October 1929
463
T h e
K i n g ’ s
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become hilarious in this way: “These Christian people,” he said, “with all their preachers and theologians, are a crude lot: they declare that we have been born all wrong the first time, and so must be born all over again !” And this speech was regarded as an occasion for laughter ! But it certainly was a superficial criticism. Cannot everybody see that there is something radically wrong with human nature ? Why all the wickedness in the world if human nature is all right in its natural state ? Why the recent World War? Why all the departures from the moral standard ? And, most of all, why this awful pall of spiritual indifference the world over? To attribute it to environment is simply to raise the question, Why is the environment invariably bad? The trouble lies deeper. Man is not born a tabula rasa. He has resting upon him in his natural birth the terrible entail of depravity. The Psalmist was a better analyst of human nature than was the scoffing infidel, for the Psalmist said : “Be hold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me’1 (Ps. 51:5). Paul proved himself better versed in anthropology, for he wrote: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them; for they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2 :14). Again he scored deeply : “The natural mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law o f God; neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). Our Lord, in His interview with Nico- demus, told the whole sad-glad story: “That which is born o f the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). 3. The Law of Biogenesis. Here, then, the secret is revealed ; the riddle is unrav eled. Men must be born again because they are not born right the first time. Having been conceived and born in sin, and therefore born with the unspiritual mind, how can they be made spiritually minded except by a new birth —except the Holy Spirit implant in them something which they do not possess by natural generation ? At this point the scientific law of biogenesis enters in with its categorical imperative : Life comes only from antecedent life—a law that is recognized by all biologists who stay by the facts. Omne vivum ex vivo. So the unspiritual mind cannot evolve, by its own resident powers, into a spiritual state and experience, because the “resident powers” are not there. Nothing can come from nothing. Hence we must recognize and submit to the imperative of our Lord when He says, “Ye must be bom again.” 4. Individual Certification Needed. There is still another element in the rationale of the new birth. Since, as has been previously shown, a special revelation was needed, and therefore God gave it, and saw to it that it was recorded in the Bible, and thus given to the world in general, it is reasonable to believe that God would institute a method by which each person might receive an inner certification for himself that this pro fessed revelation is true. Any other way would certainly be incomplete and non-consequential ; in fact, it would be absurd. Now, the new birth is bestowed for the very purpose of giving to the individual the personal assurance of sal vation and truth. Thus we see how perfectly the varioüs parts of the Christian system integrate. It is charged with rationality. It is a complete philosophy. IV. T h e D iv ine A gent in R egeneration There is also a notable consistency in the fact that it is the Holy Spirit who begets this good and gracious work
Dom inus Est (It is the Lord ) Whenever a cross in your path appears, A cross of sorrow and suffering keen; Studded with thorns, and gemmed with tears, The blood drops coursing their way between, O fly to meet it! 0 fly to greet it! O clasp it close to your aching breast! And cry aloud till the winds repeat it, Dominus est; Dominus est. Into each cup of life must fall The bitter wine of contempt and blame, The loathsome draught of dishonor’s gall, The acrid malt of disgrace and shame, 0 fly to drain it! 0 ne’er disdain it! The bitter tonic is always best, The will and the love of the Lord ordained it, Dominus est; Dominus est. And if at last you stand alone, Stripped of honors, and goods, and friends, The joy— the joys that were once your own, Flitted away to the world’s wide ends, What matter treasures! What matter pleasures! The naked cross is the Christian’s test, An infinite Love each teardrop measures, Dominus est; Dominus est. in the human soul. Several reasons for this may be as signed. 1. The Cause Not Subjective. The spiritual life, being a new given power, cannot arise from the content of the human mind in itself. It cannot spring up from the content of the so-called “sub conscious mind.” Such content is not there; if there is anything there, it is man’s legacy of depravity from the fall of Adam. No one who has been converted in the Christian way has ever attributed his experience to any force within himself. The chief element in the content of Christian experience is that it comes into the soul from a power outside of itself. 2. The ■Agent Divine. There is still this additional element in such an ex perience—that it is begotten of God. No converted per son ever ascribes it to any other source. It is known to be a divine operation by the subject himself. And this is true, no matter how unspiritual and agnostical, or even atheistic, the person may have been prior to his conver sion. Therefore, the Holy Spirit, being one of the per sons of the Triune God, imparts the divine element in this experience. Thus, and only thus, can it be adequately explained. 3. The Specific Work of the Holy Spirit. There is also rational congruity in the fact that it is the special function of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity to perform this work of grace in the human soul. Each divine person performs His specific share in the plan of redemption, just as if it were all purposely arranged in logical order. The Father sends the Son into the world, and sustains Him during His period of voluntary self- — The Believer’s Magazine.
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