" but as one reads on he finds, as if the writer dreaded the
very misconception, the complement, "For it is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of His good pleasure."

It will be noticed in these passages, and in others which might be
named, that the process of transformation is referred indifferently to
the agency of each Person of the Trinity in turn. We are not concerned
to take up this question of detail. It is sufficient that the
transformation is wrought. Theologians, however, distinguish thus: the
indirect agent is Christ, the direct influence is the Holy Spirit. In
other words, Christ by his Spirit renews the souls of men.

Is man, then, out of the arena altogether? Is he mere clay in the hands
of the potter, a machine, a tool, an automaton? Yes and No. If he were a
tool he would not be a man. If he were a man he would have something to
do. One need not seek to balance what God does here, and what man does.
But we shall attain to a sufficient measure of truth on a most delicate
problem if we make a final appeal to the natural life. We find that in
maintaining this natural life Nature has a share and man has a share. By
far the larger part is done for us--the breathing, the secreting, the
circulating of the blood, the building up of the organism. And although
the part which man plays is a minor part, yet, strange to say, it is not
less essential to the well being, and even to the being, of the whole.
For instance, man has to take food. He has nothing to do with it after
he has once taken it, for the moment it passes his lips it is taken in
hand by reflex actions and handed on from one organ to another, his
control over it, in the natural course of things, being completely lost.
But the initial act was his. And without that nothing could have been
done. Now whether there be an exact analogy between the voluntary and
involuntary functions in the body, and the corresponding processes in
the soul, we do not at present inquire. But this will indicate, at
least, that man has his own part to play. Let him choose Life; let him
daily nourish his soul; let him forever starve the old life; let him
abide continuously as a living branch in the Vine, and the True-Vine
Life will flow into his soul, assimilating, renewing, conforming to
Type, till Christ, pledged by His own law, be formed in him.

We have been dealing with Christianity at its most mystical point. Mark
here once more its absolute naturalness. The pur