"Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." - Acts 20:26-27

    I do not wish to say anything in self-commendation and praise; I will not be my own witness as to my faithfulness; but I appeal to you, I take you to witness this day, that (like Paul) I have not shunned to declare to you all the counsel of God. I have often come into this pulpit in great weakness, and I have far more often gone away in great sorrow, because I have not preached to you as earnestly as I desired. I confess to many errors and failings, and more especially to a lack of earnestness when engaged in prayer for your souls. But there is one charge which my conscience acquits me of and I think you will acquit me too, for I have not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. If in anything I have erred, it has been an error of judgment; I may have been mistaken, but so far as I have learned the truth, I can say that no fear of public opinion, nor of private opinion, has ever turned me aside from what I hold to be the truth of my Lord and Master. I have preached to you the precious things of the gospel. I have endeavored to the utmost of my ability to preach grace in all its fulness. I know the preciousness of that in my own experience; God forbid that I should preach any other. If we are not saved by grace, we can never be saved at all. If from first to last the work of salvation is not in God's hands, none of us can ever see God's face with acceptance. I preach this doctrine, not from choice, but from absolute necessity, for if this doctrine is not true, then we are lost souls; your faith is in vain, our preaching is in vain, and we are still in our sins, and there we must continue until the end.