a consciousness, similar to St. Paul's, of the divided
self. It starts from radical pessimism. It only attains to religious
peace through great tribulation. It is the religion of the 'sick soul'
as contrasted with that of 'healthy-mindedness.' But, morbid as it may
appear, to be disturbed by past sin, it is really the 'twice-born' who
have sounded the depths of the human heart, and have been the greatest
religious leaders. And so far from the sense of the need of repentance
being the sign of a diseased mind, the decreasing consciousness of sin
in our day may only prove the shallowness of the modern mind. What men
need of religion is power. And there is a danger of people to-day
losing a sense of the dynamic force of the older Gospel.[18]

But whether Paul's case is abnormal or the reverse, it is surely a
false inference that, because Christ grew up without the need of
conversion, His life affords in this respect a pattern to sinful men.
It is just His perfect union with God which differentiates Him entirely
from ordinary men; and that which may be necessary for sinful creatures
is unthinkable in His case. What He was we are to become. But before
we can follow Him, there is for us, because of sin, a preliminary
step--a breaking with our evil past. And, in all His teaching our Lord
clearly recognises this. His first call is a call to repentance. It
is indeed the childlike mind He requires; but He significantly says
that 'except _ye turn_ and become as little children, ye shall in no
wise enter the kingdom of heaven.'[19]

The decision of will demanded of Jesus, while it may not {174}
necessarily involve a catastrophe of life or convulsion of nature, must
be none the less a deliberate and decisive turning from evil to good.
By what road a man must travel before he enters the kingdom, through
what convulsion of spirit be must pass, so frequently dwelt upon by St.
Paul and illustrated by his own life, Christ does not say. In the
Fourth Gospel there is one reported saying describing a process of
spiritual agony, like that of physical child-birth, indicative that the
change must be radical, and that at some point of experience the great
decision must be made, a decision which is likely to involve deep
travail of soul.

There are many ways in which a man may become a Christian. Some men
have to undergo, like Paul, fierce inward conflict. Others glide
quietly, almost imperceptibly, into richer and ampler region