THE CONVERSION THAT IS NEEDED.
It is the frequent testimony of both ministers and people that we need a new conversion to the work of present truth. Conversion literally signifies a turning about, a going in an opposite direction. There are, then, some respects in which we are taking a course the opposite of what we should take. But before conversion can be effected, its necessity must be felt. Before a person will change his course, he must be made to feel that his object never will be gained without such change; that the direction in which he is going only leads to certain ruin. The Jew never could have been made to accept Christ, unless the apostles and first ministers of Jesus had convinced him that it was utterly vain for him to trust for justification in his sacrifices and offerings; that he was depending only upon the shadow, but the Lord was the substance. So long as he thought he could really obtain pardon through the blood of his victims, and the offering of his oblation, what need had he of Christ? If he got pardon, he got all he sought; he was safe; and he could see no need of any other means of salvation. But when he saw that his victim was only a figure, that through the blood of bulls and goats there was no remission in fact, and that without the great Antitype, the substance of the shadow, all his hopes were vain, then would he turn to Christ. The sinner never would turn from his sins, unless brought to see that to persist in them would be certain and utter ruin. The deep inwrought conviction in his heart, that his only hope of salvation depends upon a change of course, turns him to the Saviour. What is the conversion we need? At the late camp-meeting, all were ready to testify, and we presume it is so in all parts of the field, that they had been going to an alarming extent into the world, grasping after its treasures, and while professing to be hoping for Heaven, living in all respects as those who are building their hopes here upon the earth. Here a change of course is needed; and what will effect it? Nothing short of an inwrought conviction, as vivid as that in the heart of the sinner when he is led to turn from his sins, that to continue in such a course, is inevitable and absolute ruin. We cannot serve God and mammon. We cannot lay up treasures here and in Heaven at the same time. We have not two hearts, one to be placed on things below, and one on treasures above. If we have anything upon which our affections are set below, it is with a heart divided; and a heart divided is a heart not accepted of Heaven at all. Take an illustration set forth in the Scriptures as applicable to the last days. When Lot separated from Abram, he chose the plain of Jordan because it was well watered, “even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt.” In choosing this locality, Lot had an eye to a prosperous career as a herdsman; and the spirit of worldly policy that governed him in this thing is too plain to be concealed. But this fair spot, like the fairest portions of the earth before and since that time, had been seized upon by the vilest of mankind. Lot would have done better had he chosen a less fertile territory, with less prospects of worldly gain, and a better class of inhabitants. The wickedness of the men of Sodom determined the Lord to bring upon them swift destruction. Lot was summoned to leave the city in haste. Whatever gain he had made, and whatever property he had accumulated by his removal to Sodom, he was now obliged to leave it all. No time to dispose of his possessions, or transport them from the place. He must flee for his life. His wife could not so fully abandon her worldly treasures. Her conversion was not complete. She looked back, implying regret at leaving her possessions, and perhaps a desire and purpose to return and save something. So doing she involved herself in the ruin which swallowed up her worldly wealth. Lot pursued his flight as he had been directed; but what must have been his feelings as he thought of the loss of all he possessed; and then to find, when he reached a place of safety, that the dearest one of all was missing from his little company. “As it was in the days of Lot so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man,” not only in respect to the wicked, but to those, also, who set out for everlasting life. If we look back, if we cling to earth, with it we shall perish. Are we now called upon to do any less than to leave all, flee for our lives, tarry not in all the plain, and look not back, but remember Lot’s wife?