The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1913-11-07

self, he humb1y
takes the place of a disciple. If l
mistake not, this was his attitude:
Teacher, 1 have many rules and pre-
cepts by which I govern my life, but
when I hear you speak, Ifeel as if l
knew nothing. o, teacher, tell me
your rule for holy living! Tell me all
you know!
And the master replied, "Nicodemus,
you are trying to save your soul by
good works; by fasts, and gifts, and
sacrifices. This Is not the way. What
you need is not new rules, but new
heart; not learning, but life; and life
always begins with birth. Except
man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of Cod"
What the New Birth Is Not.
1t is not an improvement of the old
nature. The bible represents human
nature as hopelessly bad, incurabiy
sinful.
1t is blind: "And when we shall see
him, there is no beauty that we should
desire him" Us. 53:2)
1t is wicked: 1.-The heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wick
ed" Ger. 17:9.)
1t is at enmity with God: "The car
nal mind is enmity against God"
(Rom SD
1t is dead: "And you hath he quick
ened who were dead in trespasses and
sins" (Eph. 2:1)
This is human nature as God de-
scribes it. 1t is not capable OF i'm
provement, and God does not attempt
it. mot subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be-" (Rom. STD
When a bell has been cracked 1t gives
out a hoarse cultural sound which Is
very annoying. You may bind it with
hoops and bands, but nothing will re-
store the clear sweet tone. The only
remedy is to send 1t back to the fac
tory, melt it over, and recast the
bell
What is the New Birth?
It is the imparting of new nature
which is Jesus Christ. "a new heart
Will give yOO, q AS" SPAAAs "AAA
put within you"
have friend who has six acres
of greenhouses. A large part OF his
business is the culture of roses. He
imports the wild stock from Ireland
because it is peculiarly hardy. He
does not put the wild rose-bushes into
the greenhouse just as they are, and
hn 10
obtain only wild Irish roses which are
not worth ten cents thousand. The
first thing he does with the wild stock
is to graft it with buds from the
choice roses which he wishes to pro-
duce. Then he places it n the green
house, and uses all the appliances
known to modern flower culture, and
the result is-those elegant General
Jacque and American Beauty roses
which sell for several dollars hun
dred.
Man is like the wild rose. He can
not produce the fruit of the spirit be-
cause there Is no holy spirit in him,
until Christ has been accepted. Meth
er can he forgive his sin, nor resist
its power Gods way is to tmpart
unto him a new divine nature which
is able to overcome sin, and produce
the fruit of righteousness.
How Is the New Birth Brought About?
By believing Gods word. Man was
lost by doubling Gods word, he is
saved by believing it. Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of
tncorruptible, by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth forever" &
Pet. 1922 WHEREBY are given unto
us exceeding great and precious prom
tses. that by these We might be par
takers of the divine nature" e Pet.
1:40
The Results Of the New Birth.
I. An Immediate delfverance from
the guilt of sin There is now no
condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus" (Rom. S:1)
II. A consciousness of divine SON.
ship. Because We are sons, God hath
sent forth the spirit CT his son into
your hearts, crying, Abba, father"
(Gal 4:6.)
III. A love for other Christians.
1--WE know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the
brethren" q John 3:1A)
When an egg is laid, in the midst
of the white fluid floats little germ
of life, which though invisible, yet
contains the chick which is to be. Day
by day during the process of incuba-
ton the germ Of life grows and the
white fluid disappears, until at length
the chick steps forth from the shell.
and the white fluid is all gone.
So when one is born of God the
Christ-life enters and coexists with
the self-lffe. AS Christ is formed
within US by the spirit, there ought
to be less and less Of self, and more
and more Of Christ, until at length
Christ reigns completely, and self is
dead and gone. Death, as some one
has it is the breaking Of the shell,
when we step out into Paradise, from
darkness into light.
Those who are born only once, must
die twice (Rev. 20:6)
Those who are born twice do not
die at all, but simply fall asleep. John
$3.50