THE BIRTH FROM ABOVE 191 



manhood. It shrinks from no test that is now 

 applied to Christian people, unless the test be 

 purely formal. Having done its work for the 

 child, having brought it through the period when 

 character is formed, it now challenges any tests 

 that may demonstrate the presence of the Christ- 

 life within. If now it is demonstrated that it is 

 devoid of that life, we would join with others in 

 what are accounted revival lines and seek to se- 

 cure the conversion of the soul to God. Our prac- 

 tical objection to the exclusive revivalistic method 

 is that logically it would neglect the child through 

 formative years, and then seek to bring him into 

 the Kingdom by conquest, by revolution. This 

 method we would commend only as a last resort. 

 We can not nullify absolutely the perils of 

 freedom. After we have done all that human and 

 even divine wisdom can suggest, there is ever a 

 tribunal to which we must submit the results of 

 our work. It is the august tribunal of the human 

 soul itself. Man and God Himself must stand 

 aside while this judge that never abdicates the 

 throne renders the verdict. And yet religion is 

 so reasonable, and sin is so suicidal and indefen- 

 sible that the human soul, endowed with reason, 

 should render such a verdict as we desire. We 

 may do our work with a strong expectation of 

 success, if we do it faithfully and well. Dr. S. P. 

 Cadman has well expressed this confidence. He 

 says: "The plane occupied at birth and during 

 the earliest years should not be deserted, but main- 



