Regeneration Author:William Anderson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: II THE NECESSITY OF REGENEKATION. It scarcely needs to be explained, that by the Necessity of Regeneration, which now falls under discussion, no absolute o... more »bligation either for its bestowment or reception is meant, but only a relative indispensable- ness in order to admission into the kingdom of Heaven, and, consequently, escape from the kingdom of Darkness. For, since there are only two destinations in eternity, exclusion from the one kingdom infers inclusion into the other. If, then, when importuned by the mercies of God, men remain obstinate, through insensibility to their value,—let them at least, be persuaded by His terrors. Who that believes the testimony to be sincere, can be insensible to the threatening of that " outer darkness"—out from the universe, where there is neither sun nor star ? When a heaven of holiness fails to charm you, call to your aid a meditation on that region of midnight blackness, that your heart may be induced to seek for that regeneration of itself, without which escape from the woe is impossible—equally impossible as " to see the Lord." As I proceed, then, with the illustration of the latter impossibility, remember the dreadful alternative. To miss the one kingdom, is to be made captive to the other. Observe farther, in explanation of the general principle, that the Necessity does not lie in a regenerated character being the meritorious cause or condition of gaining the heavenly inheritance; but only the condition of qualification for admission into it. The distinction is at once obvious and important. It is the key to much of the doctrine of the Gospel: and our older divines made great use of it. The work of a servant is the meritorious condition of his hire; whereas the humble heart, giving assurance of his future loyalty, is the qualifyin...« less