“And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”
—1 Corinthians 15:8
I recollect reading a very striking saying of Mr. Bunyan’s. He said he had good reason to believe that, in the generation after him, there would be many more saints than in the one of which he formed a part, and his belief was based upon the fact that, wherever he went, he found that there were so many great sinners that he hoped they would be converted, and become eminent servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, there was a blessed truth at the back of that hope of his; for, very often, where sin has abounded, grace does much more abound; and when the Word of God seems to grow scarce, and the candle of the gospel burns but dimly, we may pray and expect that even then, some may be “born out of due time” to the praise of the glory of that grace which saves as it wills, and often selects the very chief of sinners to be the subjects of its almighty power.
—Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Vol. 46
Delivered Sunday Evening, February 29, 1880
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
Sermon No. 2663, “A Leap Year Sermon”
