“Then, rising higher in the scale of being, you have human life.  Every man, woman, and child posesses, as it were, a trinity of existence; namely, physical life, mental life, and soul life; each being a marvel in itself.

     “Then, rising higher still, we have a life more important, and
     bringing more glory to God than any of the other forms that I have
     noticed, and that is Spiritual Life.

     “On this Spiritual Life let me make one or two remarks.

“Spiritual Life is Divine in its origin.  It is a creation of the Holy Spirit.  I need not dwell on this truth.  Jesus Christ was at great trouble to teach it.  ‘Marvel not,’ He said, ’ye must be born again.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.’  You have gone through this experience yourselves.  You must insist on it in your people.  Spiritual life proceeds from God.  It can be obtained in no other way.

     “Spiritual Life not only proceeds from God, but partakes of the
     nature of God.

     “We see this principle, that the life imparted partakes of the
     nature of the author of being that imparts it, illustrated around
     us in every direction.

“The tree partakes of the nature of the tree from which it is derived.  The animal partakes of the nature of the creature that it begets.  The child partakes of the nature of its parents.  So the soul, born of God, will possess the nature of its Author.  Its life will be divine.

     “This is a mystery.  We cannot understand it, but the Apostle
     distinctly affirms it when he says, the Son of God is a partaker of
     the Divine nature.

     “Spiritual Life, like all other life, carries with it the
     particular powers belonging to its own nature.

     “Every kind of life has its own particular powers—­senses,
     instincts, or whatever they may be called.

     “Vegetable life has its powers, enabling it to draw nutrition out
     of the ground.

     “Fish life has power adapting it to an existence in the water.

     “Animal life has powers or senses suitable to its sphere of
     existence, such as seeing, hearing, tasting, and the like.

“Human life has faculties, emotions, loves and hatreds, suitable to its manner of existence.  And it has its own peculiar destiny.  It goes back to God, to be judged as to its conduct when its earthly career terminates.

“And the Spiritual Life of which we are speaking has powers or faculties necessary to the maintenance of its existence, and to the discharge of the duties appropriate to the sphere in which it moves.  For instance:  it has powers to draw from God the nourishment it requires; it has powers to see or discern spiritual things; it has powers to distinguish holy people; it has powers to love truth, and to hate falsehood; it has powers to suffer and sacrifice for the good of others.  It has powers to know, and love, and glorify its Maker.

     “Those possessed of this Spiritual Life, like all other beings, act
     according to their nature.