But there is another remark to be made on the language, which is here used. The phrase 'being born again' was familiar to Nicodemus, as it was commonly applied to the proselytes from Gentilism to Judaism; they were baptized and circumcised, they left all their relations and connexions, and were said to be born again.* If it be asked why, if Nicodemus was accustomed to this language, he should so far mistake the meaning of Jesus as to suppose that he spoke of a natural birth, the answer is obvious; Nicodemus visited Jesus to ascertain whether he were the Messiah. For the kingdom of God,' or the state of things which he expected under the Messiah, he thought the Jews must be always prepared, as they were descendants of Abraham, to whom this kingdom was understood to be particularly promised; and he had not the most distant conception that for that purpose any change could be necessary, which could be compared with the change, which took place upon the introduction of a Gentile to the profession of Judaism, the conversion of a barbarian and idolater to the worship of the one only living and true God.

The history proceeds with Nicodemus' query to Jesus. How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? v. 4. The reply of Jesus to this question next deserves our attention.

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. v. 5, 6.

Jesus here proceeds to correct in a degree the gross mistake into which Nicodemus had fallen in regard to his former remark. He still uses language in a high degree figurative, and his reply is entitled to a critical examination.

To be born of water, as is generally agreed, intends to be baptized. The baptism of a person into any religion was merely the act of receiving him to instruction in the principles of that religion. Baptism, as has been observed, was an invariable ceremony on the introduction of a proselyte to the Jewish religion; and when Jesus informed Nicodemus that it would be necessary at the introduction of a Jew to his religion, he meant to apprize him, that his kingdom was different from the expcctations, which had been formed of it; and was not a kingdom, to

* See Beausobre and L'Enfant's Intro. to N. T. Watson's Tracts, Vol. III. 195. What is singular with regard to this phrase is, that the Hindoos speak of a second birth from acquiring a knowledge of the Vedas, which may be called their scriptures, and the phrase twice born is in a manner synonymous to a Bramin. Priestley's Notes on Scrip. Vol. III. p. 70.

which the Jews could claim admission merely on account of their descent from Abraham.

To be born of the spirit is a phrase of more difficult interpretation. This passage is generally cited as an irrefragable proof of the necessity of some immediate, perceptible, supernatural influences of the divine spirit on the mind, in the conversion of a sinner or an unbeliever to christianity. But there are objections to this interpretation, which compel us to seek one attended with fewer difficulties.

The truth of such an opinion requires, that miracles should be multiplied in the production of effects, which may spring from natural causes, and in all cases be accounted for on the general principles of human nature. Such an opinion is opposed to common experience, to what we know of the influence of custom and association, and to all the schemes of education, which we pursue with our children. We know that children are as susceptible of a moral as of a literary education; and that there are certain means to be employed for the formation, correction, and improvement of their tempers and moral habits, as much as for the enlargement of their minds and the correction of intellectual perversities. Such an opinion has a direct tendency to discourage, if it does not absolutely forbid, all exertions towards the amelioration of our characters; it seems totally inconsistent with many precepts of the gospel, and it represents Jesus and his apostles in their exhortations and commands to repentance, conversion, and improvement, to exertion and activity; demanding of men what they knew it was impossible for them to perform.

These are only a few of the objections which may be made to this opinion, under the form in which it is usually exhibited. At the same time we would not suggest, that we are not often benefited by the direct influences of the Deity on the minds and hearts of men; we doubt not that he is found in weakness to strengthen, in despondency to encourage, in trial to succour, in ignorance to instruct us; but we believe that these influences are conveyed to us through the circumstances of our situation, the events of our lives, the dispensations of his providence, the ordinary and extraordinary instructions with which we are favoured, and in an infinite variety of ways, consistent with human liberty, rather than by any supernatural, perceptible, and irresistible afflatus from heaven.

The inquiry returns, what are we to understand by the remark of Jesus, that except a man be born of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God?

The word spirit admits of many significations. An eminent eritic* has enumerated not less than twenty-two different senses, in which it is used in the scriptures. It will answer our present purpose if I mention two of them.

It is often used for what is in other places called, The inward man, that is, the understanding, the will, and the affections; as when, for example, it is said, that God is to be worshipped in spirit. It is sometimes used for Christianity itself, for the doctrine of Christ especially, in opposition to Judaism. In this sense it is very often used by St. Paul. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made me free from the law of sin and death. He entreats the brethren for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the spirit; that is, without doubt, for the love of their religion. Now, says he, we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter; that is, that we should obey the doctrine of Christ, and not the law of Moses.§ In the epistle to the Corinthians he thus speaks: Our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones was glorious, how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious. Many passages of this kind might be produced to show, that the word Spirit, is often employed to signify the christian religion itself; and that it is used in this way with the greatest propriety, it is not necessary to prove.

When our Saviour therefore told Nicodemus, that in order to enter his kingdom, he must be born of the spirit,' he probably intended either that he must be born spiritually, that is, mentally, his opinions, views, temper, moral feelings must be changed; or if we understand by spirit, the doctrine or religion of Christ, by being born of this doctrine, we are to understand, the reception of it into the heart and the subjection of the life to its control.

Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. v. 6.

It will be recollected at once, from what has been observed, whence this language is drawn; that it is similar to what was used upon the introduction of a proselyte to the Jewish religion; and it seems evident, that Jesus is here pursuing a comparison between that event and the conversion of a Jew and a Pharisee

See Schleusner. Art. mva.
xv. 30.

† Rom. viii. 2.

New Series-vol. II.

¿ vii. 6.

2 Cor. iii. 5-8.

23

to his religion. We may suppose him to have said, "You, Pharisees, receive Gentiles into the Jewish commonwealth by baptism and circumcision; with respect to such persons, for this purpose nothing more is necessary; by such ceremonies, which are altogether external, they become the adopted children of Abraham, and are entitled to all the privileges of the religion of Moses. Different is the process, by which you Jews are to be initiated into my kingdom. I receive you indeed to a baptism with water, because such a ceremony as this, which, from custom and education, in your view is always associated with a change of religion, is necessary to remind you, that the true kingdom of the Messiah is totally different from your expectations, and is a state of things for which you Jews are not qualified, as you naturally supposed you would be, merely by your descent from Abraham; but it is particularly necessary that you should be born of my doctrine, which is intellectual and moral, which is designed to fill your minds with truth and wisdom, and your hearts with benevolence and piety; a benevolence and piety of such an exalted stamp as you have little idea of; a benevolence, not such as you have learnt from the traditions of your fathers, which say, thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy, but which will prompt you to show kindness to your most bitter enemies; a piety, not such as is satisfied with a mere attendance however strict, upon the services of the temple, but which will constitute a habit of your soul, and lead you in every situation to acknowledge and serve, to love and adore, that almighty, immortal, infinite, and holy Spirit, who is worthy of the purest homage of the purest mind. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh;" the introduction of a proselyte to Judaism is a mere external ceremony. "That which is born of the spirit is spirit ;" the introduction of a proselyte from Gentilism or Judaism to my religion, from a religion of ceremonies and external rites to a religion of the heart and life, is, on the contrary, a spiritual, that is, an intellectual and moral change.

This construction deserves respect from its agreement with other parts of the scriptures. It accords with our Saviour's discourse with the Samaritan woman, when, in reply to her inquiry, whether Jerusalem or Gerizim was the place where men ought to worship, he assures her, that the hour was coming and now had come, when men should not be confined according to her limited views, either to the one or the other of these places, in their worship of God, but when the true worshippers should in every place worship the Father in spirit and in truth.* It ac

*John iv. 21-24.

cords well with the observation of Jesus to those, who mistook his meaning, when he told them, that except they ate his flesh and drank his blood, they had no life in them. When they revolted at this saying, he observes, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life; they have a figurative meaning, and imply the reception and observance of my doctrine.* It accords well with the explanation, which St. John himself gives of the phrase, being born of God,' in his first epistle. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God; and again, Beloved, let us love one another; for every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil; whosoever doeth not righteousness, is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. We here see, that to receive Jesus as a divinely commissioned messenger, is synonymous with being born of God,' and 'being born of God' is to love mankind and to work righteousness. There does not appear to be the slightest allusion to a supernatural and irresistible operation of the divine spirit. The phrase 'being born of God,' intends nothing more than the reception of a religion, devised in his mercy, established by a divine wisdom and power deputed to Jesus of Nazareth, and which he preached to mankind in the name of God; as the phrase being begotten of Paul' and being his son, as he calls Timothy and Onesimus, or his children, as he sometimes calls his converts, intends nothing more than their reception of the religion which he preached to them.

Jesus proceeds to say to Nicodemus, Marvel not that I said unto thee, you 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. v. 7, 8.

It is the object of Jesus, in this remark, to allay the surprise which Nicodemus appears to have manifested at his discourse, by teaching him in a comparison, drawn from a common occurrence, that this change of his views and character, though the progress of it were imperceptible, might nevertheless be easily ascertained. Thus we hear the sound of the wind and know that it is passing us, but know not how it is impelled, from what place it comes, nor whither it proceeds. So with regard to the change, through which it is necessary for you to pass, in order to become my disciple, it will be easily discovered when it is produced, but we know too little of the human mind to determine with exactness the manner in which it is accomplished; or, † 1 John v. i. iv. 7.

* John vi. 53, 63.

iii. 10.