The general mistake is, to place duties before faith, reformation before coming to Christ. And wherever this is the case, there is a manifest neglect of the divine admonition, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” A sinner may say he is using the means of salvation, while yet he has no other idea than that an external reformation is all he needs. In such a case, he is rather using the means to work out a righteousness for himself, than following the directions of the divine word, to repent of sin, and believe in the blood of Christ for its pardon; and while so doing, he is not converted, nor in the way to conversion.

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