The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

sake, in its untouched sin, would pass into heaven still unregenerate. The
theory errs utterly either by excess or by lack. If a child has not a sinful
nature, it needs no Saviour. If its sin is not a proper subject of
condemnation, it needs no forgiveness. But if it has a sinful nature, it needs
not only a Saviour from penalty, but a renewing power to save it from the
indwelling of sin; if it is subject to condemnation, it not only needs
forgiveness, but the exercise of a gracious power which will ultimately
remove what is condemnable. In other words, it needs to be born again.
9. Nothing but downright Pelagianism of the extremest kind can save
any man logically from the conclusion we are urging. Original sin must be
counteracted in its natural tendency to death, first, by a power which
removes its penalty, and secondly, by a power which ultimately removes
the sin itself. The power which removes the penalty is in our Lord Jesus
Christ, who made atonement for original sin, as well as for the actual sins
of men; the power which can remove the sin itself is in the new birth. The
former, to use the old theological terminology, is necessary to remove the
reatus of original sin, that is, its present guilt and immediate liability; the
latter is necessary to remove its fomes, the inciting fomenting power itself,
or, as it is sometimes called, the materiale, or essence of sin, which would,
left to itself, ever renew the guilt and its curse. It is as impossible to
separate the justification of an infant from its regeneration, as it would be to
justify an adult while his heart is unchanged. These two things, justification
and regeneration, may be separated mentally, and are really distinct, but
they are never separated in fact. Unless there be regeneration, there will be
no forgiveness. A regenerated man is always justified, a justified man is
always regenerated; and unless a man be both, he is neither. A justified
infant, unregenerate, is inconceivable in the kingdom of God; such
justification would belong to the kingdom of darkness. Alike then to the
attainment of both forgiveness and sanctification, or of either, there is a
necessity which is most absolute; no human being has been, or can be,
saved from eternal death unless he be born again.