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turn and accept Jesus, who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the
life." To be converted is to cross the line which separates light from
darkness, and may be done as easily as if one drew a line in the path
before him and stepped over it. Both of these would be by the act of
one's will; only it is to be remembered that when by faith we accept
Jesus there is imparted to us a knowledge which comes from the Holy
Ghost alone; while we seem to be acting in our own strength, yet really
it is in the strength of God. Let it be remembered, however, that no
two people may have exactly the same experience. There is an
illustration of this in the healing of the blind men in the New
Testament. I can imagine them having a convention, and each giving his
testimony. One declares that the only way to receive your sight is to
have clay and spittle put upon your eyes and to wash in the pool of
Siloam. Another ridicules this experience and declares that only the
touch of the fingers of Jesus is necessary. Still another speaks and
emphatically declares that even the touch of Jesus is superfluous, for
at the command of Jesus he saw clearly. Another says that
instantaneous sight is impossible, and describes his own experience,
when he saw men like trees, walking. But when all have given their
testimony, they finally unite in declaring that whereas they once were
blind, now they can see; and after all this is the important matter. A
friend of mine described a number of people who came to view "The
Angelus" that celebrated masterpiece of Millet's. Some people admired
the perspective; others, the figure of the man; others, that of the
woman. One man simply stood aghast as he looked, and exclaimed, "What
a marvelous frame that picture has!" and no two people expressed the
same opinion concerning the masterpiece. How could we expect them to
have the same experience in coming to Christ?

It may be that some will say, "Why insist upon conversion when my life
is a moral one?" And my answer is that the difficulty with morality is
that it is worked out according to men's standard and falls far short
of God's.

In my first pastorate I had a blind man as one of my hearers. He used
to walk about the village where I preached, generally without a guide,
and apparently went as easily as a man with eyes. He had a little
stick in his hands, with which he touched the trees and the fences, and
seemed to know by the very sound where he was.