» G. F. Terry, The Old Theology in the New Age, 179. * Ruskin, The Crown of Wild Olive ( TForks, xviii. 478).
ST. JOHN — 10
A New Beginning.
147
Literature.
Albertson (C. C), The Gosiwl aawding to Christ, 25,
Arnold (T.), Sermons, vi. 124.
Bain (J. A.), Questions Answered hy Christ, 133.
Banks (L. A.), The Great Saints of the Bible, 276.
Brooks (P.), Seeking Life, 193.
Burrell (D. J.), The Verilies of Jesus, 1.
Bushnell (H.), The New Life, 58.
Campbell (R. J.), The Song of Ages, 147.
Chapman (J. W.), Revival Sermons, 110.
Dawson (W. J.), The Evangelistic Note, 133.
Drumraond (H,), Natural Law in the Spiritual World, 64.
Edger (S.), Sermons at Auckland, New Zealand, i. 96.
Eyton (R.), The Glory of the Lord, 20.
Gordon (A. J.), Ecce Venit, 85.
Grubb (G. C), Unsearchable Riches, 24.
Hoare (E.), Great Principles of Divine Truth, 239.
Jowett (J. H.), Brooks by the Traveller's Way, 137.
Maurice (F. D.), The Gospel of St. John, 85.
Moberly (G.), Plain Sermons at Brighstone, 1.
Moody (D. L.), The Way to God, 38.
Parks (L.), The Winning of the Soul, 177.
Pearse (M. G.), Jesus Christ and the People, 370.
Peck (G. C), Ringing Questions, 157.
Reid (J.), Jesus and Nicodemus, 43.
Robertson (F. W.), Sermons, iv. 103. ^
Rogers (J. H.), The « Verily, Verilys" of Christ, 12, 21.
Ryle (J. C), The Christian Race, 15.
Simon (D. W.), Twice Born, 1.
Watkinson (W. L.), The Fatal Barter, 77.
„ „ The Transfigured Sackcloth, 169.
Christian Age, xlvi. 114 (Duryea). Christian World Pulpit, x. 201, xxviii. 200, xxx. 33 (Beecher); Ixxv.
104 (Watkinson).
148
A New Beginning.
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. — John iii. 5.
1. It is impossible for any one to read or hear these words without remembering what solemn words they have been to multitudes of our fellow-men. There are hardly any words that Christ ever spoke which have more fascinated and held the hearts of earnest men.
^ In a letter from Whitefield to Benjamin Franklin, dated 1752, occur these words : " As I find you growing more and more famous in the learned world I would recommend to your diligent and unprejudiced study the mystery of the new birth. It is a most important study, and, when mastered, will richly answer all your pains. I bid you, my friend, remember that One at whose bar we shall both presently appear hath solemnly declared that without it we shall in no wise see His Kingdom."
2. Born again ! The new birth ! Oh, these old words which so many souls have puzzled over and could not understand, and yet have been fascinated by so that they could not let them go ! In silent chambers souls have agonized and wondered, " What is it to be born again ? " In silent chambers souls, conscious of a richer and fuller life, have dreamed and questioned timidly: " Is it possible, then, that this is the new birth ? Have we come any nearer to an answer to it all to-day ? Have we passed from the shallow life to the profound, from the unspiritual to the spiritual, from the first life to the second? "^
^ How was it that he, who in 1727 could not move a village, after 1739 could shake three kingdoms ? How did it come to pass that the teacher who was driven out of a little colony as a mere human irritant became the teacher, the comforter, the trusted leader of whole generations ? The explanation certainly does not lie in any personal gifts of body or brain Wesley
* Phillips Brooks, Seeking Life, 208.
»49
150 A NEW BEGINNING
possessed. These were exactly the same at both stages of his career. Wesley at Wroote was twenty-five years of age. He had then the scholar's brain, the zealot's fire, the orator's tongue ; and he failed — failed consciously and completely. "I preached much," is his own record, "but saw no fruits of my labour." Wesley, again, in Charleston, was thirty-two years of age. At no stage of his life did he show a higher passion of zsal, or more methodical and resolute industry ; a self-sacrifice so nearly heroic in temper. And yet he failed! But something came into his life by the gate of his conversion, something he never lost, something which transfigured his career. It was a strange gift of power — power that used Wesley's natural gifts — his tough body, his keen intellect, his resolute will — as instruments, but which was more than these. Who looks on Wesley's life as a whole, and sees on one side of a particular date doubt, weak- ness, and defeat, and on the other side certainty, gladness, and matchless power, cannot doubt that the secret of Wesley's career lies in the spiritual realm. Wesley's story is simply one embodied, historic, and overwhelming demonstration of the truth of what is called the Evangelical reading of Christianity.^
3. Many are perplexed, as Nicodemus was. They understand religion on its educational and tangible side ; but the doctrine of regeneration, of conversion, perplexes and offends them. They will consent to the faith of Christ, to the Church of Christ, excepting this one doctrine, which is of its very essence. Yet what of the fact ? Only as our interior eyes are enlightened can we see the Kingdom of God ; only as our mind, affections, conscience, and will are raised and energized by the Holy Spirit can we enter into that Kingdom and share its righteousness and blessedness. Such is the teaching of the Master, and tens of thousands in all generations testify to the truth of His teaching. They are conscious that they have experienced this very change ; they know it as a fact, the most glorious fact of their history. They have been transformed in the spirit of their mind; they henceforth walk in newness of life. These witnesses will vary much as to what brought it all about, as to their recognition of the time and place of awakening, and many features of the experiences through which they passed ; but concerning the substantial fact itself, that the Spirit of God has imparted to them a higher life, given them a clean heart, and renewed within