III. The remembrance of his work which it now behoves you to cherish.
Your own minister’s anxiety and endeavour during his life, like that of the apostle’s, was, that after his decease, you might have these things always in your remembrance. Still, it is not merely an intellectual remembrance of these things which it becomes you to cherish. You may remember every text from which he preached, and every sermon he has delivered, and yet neither be sanctified nor saved by their influence. Nor can you be saved by keeping in memory the things which you have heard, unless you remember them with faith, and experience, and practice; “for if ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them.” Permit me, therefore, earnestly and affectionately to address to you the following exhortations.
In the first place, you should cherish the remembrance of these things by BELIEVING the gospel which he preached. There are some of you, my beloved friends, whose minds I fear still need to be stirred up to the remembrance of the things that belong to your peace. The endeavours of your departed minister, diligent, and impressive, and persevering, as they were, have failed to awaken in your hearts the feelings of penitence and faith. Some of you have, perhaps, for many years, sat under the sound of that gospel which during every year has been to you “the savour of death unto death.” Throughout the whole course of his ministry you are the persons who occasioned his keenest anxieties and his bitterest disappointments; for so far as you were concerned he seemed to labour in vain, and to spend his strength for nought. Yet he warned, and exhorted, and admonished you to the last; and it should be to you, day and night, an awful and awakening remembrance, that the very last text from which he preached, [21] was the subject of a sermon emphatically addressed to you; for its language was, “Notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking, yet ye would not hearken unto me.” And these words, the last which he addressed to you on earth, were, perhaps, the first which he repeated concerning you at the bar of God. Ah! my brethren, were it possible for any thought to disturb his peaceful breast in heaven, it would be the recollection of the state of guilt and impenitence in which he has left you on earth—it would be the thought that now perhaps you and he are separated for ever. And shall this be the case? Can any of you—can you, my dear young friends, bear the thought that you may have bidden an eternal farewell to your faithful and paternal minister? Will you, who have procrastinated till his death, not have these things in your remembrance now, after his decease? When there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, shall he never be told that angels are rejoicing over you? And will you not from this time, and from the grave of your deceased instructor cry unto God, “My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?” My dear brethren, whether you be young or old, “behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation.” To-morrow may be too late for ever; and if you delay, the remembrance of these things may be stirred up in your minds by the worm that dieth not, and by the fire that never shall be quenched. But if you wish to have these things in your remembrance now, go, by faith and prayer, to that Redeemer, whose gospel and whose minister you have hitherto neglected. Go to him with all the guilt and condemnation which that neglect has contracted. Go, as the prodigal went, with the feeling of penitence in your heart, and the confession of penitence on your lip—and whilst you are yet afar off, he will behold you with compassion, and run, and fall on your neck, and embrace you, and exclaim, “This my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found!”
Secondly, You should cherish the remembrance of these things by ADHERING to the gospel which he preached. For as it respects you who have, through grace, believed the gospel which he preached, his endeavour was that, after his decease, you might have these things ALWAYS in remembrance—and the Lord grant that his joy concerning you may be fulfilled. There are, I doubt not, many persons, once blessed with the ministry of our beloved friend on earth, who are now his companions in the skies; and of whom he has said already, “Behold here am I, and the children thou hast given me.” And there are, I trust, many now present who will be “his hope, and his joy, and his crown of rejoicing in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming.” You, my dear brethren in the Lord, can no longer enjoy the living instructions of your revered pastor, but it becomes you, as members of his church, to have the things which he once taught you always in remembrance. Adhere steadfastly and perseveringly to the doctrines, and to the spirit, and to the practice of the gospel of Jesus Christ, “by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned.” Imitate your deceased minister’s excellencies, and avoid his imperfections. Endeavour to equal him—endeavour to surpass him in all that is holy, and just, and good. Above all, let the same mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus; and repose, with unshaken confidence, on that grace which is sufficient for you, and on that strength which is made perfect in your weakness. You are now in circumstances such as require all the sympathy and consolation that the gospel can supply. Your minister is a corpse—the house of God in which he has been accustomed to meet you is become his sepulchre—and all your future meetings will be held around his grave. May the God of mercy be your comforter. May all the grace and tenderness which fills and flows from HIS heart who wept at the grave of Lazarus, flow into your own. And when you begin to look out for a successor to your deceased pastor, may you be directed to one who shall appear among you clothed with his mantle, and blessed with a double portion of his spirit. In all your future intercourse with each other, and in all your social meetings for devotion or for the business of the church, I beseech you, by the mercies of God, to adhere always to the gospel of Christ. Never lose the praise which you have in other churches of the saints, by destroying peace among yourselves. Let brotherly love continue. Let each individual among you determine, for the sake of Christ and of his people, to cherish it in his own heart and to exhibit it in his own conduct, and then its fragrance will perfume and bless the church. “It will be like the precious ointment on the head of Aaron, which went down to the skirts of his garments; and like the dew which descended on the mountains of Zion, where the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.” “Jehovah bless you and keep you. Jehovah cause his face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you. Jehovah lift upon you the light of his countenance, and give you peace.”
Finally, You should cherish the remembrance of these things by CIRCULATING the gospel which he preached. This also, my brethren, was one of the things which your minister endeavoured that you should have in your remembrance after his decease—for the ready and efficient assistance which he gave to many of the religious institutions in this city—the efforts which he made to extend the gospel in the county—and the laborious zeal with which he endeavoured to promote the interests of the Baptist Missionary Society—all shew how desirous he was to advance the kingdom of Christ in the world. Go you, my brethren, and do likewise. Never become weary of labouring in the cause of Christ. And remember, for your encouragement, that though the priests are not suffered to continue by reason of death, though ministers of the gospel are as mortal as their hearers, and though all flesh is grass, there is, nevertheless, one thing stable and eternal in the midst of this moving and this dying world—and this one thing is, “the word of the Lord, that endureth for ever.” The church lives, though the pastor dies. The church must increase, though he has decreased. One generation shall pass away and another generation shall succeed, “till time and nature dies.” But during all this mortality and change, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,” and his word shall have free course and be glorified, till it cover and crown the world, and till the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever. “Then cometh the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and authority, and power. For he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the lord.”
THE END.
Preparing for the Press, by the same Author,
A COURSE OF
SHORT SERMONS FOR FAMILIES,
TO BE PUBLISHED IN