Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/78

74 or of charity, and is thereby led to the contemplation of truth in the understanding. So that whereas the external man had rule in him before, the internal man has now the dominion, and the external is brought into subjection. Hence the order of his life is inverted, and he himself becomes a new man by regeneration from the Lord.

It is agreeable to divine order, that the internal man be first regenerated, and afterwards the external man; the latter by the former. For the internal man is regenerated by the doctrines of faith and charity influencing the understanding and the will; but the external man is regenerated by the same doctrines influencing his life and actions. This is the signification of our Lord's words, when he says, "Cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also," Matt, xxiii. 26. And again, "Except a man be born of water, and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God," John iii. 5. Water in it's spiritual sense signifies all truth, which is the object of faith; and spirit signifies a life in conformity with such truth.

THE remission or forgiveness of sins is not, as generally supposed, an arbitrarious act of mercy, in consideration of any satisfaction or atonement made for man by the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ, and of faith therein: neither are sins wiped or washed away, as filth is by water: for they remain with man, even after he has commenced the regenerate life, and can never be wholly extirpated. But the remission of sins, according to the true sense in which