The habit of firm adherence to principle, the capacity for trust, the adaptation of intellectual resources to uphold a theory--all these go to swell the new emotion; no man is so effective a sceptic as the man who has been a fervent believer.
"But in the rare cases of the conversion of an intellectual man from scepticism into belief (like Augustine and a very few others) the spirit suffers by the change.

A great deal of cultivation, of logical readiness, of eloquence, seem to be essentially secular, to belong essentially to the old life, and to need imperatively putting away together with the garment spotted by the flesh.

Augustine suffered less perhaps than others; but some diminution of force seems an inevitable result.
"I never had a great change of that kind to make.

I had a moral awakening, which was rude but effective, never a conversion; I had not to strike my old colours." Thus, though he was a strong Determinist, his capacity for idealism, and a natural enthusiasm, saved him from the paralysis which in some cases results from such speculations.
"I look upon all philosophical theories as explanations of an ontological problem, not as a basis of action.

The appearance of free-will in adopting or discontinuing a course of action is a deception, but it is a complete deception--so complete as not to affect in the slightest my interest in what is going to happen, nor my unconscious posing as a factor in that result.