3064. "And It Was So"

A Sermon Published On Thursday, October 31, 1907.

And it was so. {Ge 1:7}

1. You will find those words six times on the first page of revelation. God spoke and said, “Let there be a firmament”; “and it was so.” He said, “Let the dry land appear”; “and it was so.” He told the earth to produce grass; “and it was so.” He ordained the sun and moon for lights in the firmament of heaven; “and it was so.” Whatever it was that he willed, he only spoke the Word, “and it was so.” In no single case was there a failure. There was not even a hesitation, a pause or a demand for a more powerful agency than the Divine Word. In each case, Jehovah spoke, “and it was so.” Nor is this first week of creation the only example of the kind, for in no case has the Word of God fallen to the ground; whether of promise or of threatening, the Word has been confirmed and fulfilled. “As it was in the beginning, it is now, and shall always be, world without and”; whatever the mighty God decrees, foretells, declares, or promises, shall before long come to pass.

2. I shall ask you to accompany me on a mental voyage down the stream of history to show that this has been the case as far as all history is concerned up until now. “And it was so.” The Lord’s will has been law; his word has been followed by fact. Dictum factum, as the Latins say. We shall then endeavour to show that, with an immutable God, it will be so continually in the great and in the small, in the affairs of the world, and in our own personal matters. What God has promised shall come to pass, and at the winding up of all history, it shall be said, “God said this, and that, and it was so.”

3. I. IN HISTORY, “it was so.”

4. We stand at the fountain-head of human history, and hear the Lord declare to our parents that, in the day in which they should break his commands, and eat from the forbidden fruit, they should surely die; “and it was so.” They died that moment. That spiritual death, which was the great and essential part of the sentence, was fulfilled then and there. The likeness and image of God was broken in them immediately, and we are dead in trespasses and in sins by reason of their death. He warned them also, when his wrath, as it were, glanced aside from them to strike the soil on which they stood, that the earth should produce thorns and thistles for them, and that in the sweat of their face they should eat bread, and truly it has been so. The earth has yielded her harvest, but she has produced her thorns and briars also; and though the curse of labour has become a blessing, yet man’s toil and woman’s travail vindicate the divine veracity.

5. When all flesh had corrupted its way, God repented that he had made man, and sent his servant Noah as a preacher of righteousness to threaten a universal flood. It did not appear very probable that the dense population of the earth could all be swept away, and that the billows should rear their proud heads above the mountains; but it turned out that Noah was no fool, and his prophecy was no raving. God had said that the world should be drowned, “and it was so.” The sluices of the great deep beneath were drawn up, the cataracts of heaven descended, and no one escaped, except the few, that is eight, whom God enclosed within the ark.

6. A little further on, the Lord appeared to his servant Abraham, and told him that the wickedness of Sodom had been so great that the cry had gone up even to his throne; and the Lord shared with his servant that he would go and see if it was altogether according to its cry; and if so, Sodom should be destroyed. Abraham pleaded, and his intercession almost prevailed; but since no righteous salt was found in the filthy cities of the plain, it was doomed to perish. They had given themselves to strange flesh, and a strange judgment must therefore happen to them. Hell must fall out of heaven on such abominable offenders: “and it was so,” for when the morning dawned, Sodom was utterly consumed, and its smoke went up to heaven.

7. You know how God kept his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were strangers with him, dwelling in tents, looking for a better city, that is, a heavenly. Whatever promise was made to the patriarchs was fulfilled to the letter; in all respects, “it was so.” When they went down into Egypt, God declared that, after four hundred years, he would bring them out; and though the tribes appeared to be naturalized in Egypt, and were rooted to the soil, yet God would bring them out; and though Pharaoh took strong measures, and thought to hold them firmly, yet God had said that they should come out with a high hand, and an outstretched arm; “and it was so.” Let the wonders which he performed in the fields of Zoan, the plagues which overthrew the sons of Ham; let the going out from Egypt, and the terrors of the Red Sea, when the depths covered all the chivalry of Egypt, let these remind you that, just as God had spoken, so it was. Pharaoh was hardened, but he was not able to resist the will of the Almighty; he stands for ever in history as a memorial that no one shall harden himself against the Most High and prosper, for the Lord does as he wills in heaven, and on earth, and in all deep places. Has he said, and shall he not do it? “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”

8. I should not weary you, I think, if I were to dwell a little while on the promise that God gave to Israel that he would lead the tribes through the wilderness, and surely bring them to their inheritance. It appeared very unlikely that they would ever enter into Canaan, when, for forty weary years, they wandered in the pathless wilderness; yet the Jordan was crossed in due season, and Jericho was taken. He said that every man should possess his portion, and each tribe its lot; “and it was so.” The Canaanites dwelt in cities that were walled up to heaven, and they dashed into the battle in chariots of iron, yet they were overcome, for God had said it; “and it was so.” He cast out the heathen, and planted the vine which he had brought out of Egypt; he overthrew Og and Sihon, “and gave their land for an inheritance; for his mercy endures for ever.” Many a time, after Israel had been settled in the land, they provoked the Lord to jealousy, so that he sent prophet after prophet, and their message was, “If you sin against the Lord like this, you shall be given into the hands of your enemies”; “and it was so.” But when they were severely struck, they repented, and they cried to God, and he had pity on them; and then he sent another of his servants with a gentle message, saying, “Turn to me, and repent, and I will deliver you”; “and it was so.”

9. In every case he kept his word, whether for chastening them or delivering them. He was always faithful. When, in the later period of their history, Sennacherib blasphemed the Lord, his servant Hezekiah took the cruel letter of Rabshakeh, and laid it before the Lord in the temple, and cried mightily to him; and Isaiah came with the promise, “He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it.” Who could put the hook into the nose of that leviathan? Who could turn him back by the way that he came? The Lord had said it should be done, “and it was so”; for that night the destroying angel went through the host of Assyrians, and there fell of corpses on the plain so many as the leaves of autumn. Has God promised to rescue his children? Then be assured that, however numerous their foes, his word shall not fail. Then came that dark day when Israel and Judah were threatened with captivity in a strange land. They sinned; and, lo! “it was so.” They were exiled far away. By the waters of Babylon they sat down and wept, they wept when they remembered Zion; but there came a promise to them, — a promise which they had left all unread and forgotten in their Sacred Books, that after the lapse of seventy years they should return again, and once more see the land of their forefathers; “and it was so.” God raised up for them a friend, and a helper, and the captives came back again to their land.

10. Let us quote the grandest example of all. The Lord promised, immediately after the Fall, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head. That promise had been succeeded by many others, and those in Israel who knew the Lord waited for the coming of the Deliverer. The promise was long in being fulfilled. Day and night devout men cried to God, for their patience was severely tried, yet they confidently expected the Messenger of God who would suddenly come to his temple; and when the fulness of time was come, “it was so.” The everlasting God was found tabernacling among men, and they “beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” It was the best promise of all, — the promise of the greatest gift that God has ever bestowed on mankind; and that promise was kept, kept to the letter, and to the hour. He had said it should be, “and it was so,” though it was a wonder beyond all wonders.

11. We might pursue our theme, and show you that, as far as all past events have gone, God’s Word has been verified. But now, though we keep to history, we shall leave the large volume of the public records, and ask you to take down from its shelf that little diary of yours, the journal of your own life story, and observe there how God’s word has been true. You remember the warnings that you received in your youth, when you were told that the ways of sin might be pleasantness at first, but would end in sorrow. You were told that the cup might sparkle at the brim, but that its dregs were full of bitterness. Did you test that statement in the days of your early manhood? Ah! then I know you cannot deny that it was as God had declared. He said, “The wages of sin is death”; “and it was so.” He said its end would be bitterness, “and it was so.” He told you that the fascinations of sin were as destructive as they were alluring, and truly “it was so.” If you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, you will blush as you answer the question, “What fruit did you have then in those things of which you are now ashamed?”

12. It happened on a day, as God would have it, that your eyes were opened to see your lost estate; and there was a voice which spoke in the gospel, and said, “If you will return to me, return; only confess the transgressions that you have sinned against me, and I will forgive you. Come and put your trust in my Son, and your iniquity shall be blotted out like a cloud, and your transgressions like a thick cloud.” Led by sovereign grace, you came to Jesus. You washed in the fountain of his blood, guided to it by the Holy Spirit. What is your testimony? You were promised salvation, pardon, peace. My testimony is, and “it was so”; is not that yours also? Oh, the joy of believing in Jesus! Oh, the bliss of casting one’s self into the Father’s arms, and pleading the merits of the Only Begotten! There is a peace of God, that surpasses all understanding, which comes to our faith when we exercise it on Christ. Peace was promised, “and it was so.”

13. Since the time when you believed in Jesus, you have had many needs, both spiritual and temporal; but he has promised he will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly. What do you say, brothers and sisters? Your needs have come, have the supplies come also? I am sure you will say, “it was so”; — strangely so, — but always so. As your day, your strength has been. The shoes of iron and of bronze have had rough usage, but they have not worn out. The all-sufficient God has proved that his grace is all-sufficient for us. Our personal history bears witness that, with regard to the providence of God, and to the supplies of his grace, he said that he would grant us enough, “and it was so.” He told you that, when you believed in his Word, he would hear your prayers. Three times he put it in various forms, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.” Brethren, you have been to the mercy seat, and tried whether God hears prayer, and it has been so, — he did hear prayer. We believed his Word, and in due time our faith has been turned to sight, and the promise has been fulfilled. We have read in God’s Word that he would sanctify our trials to us, and that “all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose”; what then is my witness, after having been week after week, and even month after month, racked with pain and laid low with sickness, what have these things been to me? Have they worked my good? Do they produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness? My truthful witness is, “and it was so.” I feel persuaded that every Christian shall have to say of his afflictions that they have been blessed to him: “Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now I have kept your word”; said one of old, and many in these modern times can say the same. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted”; the Lord said it would be, “and it was so.”

14. Up to this hour, it has always been true with regard to us, his people, that what the Lord has said, he has surely performed. We can — 

   Sing the sweet promise of his grace,

      And the performing God.

Let me remind you that our history is only the common experience of all God’s people, and if there is anything uncommon in the stories of the saints, then there is only a more than usually clear confirmation of the truth. Look at the martyrs; they suffered what we can scarcely bear to read about, yet the Lord said he would be with them; “and it was so.” They wore the chain for Christ’s sake, and he promised to be their companion; “and it was so.” They went to the stake or bowed their head to the axe, and they were promised that even to the end he would be with them; “and it was so.” Right along, through all the history of the church militant, and I might also ask the confirmation of the church triumphant too, the saints declare, that “it was so.” Christ has kept his Word to the letter. Not one good thing has failed of all that he ever promised to his people.

15. II. And now, having taken this very brief run through history, let me ask you to follow me when I say that, AS IT HAS BEEN IS THE PAST, SO IT WILL BE IN THE FUTURE.

16. It is always good reasoning, when we are dealing with God, to infer the future from the past: “Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.” Having the same God, and the same promises, we may always expect to see the same results. As for the future, a large part of Scripture is as yet unfulfilled. Many people try to interpret it, but the man is not born who can explain the Revelation; yet, whatever God has declared there, will be explained by the working out of his providence.

   God is his own Interpreter,

      And he will make it plain.

Whatever he has promised there, it shall be said of it, eventually, “and it was so.” We learn that there is to be a wide spread of the gospel. It is written, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God”; “Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands to God”; therefore, be assured that it shall be so. Let the missionary toil on, and the devil rage on if he wishes, — the devil shall be disappointed, and the servant of God shall have his heart’s desire. God will honour his Church when she has enough faith to believe in his promises.

17. There is to be, in the fulness of time, a second coming of the Lord Jesus. He who went up from Olivet sent two of his angelic servants to promise, that in the same way as he went up into heaven, he would return again. He shall surely come. Virgin souls who are awake, and watching for the midnight cry, will hear it before long. And when he comes, “the dead in Christ shall rise first”; there shall be a resurrection of the just at his appearing. So he has promised; and “blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power.” There are no bonds of death that can hold the saints in their graves when the Lord descends; at the sound of the archangel’s trumpet, God has said that they shall arise, and it shall be so. Every one of them shall return from the land of the enemy; and then will follow the millennial glory, — we will not explain that splendour; but we know that it is promised, and that whatever has been foretold by God shall surely be; the saints shall possess the kingdom, and shall reign with Christ.

18. And heaven and the eternal future in the glory land, where the ever-blessed God shall reveal himself to his servants, “and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads”; — every golden word, every sapphire sentence which glows and sparkles with the glory of the Most High, and the lovingkindness of the Infinite, shall be fulfilled: it shall be said of everything, “and it was so.” Indeed! and concerning the dread future of the lost, — those awful words that tell of fires that burn, and yet do not consume, and of a wrath that kills, and yet men live beneath its power, truly, truly, “These shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal”; — these shall all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but not one word that God has spoken shall fail. Of doom or of glory, of promise or of threatening, it shall be said, “and it was so.” And when the end shall come, and Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to God even the Father, and the drama of history shall be ended, and the curtain shall drop, and God shall be All in all, all shall be summed up, in this sentence, “He spoke, and it was done; he commanded and it stood firm”; he said it, “and it was so.”

19. I desire, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, for your consolation, to bring this truth home to yourselves, if the Spirit of God will enable me. “It was so,” — this has been true, and it shall be so for you. God’s promises shall all be kept for you personally. God will fulfil his Word to you in every letter. Observe, there will occur cases in which there will be no visible help towards the fulfilment of the divine promise, and no tendencies that way; but, if God has pledged his Word, he will keep it. Note well that, in the creation of the world, there was nothing to help God. “With whom did he take counsel, and who instructed him?” When he began to prepare the world for man, and to furnish the house which he had made in the beginning, there was darkness, and that was no aid; there was chaos, and that was no help. Now you are troubled at the present time; your condition is one of confusion, disorder, darkness, you see nothing that could make God’s promise to come true, not a finger to help, no one even to wish you well. Never mind, God needs no helper; he works gloriously alone. See how the earth stands. What does it hang on? “He hangs the earth on nothing.” Look at the unpillared arch above it. There are no buttresses, no supports, no props to the sky; yet it has not fallen, and it never will. “Trust in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength”; and if he has given you a promise, and you have laid hold on it, though nothing should appear to aid its fulfilment, yet it shall be fulfilled; you will have to write, “and it was so.”

20. Yes, and this shall be the case, though many circumstances tend the other way. When there seemed to be a conflict against God, — not only no help, but much resistance; do not fear. What does it matter to God? Though all the men on earth and all the demons in hell were against him, what does it matter? Though, heaps of chaff contend against the wind, what does it matter to the tempest? They shall be whirled along in its fury. What if the wax shall defy the flame? It shall only melt in the fervent heat. If all the world and all hell should declare that God will not keep his promise, yet he will perform it; and we shall have to say, “it was so.” No opposition can stop the Lord.

21. But you may say, “This cannot be true, surely, in my case. I could have believed it on a great scale, but not for myself.” Ah! does God speak truth in great things, and lie in little ones? Will you blaspheme the Most High by imagining that in public acts of royalty he is true, but in the private deeds of his family he is false? What would be a worse imputation against a man than that? Who shall throw such a charge on the eternal God? The Lord promised his servant Elijah that he would take care of him. Did he not make the ravens feed him? Did he not send him to the widow of Sarepta, and multiply her meal flour and her olive oil? He was as true to him in the ravens’ matter, and in the handful of the meal flour matter, as when, in the business of the great rain, the prophet bowed his head between his knees on Carmel, and saw at length the heavens covered with clouds and the land deluged with showers. God will keep his Word in little things to you. Do not imagine that he forgets your lowly affairs. The hairs of your head are numbered. A sparrow does not alight on the ground apart from your Father’s will. Are you not better than the sparrows which are sold at five for two farthings in the market? Will you not rest in your Father’s care, and believe that his promises shall be fulfilled, and that your food shall be given to you, and your water shall be sure; you shall dwell in the land, and truly you shall be fed?

22. God’s Word stands true, even when our unworthiness is in the way. I know you have imagined, “If I were a great saint, God would surely keep his Word to me; but I being a very grievous sinner, how shall he be gracious to me?” And do you think that God is good and truthful only to the good and true? Would you be so yourself? Surely we must deal honestly with all men, whoever they may be. Their character is no excuse for our unfaithfulness to our own promises. Our Lord Jesus has said, “Whoever comes to me I will by no means cast out”; and if you come to God, he will not cheat you, and say, “I said, ‘Whoever confesses and forsakes his sins shall have mercy’; but, I did not mean the promise for such a one as you are.” No, Christ has said, “Whoever comes to me I will by no means cast out”; and if you come to him, though you are the blackest sinner outside of hell, yet Christ will not reject you; for it is not your character, but his character, that is to be considered in the promise. Even “if we do not believe yet he remains faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

23. Yes, and his promise comes true, and we have to say of it, “and it was so,” even in cases of our own confessed incapacity to receive it. Take the case of Abraham, for that is typical of many others in this respect; he had the promise of a son and heir, and though, as for his own body, it was as dead, and Sarah was well advanced in years, Abraham did not consider himself or Sarah, but believed the promise, and, in the fulness of time, there was the sound of laughter in the tent, for Isaac was born. We err when we become so depressed by our own incapacity as to conceive doubts of God’s faithfulness. The Lord gives the promise that the barren woman shall keep house, “and it was so.” Our desert-hearts shall have the blessing; it shall drop on the pastures of the wilderness, and the little hills shall rejoice on every side. Our weakness shall not hinder the fulfilment of the divine promise. God is able to bless us even when we feel only fit to be cursed. Oh empty one, God can fill you! Oh dried branch and withered tree, you who stand like an oak, struck by lightning, only fit for the burning, the Lord, the everlasting God, can quicken you, and put fresh sap in you, and make your branch to bud again to the glory of his holy name! He promises, and if you believe, you shall have to say, “and it was so.”

24. So it will be right on to the end of the chapter. A few days ago, I stood by the side of a dear departing brother, who feebly lifted his hands from the bed, and said just these few words, “Christ, Christ, Christ is all.” And then he said, as I bade him “Good-bye,” “We shall meet in heaven. I shall go there soon, and you will follow; but I hope it will be a long while before you do.” I asked him whether that was quite a blessing, and he said, “You know what I mean. The church needs you.” About half-past five this afternoon, he who rejoiced that he would soon be in heaven entered within the gate of pearl. He had served us well as a deacon of this church, and now he sees the face of the ever-blessed. He believed, while here on earth, that it was bliss to be with Christ, and he finds it so; he is saying, “The half has not been told me.” Well, well, whether we live to old age, or depart in midlife, or die in early youth, what does it matter? We shall find that passing across the river is delightful when at eventide it is light. And oh, the glory of the everlasting daybreak! The splendour of the sun that goes down no more! Oh, the bliss of beholding saints and angels, and seeing the King in his beauty! The messengers of God said that heaven is blessed, and it is so, — it is so. The voice from heaven said, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord,” and it is so. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1219, “A Voice From Heaven” 1210}

25. I would leave a thought with those who are exercised with doubts and fears about the Lord’s sure mercies. It is a very bad thing that we should doubt our God, but we do; and therefore let us shoot arrows at unbelief. Note well that, when God spoke in the creation, “and it was so,” there was only his power concerned. Supposing he had spoken, and it had not been so; then the only result would have been that God was proved not to be omnipotent. But his might did not fail him; his glorious attribute of power showed its majesty, and what the Lord spoke was accomplished. Yet, in this case, only one attribute was at stake. Now, when you consider any one of God’s promises recorded in the Bible, there is more than one attribute engaged for its fulfilment, there are two at least, for there is the divine truth at stake as well as the divine power. If he said it should be, and it is not, it is either that he would not or he could not; if he could not, then his power has failed; but if he would not when he promised, then his truth is forfeited. We have, therefore, a double hold when dealing with covenant promises, and may rest in two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie.

26. But, sometimes, in certain promises, even more is observable; for example, you who have known the Lord these ten or twenty years, have been helped so far; and suppose the Lord were to fail you now, then not only would his power and his truth be compromised, but his immutability also, since he would then have changed, and would no longer be the same God today as he was yesterday. Three attributes are leagued on your side; you have three sacred pledges for the fulfilment of the promise. Frequently also you have God’s wisdom brought into the affair in hand. You have been in great difficulty, and you have seen no means of escape; but you have laid the case before God, and left it there; he has inspired his servant David to say, “Cast your burden on the Lord, and he shall sustain you”; now, if he does not sustain you, there are four attributes at stake, his power, — can he do it? His truth, — will he keep his promise? His immutability, — has he changed? His wisdom, — can he find a way of escape?

27. Frequently, my brethren, the Lord’s honour is also brought into the field in addition to the other attributes. You remember how Moses put it when the Lord said, “Leave me alone, that my wrath may become hot against them, and that I may consume them.” Then Moses said, “Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘For mischief he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’?” See, too, how Joshua uses the same argument with the Lord: “The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear about it: … and what will you do to your great name?” Oh, that is grand pleading, — that is grand pleading! Now if the Lord has brought you into deep waters, and you have put your trust in him, and said, “I know that he will deliver me,” if he does not do so, the enemy will say, “It is a vain thing to trust in God, for the Lord does not deliver his people.” His honour is at stake; and, ah, he is a jealous God! He will rouse himself, and go out like a man of war to show himself strong on the behalf of those who trust in him.

28. In addition to all this, divine love is included in the issue. How did Moses put it? The people said, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?” And Moses argued like this with the Lord, “Did you bring all these people out of Egypt so that they might die in the wilderness? Have you no love for them? Will you be cruel to the sons of men?” We may even plead like this with the benevolence and compassion of the Lord. “Will the Lord cast off for ever? Will he be favourable no more?” Oh, no, that cannot be! Each child of his can sing, — 

   And can he have taught me to trust in his name,

   And thus far have brought me to put me to shame?

“Is it so that he has taught me long after the sweetness of his grace, and yet will he deny it to me? Does the Lord tantalize men in this way? I could have been happy enough in my poor ignorant way as a sinner; but now that I have been made to taste higher and sweeter things, I shall be doubly wretched if I may not enjoy them. If he makes men hunger and thirst, and then does not feed them, he is not a God of love.” But he is a God of love, and therefore he cannot treat his servants like that. You remember Luther used to say that, when he saw that God was in his quarrel, he always felt safe. “Your honour is at stake,” he would say, “and it is no business of Luther’s; it is God’s business when God’s gospel is concerned.” Every divine attribute is pledged as a guarantee that every divine promise shall be kept. Here faith may gather strength, and rest assured that the covenant is sure in every jot and tittle. If one child of God, who has put his trust in Jesus should perish, the everlasting covenant of grace would have failed, for this is a part of its stipulations, “I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols. I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you.” And if I have come to Jesus, and rested in him; and, after all, do not find salvation and eternal life, then the covenant has become a dead letter to me, and it never shall be this. “Although my house is not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.” He will not allow his promise to fail.

29. Last word of all, remember that the very blood of Christ is at stake in the matter of God’s promise. If a poor guilty sinner shall come and rest in Jesus, and yet is not saved, then Jesus Christ is grievously dishonoured, — he has shed his blood in vain. Shall they perish on whom his blood is sprinkled? Has the fountain, after all its boasted efficacy, become a mockery? Is there no power in the atonement of Jesus to cleanse the guilty? Ah, beloved, he said it would cleanse, and it was so, it is so, and it shall be so for evermore! Those who rest in Christ shall not perish, neither shall anyone snatch them out of his hand. Each one of us, as we arrive in heaven, shall add our testimony to the general verdict of all the saints, and say, “It was so. He said it, and he fulfilled it; glory be to his name!” If any soul comes to Jesus at this hour, he shall find eternal life. “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Such is the gospel. May the Lord grant his great blessing!

The OCR quality of this sermon was poor and contained many spurious comas, italics and corrupted or missing words. Editor.