esh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must be born again.' Humble that
proud reason that will believe nothing but what it can understand.
'The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so
is every one that is born of the Spirit.' A mystery it is;
nevertheless it is true.

"Follow out the chapter, my dear: Jesus preaches his own gospel,
and brings in that beautiful type, the serpent, which he had commanded
to be raised on a pole, that those who had been bitten with fiery
serpents, whose bite was death, should look upon it and be healed.
Read it, my dear, in the 21st of Numbers; and in reference to this, he
himself says, 'Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the
earth.' Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Quickened, renewed in the spirit, of his mind, old things pass away
and all things become new--new principles, new desires, new pleasures,
new ends. The work is God's. The whole plan of redemption is his from
first to last. It is clearly revealed in Scripture, and there is no
dispute among Christians concerning it. The fall of man, his
corruption and depravity; his state under the curse of a broken
covenant, and his exposure to eternal misery; his helplessness and
total inability to gain acceptance with God; his ignorance of
himself--'dead in trespasses and sins,' 'without God and without hope
in the world:' this is his situation by nature. But there is good news
proclaimed: 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son,' to become the surety of lost sinners. He took our nature upon
him, our sins upon him, our duties upon him: he was placed in our
stead; sustained the penalty of the broken law; fulfilled its utmost
demands; redeemed us; gave us a new covenant, of which himself
is the surety: and there is 'no condemnation to them that are in
Christ Jesus.'

"The merits of Christ, exclusive of any thing of ours, are the
sole foundation of our hope. Christ is set forth, in Scripture, as the
atonement, the propitiation for sins, the one sacrifice for sin;
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness; all is made ours by
free gift. 1 John, 5:11. All is ready, justice satisfied, God
reconciled, peace proclaimed. But what is all this to a thoughtless
world, insensible of their situation, danger, and need? It is an awful
sayin