VI

coast. As she was bearing towards the shore, there was a moment when the captain could have given orders to reverse the engines and turn back. If the engines had been reversed then, the ship would have been saved. But there was a moment when it was too late. So there is a moment, I believe, in every man’s life when he can halt and say, “By the grace of God I will go no further towards death and ruin. I repent of my sins and turn from them.” You may say you have not got feeling enough; but if you are convinced that you are on the wrong road, turn right about, and say, “I will no longer go on in the way of rebellion and sin as I have done.”

Just then, when you are willing to turn towards God, salvation may be yours.

I find that every case of conversion recorded in the Bible was instantaneous. Repentance and faith came very suddenly. The moment a man made up his mind, God gave him the power. God does not ask any man to do what he has not the power to do. He would not command “all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30) if they were not able to do so. Man has no one to blame but himself if he does not repent and believe the Gospel. One of the leading ministers of the Gospel in Ohio wrote me a letter some time ago describing his conversion; it very forcibly illustrates this point of instantaneous decision. He said:

“I was nineteen years old, and was reading law with a Christian lawyer in Vermont. One afternoon when he was away from home, his good wife said to me as I came into the house, ‘I want you to go to class-meeting with me tonight and become a Christian, so that you can conduct family worship while my husband is away.’ ‘Well, I’ll do it,’ I said, without any thought. When I came into the house again she asked me if I was honest in what I had said. I replied, ‘Yes, so far as going to meeting with you is concerned; that is only courteous.’