and preaching. I told him that I had no fixed or certain salary. "Well, approximately how much do you get?" I replied, that if I get for the balance of the year in proportion to what I have already received, it would amount to $900 or $1,000, my traveling expenses to come out of it. "O," said he, "that don't pay." I replied: "From your point of view I suppose not; but, my friend, I am not in this business for the money there is in it. I could engage in some other business where I might realize three or four times as much." He said that he could not understand it. I told him I was strongly inclined to believe him. I do not think an unconverted man can understand it, whose whole soul and energy are absorbed in moneygetting. I began to put some pertinent and direct questions to him concerning his religious obligation to God, and soon found that he had no taste for the subject, and put whip to his horse and bade me good-bye. Why should the subject of religion be less interesting and unwelcome than money-getting, unless men are estranged from God?

On my first round on the Petaluma District as Presiding Elder I got lost, and lay out two nights in succession. I was accompanied by an old frontier local preacher by the name of Silas Bennett. After leaving the Round Valley Indian Reservation for the north, we were without roads for eighty miles. The country was traversed with trails, and these so cut up and crossed with cattle trails that it was difficult for a stranger to keep his course. The settlements were few and many miles apart, and that increased the difficulty. It was the second day out that we lost our way. As evening drew near a heavy fog came in from the coast, and not knowing where we were, or whether there was a habitation within miles of us, I suggested that we stop and camp for the night. Father Bennett, however, insisted that we go on further. Presently night set in, and the dense fog intensified the darkness. Presently Brother Bennett's horse refused to go, though he urged him with the spur. I entreated him to stop, and wait for the day. Rain set in, so that we could not lie down to rest. We made a fire and kept as comfortable as

possible. At the break of day we started to find a trail, and found, to our joy, that we were within a mile of a house, weary and hungry, as we had not eaten anything for twenty-four hours. As we drew near the spot where Father Bennett's horse refused to go further, to our great horror we found we had been within ten feet of an awful precipice, five hundred feet perpendicular. Our escape from instant death was frightful to behold. We thanked God for the instinct of the horse, that served us better than our own reason. We stopped at a rude farmhouse, where we and our horses were well cared for. It is needless to say that we had a keen relish for the meal, which we pronounced No. 1. After rest, the host gave us directions to strike our lost trail some time during the day, but with no better luck than the day before. So we were out a second night, and camped under a spreading tree in a small prairie, and rested well in body, if not in mind. It is not pleasant to be lost in a strange country. Early in the following day we reached a small village called Blocksburg, having a store, a blacksmith's-shop, and three or four dwellings.

TWO REMARKABLE CONVERSIONS.

Some notable cases of remarkable conversions have come under my personal knowledge. Two occurred in Honolulu in 1858 (see Appendix), and one at Clear Lake, California, during my labors on the Petaluma District. I had completed a round on the district, and had been absent ten weeks. This was usual with me because of the shape of my district. It was more than three hundred miles long, and not more than a third as wide. My stay at home was not more than eight to ten days in every twelve weeks. One day while in my room making preparations to start on my next trip, a vivid impression came to me to call on Moses Austin, my nearest neighbor, before leaving the next day. This impression seemed as vivid as if an audible voice had spoken the words. I dismissed it as if it was an illusion, and resumed my preparation. But in a moment or two it came with greater force and

clearness, "You go and see Moses Austin before you leave home!" I went out of my room immediately, and said to Mrs. Turner, "I am going over to Mr. Austin," without telling her what had transpired. Mentally, I am not given to making account of hearing voices and following ordinary impressions; but I did not feel at liberty to treat this case lightly. At first I said, "It is no use, he is an incorrigible infidel, and it will avail nothing to go;" but I went. found him at home, which was rather an unlikely thing at that hour of the day. Somehow I was impelled to hasten, and went cross lots. I rapped at his door, and he answered the knock and invited me in as if he expected me. We passed the usual civilities, and he very soon put this question to me, "Mr. Turner, why are not all men Christians?" I instantly replied without premeditation: "Because they don't want to be. I mean those who know what Christianity is." He emphatically dissented from my reply. He could not see it in that light. I asked him these pertinent questions: "Has God amply provided salvation for the world?" "Yes, I suppose so." "Has He given men natural and gracious ability to become Christians?" "The Bible seems to teach so." "Are the invitations of God and His Son, Jesus Christ, large, gracious, and sincere to come and accept?" "Yes, they appear so." "Then, why do they not come and accept them?" "It seems to me, then, they are not Christians because they don't want to be; they want to be something else more than they want to be Christians." "O, I can not accept that view of it." "Mr. Austin, are you willing that I should read from the Word of God, and are you willing to get down with me and let us ask God about this question you have put to me?" He declined my offer to read and pray to God for light. I said: "Mr. Austin, this is your house, and you have a right to decline my offer; and I am too much of a gentleman to insist on it in your home." He still declined, and I told him it was useless for him and me to go into a long discussion of the matter, and that my time would not permit me to do so now.

I took my hat to depart, and it came to my mind that

I had a sick horse in my stable, and that he needed attention, and as both of my sons were absent from home, I asked him if he would assist me in giving it some medicine. He said, "Certainly," for he was a kind neighbor. As we were passing to my home I laid my hand softly on his shoulder, and said, "Mr. Austin, the reason that you are not a Christian, is because you don't want to be." He looked me full in the face, but made no reply. I saw he was feeling deeply. Presently I laid my hand on his shoulder the second time, and repeated the same words. I observed he was stirred with deep emotion. When we reached the stable and were entering, I laid my hand softly on his shoulder and said, "My brother, the reason you are not a Christian is because you don't want to be." He burst into tears and said, "O, Mr. Turner, pray for me." I gave him such encouragement and help as I could; but he was so much agitated that in giving the animal medicine he spilled most of it; but I took the will for the deed.

You will be surprised, as I was after I learned the case, that he was under deep conviction for his sins and had been seeking religion for weeks when I went to see him and requested to read the Bible and pray with him in his own home, and yet declined to have me do so, and ask God why he was not a Christian. He had been going out into the woods and brush for days to pray, and took his gun with him to make the neighbors think he was after game. An old lady by the name of Piner, who lived near him, had observed when he came in from hunting that his knees were wet from kneeling, and learned from him after his conversion that the gun was used for the sole purpose of concealing his convictions. When I called he was under strong temptation to conceal his religious convictions, for he well knew that I had full knowledge of his open infidelity in that community. He had ridiculed the Bible and religion in the presence of his wife and two beautiful young daughters, and to have me ask him to take the Bible on the stand and read it in their presence at this time, after asking me the question he did, was too much for his

pride; and he, like a moral coward, refused to do the very thing he in his soul wanted done. But I am perfectly convinced that God sent me that day to help him all I could in his struggle to find Christ and salvation. It is not possible that I could have known that he had any thought or desire to become a Christian. Had any one intimated that there was any probability of his becoming an active Christian, I should have been exceedingly skeptical about such a probability. When I returned to my own home, after parting with him at the stable, I said to Mrs. Turner: "Mother, I believe Moses Austin will be a converted man and be an earnest Christian before I get back from my next trip," telling her of what had transpired.

Some person had put a book named "Nelson on Infidelity" in his hand, which, under God's blessing, completely overthrew his infidelity, and led him to Christ. According to my expectation, after my return I learned of his happy conversion and union with the Church. I asked him if my reply to his question, "Why the world are not Christians?" was the correct one in his case and that of all enlightened sinners." He replied, "It is correct."

Permit me to narrate the effect his conversion had upon his boon companions in sin and on the community largely. Mr. Austin was the ringleader in the neighborhood of a little knot of skeptics, and was influential among men who frequented the saloons of the town of Kelseyville. His conversion produced a sensation among his class. One night in the prominent saloon of the place his conversion was the subject of comment and doubt. So a committee of two was appointed to visit Austin and report. He lived out of town some distance. They called on him one night to satisfy themselves about the rumors concerning his conversion. They came and were welcomed with the same cordiality and frankness that he commonly manifested. The evening was spent in pleasant conversation on neighborhood topics, and when the time came that the visitors began to show signs of taking leave, without asking any direct questions about their mission, Austin broke