And to shew how naturally and gracefully he could mingle religion with the common affairs of life, I may relate to you an incident which was told me by a friend, who one day happened to travel with Mr. Gurney, and some other persons, on the outside of the coach. When they had proceeded a few miles, Mr. Gurney said, “as we started rather early this morning, I was not able, at home, to read my portion of Scripture, so that if there be no objection, I will read a chapter aloud.” He did so, making suitable remarks on the verses as he read them, and diffusing such a hallowed influence on those around him, that my friend said, “it was one of the happiest days I ever spent.” Now, with Mr. Gurney, the doing such a thing as that, was as free from ostentation, as it was from awkwardness. It was a deed of “simplicity and godly sincerity;” and was so conducted, as to seem as appropriate for the top of a coach, as for a meeting house, or a cathedral. There is a paragraph in one of his unpublished manuscripts, which is in beautiful harmony with this anecdote, and which may possibly have some reference to it. After speaking of the duty and importance of “always being on the watch, to make a good use of our time,” he says, “I have sometimes endeavoured to apply these principles to travelling, in which a considerable portion of the time of some persons is almost unavoidably occupied. A call of duty or business, may often carry us to places at a distance from our own homes. Is the time, taken up by the journey, to be one of mere indolence? Is the convenience of being conveyed from one place to another, to be the only profit which it shall yield? Ought we not rather to make a point, on such occasions, of adding to our stock of knowledge, and of useful ideas, by reading, by conversation, and reflection? Is there no object of interest which may be examined by the way? Is there no person of piety or talent, with whom we may find a passing opportunity of communicating? Are the motions of the coach or chariot so rapid, that we cannot leave behind us, as we pass from place to place, important instruction in the form of Bibles, Testaments, or tracts? Much may not be required of us; but it is well, if on our arrival at our place of destination, we can acknowledge that we have both received and communicated a little good in the course of our journey.” And again. “As the servant who waits well on his master, is ever on the qui vive to know what will be next wanted, so are we to wait on the hours, and even on the moments of each passing day, to know what duties they point out to us, or what employments they suggest for the improvement of our minds.”
Thus it was, brethren, that our departed friend endeavoured to discharge the office of a servant in his own generation. He served it, by a public profession of the gospel of Christ; by a consistent and influential character; by his liberal contributions to the cause of humanity and religion; by his personal efforts and writings; and by seizing present opportunities of usefulness, and acting in accordance with the requirements of the times.
But we have still to remark, secondly, that a Christian is to serve his own generation in accordance with the will of God. The text may indeed be read, “after he had, in his own generation, served the will of God.” But even this arrangement of the words implies, that the service which he rendered, in the midst of his own generation, was according to the will of God; and as this refers to the principle and motive of Christian service, it can be applied, equally with the former expression, to the service rendered by our Christian brother, the strongest desire of whose heart it was, so to serve as to please God.
A man may do right acts from wrong motives. The Pharisees gave alms to the poor. That was right. But their motive in giving, was to be seen of men. That was wrong. It was seeking to please men rather than God, who trieth the hearts. No action can be religious which has not its motive and its end in God, and which is not in accordance with his will. The man, therefore, who properly and acceptably serves his own generation, must do it by the will of God. This was exactly the opinion of our beloved friend. “Paul,” says he, often declares himself to be “an apostle by the will of God. Now we may rest assured that had not his will been surrendered at discretion, he would neither have been enabled to lead a life of holiness, nor have been qualified for his peculiar path of religious duty. His whole work and service would have been marred; and he would have been comparable to nothing better than a stunted tree, bringing forth fruit destined not to ripen. Such a sacrifice of the will, is indeed absolutely necessary, not merely to the general purposes of virtue, but to the specific value and usefulness of every member of the church of Christ.”
Acting on these great principles, our departed brother served his own generation in accordance with the revealed will of God in the Bible. Whatever peculiarities distinguished him as a member of the Society of Friends, he believed them to be in conformity with the holy Scriptures; and I am sure that, so far as the office of a christian servant is concerned, he would acknowledge no will that appeared to him to be contrary to “the will of God” as revealed in the inspired volume. If he followed the light within himself, it was because he believed it to be from the same divine source with the light without, which shines upon the sacred pages. He was a most attentive and devout reader of this holy book, not only in the family, but in the closet, and in the study; and it was not unusual with him to invite the visitors at his house to join him in those morning readings in the Greek Testament, in which, after breakfast, he was accustomed to engage. The frequency and devotion with which he searched the scriptures, to ascertain his Lord’s will, he earnestly recommended to others; and you are all witnesses how often, in his Bible society Speeches, he repeated and enforced the apostolic declaration, “all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.”
He served his own generation, under a deep conviction of the supreme and rightful authority of God over him. There are many persons who live and act on the principle that they have a right to do what they will with themselves, and with what they call their own. “Our lips, say they, are our own, who is Lord over us?” “I am not my own,” was the language of our christian brother. “I belong to Christ, my Lord and Master.” And in language literally his own, he declares, “there is nothing more distasteful to the natural man, than the piercing spirituality, the comprehensive grasp, and the binding authority of God’s precepts. The child of darkness prefers his own devices—he is a rebel to the core. But Christianity requires an uncompromising compliance with the whole counsel of God as it relates to our conduct. Our whole life must be regulated by the directions of his perfect law. No rebellious feeling, no corrupt motive or thought must be harboured; no favourite sin spared; no unwelcome duty omitted.” [19]
He served also in remembrance of his responsibility to God. Every step he took in this service, he felt was on his way to the judgment seat, there to give an account of himself unto God. And we, be it remembered, are perpetually approaching the same tribunal. We can no more get rid of our responsibility, than we can of our immortality. Whether we admit it or deny it; whether we declare ourselves to be accountable to God, or independent of God; the great white throne is before us, and he that sits upon it, “will bring every work into judgment, and every secret thing, whether it be good or bad.”
And, once more, he served under a deep sense of obligation to God. There is no motive in the universe of such mighty power, in the divine service, as the love of Christ to sinners; his love in redemption; his love in dying for the ungodly. “The love of Christ constraineth us.” And while it constrains us to love Christ, who redeemed us with his precious blood, it also constrains us to persevere in a course of christian service, with an alacrity and devotedness which no other motive could inspire. Oh! how this was felt by our beloved friend. What a master motive to his heart was the love of Christ in becoming the propitiation for our sins! In his speeches, and in his writings, what lofty inspiration did the theme produce! and how he seemed to feel as if he could never say enough, nor do enough, to testify his obligation to that benignant Master, “who loved him, and gave himself for him!”
Delightful as it is, thus to speak of one, who, after this manner, served his own generation according to the will of God, we nevertheless desire to say it all in perfect accordance with the doctrine, that all his disposition, and all his capacity, for his Master’s service, was derived entirely from his Master’s grace. I should be doing a grievous wrong, not only to Scripture sentiment, but to his own most cherished convictions, if I were in the least degree to intimate that any of his spiritual excellencies were either self-originated or meritoriously exercised. No—amidst my highest admiration of his character, I would remember the admonition which he gave to me, when he met me on my way to preach the funeral sermon for Joseph Kinghorn—“praise the Master, not the servant;” and I do so when I say, that all which the servant became, the Master made him. The same hand which gave him the reward of the faithful servant, had previously given him the fidelity; and, therefore, we glorify God in him; and we carefully remember, that the holiest christian on earth, and the brightest saint in heaven, willingly unite in the one declaration, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
III. Our remarks on the christian servant must now be brought to a close; and having considered the office which he sustains, and the manner in which it is to be discharged, I must briefly consider in the third place, THE STATE IN WHICH IT TERMINATES. “For David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers.”