“But the great danger of supposing that the first operation of divine grace upon the heart is regeneration, is, that it serves to delude sinners into a belief that they are saints when they are not.”
-Rev. Nathan Bangs (1818)-
I have posted two new YouTube shorts with quotes from Rev. Nathan Bangs’ 1818 book, The Reformer Reformed, and from Wilbur Tillett’s 1903 book, Personal Salvation.
Nathan Bangs:
Wilbur Tillett:
Here are the full quotes and context:
Rev. Nathan Bangs’ book, The Reformer Reformed: (1818), pages 128-129 & 130:
“From these and similar sentences in his book, it appears he supposes that when the scriptures speak of quickening, enlightening, convincing, &c. they mean regeneration. If this be so, then the first visitation of divine grace to the heart must be considered as effecting a radical change, or producing regeneration: and if it be proper to consider the first visitation of divine grace to the heart regeneration, then we agree, with our opponent, that sinners are totally depraved until regenerated; for, as before observed, we consider every man who is totally graceless, entirely sinful.
But we wish it to be distinctly understood, that we do not think, that when the sacred writers speak of the new-birth, of being washed in the laver of regeneration, and of being born of God so as not to commit sin, that they mean the same as being enlightened, convicted, &c. and it is therefore that we conclude that a man is enlightened, or convicted, or quickened, before he is regenerated.
[…]
And from this statement it appears to me that the principal difference between us and Mr. W. [the Calvinist] is, that we do not use the word regeneration in the same sense.
From the most deliberate view I have been able to take of this subject, I am induced to believe that what we generally call conviction for sin, which is produced by the enlightening influence of the word and Spirit of God upon the sinner’s heart, the Hopkinsians [the Calvinists] call regeneration:
Although I did not include the next section in the Short, Bangs continues (page 130-131):
… and if this discrepance were merely verbal it would be unworthy of contention. But the great danger of supposing that the first operation of divine grace upon the heart is regeneration, is, that it serves to delude sinners into a belief that they are saints when they are not. Believing themselves saints, merely because they have been made sensible of the sinfulness of their hearts, and have had some sorrow for sin, and then adopting that other part of Hopkinsianism [Calvinism], the infallible perseverance of all such saints, the error must have a most fatal tendency.
We all know how prone mankind are to flatter themselves with a false hope; to conclude that their spiritual state is good; and to persuade themselves that their final felicity is secured; and hence, (as Mr. Flavel somewhere observes, ‘If the principle will yield it, think not but that corrupt nature will catch at it,’) the imminent danger to which sinners are exposed who fancy themselves eternally secured in the immutable covenant of Redemption, merely because they have had a good desire, or some heart-rendings on account of their native vileness. It is on this account chiefly that we object to the Hopkinsian [Calvinist] definition of regeneration, or the new-birth.
If the holy scriptures teach, and we believe they do, that sinners are enlightened to see their sinfulness, have a godly sorrow produced, and have a hatred to sin excited in their hearts, previous to regeneration, then it must be extremely hazardous to teach them to believe that these are certain indications of their having been regenerated. The scriptures can teach no dangerous doctrine. They are directly calculated to lead mankind into the safest and surest way.
Wilbur Tillett, Personal Salvation (1903), pages 130, 133, 245-246-247 (note: the 9th Edition, from 1924, available on Archive, removes part of the text from page 247 which is included below, from the 1903, 1st Edition):
If the work of personal salvation be analyzed and separated into its various parts, it may be said to consist of the following elements:
(1) Conviction of sin, which is that work of the Holy Spirit upon the conscience of the sinner by which he is awakened and made to realize his sinful and lost condition;
(2) repentance, which is such godly sorrow on account of sin as leads to the forsaking of all sin and the confession of sin;
(3) faith, or that belief of the mind and trust of the heart by which the penitent sinner accepts Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour;
(4) justification, which is something done for us, being that act of God by which he pardons all the past sins of the penitent believer;
(5) regeneration, which is something done in us, being that act of God by which ho breaks the dominion of the sin of nature and creates us anew, which transformation is called the new birth, and is followed by adoption into the family of God;
(6) the witness of the Holy Spirit to the spirit of the regenerate believer, testifying to his pardon and adoption, and producing a divine conviction of salvation;
(7) sanctification, which refers to that work of the Holy Spirit in co-operation with the regenerate spirit which separates the soul from sin and carries on and completes the Work begun in regeneration.
[…]
Conviction of sin is a result of the Holy Spirit’s application of the preached word and the divine law to the heart and conscience of a sinner, and is often irresistibly produced; but while the sinner may be convicted against his will, and in spite of efforts to the contrary, yet he is not irresistibly converted. Under conviction he is free either to resist the wooings of the Spirit or to follow the Spirit’s leadings on to repentance and faith. A moral free agent is never more free than in that intense and critical moment when he is irresistibly awakened and brought to a knowledge of his true condition. It is the most critical and responsible moment in all his life; for then it is that his eternal destiny is hanging in the balance, and nothing but his own will can determine which way the scales of destiny shall be made to turn.
[…]
The order which we have seen is the true one is this: (1) Conviction of sin or spiritual awakening, (2) repentance, (3) faith, (4) justification, and (5) regeneration. The first is the work of the Holy Spirit, and is wrought irresistibly and unconditionally, in that a man may be convicted of sin even against his will. The second and third are the work of man in the exercise of his free agency, the Holy Spirit co-operating with man and imparting gracious ability for the fulfillment of these conditions of salvation. Then comes God’s work in justification, or the pardon of actual sin, and regeneration, or the breaking of the dominion of the sin of nature. In the Westminster system of theology regeneration is made to come first in the order of time. It is there identified with effectual calling, and is represented as being wrought by God irresistibly and unconditionally—indeed, no preceding conditions could properly be exacted by God because man is regarded as being in a state of such spiritual death and such utter moral impotence as to render the fulfillment of any and all conditions on bis part impossible. Personal salvation in this system is conditioned not on an act of the human will manifested in repentance and faith, but on an act of the Divine Will in eternity, manifested in election.
Hence in this system we have: (1) Election to salvation by God before the creation of the race; (2) birth into a state of spiritual death and utter moral impotence; (3) Christ dies for the elect and for them alone, and his death secures absolutely the salvation of every one for whom he died; (4) effectual calling, which is but another name for regeneration wrought unconditionally and irresistibly upon every elect individual in God’s own chosen time; (5) saving faith, the first act of a newborn soul after regeneration, and represented as being itself the gift of God; (6) justification, adoption, and sanctification, which are all represented as a result of saving faith; and (7) repentance, which is represented as the gift of God and also a result of saving faith.
If this system did not teach that every one who is “effectually called” or regenerated is infallibly and finally saved, we might say that what we have called conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit they have designated as “effectual calling.” If again they had said that repentance and faith are conditions of the mind and heart which not only precede justification and regeneration, but also abide and follow after justification in a yet more intense hatred of sin and deeper trust in Christ, then we could have harmonized their view with our own. But there system makes man utterly incapable of exercising fait hand repentance until he has been regenerated, and after that he cannot fall; and it is therefore impossible to harmonize the two systems.
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