Christianity is not simply a set of rules to be followed, nor a system of ethics or morals to be adopted. It is a life--a new life, different from common human life, a life implanted and imparted to us in Christ. "He that hath the Son hath life." It is God-life, and manifests its powers and tendencies in the new tastes and ways of the Christian who has been thus born again. Christian character is not built up by mechanical rules, but grows by an inward force. For illustration, there are two possible ways of making a tree, or what would pass for a tree. One would be to examine a tree minutely and reproduce it by artificial means, body and bark and limb and twig and leaf, according to our power to imitate. That would be very hard to do, and would result in a tree which, though it may look very deceiving, would not be a real tree, after all. The other way would be to procure a seed and plant it, and let the life in the seed do the rest, the while we just care for it and tend it. Now the Christlike character is also the product of life like the tree, and [158] proceeds from divine seed. A man who would not truly come to Christ might, as many do, admire the character of Christ and strive by rule and will to imitate it. That would be the artificial way, and also the impossible way; for never on earth can the flesh be trained and cultivated to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Another man, having heard of Christ, puts his trust in him and accepts him from the heart as Lord and Savior, according to the gospel. Now he has a new life within him, which, if it be tended and nurtured and defended as God teaches us, will culminate in the full likeness of the Son of God. For we shall be like him when he shall appear.

[TAG 158-159]