fenU 1 Conf p am 12mo #695 
 
8< >LDIERS' TRACT ASSOCIATION, 7 N . 74 
 
 t Richmond. Va. ) 
 
 The Two Steps to Immediate 
 Conversion. 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE MOURNER IN ZION. 
 
 My Dear Fribnd : I take it for granted that you are at 
 tost awake to a sense of JOBT sin and danger— that you 
 have given up all your frivolous- excuses, and weak and 
 wicked apologies for your past sinful and rebellious life — 
 that you do confess with shame. and contrition your guilt 
 iu the sight of God; qjv.1, lastly, that you are mo3t earn- 
 estly inquiring, " What must I do to be saved ? " • 
 
 You are in pursuit of au object.- and solicitous to know 
 tho mode of its attainment. A clear perception of the 
 nature of that object wjil probably throw- light upon the 
 l>est means of securing it. Let us then first seek instruc- 
 tion, on this point. You need salvation, or, as you express 
 it, "to be saved." What is salvation? Leaving out the 
 application of the term to your future maturity in grace 
 and glorification in Heaven, we will confine ourselves to 
 the more restricted sense in which you use it, as applica- 
 ble to your present urgent necessities. 
 
 Your desire may be expressed thus — to be delivered 
 from the present burden of guilt and apprehension of de- 
 served wrath, and to receive the moral power to "go and 
 Bin no more ;" in other words, you want the pardon of 
 your sins, and the regeneration of your nature. 
 
 Let us inquire what these two words, pardon and re- 
 generation, mean. 
 
 1. Pardon, in its common acceptation, is the passing by an 
 offence, the forgiveness of a debt, the remission of a pen- 
 alty. Pardon, when spoken of in .Scripture as exercised 
 by God toward the sinner, includes the free and full for- 
 giveness of all his past transgressions, the entire remis- 
 sion of the penalty due to his crimes, and, in immediate 
 and inseparable connection with these, the justification 
 of the person of the sinner; that is, such a change of his 
 1 
 
2 Tico Steps to Immediate Conversion. 
 
 moral relation to God as will constitute him innocent in 
 his sight, as though he had always been free from any 
 wilful or actual violation of tlie mural law. 
 
 2. Regeneration is that change wrought iu our hearts 
 by the Holy Ghost, through our belief of the truth, Which 
 constitutes us children of God, and gives us a.tith- to 
 Heaven — which thoroughly renews our spiritual natu 
 reversing the natural bent of our affections and will, and 
 strongly inclining us to hate and renounce all sin. and t > 
 love and choose God, and all that is holy and good. 
 
 Is this the salvation, dear reader, that you desire ? Do 
 you truly wish for deliverance from siji itself, as well as 
 from its consequences? If so, your earnest inquiry is, 
 Can I obtain this salvation— ^obtain it noiv—~ and io what 
 wayf I answer emphatically, Yes — now, this day, this 
 Xary hour, by taking a very plain and simple course. 
 
 According to the teachings of God's word, there arc 
 but two stei'S necessary to- salvation, and they are* ub- 
 rKNTANCE and faith. Let us then, if we may, acquire 
 clear views of what is comprised in these terms. 
 
 REPENTANCE, when reduced to its results, that is, sepa- 
 rate and apart. from the bitterness', the tears, the self-re- 
 proach, the humiliations and the confessions which usually 
 accompany it, is neither more nor less than obedience to 
 the precept, "Cease to do evil: learn to do well." 
 But it is this obedience in its broadest sense. It is, 
 " Cease to do evil," promptly, universally, for ever. It is, 
 " Learn to do well," at once and always, with both hands, 
 earnestly. But you reply, " This is a slow process, and 
 my case is an urgent one. What you assert to 'be neces- 
 sary I have begun to do. How long must I pursue this 
 course ere I can look upon myself as a true penitent?" 
 Have you indeed ? Have you honestly determined in your 
 heart, and solemnly covenanted with your Maker, that 
 you have done for ever with your sins; and are you now 
 daily striving by his help to live unto God ? If so, I have 
 good news for you — you are now a true penitent, and, as 
 such, you have this moment a right, by God's own invita- 
 tion, to take the second step, even to believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ for present pardon. Here are both the invi- 
 
Two Steps to Immediate Conversion. 3 
 
 trition and the warrant for your confidence: "Let the 
 ■wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his 
 thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will 
 have mere}' upon bin ; and to our God. for he will abun- 
 dantly pardon." Isaiah lv. 7. When? According to 
 the tenor of the text, as well as of all Scripture, now/ 
 
 Do you.still ask, " How can I know that 1 have at heart 
 forsaken my sins?" I answer, this is a matter of con- 
 sciousness. Were I to ask you if you love your dearest 
 and best friend* or if you abhor the vilest and most' de- 
 testable crimes, you would not have to enter upon a course 
 of reasoning to satisfy yourself that you love the one and 
 hate the other. Even so, your own consciousness must 
 apprise you at once of the fact, if it be so, of your having 
 truly turned from your sins. How can you conceive that 
 a man could, calmly, solemnly, and with all sincerity in 
 • the sight of God, renounce all known sin, and fix the firm 
 resolve to lead a new life in the fear of God, without know- 
 ing that he had done so ? This is consciousness of the fact, 
 and when you have arrived at this point, you have taken 
 the first Scripture step toward conversion. 
 
 This is a very importaut point, however, and one on 
 which' you should be properly guarded. God requires 
 "truth in the inward parts." It must be no half-way 
 business. All sin how great or small soever in your eyes, 
 how dear or desirable soever it may seem, yea, though it 
 be the very warp of the web of life, ami though the effort 
 to disengage it make the heartstrings quiver with anguish, 
 all, all must be sacrificed: in purpose of heart, delibe- 
 rately and for ever laid aside. 
 
 And now as to the time requisite to come to this point. 
 Must it necessarily be long? By no means. Would not 
 a single hour's serious' thought be abundantly sufficient 
 to make up your mind fully upon this subject, and to be- 
 gin the great work? Undoubtedly. I once heard of a 
 man who, though he entered the church unconcerned, de- 
 liberately resolved, during the sermon, that he would give 
 up the world and be a Christian. At the close of the 
 discourse he arose, addressed a few words to his old 
 friends, stating his determination, and then approached 
 
4 Two Steps to Immediate Conversion. 
 
 the altar to ask the prayers of God's people, but before 
 he could kneel there, \yas powerfully converted. 
 
 Now, my d«ar friend, let me assure you that, if I rightly 
 understand the teachings of the Bible upon this subject, 
 when yon have arrive;! at the state id' mind I have de- 
 scribed, whether it took 3 r ou five minutes Or five years to 
 get there, you are a true penitent, and a fit subject 
 immediate conversion. You are jusi, where God would 
 have you be in order to convert you. You have complied 
 with the terms laid down in the text quoted : (Isa. lv. 7:) 
 you have "forsaken your way ; ' and your " evil thoughts," 
 and are now, in the best.wav you know, Striving to "re- 
 turn unto the Lord." What then prevents the instant reali- 
 sation of the promise to "have mercy upon" you and 
 "abundantly pardon " you ? Nothing but your unbelief. 
 
 This brings us to the consideration of the second stejH 
 that of FAITH. 
 
 This is the great point of difficulty with almost all pen- 
 itents. What shall I believe? and hoio shall I believe? 
 arc the questions asked again and again, by the anxious 
 and burdened heart. May the Spirit of Truth aid iu giv- 
 ing the answers. 
 
 First, then, God requires faith : " without faith it is im- 
 possible to please him." Ileb \\. 6. This fact must im- 
 ply two things: first, that God has given us sufficient 
 ground for our faith, and, second, that he has given us the 
 power to believe. Let us see the ground on which we are 
 thus required to believe. It is written, John iii. 10, "God 
 so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, 
 that whosoever belicveth in him should not perish, but have 
 everlasting life." Again, 2 Cor. v. l'J, "God was in 
 Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing 
 their trespasses unto them." And again, Rom. iii. 28-26, 
 *' For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God ; 
 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption 
 that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a 
 propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his 
 righteousness for the remission of sins that are past; . . . 
 that he might be just, and the justifier of him which be- 
 lieveth in Jesus." 
 
Two Steps to Immediate Conversion. 5 
 
 Do not those scriptures plainly teach us that the origi- 
 nal source of man's redemption Avas theessential goodness 
 
 and infinite benevolence of God the Father, prompting 
 him to devise some moans to rescue his fallen creatures 
 from their perilous condition? In the first of these quo- 
 tations it is said, "i?orf so loved the' world that he gave Ma 
 Son." Evidently the love was in the heart of the Father 
 previous to the gift of the Son, for that gift is represented 
 as the consequence of this love. In the second, we boo 
 the perfect willingness of God that man should be restored 
 to his favor, and no longer have trespasses imputed unto 
 'him. In the third, we not only have the same precious 
 truth reiterated, but we have also set before us the spe- 
 cific means, the actual instrumentality, by which this 
 reconciliation is to be accomplished: Christ the propitia- 
 tion— through faith in his blood— and, finally, the result 
 in the case' of God and the sinner— God remains just 
 while the sinner is justified. 
 
 To one of the expressions in the last passage - 1 would 
 call your undivided attention. It is this : " through faith 
 in his blood." These few words abound in the very 
 essence of the gospel. Here are both the manner of, and 
 the satisfactory reason for, yonr justification. You still 
 ask, "In what way is the blood of Christ <i satisfactory 
 reason to God, for the sake of which, on my exercise of 
 faith in it, he will blot out my sins ? " I answer, on the 
 simple ground of rendering an equivalent, or, in other 
 words, of paying a debt. How is this ? You- have viola- 
 ted the law of^God; consequently, it has a claim upon 
 you ; you are a debtor to that law. ^hat is the amount 
 of that debt? It involves the forfeit of eternal life— - 
 "The soul that, sinneth, it shall die.'" The law is strict, 
 stem, unyielding It knows no mercy, it provides no 
 remedy. It must be maintained in all its integrity, though 
 the last sinner perish for ever. How is # this debt to be 
 paid ? — this demand of an infinitely holy law to be satis- 
 fied ? So far as you are concerned, there is but one way 
 of meeting it, and that is by enduring eternally the hor- 
 rors of the second death. There is no hope for you. Yea 
 •are already involved, and each day but adds to the 
 deep shade of guilt that already darkens your ruined spirit. 
 
6 Two Steps to ' Immediate Conversion. 
 
 Just at this juncture the compassion of God has inter- 
 posed in your behalf. Seeing man's undone condition,. 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person in the ever- 
 blessed Trinity, undertook the work of saving him This 
 he did, not by abrogating the law, not by suspending its 
 operation and arbitrarily pardoning the sinner, hot by 
 taking man's place and suffering in his stead. The life 
 of Jesus was paid to redeem our forfeited life. The Hood 
 of the Sou of God was poured out as the expiatory sacri- 
 fice for the sin of the world. In submitting to the suffer- 
 ings and death which- he endured, he fully met and for 
 ever satisfied all the claims which the law of God had 
 against man. He in Avhom "dwelt all the fulness of the 
 God-head bodily," who was the Author of this law, and 
 consequently himself under no obligation to it, even he, 
 in virtue of his own character as "God over all," in con-f 
 descending to be man's substitute, stamped upon his sac-' 
 rificial death such infinite value as to render it equivalent, 
 if need be, to the redemption of a thousand worlds. 
 
 Here, then, you see the procuring cause of your salva- 
 tion. Here is the foundation which God has laid for your 
 faith. 
 
 This, then, is what you must believe : The Lord Jesus 
 Christ has met the demands of the law upon me. He has 
 Stood in my place and suffered for me. He has paid mi/ 
 debt. He has died in my stead; consequently, /need not 
 die. "What more could you ask ? What more 'can the law- 
 ask? Nothing, literally nothing. Every whit is paid, 
 and you are free — free this moment, if you will now ac- 
 cept and rely upon # this Jesus as your Saviour. God is 
 now, on his part, reconciled to you through this work of 
 Christ, and ready at once to receive you as his accepted ' 
 child. . 
 
 Let us now for a moment consider the 'power to believe, 
 and the act of believing. It must be evident to a think- 
 ing mind that God cannot, consistently with his character, 
 require any work at our hands without conferring on us 
 the necessary ability to perform it. but he requires us to 
 believe ; consequently, he must have given us power to do 
 so. The power to believe is one of the natural endow- • 
 ments of the mind. It is that faculty by which, on re.- 
 
Two Steps to Immediate Conversion. 7 
 
 reiving proper evidence, we put confidence in. or receive 
 as true, any proposition that may be presented to us. It 
 is something in daily, almost continual, exercise. Thero 
 is scarcely any ordinary transaction of life in which it is 
 not called into play. Its exercise is the ground-work of 
 all social relations, of all business engagements, and 
 without it man would become separated from his fellow, 
 ami society be uprooted. 
 
 Now, my friend, it is the same attribute which you are 
 daily exercising with reference to temporal matters, that 
 you are required to bring to bear upon the subject of sal- 
 vation. God has" provide. I the object of faith — the Lord 
 .lesus Christ and his atonement — and he has graciously 
 oonferred ou you the power to believe. What now re- 
 mains to be done? Simply to bring the two together — 
 the power to believe to act upon the object of belief. 
 This may be properly called the act of faith. 
 
 This lends us to roiswer the last question — "How shall 
 
 believe?" 
 
 I The Scripture answer to this question is this: "With 
 heart man bclieveth unto righteousness," or justifica- 
 tion. Tt> believe with the heart is to take hold of Christ 
 with the affections; in other* words, to confide in him with 
 the trust of love, of approval, of satisfaction. Not only 
 must your mind receive the truth that the atonement of 
 Christ is the meritorious cause that procures your salva- 
 tion, but, with ati humbling sense of your own utter uu- 
 worthiness, and of the infinite goodness and condecension 
 of God in providing this ransom for you, you must ap- 
 proach the throne of grace, g'adly and thankfully receiv- 
 ing the proffered boon #>f pardon as offered by God in all 
 sincerity, heartily relying on the Lord Jesus Christ as 
 your oicn, present, all-sufficient Redeemer. 
 
 Do you fear to make the venture? Has not God in- 
 vited, encouraged, commanded van ? Hear him : " Believe 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shaltbe saved." " He 
 thatbelieveth, shall be saved." «« Him that cometh unto 
 me, I will in no* wise cast out." " What things soever ye 
 desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and 
 ye shall have them." You say that you do try to believe, 
 but you do not feel. It is because your faith is defective 
 
8 Two Steps to Immediate Conversion. 
 
 You ask something besides God's word on which to rest 
 your* confidence. Is thiswise? Is it not dishonoring to 
 
 God? How can he bless a soul with a sense of his ap- 
 proval, while that soul refuses to credit his word, and 
 asks for other proof? If a friend of long-tried integrity 
 were to relate to you a circumstance that had just passed 
 under his own observation, would he not consider it an 
 insult for yo\x to remark, " I do not feel what you say to 
 be the truth? " Again, feeling that you are pardoned, or 
 a consciousness of forgiveness, cannot take place until 
 after the fact itself has transpired. The effect cannot 
 exist before the cause. You are not called upon, to be- 
 lieve that you are already converted; neither may JfOj 
 delay at the mere belief tha* you will be. 
 
 Perhaps the usual steps by which the seeking soul more 
 immediately enters into the actual realization ci' to^bles! 
 ing, arc these : 
 
 1. The Lord Jesus Christ has by his atonement perfectly 
 satisfied the justice of God ia my behalf. 
 
 2. God, 911 account of this atonement, offers mcaW 
 . and present pardon. 
 
 3. He is able, willing, and ready to grant me this pardon 
 now. 
 
 4. Believing that his word cannot fail, I now von tare 
 my all upon it, and, receiving Christ as my oi - > T> d aii- 
 sufiicicnt Saviour, 1 am now saved through him. 
 
 Isot that these points always, nor even frequently, oc- 
 cupy the mind as a forma! process, but probably, in one 
 way or another, the .truths thej contain operate upon the 
 aoul in the successful effort to believe. 
 
 And now, my penitent friend, Uaving presented what I 
 believe to be the Bible plan of justifi :ation by faith, (re- 
 pentance being on?y the pre-requisite of faith,) let me 
 earnestly urge you to an immediate experimental test of 
 its efficacy. Why delay a moment? If faith be the in- 
 strumentality, is it not at hand ? If Christ be the object, 
 is he not "nigh thoe, even in thy mouth, and in thy 
 heart?" Does not all Scripture say, "Now is the ac- 
 cepted time?" Come to Jesus just now, and just as you are. 
 
 Soldiers' Tract Association, M. E. Church, South. 
 
Hollinger Corp. 
 P H 8.5