ruth holds good in the
opposite camp. There are undoubtedly men whose genius is brilliant
because inspired by an evil spirit. There are cultured scholarly men,
and keen shrewd business men who have yielded their powers to another
than God and are greatly assisted by evil spirits, though it is quite
likely that they are not conscious that this is the true analysis of
their success.

The second fact to note is that no matter how keen or developed a man's
powers may be either as just suggested, or, by dint of native strength
and of his own effort they are still of necessity less than they would
be if swayed by the Spirit of God. For man is created to be indwelt and
inspired by God's Spirit, and his powers _can_ not be at their best
pitch save as the conditions of their creation are met.

The third fact:--_There will be a gradual bringing back to their normal
condition of those facilities which have been dwarfed, or warped, or
abnormally developed through sin and selfishness._ Sometimes these moral
twists and quirks in our mental faculties are an inheritance through one
or more generations. The man with excessive egotism often carries the
evidence of it in the very shape of his head. But as he yields to the
new Spirit dominant within, a spirit of humility, of modesty will
gradually displace so much of the other as is abnormal. The man of
superficial mind will be deepened in his mental processes. The man of
hasty judgment or poor judgment will grow careful in his conclusions.
The lazy man will get a new lease of ambition and energy.

These results will be gradual, as all of God's processes are. Sometimes
painfully gradual, and will be strictly in proportion as the man yields
himself unreservedly to the control of the indwelling Spirit. And the
process will be by the injection of a new and mighty motive power. The
shallow-minded man will have an intense desire to study God's wondrous
classic so as to learn His will. And though his studies may not get much
farther, yet no one book so disciplines and deepens the mind as that.
The lazy man will find a fire kindling in his bones to please his Master
and do something for Him, that will burn through and burn up his
indolence. The man of hasty judgment will find himself stopping to
consider what his Master would desire. And the mere pause to think is a
long step toward more accurate judgment. He will become a reverent
student of the word of God, and nothing corrects the judgment l