A man may, most men do, undergo this process of renovation many times in their lives; whenever an idea strong enough to divert his thoughts (as we most correctly say) from all that went before is introduced, the man becomes a new creature; when he is “in love,” for example; when the fascinations of art or of nature take hold of him; an access of responsibility may bring about a sudden and complete conversion:-- The breath no sooner left his father’s body But that his wildness, mortified in him, Seem’d to die too; yea, at that very moment, Consideration, like an angel, came And whipp’d the offending Adam out of him; Leaving his body as a paradise To envelop and contain celestial spirits. Here is a picture--psychologically true, anyway, Shakespeare makes no mistakes in psychology--of an immediate absolute conversion. The conversion may be to the worse, alas, and not to the better, and the value of the conversion must depend upon the intrinsic worthiness of the idea by whose instrumentality it is brought about. The point worth securing is, that man carries in his physical structure the conditions of renovation; conditions, so far as we can conceive, always in working order, always ready to be put in force. Wherefore “conversion” in the Biblical sense, in the sense in which the promoters of this scheme depend upon its efficacy, though a miracle of divine grace in so far as it is a sign and a marvel, is no miracle in the popular sense of that which is outside of and opposed to the workings of “natural law.” Conversion is entirely within the divine scheme of things, even if we choose to limit our vision of that scheme to the “few, faint, and feeble” flashes which Science is as yet able to throw upon the mysteries of being. But is this all? Ah, no; this is no more than the dim vestibule of nature to the temple of grace; we are not concerned, however, to say one word here of how “great is the mystery of godliness;” of the cherishing of the Father, the saving and the indwelling of the Son, the sanctifying of the Spirit; neither need we speak of “spiritual wickedness in high places.” The aim of this slight essay is to examine the assertion that what we call conversion is contrary to natural law; and we do this with a view, not to General Booth’s scheme only, but to all efforts of help. Hope shows an ever stronger case for the regeneration of the vicious. Not only need we be no more oppressed by the fear of an inheritance of invincible propensities to evil, but the strength of life-long habit may be vanquished by the power of an idea, new habits of thought may be set up on the instant, and these may be fostered and encouraged until that habit which is ten natures is the habit of the _new_ life, and the thoughts which, so to speak, think themselves all day long are thoughts of purity and goodness. THE LAW FOR US--POTENCY OF AN IDEA.