trying, God would save me
at some time; and now you tell me to stop trying: what, then, am I
to do?" "Why, let the Lord save you." She went off in something like
a rage. It is not always a bad sign when you see a man or a woman
wake up cross, if it is the Word of God that wakes them up. A day or
two afterwards she came and thanked me. She said she had been
turning over in her mind what I had said; and at last the truth
dawned upon her, that though she had worked long, though she had
formed a good many resolutions, she had made no progress. So she
gave up the struggle; and then it was that the Lord Jesus saved her.

I want to ask you this question: If sin needs forgiveness--and all
sin is against God--how can you work out your own forgiveness? If I
stole $100 from a friend, I could not forgive myself, could I? No
act of mine would bring about forgiveness, unless my friend forgave
me. And so, if I want forgiveness of sin, it must be the work of
God. If we look at salvation as a new life, it must be the work of
God. God is the author of life: you cannot give yourself life. If we
consider it as a gift, it must come from some one outside of
ourselves. That is what I read in the Bible--Salvation as a gift.
While I am speaking, you can make up your mind that you will stop
trying, and take this gift.

I wish I could get this whole audience to drop the word _try_, and
put the word _trust_ in its place. The forgiving grace of God is
wonderful. He will save you this very minute, if you are willing to
be saved. He delights in mercy. He wants to show that mercy to every
soul. The religion of Christ is not man working his way up to God;
it is God coming down to man. It is Christ coming down to the pit of
sin and woe where we are, bringing us out of the pit, putting our
feet upon a rock, and a new song in our mouth. He will do it this
minute, while I am speaking, if you will let Him. Will you let Him?
That is the question.

I do not believe much in dreams; but they sometimes illustrate a
point. I heard about a woman who had been trying for a long time,
just like many of you, to be better and better. She tried to save
herself, but made no progress. One night she fell asleep in a very
troubled state of mind, and she had a dream. She thought that she
was in a pit striving to get out--climbing and slipping, climbing
and slipping, climbing and slipping; at last she gave up the
struggle, and laid herself down at the bottom of the pit t