he effect
desired and yet there is no result. Why? Because we are trying to do the
Holy Spirit's work, the work that He alone can do, convince men of sin. If
we would only bear in mind our own utter inability to convince men of sin,
and cast ourselves upon Him in utter helplessness to do the work, we would
see results.

At the close of an inquiry meeting in our church in Chicago, one of our
best workers brought to me an engineer on the Pan Handle Railway with the
remark, "I wish that you would speak to this man. I have been talking to
him two hours with no result." I sat down by his side with my open Bible
and in less than ten minutes that man, under deep conviction of sin, was
on his knees crying to God for mercy. The worker who had brought him to me
said when the man had gone out, "That is very strange." "What is strange?"
I asked. "Do you know," the worker said, "I used exactly the same passages
in dealing with that man that you did, and though I had worked with him
for two hours with no result, in ten minutes with the same passages of
Scripture, he was brought under conviction of sin and accepted Christ."
What was the explanation? Simply this, for once that worker had forgotten
something that she seldom forgot, namely, that the Holy Spirit must do the
work. She had been trying to convince the man of sin. She had used the
right passages; she had reasoned wisely; she had made out a clear case,
but she had not looked to the only One who could do the work. When she
brought the man to me and said, "I have worked with him for two hours with
no result," I thought to myself, "If this expert worker has dealt with him
for two hours with no result, what is the use of my dealing with him?" and
in a sense of utter helplessness I cast myself upon the Holy Spirit to do
the work and He did it.

But while we cannot convince men of sin, there is One who can, the Holy
Spirit. He can convince the most hardened and blinded man of sin. He can
change men and women from utter carelessness and indifference to a place
where they are overwhelmed with a sense of their need of a Saviour. How
often we have seen this illustrated. Some years ago, the officers of the
Chicago Avenue Church were burdened over the fact that there was so little
profound conviction of sin manifested in our meetings. There were
conversions, a good many were being added to the church, but very few were
coming with an apparently overwhelming conviction of sin. One night on