TUENING
TURNING
773
enter into the Kingdom of God. ' Tliis my son ■was dead, and is alive again,' exclaimed the father of the Prodigal, for he recognized a miracle of Divine grace in liis son's return. But that heavenly mys- tery had its human counterpart, that miracle of grace its moral coefficient ; for the Prodigal had turned away from the swine-trough, ' and he arose and came to his father.' See, further, art. Re- generation.
(2) The particular elements of conversion. — Wiien we analyze conversion, two elements show them- selves ; for two moments are involved in every act of turning : there is a turning from and a turning to. Christian conversion is a turning from self, the world, and sin ; and a turning to God in Christ. But these are just the two moral acts which in the NT are commonly designated by the names ' repent- ance ' and ' faith. ' And so it seems proper to say tiiat repentance and faith are the elements that go to make up conversion. And this is confirmed when we find that in the record of the Apostolic preaching conversion or turning is associated with repentance on the one hand and faith on the other. ' Repent ye therefore, and turn again ' is the point to which St. Peter brings his sermon in Solomon's Porch (Ac 3^") ; and St. Paul's claim, as he stands before King Agrippa, is that he has declared alike to Jew and Gentile ' that they should repent and turn to God ' (26^*'). On the other hand, we read of the Greeks of Antioch that ' a great number that believed turned unto the Lord' (IP'). Corre- sponding again with this .separate presentation of the two sides of conversion, is the fact tliat St. Paul combines the two when he says to the elders of the Ephesian Church, as he sums up his ministry among them, that both to Jews and Greeks his testimony has been this : ' repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ ' (Ac 20^'). Much has been written on the question whether in conversion repentance comes before faith, or faith before repentance. PVom the point of view of theory it is a somewhat barren discussion ; and when we come to practice, the fact appears to be that in the conscious experience of the soul faith rises into more immediate prominence in some cases and repentance in others. But what is of import- ance is to note that in conversion both are inextric- ably joined together in the unity of a complex but single moral act.
(3) The modes or types of conversion . — (a) Two strongly contrasted types meet us in the NT and in the whole history of Christian experience. The one is marked by deep contrition for sin — contrition tiiat amounts in some cases to a positive agony of mental distress. Prom the other the element of pain and contrition is almost wholly absent ; it consists in a joyful and unclouded acceptance of the love of God as revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. St. Paul and the jailer of Philippi are representa- tives of the violent and painful type of conversion — reproduced in the later history of the Church in the experience of such men as Augustine and Bunyan. Cornelius, the Ethiopian eunuch, and Lydia ' the seller of purple,' may stand, perhaps, for the gentler and simphj trustful type — forerunners of multitudes like them in every subsequent age. Theologically the diHerence between these two types might be accounted for by saying that as repentance and faith are the tAvo elements that go to make up conversion, in the one case repent- ance is more prominent, and in the other faith. For while it is true that repentance is primarily a change of mind, and is not to be confounded with the mere feeling of sorrow on account of sin, yet repentance is at all events tiiat side of conversion whicii represents the soul's backward and down- ward look, just as faith is tlie aspect of it in which the soul looks forward and upward. And so con-
trition for the sorrowful p.ast, even while it must be distinguished from true re])entance, is yet in certain cases its very natural accompaniment. The full explanation, however, of the ditlerences between these two types of conversion must be sought from psychology rather than theology, in the Held of experience and not in that of doctrinal theory. They are due for the most jmrt to diversities in natural temperament, in personal history, in religious education, and especially in the prevailing atmosphere of religious thought and belief. Professor Henry Drummond, remarking on the fact that in his wide experience as an evangelist he had never met with conversions of the agonizing type so common in an earlier generation, once raised the question whether the Holy Spirit may not in these days have changed His modus operandi. The question is startling ; but considered in the light of Jn 16'^ it may have the kernel of truth in it. For the Holy Spirit has led the Church of our time into new and larger views regarding the revelation of God in Christ ; and the comparative infrequency of a once familiar type of conversion is probably due to the fact that, without sur- rendering their belief in the reality and heinous- ness of sin, both the Christian evangelist and his hearers have gained a better understanding of all that is involved in the Fatherhood of God and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.