Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/151

Rh that which we have received hereditarily; or, what is the same, it is to experience the birth or development of the Lord's own life within us.

The next question is (and a most important one it is, too). Under what conditions does this new birth of the soul take place? Or when, in what manner and according to what laws is this higher life developed and matured? The doctrine as hitherto held and taught on this subject is: That regeneration or the new birth is a change of heart wrought suddenly and miraculously by the sovereign grace of God, and not according to any known laws, or with any co-operation on the part of the individual. It has been confounded or held to be identical with conversion, and to be exclusively the work of the Holy Spirit with which man has nothing whatever to do—except to wait for the mysterious operation of the Spirit. This was the generally received view among Protestant Christians of the last century, and is probably held by many at the present day. But some have held, and still hold, the doctrine of baptismal regeneration—the belief that the new birth from Above takes place the moment the sacrament of baptism is administered. "It is a