The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-06-30
The PULRX
~SSR~I~
A SERMON XXEG&
81 THE REV. Ax@g#
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Theme: Regeneration.

John 8: "Ye must be born again"
This is fundamental in the teaching
of Jesus. It lies at the root Of all
Christian experience. 1t Is as true
as it is terse, is ~philosophic as it IL
pungent, as timely as it is insistent.
No man can know the JOY Of the.
Christian life until he has been born
anew.
This statement Of Jesus to Nicode-
nus was startling. 1t was both a
challenge and a rebuke, a bit Of sage
counsel and a quiet though terrible
arraignment. =.
Nicodemus came in the name OF
the class whose representative his
torically he has been and Immediate
Iy he was. In their own eyes they
held the essence of wisdom unto life
eternal. 1--WE know that Thou art a
teacher come from God" "We
know" In their opinion it was nee
S for all the world to become
r~egenerated in the bonds Of Judaism
before the world could enjoy a saw
ms knowledge of the only true God.
They were Gods people, His chosen,
the sons of Abraham. They were
quite familiar with the idea Of a new
birth, for they declared that the
world would have to be born to a
knowledge of their spiritual posses
sions before the world could possess
the gift of the divine favor.
No doubt Nicodemus thought he
could instruct Christ. In all likeli-
hood he had little prescience Of the
reception he would receive. It Is
quite probable that he considered
himself a fit challenger Of Christ.
Behold the challenged is the challen-
ger, the representative of the wisdom
Of Israel a pupil of a despised Naza-
rene. It is not to be wondered that
Nicodemus was amazed. ....'
Jesus declared strong doctrine.
aye must be born. again" "Ye," the
leaders and righteous of Israeli!
"Ye," teachers and priests and pre-
lates, learned and. intellectual, who
have tithed mint and cummin and
anise and forgotten the weightter
matters Of the law, "ye" must be
born anew!
If He had said that the Greeks and
Romans, barbarians and foreigners,
Gentiles, without the pale, had to be
born again, there would have been
no How can these things be-" But
"ye!" So.
And yet it was quite correct teach.
ing and most sublimated thought.
AS truly as 1t is necessary that a man
must be born to enjoy the exercise Of
physical faculties in a physical world
30 truly is it requisite that In the
world of the Spirit he shall undergo
a process Of spiritual borning. 1t Is
necessary that a man shall enter the
world before he can experience the
varied activities Of physical life. He
must become alive to the intellectual
environment Of humanity before no
can have experience therein. Not
otherwise is it with the world Of the
Spirit. We must be born. Born to
another and a larger as a higher
plano Of living; born again.
There is nothing permissive about
it. Ye must" It is the law of the
spiritual kingdom. It is the law Of
all life. If. you are alive to one
world and dead to|the consciousness
Of another you must be born into
1t, into a consciousness Of its reality,
before you may enjoy it's experiences,
its prerogatives andits enlargements.
What Jesus said to Nicodemus He
says to the world to-day. 1t is the
summons Of God to the world. aye
must be born again" Born to the
sense Of a larger life. Born to the
consciousness of a fuller and a bet
ter life. Born to the spiritual life of
God in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Irpnn M pfhar forpno 60 u nneeih1a
for men to enter the kingdom of God
or to see it. And the wonder is that
they 80 rebel. It is not an invitation
or command to self destruction, but
to a larger self realization. 1t Is not
a call to sin, but a promise Of spirit
ual growth. 1t is not irksome, but
distinctly profitable. Humanity has
nothing to lose and everything to
gain.
Regeneration is the need of this as
Of every time. Men never needed to
be born anew more than they do to-
day. Born to the better things, born
to the larger world, born to the en-
joyment Of the spiritual kingdom Of
the all-wise God.
Beside the Joy Of the spiritual life
the pleasures Of the world are vain.
The capacities of men are limited by
the physical environment in which
they live. Only in the world Of the
spirit can the faculties of mar be ad-
equately exercised and his powers in
initely enlarged. But to know and
to enjoy this kingdom and its life
we must, as Nicodemus, be born
anew. Being born into it we may
live therein; a large life, a full and
free and varied and soul-invigorating
life. The life of God flooding and