_The first thing that the Holy Spirit has to do for every soul is to—CONVERT—it._ He began this work at once when he came. He set the apostles to preaching Jesus Christ, and the result of the first day’s preaching was—that _three thousand souls_ were converted. The conversion of the soul refers to the great change which takes place when a person becomes a Christian. The word conversion is only one of several words applied to this subject in the Scriptures. Sometimes it is called being quickened, or made alive; and at other times it is called being “born again.” This was the way in which our Saviour spoke of the great change we are now considering, in his interesting conversation with Nicodemus. And he spoke of the Holy Spirit as the One who is to work out this change in every case when he said—“_Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God._” St. John iii: 5. To be “born of the Spirit,” is the same as to be converted, or to have the heart changed, and to be made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Good people differ much in their opinions about what our Saviour means by “water” here. Some think it means the truth of God’s word, which is spoken of as the means employed in the conversion of souls; while others think that the word “water” here refers to baptism; but we cannot stop to argue the point now. Some souls are converted, or born again, before they are old enough to understand the truth that God has taught us in his holy word. We have two cases of this kind mentioned in the Bible. One is the prophet Jeremiah, chap. i: 5, and the other John the Baptist, St. Luke i: 15. When it says of one of these that he was “sanctified;” and of the other that he was “filled with the Holy Ghost” from the time he was born, it means that the great change, of which we are now speaking, was made in them both, by the Holy Spirit, at that early time. And so it may be now with children, even while they are very young, especially if they have Christian parents to pray for them. But, if they are not converted, or born again, till they grow up to be boys and girls, or men and women, then the word or truth of God is that which the Holy Spirit makes use of in causing them to be converted, or born again. Here is an illustration of one, out of many ways, in which the Spirit does this: “How a Christmas Card Saved a Soul.” There was a merchant in one of our large cities who had failed in business. He had lost everything that he had. He was not a Christian, and did not know where to go for comfort. His troubles and disappointments made him gloomy and sad. He saw no way in which he could get out of his troubles; and after thinking over them a long time, he finally made up his mind to go to the river and drown himself. He was not married, and had no family of his own; but there were a number of children in the house where he lived.