Regeneration

Need of a New Birth. — I was staying one day at an inn

in one of the valleys of Northern Italy, where the floor was dreadfully dirty. I had it in my mind to advise the landlady to scrub it, but when I perceived it was made of mud, I reflected that the more she scrubbed the worse it would be. The man who knows his own heart soon perceives that his corrupt nature admits of no improvement; there must be a new nature implanted, or the man will be only “washed to deeper stains.” “Ye must be born again.” Ours is not a case for mending, but for making new. The meaning of the prayer in my text is, “Lord, do not chastise me, but turn me. Do thou do it thyself, and then it will be done. ‘Turn me, and I shall be turned, but if thou dost not do it I am past hope.” 0 troubled soul, if the Lord shall put his hand to the work this morning, what a wonderful change will he work in thee; but only his own right hand can do it. Pray, then, this prayer: “Turn me, and I shall be turned.”

“No outward forms can make you clean,
Your leprosy lies deep within.”