ntucky revival, I should help to start this one. And if I say I do
not believe that these manifestations are the work of God, there sits
Abner, ready to confound me with arguments, psychological,
philosophical and common-sensical. So what am I to answer?"

"But, Stone," Abner exclaimed, "you surely do not deny the work of the
Spirit in conversion, do you?"

"Certainly not," Stone replied. "The Bible plainly teaches that without
the unceasing instrumentality of the Holy Spirit there can be no real
conversion; but nowhere in the Bible can I find it taught that we
should seek in supernatural signs and special revelations, rather than
in the clear and unchangeable testimonies and promises of the gospel,
for evidence of our acceptance with God. In fact, I can find in the New
Testament no account of any miraculous manifestation being sent for the
sole purpose of converting any one, although there are instances where
a miracle did attend the conversion."

"What about Paul?"

"The voice and the great light were, I think, sent more for the purpose
of making him an apostle than for the purpose of converting him."

Abner smiled. "You certainly dispose of Paul's case in a cool, offhand
way; but how about the 'Philippian jailer'?"

"You misunderstand me," said Stone; "whether Paul and the Philippian
jailer were miraculously converted or not, I am not prepared to say. My
statement was, that when a miracle did accompany any case of
conversion, it was sent for some other purpose. Incidentally the
miracle may have converted the jailer, but I do not think it was sent
for that purpose."

"Then, in the name of reason and common sense, what do you think it was
sent for?" asked Dudley.

"To free the two apostles. Through their imprisonment the gospel was
enchained. For example, suppose some malicious boy hurls a stone to
break a neighbor's window, and, in so doing, hits some one inside the
house. He did not therefore throw the stone for the purpose of hitting
the person, did he?"

"You're a Stone too many for me," laughed Abner. "Your subtle
reasonings and hair-splitting distinctions are too much for me to
attempt to disprove, on such a broiling hot day as this."

"Brother Stone! Brother Stone!" shouted a voice from the brow of the
hill back of them. Looking up, they espied among the trees a man waving
and beckoning.

"Coming!" shouted Stone in reply. "I have an appointment at three
o'clock with some of the brethren," he explai