ion of conversion. If I believe it to be a work that is
beyond my power, there will be a corresponding indifference upon my
part. As long as men are made to believe that God must convert them by a
special interposition of his Spirit, so long their minds will be
directed, beyond the plain duties of the gospel, to the realm of the
mysterious and incomprehensible. In ancient times, when men were plainly
told to convert--_turn_--to God and do works worthy of repentance, when
the mists and mysticles of the schoolmen and dogmatists of all sects and
parties had not, as yet, beclouded the minds of men, nor corrupted the
simplicity of the Gospel, thousands were converted in a day.
Christianity overran the inhabited earth in the space of a few years.
Judaism and Paganism trembled and crumbled before its mighty power. But
now the religious world is contending with sin and crime, under the
great disadvantages of a perverted mind and a Gospel beclouded with the
smoke of Babylon, and the result is that three-score souls brought into
the church is a great success for the labors of weeks, and even months.
Why should this be so? It need not be. It would not be but for the wrong
teaching consequent upon creeds. It is said, "That many of the
Corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized." Their minds were clear
upon the great subjects of human duty and the goodness, love and mercy
of God. They had no long sessions, in which they were wrestling with God
as though he was insensitive and indifferent upon the subject of the
sinner's salvation.

They were told the story of God's love, and made acquainted with the
great fact that all things were ready for their reception; "that Christ
had finished the work which the Father had given him to do," and that it
only remained for them to believe and obey the Gospel and all would be
well. They were commanded _to convert_ to the service of God. This work
was not given into the hands of Christ to perform. It is the sinner's
own work. Christ will not believe for you. He will not repent for you.
He will not convert for you. Conversion is the overt action of the will
carried out in "breaking off from sins by righteousness." It begins in
the heart, but it does not end there. Murder begins in the heart, but
its consummation is the action of the will carried out. The man first
yielded to the temptation by saying, in his heart, I will. The next
thing in the order was carrying out the will in the deed. Nothing