“Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“ ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’
“How stupid it was in the good old doctor to stumble at this sublime sentence, and to ask:
“ ‘How can a man be born again when he is old?’
“And the reply of Jesus, how beautiful!—
“ ‘Verily I say unto you, 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; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’
“I understand it, Lazarus; I see, feel, know, comprehend the whole mystery. It may be the flower comprehends the sun better than the philosopher.
“We were born of water through the baptism of John. By the repentance and obedience taught by him, we are washed of the uncleanness and sensuality of our old life and enter upon the sweetness and purity of the new. Jesus will baptize us with the Spirit of divine love, as John did with the spirit of divine truth; and we shall be new creatures, born again as it were, into a spiritual kingdom of light and peace.
“The Sabbath after my interview with Nicodemus, I started with Martha to the temple, hoping to see Jesus with my own eyes. And I saw him, Lazarus, not only with my eyes, but with my heart and soul. We had reached the pool of Bethesda by the sheep-market, and [pg 136]were looking at the crowd of feeble and paralytic people, who were waiting for the periodical moving of the water, when a murmur arose: ‘The prophet, the prophet of Nazareth!’ I looked and saw Jesus standing in one of the porches on the first step that leads down into the water.