tears; but when one of them ex- | pressed his regret at being left in a world full of sin and temptation, without the benefit of his friendship, he replied, "God will be your friend." After he had given up the hope of recovery, he wrote a very serious and beautiful letter to his relations, though his weakness was so great that he could not finish it but at three different times. At the first sitting, he said to his bosom friend, "I must speak to them about their souls, what shall I say?" He was much affected at this time, and at the subsequent sittings added much faithful and affectionate counsel, closing his letter with the solemn charge, "Prepare to meet thy God." The last words he ever wrote. Toward the end of his affliction, his weakness caused his nind to wander; but even then it was evidently employed on heavenly subjects. Once, when his friend was about to pray with him, he charged him to request, that his lucid moments might be distinguished for spirituality; that he might be delivered from the evil suggestions of Satan and his own heart; that he might have patience to endure without murmuring; that his mind might be occupied with the love of God, as manifested in Christ: and that, when it pleased the Almighty, he might be liberated from all his weakness and sin, and admitted into the purity and felicity of heaven. One of his fellow-students going in, and asking him how he did, he looked at him earnestly, and said these three words, "Oaths, Promises, Blood." His friend said, “I suppose you mean the promises of God, which are all Yea and Amen in Christ." He replied with energy, "Yes, I know of no other." He then quoted that passage, "God, because he could swear by no greater, sware by himself;" adding, "Why did he swear? there could be no necessity for him to swear,"-intimating his sense of God's infinite condescension in so doing. He then asked him if he was going to preach; and being answered in the affirmative, said, May an unction from above rest upon you; for without that it will be of no use." Dec. 10. He was overheard praying. "O Lord have mercy upon me, in my present weak and helpless condition. Let my passage to heaven be mitigated, and may I not be so pained with the cough, if it be thy holy will, I am a poor, weak, helpless creature, but I commit myself to thee, O Lord; all the days of my appointed time will I wait. Bless my two brethren, and may their souls flourish before thee. O Lord, if it be thy holy will, may I be translated this evening from this wicked world to thine eternal kingdom, where there is no sorrow, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen." Dec. 12. His intimate friend heard him praying thus: "Father of mercies, have mercy on me, a poor, weak, helpless creature, and grant that my faith may not fail; but if it be thy will, take me to thyself this night. O Lord be with me, and grant that thy praise may be continually in my mouth. Bless my father and my mother, and my brethren, and all that are present, and all that are absent. Bless us all for Jesus' sake. Amen and Amen." 14th, Lord's-day. The day before he died, he prayed, "O Lord! thou art the maker and governor of the minds of all the children of men. Thou art the one living and true God. May I cleave to this truth that there is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus our Saviour. Let not, O Lord, I beseech thee, my foolish heart depart from thee in all my reveries, for Jesus' sake. Amen." 15th, Monday, he died. He lay without speaking above two hours, and then his spirit departed to be with his beloved Lord, in the gentlest and most peaceful manner, without a struggle or a groan; so that they who stood by scarcely were aware when he breathed his last. Thus died this excellent young man, when just turned of twentyeight. He had no extraordinary raptures; but his mind was kept in constant peace, and his whole deportment ever since I knew him, and for years before, (as I am satisfied by the testimony of his worthy pastor, and other friends,) evinced that in simplicity and in godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, his whole conversation was regulated. Our hopes of his usefulness in the church of God have been disappointed; but his hopes of happiness in the presence of the Lord have been exceeded and we must acquiesce in the divine will, knowing the truth of that passage which I have selected for the improvement of this solemn providence -"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Psalm cxvi. 15. The author of this psalm is not specified; many have ascribed it to David, but Venema is of opinion that it was composed later, even as late as the time of the Maccabees. Be that as it may, the sentiment in the text is equally worthy of our regard, whoever it was that first expressed it in writing. But, before we attempt to explain the principal truth in the text, we must 1. Notice some important truths implied in the language. God has a people that are called his saints; a people that he has separated from the world and set apart for himself, having a gracious and glorious object in view, for which he here begins to fit and prepare them. Psalm iv. 3. "Know ye, that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself." Gal. i. 15, and part of 16. "It pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me." Is. xliv. 21. "This people have I formed for myself, they shall shew forth my praise." The term commonly rendered saints in the Old Testament denotes persons who are separated and set apart for sacred purposes. That in the text denotes their being the objects and subjects of mercy. But, though God has shewn to them his distinguishing mercy, and set them apart for himself, and renewed and sanctified them by his Spirit, and appointed them not to wrath, but to obtain salvation and eternal life, viewing them as his peculiar people, whom he hath made "Kings and Priests;" yet he has not exempted them from the troubles of life, nor from the stroke of death: nor has he made any visible discrimination between them and others as to the termination of life, nor the external circumstances of death. Their death may be as painful, either by disease, by accident, by violent hands, or by cruel persecutors It may take place by a sud- their beauty for ever; their fruit den stroke, or by pining sick-ripen and endure to eternity. ness, or a lingering protracted disease. They may be removed in the midst of their usefulness, before we should have supposed their work was half ended: or removed still earlier, before they have well entered on the work for which God appeared to have prepared and fitted them, and on which their hearts were greatly set.* Their bodies turn first to putrefaction, and then to dust. They have no present marks of sonship. They are sown in dishonour, corruption, and weakness. Yet let us 2. Consider the consolatory truth asserted in the text. "Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints." God could have ordered it otherwise, if he had pleased; nor has he subjected his people to death without wise and weighty reasons; but it is evidently best suited to a state of trial, that one event should happen alike to all. He could have translated all his people, like Enoch and Elijah; but he has seen fit to order it otherwise, and has more reasons than we can guess at for so doing. But we are sure that the season of affliction and the hour of death is a precious season for him to shew his faithfulness and allsufficiency. "When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, the floods shall not overflow thee; and when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." Isai. xliii. 2. He will swallow up death in victory." It is a precious opportunity for them to shew, under the influence of his Spirit, the reality of their religion, the powerful influence of the gospel, the strength of their faith in Christ, and of their lively hope of a blessed immortality; and also to honour God by submission and resignation to his holy will. God has not thus doomed them to die like other men, because he is indifferent to their welfare; nor through any defect" in his love towards them: but all that concerns them is directed by infinite faithfulness, wisdom, and goodness. There is a wide difference between the wicked and the righteous in their death. The former shall be plucked up like weeds to be cast out of the Garden of God, and thrown into unquenchable fire; the latter are carefully transplanted, like favorite flowers, into a better garden, where no frost shall nip them, no drought make them wither, no sun scorch them, no unwholesome wind shall blast them, no noxious insect injure them. They hope for a more genial climate, where their blossoms shall unfold and retain The Doctor here referred to the premature deaths of some eminent servants of Christ, viz. James the brother of John, Stephen the proto-martyr, King Edward VI. Pearce of Birmingham, Spencer of Liverpool, and the subject of the sermon, We see that hope is like an anchor to the soul, firm and steadfast. They can confide in the divine word. "Having this hope, I am not afraid to plunge into eternity," said brother Fuller. They believe invisible realities, they trust in the divine all-sufficiency, they rely on Christ's mediation, for them, the forerunner has entered within the veil. go before to prepare a place for you, and I will receive you to myself." They know whom they have trusted, and are persuaded he is able to keep the precious " I his hands. "I know that my Redeemer liveth," &c. deposit they have consigned to | liever's sufferings, sorrows, and conflicts. "Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the death of his saints." At death he makes the spirits of the just perfect, he takes them to be with himself. He loves to have them with him. If believers were never removed till after a considerable period of active service, they would not seem to be under so pressing a necessity of being always ready, always in the attitude of servants waiting for their master's coming. It is best that every thing should be uncertain, but the word of God; that believers may show how greatly they regard it, how firmly they believe it. The death of James, added weight to the testimony of the other apostles, when it was shewn that they persevered in bearing witness to their Lord at the risk of their lives. How did the martyrs in subsequent times honour God; how did God glorify himself in supporting them. And others show their love to the Lord in consecrating their talents to him, without any promise of long life, or of exemption from sufferings and death. And how should we all work while it is called to day, since the night cometh, when no man can work. We know the length of natural days at all seasons of the year. In proportion as the sun rises before noon, so will it set after noon; but no one knows how long the day of life may be, or how soon it will end. And now, my dear hearers, what improvement shall we make of this subject of the text, and of the providence which led me to recommend it to your notice? We should all realize the truth of this declaration, and not only submit implicitly to the sovereign will of the Most High, but even rejoice that our times are in his hand, that he performs the thing he hath appointed for us, and that many, yea, all such things, are with him. It is happy, that an infinitely wise, and absolutely perfect being, orders the time of our departure from this world, as well as all the vicissitudes which precede it. It is a small thing to concede that we could not choose so well, either for ourselves, or our friends. Our chief concern should be, to be found among his saints; to be numbered with them, to whom all things work together for good, which they do to all who love God, who are the called according to his purpose. Let us give all diligence, by ascertaining our calling to ascertain our election also, and aim to walk worthy of him, who hath called us to his kingdom and glory. Let it be our ambition, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him; that whether we If God gives a man singular grace and gifts, it may be to fit him for long and much usefulness, or it may be to prepare him for an early removal to heaven. However, he that is infi-live, we may live to the Lord, nitely wise and kind, will deter- or whether we die, we may die mine this. We may be spared, to the Lord. Let him choose by not because we are more useful, what death we may glorify God. certainly not because we are more necessary to our Lord, but because we are less ready for removal. Death shall end the be May you especially, who have, like our deceased brother, devoted yourselves to the work of the ministry, and who were his associates in study, profit by this | if he should remove you betimes, he will kindly admit, that it was well that you had it in your hearts, to devote all your time, and all your talents to him. Be faithful unto death, and then, or later, whether more or less THE CHURCH AT SMYRNA. event. He was very deservedly dear to you all; but to some much more so, by a long previous acquaintance. May you copy his example in every thing that was lovely and praise-wor-whether that period comes sooner thy. May you buy the truth, and sell it not. Manifest that you are actuated by love to Christ, and to immortal souls, in taking on you the work of the ministry. May the love of Christ constrain you to preach Christ, SMYRNA, was a city of Ionia, "warning every man, and teach- situated about forty-six miles ing every man in all wisdom," &c. from EPHESUS." It is still faShew that you have, like your mous, though not for splendid departed brother, a deep sense buildings, yet for the number of of the great evil of siu, and of its inhabitants, its riches and the misery to which sinners are commerce. We have no account justly exposed; and that you are of this church in the inspirproportionably impressed with ed ecclesiastical history: the the wonderful love of God, in" Acts of the Apostles.' It is providing a ransom for lost souls. highly probable it arose from the That you long to see perishing labours of the apostle PAUL, by sinners brought to repentance whose mouth "all Asia" heard towards God, and faith in our the gospel of Christ; but from Lord Jesus Christ. May you the circumstance of its not being long to win souls to him, and to mentioned by the inspired histhis end may you labour, striving torian, the evangelist LUKE, it even to an agony, according to may be inferred, that it did not the energy of him who worketh exist as a church, until after the powerfully in you with might, termination of the apostle's laCol. i. 29. May you deeply feel bours in Asia; and as it is not yourselves, and constantly en- mentioned in the epistles written deavour to impress others, who by Paul to either of the Asiatic, profess to have embraced the the Ephesian, Corinthian, or Cogospel, with a sense of the infinite lossian churches, it may fairly be obligations they are under, to presumed, that it had not, at the walk worthy of the Lord unto all time when they were written, been well-pleasing; and uniformly to established. This then affords an support that dignity and purity of instance, of which there are many, character, which your dear friend of the defectiveness of even the inwas so careful to recommend inspired historical records, as to all his discourses. Remember, the persons by whom some of the though God does not need your churches of Christ were originservices, yet, if you are sincerely ated: designed perhaps, to teach attached to his cause, he will us that it is of little consequence, kindly accept of them. And, though we cannot tell whether he will employ you a longer, or a shorter time in his service, yet, Its population at present is estimated at 146,000 inhabitants; about 26,000 are of the Greek church, 5,000 Roman Catholics, and 109,000 Protestants. |