IV

On the day of Pentecost three thousand gladly received the Word. They were not only converted, but they were baptized the same day. (Acts 2).

And when Philip talked to the eunuch, as they went on their way, the eunuch said to Philip, “See, here is water: what doth hinder me to be baptized?” Nothing hindered. And Philip said, “If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.” And they both went down into the water; and the man of great authority under Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, was baptized, and went on his way rejoicing. (Acts 8:26⁠–⁠38). You will find all through Scripture that conversions were sudden and instantaneous.

A man has been in the habit of stealing money from his employer. Suppose he has taken $1,000 in twelve months; should we tell him to take $500 the next year, and less the next year, and the next, until in five years the sum taken would be only $50? That would be upon the same principle as gradual conversion.

If such a person were brought before the court and pardoned, because he could not change his mode of life all at once, it would be considered a very strange proceeding.

But the Bible says, “Let him that stole steal no more” (Ephesians 4:28). It is “right about face!” Suppose a person is in the habit of cursing one hundred times a day: should we advise him not to utter more than ninety oaths the following day, and eighty the next day; so that in the course of time he would get rid of the habit? The Saviour says, “Swear not at all.” (Matthew 5:34).

Suppose another man is in the habit of getting drunk and beating his wife twice a month; if he only did so once a month, and then only once in six months, that would be, upon the same ground, as reasonable as gradual conversion. Suppose Ananias had been sent to Paul, when he was on his way to Damascus breathing out threatenings and slaughter against