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 conver-
sion, “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 before his 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 precedes conversion, 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 three stages—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.
320Exhaustiveness 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 de-
ceased 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
XXIII. Regeneration and Faith.