HE philosophic student of human nature needs no proof of its defilement. He has only to analyze the purposes and aspirations of his heart, to make him cry out, with the leper of old, "Unclean, unclean!" He has but to survey the purposes and aspirations of others, as they manifest themselves in human conduct, to cause him to re-echo the sentiment of the royal bard of Israel, "There is none that doeth good, no, not one."

      Man is represented in the Scriptures as being ignorant, guilty, polluted, and dying; and the apostle says that Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It is therefore proposed by the Gospel to furnish wisdom for man's ignorance, righteousness for his guilt, sanctification for his pollution, and redemption for his death: Man without the benefits' of the Gospel, is represented as being in the kingdom of darkness; and, with these benefits, as being in the kingdom of God's dear Son.

      It is evident that the transition from one of [237] these kingdoms into the other necessitates a complete, thorough, and radical change--such a change as represents anew creature, or new creation. While we can not emphasize too strongly the importance and necessity of this change, it is possible for us to form exaggerated and false notions of what constitutes the change.

      In the popular religious instruction of the age, it is often taught that man is inherently and totally corrupted, and that he can do nothing pleasing to God, until by an act of almighty grace, above his own comprehension, he is made a new, creature. Martin Luther says: "Every good work, though performed as well as possible, is still a venial sin. . . . Yea, every action of the just man is damnable, and a mortal sin." Melanchthon says: "All our actions and exertions are sins." Calvin says "Never, yet, has a pious person done a pious work which was not damnable in the sight of God."

      We by no means assert that the religious world today teaches precisely what was taught by the fathers of Protestantism concerning man's depravity; but we do assert that its theology is still largely colored by such teaching. Hence the popular doctrine of man's helplessness, and of the necessity for such a change as will destroy the old nature and create a new one, without regard to man's volition. When a man whose heart has been melted by the story of the cross surrenders himself to God, under the delusion that he has been made a new creature [238] in the above sense, all is well till he goes to mingle with the world's sin and temptation; then the hot flush of his first love gives way under the chill blasts, the golden dawning is wrapped in clouds, and he wakes to the painful consciousness that there is a great, deal of the old creature left within him. The logic of life forces him to conclude that either he has been mistaken as to what constitutes the new creature, or else that he has never become one. It is very important, therefore, that we should have correct conceptions as to what does really constitute the new creature.

      The human faculties have been distributed by philosophers into three classes--the physical, the intellectual, and the moral. Does the becoming a new creature make a change in the constituent qualities of any of these faculties? When a man has become a new creature, there has certainly been no impartation of any new physical faculties, nor any change in the essential qualities of the old ones. It is also evident that the same is true concerning the intellectual faculties. Intellectual peculiarities in the sinner will appear as intellectual peculiarities in the new creature. A weak-minded sinner will surely make a weak-minded saint; while a strong-minded sinner will just as certainly make a strong-minded saint. There remains for consideration the third class of faculties--the moral. Does the becoming a new creature involve an essential change in these? We must answer again in the negative. The [239] new creature possesses no other and no more moral faculties than the man possessed before the change we are considering.

      It becomes us to move with some caution here, lest we be misunderstood. We do not assert that there is no change in the moral faculties; but, that there is no impartation of any new faculties and no change in the essential qualities of the old. Even the change which does occur is more the effect of the new creation than a part of the process. It is painfully evident to every man, that his moral bias is changed only by continuous and prayerful struggle. To illustrate the idea, take a man that is covetous both by nature and acquirement. Does simply becoming a new creature extinguish that covetousness, and make him generous? A man of violent temper will find the same temptations to beset his pathway after he has become a new creature as before, while an ungodly ambition is overcome only by continuous supplication and humiliation at the foot of the cross.

      We are now ready to answer the question, What is it which becomes new in the becoming a new creature? It is simply man's activities and relationships, and not his essence. The slave of Satan becomes the servant of righteousness; the alien from the commonwealth of Israel becomes a citizen in the kingdom of God; the prodigal returns to his Father's house. His powers are exerted in a new direction. His mind is turned back into its proper [240] channel, and the affections are transferred from debasing and degrading things to those that are ennobling and elevating. Thus he is figuratively represented as having a new mind and a new heart. All his relations to God, to himself, to his fellows, to time,, and to eternity are new; but in essence he is the same creature.

      1. This New Life is entered through a New Birth. It does not come within the scope of this discourse to present an elaborate discussion of the new birth; but we will, in passing, make a simple statement of what we hold it to be. We suppose that all intelligent readers will agree that the expression, the new birth, is figurative. But of what is it a figure? Evidently of the transition from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. The man who has experienced this transition has been born again; while the man who has not experienced it, certainly has not been so born. When the Savior says, "except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he can not enter into the kingdom of God"; he certainly declares the identity or the equivalence of these changes. Furthermore, it is clearly indicated that the entire man participates in the change.

      But man is a duality. He is body and spirit. There is an inner man, and an outer man. There must therefore be an inner and an outer transition. The inner transition is accomplished by a birth of the Spirit, the outer by a birth of the water. The [241] transition of the inner man from a condition of careless indifference and unbelief into one of hearty and affectionate trust, is the birth of the Spirit; and the transition of the body in the act of baptism, is the birth of the water. What the Savior expresses figuratively to Nicodemus, he afterwards expresses literally in the commission, when he says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. " Paul expresses the same idea by "the washing of regeneration (the renovation) and the renewing of the Holy Spirit." The inner man is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created him; and the outer man is washed in the baptism of the renovation, or Gospel dispensation.

      2. The New Birth admits us to the blessings of a New Covenant. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah" (Jer. xxxi:31). Paul tells us that Christianity is the new covenant (Heb. viii).

      A. It has a new priesthood. No longer the fallible, sinful, and mortal priesthood of the Aaronic order; but there is an high priest after the power of an endless life; one that is pure, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, and one that can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and who ever liveth to make intercession for us.

      B. It has new subjects. Not as with the old covenant, is either descent or purchase the essential condition of entrance; but faith. No one in this [242] covenant has to be taught, saying, know the Lord; for all know him, from the greatest to the least.

      C. Its terms of membership are new. It was fleshly birth and circumcision that gave a being the franchises of the old covenant; but it is a birth of water and of the Spirit, and a life of holiness, that entitle to the blessings of the new.

      D. The blessings are likewise new. These are no longer distinctively blessings that are seen and temporal; but those that are unseen, spiritual, and eternal.

      3. The New Fellowship. While man is in the kingdom of darkness, his fellowship is with the king, the citizens, and the unfruitful works, of darkness. He is a partner in all the evil of this kingdom; for fellowship means partnership.

      In passing out of this kingdom, man throws off his evil partnership, and accepts the fellowship of the Gospel. This fellowship is twofold in its character:

      A. Fellowship with the divine nature. "Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ" (I. John i:3). "The fellowship (communion) of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (II Cor. xiii:14). We thus become partners of the divine nature, and enter into all its wealth, by entering into a knowledge of the divine will, by conformity to the divine image, and by participation in the divine felicity. It is evidently our duty, therefore, to bring all our powers and talents into [243] this glorious partnership. Alas! that so many, like Ananias and Sapphira, keep back part of the price!

      B. The fellowship of the saints is the second part of this fellowship. This is participation in the common Christian duties and responsibilities. As fellow-disciples, we sit at the feet of the same master; as fellow-laborers, we have before us the same duties; as fellow-citizens, we have upon us the same responsibilities; as fellow-soldiers, we fight in the same ranks; as fellow-prisoners, we endure for the Gospel's sake; as fellow-servants, we endeavor to do the will of the Master; and as fellow-heirs, we partake of the inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading.

      4. The New Motive. Every man in the world, whether good or evil, is governed by some motive which is imperial, and before which all others must give way.

      In some, it may be the love of fame; in others, the love of money; in others, the love of self or of pleasure. The life of the man soon discloses the master motive within him. In the new creature the imperial motive is love. "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another" (John xiii:34). While this was not new as a theory when Christ spoke these words, it then became new as a practice. Never before was a kingdom founded upon this principle, nor a band of men collected whose lives were to be formed in harmony with this [244] key-note. Moreover, it was new in the extent to which Christ carried it--as I have loved you. Never before had men been taught so to love as to lay down their lives for each other.

      5. The New Way. Guided by this holy motive, the new creature walks in a new way.

      "And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. . . . And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Is. xxxv:8-10). "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father, but by me" (John xiv:6). "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way" (Heb. x:19-20). It is called the narrow way that leads to life, in contrast with the broad road that leads to death; also, the way of God in truth, the way of salvation, the way of righteousness, the way of understanding, the way of wisdom. The unanimity with which this way is represented in the singular number should command the thoughtful attention of those who are constantly talking of different roads to heaven.

      6. The New Home. Walking in this new way we are led to a new home. [245]

      "In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you" (John xiv:2). "Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me" (John xvii:24). "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (II Peter iii:13). "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God" (Rev. iii:12).

      This beautiful vision is ever before the eyes of the child of God. As the soldier beside his lonely camp-fire, thinking of home, falls asleep and dreams of its dear ones; so the soldier of Christ, in the thick of the fight, or in the lonely hours of watching, is encouraged by this beautiful vision of home. As the poor pilgrim and sojourner in a strange land, lying upon hospital couch or neglected pallet, racked by fever and tortured by thirst, longs for home and mother; so the child of God, heart-broken, and weary with life's sorrows and burdens, turns for consolation to that home vision, where God, with more than a mother's tenderness, shall wipe away all tears from his eyes, and where there shall be neither sorrow nor crying any more. [246]

      Oh, the joy of that blissful hour, when the toil-worn son of God shall have reached the end of his pilgrimage, and the beautiful gates shall open before him!

      When the Roman conquerors ended a successful campaign, they were entitled to a triumphal entry into the city. The gates were thrown wide open; and while beautiful maidens strewed sweet flowers, and sang songs of welcome, the conquerors entered the city, greeted by the shouts of the multitude, and the blasts of music from the royal bands. But short-lived was their welcome. The voices that fell upon their ear were soon hushed in death, and the hands that strewed were soon dust with the flowers they scattered. The conqueror that overcometh through Jesus Christ, shall have a welcome that shall endure forever. The gates of glory shall open before his advancing step, and the greetings of angels will fall upon his ear, while the harpers shall play "The Conquering Hero." Under the emerald branches of the tree of life that over-arch the waters of the river of life, he shall march, to heaven's melodies, up to the throne of God, and have placed upon his brow the victor's fadeless crown. [247]

      7. The New Name. We shall also receive a new name.

      "I will write upon him my new name" (Rev. iii:12). "To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written" (Rev. ii:17). "And they shall see his face, and his name shall be in their foreheads" (Rev. xxii:4). Men have been trying to find out that new name ever since the promise has been given, and have written many speculations about it. While it will not be fully revealed till the proper time, the mind can not help forming an opinion about it. There are in the Scriptures more than a hundred different appellations, each of which expresses some tender relation of Christ to his people. He is our Bread of Life, our Rock of Defense, our Captain, our Elder Brother, etc.; and I have sometimes thought that when the Lord inscribes his new name upon us, it will be a name that will concentrate in itself all that is expressed in, these various names that we now have.

      8. The New Song. Having inscribed upon our foreheads the new name, we shall join the chorus of the redeemed in singing the new song. "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Rev. v:9). "And I looked, and lo, [248] a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps and they sang as it were a new song before the throne" (Rev. xiv:1-3). "And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest" (Rev. xv:3, 4).

      There are many of the judgments of God that are not manifest to us now. While I trust implicitly in the justice and goodness of all the doings of God with the children of men, He has done many things in which I am at present unable to see the justice and mercy. I look, however, for a time when God shall reveal His righteous judgments unto the sons of men. Then there will be light thrown back upon the past, and such light as shall completely vindicate His character as a ruler. Then shall be fulfilled, "All nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest." Not only shall the ransomed join in full chorus in this song; but, in minor key, the lost and undone shall confess the [249] justness of its praise, though it be the death-song of their own souls.

      Thus, briefly and imperfectly, have I sketched the New Creature. Beginning in the new birth, and continuing to walk in newness of life, the new creature rejoices at last, and forever, in the home of splendor and felicity which God has prepared for them that love Him. May the God of all grace kindly grant, that, according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus, such may be the life and destiny of us all. [250]

[NTC3 237-250]