Peril of Extreme Views
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If you will dwell less on these ideas, which seem to you so impor-
tant, and will restrain your extravagant expressions, you yourself will
have more faith. I saw that your mind was at times unbalanced from
trying very hard to study into and explain the mystery of godliness,
which is just as great a mystery after your study and explanations as it
was before.
Differing Experiences in Conversion
Lead the people to look to Jesus as their only hope and helper;
leave the Lord room to work upon the mind, to speak to the soul, and
to impress the understanding. It is not essential for you to know and
tell others all the whys and wherefores as to what constitutes the new
heart, or as to the position they can and must reach so as never to sin.
You have no such work to do.
All are not constituted alike. Conversions are not all alike. Jesus
impresses the heart, and the sinner is born again to new life. Often
souls have been drawn to Christ when there was no violent conviction,
no soul rending, no remorseful terrors. They looked upon an uplifted
Saviour, they lived. They saw the soul’s need, they saw the Saviour’s
sufficiency, and His claims, they heard His voice saying, “Follow Me,”
and they rose up and followed Him. This conversion was genuine, and
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the religious life was just as decided as was that of others who suffered
all the agony of a violent process.
Our ministers must cease to dwell upon their peculiar ideas with
the feeling, “You must see this point as I do, or you cannot be saved.”
Away with this egotism. The great work to be done in every case is to
win souls to Christ. Men must see Jesus on the cross, they must look
and live. It is not your ideas they must feed upon, but it is the flesh and
blood of the Son of God. He says, “My flesh is meat indeed” (
John
6:55
). “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are
life” (
John 6:63
).
Leave Christ Room to Work
The soul that accepts Jesus places himself under the care of the
Great Physician, and let men be careful how they come between the
patient and the Physician who discerns all the needs of the soul. Christ,
the physician of the soul, understands its defects and its maladies, and