“The ‘second birth’ is the sudden or the gradual entrance into a life, in which the will of the Creator is to control the self‐will of the creature, while under the influence of love and gratitude to him, and guided by ‘faith’ in his teachings, _living chiefly for the great commonwealth_ takes the place of _living chiefly for self_. For this, the supernatural aid of the Holy Spirit is promised to all who seek it, and without this aid, success is hopeless. But the grand instrumentality is _right training_ by parents and teachers.” (Common Sense, etc., p. 333.) Let this statement, by the Independent, of what the new birth consists in, as held by the fathers and mothers of New England, be compared with the preceding account of “conversion,” given by a young theologian, born in Connecticut, and educated at Yale College, as the “generally entertained one,” and the case is rendered increasingly difficult and perplexing. In the view of the author, _all_ theologians do so far hold the common‐ sense theory of regeneration, that when they find a person whose will seems to be entirely subjected to the will of God, while “under the influence of love and gratitude to Him, and guided by faith in his teachings, _living chiefly for the great commonwealth takes the place of living chiefly for self_”—such a person is regarded by them as _regenerated_. At the same time, bound by the Augustine system, they give other views of the nature of regeneration, which are vague and conflicting, as has been illustrated in the preceding pages.(20) From all this results endless anxiety, doubt and distress, in conscientious minds, from uncertainty whether their depraved nature has been changed, and from perplexity in view of the multifarious modes of teaching in regard to the nature and signs of regeneration. From this, too, results false confidence and indifference to right and wrong conduct, in those who imagine they discover in themselves the signs of a regenerated nature, which will, as they are led to believe, secure heaven without reference to the amount of good or evil deeds. This same incertitude as to what regeneration is, has also tended to induce the fanaticism, extravagance and absurdities often connected with religious excitements. The idea that there is to be some mysterious change in the soul by the gift of God’s Spirit; that this is to be gained by prayer; that the evidence of this change is to be found in sudden and great mental agitation; together with the belief that an _eternity_ of misery or bliss is depending on such a change; and that death is the end of all hope—all this tends to great extremes of distress and excitement. Tendencies of the Common‐Sense System.