ON HIS TAKING LEAVE.
THOUGH I WALK IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLE THOU WILT REVIVE ME;
THOU SHALT STRETCH FORTH THINE HAND UPON THE WRATH OF MINE
ENEMIES, AND THY RIGHT HAND SHALL SAVE ME.—Psalm cxxxviii, 7.
Southwark:
Printed by R. THOMAS, Red Lion Street, BOROUGH.
1817.
A SERMON, &c.
Micah viii, 6th.—“Rejoice not against me, o mine enemy; when I fall, I shall arise; and when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.”
MY DEAR FRIENDS,
I am come this morning to perform one of the most painful tasks that ever fell to my lot. I am come to take farewell of those who are dear to God, dear to angels, dear to each other, and dear to my heart upon the most noble principles. Though I trust it is but a temporary farewell in general, yet to many it will be perhaps a long farewell, even till we meet in glory, where parting shall be known no more for ever; and to others who live and die enemies to the dear and adorable Saviour—to hypocrites in Zion, to formalists and pharisees, dying such, I say it is an eternal farewell. We shall meet no more perhaps on praying ground—but be it known unto you, my testimony for God and truth you have heard many times, will never be out of your consciences, either in heaven or hell; it will be for or against you, either a savour of life unto life, or of death unto death. And now behold, many among whom I have preached the gospel will see my face no more—painful thought! but I bow to the solemn, awful, just, and I may add, I am sure, merciful dispensation; fully persuaded it is my duty, nay, more, it is my salvation, to bow to the will of the great head of the church. Nature shrinks, but faith looks forward to the grand end which my heavenly father has in view—and being already assured by his word, and by his spirit, that I shall be favoured with his manifestative presence, I prefer submitting to the mind of infinite wisdom, to any other plan which nature, friends, and present interest may suggest. My heart sinks, my spirit fails, my mind is distressed, when I take the painful retrospect, accompanied with the grief of my friends, the troubles of my family, and my own situation; and what is most mortifying, the triumph of the envious, the joy of the enemies of the cross; the pleasure of Satan, and the satisfaction of his emissaries; these things all meet in my mind, and perplex me not a little; but perhaps the grief of the former may be but comparatively for a moment, and the joy of fools is compared to the crackling of thorns under a pot, which make a noise and a blaze, but soon will expire, for so the word of God assures us. And then, what have my enemies effected? What advantage have they gained? Are they any the better? Will their cruelty add to their felicity on a dying bed? Some perhaps may suppose they have done God service; others have not God in all their thoughts; while others, who ought to act better, because they profess better things, join with worldlings, pharisees, and formalists, against a man they know nothing of, but by hear-say. While erroneous characters of every description hate me for the truth’s sake alone, and rejoice if they can find any fault as a ground of persecution; and if not in reality, an evil report is quite enough for them, that they might have cause to oppose the truth, as it is in Jesus. But perhaps before many years roll along, they may hear that John the Baptist is risen from the dead; that Sampson’s locks are grown again, and when he comes forth, they may yet hope to make sport with him. But perhaps the Lord may take vengeance on them, and enable his servant to be avenged on Satan and sin for the loss he has sustained; and by fervent prayer, faithful preaching, and a holy life, he may take hold on the main pillars of the Devil’s kingdom, ignorance of God and an empty profession, and make them tremble; while the power of the Holy Spirit may bring them down, through his feeble instrumentality, at least, in the hearts of some. I therefore humbly presume to adopt the language of the church of old, as personated by the Prophet in my Text, as before recited.
My dear hearers may perhaps recollect I have often referred them under their various exercises to this very important chapter. The prophet predicts the state of the church in gospel days; and our dear Lord, no doubt, had his mind on this chapter, when he forewarned the disciples what they would experience, even from their nearest and dearest relatives, for the truth’s sake; that no earthly ties would subdue or remove the carnal enmity of the human heart—that the father and mother would betray their dear children, and children would rise up against their parents, in consequence of their adherence to the truth; which was the case may times during the heat of persecution, and to this hour, where sovereign grace has been manifested in a family, where one has been taken and another left, there has been a most awful opposition, which may be seen in many lamentable circumstances—Mat. 10th chapter. Perhaps Solomon alludes to this when he says, For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear.—Prov. 30th.
The conquests of grace have ever disturbed the earth, and those who have preached all the words of this life are represented as having turned the world upside down, and as the troublers of Israel; while the gospel in its power has caused those who were servants to sin to lay down the arms of their rebellion, and God has set up a kingdom in their hearts which shall never be destroyed, and made them kings and priests unto God. But the prophet, no doubt, in this chapter, may allude to the state of the Jewish church, before and in her captivity, this I apprehend is the primary sense of the chapter. He laments the fewness of those who were valiant for the truth. Then represents the sins of the great, and of those in office, both in church and state. The decay of true godliness was his grief, accompanied with many heart-breaking sights of the treachery of those who were in a profession, with the weakness of the children of God themselves; The best of them is a briar, the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge. Trust ye not, therefore, in a friend; put no confidence in a guide! Keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom—that is, even from the saints themselves, knowing the best of men are but men at the best: and well may one of our own Poets exclaim—