ON THE DEATH OF MR. I. A.

“He shall enter into peace.” Isaiah, lvii. 2.

The great and irreversible decree of Heaven, respecting the whole human race, is, “Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.” This sentence, originally pronounced upon the transgression of the first man, evidently included also his whole posterity to the end of time. It has already received its solemn execution upon the generations that are past: we see with our eyes, its effects in the multitudes, that are daily passing from time to eternity: nor shall its influence cease, until the wide-extended dominion of death be destroyed, and mortality swallowed up of life.

The divine appointment, through which the grave becomes the common receptacle of all men, is not more awful, than it is just: for, “the wages of sin is death.” Man deserves to die, because he hath sinned. Hence, there ariseth a necessary and inevitable connexion between our origin and our end. So that, if we wish to trace the innumerable calamities attendant upon death, to their source; we shall soon find, that they all originate from SIN. “As by one man SIN entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. v. 12. It is sin that hath brought universal disorder into the natural and spiritual world. It hath sown the seeds of mortality in the human frame; hath filled the heart with alienation from God; and rendered body and soul obnoxious to the sentence of everlasting separation from the kingdom of heaven. Sin hath given death his sting; and furnished that king of terrors with his formidable message and tremendous appearance. It hath opened the horrors of the tomb, and expanded wide the mouth of hell. It hath armed the law with a curse, more to be dreaded than death; hath given the sword of justice its sharpest edge; and hath awakened the indignation of that God, who is as a consuming fire. It is the great bar of separation between the creature and the Creator; and is that moral evil, which, when finished, brings forth death, temporal and eternal. It brought a flood of waters upon the old world; was the cause of Sodom’s destruction; and will, at last, bring a deluge of fire upon the world that now is.

In a review of those innumerable evils, of which, even death is not the greatest, it will be incumbent upon us, therefore, to keep our eye fixed on the origin of them all, SIN. Hereby we shall be able to vindicate the righteous procedure of God, even when we behold him sending death to pull down the beautiful fabric, which his own hands had made; and opening the grave, as the sad and silent repository of his own curious workmanship. When we reflect, that it is sin, that hath produced this melancholy change, and that this evil is found upon us; the reflection will help to restrain the extravagance of grief, and to suppress that predominancy of discontented repining, which often makes sinners fly in the face of God, and charge him foolishly. For, if death be not duly considered and acknowledged as the desert and wages of sin, I can easily conceive that, for want of such humble consideration, sinners may be led to arraign the dispensations of the Most High; to charge unerring wisdom with foolishness; infinite justice with unrighteousness; and mercy itself with cruelty. But, when once sin is viewed, in its damning nature, its dreadful effects, and just deserts; the discovery will produce submission to the divine will, under the most severe dispensations. It will make us “put our mouths in the dust,” in silent acquiescence in the wise and sovereign disposals of Heaven. Or, if we open them, it will only be to confess, that “the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” By attentively considering the nature of sin and the manner of its introduction, in order to account for the origin of all the evils that prevail in the natural and spiritual world, and to vindicate eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God with men; we shall hereby also possess the consequent advantage of beholding, in its most glorious point of view, the inestimable REMEDY for sin, by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, if the former considerations may be deemed sufficient to work in the heart patient submission, and unrepining acquiescence in the dispensations of Jehovah; this will inspire it with a hope blooming, and full of immortality. If reflections on the demerit of sin can stop the mouth in silence in the dust; this will open it in bursts of praise, and glowing effusions of gratitude and admiration. Sin is redemption’s advantageous foil. And as the variegated colors of the rainbow shine with greatest beauty on the blackest cloud: so, the malignity of sin, and the gloom of death, tend proportionably to set off the glory of the Saviour, and to give additional lustre to that bright manifestation of life and immortality, which are brought to light by the gospel.

This chain of thought, if pursued, will necessarily lead us, not only to behold the riches of divine grace and the out beaming of all the divine attributes, rendered eventually more glorious even by the intrusion of the most horrid evil; but also to consider death itself as the portal to eternal life. This consideration will immediately fix the heart in delightful meditation on the great work of HIM, who came “to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and through death to destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the Devil.” Heb. ii. 14. And here such a bright scene will present itself to the eye of contemplative faith, as shall dispel the horrors of the tomb; gild with joy and triumph the shadow of death; and enable us to derive wisdom and consolation, even from the solemn apparatus of a funeral. Here we shall be led to meditate on the great and glorious end of the Redeemer’s incarnation, and the wonderful effects of his mediatorial undertaking. We shall behold him triumphing over sin in his cross, and leading captivity captive by his glorious resurrection. Bereaving death of its sting, and embalming the regions of the dead by his own burial;—shutting the mouth of Tophet, and opening to his people the gates of everlasting bliss; and still going forth conquering and to conquer, till sin, Satan, the world, and death, are made his footstool.

These contemplations will suggest the grand preservative against immoderate grief; and administer that healing balm for woe, which the heavy calamities of this mortal life require; and without which, the pressure of them would be insupportable. Whoever is acquainted with the great doctrines of the gospel, and the saving influence of them upon the heart, is the only person duly prepared for the arrival of those alarming incidents, which often give such a vehement shock to the feelings of human nature. And, as no event whatever more sensibly touches the heart, than that which bereaves us of our earthly friends; consequently nothing can bear up the mind under such losses, but that which administers a ground of consolation, adequate to the cause of our sorrow. This, divine revelation can do. It assures us, that “blessed are the dead which die in the Lord:” that, though “one event happeneth to the righteous and the wicked,” yet that the souls of the former are “taken away from the evils” of time, and made possessors of the glories of eternity: that, therefore, “we should not sorrow” immoderately, as others which have no hope, but, “if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” 1 Thes. iv. 14.

Truths these, which brighten the prospect of even a dread eternity, and strip death of every thing really terrifying. Under a firm persuasion of their credibility, we may give up our friends, without any reluctance, into the icy arms of death: and when depositing their precious remains in the cold and gloomy recess of the tomb, may rejoice in lively hope of that happy resurrection-morn, when the sound of the last trumpet shall awaken them from their slumber in the dust, and call them from their long confinement into life and glorious immortality. So that, while a disconsolate parent is bedewing the corpse of a beloved child with his tears, or one friend is bemoaning the loss of another, crying, “Ah, my brother!” it is sufficient at any time to repress the impetuous current of grief, and admit the soothing remonstrances of hope and resignation, to reflect, that deceased friends are not lost, but gone before; and, that if they have died in the Lord, our loss is their everlasting gain. But here let us

I. Examine the character of those, who shall be thus favored: and

II. Consider the nature and extent of their happiness implied in the terms entering into peace.—After I have gone through these two heads, I shall, then,

III. Endeavour to suggest some serious reflections, particularly adapted to the consideration of young persons, and not unworthy the solemn attention of the aged.

I. We are to examine the character of those who shall be so favored, as, after death, to be translated to glory.

They are described, in the very first verse of the chapter, from whence I have selected the text, under the general character of “the righteous.” A denomination this, which comprehends their manner of acceptance before God, and the nature of their walk before men. But, as mistakes respecting these two points are not more frequent, than they are fatal, permit me to state this part of the subject, under the following scriptural observations.

1. We can only determine what is righteous or unrighteous by the test of God’s holy law. Every thing that is repugnant to this perfect rule, is unrighteousness; and that which is commensurate with its sacred requisitions, is righteousness. In the former branch of the definition, there is implied every kind and every degree of contrariety to the law: as the latter comprehends universality and perfection of obedience. From hence it must, at first view, appear, that although there is, allowedly, a deeper malignity in some sins than in others, yet that every transgression of the law is sin, and merits death: and that, therefore, no medium can be found between righteousness and unrighteousness: for the scripture asserts, that “all unrighteousness is sin:” so that, before the popish distinction between sins venial and sins mortal can be admitted, it must first be demonstrated that there is a middle something between righteousness and unrighteousness, which neither keeps the law nor breaks it; that there are some sins, which in their nature are not damning; and are pardonable, merely because they are little in point of aggravation. But, that absurdities of this nature are as contrary to sound divinity, as they are repugnant to right reason, it is evident, because, “the wages of sin,” of every sin, “is death;” and the holy law of God, without leaving vain man to judge for himself in a matter of so great importance, stamps a curse upon every failure in obedience, whether great or small; saying, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in ALL things written in the book of the law to do them.”

2. As every transgression of the law is sin, consequently, that can only be denominated righteousness, which implies a full conformity to all its precepts. Under this term, therefore, are comprehended purity of principle, perfection, universality, and spirituality of obedience. 1. That any single act of an external nature can possess no claim to righteousness, unless the principle be intrinsically good, is evident; because, St. Paul supposes it possible to “give one’s goods to feed the poor,” and to suffer martyrdom, and yet to do both from a false principle. The nature of fruits is determinable, not by their appearance, but by the state of the tree: and fruits of righteousness can only grow upon a righteous stock. As the heart is the seat of principle, that must consequently possess “truth in the inward parts,” in order to communicate purity to its desires, purposes, and aims. If the streams are pure, they must issue from a pure fountain. So that there must be spotless purity of heart to give existence to a righteous act. 2. There is included in the term righteousness, not only immaculate purity in principle, but likewise perfection and universality in the act. As every branch of the law is equally holy, just, and good; therefore every precept of it hath an equal demand of obedience, “For, he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.” James, ii. 11. Man is not left to pick and choose, according to his own option, which of the commandments he may think proper to keep, but is required, on pain of death, to observe the whole law: for, if any one precept could be dispensed with, so of course might all. But “whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in ONE point, he is guilty of ALL.” James, ii. 10. 3. The righteousness which the law demands, must not only respect the letter, but also the spirit of it; for “the law is spiritual.” Rom. vii. 14. By the spirituality of the law, the thoughts of the heart come as much under its strict cognizance, as the outward actions of the life. Thus the same precept, which prohibits the act of adultery, equally condemns the lustful thought and lascivious glance, as violations of the seventh commandment. “Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” Mat. v. 28. And the same prohibition which, in its letter, condemns the worshipping of images; gives, by its spirituality, the name of idolatry to the inordinate love of any thing that robs God of his right. Thus covetousness in the heart, or the inordinate love of pleasure, will as effectually constitute idolatry, in the eye of the law, as the most formal prostration to graven images. So that the righteousness, which the law requires, includes a conformity to its sanctions, as fully, in the spirit, as in the letter of them; and as much to the whole, as to a single precept.

3. From the foregoing considerations, it is plain, that as righteousness consists in a fulfilment of the whole law, according to the perfection, purity, and deep spirituality of its commands; consequently he alone can be denominated a righteous man, whose conduct is a literal transcript of the above definition of righteousness. Or, in other words, he is righteous legally, whose thoughts, words and actions, can bear the rigorous examination of God’s law; whose heart is perfectly free from every wrong principle, and every corrupt inclination; whose life exemplifies the whole obedience of the law in its fullest extent; and who can therefore challenge either the law or the law-giver to find any sin in him. And, there is one ingredient more indispensably requisite in the character of a man righteous, according to the law; which is, incessancy of obedience. In order to be justified by it, man must not only obey, but persevere in obeying. Perfect obedience will not be sufficient unless it be continued, and that to the end of life. The righteousness of the law saith, “The man that doeth those things shall live by them.” Rom. x. 5. And its penal sanction crieth, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things,” &c.

4. And now, where is such a righteous character to be found? The heart and life of Adam, indeed, previous to his fall, literally exemplified it in its greatest perfection. But since that melancholy event, there is an end of all human righteousness. For “the scripture concluding all under sin,” declareth that “there is none righteous, no not one.” Rom. iii. 10. A declaration, which equally affects Gentiles as well as Jews, and places the fallen children of Adam upon an equal footing, in point of justifying righteousness. “Every mouth must now be stopped, and ALL THE WORLD become GUILTY before God.” Rom. iii. 19. Man cannot justify himself: for an attempt to do so would only “prove him perverse,” and be an additional manifestation of his unrighteousness. The law cannot justify him, because “it is weak through the flesh,” or the inherent corruption of human nature. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified.” Rom. iii. 20. For, “if righteousness come by the law”—if a sinner could be justified by his obedience to it—“then Christ is dead in vain.” Gal. ii. 21. This inability to justify, is not the effect of any absolute weakness in the law itself, but is eventually occasioned through the dreadful degeneracy of human nature, styled in scripture, “the flesh.” The law still retains as intrinsic a power in itself to constitute righteous, as it ever did; and if any man could be found capable of fulfilling its condition of perfect obedience, it would not only justify him, but also entitle him to glory, independent of the Son of God: for its condition and promise are connected, when it says on this wise, “Do this, and live.” But man’s original guilt and practical disobedience, incurring a double forfeiture of the promised reward, the law possesseth an eventual incapacity of making righteous: and this is, what the apostle says, “the law could not do,” Rom. viii. 3, or t? ad??at?? t?? ???? is, the impossibility of the law. So that, whoever seeks justification by it, seeks an impossibility; and by having recourse to its obligation of perfect obedience, and failing notwithstanding in a fulfilment of that obligation, he lays himself open to the full force of its condemning sentence, its penal sanctions, and tremendous curse. “As many as are of the works of the law, are under the CURSE.” Gal. iii., 10.

5. But, since, according to numerous testimonies of scripture; agreeably to the purity, spirituality, and indispensable requirements of the law; and consistently with the universal depravity of human nature; man cannot, without the highest arrogance, and even blasphemy, lay any claim to personal merit: how then is he to become righteous? This is an inquiry of infinite importance; since it is declared, that “the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God;” and since, without an exemption from guilt and an interest in a positive righteousness, man can have no scriptural ground to hope for a deliverance from death or a title to life; to expect the favor of God here, or to claim his kingdom hereafter. In illustrating this point, it will be necessary to consider, how a man’s person may be righteous towards God, and how his works may so justify his religious profession before the world, as to vindicate his character from the imputation of hypocrisy, and demonstrate the genuineness of his faith.

6. As to the manner, in which a sinner is to be made righteous before God; since it has already been demonstrated, by irrefragable proof from the scriptures of truth, as well as by arguments deduced from the corruption of human nature, and the sanctions and sentence of the law, that all obedience of the sinner is insufficient towards his justification before the majesty of heaven; nothing farther in a negative way need be added, to corroborate, what is, indeed, in itself, so evident, and incontrovertible. It may, however, be necessary to quote a few scriptures, in which two of the most illustrious saints, in language of the deepest self-renunciation, disclaim any the least pretensions to justification before the most High and Holy God, howsoever they might esteem their conduct justifiable before fallible creatures, like themselves. “Behold I am vile!” says he, who was a mirror of patience, “what shall I answer thee?” Job, xl. 4. “How can man be JUSTIFIED WITH GOD?” says the same person, “or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold even to the moon and it shineth not: yea the stars are not pure in his sight; how much less man that is a worm!” Job, xxv. 4, 5. Hear how the man after God’s own heart trembleth at the thought of Jehovah’s entering into judgment with him, or any other creature. “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities; O Lord, who shall stand?” Psal. cxxx. 3. “Enter not into judgment with thy servant: for, in THY sight shall no man living be justified.” Psal. cxliii. 2.—Passages these, which are but few out of the multitudes that might be produced, to demonstrate the impossibility of being justified in ourselves before a heart-searching God, as well as the dreadful peril of abiding the sentence and scrutiny of his righteous law.

7. But how, then, can man stand before this holy Lord God, and be constituted righteous in his sight? This question cannot better be answered than in the words of the XIth article of the Church of England. “We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and not for our own works or deservings.” I quote this excellent article of our church, not with any design of establishing its authority as infallible and decisive, but merely because it affords a plain and scriptural definition of the point in question, as well as exhibits a striking proof, that our sentiments, on the mode of a sinner’s justification before God, are supported by the venerable sanction of the Church of England: and I believe it will satisfactorily appear, that it is not without scriptural ground, that she requires of all her ministers, an unequivocal and solemn subscription to this, as well as every other article in the thirty-nine.

8. According to our church, therefore, and the word of God, with which, on this head, she perfectly accords, our justifying righteousness is the meritorious work of Christ; which consisteth in a perfect obedience to the law, and a full satisfaction to divine justice; the one including what he did, the other what he suffered; and both, in inseparable connexion, constituting that glorious and “everlasting righteousness,” which the Mediator hath brought in, by his entire obedience to the death of the cross. This is called by our church, “the merit” of Christ, because when the dignity of his person is taken into consideration, it appears that an infinite sufficiency is thereby communicated to his obedience, and every part thereof; and that he possesseth an inherent power of meriting for others, or of constituting others righteous, as well as being righteous himself. This he can only do, as being “God over all, blessed for evermore.” For, if he had been a mere creature, though his righteousness might be sufficient to justify himself, yet it could never have transferred a power of justifying others: because, it is repugnant both to reason and scripture, that any created being, even the first-born seraph round the throne of God, should not only merit for himself, but also possess a redundancy of merits transferable to others. But that the Redeemer is possessed of such a power, is evident from the words of the apostle, “By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” Rom. v. 19. This argument proves, therefore, that Christ is very God, as well as very man: that there is a translation of merit infinitely sufficient in a sinner’s justification: and that the active and passive obedience of the Mediator, is, through the infinite dignity of his person, a divine righteousness. Hence it is written, “This is his name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness.” Jer. xxiii. 6. And again, “We are made the righteousness of God in him.” 1 Cor. v. 21.

9. “We are accounted righteous before God ONLY for the merit of Christ,” says our church: and so saith the scripture. “There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,” Acts, iv. 12. “I will make mention of thy righteousness,” says David, “even of thine ONLY.” Psal. lxxi. 17. To suppose, that any thing but the righteousness of Christ can justify us before God, is a supposition big with pride, blasphemy, and absurdity:—with pride; because it inclines a man to esteem himself a sort of coadjutor in the work of salvation with Christ:—with blasphemy; because, by implying an insufficiency in the Redeemer’s righteousness fully to justify, without the co-operation of human merit, it detracts from his personal and mediatorial honor, and gives a share of glory where none is due:—with absurdity; because it implies, that Christ came only to be a half Saviour; and attempts to establish a coalition between human works and divine grace, by making eternal salvation depend partly upon the one, and partly upon the other; a heterogeneous mixture this, which the scriptures disavow in most explicit terms. “If by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more of grace: otherwise work is no more work.” Rom. xi. 6.

10. The righteousness, by which we are justified, is made over to us by an act of gracious and sovereign imputation. Thus “David describeth the blessedness of the man, to whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, blessed are they, &c.” Rom. iv. 7. And, because faith is the instrument in receiving and cleaving to this righteousness; therefore this grace is said in a secondary and subordinate sense, to operate in our justification. So “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted e????s?? imputed to him for righteousness. But, that faith itself cannot constitute a justifying righteousness, properly so called, is evident, because it is opposed to working, to him that worketh not but believeth,” &c. Rom. iv. 5; and because, if it justified in the proper sense of the word, as an act, our justification being in that case by works, we should then claim heaven as a reward due to personal merit. For, “to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt.” Rom. iv. 4. But, that faith cannot found any such claim, is abundantly demonstrable, from the distinction which the scriptures observe between faith and its object; making use so frequently of the terms, “the righteousness which is by and through faith,” Phil. iii. 9, and “faith in the righteousness of Christ.” 2 Pet. i. 1. So that, when our church says “we are justified by faith only” in opposition to works, it means that we are justified instrumentally by faith, but that the object which it apprehends, viz. the righteousness of Christ, is the primary and meritorious cause of our justification.

11. The grace of faith, by which we are justified, is also the great instrument in the inward work of sanctification; because it “receives from Christ’s fulness,” grace to “purify the heart” and “work by love.” It cleanseth the conscience from dead works to serve the living God; and lays the axe to the root of corruption, by destroying the love, and mortifying the power of sin. An increase of faith produceth a proportionable increase of sanctification: for, as the first production of the fruits of righteousness originates from this life-giving grace, so the subsequent abounding of them derives its prosperity from its fructifying influence. And, as “works done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his spirit are not pleasing to God, because they do not spring from faith;” (see the article); consequently, those which follow after justification, derive their acceptableness from that faith, which offers them upon the golden altar of the Redeemer’s sacrifice, which sanctifieth the gift. Hence we see how a sinner is made inherently holy, as well as personally righteous; viz. by one and the same faith, apprehending Christ as our sanctification, as well as our righteousness in justification. And, from hence it is apparent, 1. that no good works can go before justification; or that, until a sinner is made partaker of divine faith, he can perform nothing acceptable in the sight of God; because, “whatsoever is not of faith, is sin:” 2. and therefore, that he cannot bring forth the fruits of righteousness in his heart and life before men, until the person is accepted before God, through the infinitely meritorious work of the Mediator.

12. This inward work of the spirit is absolutely necessary to the sinner’s meetness for heaven; and the external fruits of it justify his religious character before the world. Thus Abraham was justified by works before men, and by faith before God. The intentional offering up of his son was the illustrious instance of the strength and genuineness of his faith, and constituted his declarative justification before the world: but his “believing in the promised Messiah, which was accounted to him for righteousness,” was the ground of his justification before God, and preceded his justification by works. So that the father of the faithful himself, “if he were justified by works, hath whereof to glory, but not before God.” Rom. iv. 2. And thus the scripture, without incurring the charge of self contradiction, was eminently fulfilled, when it saith, “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness:” and, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works?” James, ii. 21, 23.

13. By this scriptural distinction, every thing is kept in its proper place. Justification and sanctification are not confounded; and their respective offices are so ascribed to faith and works, as that the honor of the one is not vacated, nor the declarative evidence of the other superseded; but both are established in their proper stations;—that to justify before God;—these to justify before men. By this distinction, the word of God is easily reconciled with itself; and while one branch of it furnishes an antidote to the insolent claims of self-righteousness, the other equally secures obedience to the law, against the presumptuous hope of the antinomian hypocrite. “Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea we establish the law.” Rom. iii. 31.—“By grace ye are saved through faith: not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephes. ii. 8, 9.

From all, which I have urged on this head, with studied copiousness because of its importance, it is manifest that a righteous man is one, who renouncing his own, betaketh himself to the righteousness of Christ; who, through the infinite merit of the Saviour’s blood, and the perfection of his obedience to the law, is delivered from curse and condemnation, and is possessed of a legal title to heaven; who receiving this method of justification by faith, believeth to the saving of the soul; in whose heart the fruits of righteousness are implanted; and in whose life there is a complete portraiture of a consistent professor of the gospel. Such a man is now blessed in the possession of present good; but he has secured to him still greater happiness in reversion. Standing in Christ, he has nothing to fear from sin, Satan, the law, or justice. And having his loins girded and his lamp burning, he is ready at all times to arise and meet the bridegroom. To him to live is Christ, to die is gain.—But this brings me

II. To consider the nature and extent of his happiness implied in the terms entering into peace.

As peace necessarily pre-supposes trouble or warfare, it consequently leads back our ideas to the state of the righteous in this howling wilderness, previous to their arrival at the heavenly Canaan. Here, as pilgrims and sojourners, in a strange land, they undergo a great variety of fatigue and hardship before they accomplish the important journey they are taking; and one can never contemplate the rest they enter upon in a glorious hereafter, without tracing in idea the wearisome steps that lead to it.

Afflictions and trials are the lot of the righteous in this world; and they are not more remarkable for their number, than for the peculiarity of their nature, and the end of their appointment. Though they are sharers in those common and general afflictions, to which human nature, since the fall, is subjected, and to which man is born as the sparks fly upward; yet they have a superadded portion of trials distinct from those, which are inseparably connected with their character, as Christians, and with their life, as believers; and for bearing of which they require a proportionable degree of grace and consolation from on high. Indeed, those trials, peculiar to God’s people, are not only the inevitable consequence of their gospel profession, but also the result of divine appointment. So the Apostle Paul expressly declares in his epistle to the suffering professors of the church of Christ at Thessalonica; when, after exhorting them “not to be moved by their afflictions,” he immediately adds, “For yourselves know that ye are appointed thereunto.” 1 Thes. iii. 3. As the great Head of the church is glorified by the patience and fortitude of his suffering witnesses on earth; his infinite wisdom appoints the nature, and fixes the weight, number, and measure of their trials, in order that he may have an opportunity of illustrating the power of his grace in their support. And there is a no less manifestation of mercy and love, than of wisdom, in the various trials which God hath appointed as the lot of his church militant. Hereby, he possesses innumerable occasions of demonstrating, that he loves his people under their afflictions, and that the severest chastisements of his rod are suggested by the most tender parental affection. By making the darkest dispensations work together for their good, he shews them the determinations of his love, and the wonderworking operations of his over-ruling power: he points out to them what he can do, and what he will do for them. So that their sufferings illustrate his goodness, and furnish the most ample display of that wisdom, mercy, faithfulness, and power, which so illustriously shine forth in all the gracious and providential dispensations of Jehovah towards his church and people.

Besides; affliction constitutes a distinguishing mark in the character of the righteous. “Many are the troubles of the righteous,” says David. “In the world you shall have tribulation,” said David’s Lord to his disciples. And, as a proof that neither persecution, nor any other species of affliction, was confined to the days of the apostles, St. Paul assures Timothy, that “ALL who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2 Tim, iii. 12. The world and the “god of the world” will ever unite in opposition to those, who have deserted the maxims of the one, and have solemnly renounced the service of the other; and because the righteous are engaged in a cause diametrically opposite to the interests of both, therefore the world and Satan hate them with a perfect hatred, and pursue them with intentions of the most infernal nature. And is this to be wondered at, when it is considered, that the most spotless character that ever appeared upon earth, was loaded with the heaviest reproaches? If, therefore, affliction be the path, which the blessed Jesus himself trod; and if they called the Master of the house Beelzebub; can they of the household hope for an exemption from similar calumnies?

As long as the righteous are in a state of nature, so long the world loves them. But, the moment a saved sinner enters into the peace of the gospel, in that very moment the world and the devil enter the lists against him. As long as the strong man armed is permitted to keep his palace undisturbed, all is peace; but when a stronger than he comes to dispossess him, then Satan begins to rage. While a sinner fights under his banner he gives him no disturbance; but as soon as he is delivered from the captivity under this infernal tyrant, instantly Apollyon draws the sword, and never puts it up during the Christian soldier’s abode in the wilderness. Then he prepares all his snares; sets all his engines to work, and has recourse to every stratagem; in order, if possible, to recover him, whom he looks upon as a deserter from his camp. He brings forth his loaded quiver; puts his most envenomed arrows upon the string; and shoots many a fiery dart, at least to distress, where he cannot destroy. But the believer having put on the whole armour of God, receives coolly all the accusations, terrors, blasphemous suggestions, and discouraging fears, of the enemy of his salvation, and snaps them to pieces on his adamantine shield of faith. And yet renewed assaults and renewed disappointments of the enemy never discourage him from repeating the attack; in a renewal of which, the world heartily joins him. While he lived according to the course of this world, blind, careless, and at enmity with God, so long no encomium was too high for him; and not only the most fulsome panegyrics were poured upon his virtues, but blind partiality threw a veil over his very vices, and would not allow that “so mighty good a man could be wrong;” although at the same time, perhaps, his principles and practice were equally corrupt. But let this same person, late the darling of the world, and the object of its warmest commendations, only be awakened to a feeling sense of his lost state, take but a few steps out of Babylon; and immediately the note of the men of the world is changed: their blessings are converted into curses; their praises, into reproach and calumny; and the most ridiculous, depreciating, illiberal, and even abominable epithets, are not bad enough for him, who has avowed non-conformity to the world, and is determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified. So that, if to these trials from Satan and the world, be added a consideration of the still keener ones from the remainder of corruption; with how great propriety do the scriptures represent the life of a Christian, as a warfare, a race, a difficult journey, an agony?

But is there no release at all for the Christian soldier from this severe struggle with sin, Satan, and the world? Yes, the same hand that appoints the scene of battle, will sign a discharge from it also. The day is fixed, when, after his exit from the field, he is to “enter into peace:” not like a coward who flies from battle, but as a magnanimous veteran, worn out in the services of the Captain of his salvation; to whom “to live was Christ, and to die is gain.” Then shall he put off that “harness” in death, which he put on, when he enlisted as a volunteer under the Messiah; and shall lay down the weapons of his warfare and his earthly tabernacle together. His ears shall then no longer be stunned with the din of war, nor his heart be made so frequently the seat of terror and agitation, under apprehensions of losing the day after all; but, relieved from all his fears, and released from all his conflicts, he shall enter into that land of consummate peace, in his march towards which he had been obliged to fight every step of the way, with his sword in hand. There he shall receive, as the gratuitous donation of divine grace, and as the gracious reward of his faithfulness unto death, an immortal crown of glory; which, when his divine Captain places it on his head, he shall, with the hand of self-renunciation, take off, and in deepest humility lay at Immanuel’s feet. There he shall be placed at an infinite distance from the seat of war in this troublesome world; and, beyond the reach of all his enemies, shall enjoy peace that shall never be interrupted, and bliss that shall never have an end.

View the righteous man under the representation of a traveller. A sinful world is the place, from whence he sets out: heaven, the country to which he is bound. Satan and sin are the great enemies that oppose him in his journey; and many a wearisome step he takes, before he gains the point in view. Temptations from his own heart’s corruptions, as well as from the world and Satan, are the storms he meets with in the way; but Christ is his sun and shield, to illuminate and defend. After having, perhaps, borne the burden and heat of the day, death at last arrives, a welcome messenger, to relieve him from his toil, and usher him into his heavenly Father’s kingdom. “The rest of a laboring man,” says Solomon, “is sweet.” How much more delectable must rest in the placid bosom of the tomb be to him, whose labors have been great in proportion to the greatness of the cause in which he embarked! and all the powers of whose body and soul were exerted in the arduous toil! But after the fatigue of the day, how sweet the approach of the season of repose! Even in the prospect of it, the believer anticipates a degree of heaven; and an assurance that his light afflictions will, as it were in a moment, come to a period, alleviates every present cross, and enables him, in the view of future trials, to take no anxious thought for to-morrow. When death actually comes, he finds him prepared for his arrival. Clad with the whole armour of God, and washed from every defilement in the Mediator’s blood, he shouts, “O death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?” With intrepidity of soul, he touches the sting of death, and feels it not only blunted, but also free from poison. He then examines the whole strength of the quiver of death, and finds there is not one shaft in it that can penetrate his shield of faith and wound his soul; and then he shouts again, “Thanks be to God, who giveth me the victory through my Lord Jesus Christ!” And as soon as death executes his commission; that fatal blow of the King of terrors, which, by a judicial sentence, cuts down the wicked as cumberers of the ground, and is only a prelude to the transplantation of the righteous from this desert to the celestial Eden; his body then drops into its original dust, and is consigned to the silent grave; where “it lieth down and riseth not, till the heavens be no more.” Job, xiv. 12. There the wicked cease from “troubling, and there the weary are at rest.” Chapter iii. 17. Then his mortal part “enters into peace,” being exempt from every thing that could give pain, or cause trouble. There

“The corpse is affected no more
With trouble, or shaken with pain,
The war in the members is o’er,
And never shall vex him again.
The languishing head is at rest;
Its thinking and aching are o’er:
The quiet immovable breast
Is heav’d by affliction no more.
The heart is no longer the seat
Of trouble and torturing pain:
It ceases to flutter and beat;
It never shall flutter again.”

But what tongue can describe, or heart conceive, the nature of that peace, which the disembodied spirit enters upon! The instant the thread of life is cut, and the soul is disengaged from the cumbrous clod of earth in which it was imprisoned, it flies to regions above, and towers away on the wings of cherubim, to that celestial city, whither it had often fled before on the wings of faith, and hope, and strong desire. A convoy of angels attended till the happy spirit was released from its prison; after which the heavenly escort conducts it to the promised rest. The gates of the New Jerusalem are thrown open wide to admit the blessed stranger; whom Immanuel waits to introduce to his kingdom, and clasp to his heart. Then the righteous enters, amidst the congratulatory salutations of kindred spirits:—enters! through the infinite merit of the blood of atonement:—enters! like the weary traveller arriving joyful, though fatigued, at his journey’s end:—enters! like an exile, returning from a long captivity, to his native home:—enters! triumphant, as a victor loaded with spoils, and crowned with conquest, after a severe campaign:—enters! like some richly-laden vessel, with all its sails crowded to the wind; escaping the horrors of the deep, and making for the destined haven, where it would be.—Thus the righteous enters, while, we may suppose every golden harp is new-strung, to shout him welcome to the celestial city; and every voice is exerted in singing, “Open ye the gates, that the righteous which keepeth the truth may enter in.” Isa. xxvi. 2.

He enters into peace. This blessing was in a degree the privilege of the believer upon earth, when, “being justified by faith,” and “having access into this grace wherein we stand,” Rom. v. 1, 2, he entered into peace passing all understanding. But, as that peace was constantly assaulted, and frequently interrupted upon earth, it is necessary that he be for ever delivered from such interruption and all the causes of it. Such “a rest remaineth for the people of God:” where Satan shall never be able to annoy, the world cannot obtrude its temptations; and sin shall no more extort that groan, “Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death!” Rom. vii. 24. “Where the righteous shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more: for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to fountains of living waters; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes!” Rev. vii. 16, 17.

What a glorious exchange?—of sickness and pain, for everlasting rest and peace!—of a ruinous tabernacle; for a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens!—of a howling wilderness; for the heavenly Canaan, the palace of angels, the city of God!—of the groanings of corruption and sin; for the songs of the redeemed round the throne!—of the chamber of sickness; for the regions of unfading health, “where the inhabitant shall never say, I am sick!”—of the cross; for a crown of glory, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away!—and of earth, with all its distractions, vanities, vicissitudes, and woes; for the beatitudes of heaven, and the rapturous enjoyment of the vision of God!

“—Happy day! that breaks our chain!
That manumits; that calls, from exile, home:
That leads to nature’s great metropolis:
And readmits us, thro’ the guardian hand
Of elder brothers, to our Father’s throne!”

But it is time I should now proceed to consider the last thing proposed, which was,

III. To suggest some serious reflections, more particularly adapted to the consideration of young persons; and not unworthy, I hope, the solemn attention of the aged.

1. You have heard the character, and the blessedness of the righteous, described: Do you wish to be followers of such? Follow them to the grave you certainly must; and it is impossible to tell, how soon that may be the case. While your passions are moved under a subject, that is in itself deeply affecting, perhaps you are adopting the wish of Balaam, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!” But do you wish, not only to follow the righteous to the glory that awaits him, but also to tread that path which leads to it? If not, your wishes are insincere, and delusory. The life and death of the righteous will always be of a piece: if that be not holy, this will not be blessed.2. But, perhaps, subjects of this nature, and the scene to which they refer, are too solemn for the gaiety of your temper. But, O remember, that scene (I mean that of death) in all its solemnity, will very soon be exemplified in yourself, as it constantly is, in the departure of multitudes, that drop beside you on the right hand and on the left. You are young. But youth, in its utmost vigor, is accessible to disease; and the most healthful constitution possesses no infallible antidote against the shafts of death; which make equal havock in the bodies of the youthful and robust, as in those of the aged and infirm:—Surely the sable ornaments of the pulpit, in which I stand, afford a most striking memorandum of this truth.—Death’s cold hand often seizes, and effectually chills the most blooming flower; and either nips it in the bud, or blasts all its full-blown beauties, just as they arrived at maturity. How many go off the stage of life, “in their full strength,” as the book of Job says! How soon might the consumption, that ravager of youth, if commissioned by the sovereign arbiter of life, lay thy blooming constitution in ruins! and reduce thee to such a state of languor and debility, that “the grasshopper should be a burden!” Yea, cannot death find access to thy frame, by innumerable avenues? Are not the seeds of mortality sown in the very substance of our bodies, and mingled with the minutest particles of their contexture? So that, “in the midst of life we are in death?” Are not our end, and our origin, DUST?

If, therefore, health be so fading a flower, and the young are no less liable to disease and death, than the aged: is it wise, is it safe, to squander away your precious, your precarious moments in vice and dissipation? Can you imagine that your business in this world, is nothing more than “to eat and drink and rise up to play?” Remember what was the dreadful fate of those who thought so, in the days of Noah. Is our time so long, that you can spare such a considerable portion of it to vanity? Is it so much at our disposal, that we can even promise ourselves to-morrow? Or, is it of so little value, that we should throw it away upon pernicious lusts?

“—Throw time away?—
Throw empires, and be blameless. Moments seize:
Heav’n’s on their wing. A moment we may wish,
When worlds want wealth to buy!—” [400]

Perhaps you suppose, that youth is the season for gaiety and dissipation, and mature years, the proper time for seriousness and devotion; and, therefore, that you are to seek the salvation of your soul, only in some distant period of life. But this supposition is not more dangerous, than it is erroneous. How do you know, that the time will ever come which you allot for that great work, which is not so much as begun? Have you made a covenant with death? And if you should even arrive at old age; it is ten thousand to one, that your soul’s concerns will occupy your thoughts, in the least, after a long series of previous dissipation, deadness, and delay. Does not the want of certainty, therefore, in this case, furnish a most awful argument against the daring presumption of your conduct? Besides, why should the prime of life be devoted to sin, and only the enfeebled close of it consecrated to religion? Is there any reason, (rather, is there not the most infernal absurdity?) in supposing, that God may be put off with the services of infirm old-age, while the Devil is to be complimented with the blooming honors of health and strength? Dreadful preposterousness!

5. If, therefore, the great uncertainty of life, under all the advantages which youth and health can give it:—if the importance of time, which surpasseth, in value, the gold of Ophir; and in swiftness, the flight of the eagle or the arrow:—if the great danger of postponing matters of infinite moment, to some future period, which may never arrive:—if the awful absurdity of dedicating youth to pleasure, from a supposition, that only the close of life is to be appropriated to religion:—and, if the probability of being suddenly cut off by the stroke of death, amidst all these vain imaginations; and of being summoned into the presence of God, before a single resolution has been adopted, respecting the securing of future bliss, or the avoiding of future misery:—if solemn considerations, like these, can have any weight with you; let me beseech you, to admit their force, and to obey their powerful suggestions. If you do not; the time will come, when each of them will penetrate your heart, keen as so many daggers; and when it will be out of your power, for ever, to recall the opportunities, talents, and privileges, which you are now so grossly abusing.

6. Young as you may be, you are old enough, it seems, to rebel against God: and why not old enough to begin seriously to seek an interest in Jesus? Would you wish to postpone your happiness? True felicity consists in a solemn dedication of the heart to God. The sooner this is done, the sooner you will be happy: the longer it is delayed, the longer you will be estranged from true bliss. Why then should not your happiness commence as early as possible? I know, the blessed attainment will cost you the loss of your lusts, or your self-righteousness. But, who ever esteemed it a loss, to exchange fleeting and unsubstantial trifles for glorious and eternal realities?—to give up the world and gain Christ?—to part with sin, and secure heaven? Your loss, here, will be your everlasting gain; and so you will esteem it, when life is made to appear in its genuine colors of vanity and nothingness; when “the chief among ten thousand” is manifested to your heart, in all his matchless beauties; and when death draws the curtain, that hides the invisible world from your view.

7. But what is it, which the world has to bestow, that will admit of any comparison with the unsearchable riches of Christ? “The things that are in the world,” says St. John, “are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” These are the great all of which the world can boast: these the sum total of its admired gratifications. And, when you weigh the entire aggregate of all its accumulated good in the balance of truth, it amounts to no more than “vanity of vanities. All is vanity!” But, supposing, that the gratifications of sense and all the pride of life could furnish a degree of felicity: yet how extremely short is their duration! “The world passeth away and the fashion thereof.” Ere long, every fleeting object shall be torn from your embraces. “The lusts of the flesh” will expire in corruption: the “eye” be closed in darkness: and all “the pride of life” evaporate in smoke, and vanish like a dream of the night. But, the existence of sublunary bliss is not more fleeting, than the inordinate enjoyment of it is pernicious. The positive declaration of God’s word is, “If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die,” eternally. Will you, then, erect your happiness on so precarious a basis; when misery and ruin must be the certain consequences? Will you, dare you, run the awful risk of losing an eternity of bliss, for the enjoyment of a little transient pleasure in time? Had you rather endure the gnawings of “the worm that never dies,” than deny the cravings of some headstrong lust? Is it a matter of greater moment to flutter away in all the emptiness and parade of dress and dissipation, than to “redeem the time” and prepare for eternity?

8. If you wish to be in earnest about the salvation of your souls, let me entreat you; 1. to avoid the company of those, who, as a color for their profligacy and licentiousness, laugh at all religion, as priest-craft. Shun the conversation of such, as you would the plague. Their principles are supported by infidelity; their practice founded upon wickedness itself; and their steps lead to hell. 2. Be not intimidated by those titles of reproach and epithets of calumny, by which, such as dare to be singular, are now distinguished. It is a fact as lamentable, as it is notorious, that the power of religion is by multitudes decried and discountenanced, under the application of hackneyed stigmas, that have no more sense in them, than seriousness. But this has been always the case. When people want arguments, they call names; and because they have no religion themselves, therefore they abuse those who have. Sitting in “the seat of the scornful,” they contemptuously arraign the conduct of the humble followers of the Son of God, because it is such a contrast to their own, and reproves their ignorance, carelessness, and vanity. But “whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto such men rather than unto God; judge ye.” Acts, iv. 19. 3. Beware of despising in your heart or lightly esteeming that gospel, which “is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth.” Rom. i. 16. Rather, “give the more earnest heed to the things which you have heard;” Heb. ii. 1; because, a reflection in an awful hereafter, that the salvation of the gospel has been offered, but rejected, will constitute the most torturing aggravation in the miseries of a sinner finally lost. Read Heb. x. 28, 29. 4. Be not satisfied with a little external decency of behaviour, without a real inward change of heart. If you would enter into heaven, you must be converted: and conversion is a work of the spirit of God, which corrects irregular propensities, in their very rise: it lays the axe to the root of sin; so that where this inward eradication takes place, outward branches fall with it. You may be civilized and orderly, as the Pharisees of old were, and yet, like them, be equally unchanged and unpurified in heart. But, if it please God, to “renew you in the spirit of your mind;” you will then be furnished with an antidote against the force of temptation: you will he prepared for death and judgment: and “whether you live or die, you will be the Lord’s.”

FINIS.