is old? Can he enter his mother's womb, and be born a second time? Jesus answered: Verily, verily, I say to thee, unless a man be born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of flesh, is flesh; and what is born of the Spirit, is spirit. Wonder not, therefore, at my saying:† Ye

* Born of water and spirit. That is, having received the baptism of water, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Christians have long disputed about the connexion of baptism and regeneration, but no well instructed Christian has ever doubted of the utility and importance of both to the Christian life. Christ here asserts the necessity of water baptism; and, when he gave the commission to his apostles, he connected baptism and faith as prerequisites to salvation. Whosoever, therefore, denies or neglects baptism by water, retreats from the Christian ground of hope, to wander in the wilderness of Deism, and risk his lot in fellowship with those who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If there be any thing taught in the Gospel of Christ, concerning which there remains not a shadow of doubt, it is this-that induction into the kingdom of our Lord, is through the medium of an open profession and avouchment of Jehovah as our God, and Jesus, his Son, our Saviour and Redeemer. Whatever, therefore, be the exceptions which divine favour vouchsafes to youthful innocence and mental incapacity, we may rest assured, that neglect of the public institutions of religion, such as baptism, the Lord's supper, and private and public worship, will meet an unexpected reprimand from the Lord, the righteous Judge.

+ The conversation of our Lord with Nicodemus, has given rise to more discussion and controversy, than any other passage of the New Testament. This circumstance, indeed, ought not to excite surprise. On the interpretation of this passage depend the most important decisions, which can engage the attention of a Christian. The questions how, or when, we are first admitted into covenant with, Godthe necessity of the means of grace-the efficacy and meaning of the sacraments with many more interesting considerations, are essentially connected with the interpretation given to the conversation of our Lord with one of the heads of the Jewish sanhedrim. The occasion was such as to justify the expectation that some new and important doctrine would be revealed to the world; suited alike to the state of mind, the condition of the inquirer, and the sublimity of the Messiah's character and office. This doctrine was the absolute necessity of regeneration, or being born again.

One chief cause of the difficulty which has attended the interpretation of this passage, is, the apparent abruptness of our Lord's address. Some suppose that a part of the conversation is omitted. Others, that our Lord reproved the timidity of the Jewish teacher, by

must be born again. The wind blows where it pleases, and thou hearest its sound, but knowest not whence it comes, nor whether it goes; so is every

declaring, immediately on the attempt of Nicodemus to begin a conversation, that whoever would be his disciple must come to his bap tism, and publicly profess his religion. Others, that our Lord perceived at once the object of Nicodemus' visit, that it was to inquire concerning the Messiah's kingdom; and, in reference to this, immediately began his conversation, "Except a man be born again." Another difficulty arises from the surprise of Nicodemus at the mention of the new birth; whereas this was a subject with which he must have been well acquainted, as the Jews were accustomed to call their proselytes, after they had been baptized, new born children." On whatever account our Lord thus addressed Nicodemus, the purport of his conversation is evident. He relates the manner in which a man must enter the kingdom of God. On such a subject the Jewish leader must have entertained the notions which were common to his countrymen. It will be necessary, then, to understand thoroughly the object which our Lord had in view, and to ascertain what were the previous ideas of Nicodemus, respecting that change by which a man was admitted into covenant with God.

The Jews, as well as the Christians, believed in the influences of the Holy Spirit, as firmly and implicitly as the most humble and orthodox Christian; though no mistake is more common, than the representing their belief in its influences as a new doctrine, unknown till the days of the apostles. The prayer of David, in the fifty-first Psalm, was the uniform language of the pious Jews; and the most devout Christian could not require a more fervent or expressive prayer, for the continued influences and daily renovation of the spiritual life, by the Holy Spirit of God. It is certain also, and Nicodemus must have been assured, that while the Spirit of God was the agent which Conferred the blessing on the worshippers of God, yet it had pleased God that external ordinances should be appointed under the law, as the means by which strength of resolution, increased faith, true repentance, and all the graces of spiritual life should be imparted. It was then, as now, that he who bent his knees before God in private, offering up the prayer of the heart, left his chamber a better man than if the prayer had not been offered. Obedience produces blessings. He who attends to the means of grace will become a better Christian than he who hopes for the mercy of God, and disregards his ordinances. These truths must have been known and believed, though they were disregarded by every Jew. What, then, was the opinion of Nicodemus respecting the beginning of this spiritual life, and of a new birth, by which men were admitted into the kingdom of God?

The Jews believed that Abraham, before his call, was an idolater,

one who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answering, said to him: How can these things be? Jesus said: Art thou the teacher of Israel, and knowest not

but that when God called him from his father's house, it was said to him, I will make thee a new creature; that if any one shall persuade another to embrace the true religion, it is as if he had created him anew; that a priest was made a new creature, by the oil which was poured upon his head, at his inauguration into his office; that a man who is newly born; does not immediately receive the Spirit from above until he is circumcised. But when he is circumcised, the Spirit is poured upon him with a heavenly effusion. When he has become a youth, and studies the law, a greater effusion is poured out upon him. When he observes the precepts of the law, a greater effusion is poured out upon him. When he is established in life, and trains up his family in the ways of the Lord, then he becomes in all things a perfect man.

These things were well known to Nicodemus. He must have been well acquainted also with the Jewish custom of admitting proselytes into the communion of the Jewish Church by baptism; and that, in so admitting them, they were called new creatures. Whence, then, proceeded his surprise at the language of our Lord? Ye must be born again; unless a man be born of water, and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus, like the rest of his countrymen, was looking for the Messiah, or the prophet who should precede him; and, as the learned Lightfoot observes, "expected that Christ would take the Jewish people as they were; and they, without any inward change of mind and heart at all, should be translated into an outward changed condition of happiness and earthly glory, as much as they could desire or imagine. No, said our Lord, there is more required of him, and in him, that desires to see and partake of the happiness of that kingdom, and those days: he must suffer a change in himself, and in his principles, and be as if he were born anew." Such, says the learned Lightfoot, is the connexion of this speech of Christ, with that of Nicodemus.

The meaning of the speech of our Lord must be collected further from the difference between the kingdom of heaven expected by Nicodemus, and the spiritual kingdom which Christ came to establish. Perceiving the mingled feelings of doubt and veneration with which the Jewish senator approached him, he immediately, in contradiction to the prevailing error, assures Nicodemus that his kingdom was not of the nature he supposed, and that it was necessary that a man should be born again of water, and of the spirit, to become a partaker of its privileges. As men were admitted into the Church of Moses by circumcision, so shall they be admitted into the new dispensation by baptism. As by the one rite a human being is taken into covenant with God, and is considered in a new relationship, so by the other

these things? Verily, verily, I say to thee, we speak what we know, and testify what we have seen; but ye receive not our testimony.* If I have told you

rite the same privileges shall be given in the new economy You also, (v. 3.) who are Jews, must, like the proselytes whom you receive, and the children you initiate, you also must be born again. This was the doctrine Nicodemus could not comprehend He could not suppose that a Jew, who had already been received into covenant with God, was to be considered as a stranger, and he therefore interpreted the words literally, (v. 4.) To rectify the error, our Lord repeats the words, with the addition, Except a man be born of water, and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. You also, though a master and teacher in Israel, must not hope to partake of the privileges of the Messiah's kingdom, unless you enrol yourself among the number of my disciples, be baptized in my name, and receive the influences of the Holy Spirit.-Townsend's Harmony.

* In this highly interesting discourse, our blessed Master clearly teaches three all-important and solemn truths, which lie at the very root of Christianity; and, without which, the religion of Jesus sinks into an inefficient system, of ethics, and loses all its characteristic energy and excellence.

1. The natural man is altogether unfit for the fellowship and enjoyment of his God. This is clearly implied in the language of Christ to Nicodemus-You must be born again. If all men were fit for the enjoyment of Christ's kingdom, this language would be wholly inapplicable and unmeaning. But the awful truths-that all have sinned-that the natural man perceives not the things of God—that the carnal mind is enmity to him, and that no man comes to Christ except the Father draw him-rivet the doctrine of human depravity and alienation from God, by wicked works, in the minds of all who have ever studied in the school of experience, or been taught the rudiments of Christianity.

2. A spiritual change must be wrought in the human soul, by which the carnal mind is subdued, and the affections and desires sublimed and assimilated to the will of the Deity. This is the great lesson Jesus taught Nicodemus, and of which he, though a teacher of Israel, was so ignorant. Unbelievers, in every age, affect to be very ignorant of a superintending Providence, and every thing that seems to them mysterious in religion; and are ready to exclaim, in the very words of Nicodemus--How can these things be? But the Bible speaks an unequivocal language on this momentous subject; and, from this conversation of Christ with Nicodemus, as well as from many other parts of the sacred volume, we learn that every man must have two births; one from earth, the other from heaven: without the first, he cannot see or enter into this world; without the last, he shall never behold nor enjoy the glories and blessings of Christ's

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earthly things, and ye believe not, how will ye believe, when I tell you heavenly things? No man has ascended into heaven, but he who came from heaven,

kingdom on earth, nor be prepared to enter into the joys of heaven, and partake of the fellowship of the saints in light. Nicodemus, and the Jews generally, had some notion of the second birth, but, like many Christians, they put acts of proselytism in its stead, and fancied that it consisted in professions and ceremonies; but our Lord would lay the axe to the root of this barren tree, and, by the repetition of Amen, or Verily, which a Jew regarded equal to a solemn oath, he assures Nicodemus and all mankind, that except a man be born of spirit, as well as water, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. When John came baptizing with water, he gave the Jews the plainest intimations, that they should look for the baptism of the spirit, of which water was a significant emblem. He who receives not this baptism, has neither right nor title to the kingdom of heaven. Nor can all the births of earth ever fit a soul for heaven. Like will produce its like. As are the earthy, such will be the sons of the earthy. What is born of flesh, is flesh; therefore, we must be born of the spirit, in order to be spiritual; and born, avalev, from above, in order to ascend above earth to heaven.

3. None can know, or understand this celestial change, but by its effects; and the influence it exerts on the feelings and character of its subjects. Our Lord illustrates, by a similitude, this important declaration. The wind, which is air in motion, cannot be seen, nor its rise, progress, and fall, distinctly traced, but we can hear its sound, perceive its breezes, and have full assurance of its existence, from its effects and operations; though this assurance depends entirely on our arguments, a posteriori; just as we prove the existence of God from the things he has made. Just so it is with the second birth. The great Agent is invisible. His manner of operation is beyond our discovery; but the reality of his operation is known by the effects produced on the disposition and life of the regenerate. Hence the unbeliever doubts of all he hears, because he depends on the testimony of others. No wonder that the unregenerate should turn Deist, and live Atheist in the world, because his earthy, dead soul, is insensible to all the movements of the celestial world. Our blessed Master expressly declares, that unless a man be born again, or from above, he cannot see or discern the kingdom of God; and the apostle assigns the reason: because it is spiritually discerned, 1 Cor. ii. 14. So far, therefore, is the unregenerate man from entering, or enjoying the kingdom of God, that it has not come within his view. He can never have even a Pisgah's prospect of the land of promise, till God kindle the hallowed fire on the altar of his heart; and then, and not till then, will the incense of praise ascend from a grateful soul to a pardoning God.