A DISCOURSE,

&c.

JESUS answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John iii. 3.

THE Corruption of the Christian world, and the almost general lukewarmness of those who have some respect for religion, render it impossible to preach openly and constantly the deep truths of Christianity without giving general offence.

How naturally, having made some efforts towards salvation, do we repose ourselves as if we were at the end of our career! Perhaps we even think ourselves sure of the prize before we have begun the race. And if any one should venture to show us the folly and danger of such conduct, we regard him as a melancholy person, who considers only the dark side of things, and who takes a sorrowful pleasure to make us view them in the same light with himself.

This is one of the reasons why those who are commissioned to show us the way of salvation are afraid to dwell upon what Jesus Christ has said concerning the difficulties of the way, and the small number of those that walk therein. Indeed, if we ourselves be in the broad way that leadeth to destruction, it is not surprising that we should speak but seldom of the unfrequented path that leads to life, and that we should but feebly and sparingly press those truths by which at length worldlings must be either convinced or confounded. But it is

certain, that if we be more sincere, a thousand difficulties will rise up to deter us, and shake the resolutions which we have formed to resist the torrent of prejudice and ungodliness.

We fear being accused of want of charity, if we declare as strongly as the Scripture does, that "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." We are afraid of being charged with preaching a new doctrine, if we declare boldly with St. James, that "he who is the friend of the world is the enemy of God;" or with St. Paul, that "she who liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." And we find by sorrowful experience, that we must submit to be counted visionaries and enthusiasts, or cease to declare with the same apostle, that the true Christian is a man who glories only in the cross of Christ, who, being justified by faith, has really peace with God; that he feels the peace of God in his soul as a seal of the pardon of his sins; that he "rejoices in hope of the glory of God;" and that he "glories in tribulation, because the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him." For it is certain that the world is always the same, and that the doctrine of Christ, as well as his cross, is still "to the Jews a stumblingblock, and to the Greeks foolishness;" that it still excites the indignation of those who falsely call themselves "children of God," and is ridiculed by those whom the foolish wisdom of this world fills with presumption. Nevertheless, as among those who reject the counsel of God in giving it the names of "enthusiasm," and "dangerous reverie," there are some who are distinguished by their good desires, and by some sparks of zeal for the religion of our fathers; and as among those who fight against God, many do it in ignorance, believing that they do him service; let us strive to explain in this discourse one of those essential truths of Christianity upon which these halfChristians meditate so rarely, and which they decry so often, namely, the doctrine of our regeneration or new birth in Jesus Christ.

And to sustain the attention by the order of the matter, as well as by the importance of the subject, let us examine,

First, Upon what occasion our Lord Jesus Christ declared, that "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Secondly, What we are to understand by these expressions, "to be born again," "to be regenerated."

Thirdly, What are the reasons upon which the absolute necessity of our regeneration is founded; and how easy, and yet dangerous it is, to take the reformation of our manners for the regeneration of our souls.

Lastly, How we may come to a true renovation without which no man can see the kingdom of God.

Reader, if you love the truth, and if you have respect to the eternal Son of God, whose words we are now to consider, lift up to him a mind disengaged from prejudice, and beseech him to apply to your heart and mine the profound truths of our text. He taught them himself during the days of his flesh, and he still gives the knowledge of them by the unction of his Spirit. Yes, divine Redeemer, let thy grace teach us, and thy word shall be in this hour also a light unto our feet! Deign to show us the path which conducts to thee, and give us the will and the power to run therein and follow thee in the regeneration, until we enter in by thee into thy kingdom. For thou art alone the Path, the Door, the Truth, and the Life.

PART I.

TO WHOM, AND HOW, OUR SAVIOUR PREACHED

REGENERATION.

THE evangelist teaches us, that Nicodemus, a Jew, as remarkable for his attachment to his religion, as for his knowledge, his reputation, and his rank, having heard of the miracles of Jesus, concluded that he was a prophet sent of God, and came to see him by night; probably to put to him questions concerning the kingdom of God, which all the pious Jews then attentively waited for. Our

Lord, knowing that the ideas which Nicodemus had of his kingdom were not less gross than those of the rest of the nation, took this occasion to undeceive and instruct him. He declares to him that the kingdom of heaven is of a nature so spiritual, that a man, far from having power to enter, cannot be in a state even to see it, without a real conversion. "I say to you,” adds he, "that except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

As if he had said, Do not deceive thyself, Nicodemus. My kingdom is not of this world. Thou hast formed false ideas of it. Few of mankind can see it, and thou canst not enter into it thyself. Thy temperance and moral virtues, thy zeal for the religion of your fathers, and the exactness with which thou fulfillest thy exterior duties, have not yet prepared thee for the presence of God. If thou be not delivered out of the estate in which thou art at present, know that thy soul will always remain encompassed with darkness as thick as that which envelopes an infant who has not yet seen the light. Thou rejoicest in a life animal and earthly; but thou hast lost in Adam a life spiritual and divine. Thou hast lost the life of God out of thy soul, and thou canst not recover it but by being born again. Without a spiritual birth, it will be as impossible for thee to see God, and rejoice in the brightness of his face, as for an infant not yet born to discover the sun, and rejoice in his light.

This doctrine, altogether strange as it must appear to the natural man, could not be wholly unknown to a Jewish doctor. God had promised to the Israelites, by the mouth of his prophets, that he would "put a new spirit within them;" that he would "take away the heart of stone out of their flesh, and give them an heart of flesh;” that he would "circumcise," or change entirely, "their hearts;" that they might love him with all their soul, and with all their strength." David had demanded of God with torrents of tears, that he would "create in him a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within him." And Ezekiel had cried to all the people, "Put away from you all your iniquities; make hearts and new spirits; for why will you die,

you new

O house of Israel?" We may believe that after these promises, these prayers, these declarations, these menaces, expressed so clearly in the old testament, a sincere Jew must have some idea of that spiritual change which distinguishes the faithful from the children of this world. But as in the present day, among the people of God, there are some who conscientiously fulfil many moral duties, and walk with sincerity in the exterior ordinances of religion, without at the same time knowing by experience what the new birth is, so it was in the times of our Saviour. Nicodemus, notwithstanding all his virtue, his religion, his zeal, his sincerity, and his love for instruction, was not yet regenerated; and consequently he augmented the number of those righteous persons, who think they have no need of deep repentance or spiritual renovation.

blood, which You could not

Being therefore struck with astonishment at hearing the words of Christ, and being yet so blind as to understand them in a gross and literal sense, "How can a man be born again," cried he, "when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" "That which is born of the flesh is flesh,” replied Jesus. In vain would you be born a second time of flesh and cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. thereby be in a state to enter into that kingdom; for you could only carry out of your mother's womb a nature corrupt, sensual, and earthly. It is of a spiritual birth I speak; for only "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." And as the kingdom of God is purely spiritual, I repeat to thee again, "Verily, verily, if a man be not born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into it." If the pure waters of grace, of which those of baptism are emblematic, do not render white as snow those sins which are red as scarlet; and if the powerful operation of the Spirit of God do not renew all the faculties of his soul, causing him to be born again of incorruptible seed, by which he may recover the image of his Creator, and become thus a partaker of the divine nature, he shall have no part in the inheritance of the saints in light; the entrance of that kingdom shall be shut against him for ever.