October 1929
462
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
the sunshine warms them, the bland winds blow over them, the dews of heaven moisten them; they begin to germinate, then unfold, break through the surface of the soil, and continue to grow, until presently you have a beautiful flower and vegetable garden. In that way, precisely, the new life is begotten in the soul. Through the law the foreign growths are uprooted and cast away, the corrupt creatures removed; then the soil is broken up by begetting repentance, contrition, sor row for sin and desire for salvation. At this point the new vital spiritual principle is planted in the receptive soul; and that divine act constitutes regeneration. The result, or fruitage, of the new birth is the ability to exer cise active faith in Christ as the Saviour, bringing justi fication on God’s part and the beginning of sanctification on the believer’s part. This last is a progressive work of grace, and is furthered by the correlation of the divine will and the renewed (regenerated) human will. In this way the believing soul (to keep up the figure) is con verted into a beautiful and useful “garden of the Lord,” which may be said to “blossom as the rose.” To possess such a heart-garden ought to be the earnest desire of every individual. 2. A Statement in Psychological Terms. It may be objected that our argument is based on imagery; that it is simply founded on an illustration from the physical realm, and that proves nothing. “That ex planation is not sufficiently psychological,” says the ob jector. Then let us apply psychology. Just as an external object, say a tree, through the well-known optical and physiological media, carries a stimulus back to the center of consciousness in the cortex of the brain, and there meets with the corresponding response in the self- conscious mind, so that the person says, “I see a tree out yonder on the campus” ; just so the Holy Spirit, through the medium of the law and the Gospel, whether read, heard, or otherwise made known, carries a spiritual stim ulus to the soul and creates within it new powers and perceptions, which in turn enable it to react to the gracious appeal in sequential and corresponding ways. That is the psychology of Christian conversion. In this mediated process and experience, theology and psychology meet and integrate; one might almost say, meet and embrace each other. Between them has been established a true modus vivendi. III. T he N ecessity of th e N ew B irth 1. Our Lord’s Positive Language. On the need of the birth from above our Lord spoke in a most positive tone. He preceded each statement by His solemn and impressive, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee.” Then He added: “Marvel not that I say unto thee, Ye must be born again.” 2. A categorical imperative. One might put it briefly in this way : We must be born again because we must! Why must we breathe the air and eat nutritious food in order to live? Because we must! That regimen lies in the very structure of things. There are many categorical imperatives in this world besides Immanuel Kant’s categorical moral imperative. That is, there are many musts. It is not necessary, however, to state the matter in so dogmatic a way. In the moral and spiritual realm there is always a rational basis for any imperative regimen. A noted unbeliever of the preceding century was wont to
the presence of all truth, no matter to what realm it may belong. If you go into a chemical or physical laboratory to discover facts regarding the composition and activity of matter, you must investigate in a humble and teachable spirit. You must submit to the physical conditions. The same truth obtains in the laboratory of spiritual experi ence. On this fundamental principle are based several ele mentary statements of the Bible. The way of salvation, says the prophet, is so plain that “the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein” (Isa. 35 : 8 ). “I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth,” said Jesus, “that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Matt. 11:25, 26). What a tender, yet rationally fundamental, state ment ! Paul teaches the same doctrine. “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (1 Cor. 1:21). Again: “The wisdom o f this world is foolishness with God” (1 Cor. 3:19). All this teaching is just as it should be to meet the universal human need for a clear assurance of truth and salvation. Nor is the foregoing statement of the Chris tian way of salvation in the least measure to be construed as a belittling of education and intellectual culture. The world needs educated men and women to bring to it many of the necessities and amenities of our physical, social and spiritual existence; to open up the precious treasures of knowledge; to vindicate cogently and convincingly “the ways -of God to man,” especially in His beneficent revela tion through Jesus Christ and in the Holy Scriptures. Yes; the Christian religion is the friend of intellectual culture, even while it proves itself sane and well-balanced by refusing to overstress it and make unreasonable de mands upon it. II. D e fin it io n of th e N ew B irth 1. A Simple Statement. The definition of regeneration (Latin re and generare, to beget; regeneratio, the state; of being reborn), which is the theological term for the new birth, need not be made difficult or abstruse. It may be very simply stated in this way: Regeneration is the implanting, by the Holy Spirit, of the principles of a new spiritual life in the human soul. The result is that the divine image in man, lost through Adam’s fall, is restored, and thus man again becomes en rapport with God. Surely this is so reason able a doctrine that one feels it ought to be true. The process of regeneration might be illustrated from the physical realm; for, as Henry Drummond was wont to say, there is “physical law in the spiritual realm.” We might, however, reverse the order by phrasing i t : “spirit ual law in the physical realm.” As the cosmos is a unitary system, it is reasonable to believe that in many respects the same laws hold in all realms. Our illustration is this: Suppose you own a plot of ground in the rear part of your yard, and wish to convert it into a garden. In its natural state it is overgrown with weeds and thorns and thistles and infested with noxious vermin. What method of garden-making will you pur sue? You will dig up and cast forth the weeds, thorns and thistles, drive out or kill off the infesting vermin, break up the hard soil and harrow it thoroughly, until you have converted it into a fine tilth. Then what is your next step? You certainly do not let it lie fallow. You care fully plant in the mellowed soil some valuable seeds. Then
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