and how does it begin? Can any man give it to himself when he
name only, but in spirit and in truth, — a change so thorough, so searching, so radical, so complete, that he who has gone through it may be called born again, for he is to all intents and purposes a new man: he was darkness, but he is now light; he was blind, but he can now see; he was sleeping, but he is now awake; he was dead, but he now lives; he was earthly-minded, but he is now heavenly-minded; he was carnal, but he is now spiritual; he was worldly, but he is now godly; he once loved most the things corruptible, he now loves the things incorruptible; he did set his chief affections on that which is mortal, he now sets them on immortality.
Lastly , I pressed upon you all the immense, the surpassing importance of this doctrine, and I do so now again. I urged you, every one, to remember, — and I repeat it now, — it shall avail us nothing that Christ Jesus has brought in righteousness for us, if there be not also the work of the Holy Ghost within us; that it shall profit us nothing to say we are redeemed, if there is not also good evidence that we have been indeed renewed.
I shall now go on, according to my promise, to set before you the first great cause of this new birth, and the means and the manner in which it comes; and I once more pray God that the subject may not be carelessly put aside, but thought over and made useful to all your souls.
1. This new birth, then, this great spiritual change, whence comes it, and how does it begin? Can any man give it to himself when he pleases? Can any change his own heart? No! the thing is impossible. We can no more quicken and impart life to our souls than we can to our bodies; we can no more rise and become new men in our own strength than wash away sins by our own performances. It is impossible! The natural man is as helpless as Lazarus was when he lay still and cold and motionless in the tomb. We may remove the stone, as it were, and expose the sad work of death, but we can do no more. There must be a power far mightier than any power of earth in exercise before the natural man can awake and arise and come forth as a new creature. And to do all this is the special office of the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Ghost, whom Jesus promised to send. It is He that quickeneth; it
is He that giveth life. The Spirit alone can make the seed we scatter bear fruit; the Spirit alone can lay the first foundation of that holy kingdom we want to see established in your hearts. It is the Spirit must move over these waste and barren souls before they can become the garden of the Lord; it is the Spirit must open the darkened windows of our conscience before the true light can shine in upon those chambers within us. And so, he that is born again is born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God; for the Spirit is very God.
Beloved, this is a very humbling and awful truth. The conversion of a sinner can never be that light, off-hand affair that some do seem to think it. This great change which must come over us can never be a thing so entirely within our reach and grasp that we may put off the old Adam like a cloak, and put on the new man, just when and where we please. Oh, but it is a work that cannot possibly be done without the hand of God! The same Power which first created heaven and earth, and called the fair world around us into being, — the same Power alone can create in us new hearts, and renew in us right minds — the same Power alone can convert the natural man into the spiritual.
Yes! you may dream of death-bed repentance, and say, By-and-by we will turn and become Christians; but you know not what you are saying: the softening of the hard heart, and the entrance upon new ways, and the taking up of new principles, is no such easy matter as you seem to fancy — it is work that can only be begun by power divine, and who shall say you may not put it off too long?
It is not the plainest and clearest preaching, however lovely it may sound, which can cause men to be born again, without the Spirit: you may set Paul to plant and Apollos to water, but the Spirit alone can give the increase; we may raise up congregations fair and formal, and sinews and flesh and skin may cover the dry bones, — but until the Spirit breathes upon them they are no