not give
us entrance into God's kingdom, we need go no further than our own
consciousness. Remove the restraints which grace puts upon our nature,
and we are aware that we are not in sympathy with God, fond of His will,
disposed for His service. Let nature have its swing, and every man knows
it is not the kingdom of God it takes him to. To all men it is natural
to eat, drink, sleep, think; we are born to these things, and need to
put no constraint on our nature to do them; but can any man say it has
come naturally to him to be what he ought to be to God? Do we not to
this hour feel drawn away from God as if we were not in our element in
His presence? Flesh, nature, in God's presence is as much out of its
element as a stone in the air or a fish out of water. Men who have had
the deepest religious experience have seen it most clearly, and have
felt, like Paul, that the flesh lusts against the spirit, and draws us
ever back from entire submission to God and delight in Him.

Perhaps the necessity of the second birth may be more clearly
apprehended if we consider it from another point of view. In this world
we find a number of creatures which have what is known as animal life.
They can work, and feel, and, in a fashion, think. They have wills, and
certain dispositions, and distinctive characteristics. Every creature
that has animal life has a certain nature according to its kind, and
determined by its parentage; and this nature which the animal receives
from its parents determines from the first the capabilities and sphere
of the animal's life. The mole cannot soar in the face of the sun like
the eagle; neither can the bird that comes out of the eagle's egg burrow
like the mole. No training can possibly make the tortoise as swift as
the antelope, or the antelope as strong as the lion. If a mole began to
fly and enjoy the sunlight it must be counted a new kind of creature,
and no longer a mole. The very fact of its passing certain limitations
shows that another nature has somehow been infused into it. Beyond its
own nature no animal can act. You might as well attempt to give the
eagle the appearance of the serpent as try to teach it to crawl. Each
kind of animal is by its birth endowed with its own nature, fitting it
to do certain things, and making other things impossible. So is it with
us: we are born with certain faculties and endowments, with a certain
nature; and just as all animals, without receiving any new, individual