'An unanswerable Argument'

The following statement was made by Elder Sylvester Hassell in a tribute to Elder Wilde C. Cleveland, of Culloden, Georgia:

“I think I heard him preach on only two occasions, each time at a Union or General Meeting, and the discourses were of transcendent ability. I remember that he condensed into one sentence the most original and unanswerable position opposing the Arminian system of salvation by human efforts that I ever heard or read.” He asked: “If the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh, endowed with the fulness of the Divine Spirit, did not, with his life and speech of infinite purity and wisdom and power, convert or regenerate, during His earthly ministry, even His own brethren, or the members of His own personal family; how is it possible for all the creatures in the universe, with all the efforts of an eternity; to convert or regenerate one soul?”

The question answers itself. It is impossible! The saving work of regeneration must be done, and can only be done, by the almighty power of the Holy Spirit in the sinner's heart.

The Gospel Messenger, 1905