I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of his own free will return to Christ. My hope lies in another quarter. I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, "You are mine, and you shall be mine. I claim you for myself." My hope arises from the freeness of grace, and not from the freedom of the will.

CHARLES SPURGEON

This is from a sermon titled "A Golden Prayer," originally preached 30 December 1877 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London. Spurgeon's text that morning was John 12:28  "Father, glorify thy name."

Now, brethren, concerning this next year upon which we are entering, I hope it will be a year of happiness to you, I very emphatically wish you all a Happy New Year, but nobody can be confident that it will be a year free from trouble.
On the contrary, you may be pretty confident that it will not be so, for man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.
We have each, beloved friends, some dear faces in which we rejoice, may they long smile upon us: but remember each one of these may be an occasion of sorrow during the next year, for we have neither an immortal child, nor an immortal husband, nor an immortal wife, nor an immortal friend, and therefore some of these may die within the year.

(Continued on page 4)

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