Now in whichever of these four stages (as we may call them) the grace of regeneration finds any particular man, all his past sins are there and then pardoned, and the guilt which he contracted in his birth is removed in his new birth; and so true is it that “the wind bloweth where it listeth,” that some have never known the second stage, that of slavery under the law, but have received the divine assistance as soon as they received the commandment.
Reproduced in full. Translation: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 3 (Schaff, 1887), public domain (Public domain).