Conversion, Evidence of—See Family Religion.
CONVERSION, GENUINE
The convert is known by his fruits. Conduct, conversation, and character, are the infallible tests of a personality transformed within.
In a large iron factory one of the worst
men in the place was converted. He had
been a man of terrible temper, and could
scarcely speak without swearing and blaspheming
against God. After his conversion
his comrades waited for his temper to break
out as before, and to hear him give utterance
to a string of oaths. But nothing of the
sort occurred. So they prepared a trap for
him, which they felt sure would cause his
downfall. They heated a long bar of iron
and tempered it so that it would look as tho
it were cold. Then they laid it on the floor
when he was absent, and waited for him to
come in and pick it up. Presently he returned,
and, stooping over, grasped the hot
iron with both hands. His comrades now
expected an explosion, for there was a badly
blistered strip of flesh on each hand. But the
man simply turned round and said quietly,
"Men, I didn't think you would do that."
At these words, so different from what they expected, tears ran down the cheeks of those strong men; a revival broke out then and there, and many of those ironworkers found salvation, because that man had not lost his temper, but had shown the reality of his transformation.
(574)
CONVERSION, NOT UNNATURAL
Why should people balk at conversion as if it was something foreign to the universe? The fact is that there is not a moment of time when the process ceases. Dr. W. L. Watkinson calls attention to it in this way:
You come away from your house leaving
your inkpot with the sun shining upon it.
You go back. Where is your ink? Why, if
you look up into the sky to-morrow you
will see it in the rainbow! Nature is absolutely
full of cleansings, of refinements, of
marvelous chemistries, upliftings, transformations,
transmutations, transfigurations!
And do you mean to tell me that in a world
where you see every day the miracle of renewal,
the miracle of transfiguration—do you
mean to tell me that the only thing in it
that can not be changed is the human soul,
that which it is most desirable to change?
(Text.)
(575)
CONVERSION, SINCERE
Mr. C. T. Studd, a missionary to China,
tells the following:
A white-haired old Chinaman, over fifty years of age, an old opium-smoker, came to us, and having learned of Jesus Christ, was converted, went home and took down his idols. The elders of the village came to him for a subscription to their heathen temples. "I now worship the true God and can not henceforth pay any money for idol worship," said the old man. When his reply was known, his village and a neighboring village took counsel and decided that they would kill him. One day, as the old man sat in his chair, a mob surrounded his home yelling and cursing. He sat quietly praying. One of the six men who stood at the door ready to kill him shouted, "Now, old man, you come out."
"No," he replied quietly, "if you want me out, you must come and pull me out."
A dispute arose among the representatives of the villages as to which should have precedence in this act of religious zeal, and the contention waged so high that neither one dared to kill the gray-haired old man. They dispersed to their homes, and after living peacefully a while longer, the old Christian passed quietly to his heavenly home in 1895.
(576)
CONVERTED BY THE COMET
The first conversion to Christianity by
Halley's comet was recorded to-day. As far
as the available records show, this is the
comet's first convert.
At 4:30 o'clock yesterday morning a number of people who had shortened their matutinal slumbers to watch the great sidereal visitor from the roof of a Fourth Avenue apartment house were startled by a loud cry from one of their party. The man, a professional skeptic, was standing with arms outstretched to the heavens, weeping profusely.
"This convinces me that there is a God," he said to his friends. "Hereafter I shall always live as a Christian. These stars could not be unless there is a God."
The profound impression created on the man by the spectacle had not worn off to-*day, and he assured his friends he meant to attend church regularly hereafter and to conduct himself as a Godfearing man should.
