“Do as thou hast said.” 2 Samuel 7:25
NATHAN had been giving to David, on God’s behalf, sundry exceeding
great and precious promises. David expresses his gratitude to God for
having so promised, and he says, “Now, O Lord God, the word that thou
hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it
for ever, and do as thou hast said.”
It is a prayer to God. Those words naturally flowed from his rips: after
hearing such precious promises, he was anxious for their fulfillment. Such
words will be equally in place, if they shall be adopted by us in these
modern times, and if, after reading a promise, on turning to God’s Word,
we should finish by saying, “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon
which thou hast caused me to hope,” it will be a practical application of the
text, “Do as thou hast said.”
I shall not commence my sermon to-night by endeavoring to prove that this
Bible is what God has said; I do not come here to give you arguments to
prove the inspiration of Scripture; I assume that I speak to a Christian
congregation, and I assume, therefore, at starting, that this is God’s word
and none other. Leaving that matter, then, altogether, permit me to
proceed at once to the text, understanding by what God has said, the
Scriptures of his truth; and I trust there are some here who will be led, tonight,
to cry to God in behalf of some promise made to their souls, O Lord,
do as thou hast said.”
I. Our first remark shall be HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO KNOW WHAT GOD
HAS SAID, for unless we know what God has said, it will be folly to say,
“do as thou hast said.” Perhaps there is no book more neglected in these
days than the Bible. I do verily believe there are more mouldy Bibles in this
world than there are of any sort of neglected books. We have stillborn
books in abundance; we have innumerable books which never see any
circulation except the circulation of the butter shop, but we have no book
that is so much bought, and then so speedily laid aside, and so little used,
as the Bible. If we buy a newspaper, it is generally handed from one person
to another, or we take care to peruse it pretty well; indeed some go so far
as to read advertisements and all. If a person purchases a novel, it is well
known how he will sit and read it all the way through, till the midnight
candle is burnt out; the book must be finished in one day, because it is so
admirable and interesting; but the Bible, of course, in the estimation of
many, is not an interesting book; and the subjects it treats of are not of any
very great importance. So most men think; they think it is a very good
book to carry out on a Sunday, but never meant to be used as a book of
pleasure, or a book to which one could turn with delight. Such is the
opinion of many; but no opinion can be more apart from the truth; for what
book can treat of truths one-half so important as those that concern the
soul. What book can so well deserve my attention as that which is written
by the greatest of all authors, God himself? If I must read a valuable book
with attention, how much more ought I to give my mind to the study of
that book which is invaluable, and which contains truth without the
slightest admixture of error? And if books upon my health, or books which
only concern the doings of my fellow creatures occupy some of my time,
and deservedly so, how much more time should I spend in reading that
which concerns my everlasting destiny; which reveals to me worlds hitherto
unknown; which tells me how I may escape from hell and fly to heaven?
But I must remark, that even among Christian people, the Bible is one of
the least read books that they have in their house. What with our
innumerable magazines, our religious newspapers, and our perpetual
controversies about the Bible, it is too seldom that people read the Bible.
There certainly is not that reading of it that there used to be. Our
predecessors, the ancient Puritans, would scarcely read any book but that;
and if a book was not concerning the Bible, they did not care about reading
it at all. Perhaps therein they may have been too strait and narrow, and may
somewhat have cramped their minds; but I would rather have my mind
cramped with divinity, than I would have it enlarged with falsehood; I
would rather have a little truth, and have a mind filled with that, though
that mind should only be as large as a nutshell, than have the most gigantic
intellect, and have that crammed with error. It is not the greatness of our
intellect, it is the rightness of it, that makes us men in this world, and right
men before God. I beseech you, therefore, you who are members of
Christian churches, if you have but little time, do not expend it in reading
ephemeral books, but take your Bible and read it constantly; and I promise
you one thing, that if you are already Christians, the more you read the
Bible the more you will love it. You may find it hard, perhaps, at present,
to read a short passage and meditate upon it all day; but as you proceed
you will see such depths unfathomable, such heights beyond your ken; and
you will discover such unutterable sweetness in this precious honey-comb
dropping with drops of honey, that you will say, “I must have more of it,”
and your spirit will always cry, “Give, give;” nor will it be content until you
can have God’s statutes upon your mind daily, to be your songs in the
house of your pilgrimage.
The errors of this present age have sprung from a non-reading of the
Bible. Do you think, my brethren, that if we all read the Scriptures with
judgment, and desired to know them rightly, there would be so many sects
as there are? Heresies and schisms have sprung from this; one man has
gone a little astray upon a point; another man, without referring to
Scripture, has endorsed all he has said; another one has added something
else to it; and then another one, being cunning, full of subtlety of the devil,
has twisted passages of Scripture, and has woven them into a system,
which has been fashioned in the first place by mistake, has accumulated and
become more colossal by sundry other mistakes which naturally accrued to
it, and at last has been perfected by the craft of designing heretics.
And, again: bigotry, ill feeling, and uncharitableness, must all be traced,
in a large degree, to our want of reading the Bible. What is the reason
why yon man hates me, because I preach what I believe to be right? If I do
speak the truth am I responsible for his hating me? Not in the least degree.
I am sometimes told by my people that I attack certain parties very hard.
Well, I cannot help it; if they are not right, it is not my fault — if they come
in my way, that I am compelled to run over them. Suppose two of you
should be driving in the road to-morrow, and one of you should be on the
right side of the road, and some accident should occur, you would say,
“Sir, the other man ought to have pulled up, he must pay the damages, for
he had no business there at all on his wrong side.” And it will be the same
with us if we preach God’s truth; we must go straight on; if the greatest illfeeling
in the world rise up we have nothing to do with it. God’s truth will
sometimes bring about warfare; Jesus Christ, you know, said himself that
he came to put warfare between man and man; to set the mother-in-law
against the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against the mother-inlaw;
and that a man’s foes should be those of his own household. But if
there be ill-feeling, if there be clamoring of sects, to whom is it due? Who
is responsible for it? Why, the man who makes the new sects, not the man
who abides fast and firm by the old one. If I am safely moored by a good
strong anchor of fundamental truth, and some other shall strike my vessel
and sink himself, I will not pay the damages. I stand firm: if others choose
to go away from the truth, to cut their cables and slip their moorings; then
let them. God grant that we may not do the same. Hold the truth, my
friends, and hold it as the easiest method of sweeping away heresies and
false doctrines. But now-a-days, you know, you are told, “Oh, it does not
matter what you believe; doctrines are nothing;” and they have tried lately
to make a very happy family of us, like the happy family near Waterloo
Bridge, where all kinds of creatures are shut up together; but they are only
kept in order by a lath which the man, when we turn our heads, applies
between the bars of the cage. Just so with denominations; they want to
amalgamete us all. We differ in various doctrines, and therefore some of us
must be wrong, if we hold doctrines which are directly hostile to each
other. But we are told, “It does not signify; doubtless, you are all right.”
Now, I cannot see that. If I say one thing, and another man says another,
how, by all that is holy, can both speak the truth? Shall black and white be
the same color? Shall falsehood and truth be the same? When they shall be,
and fire shall sleep in the same cradle with the waves of the ocean, then
shall we agree to amalgamate ourselves with those who deny our doctrines,
or speak evil of what we believe to be the gospel. My brethren, no man has
any right to absolve your judgment from allegiance to God; there is liberty
of conscience between man and man, but there is none between God and
man. No man has a right to believe what he likes; he is to believe what God
tells him; and if he does not believe that though he is not responsible to
man, or to any set of men, or to any government, yet mark you, he is
responsible to God. I beseech you, therefore, if you would avoid heresies,
and bring the church to a glorious union, read the Scriptures. Read not so
much man’s comments, or man’s books, but reed the Scriptures, and keep
your faith on this, — “God has said it.” If you cannot make all God’s
truths agree, yet remember God has not made two sets of truth opposite to
each other; that were an impossibility which even God himself could not
accomplish mighty though he be. My brethren, always stand by what God
has said, and do not be turned aside from it by all the arguments that can be
brought to bear against you. “Search the Scriptures, for they testify of
Christ.”
II. And now for our second point. ALL THAT FAITH WANTS TO BUILD
UPON IS WHAT GOD HAS SAID. “Do as thou hast said.” The only solid
foothold that faith has is, “It is written, God hath said it.” When a sinner
comes to God he must have nothing else to rely upon except this, “Do as
thou hast said.” There is a tendency in most men’s minds to bring before
God something which he did not say. Many of you, I dare say, will go and
ask God in prayer for something for which you cannot prove a positive
promise that he will ever give it to you. You go to God and say, “Lord, do
as John Bunyan said, do as Whitfield said, let me have an experience like
theirs.” Now, that is all wrong. We must, when we come to God, say only,
“Lord, do as thou hast said.” And then, again, I do believe that many of
those who are members of our churches have not put their faith simply in
what God has said. If I were to go round to some of you and ask you why
you believe yourselves to be Christians, it is marvellous what strange
reasons many of you would bring. It is very singular what strange views
persons often have as to the way of salvation. It is hard to bring a sinner to
God simply with this, — “Lord, do as thou hast said.”
I know some who think themselves to be God’s children, because they
dreamed they were. They had a very remarkable dream one night, and if
you were to laugh at them they would be unutterably indignant; they would
cut you at once out of the family of God, and call you an “accuser of the
brethren.” They do not rely upon what God has said in the Bible; but they
had some singular vision, when deep sleep had fallen upon them, and
because of that vision, they reckon they are children of God. In the course
of my seeing persons who come to me, I hear every now and then a story
like this, “Sir, I was in such-and-such a room, and suddenly I thought I saw
Jesus Christ, and heard a voice saying such-and-such a thing to me, and
that is the reason why I hope I am saved.” Now, that is not God’s way of
salvation; the sinner is not to say, “Lord, do as I dreamed, do as I fancy;”
but “Do as thou hast said.” And if I have any one here who has never had a
dream, or vision, he does not want to have, if he goes to God with this,
“Lord, thou hast said Christ died to save sinners, I am a sinner, save me,”
that is faith. “Do as thou hast said.” But there are other persons far more
rational, who if they were asked the reason for their supposing that they
are saved, would speak of some remarkable rhapsody which, on a
particular occasion they had when hearing a certain minister; or of a
particular text which struck them suddenly, and transported them to the
seventh heaven, and they had such thoughts as they never had before. “Oh
I sir,” they say “it is marvellous, I thought my heart would break, it was so
full of joy and gladness; I never felt so before in all my life; and when I
went out of the house, I felt so light and so ready to run home, I thought I
should sing all the way; so I know I must be a child of God.” Well, you
may know it, but I don’t, be cause there are many persons who have been
deluded by the devil in that fashion, who never had faith in Christ. Faith in
Christ never rests in rhapsody; it rests on a “thou hast said it.” Ask faith
whether it will ever take its standing on anything but a “thou hast said,”
and faith will answer, “No; I cannot climb to heaven on a ladder made of
dreams, they are too flimsy to bear my feet.” Faith, why does thou not
march on? Why dost thou not cross that bridge? “No,” says faith, “I
cannot; it is made up of rhapsodies, and rhapsodies are intoxicating things,
and I cannot place my feet upon them.” Faith will stand on a promise,
though it be no bigger than a grain of mustard seed; but it could not stand
on a rhapsody if it was as large as the everlasting mountains. Faith can
build on a “thou hast said it;” but it cannot build on frames and feelings, on
dreams and experiences — it only relies on this — “Thou hast said it.” Let
me caution my hearers against suppositions, which some of them have as
to salvation. Some persons think that the Holy Spirit is a kind of electric
shock working in the heart; that there is some mysterious and terrible thing
they cannot understand, which they must feel, not only very different from
what they ever felt before, but even superior to anything described in
God’s Word. Now, I beg to tell you, that so far from the effectual
operation of the Holy Spirit being a dark thing in its manifestation, it is,
because it is the Holy Spirit, a thing of simplicity and light. The way of
salvation is no great mystery, it is very plain; it is “believe and live.” And
faith needs no mysteries to hang itself upon; it catches hold of the bare
naked promise, and it says, “Lord, do as thou hast said.”
My faith can on this promise live; I know that on this promise it never can
die. But faith wants neither testimonies of man, nor learning of
philosophers, nor eloquence of orators, nor rhapsodies, nor visions, nor
revelations. It wants nothing else but what God has said applied to the
heart; and it goes to God, and says, “Lord, do as thou hast said.”
III. And now for the third remark. We see that faith is a very bold thing;
when God says a thing it goes to God, and says, “Lord, do as thou hast
said.”
My third remark is, that FAITH IS QUITE RIGHT IN SO DOING. The Lord
always meant, when he said a thing, that we should remind him of it. God’s
promises were never means to be waste paper; he means that they should
be used. Whenever God gives a promise, if a man does not use that
promise, the promise fails in effect to that man, and God’s great intention
therein is in some measure frustrated. God sent the promise on purpose to
be used. If I see a Bank of England note, it is a promise for a certain
amount of money, and I take it and use it. But oh I my friend, do try and
use God’s promises; nothing pleases God better than to see his promises
put in circulation; he loves to see his children bring them up to him, and
say, “Lord, do as thou hast said.” And let me tell you that it glorifies God
to use his promises. Do you think that God will be any the poorer for
giving you the riches he has promised? Do you think he will be any the less
holy for giving holiness to you? Do you think he will be any the less pure
for washing you from your sins? And he has said, “Come now, let us
reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as wool;
though they be red, they shall be whiter than snow.” Faith gets hold of that
promise, and it does not stand saying, “this is a precious promise, I will
look at it ;” it goes right up to the throne, and says, “Lord, here is the
promise, do as thou hast said.” And God says, “Oh! faith, I am as glad to
see the promise brought to me, as thou art to bring it, I meant my promise
to be used, and the using of it glorifies me.” Why, if any one gave us a
cheque, and we did not go to have it cashed, though we might want the
money badly enough, suppose we said, “I don’t like to go,” there would be
some slur cast upon the character of the man whose signature had made it
valid. And so when a Christian gets a promise, if he does not take it to
God, he dishonors him. But when faith in all its raggedness and poverty,
and sickness about it, goes to God and says, “Lord, I have nothing to
recommend me but this, ‘thou hast said it:’ there is the promise, Lord, give
me the fulfillment.” God smiles, and says, “Ay, my child, I love to see thee
trust me; there, take back the fulfillment, and go on thy way rejoicing.”
Never think that God will be troubled by your asking him about his
promises so much. God likes to be troubled, if I may use such an
expression; he likes you to go to his door, and say, “Great Banker, cash
this note; great Promiser, fulfill this promise; great covenant God, fulfill thy
covenant, and send me not empty away.” “Do as thou hast said,” is a
legitimate request; we ought to say it; it honors God, and God meant that
we should so use his promises, “Do as thou hast said.”
Another remark. Faith has very good reason for appealing to God to do
as he has said. If you should say to faith, “Faith, why do you expect God
to do as he has said? do you know you are undeserving of such-and-such a
mercy, though he has said it, why do you expect it?” Faith would answer,
“I have a whole bundle of reasons that justify the act. And in the first place,
I have a right to expect him to do as he has said, because he is a true God;
I know he cannot lie. He has said he will give me such-and-such a thing; if
he was not a truthful God, I would not say, ‘do as thou hast said!’ but
since he is a true God, and never was known to break his promise, and
since, moreover, by two immutable things, wherein it is impossible for God
to lie — his oath and his promise — he has made the thing secure; and
since I know that in Christ all the promises are yea and amen, I think I have
good reason enough for going to him and saying, ‘do as thou hast said.’ If
he were some fallible being who promised and would not perform, I might
hesitate somewhat, but since he is always true and constantly precious, I
will go and say to him, ‘Lord, do as thou hast said.’” Poor sinner! God has
said, “He that confesseth his sin shall find mercy.” Now, if you go to God,
you want no other plea than this, — “‘Lord, do as thou hast said;’ ‘I have
confessed my sins ;’ ‘do as thou hast said.’” “But, sinner, why should I do
as I have said? you do not deserve it.” “Lord, thou art a true God.”
“Thou hast promised to forgive,
All who on thy Son believe;
Lord I know thou canst not lie,
Give me Christ or else I die.”
Go, poor sinner, tell the Lord that, and as truly as he is God, he will never
send you empty away. Faith has good reasons to feel that God is true, and
therefore he will do as he has said. And not only so, but he is able to do it;
his ability is infinite. His intentions also are the same, his promises never
get worn out by being circulated, and they become all the more sure for
being tried. Poor sinner, here again is a joyful thought: thou canst go to
God, and say, “Lord thou hast promised to wash away all our iniquities,
and cast them into the depths of the sea. Lord, if thou hadst been a
changeable God, I might have thought thou wouldst not wash away mine,
but thou didst wash Manasseh, and thou didst wash Paul; now, Lord,
because thou art unchangeable, ‘do as thou hast said.’ For thou art just the
same now, just as merciful, just as powerful, and just as kind as ever thou
wert. What, wilt thou break thy promise, Lord? ‘Do as thou hast said.’”
But faith puts it on stronger ground than this: it says, “Lord, if thou dost
not do as thou hast said, thou wilt be dishonored, thou wilt be disgraced.”
If a man does not carry out his promise, he is cashiered; men care not to
associate with one who breaks his promise; and what would become of
God’s great name if he were to break his promise? Poor black sinner! thou
art coming to the fountain; God has given the promise that he will wash
every sinner that comes to the fountain. Now, with reverence, let me speak
it poor sinner; if Christ did not wash you, it would be a dishonor to his
truth. If you were to go to Christ, and he were to cast you out, surely, the
devils in hell would despise the name of him who breaks his promise
Beloved, to suppose that God could violate his promise, is to suppose him
divested of his Godhead. Take away God’s honor from him, and he
becomes less than man. Take away the honor which even man holds dear,
and what do you make of God? “Oh! sir,” you say, “but I do not deserve it;
I am such a poor worthless creature, he will not keep his promise to me.” I
tell you that does not make a whit difference in God’s promise; if he has
promised, he is divinely bound to perform his promise, in whatever state
you may be. Though you have slandered God, though you may have hated
him and despised him, and run away from him, and in every way ill-treated
him — if he has made a promise to you here, I will be bound for my God.
He would keep a promise to the devil if he had made one; and if he has
made a promise to you who are ever so vile, he will keep that promise to
you. Hear the promise, then, once more, Are you a sinner? “This is a
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners, even the chief.” And, again: “He is able to save
unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him.” And, again: “Come
unto me, all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And let me
say again, with the profoundest reverence, that if Christ did not give rest to
every weary heavy laden sinner that came to him, he would be un-Christed,
he would lose his truthfulness, he would be undeified, he would lose his
veracity, and the loss of one poor believing sinner would be the loss of
God’s own godhead; it would be the dethroning of the immortal; it would
be the pulling down of heaven, the breaking asunder of the universe, and
the dissolution of creation’s own earth, and of creation’s self. Faith may
well go to God, and say, “Lord, do as thou hast said; for if thou dost not, it
will be a dishonor to thyself.”
And now let us conclude by asking, what has God said? I cannot tell you
all that he has said to you, because I cannot mark out all the different
characters here. But, my dear friends, whatever may be your character,
from the earliest stage of religion up to the last, there is always some
special promise to you; and you have only to turn your Bible over and find
it out, and then go to God with “Do as thou hast said.” Let me just select a
few characters. There is one here, exceeding faint in the ways of the Lord.
“Oh!” he says, “I am faint, though I hope I am pursuing.” Now, here is the
promise, — “He giveth power unto the faint;” When you get such a
promise, stick hard and fast to it; do not let the devil cheat you out of it,
but keep on saying, “Lord, thou hast said, He giveth power unto the faint.”
“Do as thou hast said.” Let it ring and ring again in the ears of the
promiser, and he will be a performer yet. “Ah!” says another, “I am not
faint; I am afraid I scarcely have life at all; I am a hungry and thirsty soul; I
want Christ, but I cannot get at him.” Hear this: “Blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Take that
promise to God, and keep to it: do not plead anything else, but go to God
over and over again with this, — “Lord, thou hast said it; do as thou hast
said.” Are you covered all over with sin, and under a deep sense of your
iniquities? Go and tell him this: “Thou hast said, ‘I will cast their iniquities
into the depths of the sea.’ Lord, I know I have these sins; I do not deny it;
but thou hast said, ‘I will pardon them.’ I have no reason why thou
shouldst pardon them; I cannot promise that I shall be better; but, Lord,
thou hast said it, and that is enough; ‘Do as thou hast said.’” Another one
here is afraid lest he should not be able to hold on to the end, and lest after
having been a child of God he should be a cast-away. Then, if that be thy
state, go and take this to God: “The mountains may depart, and the hills
may be removed, but the covenant of my love shall not depart from you;”
and when you are thinking that the Savior is going away, catch hold of his
skirts, and say, “Jesus, do as thou hast said. Thou hast said, ‘I will never
leave thee;’ ‘do as thou hast said.’” Or, if thou hast lost his presence,
remember the promise, “I will come again to you.” Go and say, “Lord, I
have lost the sweet comfort of thy presence in my heart, but thou hast said,
‘I will come again to you.’” And if Satan says, “He is gone away, and will
never come back again,” tell Satan he has nothing to do with it; God has
said it, and keep to this, “Do as thou hast said.” If you do that, you will
want no other argument and no other reason.
Let us suppose a case, and having tried to illustrate the truth by it, we will
have done. There is a desperate ruffian; he has been concerned in twenty
burglaries; it is said he has committed several murders; the police are on his
track, they are hunting after him; he cannot be discovered. The principal
point is to discover him, for it is hoped that by his discovery and his pardon
more good might be done than even by his execution. Persons come to this
desperately bad fellow, and they tell him, “If you give yourself up, I dare
say you will get a free pardon.” “I do not give myself up on daresays,” he
says. Another comes, and says, “If you were to give yourself up, I would
intercede for you; I know my lord so-and-so, and such a man, member of
parliament, would intercede for you.” “No,” he would say, “let well alone.
I am pretty safe now; I am not going to give myself up on the mere
speculation that someone will intercede for me.” But by-and-bye there
comes out a huge placard, “V. R. Free pardon to such a man if he
surrenders himself.” He walks straight up to the place. Some one says to
him, “Stop, my dear fellow; they will hang you, perhaps.” “No,” says he,
“they won’t.” Some one says, “They have been many years looking after
you; you do not think that if you get into the fangs of the law now the
Queen will pardon you?” “Yes,” he says, “I can trust her? she has never
given a free pardon, and then executed anyone.” He goes to the office, and
they say, “We are astonished to see this fellow; he might have kept away;
he had no necessity to give himself up.” “See,” says one, “there is a
policeman, are you not afraid? There are the handcuffs; are you not afraid
that they will be put on your wrists and that you will be put into jail?”
“No,” he says, “I will walk all through the prison, but there is not a cell in
which I may be locked up. The Queen has said she will pardon me, and I
do not want any thing else.” “But look at your conduct; you know you
deserve to be hanged.” “I know I do, but I have received a free pardon,
and I will surrender myself:” “But who can tell how many burglaries you
will commit if you are allowed to go free.” “Never mind, she has promised
to pardon me, and I know well that her word will not be violated. Sure the
majesty of England will not lie against such an offender as I am.” Now, you
would not wonder at that, would you? It would be no very marvellous
thing, because we can trust her Majesty pretty fairly. But it is the hardest
thing to get sinners to come to God. “No,” says one, “I have been a
drunkard, God will not forgive me.” My dear fellow, it is said, “All manner
of sin and iniquity shall be forgiven to man.” “Oh,” says another, “I have
been a swearer, I have been an infidel, I have blasphemed God, and broken
all his statutes.” My dear fellow-creature, it is said, “All manner of sin and
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men,” Cannot you believe it? God means
what he says; and can you not come to God, trembling, though you be, and
cast yourself before his feet, and say, “Lord, if thou dost damn me, I
deserve it; if thou shouldst cast me down to hell, I know thou wouldst be
just” but then Lord thou hast said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out.” I tell you God will do as he has said. If you have but faith
to believe that promise, you never need fear.
Worthless, vilest of the vile, sweepings of the universe, the very offal of
creation, if you come to God he will take you in, for his promise is not to
be broken by reason of your vileness; he will receive you, if you can but
plead a promise of your own case, and say to him, “Do as thou hast said.”
Now, then, I will say in conclusion, it will be easy enough for every poor
sinner, for every penitent sinner, for every weak saint, to go home, and
turn his Bible over; and by a little diligence he will be able to find out a
promise that will exactly suit his case; and if he does not find such a
promise, it will be because he did not look long enough, for there is one
that just fits, and when he has got hold of it let him go to God, and say,
“Lord, do as thou hast said,” and let him keep to that; and the heavens
would sooner fall than one of God’s promises should be broken. Oh! trust
my Master! oh! trust my Master; trust your souls to him! trust your bodies
to him, I beseach you; do it, for his own name’s sake! Amen and Amen.
