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men; bat it seems that modern Protestantism has a double por tion of it. The Jews, in the time of Christ, were extremely zealous for vain tradition, empty formality and hypocritical appearance. They thought that drinking wine and eating with unwashed hands point* and defiled a man. But the Savior condemned their foolish traditions -by the simple axiom. “ It is not that that goeth into a man that d“fileth him, but that that cometh out.” It is from the heart that evil thoughts, thefts, murders, and all other wickedness proceed. Evil thoughts are not in the wine a man drinks. Bad con duct does not come from the food taken with unwashed hands. A man steals because he is a thief; a man kills because he is a mur derer, or lies because he is a liar. The theft is in the heart before the hand is put forth to steal; the murder is in the heart before the hand is stained with blood; the lie is in the heart before it rises to the tongue or is coined by the lips. The tree bears fruit after its kind. Cultivating tne tree can never change the kind ot fruit; the only effects of cultivation are seen in the quantity of the fruit Can a thorn tree ever be made to produce grapes, or a thistle to bring forth figs? Men are carried away with the notion that through religion instruction, training and favorable opportunities, children or men are made Christians; that men enter the kingdom of God through teach ing and moral suasion. Agriupa had this idea when he said to Paul “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,” and Nicodemus be trayed the same weakness when he said to Christ “ We know that thou art a teacher come from God.” But the answer of Jesus covered the whole ground, when he said, “Ex cept a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God.” This is as much as to say, “Why, Nic- , odemus, this is not a mere matter of teaching; there is something vastly deeper ;a man must be born again,” A man does not have to ( be born again in order to be re ligious; he may become infatuated *<>*^!(& l ‘Tfligiori, and W a vote© to creed and ritual; he may be taught to observe most rigidly forms and ceremonies, and to sub ject himself to the strictest dis cipline ; to multilate his body and deprive himself of all ea/thly com- ' forts; to yeild perpetual obedience to priest-craft;to pray three tynes ' a day and give tithes of jail he possesses; take up the sword in de fense of his religion, or Jay down his life in testimony of his zeal, 1 but except he be born, again he can not see the kingdom of God. g A man must be born again in order < to receive Christ, or embrace his doctrine in truth and reality. The import of the doctrine lead us to consider its NECEssiry. ”Ye must be born again” is not a mere dogma of theology, but a necessity arising from deep fundamental, basal principles of biology; hence we shall first cosid er the biological necessity. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” The term flesh, here, is generic, and is used in the Scriptures to desig nate man as a whole, and compre hends him with all his attributes, all his powers, parts and capaci ties, including body, soul and spirit m their mysterious combi nation jn constituting the human personalty. It is equivalent to saying, That which is born of man is man. Men by nature are dead in tres passes and sins. This death is not merely a moral or ethical condi tion, but a condition extending far beyond the moral or ethical sphere. It is a biological condition. Take this illustration: “Science divides , this world into two great king doms, the organic and inorganic, or in equivalent terms, the dead and the living. The stone belongs to the inorganic or dead king dom, the plant to the organic or living kingdom. The difference between the stone and the plant is a biological difference. Again, the organic kingdom manifests dis- ferent orders of life; animal life and vegetable lite. ’ The difference between the an • imal and the tree is a biologica ' difference. They belong to dif ferent orders of life. Now, just as the animal life is of a higher order than vegetable life, so Christ’s life is of a higher order thanadamic 1 or natural life. And just as the tree, although alive in its own or der, is dead to the presence and voice of the bird that sings among its branches, so is, man, although alive to all within his environment, dead to the things of the Spirit of God. This truth, although most persistently disputed, most vehe mently opposed and wickedly ridiculed, by professors of chris tianity, is legibly and indelibly written in the stones and in the trees, in the earth and in the sky, and in the ex perience of millions of hnman hearts. Man, then, is cut off from the kingdom of God by the deep, mysterious, impassible gulf that separates the non-living from the living, the organic from the inor ganic, the natural from the spirit ual. As man enters this world by a birth, just so he enters the king dom of God by a birth; and as his birth into this world was con tingent upon things entirely out side of himself, so his birth into the kingdom of God is contingent upon things entirely outside ot himself. This birth is “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God?” So says the Scripture. Except a man be born be cannot see the world, is a fact which none can deny, and which none would ever think of denying. But how few of all who have read it acquiesce so readily in the con clusive truth of its analogous ex pression, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” We turn now from the biological to the experimental necessity of this birth. Children may be most carefully trained from their youth m the name of Christ and in the a_nd tq- , ligious observances, but except they be born again they have no more knowlege of Christ than if they had never heard his name. This birth is the beginning of Christian experience, and all that is ever seen, felt, heard and known of grace in this world, or glory in th® world to come, is but the de velopment of the life imparted in this birth. All knowledge of Christ is vital or experimental knowledge; this includes all knowledge of the need of Christ. I once thought that the time when the child of grace received his hope and experienced deliverance was when he was bom again; but I have come to a different conclu sion. Who can remember when he was born naturally? Let the mind run back to childhood, to our earliest recollections, even to the very borders of infancy; but our birth was prior to that. AIT things fade from our memory, and we are lost in a sea of oblivion, and still the time of our birth is not reached. We grew into the domain of mem ory, passing through a long stage of which we know nothing at all. Think back over your experience; you came to many Ebenezers, to many mile stones and memorable places;you approach the time when hope came to you, a helpless sin ner, but the birth was before this. Yon pass on to the time when you first realized that you were a sin ner indeed, but tße birth was be fore this, and this was only the re sult of it. How long before you felt the first movements of soul you were born I cannot tell, but it was before. Those who place this birth upon conditions to be complied with by those receiving it, have never seen the necessity of it. If a man can repent of his sins and be lieve in Jesus before lie is born again, then the scriptures are not true. This notion of religion puts the cart before the horse, puts the fruit before the tree, the effect for the cause. Without this birth sin would never be hated and holiness would never be loved, poverty of spirit would never be felt, and the riches of Christ would never be prized; none would ever hunger and thirst after righteousness, and the bread which came down from heaven would never be desired; the fountain of living waters would never be sought,there would be none to love the truth, and faith would not be found on the earth; the wilderness would never blos som as the rose, and the parched ground would never become a pool, the name of God would be but an empty sound, and his existence a mere matter of speculation, and all worship would be but dry for mality and empty mockery. EFFECTS, The person effected by the new birth is the Adamic sinner. This needs no argument, for there is no other personality on earth, and personalities in heaven do not need it. The immediate effects make up what is called Christian experience, and belong to time; the ultimate effect is to awake in the likeness of Christ, and is rea lized in the resurrection. The ef fects are evidences to us that we have been born again. Let us now examine ourselves, and prove our selves, and see whether we are in deed what we profess to be, or only graceless hypocrites, carnal professors, who have never known the love of Christ or the power of his resurrection. The ino menttis question ever propounded to an exercised heart is, Have I been born again? And when we begin to examine ourselves, the evidence that the carnal mind seeks is not found within us; but we are full of things that our tra ditional notions of religion record against us. The carnal mind is not’eligible either to sit as judge or to testify as witness in the trial of a Christian,because it is enmity against God, and cannot be sub ject to his Jaw. ( [To be continued.] - I7 # ■ | jffipenenpe. Dear Brother Simms. It is with a great sense of my unworthiness that I make the at ijempt to write my experience and call to the Ministry, if indeed I have any as it appears so small. When I was a child about seven years old, I remember well on one occasion that my mind was greatly exercised upon the subject of death and eternity so much so that I could not sleep at night. One night after meditating on those things until after midnight I left the room where my oldest brother and I were sleeping and went in to my father’s and mother’s room in so much trouble I did not be lieve I would live until day again. I thought I would awake them and tell bow I felt, but did not; for when I thought it over I did not want them to know anything about it. I made up a little fire and sat down by it, sobbing in tears of agony and despair. After quite a time my father awoke and asked what was the matter with me I re plied.” Nothing Sir.” He bid me go back to my bed, which I did, but did not sleep any . during the whole night. This feeling of sadness and gloom continued with me for many days. My good mother would often ask me it I was not sick. I always told her that nothing was the matter, feeling at the same , time that everything was the mat- ; ter. One night along about this time I dreamed I was in a certain lare some distance from my fathers house, and I saw a large black man coming for me with the ihtent to kill me, I ran a little way and become so frightened un til I was helpless, and conld not run at all. But as he put forth his hand to catch me there appear ed a lovely looking man arrayed in a long white gown, and with great authority rebuked my pur suer and turned away. When I awoke my dread of death and eter nal ruin was all gone, and I was in a pleasant frame of mind, and felt < like I was going to be a good boy, for I did not want to get in that condition more. Now dear brother Simms this may appear to you and your many readers as only a child’s dream without significance. But forty years have elapsed tince that time, and it is as fresh in my mind now as when it first occurred. I do not suppose I would have mention ed it as any part of my experience if I hadinot realized more mighty things to which I shall allude fur ther o»| As I grew up to manhood, I, in common with many other boys, learned how to indulge in many wicked habits. The war broke out, and I was so disobedient, that, al though only fifteen years old, I ran away and went with my oldest brother and enlisted in the south ern army, where I learned some thing. o|all kinds of wickedness. My brother; who was so near to me was kilted in battle at Chancellors ville, Va., and I felt to be alone in the world, exposed to dangers, and felt almost friendless. At Fred ricksbitg I was shot down twice. At Gettysburg I was captured and spent the remainder of the war in prison.? I mention this part of my life because I think I can see the invisible hand of God in my protection or preservation in all these great perils ot a soldier life. Sometimes I can look back over those perilous, but honorable con flicts and believe that God’s pro tecting hand was over me then and I knew it not. On the 23rd day of December, 1866,1 was married to a Miss San ders, who has proven to be a faith ful companion, and willing bur den-bearer until this day. ]n 1872, one morning while alone in the field I was enabled to see the sins of my past life, and a deep sense of guilt seized on to my very soul. I stopped in wonder and astonishment. Although strong, and in the very bloom of manhood the sight of my sins of the past, and the guilt of my wicked heart, taken away my strength, and I stood trembling like aMeaf. I felt so guilty that I tO Celt I on fhinLord for mercy, for I felt thatmy condemnation was just,and there was lio mercy for me. But what else could I do? I could not live in this condition. The breath ing of my heart was, “Lord have mercy on a poor ruined sinner.” What an awful future lay before! In this way I went on, not escap ing the notice of my wife and oth ers., I had tried to pray many times, but grew worse, till at last I decided the Lord would not hear such a wicked wretch as I. But I thought of an old brother 800n — a Primitive Baptist—a sect I had always.hated; I thought the Lord might hear him in my behalf. I went to him, but could not tell him my business, and left him, carrying with me a heavy heart. In abo|t three months from this time, I was in so much trouble it seemedlike I could not bear it. I had dohe everything I knew what to do. I had offered myself to the Lord in tears, and still my trouble remained. At t>is moment I went to a lit tle spring for a drink of water, and when in the act of drinking the same beautiful man that.l saw in my dream twenty years before I appeared before me. He seemed to appear again just in time to save me. My trouble left me, and I felt the praises of the Lord ia my soul. But I soon be gan to doubt. My trouble was gone, but I did not know how nor why. Like the poor blind man whose eyes the Savior had opened. I had a fullness of joy, without the knowledge of who had done the work- I was afterwards made to feel that it was my Savior that had healed me, but have had many doubts about it, and so continue to doubt until this day. But I know that from that day until this, I have not had that fear of punish ment after death that I had before. While in this sweet state of mind I saw the plan of salvation full and complete in Jesus, and believ ed that his righteousness wassufii- > dient to justify the ungodly. I : think I also saw the Primitive Baptists church as the church of > God—a glorified body of Chris ’ tians. I could see that salvation i was treasured up in Jesus before the word was, but was made mani- • fest to the heirs of promise in these last times. ' I kept all these things to my- ■ self, but was not allowed to rest 1 here very long. I soon felt that I must tell it to the church, and the ■ Primitive Baptists were that peo ple, But I had been such a bitter enemy to them, and said so many i hard things about them, I could not see how they could forgive me • and receive me. But my heart ■ was there and I could rest. One day I went to a Primitive • Baptist meeting in a very dark cast down condition; for by this t ime I had decided I was one alone in the world, and unworthy of a home among the Lord's people. A good many ministers were in at tendance,but I did hot know any of them except Elder H. Temples and W.B. Carr. Elder Temples preach ed from the text: “For lam de termined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him cru cified/’ That sermon I have never forgotten, and from that day until this I have loved that dear old el der as I think one brother should love Another. On Saturday before the third Sunday in July, 1862,1 went before the church at Myrtle Springs, in Wilkinson county, Ga., and told in part what I have written, and was received and baptised next day by Elder I. J. Keel. I now thought my trials were over, and that I should rest in my Saviors love the remainder of my life. But I was soon burdened with a desire to tell of the Saviors love to his people and of his ability to save them. But the very thought of being called a preacher was very unpleasant to me. I wrestled with the Lord, and prayed to be relieved from such sacred responsib'lities; lor I was an ignorant man I knew, and could never be profitable in such a holy work. But my disobe dience brought me into great trou-j bie and I begun a f i ease of mind by trying to speak in the good name of my heavenly Master, and have continued till now in much weakness, but have never told it all yet, nor never ex pect to do so in this life, but my hope is I shall sing it in eternity. Dear Brother Simms I submit this poor scribble to your better judgment. Your Unworthy Broth er in Gospel Bonds, J. L. Smith. Arlen, Ga. Dixie, Ga ; April 6th,1895* Elder Lee Hanks. Dearly Beloved Brother in Christ: I have been trying to keep from writing you this morning from a felt sense of my unworthiness and personal imperfections, together with the knowledge of your being so highly favored of the Lord. I feel that the Lord’s time has truly come to own and bless His inheri tance. David says “Save thy peo ple and bless thine inheritance, feed them also, and lift them up forever.” I feel this morning to sb much thank ourHeavenlyFath er for such precious gifts as you and many others, to His dear peo ple. In speaking last Saturday oh the “home son” and the prodigal, you so sweetly described my own experience as I feel from my very soul that Jesus had already shown me before I heard you preach; and while you was preaching my own personal experience so sweetly I was made to feel that you was tru-, ly a minister of Christ, and that Jesus was speaking through you to me, a poor undeserving wretch, to make me know that what I had felt concering this parable was true. Jesus says “It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteh noth ing ; the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.” I feel so much better since I heard you preach about the prod igal’s return. I feel so much more confirmed in the blessed assurance that my heavenly Father for Jesus sake still loves me. What a con descension for God to love the way- ward child and to restore him into his loving favor after he had been disobedient and gone so far from his Fathers house, but thank God the poor prodigal came to himself off from home, from his fathers house, in a strange country,perish ing with hunger and no man to give him the bread he so much wanted, the bread he must have to keep him from perishing. How could he get it? None there in that far coun try, and he realized that of his own lusts he had gotten off from his father’s house, was in the midst of hunger,poverty and destitution, in a place where he cant get what he needs to satisfy his hunger, he remembers his * father’s house, his father’s servants and that they have bread and to spare and yet he, away yonder where he had. spent his stubstance, ( the goods that his father had given him) with riotous living, hungering for my father’s bread. Remembering now how good he was to me while with him and living under his commandments how many sweet fruits I then joyed from his bounty. Not so now, I am here in a strange land feeding swine with husks, would fain fill my belly with the busks that the swine do eat, but no man gives unto mie. I am hungry, I am perishing,! feel it, I know that I cant live here, I have been here sometime I know there is nothing here for me. I am afraid I will perish, I know that my father has a right to be angry with me and net care for me any longer notwithstanding impediments are in my way and I am almost dead yet I remember how he loved me when I was with him and something seems to draw me back to him it may be I will find favor in his sight. I will say unto him “Father I have sinned against and before thee, and am no more wothy to be called thy son make me as one of thy hired servants?’ And he arose and came to his father, and thank God he did and also’that his father recognized him and had compassion on him, and had his servants to put the best robe on shim, and a ring on his hand, and calf killed that they ate and were merry over the event thatifcthe son who was dead was alive again. Dear brother I did not aim to be so tideous when I began writing. I just aimed to let you know that I believed you to b© a true tried servant of God, and that you Were obedient to the heavenly calling and that the dear Lord, the God. of Israel was withholding no good thing from you. Dear tried and faithful brother and servant of the most High, “Press toward the mark of the prize of the high call ing of God in Christ Jesus.” By and by our Father will call you home to himself and then you will be given a crown of righteous ness and enter into the joys of our Lord, the inheritance of the saints in glory. Will be sure to ex pect you to come here and stay all night with me and preach at night at the Methodist Church and then go with me to our church next day, 3rd Saturday in May. Please Jet me know about the little sister, she was dying Sunday morning, all about her, etc. I am very anxious to hear—l was compelled lo leave on account of the weather. Yours in Tribulation. John M. Rentfroe. i - The annual meeting at Bethel, Hamilton county, Florida, conven ing on Friday before the fourth Sunday, passed off in love and harmony. Many of the dear saints shed terrs of joy as they listened to the “Old, Old Story of Jesus and his love.” Quite a large crowd were in attendance op Sun day, many of whom could not be accommodated with seats.—B. The Christian learns that salva tion is of the Lord by being over whelmed by the billows of hope less despair. If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my ap pointed time will I wait, till my change come.—Job 14: 14.