*6'/2 
 
NJo. 63, 
 
 TRUE CONVERSION. 
 
 A DIALOGUE 
 
 BETWEEN HOPEFUL AND CHRISTIAN. 
 
 FROM EUNYAITS PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 
 
 £ CHRISTIAN. How came you to think at first of doing 
 ^ what you do n 
 
 Hopeful. 5)o you mean, how I came ht first to look 
 after the good of my soul ? 
 
 Cur. Yes, that is my meaning. 
 
 Hope. I continued a great while in the delight of 
 those things which were seen and sold at our fair ; things 
 which I believe no w would have, had I continued in them 
 still, drowned me in perdition and destruction. 
 
 Chr. What things Rxe they ? 
 
 Hope. All the treasures and riches of the world. 
 Also, I delighted much in rioting, revelling, drinking, 
 swearing, lying, uncleanness, Sabbath breaking, and what 
 not, that tended to destroy the soul. But I found, at last, 
 by hearing and considering of things that are divine, 
 which, indeed, I heard of you, as also of beloved Faith- 
 ful that was put to death for his faith and good living in 
 Vanity Fair, that the end of these things is death i and 
 that for these things' sake the wrath of God cometh upon 
 the children of men ? 
 
 Chr. And did you presently fall under the power of 
 this conviction ? 
 
2 CTttTE CONVERSION. 
 
 Hope. No, I was not willing presently to know the 
 evirof sin, nor the damnation- that follows upon the com- 
 mission of it ; but endeavored when my mind at first be- 
 gan to be shaken with the Word, to shut mine eyes against 
 the light thereof. 
 
 Chr, But what was the cause of your acting, thus un- 
 der the first workings of God's Blessed Spirit upon you % 
 
 Hope. The causes were : 1. I was ignorant that this 
 was the work of God upon me. I never thought that by 
 awakenings from sin, God at first begins the conversion of 
 a sinner. 2. Sin was yet very sweet to my flesh, and I 
 •was loth to leave it. 3.- 1 could not tell how to part with 
 my old companions, their presence and actions were so de- 
 sirable unto me. 4. The hours in which convictions were 
 yrpon me, were such troublesome and such heart-affright- 
 ing hours, that 1 could not bear, no, not so much as the 
 remembrance of them upon my heart. 
 • -Chr. Then, as it seems, sometimes you* got rid of 
 your trouble % 
 
 Hope. Yes, verily, but it would come into my mind 
 again ; and then I would be as bad, nay, worse, than I 
 was before. 
 
 Chr. Why, what was it that brought your si&s to mind 
 again ? 
 
 Hope. Many things, as: 1. If I did but meet a good' 
 man in the streets; or, 2. If I heard any read in the Bi- 
 ble ; or, 3. If my head did begin to ache ; or, 4. If I 
 were told that some of my neighbors were sick ; or, 5. If 
 I heard the bell toll for some that were dead ; or, 6. If I 
 thought of dying myself; or, 7. If I heard that sudden 
 death happened to others. 8. But especially when I 
 thought of myself, that I must quickly come to judgment. 
 
 Chr. And could you at any time, with ease get off 
 the guilt of sin, when by any of these ways it came upon 
 you? 
 
 Hope. No, not I ; for then they got faster hold of my 
 conscience : and then, if I did but think of going back to 
 sin— though my mind was turned against it — it would b«? 
 double torment to me. 
 
 Chr. And how did you do then ? 
 
•YRUE CONVERSION '3 
 
 Hope. I thought I must endeavor to mend my life ; or 
 else, thought I, 1 am sure to be damned. 
 
 Chr And did you endeavor to mend? 
 
 Hope. Yes, and fled from not only my sins, but sinful 
 company too, and betook me to religious duties; as pray- 
 ing, reading, weeping for sin, speaking truth to my neigh- 
 bors, etc. * These things, did I, with many others, too 
 much here to relate. 
 
 Chr. And did you think yourself well then ? 
 
 Hope. Yes, for awhile ; but at the -last my trouble 
 came tumbling upon me again, and that over the neck of all 
 my reformations. • 
 
 Chr. How came that about, since you were now re- 
 formed 1 
 
 Hope. There were several things brought it upon me, 
 especially suck sayings as these : M All our righteousnesses 
 are as filthy rags." " Bv the works of the law shall all 
 flesh be justified." t( When ye have done ail these things, 
 say, We are unprofitable f* with many more suoh like. 
 From whence I began to reason with myself thus.: If all 
 my righteousnesses are as filthy rags, if by deeds of the t 
 law no man can be justified, and if, when we have done 
 all, we are yet unprofitable, then is it but a folly to think 
 of heaven by the law. I farth^ thought thus : If a man 
 runs a hundred pounds into the shopkeeper's debt, and 
 after that shall .pay for all that he shall buy ; yet if his old 
 debt stand still in the book uncrossed, the shopkeeper may 
 sue him for it, and cast hira into prison till he shall pay 
 the debt. 
 
 Chr. Well, and how did you apply this to yourself ? 
 
 Hope. Why, 1 thought thus with .myself: I have by 
 ay sins run a great way into God's book, and my now re- 
 forming will not pay off that score. Therefore, I would 
 think still, under all my present amendments, but h<?w* 
 shall 1 be freed from that damnation that I brought myself 
 in danger of by my former transgressions ? 
 
 Chr. # A very good application; but pray go on. 
 Hope. Another thing that hath troubled me evej since 
 my late amendments is, that if I look narrowly into the 
 best of what I do now, I still see sin,* new sin ? mixing it- 
 
4 TRUE CONVERSION, 
 
 self with the best -of that I do;, so that now I am forced to 
 conclude that, notwithstanding my former fond conceits of 
 myself and duties, I have committed sin enough in one 
 day to send me to hell 7 though my former life had been 
 faultless. 
 
 Chr. And what did yon cfo then ? 
 
 Hope. Do ! I could not tell what to do, until I broke 
 my mind to Faithful ; for he and I were well acquainted.^ 
 And he told me, that unless I could obtain, the righteous-" 
 ness of a Man that had never sinned, neither mine own,. 
 nor all the righteousness of the jg orld could save me. 
 
 Chr. And did you think he "spake true ? 
 
 Hope. Had he told me go when I was pleased and sat- 
 isfied with my own amendments, I had called him fool for 
 hig_ pains ; but now, since I see my own infirmity; aiid the 
 sin which cleaves to my bests performance, I have been 
 forced to be of his opinion. 
 
 Chr. But did you think,, when at first he suggested it 
 ♦to. you, that there was such a man to be found, of whom it 
 might justly be said, that he never committed sin ? 
 • Hope. I must confess the words at first sounded strange- 
 ly ; but after a little more talk and company with him, I 
 had full conviction about it. ' ' 
 
 Chr. And did you ask him what man this Was*, and 
 how you must be justified by him ? 
 
 Hope. Yes ; and he told me it was tile Lord Jesus, 
 that dwelleth on the right hand, of the Most High. And 
 thus, said he, you must be justified by him, even by trust- 
 ing to what he hath done by himself in the days of his 
 flesh, and suffered when he did hang- on the tree. I asked 
 him further, how that man's righteousness could be of 
 such efficacy, to justify another before God. And he told 
 me he was "the mighty God," and did what be dr$, and 
 died the death also, no* for himself, but for me ; and to 
 whom his doings, and the worthiness of them, should be 
 imputed, if I believed on him., 
 - Chr. What did you do then V 
 
 Hop*. I made my objections against believing, for I 
 thought he was not willing- to save me , 
 ■ Chr.- * And what said Faithful to you then ? 
 
true CON ver: D 
 
 Hope. He bid me go to Him and bee. Then I said it 
 resumption. He said, No; for I was invited to 
 come. Then he gave me a book of Jesus' inditing, to en- 
 courage me the more freely to come ; and he said concern- 
 ing that book, that every jot and tittle thereof stood firmer 
 .than heaven and earth. Then I asked him what I must 
 do when 1 came ; and he told me I must entreat upon my 
 knees, with all my heart and soul, the Father to reveal 
 him to me. Theu I asked him further, how I must make 
 my supplications to him ; and he said : Go, and thou shalt 
 find him upon a mercy-seat, where lie sits all the year long- 
 to give pardon and forgiveness to them that come.* I fold, 
 him that I knew not what to say when I came; and he 
 bade me say to this effect : God be merciful to me a sinner v 
 and I make me to know and believe in Jesus Christ ; for I 
 see, that if his righteousness had not been, or I have not. 
 faith in righteousness, I am utterly cast stway. Lord, I 
 ueard that thou art a merciful God, and hast ordain- 
 ed that thy Son Jesus Christ should be the Saviour of the 
 world; and moreover, that thou art willing to bestow him 
 upon such a poor sinner as I am. And I am a sinner, in- 
 deed. Lord, take, therefore, this opportunity, and mag- 
 nify, thy grace in the ^salvation of my soul, through thy 
 Son Jgsus Christ. Amen. 
 
 Glib. And did you do as you were bid 1 
 
 Hope. Yes ; over, and over, and over. 
 . Che. And did the Father reveal the Son to you? 
 
 Hope. Not at the first, nor second, nor third nor fourth, 
 nor fifth, no, nor the sixth time neither. 
 
 Chr. What did you do then ? 
 
 Hope. What? Why, 1 could not tell what to do. 
 
 Chii Had you not thoughts of leaving off graying ? 
 
 Hope. Yes; and a hundred times twice told. 
 
 Che. And what was the reason you did not? 
 
 Hope. I believed that it wa.s true which hath been told 
 me, to wit: that without the righteousness of this Christ, 
 all the world could not save me ; and, therefore, thought 
 I with myself, if I leave off, I die, and I can but die at the 
 throne b# grace. And withal, this came into my mind : 
 " If it tarry, wait for it ; because it will surely come, and 
 
it TRUfi CONVERSION 
 
 will not tarry." So I continued praying until the Father 
 showed me his Son. 
 
 Qg3K«*< *'»"d how was he revealed unto you ? 
 ' Hope. I did not see him with my bodily eyes, but with 
 the eyes of dan understanding ; and thus it was : One day 
 I was very sad, 1 think sadder than at any one time in my 
 life ; and thi»- sadness was through a fresh sight of the 
 o reatness 'and vileness of my sins. And as 1 was then 
 looking for nothing but hell, and the everlasting damnation 
 of my soul, suddenly, as 1 thought, I saw the Lord Jesus 
 looking down from heaven upon me, and saying, ' Be- 
 lieve on trie Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
 
 But I replied, Lord, I am a great, a very great sinner; 
 and he answered, (l My grace is sufficient for thee. " Then 
 
 I said, "But, Lord, what is believing?" And then I saw 
 from that saying, (t He that cometh to me shall never 
 tbirst, ,,x that believing and coming was all one; and that 
 he came, that is, that ran out in his heart and affections 
 after salvation by Christ/be, indeed-, believed in Christ. 
 Then the wat?r stood in mine eyes, and I asked further, 
 
 II But, Lord, may such a great sinner as I am be indeed 
 accepted of thee, and be saved by thee?" And I heard 
 him say, "And him that cometh tb me I will in nowise 
 cast out." Then l'said, But how Lord, must I consider 
 of thee in my coming to thee, that my faith may be placed 
 aright upon thee? Then he said, "Christ Jesus came 
 into the world to save sinners." He is the end of the law 
 for righteousness to every one that believes. He died for 
 our sins, and rose again fo* our justification. He ioyed 
 us, and washed us froln our sins in his own blood. He is 
 the Mediator between God and us. He ever liveth to 
 make intercession for us. From all which \ gathered, that 
 1 must look for righteousness in his person, and for satis- 
 faction for my sins by his blood ; that what he did in obe- 
 dience to his Father s law, and in submitting to the penal- 
 ty thereof, was not for himself, but for him that will accept 
 it for his salvation, and be thankful. And now wa^my 
 heart full of. joy, mine 'eyes full of tears, and mine affec- 
 tions running over with love to the name, people, a<nd wayg 
 of Jesus Christ. 
 
TRUE CONVERSION. 7 
 
 Chr. This was a revelation of Christ to your soul, in- 
 deed. But tell me particularly, what effect this had upon 
 your spirit. 
 
 Hope. It made me see that all the world, notwithstand- 
 ing all the righteousness thereof, is in a state of condem- 
 nation. It made me see that God the Father*, iHo.ugh he 
 be just, can justly justify the coming sinner. It made 
 me>greatly ashamed of the vileness of my former life, a*id 
 confounded me with the sense of mine own ignorance ; for 
 there never came a thought into my heart ' °fore now that 
 showed me so the beauty of Jesus Christ. It 2>ade me love 
 a holy life, and long to do something for the honor and glofy 
 of the name of the Lord Jesus. Yea, I thought that had 
 I now a thousand gallons of blood in my body, 1 could 
 spill it all for the sake of the Lord Jesus. 
 
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