A good man does not mean a faultless man. Of course the power which
works on a believing soul is always tending to produce goodness and
only goodness. But its operation is not such that we are always
equally, uniformly, perfectly under its influence. Power in germ is one
thing, in actual operation another. There may be but a little ragged
patch of green in the garden, and yet it may be on its way to become a
flower-bed. A king may not have established dominion over all his land.
The actual operation of that transforming Spirit at any given moment is
limited, and we can withdraw ourselves from it. It does not begin by
leavening all our nature.