gence concerning himself, and his divine mission, which would only be understood, when that mission was compleated, and this, conformably to his behaviour on all similar occasions; for, to have declared in express terms, that he was the Messias or King of the Jews, would, at this time, have been premature, when speaking to a ruler of that nation, and a declaration which, as it might have interfered with the great end of his coming into the world, we know, he avoided making, till he came before Pilate to receive his final sentence; when, as what he then said amounted to an acknowledgment of the charge brought against him, it was more likely to ensure that death which he came to suffer for our sake.* On the present occasion, therefore, he prudently chose to wrap the two principal events of his mission in prophetical language, yet at the same time took care to express them in such precise and exact figures, that there could not be the least doubt of their meaning after the events, which they predicted, had come to pass. For what could more plainly delineate Christ's crucifixion than the symbol of * I recollect only one exception to his reserve on the subject before his trial, and that was in his conversation with the woman of Sychar, at Jacob's well, (See John, chap. iv. v. 26,) when, on her barely mentioning the Messiah, he declared to her in express terms "I am he;" and this seems to have been the reason:-He knew that such an open declaration made to her could be attended with no consequence of this kind, or be used in testimony by those who would accuse him before Pilate; because, as the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, they would not on that occasion use Samaritan evidence. the Serpent lifted up by Moses in the Wilderness? Or what more clearly describe the descent of the Holy Ghost, than these words, "the wind bloweth where it "listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst "not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth." For this was the very mode and manner in which the Holy Spirit "came upon the disciples, as a rushing mighty "wind." Every man, therefore, who was born of the spirit (so exact is the analogy) on the day of Pentecost heard this sound in the manner thus foretold; and it was then, and not till then, that the Kingdom of God was (in Gospel phrase) seen, or entered into; for all Interpreters of that Gospel agree, that the descent of the Holy Ghost was the miracle which sealed the great Charter of our Salvation, and that, until this important moment, the wonderful scheme of man's redemption was not compleated. I here finish my interpretation of the text: and if, on mature reflection, it appears to be a true one, the following inferences are not only naturally deducible from it, but tend to confirm it. First, It is evident that in consequence of this prophecy, during the apostolic age, if not some time after, this miraculous manner of being born again of the spirit, must constantly have followed the sacrament of Baptism: And the history of the time shews that it did so: Nay, we read in the Acts of the Apostles, that, in one particu lar instance, it even preceded Baptism. This was in the case of the first Gentile Converts, in the house of Cornelius, where, "while Peter was yet preaching, the "Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word:" Insomuch that the Apostle cried out, " Can any man "forbid water that these should not be baptized, who "have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?" So true was the prediction of Jesus, that at the commencement of the reign of Messias, which he expressed to Nicodemus by the terms of seeing or entering into the Kingdom of God; every man should be thus born again of water and of the spirit! The second inference is, that, when Christianity was so far propagated in the world, as to be able to proceed and extend itself without a sensible display of the divine power, this sudden method of being born of the spirit must cease with the gift of tongues, and the rest of the extraordinary miracles, employed for that momentous purpose. The text, therefore, in question, gives no shadow of support to that enthusiastic notion, which some have entertained of Christian Regeneration, because as we have seen, it was intended to be prophetical of the descent of the Holy Ghost, on the Day of Pentecost, and in the Apostolical age of the Church; and hence we conclude that no person can expect to be born again of the spirit thus miraculously at present, unless he expects this to happen in the very manner in which it fell on the Apostles, which few, if any, Enthusiasts have been over-heated enough to pretend. Lastly, we infer, that, by taking away this single text from those many other, which support the real Doctrine of Christian Regeneration, we only take from it what frequently has been, and still would be, liable to lead many well disposed believers into error; and by placing it among the prophetical evidences of the truth of Christ's mission, we strengthen that great argument of the credibility of our holy religion. However this be, that renovation of the spirit stands still on firm scriptural ground, which, on the authority of St. Paul, and all other inspired writers, every good Christian is to expect will be superadded, by the grace of God, to his own sincere endeavours. He is only forbidden (if this interpretation of the text be the true one) to expect that this will come upon him in a sensible manner, "like the wind, which bloweth where it listeth, and of which he fancies that he hears the sound, but cannot give any rational account whence it cometh, or whither it goeth." |