Imagini ale paginilor
PDF
ePub

infer, that if it were so with that wind which is so essential to the natural life of man, it was not unreasonable to believe that his spiritual life might be produced and sustained by an agency equally real and efficacious, although, like the former, it was also invisible and mysterious: and while he seeks in this way to remove the ground of his incredulity, which was the supposed impossibility of such a change, he at the same time brings before him, and presses on his consideration, another impossibility, as real as the former one was imaginary—which is the impossibility of an unregenerate man entering into the kingdom of God. His mind was occupying itself with speculative difficulties as to the way in which so great a change could be wrought; but our Lord tells him, if there be a difficulty on the one hand, there is a much greater on the other, and that it is not so impossible that a man should be born again, as it is that, without being born again, he should enter into the kingdom of God. It is in this way that we would still deal with the difficulties and objections which are founded on the alleged mysteriousness of the work of the Spirit : We would first of all remind you, that there are many realities which you know and believe in spite of the difficulty of explaining every circumstance concerning them; and then we would press the great reality on your attention, and show, that however mysterious the nature and mode of the new birth may be, there is no mystery and no doubt, either as to the fact that you are fallen, or as to the principle that a spiritual character is indispensable, in order to your being

members of God's spiritual kingdom; and that, from these two considerations combined, it follows, with demonstrable certainty, that "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

I believe that in most cases the difficulty of convincing men of the necessity of regeneration, arises out of the want of a right scriptural apprehension of the fact, that they are fallen, and corrupted, and depraved; for did they really believe the doctrine of human depravity in its full extent, and in its application to their own souls-were they experimentally convinced of the guilt and demerit of sin, and of their own sinfulness and danger in the sight of God, their own consciences would intuitively discern their need of some great change in order to their entering into his kingdom. A solid work of conviction would, in such cases, be the most effectual argument for the necessity of regeneration. But perhaps this conviction may be wrought in their consciences, by simply unfolding and applying the principle which our Lord assumes,―viz., that a man must be spiritual if he would be a member of God's kingdom; for this principle is evident from the very nature of that kingdom, and every mind which is rightly instructed in regard to it, and which is duly impressed with its spiritual character, its unalterable laws, and its essential and pervading sanctity, must intuitively discern its own unfitness to enjoy it, by the evidence of its own consciousness and in the light of its own experience. For just as one vivid view of God in his true character was enough to draw from the lips of Job that

D

humble confession-"I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes;" and just as a view of the glory of Christ had a similar effect on the apostle when "he fell at his feet as dead;" so may we expect that a correct apprehension of the kingdom of God, and of its awful and unchangeable sanctity, will be accompanied with a profound sense of our own unworthiness, and a conviction that we must undergo some great change, before we can be qualified to enjoy, or permitted to enter it.

Let me beseech you individually to weigh well this solemn statement of the Lord, and to consider it in its application to your own souls. You cannot fail to see that he speaks of a very great change, since he compares it to your "being born again "—of a very necessary change, since without it you cannot see the kingdom of God; and when you hear such a statement from the lips of one who is himself the only Saviour of sinners, and who will, ere long, appear as the Judge of all, you cannot fail to be convinced that it is alike your duty and your interest to apply it to your own case, and to improve it for your own salvation. I am aware that some, when they read of the new birth of the soul, contrive to evade the truth which Christ declares, by saying that his words are figurative. On this principle they explain away a great part of the Word of God. With them every thing is figurative: we have a figurative fall, a figurative curse, a figurative atonement, a figurative Saviour, a

figurative regeneration, a figurative heaven, a figurative hell, in fact, a figurative Gospel. But grant that figurative language is employed on this as on many other subjects-grant that metaphors are used to give us a lively apprehension of its nature; I say figurative language has a meaning, nay, it is employed on purpose to enhance the meaning of plainer words. What, then, is the meaning of this figure-what is the reality which this metaphor describes? Does it not mean some change some great change-some great change of mind and heart—a change that has some resemblances to a birth, a resurrection, a creation? Why were these figures employed, but to declare the magnitude of that change, whose necessity is affirmed with a decision and a peremptory plainness which leaves no room for doubt.

CHAPTER II.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE AGENCY OF THE SPIRIT.

THE first thought that will occur to every reflecting mind, in perusing our Lord's address to his disciples, immediately before his departure, is, that the work of the Spirit is, in its own place, as needful and as important as the work of Christ himself. We are too apt, in modern times, to overlook the necessity, or to underrate the value of the Spirit's grace; we talk much of the Saviour, but little of the Sanctifier; yet a consideration of the words which Christ addressed to his disciples in the immediate prospect of his leaving them, should teach us that the agency of the Spirit is so essential and so important, that his advent would more than compensate for the departure of the Saviour. "It is expedient for you," says our Lord, "that I go away; for if I go not away, the Spirit will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you.” (John xvi. 7.) When the disciples heard their Lord utter the first clause of this verse, "It is expedient for you that I go away," with what wonder must they have listened, and how anxiously must they have waited to hear the reason that could be given for so

« ÎnapoiContinuă »