation. Now, of such grace oar Church knows nothing, and of course, therefore, means not by regeneration at baptism, the first influx of such grace. That the sins, original and actual, of the faithful recipi- ent of baptism, are washed away, she doth indeed believe ; and also that grace is given to him by the immediate agency of
I A, ?nt ;/Gt 8° that the consci^ce thus cleansed may be ^am defiled and that the baptized person may, and often does, by his own fault, fall again into sin. in which if he die he shall