The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1903-11-06
FROM EGXPT TO CANAAN.

FROM EGXPT TO CANAAN.
REGENERATION A GRADUAL PROCESS.
The New Church Society, whose
chapel is on North First street, ar
ranged to have the Rev. L. G. Ian
denberger, of st. Louis, preach for
them again, and on last Sunday be-
gan series of four services. The
morning sermon was on "The Lord
in His Providence. It was shown
that the end of divine providence
is a heaven from the human race,
that it is the government of the
love and wisdom of the Lord; that
it snot only general but particular,
or in least things, and that it in
cludes not only what is provided,
but also what is permitted. The
Lord provides only what is good,
but he permits the evil, as it must
be seen t. be saved from it, and
also because man has been created
to live his life in freedom.
The operations of divine providence
are not so plain as to compel man
to recognize it, as that would take
away freedom. The Divine Provi-
dence regards what is.eternal and
he who acknowledges God and
shuns evil and sins, sees that there
is a Divine Providence in all things.
But as Moses was put into the cleft
of the rock, and told that he could
not see the Lords face as He passed
by but only his back parts, so man
cannot see the Divine Providence at
the time the event occurs, or during
an experience, but afteward. "All
things" says the apostle, "work
together for the good of them that
tear God and walk uprightly." AS
we seek that which is best for our
souls welfare we come into the
stream of divine provid nee.
The evening sermon was on Ere
generation. He said in part: "It
we understand the end to be a. COM
plished we can better understand
what the nature of the work is to
accomplish it. If we think of the
salvation of man as involving any
change on the part of God, or that
Heaven is only place into which
we can be admitted if we gain the
Divine favor, our ideas concerning
regeneration will be purely natural
and artificial, But if we see that
man as to the spirit is an organic
structu e, and that by heredity the
very forms of his mind are twisted
and inverted, it will be SEN that
the work of fitting man for Heaven
is not an instantaneous one. For
man is blind, and deaf, and dumb,
and lame, and diseased and unclean.
He must be healed of all his all
ments and this demands his
sincere cooperation. Nicodemus
came to the Lord by night to learn
of the Lord. So is every one in
darkness at first IN regald to the
nature OF the new birth, or what it
means to be generated from above.
Except man be born from above
he cannot see the kingdom of God,
says the Lord, which tells is that
man cannot understand the king
dom in his natural state, he must
have eyes, therefore the Lord fur
ther said: Except a man be born
of the water of the Spirit he cannot
enter the kingdom of God" To be
born of water does not mean to be
baptized with water, although bap-
tism is sacrament. but it means
the birth of new understanding
by means of the truths of faith, sig
nifed by "water." This enables
man to see what he ought to do to
enter the kingdom, and when he
applies the truth to his daily life,
he is born of the Spirit. He realiz-
es the spirit of the teachings of the
Word. Regeneration is the waking
of a physical man. 1t involves con-