oking at it merely as a matter of practice, and without any
reference to the views and motives from which it proceeds; most opposed
is it to the spirit of true religion, which is intended to fit us for
all circumstances of life as they come, in order that we may be humble,
docile, ready, patient, and cheerful,--in order that we may really show
ourselves God's servants, who do all things for Him, coming when He
calleth, going when He sendeth, doing this or that at His bidding. So
much for the practice of such men; and when we go higher, and ask _why_
they are thus formal and unbending in their mode of life, what are the
principles that make them thus harsh and unserviceable, I fear we must
trace it to some form of selfishness and pride; the same principles
which, under other circumstances, would change the profligate into the
covetous and parsimonious.

I think it will appear at once that St. Paul's conversion, however it
was effected, and whatever was the process of it, resembled neither the
one nor the other of these. That it was not the change of a fickle
mind is shown by his firmness in keeping to his new faith--by his
constancy unto death, a death of martyrdom. That it was not the change
of a proud and disappointed mind, quitting with disgust what he once
loved too well, is evidenced by the variety of his labours, his active
services, and continued presence in the busy thoroughfares of the
world; by the cheerfulness, alacrity, energy, dexterity, and
perseverance, with which he pleaded the cause of God among sinners. He
reminds us of his firmness, as well as gentleness, when he declares,
"What mean ye to weep, and break my heart? for I am ready not to be
bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord
Jesus," and of his ready accommodation of himself to the will of God,
in all its forms, when he says, "I am made all things to all men, that
I might by all means save some[2]."

3. But there is another kind of sudden conversion, or rather what
appears to be such, not uncommonly found, and which may be that to
which St. Paul's conversion is to be referred, and which I proceed to
describe.

When men change their religious opinions really and truly, it is not
merely their opinions that they change, but their hearts; and this
evidently is not done in a moment--it is a slow work; nevertheless,
though gradual, the change is often not uniform, but proceeds, so to
say, by fits and starts, being influenc