Sacramentarianism has so obscured the doctrine of Scripture that many persons who gave no evidence of being regenerate are quite convinced that they are Christians. Uncle John Vassar therefore never asked: “Are you a Christian?” but always: “Have you ever been born again?” E. G. Robinson: “The doctrine of regeneration, aside from sacramentarianism, was not apprehended by Luther or the Reformers, was not indeed wrought out till Wesley taught that God instantaneously renewed the affections and the will.” We get the doctrine of regeneration mainly from the apostle John, as we get the doctrine of justification mainly from the apostle Paul. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 366—“Paul’s great words are, justification, and righteousness; John’s are, birth from God, and life. But, for both Paul and John, faith is life‐union with Christ.” Stearns, Evidence of Christian Experience, 134—“The sinful nature is not gone, but its power is broken; sin no longer dominates the life; it has been thrust from the centre to the circumference; it has the sentence of death in itself; the man is freed, at least in potency and promise. 218—An activity may be immediate, yet not unmediated. God’s action on the soul may be through the sense, yet still be immediate, as when finite spirits communicate with each other.” Dubois, in Century Magazine, Dec. 1894:233—“Man has made his way up from physical conditions to the consciousness of spiritual needs. Heredity and environment fetter him. He needs spiritual help. God provides a spiritual environment in regeneration. As science is the verification of the ideal in nature, so religion is the verification of the spiritual in human life.” Last sermon of Seth K. Mitchell on _Rev. 21:5_—“_Behold, I make all things new_”—“God first makes a new man, then gives him a new heart, then a new commandment. He also gives a new body, a new name, a new robe, a new song, and a new home.” 1. Scripture Representations. (_a_) Regeneration is a change indispensable to the salvation of the sinner. _John 3:7_—“_Ye must be born anew_”; _Gal. 6:15_—“_neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature_” (marg.—“_creation_”); _cf._ _Heb. 12:14_—“_the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord_”—regeneration, therefore, is yet more necessary to salvation; _Eph. 2:3_—“_by nature children of wrath, even as the rest_”; _Rom. 3:11_—“_There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God_”; _John 6:44, 65_—“_No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him ... no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father_”; _Jer. 13:23_—“_Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil._” (_b_) It is a change in the inmost principle of life.