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hope was dead; one disbelieved, and others had reverted to 
their old calling, “I go a-fishing;” “we also go with thee.” 
A few weeks elapse, and all craven fears are gone. Where- 
fore ? They had witnessed a spectacle which held them as by 
a spell ; they had heard words, hanging upon which they 
waited earnestly from day to day for the promise ; and at 
length, gathered in one place, they entered that upper 
chamber for the last time as mere expectants, and emerged 
confessors and heroes, some soon to be martyrs. This is 
history, if any history be extant ; and the key to all is, that 
the Spirit had descended upon them — they had been born from 
above. Nothing else in the narrative — nothing that any school 
of thought suggests, explains the phenomena. Another 
instance. St. Paul leaves Jerusalem, breathing slaughter 
against “ all of this way,” and when he reaches Damascus he 
is a believer ; henceforth his every instinct is bent backwards ; 
Saul is now Paul, the persecutor has become the Apostle. He, 
too, has seen a light, heard a voice, felt a power, and he is 
changed, born of the Spirit. Nothing but this satisfies the 
facts of the case. And these are types ; not alone these, e.g., 
the jailer at Philippi, Lydia, and others, and reproduced in 
myriads of cases from that day to this. Not always as obvious, 
but always as real. As well believe vegetable and animal life 
to have no cause, as believe spiritual life to have none. As 
well believe animal and mental and moral life not diverse, as 
believe that spiritual life differs not from each and all. Of all 
perceptible things, nothing is so perceptible ; of all reality, 
nothing so real as that which stirs the soul and vibrates 
through the spirit that is in man. 
2ndty. That the believer’s course is the proper exponent 
of this new and spiritual birth — his outer life the reflection of 
his inner being. Again I draw my example from apostolic 
times. On receiving the spiritual life, the first demand of 
St. Paul was — “ What wilt Thou have me to do ? ” When the 
time of his departure was at hand, his note of spiritual 
triumph was — “ I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
my course, I have kept the faith.” What that fight, course, 
and faith were, I need not here detail. No pure fiction is 
more marvellous ; no conceivable career less earth-born ; no 
achievements more noble. Philosophy presents no parallel ; 
philanthropy no rival ; humanity no equal. It was the legiti- 
mate “ fruit of the Spirit.” Again, the disciples, as a body. 
a.d. 33, ushered in a great persecution of the Church at 
Jerusalem, and the disciples were scattered abroad, except 
the Apostles, and they that were scattered abroad went 
everywhere preaching the Word. Now, whether we regard 
