675. As to its being said “the fowl after its kind” “the beast after its kind” and “the creeping thing after its kind” be it known that in every man there are innumerable genera, and still more innumerable species, of the things of understanding and of will, and that all these are most distinct from one another, although man does not know it. But during the regeneration of man the Lord draws them out, each and all in their order, and separates and disposes them so that they may be bent toward truths and goods and may be conjoined with them, and this with diversity according to the states, which also are innumerable. All these things can never be made perfect even to eternity, as each genus, each species, and each state, comprehends things illimitable even when uncompounded, and still more in combination. A man does not so much as know this fact; still less can he know in what manner he is regenerated. This is what the Lord says to Nicodemus concerning man’s regeneration:

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the spirit (John 3:8).