“But if I understand what the Gospel is, it is good tidings of great joy that was to all people, kindred, nations and tongues, and when the wise men who had kept time of the prophesies of the Prophets of the time that Christ was to make his appearance in the world, the wide men discovered a star in the east and they followed it and in passing some shepherds that was lying on the plains watching their flocks at night, and seeing strange evolutions in the elements, great fear fell upon them and when those heralds or angels returned, they brought good tidings of great joy, which was the Gospel. . . Then the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, and no fire or brimstone was used in the proclamation of the Gospel, for Christ was heir of the world, for God give it to him, and he says he did not come into the world to do his own will, but the will of the Father who sent him–and then declares that it is God’s that all men should be saved. Now, will God’s will be done–’I did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world’–will he do it?”
–Joseph Gault, Georgia Reports: Justice’s Courts and Miscellaneous Cases 1820 to 1846 (fourth edition), 1873: 53-54.
