The  figures  that  represent  regeneration  would  teach,  if
they  were  pressed  to  perfect  consistency,  that  God  is  the
sole  actor  in  that  work,  and  man  is  passive.  The  same
conclusion  has  often  been  reached  by  reasoning.  But  this
cannot  be  the  whole  truth.  Under  the  veil  of  mystery  that
hides  the  act  of  God  in  regeneration  there  may  be  a  part


THE  HOLY  SPJA'/7\  AND  TJ/E  DIVINE  LIFE  IN  MAN      4OI

of  the  experience  in  which  man  is  wholly  passive  and  re*
ceptive,  for  we  know  that  God  does  a  work  that  is  truly  his
own;  but  in  the  beginning  of  the  divine  life  so  far  as  men
can  see  it,  man  is  not  wholly  passive,  but  performs  a  very
important  part.  Man's  part  in  the  establishment  of  the
divine  life  is  as  important  as  that  of  God,  and  the  result
cannot  be  obtained  without  the  one,  anymore  than  without
the  other.  The  divine  life  is  of  such  a  nature  that  man  must
be  active  in  initiating  it.  Surely  a  life  of  holy  love  cannot
be  begun  without  action  on  the  part  of  him  who  is  to  do
the  loving.  Effect  of  truth  upon  the  soul  implies  activity
of  the  soul.  Feeling  and  volition  are  the  man's  own,  how-
ever they  may  be  affected  by  divine  influence.  So  there  is
certainly  a  human  part  in  the  beginning  of  the  divine  life.
When  we  inquire  what  constitutes  this  human  element,
we  find  two  actions  that  are  evidently  normal  to  a  soul  that
is  entering  the  new  world  in  Christ.  To  a  sinful  person,  '
repentance  is  a  normal  and  appropriate  act,  and  a  true  part
of  this  new  beginning.  Repentance  alone,  however,  is  in-
complete, and  suggests  its  correlative  and  complement,
faith.
