er to do. He would not command "all
men everywhere to repent" (Acts xvii. 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 to-night 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.'

"I went with her to the class-meeting, as I had often done before.
About a dozen persons were present in a little school-house. The
leader had spoken to all in the room but myself and two others. He
was speaking to the person next me, when the thought occurred to me:
he will ask me if I have anything to say. I said to myself: I have
decided to be a Christian sometime; why not begin now? In less time
than a minute after these thoughts had passed through my mind he
said, speaking to me familiarly--for he knew me very well--'Brother
Charles, have you anything to say?' I replied, with perfect coolness,
'Yes, sir. I have just decided, within the last thirty seconds, that
I will begin a Christian life, and would like to have you pray for
me.'

"My coolness staggered him; I think he almost doubted my sincerity.
He said very little, but passed on and spoke to the other two. After
a few general remarks, he turned to me and said, 'Brother Charles,
will you close the meeting with prayer?' He knew I had never prayed
in public. Up to this moment I had no feeling. It was purely a
business transaction. My first thought was: I cannot pray, and I will
ask him to excuse me. My second was: I have said I will begin a
Christian life; and this is a part of it. So I said, 'Let us pray.'
And somewhere between the time I started to kneel and the time my
knees struck the floor the Lord converted my soul.

"The first words I said were, 'Glory to God!' What I said after that
I do not know, and it does not matter, for my soul was too full t