The Sincerity of Nicodemus.

As a rule reformers have come from the ranks of the people and have not always had the best advantages; and for that reason have excited the prejudices and provoked the jealousies of the upper and ruling classes. Christ was born in a manger, ate with publicans and sinners, and had no place he could call home, and so was looked down upon by the ruling classes among the The Jews. He was from Galilee, and therefore no prophet so far as they were concerned. He did not attend their schools, and so they wondered at His knowledge. We find Nicodemus, however, a grand and noble exception to the rule governing his class. He acknowledges the great power of the Messiah and calls Him a Teacher sent from God.

It is characteristic of the truly cultured to recognize merit wherever found. That education which can see merit in its class alone, or among those trained in a certain school, or who hold to a particular creed, is not true culture, but bigotry and has never been capable of the highest usefulness.

That Nicodemus was sincere is very evident from the fact that when the priests and Pharisees sought to arrest Jesus, he took his part, saying, "Doth our law judge any man before it hear him and know what he doeth?" John 7:51.

Again, after the concifixion, it was Nicodemus who participated in the last sad rites of depositing the Master's broken body in Joseph's tomb. His willing hands brought the one hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes for the purpose of embalming His precious remains. Those who had been with Him so long are no where to be found. Peter, James and John have gone as far as love and devotion can carry them; wealth and position must do the rest. Thus in God's work all classes have places to fill. The wise can find fields in which to employ their wisdom the rich their wealth, 00054and the poor can give the cup of cold water "in His Name." From the facts herein enumerated, I believe we are justified in the conclusion that Nicodemus was converted after that conversation with Christ on

The New Birth.Christ introduces the discussion by laying a startling proposition--"Except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God." The announcement seems to have a strange, pleasing sound to Nicodemus, and so he inquires deeply into the matter, as does every honest searcher after truth. But that he fully comprehended the mysterious process of regeneration we may well doubt, for it is just as much impossible for finite creatures to attain to a perfect knowledge of spiritual things as it is for us to understand the origin and destiny of the winds. Hear the words of the Master: "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whether it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit."

The wind's movements are not regulated by the notions or laws of man. They blow when, where and how they please so far as a man is concerned. They blow in any and all directions and with varying degrees of force. They blow night and day.

Conversion is the work of the Holy Spirit, and you cannot tell when it will do its work. It comes to one person in childhood, to another in middle life and to another still in old age. To one it comes like a rushing mighty wind, to the great majority it is the whisperings of the "still small voice."

Conversion Absolutely Necessary."Ye must be born again" is the proclamation of the Teacher sent from God. It is the one 00065condition of salvation. As our natural birth introduces us to the beauties and wonders of the physical world, the earth with its valleys, hills and towering mountains, its rushing streams and leaping cataracts, its sweeping winds and rolling seas; so the spiritual birth is necessary that we may see the hand of God in all His works, and realize the establishment of His Kingdom within us.

Evidences of the New Birth.St. Paul was stricken down on his way to Damascus and blinded by a great light. He heard a voice also. But his is the only instance of the kind to be found in the Scriptures. The Eunuch simply confessed that he believed that Jesus Christ was the son of God, and Philip baptized him.

I believe that there are thousands among us who look upon conversion as the result of some irresistible force from without set in motion by much loud noise and numberless protracted meetings. We are inclined to look for the light, the fire, the wind, the earthquake, instead of the still small voice. While we have had one St. Paul blinded by the heavenly vision, we have baptized millions of disciples of the simple faith of the eunuch. We have had thousands turned from sin to righteousness, but only one pentecost. If we wait, then, until we have some wonderful experience to tell before we accept Christ, we may remain outside of the fold.

We should seek the evidence of our conversion in the Scriptures. St. Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, fifth chapter seventeenth verse, says: "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new." "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren." I John 3:14. The Psalmist David wrote these words: "Uphold me with thy free spirit; then will I teach transgressors thy ways." Christ said to Peter on one occasion, "When thou art converted strengthen thy brethren,"

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Scriptural conversion then implies a newness of being, a new purpose. A love for persons and things once hated or looked upon with a cold indifference, and a hatred of things once loved It is further marked by a strong desire to labor for the salvation of others.

Conversion, however, no matter in what manner we are made conscious of it, is only a start It is not St. Paul's miraculous change alone which challenges the unqualified admiration of man kind since his day, but it is rather his intensely earnest after-life. His divinely restless spirit, his devotion to principal, his patience in tribulation, his unbounded love of mankind, his martyrdom After birth, comes life; growth and labor and not mere talk. The new life is of much more importance than the new birth. We like to speak of that day "when our dungeons shook and our chains fell off," that is all very well, but an upright and consistent life is far better, no matter how great a shake-up we may have had in the past. Our life is to speak for us, and when we are born of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit will come forth in due time, which are "Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance."

HOMILY II.

The Power of Jesus."Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29.

A little less than 2,000 years ago, if we could have visited Judea as travelers do today, we might have seen a great commotion among the people. They are leaving the cities in great crowds. Excitement runs high. They are discussing the latest utterances of a strange preacher. He is not dressed in priestly garments, still he attracts attention. He holds his meetings not in the synagogues, but in the open air. As far as we know he does not address the people from the book of the Law, still the multitudes hear him gladly and acknowledge his authority. He is a bold preacher, calling certain classes a generation of vipers. Even Herod is not spared, but gets his full share of rebuke.

He is the first to promulgate the doctrine of repentance. He is the fore-runner of Christ. He seeks to establish the new but he makes no attack on the old. He preaches a practical religion. When the people asked him what they should do, he answered: "He that hath two coats let him 00098impart to him that hath none, and he that hath meat let him do likewise." To the publicans he said: "Exact no more than that which is appointed you." To the soldiers, who asked him what they should do, he said: "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely and be content with your wages." He warns both high and low to repent and be baptized as evidence of their repentance. People wonder who he is. Committees are appointed to wait on him. They ask, "Art thou the Christ?" He confessed and denied not, saying, "I am not the Christ?" "Art thou Elias?" And he saith, "I am not." Art thou that Prophet?" And he answered, "No." "Who then art thou?" "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord."

Thus we see the author of our text, the last of the prophets and eulogized by the Master as the greatest of them all, does not have a very exalted opinion of himself. I believe it is characteristic of genuine greatness to put a modest estimate on its powers. Yet to be a voice, a mouth-piece for God, is exaltation enough, provided we be indeed and in truth His real representatives and not merely the creations of some conference or presbytery. But men and women whose Godly lives speak louder than their words. Men and women who comprehend the power of truth and who will not set before the people darkness for light. Men and women of deep and positive convictions and courage to express them. If there was ever a time when real characters were needed that time is now. Every God-fearing man and woman and the church universal should constitute a voice for the Lord.

The Character of John's Teaching.

John's teachings show the principles which were to govern in the new kingdom. In the Gospel Kingdom no mediating priest is appealed to and no sacrifice of animals is required. The 00109rich are taught to serve God with their riches, and justice is demanded of soldiers and publicans.

John taught a practical religion. I believe in an active religion, a do-something religion. When St, Paul was converted he instantly inquired, "What wilt Thou have me to do?" and not, "What wilt Thou have me to feel?" Emotion is good, but it is not the whole of religion. John taught a service to God by a service to man. I am persuaded that religious truth has too often been mystified by such high-sounding terms as "justification," "regeneration" and "sanctification," Instead of describing states and conditions religious teachers would do well to put before the people something to do, and something they can do. The collector of customs need not leave his desk; the soldier need not lay down his sword and the merchant need not leave his counter, the farmer need not forsake his plow, but each may render acceptable service to God in his respective sphere, if conscientious in the performance of duty.

Representatives of Light in Times of Darkness.Every period of Bible history has its representative. The antediluvians had their Enoch, who walked with God. After him came the faithful Abraham. The next great representative was Solomon, the wise man. He built the temple, planted vineyards, wrote, books, made wise decisions, and in many ways displayed wisdom, which surpassed that of all his contemporaries. But the world needed a light which neither of those conspicuous characters could give. Sin like a black river is sweeping through the land and bearing its millions on towards the sea of everlasting destruction. Who shall check its mighty flow? Man is low down and graveling in the dust. Who shall lift him up? He is running away from his Father's house. Who will call him back? He has had 001110the law for ages. The prophets have warned him in vain. None of the lights of the past can shine away his darkness. But God does not work in a hurry, for a thousand years are with Him as one day. So when the time had fully come the Prince of Peace came.

But peace was to come after battle, combat, victory. He came to array the forces of light against the forces of darkness. He came to war against sin in every form. He came to bruise the head of the old serpent. He came to lift up fallen man and restore in him the lost image of his Maker, and to re-establish him in his once lost paradise.

The Manner of His Coming.He was a King, yet He had no crown. He had not where to lay His head and yet the earth was His. King of Kings, yet paid tribute to Caesar. He went with the multitudes, still He was unknown to them, for John says of Him: "There standeth one among you whom ye know not." The next day John saw the Master coming toward him, and made use of the words of our text in pointing Him out to the people, saying, "Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." What a privilege! To look upon Him was to see the only perfect character that ever trod the earth. To behold Him was to see the Holy One who was to tread the wine press alone. He was the Mighty Counselor, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. The Light of the world, and toward Him all eyes seem to be turning today.

He does not walk the earth in bodily shape today, but His footsteps are more visible than ever before. He no longer feeds the multitudes with loaves and fishes, but the world is being provided with the Bread of Life. If He were on the earth only a few, perhaps, would be permitted to see Him. But being at the right hand of God, exalted, all can behold Him with the eyes of the 001211soul. He is gone, but He sent the Comforter in His place. He is gone, but the way we know. "His track I see, and I'll pursueThe narrow way till Him I view."

After all it is not the mere physical sight that is of most value; many of us have eyes but see not. We look, but discover no beauty in the setting sun, no grandeur in the storm, no majesty in the rolling waves. The sight that counts for most is the sight that contemplates ands and meditates. The sight which faith employs.

Thomas wanted physical evidence and the Master gave it to him; but at the same time He said unto him; "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." It is in that higher sense that I call upon you to behold Him today. Behold Him as He went about doing good, cleansing lepers, opening the eyes of the blind, healing the sick and raising the dead. Behold Him shunning the homes of the rich and taking up his abode with the poor, preaching to the multitudes and appeasing their hunger by miracles. Behold Him as He meets satan in the wilderness and overthrows him once for all. Behold Him kneeling in the garden praying that the cup might pass from Him if it should be the Father's will. Behold Him at Pilate's bar forsaken by His friends, in the hands of His enemies, mocked and scourged and condemned without fault and finally led away to execution. The innocent suffers for the guilty, the Just dies for the unjust. "Well might the sun in darkness hide,And shut his glories in,While Christ the mighty diedFor man the creature's sin."

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The face is often taken as an index to the life and character of the individual and not without good reason, for God has so constructed the eye that its flash is indicative of intensity of feeling. The frowning countenance bespeaks disfavor, while the smile, under normal conditions, manifests the joy of the heart.

The countenance is the outward sign of the state of the invisible man. Cain murdered his brother Abel and his countenance fell, because in committing murder he had in a sense committed suicide also; and his fallen countenance must have been the brand of the Almighty. The Holy Ghost overshadows the Redeemer on the Mount of Tranfiguration, and His face shines like the sun. Peter's long association with the Master, and constant study of the principles governing in the kingdom of righteousness, made it easy for the enemies of Christ to point him out as one of the disciples. His looks betrayed him, as well as his speech.

Vicious looks and vicious deeds are but the children of wicked thoughts. Likewise the uncringing mien and noble actions must be the outgrowth of the faithful and prayerful contemplation of the highest ideals of moral and spiritual excellence. It is such an ideal I present to you at this hour. The more we see the Divine power evinced by His miracles, His self-sacrificing spirit, the sublimity of his simple teachings, and the final act in His spotless life, the more like Him in spiritual power we shall become. "The faithful child whose watchful eye,Strives after all things pure and high,Shall take their image by and by"

HOMILY III.

The Healing Waters. "And everything shall live whither the river cometh." Ezekiel 47:9

In olden times the Lord appeared to the prophets in visions and dreams to make known to them the things which were to come to pass. And many things which must have seemed mysterious and puzzling at the time they were uttered, have since become comparatively clear to those living in our times. Every age, every decade, every year has been but the breaking of the seals to the hidden things spoken of by the prophets and seers of old.

The prophets were devout men and therefore in close touch with the Almighty. God was under them, and over them and around them. They were trusted with heaven's secrets because they were faithful. To have the vail dividing the present from the future lifted, and things to come exposed to view was a privilege granted but few, for only a few were worthy.

Yet we are not to consider that the former days were better than these. They lived in the twilight of the rising sun; while we live in the brightness of noon day. The prophets had the shadow, we the substance. They received the promise, we enjoy the glorious realization.

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The Vision.A man appeared to Ezekiel having a line with which he measured a thousand cubits eastward from the temple. Water issued from under the house into which the prophet waded until it was ankle deep. Another thousand cubits are measured, and the water reaches the knee. A thousand more are measured and the waters are up to his loins. After measuring a thousand cubits more Ezekiel finds himself in a great river that cannot be passed over, "For the waters were risen, waters to swim in."

In the vision the prophet returns to the brink of the river, and looking up and down the stream he beholds a countless number of trees on each bank. The river passed through a desert and on, and on into the sea. As it proceeds, new forms of vegetable life spring up, while multitudes of fishes swim in its waters.

The Interpretation.Ezekiel was one of the captives down in Babylon and it seems he died there. He foresaw, however, the return of the Jews to the land of Palestine and the vision depicts in the first place the happy condition of the people after being re established in their native land. The stream in the desert, the trees lining its banks and the fishes filling its waters are takens of restored prosperity. The prophecy was not literally fulfilled, but the country was re-inhabited, the kingdom restored and the waste places were built up. The temple was re-built and stood until long after the advent of the Messiah.

In the second place the vision seems to prefigure the rise and spread of Christianity.

The founder of Christianity was of humble origin. He lived for years in obscurity and when He entered upon His mission He was misunderstood as has been too often the case with those who 001615have followed closest in His steps since His day. He took for training and fellowship a small band of fishermen and publicans. They were without learning or superior natural endowments. Without wealth or social position, pride of ancestry or worldly influence. This the beginning of Christianity, was the little ankle keep stream which the prophet saw issuing from under the temple.

The different measurements doubtless represent the different periods of progress in the Christian church. The desert represents the opposition which Christianity was to encounter. But at the moving stream was unchecked by the thirsty sands and continued to widen and deepen, fructifying the soil in its passage, causing it to bring forth ever bearing fruit trees, and whose leaves were for medicine, so Christianity was to sweep on in its course, conquering the seemingly impossible, taking away the stony hearts of individuals and replacing them with hearts of flesh. Quickening the consciences of men and shaping the destinies of nations.

The trees represent the various institutions which have followed in the wake of Christianity. The first to be noticed is the church, which is Christianity organized. When the woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet appeared, the red dragon inspired by the most malignant hate fully bent on her destruction, appeared also. Persecution, hot and heavy, did its worst, but the church continued to prosper. When driven from one city the promulgators of the Gospel of peace and good will fled to another. It made itself at home in the palace of the king or in the huts of his subjects, on land or on the sea. It went where it was wanted and where it was not wanted. It responded to cry: "Come over and help us," and it forced a hearing from those who erected an altar to the "Unknown God." Sometimes it was in the wilderness, sometimes in caves and catacombs; it grew under persecution. And everywhere it was characterized by the same illuminating vivifying principles. "And everything shall live whither the river cometh."

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But the church has not been contented with expounding the Word to the old and catechising the young on the Sabbath day. She has gone to the front in Christian education. Under her touch high schools and colleges are dotting the land, knowledge is being increased. Under her touch commerce has acquired a new meaning, and the arts and sciences are but more emphatic expressions of the Word Divine. She is the great champion of human freedom everywhere; she stands for temperance as well as "judgment to come." She preaches the doctrine of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Under her influence organized charity is extending the cup of cold water to the thirsty "In His Name." The hungry are fed, the naked are clothed and the prisons are visited.

The mighty stream of Christianity has rushed on in its sweep until the human deserts in heathen lands have been reached. Ethiopia is stretching forth her hands to God and Africa's sons and daughters shout for joy. The teeming millions of China, Japan, India and the islands of the sea, a people once sitting in darkness, have seen a great light. Christianity is raking the slums of great cities and transforming the miserable inhabitants thereof into useful citizens. She is making a people of God of those who "in time past were not a people." Today more than four hundred millions are marching "beneath the banner of the King." But the church must move on and on, like the river in its life giving flow, until we are all lost in the sea of God's everlasting love. "The kingdom is coming,Oh, tell ye the story;God's banner exalted shall be!The earth shall be fullOf his knowledge and gloryAs waters that cover the sea."

HOMILY IV.

The Great Question. "If a man die, shall he live again?" Job 14:14.

Man has in all times inquired into the deep mysteries of his existence here, and his more mysterious state after death. What am I? For what purpose do I exist? What is my final destiny? are questions which have puzzled the brain of man in all ages, and in every stage of advancement or social condition. He may be wrapped in the chains of ignorance and superstition, or he may devote his days to a study of all the arts and sciences, or his mind may be filled with the idea of accumulating wealth. But nothing can so occupy the mind as to cause man to cease to ask, "After death, what?"

The writer of our text asked it, and men no doubt long before his day had asked the same.

Man, in his normal condition, desires to live and he shrinks from the idea of death; and not simply because he dreads so much the pain of that last struggle, but largely because he does not know what the future has in store for him. He would welcome annihilation if he could, but he cannot. The idea is repulsive to him because after his exalted career in the flesh it brings him at last to the level of the brute.

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The Buddhist Idea.Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, a religion which prevails largely in the East, taught that when a man died he was immediately born again in a new shape. If his life was meritorious his soul passed into the body of a sheep, bird or some other gentle animal. But if he had lived wickedly, his soul would pass into the body of some lower animal, such as the dog, snake, donkey, etc. This doctrine is called transmigration of the soul. The belief is common to the inhabitants of most heathen lands today.

The religion of the ancient Egyptians taught the high doctrine of the immortality of the soul and the existence of an invisible God. They took great care to embalm the bodies of their dead as they believed that at the coming of one Osiris, soul and body would be reunited. Hence every shrouded mummy that sleeps in Egyptian tombs today is a most emphatic expression of the faith of that ancient people in the sublimest doctrine known to mortals.

Man's Moral Responsibility.I believe that man's moral sense of responsibility is the outgrowth of his immortality. There are certain actions which he considers right, and certain actions he considers wrong. Man punishes for crime. Why? Is it simply for the good of our social organization? It cannot be. I am persuaded that this idea of responsibility is a spark from the Divine light which burns its way even into the heathen heart and holds mankind, according to his environment, to a strict account to that invisible Power reigning in his inner consciousness.

This idea of responsibility crops out in the doctrine of the transmigration of the soul. It is not the creature of civilization; if so, the thought could not enter the heathen mind, and he would pass his life as unrestrained in action as the dog that barks before his cabin door. His ideas are indeed vague and shrouded in superstition; but our own are far from perfect, for the bridge that spans the chasm between life and death is passed over but once, and the weary pilgrims return no more to tell us of the mysteries of the great beyond. 002019Man Is a Natural Believer in Immortality.

No man in his normal condition desires to be forgotten. He is anxious to do something to keep his name in the memory of those who come after him. He erects buildings, found schools and colleges, discovers and invents, writes books, carves his name on trees, and chisels it on the rocks. Thus man desires to live on and on.

"If a man die, shall he live again?" Yes, he lives again in the likeness and character of his posterity, in the good or evil deeds done in the body. He lives again in the spirits' land with God and the angels, or with the nations who have forgotten God.

It seems contrary to reason to believe that God would endow the soul with power to reason, to love, to hate, to enjoy, to create, and then doom it to destruction in the end. What man would construct a costly and beautiful ship, launch it and then set fire to it? Who would build an engine and then run it into a river or who would make a watch and then break it to pieces? I am persuaded that such a man cannot be found.

God is eternal, and the creatures of His image and likeness must partake of eternity. The living soul breathed into us by the Almighty must contain the principles of immortality. Otherwise man is the great riddle of the universe. His life here is the mystery of mysteries. Would he who provides so bountifully for man's body be less concerned about the soul which gives the body its chief importance? Shall the trees and flowers live again after the killing frosts of winter, and man for whom all things exists sleep forever? Shall the lord of creation descend to the level of his horse and dog in the end? It cannot be.

The Bible teaches the doctrine of the resurrection and everlasting life. In the nineteenth chapter of the Book of Job and the twenty-sixth verse, we read: "Though after my skin worms destroy the body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Christ taught it when He said: "In my Father's House are many mansions," and "I go to prepare a place for you." Hear Him again: "Because I live ye shall live also." St. Paul declares that Christ rose from the dead and became 002120the first fruits of them that slept. Now, inasmuch as the Bible is taken as our rule of faith, if we accept a portion of its teachings we must accept this central truth also.

In Our times the wise and good men in civilized lands are more or less influenced by this sublime faith. Kings and princes, statesmen and literary men, especially those who have done mankind the most lasting good, have believed that man's career so splendidly begun here is completed in the house not made with hands.

I introduce here a quotation from Victor Hugo, France's greatest literary star, He was not a theologian, still I hold that we may believe him because he speaks from experience. He says, and says well, just what thousands have felt, but could not express. "I feel in myself the future life. I am like a forest which has been more than once cut down; the new shoots are stronger and livelier than ever. I am rising, I know, toward the skies. The sunshine is on my head. The earth gives me its generous sap, but heaven lights me with the reflection of unknown worlds. You say the soul is nothing but the result of bodily powers. Why, then, is my soul more luminous when my bodily powers begin to fail? Winter is on my head and eternal spring is in my heart. There, I breathe at this hour the fragrance of the lilacs, the violets and the roses as at twenty years ago. The nearer I approach the end, the plainer I heard around me the immortal symphonies of the worlds which invite me. When I go down to the grave, I can say, like many others, I have finished my days' work, but I cannot say I have finished my life. My days will begin again the next morning. The tomb is not a blind alley; it is a thoroughfare. It closes on the twilight to open on the dawn." I believe, I know we may safely affirm that as men have looked forward to and prepared for the life to come, as a rule they have made most of the life that now is. They have labored to bury the old Adam of the flesh, and God has made them bright and shining lights in the world of letters, church and state."God my Redeemer lives,And ever from the skiesLooks down and watches all my dust,Till he shall bid it rise."

"Arrayed in glorious grace,Shall these vile bodies shine,And every shape and every faceBe heavenly and divine."