warfare of the mind. In that case, sickness may come to separate us from all but the dearest ;-but it will not come alone. Temptation will sit down even by our very bedsides; aud the aching head, the enfeebled hand, the bewildered mind, must struggle with it till the last gasp. The sick have their duties to perform; none are so apt to forget them. Indulged, watched over, never rebuked, never neglected, worn with pain or with that indescribable languid suffering brought on by debility, who is in such danger of becoming selfish, irritable, impatient of life, yet careless of the state of mind proper for death, as the sick man? Perhaps involuntarily trusting that his sufferings will excuse all things, that because affection pardons his frailties, they are very pardonable, is he not apt to indulge unnecessary complaints? Is he not apt to use peevish expressions to beings whom the next moment he perhaps follows across the dim room with eyes swimming in tears, as he thinks of their kindness? Does he not forget in the consideration of his own comforts the comfort of those around him? Does he make due allowance for the wearing nature of the attendance he requires, and recollect that sickness must bring with it fatigue, anxiety, expense, and innumerable inconveniences to those who love him? For their sakes does he submit patiently to remedies, however disagreeable or doubtful? Does he remember that in proportion as his trials are great, so, great are his opportunities of exercising much virtue in a short space of time? that the humblest has it in his power to leave behind him the richest of legacies, the example of an amiable, pious, confiding, suffering Christian? Till the very

mists of death are shutting out earth from his eyes, it is his duty to strive to leave such a blessing behind him. So shall his discipline profit him, if God spare his life; or if it be his time to depart, so shall his solemn account be brief, his last moment of consciousness full of peace, his memory, in the hearts of those who love him, precious, hallowed, and full of consolation. The tears they shed in the still chamber of death will have no bitterness; they will think that 'a man who has lived well has lived long enough, however early he may die.'

THE NEW BIRTH.

John iii, 3. Jesus answered, and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

It was customary, not only among the Jews, but in other nations, to speak of an introduction to the knowledge of religious things, as a new birth. Especially, when a proselyte passed from heathenism to a profession of his belief in the divine origin and authority of the Mosaic law, he was said to be born again. A similar mode of speech is common with us; and is so natural, that our Lord's use of it, in his conversation with Nicodemus, ought neither to excite surprise, nor to create difficulty in understanding him. No one is deceived or perplexed, when a missionary is called the spiritual father of his converts, nor when a mem

ber of a Christian society, who has changed his habits of life, is pronounced a new man; and if our Lord had said, 'You must become a different being, before you can be one of my disciples,' he would have adopted a phrase of the same import; he would have employed an equally figurative expression, or indeed the same figure in other words; and this verse would probably never have been connected with those controversies, of which it has been made the occasion. Nicodemus' doubt concerning our Lord's meaning, arose from the difficulty which he felt in understanding him in any other than the usual or moral sense of his words; which yet, it seemed to him, could not possibly be just in this instance. For, so interpreted, they taught that a Jew must discard his peculiar feelings and habits, that his mind must reject the discipline which God had appointed, before he could be received as a follower of the Messiah. This was incredible. Nicodemus, if he could, would have distrusted the accuracy of his hearing; but the words had been spoken with too much distinctness and solemnity; and he could only suppose that Jesus had used them in the literal sense, since this seemed to him less improbable than that they were meant to convey so strange a doctrine, as that which it was our Lord's purpose to express. For, in the apprehension of Nicodemus, the more thoroughly a man was a Jew, the more deeply he was imbued with the national peculiarities, the better prepared was he to espouse the cause of the Messiah. If we consider the circumstances under which this interview took place, and the state of mind, with which, I may say, we know that Nicodemus addressed himself to Jesus, diffi

culty will vanish from the interpretation of this passage, and it may occur to us that the best commentary upon it, will be found in the first eight verses of the Sermon on the Mount.

Our Lord assured Nicodemus, that he employed the phrase, 'to be born again,' in the sense in which it was commonly used, in connexion with moral subjects. So far am I, said he, though the Messiah, from intending to establish my kingdom on the prejudices and habits of the Jewish character, that I shall impose, both the sign of allegiance to a new religion, and a change in the dispositions of the mind. 'A man must be born of water and of the spirit.' Understand me. Strange as it may seem to you, this is a a spiritual birth of which I speak, in correspondence with the character of the means used for its production. Be not surprised at my declaration. I have not come to establish an earthly reign; my followers will not be gathered with show and noise, nor my triumphs be swollen by them whom outward force has vanquished. The change which must precede an entrance among my subjects is internal, neither produced by outward instruments, nor accompanied by tumult; so essentially spiritual is it, that its causes and its nature will be imperceptible by human senses. 'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the spirit.' The Jewish Rabbi could not, at once, recover from his amazement; and, as if thinking aloud, he exclaims, How can these things be? Is it possible, that the Messiah's kingdom will be so different from the ideas of it, which I have been taught from my child

hood, and which are cherished by the whole people? Jesus appeals, at once, to his own scriptures. Are you a teacher in your nation, and yet so grossly misconceive the prophecies, which have been delivered concerning the Christ, as to expect one who should build his power on the narrow feelings and physical force of your countrymen? You stumble in crossing the threshold of my religion; how then can you hope to penetrate its inner glories? If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?'

While such is the natural and satisfactory explanation of our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus, we should involve ourselves in a sad, if not a fatal error, by confining the instruction to its immediate hearer. Its spirit, and even its language, reach to us. Here, as in Judea, now, as eighteen centuries ago, it may be said, that Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.' Christianity does not reveal its character to the earthly minded. The prejudices and habits of education do not make one its disciple, and until a change is wrought in its mere professor, he must remain in ignorance of the nature and power of the gospel. So great is this change, that it may be styled a new birth, the entrance upon a new life. The propriety of this description will appear from the remarks which I shall now offer.

1. At the commencement of our natural life, we are brought into the possession and use of certain powers. We find ourselves intrusted with faculties, from the exercise of which we derive pleasure and benefit. These faculties are apprehended with various degrees of dis