Little did any there know of the power of
the unseen Spirit of God to alter the heart, producing what
religionists term the new birth. We do not wish, however, to be
understood that Peter had, as yet, fully experienced this vast
change. It is not often the work of a moment, though well-
authenticated modern instances do exist, in which we have every
reason to believe that men have been made to see and feel the truth
almost as miraculously as was St. Paul himself. As for this
extraordinary savage, he had entered into the strait and narrow way,
though he was not far advanced on its difficult path.
When men tell us of the great progress that the race is making
toward perfection, and point to the acts which denote its wisdom,
its power to control its own affairs, its tendencies toward good
when most left to its own self-control, our minds are filled with
scepticism. The every-day experience of a life now fast verging
toward threescore, contradicts the theory and the facts. We believe
not in the possibility of man's becoming even a strictly rational
being, unaided by a power from on high; and all that we have seen
and read goes to convince us that HE is most of a philosopher, the
most accurate judge of his real state, the most truly learned, who
most vividly sees the necessity of falling back on the precepts of
revelation for all his higher principles and practice.
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