Jesus to Nicodemus.--Jesus, when he uttered those words, was speaking to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a Pharisee, and, as some suppose, a member of the Sanhedrim. Favorably inclined toward the unpopular Nazarene, yet too politic to be seen associating with him openly, Nicodemus came to him by night, avowing a belief that he was "a teacher come from God." In response to this confession of faith, Jesus taught Nicodemus the doctrine embodied in the lines I have quoted. A Subject of Controversy.--"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." Probably no theme connected with the gospel of Christ has caused more controversy than this positive and important declaration, the meaning of which, however plain to Christians anciently, has been a matter of uncertainty to their successors all down the centuries. From the days of the early Greek fathers of the Christian Church, to the days of St. Augustine, the great theologian of the Western or Roman Catholic division of that church; from his time to the time of Luther and Calvin, and thence on into the present age, men have disputed over the significance of those sacred words, over the mystical birth of water and of spirit, declared by the world's Redeemer to be the doorway to his Church, the portal of admittance into his kingdom. What is Baptism?--Over the general meaning of the phrase, "born of water and of the Spirit," there may have been no serious contention. In all or most of the Christian denominations, Catholic and Protestant, that phrase means baptism, the ordinance whereby a person is initiated into the Church. But what does baptism mean? That is the problem. The significance, form, purpose, and effects of the ordinance, and whether or not it is necessary to salvation--these questions have furnished the backbone of the controversy. And yet they are questions easily answered, problems readily solved, if we take the Holy Spirit for our guide, and wrest not the Scriptures. The Savior's Example.--The New Testament teaches plainly the necessity of baptism. The words of Jesus, already quoted, may be reinforced by the following passages: "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. "But John forbade Him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? "And Jesus, answering, said unto him: Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him." (Matthew 3:13-15.) A Universal Requirement.--If it was becoming in the Son of God to be baptized, it is becoming in all who follow in his footsteps and hope to be with him hereafter. They must be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized with--not only the baptism of suffering, through which "the captain of our salvation" was "made perfect," but the baptism of water and of spirit, received by him at the River Jordan, nineteen centuries ago.