The Christian life commences amid the throes of the new birth, under acute travail of soul. When the Spirit of God begins His work in the heart conscience is convicted, the terrors of the Law are felt, the wrath of a sin-hating God becomes real. As the requirements of Divine holiness begin to be apprehended the soul, so long accustomed to having its own way, “kicks against the pricks,” and only in the day of God’s power is it “made willing” (Ps. 110:3) to take the yoke of Christ upon it. And then