The Very Best Things for the Very Worst of Men by James Smith. Glad Tidings of Good Things, 1861.

The Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God, 1 Timothy 1.11. Christ Jesus who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. 2 Timothy 1 10

The gospel is most appropriately called glad tidings, for it brings tidings calculated to gladden the heart of the most depressed and sorrowful of men. It reveals God's wondrous love, it tells us of the Savior's grace, and makes known the promise and the power of the Holy Spirit. It is indeed glad tidings of good things, for it informs us of pardon for the guilty, peace for the troubled, wealth for the poor, rest for the weary, and salvation for the lost.

The gospel brings tidings from heaven, tidings for sinners, tidings of good things for them, yes, tidings of the very best things for the very worst of men. It is the glorious glad tidings of the blessed God, giving correct views of His nature, revealing His loving heart, publishing His gracious thoughts, and making known His mercy to sinful men. These tidings are calculated to gladden the saddest heart, cheer the desponding mind, and fill the despairing soul with joy and peace. Never were there such glad tidings. No one but an infinite God could have devised them. No one but the all-merciful God would have sent them to rebellious sinners.

Jesus is an almighty Savior. Jesus is an ever-willing Savior. Jesus is a loving Savior. Therefore, he is able to save the vilest, to save freely, and to save all who apply to be saved by him. The man or woman who reads these lines is as really as sincerely invited by Jesus to come and be saved by him, as if a letter had been handwritten by Jesus and addressed to that person by name. Can you conceive of anything better than this? a Savior for vile sinners, a Savior to deliver sinners from the lowest hell, a Savior to raise sinners to the highest heaven, a Savior from sin, the cause of suffering, a Savior from guilt, the source of fear, a Savior from the world, which is doomed to destruction.

The gospel is also the good news of a better country, even a heavenly one. Heaven is a rest for the weary, a home for the homeless, and the best company for the lonely and desolate. Heaven comprises all that can feast the intellect, all that can satisfy the heart, all that can fill the soul. It is enriched with all the wealth of God, it is filled with the glory of God, and it is the house and home of God. In heaven there is no pain or privation, no grief or sorrow, no losses or crosses, no temptations or trials, no wants or woes. Heaven contains the highest manifestations of the greatness, grandeur, and magnificence of God. Heaven is the home of the brightest, holiest, and most dignified of God's intelligent creation.

Heaven, what is it? Heaven, what does it comprise and comprehend? No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. No one can give the faintest guess at what heaven is, but whatever it is, whatever it contains, The gospel tells us that it is for saved sinners. The gospel is God's best message to man. It contains the promise of all that man can need and all that God can give to everyone who sincerely believes the message. Take heed, therefore, how you treat the gospel, for we can conceive of no greater sin than disbelieving God's message, or of any greater insult offered to God than to treat His message with contempt.

Precious gospel, that such sinners as we are, so vile, so poor, so feeble, so utterly worthless, may obtain God's heaven and dwell in it, with the Saviour forever.