"Even when we were dead in sins God hath quickened us," (i. e. hath made us alive again,)

together with Christ, and hath raised us up together." You see that St. Paul himself maintains that in one sense "the resurrection was past already;" for he declares of himself and his fellow Christians, that “ God had quickened them and had raised them up, when they were dead in sins." But after our Lord had spoken figuratively of the resurrection in the 25th verse of the 5th of St. John, He goes on in the 28th verse to speak of it literally. "Marvel not at this," (i. e. that they who are dead in sins shall be roused by the call of the Son of God to a life of righteousness,)" for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation." His call can do more than rouse those who are dead figuratively, sunk and lost in sins; it shall rouse the really dead, the very dead who are in their graves, mouldering or moulded, returning to dust or already returned to it. All of these shall hear His voice, and all shall obey it; but it is no longer, they that hear shall live." It is now another resurrection, in which they who never rose before, that is, who never heard Christ's first call from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness, shall now arise only to condemnation. But truly may we say

with St. John in the Revelation, Blessed and holy is he who hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power. He who has

call to a life of

risen in this world at Christ's first righteousness, shall assuredly rise without fear at His second call to a life of glory.

I may seem all this time to have forgotten my text, but in truth I have been preparing the way for the explanation of it. We see that the words death and resurrection are used in the New Testament in two senses, sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally; we see that they who used them only figuratively, who like Hymenæus and Philetus, maintained that there was no other resurrection than that which was past already, erred concerning the truth, and overthrew the faith of some; yet we see also that it were to err no less to interpret them only literally, for it is not true that all the really dead who shall hear the voice of the Son of God shall live eternally; on the contrary, many shall hear it and shall obey it, but shall find it a call not to life, but to condemnation. Now what is true of the words "death" and "resurrection" is true also of the words "birth" and "kingdom of God;" they also are used in two senses, a literal one and a figurative one; and in these too as well as in the other words, it is to err from the truth, and to lose some part of the profitable instruction of Scripture, to take them either only literally, or only figuratively.

But in the text there is a mixture of the two senses which makes it a very good opportunity for trying to explain both, as without understanding both, we cannot fully enter into its meaning.

By "being born again," then, is meant exactly the same thing as by "rising again;" or rather the same two things are meant by it. In its literal sense it means what is meant by the resurrection literally; that is, our entrance upon a new state of being, after our present one is over; by being born, we came into this world from a state of nothingness; by being born again, we shall pass into another world from a similar state of nothingness; that is, from death. This is being born again literally; and by thus being born again, we enter into the kingdom of God. Now in one sense certainly we are all in His kingdom already; we cannot go anywhere where He is not over all; we see the whole of nature around us, the very stars of heaven in their courses moving according to His laws. But here there are some things which do not obey Him, but have chosen to themselves another king; and these things are the evil hearts of men. It will then be the kingdom of God truly and perfectly, when there shall be nothing which does not obey Him, when not the earth, the moon, and the stars shall move more entirely according to His will than the hearts of all His reasonable creatures. All things that cause to offend, all things that do offend, shall

be gathered out of His kingdom and cast away; there shall be nothing, no not so much as the most secret murmur of a single heart, to break the full concord of the elders' hymn, who rest not day and night giving glory to Him who made them.

Into this kingdom of God, into this new and divine life, we can by no natural process be born. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. God's ordinary laws, God our Creator,—has provided our natural birth, perishable and evil as we are, for we can give life to other beings; but they must be perishable and evil likewise. But for our second birth, our birth into the kingdom of God, we require, not the natural laws of God our Maker, but the interference, in a manner different from the known laws of our present nature, of God our Sanctifier; of that most Holy Spirit who in a particular manner is the Lord and Giver of life eternal. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. By His new creation a new nature is wrought for us, incapable of decay, incapable of sin, and so fit for the eternal society of God. It is said of Christ that He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; and it is said again, that if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in us, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies, by His Spirit

that dwelleth in us.

Without venturing to be wise beyond what is written, we can see from these and other passages of Scripture, that God the Holy Ghost, who forms our hearts to love Him and to cleave to Him, is in a peculiar sense our Maker in our second birth, when we arise incorruptible to enter into the kingdom of God.

This is the literal sense of being born again, and of entering into the kingdom of God. But undoubtedly these terms are used in a lower and figurative sense also, like the terms death and resurrection. Properly, that is the kingdom of God where God is perfectly obeyed, where all evil is shut out utterly. But as compared with the common state of things in this life, that may well be called the kingdom of God, where God is acknowledged to be King; where, if He be not perfectly obeyed, yet every act of disobedience is self-condemned, because he who is guilty of it knows that it was against his duty, that it is his privilege to be a servant of God. And therefore the Christian church or society, where all acknowledge themselves to be God's redeemed people, and to be bound to live wholly to Him, who has purchased them with the blood of His dear Son; this also is called the kingdom of God. Further, because to belong to such a society is a great change from the principles of common men, because it is a great thing for those who have been used to live to themselves to begin to live unto God,