PLAIN AND PRACTICAL SERMONS; INTENDED CHIEFLY FOR FAMILY READING AND PAROCHIAL LIBRARIES. BY THE REV. THEOPHILUS BIDDULPH, A. M. MINISTER OF ST. MATTHEW's, BRISTOL; AND LATE FELLOW OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD. SECOND SERIES. BRISTOL: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY J. CHILCOTT, WINE STREET, MDCCCXXXVI. SERMON I. JOHN iii. 14, 15. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life." THE text is part of a discourse which our Lord held with one Nicodemus; who, though a ruler of the Jews and a teacher of the people, seems to have been exceedingly ignorant of the most essential points of saving truth. In our days, almost all children ten years of age, who have been to a Sunday school for a year, can tell us, that a man must be converted, and have the old heart exchanged for a new and better one, before he can go to heaven. But the wise and learned Nicodemus, though he was a ruler and a teacher of others in spiritual things, did not know even this plain and simple truth. When our Lord, who knew his ignorance, told him, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," he was astonished, and said, "How can these things be?" How great then are the spiritual advantages we enjoy! The very children at our schools know more about religious truth, and are wiser in the things that belong to their peace, than the best educated and most learned persons among the Jews of old time! B |