The record-union., 1898-03-14
SERMON ON THE NEW BIRTH.
DELIVERED YESTERDAY By
REV. C. p. MASSEY.
Discourse at the Morning Service
in the Congregational
Church.

Those who attended yesterdays ser
vices at the Congregational Chutch
were treated to an interesting discourse
by Rev. c. p Massey, who occupied
the pulpit by invitation. His topic was
THE New Birth based on the follow
ing text:
Marvel not that 1 said unto thee we
must be born again. The wind blow
eth where it listeth and thou nearest
the sound thereof but canst not tell
whence it cometh and whittier it go
eth So is everyone that is born OF
the spirit John iii. IS
There is a felt inadequacy in human
language to express what may be en-
titled the deeper things of the human
soul. No assurance Of conviction, no
abiding consciousness of the possession
of that within which no analogies
drawn from the material world can
adequately measure can prevent the
intelligent Worshiper from still being
compelled TO admit that it is only by
these analogies. by recourse to the
sensuCus and tangible symbol he can
give expressions TO convictions of
that which far transcends that world
OF sense from which he is forced to
borrow his similitudes.
Nor should faith suffer any disap
pointment here. If belief We're knowl-
edge il eternal realities could be made
the subjects OF tangible demonstration,
in what a changed world we would
Immediately be placed. a world of fixed
conditions in which fate and not Prov
idence would control. Nor would the
face of the moral world be less
equally changed, for the spring OF NOR
al action would itself be changed from
that sense of worthness, that desire OF
building a kingdom of God within to
selfish considerations Of known re-
wards and punishments IN future
realms of being the full conditions or
which would be absolutely revealed. AS
moral ard spiritual beings then, beings
with whom progress should be OF the
soul. il is necessary that this mystery
should enshroud us. And 50 if Jesus
must have recourse to an analogy
drawn from the world of sense in or
der to explain to an inquirer the meth
cd Of Gods working in the human con-
science let us not be discouraged or
feel that the measure of the temporal
is in any real sense the measure of the
eternal but let US rather be encour-
aged in that our common human lives
are placed amid surroundings that
carry such suggestions to the soul.
The poet feels this as standing before
some little object of earthly beauty he
confesses to emotions too deep Cor
tears. and Emerson would regard the
whole field of nature, in all the minu-
tia IF its varied activities. as having
no higher meaning for man than to
furnish these analogies by which tenn
poral can be transmitted into eternal
truth. If therefore to express the
WORKINGS of Gods spirit in the hui
man breast Jesus appeals to the mys-
terry of the wind. what completer SYM
Dol could He have chosen? In some
deDartments of investigation the work
ings of nature have been reduced TO
absolute demonstration, and new prin-
cipia have from time to time been
given TO the world. revealing general
laws governing in wide domains OF
natural activity. But who shall meas
ure the winds or tell the place of their
beginning? God alone can furnish
weight for them. and the human in
vestisator, weary of his quesuonings,
bahied in the pursuit which ever eludes,
with tired but trusting mind. of one
thing only feels secure. that out Of
Gods treasures they come.
And so in a world in which nothing
is absolutely known regarding eternal
things. d world in which the very loft
Jest conceptions of unknown realities
can only be expressed in language
borrowed from the things Of sense, in
what confusion inextricable would we
be lost if we could not feel assured
there is a spirit of God abroad in the
world. as well as q spirit of the wind,
each henefcent in its operations. the
spirit OF God working in the moral
world and whitening souls for the
spiritual harvest, just as We feel as
surcd there is an intelligent purpose
controlling the phenomena of the natu-
raj world. a purpose which even the
winds of heaven obey as they carry
blessings on their wings.
There is. too. such a thing as new
birth for man swayed by the work
ings of this spirit, however mysterious
the operations may be. But let US
not misunderstood what may be rea-
sonably regarded as the character Of
this new birth. the nature Of which has
been misapprehended by the vast ma
iority of mankind Perhaps the lit
erature Of the later decades Of this
century or that portion of that iitera-
ture which portrays character in its
development. has erred somewhat in
assuming too great fixity of moral con-
dition. Its methods We're, however,
but a natural reaction from the eff
fects OF the teachings of an earlier
school, in which character in its devel-
opruent was felt to obey no controlling
laws. the flowers Of virtue often being
displayed blooming upon a parent stock
which never could have borne such
blossoming. And some OF US present
here can remember what a singular
fascination the works of Marian Evans
George Eliot possessed. when for the
first time almost. we had portrayal
of character in its true relations to
happiness. to habits of life and thought.
and ultimately to destiny Il
was truth but not the whole truth
she presented: but while we acknowl-