Jesus, ever calm, did not heed the cavil, but simply reiterated his declaration, that no man could become a member of the kingdom of God, unless, renewed in the spirit of his mind, he thus became a partaker of the divine nature. Nicodemus probably assumed that he, as a Jew, would be entitled by right of birth to membership in the kingdom of the Messiah. When a Gentile became a proselyte to the Jewish religion, by the rite of baptism he promised to renounce idolatry, to worship the true God, and to live in conformity with the divine law. The external rite gradually began to assume undue importance. Our Saviour, in announcing to Nicodemus the doctrine that a spiritual regeneration was needful, of which the application of water in baptism was merely the emblem, said, “Except a man be born of water _and of the Spirit_, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh,”――is corrupt: “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit,”――is pure. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” And then, in reply to queries which he foresaw were rising in the mind of Nicodemus, he continued: “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” This sublime truth is thus enunciated without any attempt at explanation. Why is one man led by the Holy Spirit to the Saviour, while another, certainly no less deserving, is not? This question has been asked through all the ages, but never answered. Where is the Christian who has not often said,―― “Why was I made to hear thy voice, And enter while there’s room, When thousands make a wretched choice, And rather starve than come?” Infinitely momentous as are these truths, they are the most simple truths in nature. Nothing can be more obvious to an observing and reflective man than that a thorough renovation of spirit is essential to prepare mankind for the society of spotless angels and for the worship of heaven. This is one of the most simple and rudimental of moral truths. And when Nicodemus, with the spirit of cavil still lingering in his mind, allowed himself to say, “How can these things be?” Jesus gently rebuked him, saying, “Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? If I have told you earthly things,”――the simplest truths of religion, obvious to every thoughtful man,――“and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?”――the sublime truths which can only be known by direct revelation.