he, whose shoes he was not worthy to bear; and who was to baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire."

When the Priests and Levites had sent a solemn message to the Baptist John, to ask him, if he were the Christ? they had been told by him, that there stood even then in the crowd, one among them whom they knew not; and that it was "He, who, coming after him, should be preferred before him, whose shoes latchet he was not worthy to unloose."*

This One had the next day been pointed out to the people by John, as "the Lamb of God," as the very one of whom he had spoken. Now this very one, the man pointed out by the Baptist, was in Jerusalem at the time of their solemn feast. With authority and with power He spoke, and He acted as the Son of God; cleansing his Father's temple, and showing by the miracles He did, that the power, of Satan, which is the cause of all sin and of all suffering, could not stand before him. Struck by these things, and no doubt deeply pondering on all that John had said, and Jesus had done,

JOHN III. 1, 2. “A man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."

The common sense of Nicodemus was convinced. A miracle could only be done by power more than human. He therefore speaks to Jesus with the deepest respect. In spite of the poverty of his outward condition, he believes him to be far more than He seems, and he calls him Rabbi; a name given by the Jews to men whose learning and piety made them be looked up to with respect.

"We know," said Nicodemus, we, the sect of Pharisees to which I belong, "know that thou art a teacher come from God, * John i. 26, 27.

+ Ibid. i. 29.

for no man can do the miracles which thou doest, except God be with him."

Their minds were convinced, and so far it was well; but religion, true Christianity, is a thing not of the head only, but of the heart. Their hearts were untouched. The time would soon come when the Pharisees, disappointed in their hopes of earthly greatness to be given by the Lord Jesus, would declare that the miracles He wrought were by the power of the Devil. Jesus knew it, and at once He opened to Nicodemus the deep truths of his holy religion, which never could be received, or even understood, by any man, without changing his whole

nature.

Verse 3. "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."

While they remained in their natural state of sin, they might call him Rabbi, they might expect great things from him; but their eyes would, and must, remain shut against the great truth, that the pure, the holy kingdom of God was offered to them by his dear Son.

Nicodemus was so surprized at our Lord's unexpected answer, that he did not even see the meaning of his words; which, nevertheless, plainly expressed the need of a great change. With something of childish stupidity, he answered,

4, 5. "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."

Water cleanses away all stains, all impurities, from the body, and the Spirit gives life to the soul, and comes from God; *

* Gen. ii. 7.

therefore our Saviour, when He says that we must "be born of water and of the Spirit," clearly means, that our sins must be entirely washed away;* and that we, who by nature are, as it were, dead to the will of God, neither caring for it, nor understanding it, must receive from God a new spirit and a new life, by which we shall be able and willing to serve him. The entire nature of man must be changed-and why? Our Lord goes on to give the reason :

Verse 6. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Every thing in this world is of the same nature as its parent. The seeds of all poisonous plants become poisonous plants; the seeds of flowers, of fruits, and of vegetables, become flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Nothing can change or mix them in their nature, and their kind; ‡ the one cannot bring forth the other, and so it is with the flesh-by which word flesh, is meant the sinful nature we have from our first father Adam. The poison of sin entered into our nature with his disobedience, and the poison of sin is in every one of us. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," and cannot be otherwise. But the flesh, the sinful nature "cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Only the new nature which Christ came to give, and which, as by a new birth, can change man back again into the image of God in which Adam was at first created-only this can fit us for the kingdom of God, "for that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and must be holy.§

* Isa. i. 16-18.

† Ezekiel xi. 19.

Matt. vii. 16.

§ It is very important we should observe, that as this is the first discourse of the Lord Jesus which has been written down for our instruction, so his last action and almost his last words were to establish Christian baptism. Except ye be born of water, and of the Spirit, ye cannot enter the kingdom of heaven," Matt. xxviii. 19., were his words to Nicodemus at the beginning of his Ministry, and at the very end of it, he appointed the solemn washing or sprinkling of water, as a sign of the required cleansing from sin, as a means towards receiving

We should take notice that this great and most necessary truth, that we must be born again, or we cannot belong to the kingdom of God, was taught by the Lord Jesus at the very outset of his ministry. Nicodemus was the first man we read of, who came to him expressly to be taught, and this was the first truth he heard. It filled him with wonder; for though the Jews themselves said that when a heathen Gentile became a Jew, and believed in the true God, he was as a child new-born; yet it was quite a new thing to hear that the Jews themselves, the chosen people of God, above all, the Pharisees, who prided themselves upon the strictness of their religion, that they too needed a change, so great from what they were, that nothing could so well explain the greatness of that change, as that they must be born over again, and become quite new and different creatures. This indeed was so wonderful, that Nicodemus, after his first words of surprise, sat silent.

Verses 7, 8. "Marvel not (said Jesus to him, Wonder not) that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

wind? we see mighty It drives over the sea,

What can resist the power of the forest-trees bend like reeds before it. and the waves rise like mountains. We cannot for a moment stand before it, when it rushes onward, sweeping every thing from its place. And what is like the voice of the wind? Sometimes mighty and terrible, sometimes low and complaining. We listen to sounds which, had we never heard them before, would fill us with fear, and we say, It is but the wind. Yet nothing can resist its power; it has no form or shape, we cannot see it ; all things must yield before it, yet it cannot be touched, nor

the new life of the Spirit. This appointment was the end of his Ministry before he was received up into heaven. We shall do well to note this.

can any tell the place from whence it comes, or the place to which it goes. Like the Spirit of God, it is mighty, but invisible; no power of man can make it come or bid it go. Without it the whole earth would grow sick and die, for it keeps the air in healthy motion; it is as the breath of the world; but it comes not from the earth, and the earth has no power over it. "So"-said the Lord Jesus-" is every one that is born of the Spirit." The power of the Spirit of God is as the power of the wind, mighty, but invisible; its presence only known by the things that are done by it.†

Filled with amazement, Nicodemus answered, and said—

Verses 9-12. "How can these things be? And Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?"

If Nicodemus was so astonished at these first truths of Christianity, which he ought to have known from the books of the prophets, and which were not more wonderful than the everyday works of God, which he believed without understanding them, because they were every day before his eyes,-what would he think, how great would be his wonder and his trouble, if the Lord Jesus spoke to him of heavenly things? None but

* Cannot be seen.

† Perhaps nothing can give us a better idea of the likeness of the power of the wind to the power of the Spirit, than the sight of a heavy fog that hangs like darkness over the earth, till a wind springs up and drives it away; then, where all was misty and dark, light and sunshine comes. There was a time when the heavy fog of ignorance and idolatry hung over our own country. The gospel of Jesus Christ was preached, and his Holy Spirit, like the wind, drove away the misty darkness. There is still much sin, much ignorance, but the light of Christianity shines amongst us, and the land has been new born ;so changed is it from those early heathen days.