the Word, is deeply impressed; persuaded by its threats and promises, he repents, arises,
and accepts the Savior. Hence there is nothing more than a mere moral persuasion, obscuring
the glorious origin of the new life. To resist this repulsive deforming of the truth, Maccovius,
already in the days of the Synod of Dort, abandoned this more or less critical method to
make regeneration the starting-point. He followed this order: “Knowledge of sin, redemption
in Christ, regeneration, and only then faith.” And this was consistent with the development
of the Reformed doctrine. For as soon as the subjective method was abandoned, it became
necessary in answer to the question, “What has God wrought in the soul?” to return to the
first implanting of life. And then it became evident that God did not begin by leading the
sinner to repentance, for repentance must be preceded by conviction of sin; nor by bringing
him under the hearing of the word, for this requires an opened ear. Hence the first conscious
and comparatively cooperative act of man is always preceded by the original act of God,
planting in him the first principle of a new life, under which act man is wholly passiveand
unconscious.
295This led to the distinction of the firstand secondgrace. The former denoted God’s work
in the sinner, creating a new life without his knowledge; while the latter denoted the work
wrought in regenerateman with his full knowledge and consent.
The first grace was naturally called regeneration. And yet there was no perfect unanimity
in this respect. Some Scottish theologians put it in this way: “God began the work of grace
with the implanting of the faith-faculty(fides potentialis), followed by the new grace of the
faith-exercise (fides actualis), and of the faith power (fides habitualis). Yet it is only an apparent
difference. Whether I call the first activity of grace, the implanting of the “faith-faculty,” or
the “new principle of life,” in both instances it means that the work of grace does not begin
with faith or with repentance or contrition, but that these are preceded by God’s act of giving
power to the powerless, hearing to the deaf, and life to the dead.
For a correct idea of the entire work of grace in its different phases let us notice the
following successive stages or milestones:
- The implanting of the new life principle, commonly called regeneration inthe limited
sense, or the implanting of the faith-faculty. This divine act is wrought in man at different
ages; when, no one can tell. We know from the instance of John the Baptist that it can be
wrought even in the mother’s womb. And the salvation of deceased infants constrains us,
with Voetius and all profound theologians, to believe that this original act may occur very
early in life. - The keeping of the implanted principle of life, while the sinner still continues in sin,
so far as his consciousness is concerned. Persons who received the life-principle early in life
are no more dead, but live. Dying before actual conversion, they are not lost, but saved. In
early life they often manifest holy inclinations; sometimes truly marvelous. However, they
XIX. Old and New Terminology