rent of the orphan, and the helper of the helpless, may be the protection of their infancy, the guide of their youth, and the support and consolation of their riper age! And that many years hence, when her prayers have been heard for them, and they are born of the Spirit of God, made new creatures in Christ Jesus, and have long served God and their generation faithfully, according to the divine will, they may be welcomed by her that bare them, (and who in giving life to them suffered death herself) into everlasting habitations! It is true, she was hardly spared long enough with them to know them all on earth, and much less to give them an opportunity of knowing her; yet, I doubt not, but she will acknowledge them in that day for her children, while they also are divinely instructed to look up and call her mother! Then the present breach will be more than made up! The husband will again receive his wife, and the mother will embrace her children! But, oh! how changed! All immortal! All glorious! and in a world where pain and parting, sin and sorrow, are no more! There in those bright realms, no tender and dying mothers, with bleeding hearts, weep over the helpless infants from whom they are about to be torn, and whom they are to leave behind in an ensnaring and troublesome world: And, no affectionate, inconsolable husbands cling to the cold remains of departed wives! There pious friends and relatives, separated for a season, are united again to be parted no more. And there, their felicity is pure without alloy, full without measure, and lasting without end!... In discoursing further from this important, comfortable, and I think not, obscure passage, I wish to call your attention, I. To the Character of those who may properly be said to sleep in Jesus. II. To the Hope which we entertain concerning such, with the foundation and certainty of this hope, and, III. To the proper Fruit of it, if not entirely to remove, yet greatly to moderate our sorrow, and turn it into a lasting mean of good. And, 1st, we are to consider who they are that sleep in Jesus. 1. Upon this head I shall say but little, for I consider myself as discoursing to a congregation who are frequently addressed on such topics, and who certainly, in general, are not ignorant concerning them. You know, my brethren, that a man cannot, with any propriety, be said to sleep in Jesus, unless he first be in Jesus, that is, unless he be possessed of a real, vital union with him. This union with Christ is much spoken of, and frequently inculcated in the New Testament, and is illustrated by our Lord in the xvth chapter of St. John's gospel, by the union which subsists between the vine and its branches. Now the branch is not only supported by the vine, and adheres to it, but it derives sap, and of consequence growth and fruitfulness from it. Just so, they that are united to Jesus not only depend upon and cleave to him, but "receive out of his fulness grace to help in time of need." And their knowledge in divine things, their holiness and happiness, yea, and their usefulness too, in a great measure, depend hereupon. "I am the Vine, (says he,) ye are the branches. Abide in me, and I in you; for as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing." A most express and important declaration. Would to God it were laid to heart by all professors of religion! Now 2. St. Paul uses another comparison. In divers parts of his epistle, he illustrates the union which a believer has with Christ, by that which the members of the human body have with the head of it. "As the body is one, (says he,) and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, and have been all made to drink of one Spirit." And again, "Ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." the human body is not only guided and governed by the head, but has life and nourishment communicated therefrom. In allusion to this, the apostle exhorts us to "grow up into Christ, who is the head, in all things; from whom, (adds he,) the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted, by that which every joint supplieth, ⚫ according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body." He speaks to the same purpose in the epistle to the Colossians. "He is the head of his body, the church; the head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with all the increase of God."§ 3. The Lord Jesus, therefore, our living Head, not only instructs and guides us as our prophet, and commands and governs us as our King; but as the High Priest of our profession, who ever liveth to make intercession for us, he receives of the Father, and communicates to us those supplies of grace, those influences of the Holy Spirit, whereby we not only grow up into him our living Head in all things, and in due time arrive at the measure of the stature of his fulness; but are enabled to act the part assigned us as particular members of the body for the good of the whole. And then, as there is a real and sensible sympathy between the head and its members, so we are assured that the High Priest of our profession is" touched with the feeling of our infirmities," and tenderly sympathizes with us; while, on the other hand, we have " fellowship with him in his sufferings," and are affected with the wants and distresses of every fellow-member of his mystical body. 4. It appears from all this, 2dly, that those who have union with Jesus, have also an interest in him, just as a branch has an interest in the tree in which it grows, such as it has in no other tree in the world; and the member an interest in the head of the body to which it belongs, such as it has in the head of no other body. "My beloved is mine," says the spouse, and I am his." Christ is theirs, and they are his. They are his, being dedicated to him in faith and love, and employed for him in duty and service, living no longer "unto themselves but unto him that died for them and rose again." And he is theirs, being "made of God unto them wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." As their wisdom, he teaches them by his word and Spirit to know both their duty and their happiness, and though they were once darkness, they are now light in him, the Lord. As their righteousness, he justifies them from all things, and through him they have peace with God. As their sanctification, he communicates that grace, whereby they are not only delivered from the power, but at length purged from the defilement of sin, and restored to the " image of him that created them," even righteousness and true holiness. And as their redemption, he will, in due time, rescue them from all the consequences of the fall, will ransom their very bodies from the grave, and fix them in glory and felicity for ever. 5. As to the means whereby we obtain this high privilege, and the marks whereby we are satisfied ourselves, and give proof to others that we possess it, I need say but little. It is manifest from what has already been advanced, that it is not the being baptized with water, and making a profession of Christianity, that can either entitle us to, or put us in possession of such an inestimable bless tr 66 pro ing. No: a person may, according to St. Paul's doctrine,* «< fess to know God, and yet by works deny him," as it is but too visible the greatest part of the professors of Christianity do at this day. Nor is it enough that " he that names the name of Christ," or has that name named upon him in baptism, departs from iniquity," and is in all outward things unblameable. Even this will not entitle a man to this blessing, or prove that he is in possession of it. For we may have a name to live, when we are dead."† And whatever a man may be in his outward deportment, however blameless, however exemplary, yet if he be not born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;" if he have not the "Spirit of Christ, he is none of his," and if Christ be not "in him, dwelling in his heart by faith, he is a reprobate." Neither will the most diligent and constant attendance upon the means of grace and ordinances of God, whether public or private, unite us savingly to Christ, or afford sure proof of our being possessed of an interest in him. For, if St. Paul may be credited, a man may have a form of godliness, and may be destitute of the power, and if the faithful and true Witness may be depended upon, the only true worshippers are those "that worship the Father in Spirit and in truth." Nay, and as to good works, even works of mercy, done to the bodies and souls of men, on which the greatest stress seems to be laid by most, yet even these themselves, however largely and earnestly inculcated in the holy Scriptures, are not, properly speaking, the means whereby we are ingrafted into Christ, nor are they. of themselves sufficient evidences that we belong to him. "For though I give all my goods to feed the poor, (says the last mentioned apostle,§) and have not love, I am nothing," For "in Christ Jesus, nothing availeth, but faith that worketh by love."|| 6. This is properly the mean whereby we obtain this blessing, even faith working by love, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the glad tidings of salvation through him. For so he himself tells us, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only-begotten Son of God." These words of our Lord are echoed by John the Baptist, and confirmed, if they need any confirmation, by the testimony of all the apostles: "He that believeth on the Son," saith the Baptist, hath ever * Tit. i. 16. : † Rev. iii. 3. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. || Gal. v. 6. lasting life; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." By grace are ye saved through faith," saith St. Paul: "The just," adds he, “shall live by faith." And speaking of himself and of every true Christian, he observes," The life I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who hath loved me, and given himself for me." "These things," says St. John, " have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe," that is, may continue to believe, 16 on the name of the Son of God." 7. But let it be observed, that this faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, always preceded by repentance towards God, is not barely a conviction that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world:" for it is certain the devils believe this, and yet are not saved, and thousands upon earth havé the same faith, and yet live and die in their sins: nor is it merely a persuasion, however real and strong, that he hath done and suffered all that is recorded in the New Testament concerning him, and therefore is able to save to the uttermost, all that come unto God by him. But, added to this, it implies, according to the ac count frequently given of it by our Lord himself, and by his apos tles, a coming to him, and confiding in him for salvation, together with the receiving of him in every office and character which he sustains. This clearly appears from the following, and such like passages. "Come unto me, ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.—If any man thirst, let him coME unto me and drink. He that COMETH unto me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst.-That we should be to the praise of his glory who first TRUSTED in Christ.-To as many as RECEIVED him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe in his name." 8. Now by this faith, which is of the operation of the Spirit of God, are we ingrafted into Christ, and made new creatures in him. "Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new!" The old man is put off, and the new man is put on, and we are renewed in the spirit of our minds, are renewed after the image of him that created us. We have in us the mind that was in Christ: we resemble him in all spiritual graces and heavenly virtues, and being conformed to him inwardly, we make it our care also to copy after him outwardly, and to walk as he walked. He then that lives, and in consequence thereof dies, in the possession of this faith, and by this faith in a state of union with the |
