§ 1. Orthodoxy recognizes only two Conditions in which Man can be found.
Orthodoxy knows only two states in which man can be found. Man is either
in the natural state, and then he is totally depraved; or he is in the
supernatural state, in which the chain of sin has been broken. He is
either impenitent or penitent, either unregenerated or regenerate,
unconverted or converted, a sinner or a saint.
There is no gradation, no shading off, no twilight between this midnight
gloom and midday splendor. To the common eye, and in the judgment of their
friends and neighbors, the people who enter a church seem of all degrees
of goodness; and every one has good and bad qualities mixed up together in
his character. But, as the Orthodox minister looks at them from the
pulpit, they instantly fall into two classes, and become “my impenitent
hearers,” and “my penitent hearers.”
Moreover, it is assumed that the distinction between these two classes is
so marked and plain, that it can be recognized by any one who will.
Orthodox people inquire, “_Is he pious?_” just as they would ask, “_Is he
married?_”
Again, the change from one state to the other is assumed to be so distinct
and marked, that he who runs can read. One may say to another, “_Where
were you converted?_” just as they may say, “_Where did you go to
college?_” “Where were you born?” said an English bishop to Summerfield,
the Methodist preacher. “In Dublin and Liverpool,” he answered. “Were you
born in _two_ places?” said the bishop. “ ‘Art thou a master in Israel,
and knowest not these things?’ ” replied Summerfield.
On the other hand, it is quite common among Liberal Christians to doubt
the reality, or deny the importance, of such changes altogether. With them
the Christian life consists, not in change, but in progress. In the
Christian source, Orthodoxy lays the main stress on the commencement;
Liberal Christianity, on the progress. The one wishes you to begin the
journey, without seeming to care whether you go forward: the other urges
you to go forward, without inquiring whether you have begun to go.
According to one, Christianity is nothing but a CRISIS; according to the
other, nothing but a DEVELOPMENT.
§ 2. Crisis and Development.
Is there any truth in this Orthodox view of man? anything essential,
substantial, vital? And is there any formal error? If there is, what is
it? Is Christianity crisis or development, or both?
Common sense and the analogies of common life must answer, “Both.” If
Christianity is a life, it must begin with a birth; if a journey, it
cannot be taken except we set out; if an education, we must determine to
commence the education; if labor in God’s vineyard, we must go into the
vineyard, and begin. There are only two classes—those who are alive, and
those who are not alive; those who are taking the journey, and those who
have not yet set out; those who are studying, and those who have not yet
begun to study; those who are at work for God, and those who are standing
idle. The distinction into two classes seems, therefore, substantial and
real. It does not follow, to be sure, that these two classes can be
distinguished so easily by the eye of man; but they certainly can be by
the eye of God. Nor does this primary distinction interfere with other
distinctions and many degrees of difference—greater or less differences
and degrees of progress, usefulness, goodness. Nor does it follow that
those who are now on the right side may not change again to the wrong, and
again to the right. There may be conversion, and _re_-conversion; but
that, at any moment, every person must be either endeavoring to do right,
or not so endeavoring, is evident. This view is confirmed by the New
Testament: “No man can serve two masters.”
That in the religious life there should be both crisis and development,
accords with the analogies of nature. The seed lies in the ground in a
dormant state, perhaps for a long period. After a time comes a crisis;
thrills of life vibrate through it; the germ is stirred; it sends its
roots downward; its stalk pierces the mould, moving upward into light and
air. After this great change, there comes a period of progress and
development. The plant grows; its roots multiply; its stalk ascends, and
divides into leaves. Then there comes a second crisis. The plant blossoms.
In the course of a few hours, after weeks of growth, the bud bursts into
beautiful petals, surrounding the delicate stamens and precious pistil.
Then there comes a second long period of slow development. The petals
fall, and the fruit slowly swells through many weeks of growth. At last
there comes a day when the fruit is ripe. Yesterday it was not ripe;
to-day it is. This is the third crisis. And so, in human life, long
periods of development terminate in critical hours—the seeds of another
long growth. So it is in other things; so also in religion.
§ 3. Nature of the Change.
The next position of Orthodoxy is, that man, in the second or regenerate
state, is a new creature. It asserts the change to be entire and radical,
and the difference immense. Not only the whole direction of the life is
changed, but the motive power is different, and the spirit different.
Instead of ambition, there is content; in the place of sensitive vanity,
there comes humility; instead of anxiety, trust in God. The burden of sin
is taken away; the sense of our unworthiness no longer torments us: for
God has forgiven our sins. Duty no longer seems arduous and difficult; for
there is joy in doing anything for the sake of God. The law is written in
the heart. We are born into a new life, the principle of which is faith.
“The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God.”
This faith enables us to see God as he is, not as a stern King, or a
distant Power, or an abstract Law, but as a Friend, Father, watchful
Providence, surrounding Love, inflowing Life; Source from which we are
always coming, and towards which we are always tending. This life of faith
makes all things new. Old things have passed away, and the outward world
is fresh as on the first morning of creation. Our inward and outward life
are both new. We have new convictions, new affections, new aims, new
hopes, new joys. Nature is new, life is new, the Bible is new, the future
world is new. Such and so great is the change which Orthodoxy assumes as
the result of conversion.
§ 4. Its Reality and Importance.
And the experience of the whole Church, the biographies of the saints in
every denomination, assure us of the substantial truth of this
description. Even in churches which are not Orthodox,—churches like our
own, which insist more upon development than upon crisis,—observation
verifies this description. Even those who do not expect such a change, nor
believe in it, often come to it unexpectedly. In the course of each one’s
experience as a Christian minister, though he may never have insisted on
the importance of sudden changes, and though he may be no revival
preacher, he must have known numerous instances of those who seem to have
passed from death to life in the course of a day or an hour. And is not
this change, either sudden or gradual, that which makes Christianity a
gospel? It is the good news, not of a future and distant heaven, but of a
present heaven,—a heaven not outward, but inward; a present salvation from
the power of sin; a present relief from the sense of guilt; a present joy
and peace in believing; happiness in serving God; sympathy and good-will
to man, instead of envy and uncharitableness; peace with God, with man,
with ourselves, with our condition and circumstances.
That such a state is possible for every human being who desires it, is the
good news which Christ brings; and the experience of ten thousand times
ten thousand grateful hearts declares that it is a reality.
§ 5. Is it the Work of God, or of the Man himself? Orthodox Difficulty.
But now comes a difficulty in the Orthodox statement. Orthodoxy declares
that this regenerate state is the result of faith, not of works; and that
faith is the gift of God; and herein Orthodoxy follows the Scripture. Yet
Orthodoxy calls upon us to repent and be converted, that our sins may be
blotted out; and herein likewise Orthodoxy follows the Scripture. Is,
then, conversion an experience, or is it an action? Is it something God
gives, or something which he commands? Is it a duty to be done, or a gift
to be received? Is it submission to his will, or joy in his love? a new
life of obedience, or a new heart of faith? If it is submission, then we
can all change our hearts at once, and make ourselves love God and love
man. But who can love by an effort of the will? Yet, if the new life is a
gift, then we have no power to procure it, and can only wait till God sees
fit to send it; and how, then, can we be called upon to be converted?
Here is a difficulty which it seems to us Orthodoxy does not solve; and
yet we think that a solution is to be found in a very simple distinction,
which, like all other true and real distinctions, throws light on many
other difficulties.
§ 6. Solved by the Distinction between Conversion and Regeneration.
The distinction of which we speak is between repentance or conversion on
the one side, and regeneration or a new life on the other side. Repentance
or conversion consists in renouncing all sin, and resolving to forsake it;
in turning to God, with the purpose of submitting to his will and obeying
his law. This conversion or repentance is an act proceeding from the will,
and in obedience to the conscience. This is what God commands, and what we
can and ought to do. Every conscientious person, every person who is
endeavoring to do right and is ready to act up to his light, is a
converted person. Every one who hates his sins, resists temptation,
watches and prays against it, is a penitent person. This is the great,
broad distinction between man and man. This divides all men into two
classes—those who, in their will and purpose, are for God, truth, and
right; and those who, because they are not _for_ God, are really _against_
him.
But, besides this broad distinction, there is another secondary
distinction—a distinction among those who are conscientiously endeavoring
to do God’s will. Among the _converted_ there are two classes—the
regenerate and the unregenerate. A man may be converted, and not be
regenerate; for a man may repent of his sin and turn towards God, and yet
not have the life of love and joy which we have described.
He is under law, not under grace. He is struggling to do right, but is not
borne forward on a joyful tide-wave of love.
§ 7. Men may be divided, religiously, into three Classes, not two.
If this be so, we may divide men into three classes, and not into two. The
first class is of those who are neither converted nor regenerate; the
second, who are converted, but not regenerate; the third, who are
converted, and also regenerate. The first are like the prodigal in the
parable,—living without God; the second, like the hired servants in the
same story,—serving God for wages; the third are sons, serving from love,
ever with their Father, and all that he has is theirs. The motive of the
first class is selfish will, selfish pleasure; the motive of the second is
duty; that of the third, love. The first are without law, the second under
law, the third under grace. And so we might multiply distinctions. But is
it not clear to common observation, that this threefold classification
meets the facts of life better than the other? There are three degrees of
character. There is the worldly man, who is just as good or bad as society
around him leads him to be; whose virtues result merely from a happy
organization, or fortunate influences, but who has no principle of
goodness, no purpose of righteousness, no serious aim in life. Then there
is the conscientious man, who means to live, and does live, by a standard
of morality; who has a serious aim, but who is not yet deeply and joyfully
religious; whose religion, at any rate, is hard work, not confiding,
child-like faith. And then there is the Christian believer, who has begun
to live from faith; who begins to feel a higher life pouring into his
heart from on high; who has help and strength from above. From his heart
the burden has been lifted, and he has become again as a little child. He
knows how to pray the prayer of faith. He may not be so very much better
than the other in outward character; but he has the principle within him
which will make all things new, sooner or later.
The New Testament confirms this view of a threefold division. We saw, in
our last chapter, that the apostle Paul, who considers human nature to
consist of three elements,—spirit, soul, and body,—divides mankind into
the carnal man, the natural (psychical or soulish) man, and the spiritual
man. The carnal man is he in whom the bodily instincts and appetites are
supreme. “He is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” The
natural man is he in whom the _soul_ is supreme: he is neither carnal on
one side, nor spiritual on the other. “He cannot receive the things of the
Spirit of God;” yet he is not in opposition and hostility to them, like
the carnal man, whose mind is enmity against God.
Still more plainly does the apostle indicate the distinction when speaking
of those who are without law, those who are under law, and those who are
free from law and above it. The first state he describes in such words as
these: “I was alive without the law once”—the glad, natural life and
freedom before conscience is developed. But conscience does awake in all:
“The commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” When man sees that he
ought to serve God, yet continues to serve the flesh and the world, he is
spoken of as dead in sin; for all the principle of progress ceases. But if
he does endeavor to do right, then Paul speaks of him as _under law_, and
on his way to a higher state. That higher state he speaks of as being
“delivered from the law, to serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness
of letter.”
Thus we see that all religious experiences coincide. The experience of the
apostle Paul is exactly the same, in its essentials, with that of every
soul, however humble, that begins and goes forward in the Christian life.
If this distinction between conversion and regeneration be correct, it
removes the difficulty in the Orthodox statement.
§ 8. Difference between Conversion and Regeneration.
Conversion is an act, regeneration an experience. “Turn ye, turn ye; for
why will ye die?” is the command of the Old Testament. “Repent, and be
converted, that your sins may be blotted out;” “Repent, and be baptized,
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost,” is the command of the
New Testament. It is a duty to repent; but to become regenerate is not a
duty: _that_ is a gift, to be received afterwards. God commands
conversion: he bestows regeneration. Submission is an act of our own:
faith is the gift of God. A change of outward life and conduct we can
accomplish ourselves; at least, we can endeavor to accomplish it; but the
change of heart God himself will bestow.
Conversion, a turning round, is necessarily instantaneous: it is a change.
But regeneration, or reception of divine Love, is a state, not sudden, but
passing by gradations into a deeper and deeper life of faith and joy.
So, too, conversion may be repeated: we may often find that we have again
turned round, and are going the wrong way. But the inflow of life, when
begun, cannot be begun again. When God has touched the heart with his
love, it is forever lifted by that divine experience beyond the region of
mere law. We can never forget it. These are the:
“Truths which wake
To perish never;
Which neither listlessness nor mad endeavor,
Nor man nor boy,
Nor aught that is at enmity with joy,
Can utterly abolish or destroy.”
And herein lies the basis of the truth in the doctrine of the
“perseverance of saints.”
§ 9. Unsatisfactory Attitude of the Orthodox Church.
We cannot but think the attitude of Orthodoxy towards this part of
Christianity to be singularly unsatisfactory and inefficient. The work of
the Church, all admit, is to convert the world to God, and so save it from
the power and evil of sin. But if this is a work which the Church has to
do, it ought surely to have some fixed method or rule by which to act. It
should not be a matter of accident whether it can do its work or not. It
should not be in doubt, every day, as to the success to come from its
efforts. If its work is to make men Christians, it ought to know how to do
it, be able to do it, and know when it is done. Such is the case with all
other work. If a man is to build a house, he does not bring together his
materials, hire his carpenters and masons, and, when all are on the
ground, sit down with them, and wait for some emotion or interior change
by which they will be enabled to go on and do their work. If we are
mechanics, merchants, lawyers, physicians, teachers, we do not wait for a
revival before we can properly fulfil our engagements. It is only in the
work of converting the world to God—the greatest and most important of
all—that such a strange system is adopted. We are told to put ourselves in
the proper place, namely, the Church; collect our materials, that is, the
means of grace; and then we are to wait until, somehow or other, we may be
able _to get religion_. Religion is made a spasm, a struggle, an agony—not
a regular work, not a steady growth. Everything about it is uncertain and
tentative. No one knows when he will become a Christian, but hopes, some
time or other, that he shall be made one. The common thought, produced by
the common Orthodox system of preaching, was expressed once in a public
meeting by Henry Clay. “I am not,” he said, “a Christian. I am sorry I am
not. I wish I were. I hope that, some day, I shall be.” He did not mean by
this to say that he was an unbeliever; but he had adopted the helpless,
passive system by which he was taught that he had nothing to do but wait
till some great change should take place in his soul.
Out of this way of thought comes the revival system, which is a curious
blending of machinery and expectation, of adroit and careful management
with reliance on some great inspiration. Crisis and development are to be
expected, no doubt; but we do not set a trap to catch the Spring. It is
ours to plant and to water, but it is God’s to give the increase. That,
therefore, should be left to him.
The revival system is Arminianism grafted on Calvinism. It is an attempt
to unite the belief that man is wholly passive in conversion, and is not
able to prepare himself thereunto, with the opposite doctrine that by a
use of means he can become a Christian. It is an attempt to unite the
Calvinistic article that God, when he chooses, calls those he has
predestined to eternal life, with the attempt to make him choose our time
and way. Such a system, disjointed at its centre, must necessarily work
badly, and result in an alternation of feverish heats and aguish chills.
To carry on the work of the Church by revivals is as unreasonable as it
would be to carry on a school, or a cotton factory, by a revival
system—alternations of violent study and work, followed by relapses into
indolence and sloth.
The Church of Rome has a great advantage over Protestant Orthodoxy in this
respect. It, too, admits revivals, and has its periods of extraordinary
attention to religion. But there is this great difference. It does not
depend on them for creating Christianity in the soul; it uses them only
for increasing its warmth and power. In the Roman Church every baptized
person is a Christian so long as he does not continue in mortal sin, but
by the regular use of the sacraments preserves his Christian life. The
essential work of the Church is done by its regular methods—by baptism,
confession, and its ritual service. In the Church of Rome, all connected
with it are Christians, and in the way of salvation. In Protestant
Orthodox churches, if any of those born and brought up in it are
Christians, it is, so far as they are concerned, a happy accident.
All this shows something wrong in the common theory of conversion. Every
one in a Christian community who desires to be a Christian ought to be
able to become one. Christianity is a gospel, because it opens the kingdom
of heaven to all. The call of the Church at the beginning was to _follow
Christ_. Any one who was willing to follow Christ was baptized at once,
and became a Christian. No one waited till he should experience some
remarkable interior change, or some influence of the Holy Ghost. The
promise at first was, that whosoever became a Christian _should_ receive
the Holy Ghost afterwards. Spiritual influences were not the condition of
Christianity, but the result of Christianity.
One bad consequence of the Orthodox idea is discouragement on the one
side, and spiritual pride on the other. Those who are not converted are
discouraged, and deprived of the comforts of Christian faith. Those who
think they have been converted are satisfied with this past experience,
and believe themselves Christians on the strength of it. Because some
spiritual commotion took place in their souls at a certain time and place,
they consider themselves children of God and heirs of his favor, though in
their daily lives they may show little proof of practical Christianity.
And the result of this, again, is a professed distrust, by the majority of
sensible men, of such conversions. Men of the world do not find that
professed Christians are better than themselves. Often, indeed, church
members are not so just, honest, manly, or truthful as those who make no
claim to religion. And the reason is simply this—that they have been
taught to believe that the essence of Christianity does not consist in
righteousness, but in certain religious experiences.
§ 10. The Essential Thing for Man is to repent and be converted; that is,
to make it his Purpose to obey God in all Things.
As far as man is concerned, repentance is the one thing needful. But by
repentance we do not mean sorrow or contrition, but simply turning round
whenever we are going wrong, and beginning at once to go right. This is
something in every man’s power, and this makes him a Christian; this gives
him a claim to all the promises and hopes of the gospel here and
hereafter. It would seem that there need be no doubt as to the nature of
repentance while the parable of the prodigal son stands in the Bible. That
divine story gives us the whole theory of repentance and
regeneration—repentance being that which comes from man, regeneration that
which is given by God. When the prodigal son was aware of his sin and
sorrow, and said, “I will arise, and go to my father;” and when he arose,
and went to his father, and confessed his sin and need, then he had
repented. It was simply going to his father with the purpose of obedience.
And when the father received him, not with reproach, but with pardon and
joy, then he was born again, introduced into a new life, into the peace,
and love, and freedom of his own home.
“One thing is needful,” said Jesus; that is, to sit at the feet of the
Master, to follow him, to become his disciple. That is all we have to do;
then we are safe. We can trust God to do his part if we do ours. He will
give us his Holy Spirit; he will give us a new heart; he will put his
peace and strength into our souls. It is not necessary to be anxious, or
to be inspecting our feelings to see if we are feeling right. All such
introspection is unnecessary if we have faith in God and his promises. We
are Christians just as long as we are obeying God and following Christ.
When we find ourselves disobedient, selfish, going wrong, then the one
thing needful is to repent and be converted. We are to come back to our
duty.
The general impression in Orthodox churches, resulting from the preaching,
is, that not much is gained by doing one’s duty unless one is regenerate.
Doing our duty does not make us Christians, does not save the soul; so,
why be particular in doing more than others, or being better than others?
Orthodox congregations believe in the new life, but not in obedience as
its necessary antecedent.
Unitarians, on the other hand, believe in obedience, but have little faith
in a higher life as attainable here. Hence a Unitarian congregation
usually consists of intelligent, virtuous, well-meaning people, but
destitute of enthusiasm, and with little confidence in the new birth or
religious life.
Unitarians believe in obedience as the one thing needful; and in this they
are right. But they are wrong in not expecting the influences which God is
always ready to give, which change the heart, and fill it with a peace
passing understanding, which make duties easy, which fill life with joy,
and take the sting from death. The Orthodox believe in all these higher
emotions and states of the soul, but unfortunately do not believe in
obedience as the one thing needful. They think that some emotional
transaction in the soul is the one thing needful.
§ 11. Regeneration is God’s Work in the Soul. Examination of the Classical
Passage, or conversation of Jesus with Nicodemus.
In the third chapter of John we have the conversation which has been made
the basis of the doctrine of the new birth.
In this conversation of Jesus with Nicodemus we have the old argument,
which is always being renewed, between the letter and the spirit, between
knowledge and insight, between routine and genius, ceremony and
inspiration, the past and the future, the goodness of habit and the
holiness born out of the living vision of good. In fact this little
dialogue may be considered as a renewal, on a higher plane, of the picture
given us by Luke of the boy Jesus in the temple talking with the doctors.
The common doctrine of the Orthodox churches about this chapter is, that
Jesus teaches here that no man can be a Christian or a good man unless he
passes through some mysterious experience, usually sudden, of which he
must be conscious, which gives him a certain definite series of very deep
feelings. First, he must feel very deeply that he is a sinner; then that
he cannot by any effort of his own become different; thirdly, that, unless
God makes him different, he never can be saved; and, lastly, he must feel
that God will change his heart, and save him. Having passed through this
kind of experience, it is assumed that he is “born again;” that he is a
Christian; that he is a new creature; that he has a new heart; that if he
dies now he will go to heaven; whereas, if he had died before, he would
have gone to hell. It is also Orthodox to believe that a man can do
nothing himself to produce this change of heart, or facilitate it.
A very interesting book was published not long ago, written by Miss
Catherine Beecher, in which she describes the sufferings caused in her own
experience by this theory of regeneration. Her father fully believed in
it, and thought it necessary to carry all his children through it somehow
or other. Their conversions, to be sure, were not all quite in rule;
especially that of Henry seems to have been a little abnormal, if we may
trust an account given by himself in an article on the dissolution of the
Bowdoin Street Church and congregation, Boston, of which his father was
the first minister. The description is so suggestive that we will quote
the passage:—
“If somebody will look in the old records of Hanover Street Church about
1829, they will find a name there of a boy about fifteen years old, who
was brought into the Church on a sympathetic wave, and who well remembers
how cold and almost paralyzed he felt while the committee questioned him
about his ‘hope’ and ‘evidences,’ which upon review amounted to this—that
the son of such a father ought to be a good and pious boy. Being
tender-hearted and quick to respond to moral sympathy, he had been caught
and inflamed in a school excitement, but was just getting over it when
summoned to Boston to join the church! On the morning of _the_ day, he
went to church without seeing anything he looked at. He heard his name
called from the pulpit among many others, and trembled; rose up with every
emotion petrified; counted the spots on the carpet; looked piteously up at
the cornice; heard the fans creak in the pews near him; felt thankful to a
fly that lit on his face, as if something familiar at last had come to
break an awful trance; heard faintly a reading of the articles of faith;
wondered whether he should be struck dead for not feeling more—whether he
should go to hell for touching the bread and wine that he did not dare to
take nor to refuse; spent the morning service uncertain whether dreaming,
or out of the body, or in a trance; and at last walked home crying, and
wishing he knew what, now that he was a Christian, he should do, and how
he was to do it. Ah, well; there is a world of things in children’s minds
that grown-up people do not imagine, though they, too, once were young!”
Now, if his state of mind, thus described, had been at that time exposed
and told, it would not have been thought a very sound Orthodox experience.
But in reality the boy was at that very time as good a Christian for a boy
as he is now for a man. But Miss Beecher, in the book referred to, tells
us that when one of her other brothers was striving in prayer for this
change of heart, with groans and struggles, the house was like a tomb. The
poor young man was in his chamber alone, and his groans and cries were
heard through the whole house. All the other members of the family staid
in their own rooms in silence, until at last, by some natural reaction of
feeling, there came a sense of rest and peace to his mind, which they
believed to be the new birth. She also describes the way in which Dr.
Payson, of Portland, tortured his little daughter, three years old, by a
torture as well meant, as conscientious, and more terrible than that of
the Holy Inquisition. He told his little daughter that she hated God; that
she must have a change of heart, but that she could not get it for
herself; and that even her prayers, until she was converted, were only
making her worse. The poor little girl denied that she hated God; she said
she was sure she loved him. Then the misguided father brought up all her
little childish faults as a proof that she hated God; for if she loved him
she would never do wrong. And so, from three years of age till she was
thirteen, this poor, infatuated parent tormented this little child by
keeping her on this spiritual rack—all because of a false view of the
passages concerning regeneration in the Bible. And when we think of the
twenty thousand pulpits which to-day are teaching in this country this
same sort of belief, it is evident that it is our duty to see what the
Master really meant to teach us by this passage.
Nicodemus is the type of a class of men common in all times. We have seen
Nicodemus very often. He is a good man whose goodness has no life in it.
His goodness is a sort of an automaton—all machinery and no soul. He is so
thoroughly right in all he does; everything about him is so proper; he is
so perfectly _en règle_ in his own eyes,—that we sometimes wish that he
might be betrayed into some impropriety, commit some not too great folly,
have some _escapade_ of rash enthusiasm. You respect him so much, you
wonder why you do not love him more. It is because he is not open to
influence. His goodness is so rigid, his opinions so declared, his
character so pronounced, that there is no crack anywhere by which God or
man can reach him. He has a whole armor of opinions all round him, and you
cannot get through it. He has narrowed himself, and shut himself in, so
that he feels no influence of sympathy coming from the wide ocean of
humanity around, no influence of love from the deep heaven of God above.
He is a sort of good rhinoceros, with a skin so thick that nothing can
pierce it.
Nicodemus was such a man, and he came to Jesus with all his opinions cut
and dried, ready for an argument. He begins in a very formal and precise
way. “Rabbi, we know thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do
these miracles that thou doest except God be with him.” He observes all
proprieties; he calls Jesus Doctor,—“Rabbi,”—but takes good care _not_ to
call him Christ. He gives his reason for thinking Jesus a teacher come
from God, namely, his miracles. Not his holiness, not his inspiration, not
his supreme sweetness, not that he is a channel through which God’s
tenderness runs down into our hearts. No; he sees no such spiritual proof
as this, but a merely logical one, expressed almost in the form of a
syllogism. Major proposition—“No man can work miracles without God’s
help.” Minor proposition—“Jesus works miracles.” Conclusion—“Therefore
Jesus has God’s help.”
Now, what does Jesus reply? Evidently much of the conversation has been
omitted. We have only the substance of it here. “You believe in the
kingdom of heaven, Nicodemus.” “Certainly.” “How do you expect to know it
when you see it?” “By some great outward signs; something which shall
shake heaven and earth; the Messiah coming in the sky, with angels.”
“Nicodemus, you cannot even see the kingdom when it is here, if you look
for it so; you must be born again yourself; you must be changed, and
become as a little child, in order to enter the kingdom.” We remember that
Peter, who was probably not half as good as Nicodemus, an impulsive soul,
was nevertheless enough of a little child, in openness of heart, to see
that this was the kingdom of heaven,—this teaching and life of Jesus,—and
that Jesus was the Messiah.
But Nicodemus says, “No. A Gentile, a heathen, ought, no doubt, to begin
at the beginning, give up all his old opinions, and be born of water by
being baptized. He should begin by a recantation. I suppose that is what
you mean by being born again. But _I_ ought not, for I am a Jew, grown up
in the true knowledge of God, learned from Moses and the prophets. So I
need not begin _my_ life again.”
Jesus then replies, “The form is nothing. You must be born not only of
water, but of the Spirit, in order to enter the kingdom of God. You need
not only to wash off all your old opinions and conduct, as the Gentiles
must do; but also you must be made a little child by laying your heart
open to God’s Spirit, and letting it lead your thoughts into new ways,
your heart into new love, and your life into new action. You must be
willing to follow me, not by night only, but in the day. If they turn you
out of the Sanhedrim, you must not mind that; you must find your happiness
in getting good and doing good; receiving God’s love into your soul, and
letting it go out again. You must give yourself up to this divine
influence.”
Then Nicodemus says, “_How_ can these things be?” He wishes to see the
way, to have it all marked out; to have a creed with all its articles of
belief fixed; a programme of what he is to do arranged. The spirit he does
not quite understand. Give it to him in the letter, and he can do it. He
wants a map of the operations of the Holy Spirit.
“Are you a teacher of Israel, and do not know this?” replies Jesus. “The
whole Old Testament is full of this inspiration; full of the Spirit of God
coming and going, in a thousand ways, and not by any special rule or
method; going as the wind comes and goes in the sky, we do not know whence
or how.” It is well that some things cannot be arranged beforehand—well
that no almanac can tell if the wind to-morrow is to be east or west,
north or south.
I sit in the sweet autumn woods. I see the squirrel leap from branch to
branch. I hear the woodpecker tapping the trunk with sagacious beak,
watching when the sound shall indicate that a worm has hidden himself
below the bark. All else is calm and still. I look up and see the white
clouds drifting through the deep ocean of blue above. Then there comes a
sudden shiver through the tree-tops, a sprinkling of dry leaves on the
grass, a whisper, a rush of air; and now every tree is swinging its
branches in the breeze.
So is every one that is born of the Spirit! God comes to us all in these
uncalculated, incalculable ways. He moves our conscience by the light of
loyalty and fidelity in another soul. There comes through all the land a
fresh breeze of justice and right, and all at once we feel that we ought
to lead better lives, more manly, more true. There comes a revival of
honesty, as well as of piety. Yesterday you did not care for it; now you
do. God’s holy air of truth and right is sweeping through the land. We all
arise and say, “No matter what our fathers consented to; no matter what we
have consented to in past times; we will have no more compromises with
evil and sin, no more concessions to tyranny and cruelty.” When this
spirit comes to a nation, or to a community, it is as much a revival sent
by God, as the reformation of Luther, or the reformation of Wesley.
Jesus means to teach us here that the Spirit of God comes in a great many
different ways, comes unexpected and unforeseen, comes unapparent as the
invisible air. So came the reformation of Luther. Luther did not mean to
make a reformation, or to build a new Church.(17)
All recollect the story of the Quaker, George Fox, how he went from Church
to Church, and got no good, and at last opened his soul to God, and was
led by the Spirit into new and strange thoughts and purposes, and became a
reformer, and founder of a denomination, unintentionally. And so the
Quaker movement came—the most radical reform which ever sprang up in the
Christian Church. It abolished the ministry and sacraments, baptism, and
the Lord’s supper. It reformed the theology of Christendom, putting the
inner light above the written words. It reformed life, opposing war,
oaths, slavery, and fashion. And as it came, so is it passing away, having
done its work. As the breeze dies softly, and the leaves cease to glitter
in the sunlight, and the red leaf on the top-most twig, far up in the sky,
leaves off its airy dance, and at last hangs motionless, so the wild air
which stirred in the depths of all hearts dies away in silence, and old
opinions and old customs resume their places, yet all purified and
changed. Only those which were so wholly dead that the wind blew them
entirely away, are gone forever.
So are the changes which come in human hearts, we know not whence or how.
It is a great mistake in the Church to have a stereotyped experience, to
which all must conform. Procrustes only lopped the limbs to suit the
measure of his bed; but these rules and moulds for the spiritual life, cut
down the new man, who is made by God’s Spirit, to the earthly standard of
some narrow stunted experience of other times. This it is “to grieve the
Spirit,” and to “quench the Spirit.” For God’s Spirit goes everywhere, and
where it goes it produces the best evidence of Christianity in sweet,
holy, Christian lives. It is the wind which blows where it will, which
does not run on a railroad through the sky, or stop at any particular
stations in the clouds, or go by any time-table. God’s Spirit comes and
goes not according to any rules of ours. The publicans and sinners have
it, and show it, sometimes, instead of the Scribes and Pharisees. For so
the apostle declares that there are “differences of operation, but the
same Spirit.”
Sometimes you see a hard man, a man of the world, who has been fighting
his way through life, till he has come to rely wholly on himself, and
feels like some of those rocky reefs which stand out in the sea on our New
England coast, and have borne the onset of a thousand storms. Yet at last
he is softened. We see it, we feel it. There is a strange softness in his
tone, a gentleness in his manner, a suspicion of moisture in his eye. The
good God has been moving in his heart; perhaps it was by some trial or
disappointment, or the loss of some curly-headed darling, who went up to
heaven, and left the doors open behind, so that the joyful music which
welcomed her came down to his ears and touched his soul.
When men see that, they say, “Well, there is something in religion, after
all, if it can touch such a heart as his.”
Sometimes we see a Christian who is at first all conscience, all work.
Religion means to him, doing his duty. He intends to be a Christian, and
wishes others to be so. But it is a piece of hard work. His Christianity
reminds one of the poor woman who thought it “a chore to live.” But after
a while, we see a change—very gradual, but still very certain. He is
beginning to get acquainted with the gospel side of Christianity. He
learns to forgive himself his own sins, and so he can forgive others. His
face begins to reflect more and more of heaven. It is the change which
comes to the grapes in October. Perhaps you have some Catawba grapes on
the south side of your house, and they grow very nicely all through the
summer. They are good, large grapes well formed, good clusters, but very
sour. But by and by there comes the final change; the juice grows sweet
within the berry. There is but a very little difference in its appearance,
but a very great change _within_.
When we see this alteration in a man, we say, “There is surely something
in Christianity to produce such a change. Why, what a very sweet Christian
he has grown to be!” It took all the summer and part of the fall to do the
work; but no matter. God is not in a hurry. Some fruit ripens sooner, and
some later; that is all.
I looked up from my table as I wrote these words, and saw from my window a
tulip tree and a maple, each dressed in its royal robes of beauty—the gift
of the declining year; the green leaves of the one touched with gold, and
the other with its crimson and scarlet glories. They were full of
sunlight, and made the whole landscape glad and gay. No Tyrian loom could
rival the purple splendors and deep crimson of these trees. Why does God
give all this varied beauty to the October woods, so that Solomon in all
his glory was not arrayed like one of these oaks or maples? Is not this
also to touch our hearts with a sense of his love? An autumn ride is also
a means of grace; quite as much so, perhaps, as a tract or sermon. If we
see God in nature, then nature may also be the source of a new birth to
us.
“One impulse from the autumn wood
May teach us more of man,
Of moral evil and of good,
Than all the sages can.”
What I understand Jesus, then, to teach in this passage, is, that we must
become as little children, in order to see heavenly things; that, like
new-born babes, we must receive meekly the milk of the word of God; that
spiritual influences are all around us, invisible—incalculable: that not
by the regular outward means of religion alone, but by a thousand other
ways, God comes to us. He means that we should believe in the presence and
nearness of God’s Spirit always; that we should open our hearts and minds
to be led by it into truth and love. He meant the very opposite of what he
has been made to mean. He did not mean that all souls must pass through
one and the same religions experience, but that, as the wind blows a
thousand ways, so God’s Spirit comes to the heart by a thousand ways. So
coming, it makes the hard heart tender, the rude will gentle, the selfish
soul generous, gives the reckless a new sense of responsibility. Jesus
means that we should not be discouraged because we find it hard to correct
our faults, or to enter into God’s love. God’s Spirit comes to us when we
cannot go to find it. God’s love comes into our hearts when we long for
it, look for it, wait for it.
Look up, then, poor trembling heart; look up, and see God near. Look up,
hard heart, and feel the soft showers of divine grace coming down to make
everything tender. Look up, and be made new creatures, become as little
children, be born anew, every day, into a fresh inspiration, faith, and
hope; and so enter every day the kingdom of heaven!
§ 12. Evidences of Regeneration.
The common Orthodox method is to require and expect evidence of the
Christian change. As we have already said, a Christian is expected to know
and to be able to tell when, where, and under what circumstances he
entered into the new life.
But, perhaps, the preliminary question is, Ought we to have, and can we
have, any evidence at all of the new life? And to this question many reply
in the negative, and with very good reason.
The new life is a hidden life; a “life hid with Christ in God.” Its
essence is love, and love is an inward sentiment, not an outward act.
Conviction demands utterance; actions speak louder than words; but love is
accustomed to hide itself away in the heart, and to be known only to its
object, and that indirectly. _Evidences of love!_ What should we think of
asking of young people coming to be married, the evidences that they loved
each other; obliging them to give an account of their experience; to say
when, where, and how they began first to care for each other; and then, if
the evidence was satisfactory, allowing them to be married! Why, then, ask
of the soul wishing to be united with God and Christ in a Christian
covenant, to tear open the folded bud of this tender affection, analyze it
metaphysically, measure it mathematically, and cross-examine it as a
witness suspected of falsehood is questioned by lawyers before a jury?
What do we know of this new life? what can we tell of it? Almost always it
comes to us gradually and unconsciously. It is veiled in shadows, misty
lights, and neutral tints. The second life comes like the first. The child
is born, and knows not of the awful change from not being to being—the
immense event of passage from unconscious existence to conscious life. For
consciousness dawns slowly, imperceptibly. The infant is long immersed in
outward things. Years pass before it becomes aware of the fact that it
exists, before it begins to look in and see itself in the mirror of
reflection. So, probably, will it also be, when we pass from this life
into the next. We shall, perhaps, awaken very gradually, in the future
life, to the knowledge that we are in another state. As the little child
becomes quite at home in this world before he thinks to ask how he came
here, so probably in the other world we shall become quite at home with
the angels, before we shall begin to say, “I am in heaven.”
All the births of time partake of this quality. They do not reflect on
themselves, are not surprised at themselves, but come as a matter of
course. Years after, when the early heat of the new life has grown cold,
the historians and biographers arrive to examine it in the crucible of
their painful analysis, and to tell us how wonderful it is.
How can any man _prove that he is alive_? Why _should_ he prove it? Let
his life show itself, but not try to prove itself. Let its light shine,
and those who see its good and joy will glorify the Father in heaven who
has sent it.
The mistake here, as before, is in confounding conversion and
regeneration.
Including in the terms “conversion” and “repentance” the whole activity of
the will, the religious purpose, the aim of life, it is, no doubt, of the
utmost importance to see, continually, what it is. “Know thyself” is a
heaven-descended maxim, if we understand by it that we are to watch
ourselves always, and see whither we are going. We need continually to
know the direction of our life, whether it is _to_ God or _from_ him;
whether it is upward or downward; whether we are following truth, and
justice, and love, or following our own selfish desires and will. In this
sense self-examination is both possible and necessary.
When the great ocean steamer is in the midst of the mighty Atlantic, it is
necessary to watch continually its direction, and keep it always heading
the right way. Day and night, therefore, the man stands sleepless at the
helm, his eye always turning from the compass to the ship’s head, with
unfailing vigilance. But it is not thought necessary to inspect the
interior of the boilers, or to examine the quality of the fire. If steam
enough is made, and the wheels revolve, that is enough.
The new life into which we enter by the new birth has this one
character—that it gives us for a motive, not fear, but hope; not law, but
love; not constraint, but joy. Prayer is not a duty, but the spontaneous
impulse of the child, to seek and find its father. Work is not drudgery
but satisfaction, when the motive is to serve the great cause of Christ.
The only real evidence, therefore, that we are born of God, is, that we
have the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, and peace. The tree is known by
its fruits, and these are the appropriate fruits of the new life. When we
find them, let us gladly receive them; but if we do not find them, let us
at least be glad that if not yet new-born, we are, nevertheless,
converted; if not sons, at least servants. We have the one thing needful
when we have the right purpose; sooner or later, we shall also have the
happy life. When we do right, we sow to the Spirit, and we shall, in due
season, reap life everlasting.
As regards the evidence of the new life, too much stress, we think, has
been laid on outward profession, ceremonies, religious language, religious
acts. Because a man professes religion, it is no evidence that he is
religious. Because he partakes of the Lord’s supper, or prays openly, or
speaks in the habitual religious language of his sect, it is no evidence
of his religious life. Many persons are quite comforted if one who has led
an immoral life says on his death-bed that he “trusts in the atoning blood
of Christ.” But this may be a mere word.
All ceremonies and prayers are means, but none of them are evidence, of a
state. The only evidences are the fruits of the Spirit. “The tree is known
by its fruits.” “The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”
Let us remember that though a man may be converted, and not as yet be
regenerate, he cannot be regenerate unless he is converted; that is, there
can be no true piety, no love, no faith, no spiritual religion, except
there be a sincere and determined purpose of righteousness beneath it.
There may be true morality without piety, but there cannot be a true piety
without a true morality. The law must precede the gospel.
Conscientiousness must go before love, to prepare its way. “That is not
first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and _afterwards_ that
which is spiritual.”
The _first_ question, therefore, to ask ourselves, is not, “Do I love
God?” but, “Do I obey God?” Every man’s own soul, if sincere, can answer
that question. “If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart.”
“If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God.”
But if we are obeying God, then let us believe in a higher life which God
has to bestow, and believing, seek for it. It is not earned, it is not a
reward, it is not by works; but it is very nigh and close at hand; it is
ready to be given to those who believe in it and look for it.
So, if the question be asked, “Is man active or passive in this process?”
the answer is, that he is active in conversion, receptive in regeneration.
So in regard to faith and works. “We are justified by faith;” but
justification is the sense of God’s forgiving love which is received into
an open heart. Justification is not salvation; it is only a step in that
direction, and a preparation for it.
And now we ask, “Why is it, if this new life is a gift, do not all good
men receive it?” The answer is, “There are conditions. All good men do not
believe in it. Some believe that duty is every thing; that Christianity
consists _wholly_ in obedience. They know nothing higher, and therefore
seek for nothing higher. Regeneration they hear of, but think it something
mystical, miraculous, unnatural, and, to say the truth, not very
attractive. If they believed in a life of love and trust, a life free from
the burden of anxiety, they would surely desire it.”
Those also who believe in it do not always believe it is for themselves.
They think it not meant for common people in the midst of common life, but
for some special saintship. They do not believe in this divine life
flowing into every heart and soul, high and low, wise and ignorant, be it
only sincere, honest, and believing.
Yet it is like the life of nature, which in the abounding spring-time
comes down from the skies, and flows not only into the majestic tree,
swelling at once its myriad buds, but also into every seed, and root, and
weed, awakening them all.
This is what we need for peace, for real progress, for present comfort,
for future joy.
It is communion with God, it is receiving his love, it is accepting his
forgiveness, and living day by day as his beloved children.