e vegetable
kingdom it is the augmentative spirit or power of growth, the animus of
life and development in plants, trees and organisms of the floral world.
In this degree of its manifestation spirit is unconscious of the powers
which qualify the kingdom of the animal. The distinctive virtue or plus of
the animal is sense perception; it sees, hears, smells, tastes and feels
but is incapable, in turn, of conscious ideation or reflection which
characterizes and differentiates the human kingdom. The animal neither
exercises nor apprehends this distinctive human power and gift. From the
visible it cannot draw conclusions regarding the invisible, whereas the
human mind from visible and known premises attains knowledge of the
unknown and invisible. For instance, Christopher Columbus from information
based upon known and provable facts drew conclusions which led him
unerringly across the vast ocean to the unknown continent of America. Such
power of accomplishment is beyond the range of animal intelligence.
Therefore, this power is a distinctive attribute of the human spirit and
kingdom. The animal spirit cannot penetrate and discover the mysteries of
things. It is a captive of the senses. No amount of teaching, for
instance, would enable it to grasp the fact that the sun is stationary,
and the earth moves around it. Likewise, the human spirit has its
limitations. It cannot comprehend the phenomena of the Kingdom
transcending the human station, for it is a captive of powers and life
forces which have their operation upon its own plane of existence, and it
cannot go beyond that boundary.

There is, however, another Spirit, which may be termed the Divine, to
which Jesus Christ refers when He declares that man must be born of its
quickening and baptized with its living fire. Souls deprived of that
Spirit are accounted as dead, though they are possessed of the human
spirit. Jesus Christ has pronounced them dead inasmuch as they have no
portion of the Divine Spirit. He says, "Let the dead bury their dead." In
another instance He declares, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh;
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." By this He means that
souls, though alive in the human kingdom, are nevertheless dead if devoid
of this particular spirit of divine quickening. They have not partaken of
the divine life of the higher Kingdom, for the soul which partakes of the
power of the Divine Spirit is, verily, living.

This quickening