The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-04-07
LESSON IN CHEMISTRY
ILLUSTRATES CONVERSION.
Doctor Day Describes How the
Sinful Soul Is Transposed
Into a New Creature.

Doctor John ". Day. pastor OF the Church
of the Messiah, preached yesterday. morn.
ing on Conversion" taking as a bass !.
corinthians v. II; II any man m ,b DE IN have
passed away. behold all things have become
new" He said In part: -
There Is a picturesque eAperilleni ~
mature minds, as 1t is interesting ana won.
derful to young observers. We are SHOWN
what apepars to be a flask OF pure water;
but 1t is really a saturated solution OF
acetate of Soday. Into that solution lhete
is dropped one or more bits of the crystals,
and a very surprising and fascinating resui.
takes place. A feecy cloud quickly spreau us
through the liquid. In an instant hasnes III
every direction a marvellous transforma-
ton. The liquid Is changing into someshins
else. What had been clear and liinplu pe-
comes opaque and solid. Capitalization IS
What makes the wander so mysterious
and magical is that the mind does no' sec
the greater part OF the cause. ana ohIy Sc
the last straw which breaks the oack OF
persistence. II looks as though that one
bit had a charm which did the whore a.
vel. You see only the water and not me
incipient crystal filling all but the iast piace.
Most of the work has been done. AND then
you see the one final act which appears 70
be the whole cause. 1t is as II the Greas
bridge were loaded up to the very limit OF
its sustaining strength. and a bird sh0ulu
light upon it and all should fall together;
II is as if a powder magazine We're heated
up TO the point Of explosion and then. with
a tenth of a degree more heat, 1t should
blow up. Was it that tenth OF a degree.
grain of crystal that did the thing? Or was
it much more. infinitely more. what lay be-
hind the final and deciding part?
You sannSt take away W,t the pe &c ina ot G5-
er causes would never be known. and never
nave any effect. The arch will never be
the arch without the e k ssSs t ii. But atb eas
leap into place. Without them 1t. too.
had been useless. Except fer the ninety and
nine years the one year which makes the
hundredth would not arrive at the CEN
fury mark. With its dignity every moment
receives the proportionate prize money OF
conquest.
is that they have a very human look. Some
thing like this is what often takes place in
life. Human nature is Of one kind up to
apparently not enough in Itself to cause
such a change, 1t appears very different;
"A man sees before him the beloved life.
to reach. Then when that added worth in
fringes upon his own new set Of motives
and hopes spring up within him, Things
then. Ideals he never considered before
come to be his chief desire. Evils he could
not resist drop away without resistance like
the blackened stick that falls as the rocket
bursts into light. The repulsive power or
this finer affection goes through his nature
purifying. ennoeling, transforming. II per-
ltttlul Ncltd iiliisittu lililis. buCH d SH'tSt
might well-nieh make men perfect. What
1t does is to set life in that higher relation
when things pure and lovely and of good re-
port become the natural standard OF habit.
From being unstable as water. character
crystalizes into a firmer beauty: 1t has
risen into another kingdom.
Here, then. is what It is to be converted.
1t is a change whose main power resides in
what has gone before. Character Is its sub
stance. It is valid only when a better mo-
ment. 1t cannot take the place of training.
1t is the point at which human nature re-
ceives the kind Of inspiration which takes
real nature. 1t is Something which is tax
ing place all along the line of life with
every better impulse and ideal,
The Master of life comes with his touch
all through experience. Every hidden
worth crysta'Iizes We see what has really
been in solution. The elements of anothe.
away, behold all things become new. II
any man be thus in Christ he is a new crea-
~" ms had onened to him the high
est paths of life. There has been Weakened
Y IA MIN the strongest affections and
hopes; HIS eyes have been onened to see
that in such a life, and in nothing less. is
ing is not removed. Christ had his tempta-
tons at the beginning. his agony at the
erd NJ his career. On the contrary all the
more effort is demanded because the true
quality of perfection is revealed as infinite.
But the striving can never be what 1t was
before. II can never ho vain. or hopeless.
in the nobler course and has the assurance
of the end in every step. Down into the
lowest place where an eye looks up to the
glory that makes angels glad. The making
of the c~vstal IS a roor analoev. The fact
Is that eternal life dawns In such a moment.
Those who look on the face of the clarified
one can SOC that Christ has Just a credit into
our common nature. and he who tries to
live such a life has begun to be a new crea-