t, "I have known a man to make a great
sacrifice, and to find himself drawn by that very sacrifice into a great
admiring of Christ's sacrifice, into a great desire to call God his
father, and into a seeking for the forgiveness and favor that would make
him in some sense a child of God. Did you never know such a case?"

"Never. I do not think that genuine conversions come in that way. A sense
of righteousness can not prepare a man for salvation--only a sense of
sin--a believing that all our righteousness is filthy rags. Still, I
wouldn't discourage you from studying the Bible in any way. You will come
round right after a while, and then you will find that to be saved, a man
must abhor every so-called good thing that he ever did."

"Yes," said Charlton, who had grown more modest in his trials, "I am
sure there is some truth in the old doctrine as you state it. But is
not a man better and more open to divine grace, for resisting a
temptation to vice?"

Mr. Lurton hesitated. He remembered that he had read, in very sound
writers, arguments to prove that there could be no such thing as good
works before conversion, and Mr. Lurton was too humble to set his
judgment against the great doctors'. Besides, he was not sure that
Albert's questions might not force him into that dangerous heresy
attributed to Arminius, that good works may be the impulsive cause by
which God is moved to give His grace to the unconverted.

"Do you think that a man can really do good without God's help?" asked
Mr. Lurton.

"I don't think man ever tries to do right in humility and sincerity
without some help from God," answered Albert, whose mode of thinking
about God was fast changing for the better. "I think God goes out a long,
long way to meet the first motions of a good purpose in a man's heart.
The parable of the Prodigal Son only half-tells it. The parable breaks
down with a truth too great for human analogies. I don't know but that
He acts in the beginning of the purpose. I am getting to be a
Calvinist--in fact, on some points, I out-Calvin Calvin. Is not God's
help in the good purposes of every man?"

Mr. Lurton shook his head with a gentle gravity, and changed the subject
by saying, "I am going to Metropolisville next week to attend a meeting.
Can I do anything for you?"

"Go and see my mother," said Charlton, with emotion. "She is sick, and
will never get well, I fear. Tell her I am cheerful. And--Mr. Lurton--do
you pray with her. I do n