Regeneration and Renewal
“By regeneration we understand the commencement of the life of God in the soul of man; the beginning of that which had not an existence before: by renewal, the invigoration of that which has been begun; the sustentation of a life already possessed... In the washing of regeneration the new life commences. Having begun it needs to be supported and preserved. This is effected by the renewing of the Holy Ghost, the flowing into the soul through the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ of the varied gifts of the Divine Agent by whom the life itself was imparted at first.”” — Zhomas Binney.
REGENERATION and Renewal are related to each other, as the planting of the tree is related to its growth. It is very necessary that at the outset we should have a clear conception of what regeneration is. In the manuals of theology we sometimes find it described as “a change of nature,” But we must take respectful exception to this definition. For by nature must be meant, of course, human nature; and by the expression “change of nature,” it is implied that the natural heart can be so transformed and bettered, that it can bring forth the fruits of righteousness and true holiness. Against this presumption the Word of God enters its solemn and emphatic caveat — “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, nezther indeed can be,”
We hold that the true definition of regeneration
* Rom, 8: 7.
is, that it is “the communication of the Divine Nature to man by the operation of the Holy Spirit, through the Word.” So writes the Apostle Peter: ““Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises; that by these we might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the ‘corruption that is in the world through lust.” * As Christ was made partaker of human nature by his incarnation, that so he might enter into truest fellowship with us, we are made partakers of the Divine Nature by regeneration, that we may enter into truest fellowship with God. That great saying of the Son of God which is so often repeated in the Gospel and Epistles of John, “He that believeth on me hath eternal life,” can convey to us only this idea when rightly understood: The eternal life is not our natural life prolonged into endless duration. It is the divine life imparted to us — the very life of very God communicated to the human soul, and bringing forth there its own proper fruit.
Seeing this point clearly, we can readily understand the process and method of spiritual growth —
that it consists in the constant mortification of the
* 2 Pet. r: 4, natural man, and the constant renewal of the spiritual man. We can best illustrate this by using the figure of grafting, which the Scriptures several times employ. Here is a gnarly tree, which bears only sour and stunted fruit. From some rich and perfect stock a scion is brought, which is incorporated into a branch of this tree. Now, the husbandman’s efforts are directed, not to the culture and improvement of the old stock, but to the development of the new. Instead of seeking to make the original branches better, he cuts them off, here and there, that the sap and vitality which they are wasting in the production of worthless fruit, may go to that which is approved and excellent. Here is the philosophy of spiritual culture: “Put off the old man with his deeds rr the za ward man is renewed day by day.”
Believing that vigilant and serious attention to spiritual culture is now especially demanded, if we are to cope with the powerful enemies which confront us, let us search for the secret of this divine renewal.
“Day by day” our inward man is renewed. “Give us day by day our daily*bread,” is the prayer which the Saviour taught us to utter, And yet he said, “It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ The bread of the Word is that which we must feed upon if we would enjoy a daily increase in the life of God. It is a trite admonition, but none the less true and vital. Divine growth must follow the development of the divine birth. If we were “begotten by the Word of Truth,” we must be daily renewed from the
same element.
Too few really credit the power of the Word in building up holy character, and therefore too few make diligent experiment of the process. Can we think it possible that the food on our tables should be so transmuted in Nature’s laboratory that it should re-appear, now in the stalwart muscle of the blacksmith’s arm, and now in the fine texture of the poet’s brain? And let it not seem incredible that the Word of God, daily received and inwardly assimilated, can re-appear in every kind of spiritual power and holy efficiency. Stephen Grellet, waking up from his early sacramental training, saw the washerwomen one day at their tasks. They were washing linen. He says: “I wondered to see what beating and pounding there rv
was upon it, and how beautifully white it came out of their hands. I was told I could not enter God’s kingdom until I underwent such an operation; that unless I was thus washed and made white, I could have no part in the dear Son of God. For weeks I was absorbed in the consideration of the subject — the washing of regeneration. I had never heard such things before, and I greatly wondered that, having been baptized with water, and having also received what they call the sacrament of confirmation, I should have to pass through such a purification.” Just as it was in the beginning, we see, ‘‘ How shall ye believe if I
tell you of heavenly things?”’ But by and by this mystery is solved, by being
wrought out in a living personal experience, and the regeneration of the Spirit is followed by a long life of eager and humble feeding on the Spirit and the Word of God. And now appears a greater mystery. By a strange and subtile power the hearts of kings and emperors are made to open to this saintly preacher, while they listen entranced as he unfolds to them the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and pleads the claims of Divine
Love. Popes and cardinals, priests and nuns, give ear; their hearts melt, and their eyes flow with tears, while they confess that they never heard it on this wise before. Here is a life which maintained such communion with God that there was far more of heaven than of earth in it. Let us see in it a living testimony of what the Holy Spirit and the Holy Word can effect when wrought
into living Christian character.
We are touching a most vital point now. Physiology shows us how inevitably the food on which one subsists determines the texture of his flesh. Can the daily newspaper, the light romance, and the secular magazine, build up the fibre and tissue of a true spiritual character? We are not putting any surly prohibition on these things; but when we think of the place which they hold in modern society, and with how many Christians they constitute the larger share of the daily reading, there is suggested a very serious theme for reflection. As the solemn necessity is laid upon the sinner of choosing between Christ and tke world, so is the choice pressed upon the Christian between the Bible and literature — that is, the choice as to which shall hold the supreme place. “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Ah! how quickly a day’s bodily languor and want of appetite is noted and attended to. But how many days have we known in which there has been no relish for the Word of God, no deep, inward craving after that meat which the world knows not of. And have we been so alarmed at this symptom that we have made
haste at once to seek its cure?
The fact of the Scriptures furnishing nutriment and upbuilding to the soul, is the most real experience of which we have knowledge. None of us, “by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature.’ But how many, by taking in God’s great thoughts, feeding on them and inwardly digesting them, have added vastly to their spiritual stature. We have noticed especially, in the lives of Christians, how some long-neglected but freshly-revived truth has marvelously quickened and built up the soul. Its newness has created a strong relish in the believer, and so imparted a mighty impulse to his spiritual growth. How true this has been of such doctrines as those of “Justification by Faith,” ‘The Witness of the Homi, andethé “Coming of lthe ‘Lord: = The revival of these doctrines has constituted distinct eras of reformation in the Church, but previously, also, marked eras of renewal in the individual soul, We may take the last mentioned as the one most recently revived. The biographer of Hewitson says of him: “He not only believed in the speedy appearing, but loved it, waited for it, watched for it. So mighty a motive power did it become that he ever used to speak of it afterward vs bringing with it a kind of second conversion.” Yes; and how many Christians of our day know what this means. Such is the vivifying power of truth; so does it come in to repair the waste in our spiritual life, to build up new tissue, and to
put new blood into our heavenly man.
The same may be said of prayer and meditation. They have mighty renewing power. They quicken our life, and multiply within us the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.
In these days, when the closet has become so contracted and the Church so expanded; when Christians have learned to find their edification so largely in the public services, in the music, and art, and eloquence of the sanctuary, and so little in the still hour of communion, it is quite hard to believe that the greatest enjoyment is possible in solitude with God. We read of Columkill bidding farewell to his hermit’s cell and homely fare to take the honors and emoluments of the bishopric of Iona, yet exclaiming tearfully: “Farewell, Arran of my heart! Paradise is with thee; the garden of God is within sound of thy bells.” And as we read this we say, forsooth, “This is monkish sentimentalism.” But what when we find sober Protestant saints like the one just quoted, Hewitson, writing: ‘Communion with Christ is the only source of satisfaction, the only source of lasting joy. I have enjoyed more even this morning from beholding the loveliness of the glory of Christ, as revealed to me by the Spirit, than I have done from the world during the whole of my life.” Or, to rise to a still more incredible altitude, what if we listen to that mighty interceder with God, John Welch, of Scotland, crying in one of his seasons of rapt communion, “O Lord, hold thy hand; it is enough; thy servant is a clay vessel, and can contain no more?” Surely, this is strange language to most of us. But if we turn to the Scriptures of our Lord, we may find a possible key to such alleged experiences; for when we ask our Master why he has revealed such wonderful things concerning our union with him, and our share in the Father’s glory, he answers, “These thmgs have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you, and ¢hat your joy might be full.”’* And when we ask Him why he has given us this wonderful privilege of prayer in his name, he replies, “Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”{ Ii, at best, we have been able to get only a half measure of this divine joy, let us not discredit those who have exclaimed, “My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” We have spoken of daily renewals, and we are persuaded that no real growth and development in Christian life is possible without these. There is still another kind of renewing to which we would call attention. ‘‘ Zhe times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord,” which the Scriptures promise, hold out a very blessed and assuring hope. This expression, of course, has literal reference to the return of the Lord from glory, and his joyful reunion with his Church. But there are even now seasons of extraordinary communion with the Lord, when, through the Holy
* John 15: 11. t John 16: 24.
Spirit, he is pleased to manifest himself to the soul in such unwonted power that they may be truly called “times of refreshing.” We find records of these in the lives of almost all devoted saints. As nature has its annual as well as its diurnal renewals, when the sun returns in springtide blessing and quickening, so has grace its special times of revival. Then it is that the heavenly Bridegroom visits the soul, by the Holy Ghost, speaking in tenderest accents: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land. The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” Ah! how often have the poetic strains of this Song of Solomon been translated into the real prose of living, practical experience. The chill of winter has settled over the Church; instead ot melting penitence, the tears of other days have frozen into icicles, and are hanging about the sanctuary — cold and glittering formalities taking the place of that holy tenderness which pleads with God “with strong crying,” and warns men ‘night and day with tears.’”’ What servant of God has not had sorrowful experiences of this condition of things? Then it is that pastors and brethren should seek for a special refreshing from the Lord’s presence. The ordinary tenor of spiritual life will not answer now. The power of God must be laid hold of — special power for special weakness and need. And “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” that he can renew what he has begotten, and restore the joy of his salvation to those who have backslidden into the joy of this world. Christmas Evans, the fervent Welsh preacher, has left us the record of a
most gracious visitation of this kind: —
“I was weary of a cold heart toward Christ and his sacrifice and the work of his Spirit; of a cold heart in the pulpit, in secret prayer, and in the study. For fifteen years previously I had felt my heart burning within me, as if going to Emmaus with Jesus. On a day ever to be remembered by me, as I was going from Dolgelley to Machynlleth, and climbing up toward Cadair Idris, I considered it incumbent on me to pray, however hard I felt my heart, and however worldly the frame of my spirit was. Having began in the name of Jesus, I soon felt as it were the fetters loosening, and the old hardness softening, and, as I thought, the mountains of frost and snow dissolving and melting within me. This engendered confidence in my soul in the promise of the Holy Ghost. I felt my whole mind relieved from some great bondage; tears flowed copiously, and I was constrained to cry out for the gracious visits of God, by restoring to my soul the joy of his salvation, and that he would visit the churches in Anglesea that were under my care. I embraced in my supplications all the churches of the saints, and nearly all the ministers of the principality by their names. This struggle lasted for three hours; it rose again and again, like one wave after another, or a high-flowing tide driven by a strong wind, until my nature became faint by weeping and crying. Thus I resigned myself to Christ, body and soul, gifts and labors, all my life — every day and every hour that remained for me; and all my cares I committed to Christ. The road was mountainous and lonely, and I was wholly alone, and suffered no interruption in my wrestling with God. From this time I was led to expect the goodness of God to the churches and to myself.... The result was, when I returned home the first thing that arrested my attention was that the Spirit was working also in
—
the brethren in Anglesea, inducing in them a spirit of prayer, especially in two of the deacons, who were particularly importunate that God would visit us in mercy, and render the Word of his grace effectual amongst us
for the conversion of sinners.’ *
What is especially to be noticed in this experience is its relation to the Church of God. When the ice was melted from his own soul, then he began to plead for all the saints and all the ministers. And, as afterward appears, at the same time that the Spirit fell on him it was falling on his brethren in distant places. So it is always. God never makes half a providence any more than man makes half a pair of shears. If he fits a preacher to declare his Word, he fits a hearer to receive that Word; if he moves one soul to cry ‘ What must I do?” he has always moved some other servant of his to direct him what to do. Let us ponder the story of Paul and Ananias, of Peter and Cornelius, of Philip and the eunuch, if we would observe the mystery of the Spirit — his twofold ministry, to preacher and to hearer, to counsellor and to inquirer. And noting this, we shall understand the intimate relationship between the season
* Life and Sermons, p. 28.
of renewal in the heart of the individual believer and the time of reviving in the Church. If two harp-strings are in perfect tune, you cannot smite the one without causing the other to vibrate; and if one Christian is touched and agitated by the Spirit of God, think it not strange that all who are like-minded in the Church are moved by the same divine impulse. Not for ourselves, and that we may enjoy the holy luxury of communion with God, are we to seek for the times of refreshing. If so, doubtless we shall fail of them, for, even spiritual blessings we may ask and receive not, if we only ask that we may consume them upon ourselves.
No biography to which we have been intro- * duced seems to us more instructive on this point than that of David Brainerd. From time to time he sought and obtained the holiest intimacies with God, yet never for himself. Trace, line by line, the following remarkable passage from his diary: —
“APRIL 19, 1742. — -I set apart this day for fasting and prayer to God for his grace; especially to prepare me for the work of the ministry, to give me divine aid and direction in my preparations for that great work, and in his own time to send me into his harvest. Accordingly, in the morning I endeavored to plead for the Divine Presence for the day, and not without some life. In the forenoon I felt the power of intercession for precious, immortal souls, for the advancement of the kingdom of my dear Lord and Saviour in the world, and, withal, a most sweet resignation and even consolation and joy in the thought of suffering hardships, distresses, and even death itself, in the promotion of it; and had special enlargement in pleading for the enlightening and conversion of the poor heathen. In the afternoon God was with me of a truth. Oh, it was blessed company indeed! God enabled me so to agonize in prayer that I was quite wet with sweat, though in the shade and the cool wind. JZy soul was drawn out very much for the world; I grasped for muttitudes of souls. IL think [ had more enlargement for sin- ‘ ners than for the children of God, though I felt as if I could spend my life in cries for both. I had great enjoyment. in communion with my dear Saviour. I think I never in my life felt such an entire weanedness from this world, and so much resigned to God in everything. Oh that I may always live to and upon my blessed God!
Amen, amen.” *
Here, certainly, is something very high and
* Memoir, p. 46.
remote from ordinary experience — this praying one’s self into fellowship with Christ’s sufferings, and into partnership with his garden sweat. But we are writing now for those who wish to know concerning the highest attainments. Yet what we are especially emphasizing is the relation of these extraordinary experiences to the furtherance of the gospel and the salvation of souls.
He who in thus interceding grasped not for some ecstatic vision or revelation of God, but “for multitudes of souls,’ gained what he sought; for marvellous power attended his preaching. There were days in which the Spirit of God fell upon those stolid, hard-hearted Indians with such demonstration that scores of them bowed before the preacher like grass before the mower’s scythe; so that even the ambassador himself was astonished, and exclaimed, “And there was no day like that before it or after it.”
Brainerd had many seasons of this uncommon renewing of his spiritual life through prayer and fasting; and in summing them up, President Edwards records this noteworthy conclusion: “Among all the many days he spent in secret prayer and fasting, of which he gives an account in his diary, there zs scarcely an instance of one which was not either attended or soon followed with apparent success, and a remarkable blessing in special influences and consolations of God’s Spirit, and very often before the day was ended.” And we may add yet more. The record of these fastings and prayers of Brainerd, and of the power of God which followed, written only for himself, but wisely published by Edwards after his death, has brought rich blessing to the world. William Carey read it on his shoemaker’s bench, and asked, “If God can do such things among the Indians of America, why not among the pagans of India?” Henry Martyn, the thoughtful student in Cambridge, England, read it, and was moved by it to consecrate his life to missionary service in the East. Edward Payson pondered it, and when twenty-two years of age wrote in his diary: “In reading Mr. Brainerd’s life, I seemed to feel a most earnest desire after some portion of his spirit.” Considering the vast results which have followed the labors of these servants of God, who shall say that Brainerd has not wrought even more since his death, than in his life? * And who, look-
* Jung 27, 1832. — Life of David Brainerd. Most wonderful man! What ing at the great sum total, can question whether or not it is profitable for one to wait upon the Lord with prayer, and fasting, and intercession, for the renewal of his spiritual strength? O Holy Spirit, quicken us by thy mighty power, so that we may “put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of our mind; azd that we may put on the new man, which after God 1s created in righteousness and true hol2- ness.”
conflicts, what depressions, desertions, strength, advancement, victories within thy
torn bosom! I cannot express what I think when I think of thee. To-night
more set on missionary enterprise than ever.”? — McCheyne’s Fournal.