Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-02-09


,acon, is but the development of that |
Existence to which the intellectual birth
it.
1t is also true of certain men that they {
ave lived for wears in a sort OF per-
unctionary intellectual way, their reaS-
IN has been either reluctant or languid,
heir perceptions dull, their Imagination
eaden-wiuged, and their mental appe-
lite sickly when by contact with some
rifted mind OF some learned institution
Or some exigency requiring forces and
faculties, of the very existence of which
they have been hitherto profoundly igno
rant they have experienced an intel
lectual regeneration as marvellous as tie /
blind man experienced when Jesus anolnt-
ed his eyes Faculties and energies and /
as by-magic come to light,
scarcely more to the surprise of others |
tha n the mselves.
With this often comes light on the
yexcd question Of a pursuit in life.
The man who has vainly tried to mast
er the law finds Suddenly his life
work to be in the beautiful proportions
and illnesses of architecture; the plain
Oliver Cromwell finds that ploughs and
soils aud fruits and stocks are not his
business, but the leading of armies and
the Management Of kingdom; and the
law student at Gamaliers feet finds that
his work is not merely to preach the
faith he once destroyed but with his
peerless pen to give that faith its proper
I'D l1crfaol L.
fences.
In innumerable cases men have ex-
perienced this marvellous intellectual
change, which has made them a wonder
to themselves and to others and this
change is most significantly limited in,
that flash Of genius which we have in
this endorsement which Victor Hugo
wrote on the title page Of some manu-
scripts composed when he was young ;
" The folLie5 that I committed before
my birth. "
The vast results dependent on this in
tellectual birth, whether in the simple
form first stated, or in the latter more
imposing form are eviden. at a glance,
and shall not delay US moment in their
exposition.
Mounting by natural graduation, we
come to that moral change which our
blessed Lord compared to birth or rather
which by an impressive metaphor he
called birth from above This is the
new birth that holds so prominent a
place in Evangelical theology.
The very words of Jesus to Nichode-
mus, and the circumstances IL which he
spoke show how important he regarded
the change. "Verily, verify say unto
you, except man be born again, he
cannot see the Kingdom of God. :"
"Marvel not that l say unto you, ye
must be born again.
What is this new birth ? Not the i'm
parting of any new physical, mental or
moral faculties to the sinner After the
new birth the sinner has the same limbs,
the same senses the same body he had
before. His perceptive powers, his abili-
ty to reason and from admitted facts to
derive new truths, his Imagination so i'm
portant in its relation to the conception
and practical power of truth in a word
his intellect is just what it was before.
The same is true Of his moral nature,
his sensibilities, not merely natural but
moral, making him susceptible of the
feelings of appreciation and disapproba,
ton, and consequently of the feelings OF
moral obligation are not changed
Before the new birth he had a con.
science, which, in greater or less power
praised him when he did right, thus
making him happy, and reproached him
when he did wrong, thus making him
unhappy. Before the new birth the sin
ner had the power of choice; he was moi
shut up. by an unavoidable necessity, to
choose only one thing or one way, and
that the wrong one. There was nc
wrong choice he ever made in his life
when he was not conscious that he had
the ability, and was therefore under the
most positive obligations, to make the
right one
, Nor yet is this new birth formal
, union of the sinner with the Christian
church by baptism. Judas was undoubt-
eddy baptized, yet Jesus said of him to
his disciples, Gone of you is a devil. u
(John vi, 70.) Simon Magus, also, was
in proper form introduced into the church
by baptism, at the hands of Philip, and
yet Peter said to this baptized man,
"Thy heart is not right in the sight of
God" (Acts viii, 13-2I.) Both these
bad men were baptized in due form, and
yet neither one, after baptism, had expe-
rienced the new birth.
And, alas! how many, like them, have
enjoyed all the privileges of Christ's
visible church, and yet neither in the
judgment of charity nor of themselves is
there any evidence of their having ex-
perieneed that surprising and necessary
change spoken of by our blessed Lord
as the new birth What then is the
new birti? Previous to this change. the
soul is destitute of the supreme love of
God, as a controlling motive of life. God
says: thou shalt lovethe Lord thy God
with all thy heart" but man by nature re-
fuses obedience to this command. The
love of self takes the throne which be-
longs only to the love of God He loves
self supremely, but "God is not in all his
thoughts. He plans for himself, thinks
for himself, lives for himself, as a su-
preme reason, utterly banishing as that
supreme reason OF life the love he owes
to God. Out of this wicked heart,
.estranged from God, flow our wicked
thoughts, and vile affections and de-
PRAYED actions
The new birth consists in exercising
the heart of self as supreme motive OF
life and enthroning therein the love OF
God In word the new birth is the
birth of supreme love to God in the sin
ner's heart so that now he shall aspire.
perhaps feebly but really, to the fulfill
ment of the command, Whether, there