your heart to conceive the
glory to be revealed in you. Now suppose some of us had believed this
revelation, we would that moment, have been born of faith, and
rejoiced in hope of the glory to be revealed in us; and by faith have
looked forward to the reality. This, however, would not have made our
birth any more certain, because it must have been an absolute truth
before we could have, with any propriety, believed it. Suppose,
further, that some of us had rejected it; would this circumstance have
prevented our being born? Certainly not. All of us, who believed,
would have been born of faith, having an earnest of the reality, and
the unbelievers would have come short of that enjoyment by faith; but
their unbelief could in no sense make the truth of none effect. The
moment we were born, belief and unbelief would be lost in certainty.

Now suppose that some of had said--the Son of God has declared "except
we are born of the flesh, we cannot see the natural world." This must
mean some great change we are to experience in the womb--we must be
born some number of days before we enter the natural world, as a
preparation, otherwise we can never see it.

We now ask the reader, whether it would not be folly to give to the
word _birth_ such an explanation? The Conclusion is unavoidable. We
then ask, whether it does not involve the same folly to contend, in
view of our text, ("except a man be born again, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God") that it means, he must be born again in this
world, as a preparation for another? It certainly does.

We once more repeat it--that as natural birth was the _very thing_
that introduced us all into this world of imperfection, sorrow and
pain; so the spiritual birth will be the _very thing_, that shall
introduce us all into another, where, imperfection, sorrow and pain
shall be no more.

The poor heathen, and infants, and all, will therefore be born again
into the kingdom of God, and "be equal unto the angels, die no more,
and be the children of God, _being the children of the resurrection_."
The only advantage we enjoy above them is, that we have heard the good
news, believed it, are "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever,"
and "have entered into rest." We are rejoicing in hope of the glory of
God to be revealed in us, while they are groping in darkness,
inasmuch, as they cannot believe in him of whom they have no