15 Those new school Calvinists, who teach that regeneration consists in the formation of a ruling purpose by man himself, hold that this never takes place until the Spirit of God more or less rectifies the depraved nature consequent on Adam’s sin, and that previous to regeneration every moral act of every mind is “sin, and only sin.” 16 Note E. 17 “State of the Impenitent Dead,” by Alvah Hovey, D.D. 18 From the article on Sanctification, in the magazine _Beauty of Holiness_, January, 1859. 19 Note F. 20 In regard to the author of the _Conflict of Ages_, the writer is still uncertain whether he would or would not assent to the common‐ sense view of regeneration, here stated, as exact and complete, or whether he supposes that the “habit of sinning, generated in a preëxistent state,” is changed by some direct operation of the Spirit of God on the “nature” or faculties of the human mind, which is antecedent to any right voluntary action on the part of man, and without which, every moral act of every unregenerated mind is “sin, and only sin.” These personal references are introduced to illustrate more effectively the vague and diversified teachings of theologians and religious teachers in answer to the great question, on which they claim that an eternity of blessedness or misery is depending. 21 The extent to which Judaism had spread among the upper ranks is strikingly shown by the fact that one of the first inquisitors, Peter Arbues, was assassinated by a conspiracy formed of the chief officers of the Arragonese government, who were most of them, according to Llorente, of Jewish blood or connections. The Inquisition, however, was odious on other grounds, as a royalist institution, like our Star Chamber.—See Llorente’s _History of Inquisition_. 22 Note G. *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG BOOK 56354 ***