THE PRINCIPLES AND PROSPECTS OF A SERVANT

OF CHRIST.

SERMON XXVII.

[Delivered at the funeral of the Rev. J. Sutcliff, of Olney, June 28, 1814.]

JUDE 20, 21.

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

I FEEL a difficulty in speaking on this occasion. A long and intimate friendship, cemented by a similarity of views and a co-operation in ministerial and missionary labours, produces a feeling somewhat resembling that of a near relation, who, on such an occasion, instead of speaking, must wish to be indulged in silent grief. But the request of my deceased brother cannot be refused.

In selecting a passage for so solemn an occasion, it was natural for our dear friend to fix on one that should express his last sentiments and his future prospects. He wished no doubt, to leave a testimony of his firm persuasion of the truth of those principles which he had believed and taught, and to the hope which they inspired in the prospect of eternity.

The occasion on which the passage is introduced is deserving of our notice. Certain men, of pernicious principles, had crept unawares into the churches, so as to render it necessary for the Apostle to write even on the common salvation, and to exhort the brethren earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. Nor was it confined to principles: those who had departed from the faith had also gone far into impure and dissolute conduct; turning the grace of God into lasciviousness, defiling the flesh, despising dominion, and speaking evil of dignities. It is no new thing for deviations in Christian doctrine to be followed by those in practice. As truth sanctifies the mind, so error pollutes it. It was to turn the apostasy of these ungodly men to the advantage of the faithful, that the Apostle addresses them as he does: But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Having exposed the wicked ways into which these men had turned aside, he points out the good and the right way, and holds up the end to which it leads.

In discoursing on the subject, we shall notice the principles which we have suggested to us, and the prospects which they furnish in respect of a blessed hereafter.

I. Let us offer a few remarks on THE PRINCIPLES WHICH ARE HERE SUGGESTED TO US, AS CONSTITUTING TRUE RELIGION. Whatever ideas we have entertained of truth and religion, it is necessary to bring them to the scriptures, as to the standard.

1. True evangelical religion is here represented as a building, the foundation of which is laid in the faith of Christ: Building up yourselves on your most holy faith. Whether it relate to personal or to social religion, this must be the foundation of the fabric, or the whole will fall. Many persons are awakened to some serious concern about futurity, and excited to inquire what they must do to be saved: and, in that state of mind, it is not unusual for them to have recourse to reading and prayer, as a preparation for death. Many preachers too, will think it sufficient to direct them to the use of these means. But if the death and mediation of Christ be overlooked, it is not reading, or prayer, or any other

religious exercise, that will avail us. Why did John the Baptist, Christ, and his apostles, lay the foundation of the gospel kingdom by calling on sinners to repent and believe the gospel? Was it not because all other duties, prior to these, were of no account? When some, who followed Christ for loaves, inquired what they must do to work the works of God; his answer was, This is the work of God, That ye believe on him whom he hath sent ; plainly intimating, that no work, prior to this, could be pleasing to God. The scriptures direct men to pray, but it is in faith. To the question, What must I do to be saved? there is but one answer: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. Christ is the door; by him if any man enter in he shall be saved. To direct inquirers to any thing short of this, is to direct them to that which, if complied with, will leave them short of salvation. This the scriptures never do: there is not a direction in the oracles of God but, if truly followed, will lead to everlasting life.

;

One lays the foundation of his religion in what he calls reason but which, in fact, is his own reasoning. The same inspired writer who in one sentence commends understanding, in the next warns us against leaning to our own understanding. To strengthen ourselves, and one another, in this way, is to build up ourselves on our own conceits. Another founds his religion on his good deeds. Good deeds undoubtedly form a part of the building, but the foundation is not the place for them. They are not the cause, but the effects of faith. They prepare us for heaven, as meetening us for it, but not as rendering us deserving of it. A third builds his religion on impressions. It is not from the death of Christ for sinners, or any other gospel truth, that he derives his comfort; but from an impulse on his mind that his sins are forgiven, and that he is a favourite of God, which is, certainly, no where revealed in the scriptures. We may build ourselves up in this way, but the building will fall. A fourth founds his religion on faith, but it is not a holy faith, either in respect of its nature or its effects. It is dead, being alone, or without fruit. The faith on which the first Christians build up themselves, included repentance for sin. As when forgiveness is promised to repentance, faith in Christ is supposed; so when justification is promised to believing, repenVOL. VII.

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tance is supposed. However distinct they are as to their nature and objects, they have no separate existence. Hence, in the preaching of John, Christ, and the apostles, they are united; and hence, the faith of Christ, supposing a renunciation of every thing opposed to it, and including a cordial acquiescence in the gospelway of salvation through his death, is most holy.

These principles your dear deceased pastor has long believed and taught. May you long continue to exemplify their holy influ

ence.

2. That religion which has its foundation in the faith of Christ, will increase by praying in the Holy Spirit. As there is no true practical religion without faith in Christ, so there is no true prayer bat in the Holy Spirit. It is true, that men OUGHT always to pray, and not to faint; but it is no less true, that we know not what to pray for as we ought, but as the Spirit helpeth our infirmities: clear proof this, by the way, that may be man's duty which yet, owing to his depravity, cannot be performed but by divine grace; and that the Holy Spirit works that in us, which God, as the governor of the world, requires of us; writing his law upon our hearts, or working in us that which is pleasing in his sight.

The assistance of the Holy Spirit, however, is not that of which we are always sensible. We must not live in the neglect of prayer, at any time, because we are unconscious of being under divine influence; but rather, as our Lord directs, pray for his Holy Spirit. It is in prayer that the Spirit of God ordinarily assists us. Prayers begun in dejection have often ended in joy and praise of this, many of the Psalms of David furnish us with examples.

One of the sentences uttered by your deceased pastor, when drawing near his end, was, I wISH I HAD PRAYED MORE. This was one of those weighty sayings which are not unfrequently uttered in view of the solemn realities of eternity. This wish has often recurred to me since his departure, as equally applicable to myself, and, with it, the resolution of that holy man, President Edwards, so to live as he would wish he had when he came to die.' In reviewing my own life, I wish I had prayed more than I have for the success of the gospel. I have seen enough to fur