o; and the evil he would not do, that is what he
does. O miserable man! A person who has rejected the mercy of God and
has yielded to the inclinations of an unholy heart until he has no
power to accept the offers of mercy and shun the ways of sin, is an
object of the greatest pity. To him there is no hope of escaping the
damnation of hell.

There is a time in the life of every rational young man and woman when
they can accept the blessed offers of salvation which God extends
through his Son, if they will. God gives the Holy Spirit to operate upon
the depraved heart, making it to feel something of the realities of a
Savior's love and goodness, and something of the awfulness of sin. The
Holy Spirit does not take hold upon the will and compel it to serve God,
or force it into right action. He just takes hold upon the heart,
suppressing its love for sin, and awakening desires for a better life,
thus removing the unrighteous scepter the heart swayed over the will,
giving the will freedom and power to accept or reject the mercies of
God. While the impure affections and unholy desires of a depraved heart
are being restrained by the power of the Holy Spirit, before the will is
set the way of life and the way of death, each subject to choice. Now is
the time for whosoever will to come and drink of the water of life
freely, and whosoever will now call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved.

Not only does the will act an important part in securing the salvation
of the soul through the offered mercies of God, but it is the purpose of
God that the will act an important part all along the Christian way.
After the Christian enters through the "strait gate" and steps out upon
the "narrow way" that leads to eternal golden glories, he is not carried
forward in a "chariot of fire" through the journey of life and crowned
at the end with eternal blessedness irrespective of his will. Often it
is true that the soul is carried blessedly onward in the way of life on
the wings of joy, without any apparent exercise of the will; but how
often Good seems to have deserted or forsaken us, Joy has hid her
smiling face, and Good Feelings have departed, and we are left to serve
God and attend to our Christian duties from choice of will. God wants
our life service to be a willing service. It is necessary, therefore,
that he apparently forsake us and permit dark powers to engage us. It is
that our wills may be exercised. The Psalmist says, "I _will_ g