_Third._ The idea that the Lord would command men to _convert themselves_, knowing, at the same time, that they could not do it. He commands men to convert. He "commands all men everywhere to repent." He knows, also, that they can do it; so Protestantism, to the contrary, is an everlasting disgrace to our religion. The original term translated by the word convert is in the _imperative active_ in many places. Our translators put it in the passive in the third chapter of Acts, where it is imperative active in the original. Why they did this no scholar can tell, unless it was to favor their Calvinistic ideas upon conversion. The term occurs forty-seven times in the New Testament, and it is translated thirty-eight times by the words _turn_ and _return_.
Paul says he "showed to the people that THEY SHOULD TURN TO GOD, and do works meet for repentance."
This great thought harmonizes with all that is taught upon the subject of future rewards. A man _can turn_, and he is therefore accountable. To make man responsible, it must be shown that he is capable, or able. This is the one great fact that lies at the foundation of future rewards and punishment. Take this fact away and the justice of God is imperiled by the teachings of the Bible upon the subject of the future retribution. I know that men who are under the influence of the traditions of their fathers and mothers turn from the truth upon this question and say hard things against it; but I know, also, that those same men speak the same sentiment when they talk about the future judgment.
_Fourth._ The idea that the Divine Spirit must convert the man, and that it passes the unwilling soul without giving him ability that he may be tried, for a man must be able to attain the desired object, otherwise trial is mere mockery. So, according to this kind of teaching, justice is mocked, and the sinner is sent to perdition without anything more than a mock trial; _i.e._, without being tried. If this be not true, the theory of helplessness growing out of Adam's sin is utterly false, and man's salvation, under all dispensations, is presented to us as a matter that was, and is, disposed of by himself, he being able, in his own natural strength, to turn and prepare himself to faith and calling upon God. Again, all men pray. It is instinctive to pray. It is an instinct that defies reason and philosophy. If men have not "natural strength to turn and prepare themselves to faith and calling upon God," then they are not _naturally_ responsible _nor_ accountable.