{"collection":"philosophy-ethics","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_58048/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_58048","id":"gutenberg_58048","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58048","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Funeral sermons","Sermons, English -- 19th century"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1824 R. Weston edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n\n\n\nCONSOLATION\nIN\nLIFE AND DEATH,\n\n\n                             DERIVED FROM THE\n\n                             Life of Christ;\n\n                          BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF\n\n                                 A SERMON\n\n                       On the Death of Mrs. Turner,\n\n                             PREACHED AT THE\n\n                            SURREY TABERNACLE,\n\n                                    ON\n\n                Sunday Evening, the 15th of August, 1824,\n\n                              BY J. CHURCH.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n    \"And blessed is she that believeth, for there shall be a\n    performance of those things which are told her from the Lord.\"\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                R. WESTON, PRINTER, CROSBY ROW, SOUTHWARK.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                  1824.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\n_SERMON_, _&c._\n\n\n                          JOHN, Chap. xiv. Ver. 19.\n\n             \"_And because I shall Live_, _ye shall Live also_.\"\n\nAMONG the many awful charges brought against backsliding Israel by the\nprophet Isaiah, this was reckoned not the smallest.  \"The righteous\nperisheth, (sleepeth) and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are\ntaken away, none considering that the righteous are taken away from the\nevil to come.\"  The day of life--of the world--and the professing\nchurch--is far spent--the sun is going down over the prophets--the birds\nare hastening home--the labourer returning--the substance of religion\ndeclining, and the shadows of it are stretching out.  With these solemn\nreflections, well may we entreat the company and presence of the dear\nRedeemer, as the disciples did.  Abide with us, for it is towards\nevening, and the day is far spent; the removal of the Lord's people from\nus, although it is their salvation, and affords peculiar joy to the\nsurviving spiritual friends and relatives that have been eye and ear\nwitnesses of their peaceful end; yet demands attention, reflection,\nself-examination, and solemnity of mind.  When God strikes he demands an\nhearing--when he knocks by his messengers, affliction and death, it\nis--that we may open the door, receive the message, detain the messenger,\nand enquire for what purpose he is sent.  For the Lord's voice crieth\nunto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name; hear ye the rod,\nand who hath appointed it.  I consider, therefore it is our duty to pay\nattention to this present affliction, for the loss of a spiritual friend,\na pious and steady member of the church, an affectionate wife, a kind\nmother and a good neighbour.  Although it is her eternal gain, it is a\ngrief and affliction to us; but I trust that this, as well as every other\nappointed trial, was sanctified for us in the eternal covenant of grace,\nand as an evidence of it, produce in our minds its suitable effects.\nDeath is at all times solemn and affecting in the world, in the\nneighbourhood, and amongst our acquaintance; but when sent more\nimmediately into our families, to bereave us of those who are very dear\nto our hearts, we are the more sensibly touched with the stroke, when the\nLord says to us, as he did to the prophet Ezekiel, \"Son of man, behold I\ntake away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; and at even\nmy wife died.\" {4}  Such painful dispensations are most keenly felt; and\nwhile we deplore the ravages of death, we cannot help reverting to its\ninstrumental cause--\"Sin, which brought death into the world, and all our\nwoe:\" to this king of terrors, and often a terror to kings, all _have_\nsubmitted but two, Enoch and Elijah; and all _must_ submit, except those\nof the people of God, who will be found alive at the second coming of our\nLord; these will probably experience a momentary change, equivalent to\nthe stroke of death, and be changed body and soul, in the twinkling of an\neye.  This great mystery was revealed to the apostle Paul; perhaps, the\nfirst that was ever led to know it.  All beside, the Lord's people as\nwell as the world at large, must pass through the gloomy territories of\nthis king: but, the dear Saviour has engaged to go with all his people,\nand conduct them safely through; and though all do not go through with\nthe same joy, yet all are led on safely.  Their enemies keep still as a\nstone, while the purchased people passed over.  Nothing, in heaven above\nor the earth beneath, can possibly prevent the execution of the decreed\nsentence, \"Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.\"  It is the\npulling down of the house,--it must come down--the leprosy is in it,--sin\nhas entered every room in the house; and in consequence of bad tenants,\nwhich occupy it, the Almighty Landlord has ordered us to quit it; we have\nreceived, with many a pain, a writ of ejectment; but we feel reluctant to\nleave this house of clay, though in such a damaged state; the\nindescribable unity which subsists between the soul and the body, like\nmutual friends, renders parting painful here, although they have often\nbeen clogs to each other; but they will meet again under the most\nglorious and happy circumstances in the resurrection morning.  And what\nsoul can conceive the joyful meeting of the glorified spirit, and the\nnewly-raised, beautiful, immortalized body?  Each will know its own\nagain.\n\n    --\"Nor shall the conscious soul\n    Mistake its partner, but amidst the crowd,\n    Singling its other half, into its arms\n    Shall rush, with all the impatience of a man\n    That's new come home; and having long been absent,\n    With haste runs over different rooms,\n    In pain to see the whole.  Thrice happy meeting!\n    Nor time nor death shall ever part them more.\"\n\nBut however dear to each other, the union must be dissolved; the bands\nand ligaments, by which soul and body are united, must be separated; this\nearthly house must be dissolved;--this tabernacle must be removed--its\ncords unpinned--its stakes pulled up--and the whole must be taken down.\n\"Knowing,\" saith the apostle, \"I must put off the earthly house of this\nmy tabernacle.\"  Death is represented as a departure--it is going from\none house to another--it is a loosing from port, and launching into the\nocean.--Death is the ship or boat which wafts us over to the shores of\neternity.  It is going the way of all the earth--going a journey to man's\nlong home--to an invisible world--through a dark valley, where we need a\nguide; and a Covenant God has promised to guide us through.--It is going\nto sleep in hope of waking again, sweetly refreshed in the morning of the\nresurrection; fresh, lively, active, and divinely fitted for heavenly\nexercises.  The shipwrecked mariner has gained the shore;--the weary\ntraveller--the fatigued labourer--the afflicted child, is at rest.\nDeath, through covenant mercy, is the full, the final deliverance.  And\nJohn is commanded, by God the Holy Spirit, to write it down, and send it\nto the churches: \"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, even so\nsaith the spirit, for they rest from their labours, and their works of\nfaith and love do follow them.\"  Like Abraham leaving his native country\nat the command of God;--like Jacob leaving Padan Aram, with all his\nsubstance, to return to his kindred.  Such the believer's death.\nPerhaps, indeed, a thousand alarms may seize his spirit, hearing that\nEsau, with his armed men, is coming out against him; but by prayer and\nfaith he obtains the blessings, and meets Esau with comfort.  For when a\nman's ways, through grace, by prayer and faith, thus please the Lord, he\nmakes even death to be at peace with him.  Death is the enemy to our\nnatures, although it is a covenant blessing.  The last enemy that shall\nbe destroyed, is death: but its enmity is slain in the death of Christ.\nHere that serpent that crawled up the hill of Calvary, and entwined round\nthe cross, left his sting in the sacred body of a dying Saviour: nor can\nall the powers of darkness, all the sins, backslidings, and infirmities\nof God's people, ever unite the sting to death again.  Sin is abolished;\nthe guilt is gone.--It has been said, that when a bee has fastened its\nsting in a man's flesh, it is lost for ever after, and becomes a drone.\nDeath, like such a bee, can only hum and affright, but never sting or\nhurt: it may, it must destroy the body, but it cannot hurt; like a fierce\ndog, whose teeth are broken out, it can bark and tear a mere tattered\ncoat, but it cannot bite to the bone.  What a feeble weak enemy is death,\nsince it took a walk to Mount Calvary!  Unatoned guilt is the sting of\ndeath.  But the Lord's dear people are led, in some degree, to see for\nthemselves, that Christ has borne away their guilt, has removed the\niniquity of that land in one day; and when we are cheered, quickened,\nstrengthened, and well-established in this pleasing fact, this\nhope-supporting, spirit-giving, soul-animating assurance, we feel ready\nto go, to depart, and be for ever with the Lord, in this sweet\nwell-founded confidence:--\n\n    \"Lord, let me rest my head, close last these eyes,\n    Yield thee my breath; and, with exulting soul,\n    Smile a peace-uttered, dying, sweet Amen.\"\n\nBut amidst the dissolutions made by death, what an unspeakable mercy it\nis for the Lord's dear people, the union betwixt Christ and their souls\ncan never be dissolved: they are his property, his children, his bride;\nhe is precious to them in life and death, as the blessed effect of his\nlove to them, and their value in his sight.  Hence, it is said, \"Since\nthou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable, and I have\nloved thee;\" and precious shall their blood be in his sight; and as they\nare precious to him living, it is written, \"Precious in the sight of the\nLord, is the death of his saints;\" nor should their death be grievous to\nus, especially dying in lively hope, cheerful confidence, sweet\nassurance, clear views, and fervent desires.  This is the blessed effect\nof the glorious union between Christ and the soul, as the eternal spring\nof life, and the glorious head of his body, the church, who has\ngraciously declared in most positive terms, \"Because I live ye shall live\nalso.\"  These most blessed words were very precious to our dear departed\nfriend; upon one occasion, after a season of peculiar trial, while at the\nordinance of the Lord's Supper, and just receiving the cup, these words\nwere sweetly dropped into her mind--they were ever precious to her\nafterwards: she chose them for her funeral text; and blessed be God, she\nmost divinely understands them, now in perfect enjoyment; they have been\nmuch blest to thousands, and I trust the Lord will bless them to us in\nnoticing the _gracious declaration_ and the _precious promise_ as\nconnected with it.\n\nLet us notice the life of our most adorable Saviour.  First, as God--He\nliveth from eternity; he is the living God, he is emphatically called\nlife, the true God, and our eternal life; and this is the eternal life\nwhich John says was manifested: the very knowledge of whom is eternal\nlife begun in the soul.  In his divine essence, his eternal nature, he is\nthe self-existent, independent Jehovah; underived, unoriginated, and\nincommunicably God, without beginning, succession, or end; without the\nshadow of a change; he is eternal, immortal, who only hath immortality\nfrom everlasting to everlasting; and of his years there is no end; _one_\nin the divine Trinity, co-equal, co-essential, and co-eternal with the\nFather and the Holy Spirit; one in the sacred society of the adorable\nTrinity, enjoying the most inconceivable delight and complacency in his\nown divine perfections; and in the holy _ones_, the Father and the\nSpirit; the divine nature, essence, and perfections were not communicated\nto him as God, but were originally, independently, and eternally his own,\nin conjunction with the Father, and the Holy Spirit--and as the\nself-existent God, he has solemnly declared to all the enemies of his\nGodhead--\"If ye believe not that \"I AM\"--ye shall die in your sin.\"--This\nawful truth, one would think, is enough to put to silence all the cavil\nin the world against the divinity of the Son of God, as God.  Some indeed\nadmit all that can be said about his divinity, but they vainly suppose\nthat his Godhead was communicated to him from the Father; but this\nthought is an awful insult upon him, no better than high treason and\ndaring blasphemy.  Let such read again and tremble,--\"If ye believe not\nthat I AM--ye shall die in your sins.\"  \"I AM,\" is the self-existent,\nindependent God--and as the living God, he is author of all the life\nwhich has been, or shall be given to creatures; in him was life, for by\nhim were all things made, and by him do all things subsist, created by\nhim, and upheld by him; and, while I exist as God, ye shall live also.\n\n2.--As the Son of God in his divine person, which implies his eternal\nrelationship to the Father, he lived in eternity as a person existing\nwith the Father; He is in the bosom of the father, the only begotten of\nthe Father, the express image of the Father, the son of God, without the\nconsideration of the human nature, either body or soul.  He was a divine\nperson: the human nature did not make him a person; but the Son of God\ndid take the human nature into union with himself, and though possessing\ntwo natures he is but one person.  As the adorable son of God, he lived\nbefore all the world, a life with the Father--a life of inconceivable\ndelight.  Hence the Father has said of his dear son, \"in whom my soul\ndelighteth;\" and the dear Son of God has said of the Father, \"I was daily\nhis delight--constantly and invariably rejoicing--always before\nhim--delighting in the Father before the world was rejoicing,\" that he\npossessed the same nature, being, and perfections, and that he stood in\nsuch a relation to him as the Son of the Father--and \"because I live _as_\nthe Son of God, ye shall live also.\"\n\n3.--As the Head of the Church.--In this most blessed relation he ever\nlived, does now, and ever will; he is their head as a general is head to\nhis army; as a king is head to his subjects; as a husband is head to his\nwife; as a father is head to his children; as a master is to his\nservants; but besides these, our most blessed Lord is that to his people\nas the natural head is to the natural body; and the members of it, of the\nsame nature with it; superior to it; communicates life, sense, and motion\nto it; overlooks and protects it; he is the representative head of his\nbody, the church; being united to him, we are in him, and have a\nrepresentative existence in him; he was chosen to be the head of the\nelect family, out of the boundless love of God the Father; and they were\nchosen in him.  Eternal election gives us a subsistence, a representative\nbeing, in Christ; he lives in God's eternal mind and love, as the head of\nthe church, and his people live in him, and shall live for ever in him;\nnor _sin_, nor _time_, nor _death_, can part them.  Christ as head, and\nhis people were chosen together; He first, in order of nature, as the\nhead, and they as members; as in the womb, head and members are not\nconceived apart, but together, so was the church and Christ in the womb\nof eternal election.  God views us in him, and never did, nor never will,\nconsider his dear people separate from him as the chosen head of the\nchosen body.  All other blessings flow to us from, and by virtue of, this\nunion.  We live in Christ, we have a covenant subsistence and\nrepresentative being in him; and as the root, the trunk, the branches,\nand leaves, are folded up in the acorn, so all God's family are in\nChrist, and shall be brought forth in their appointed time; their\nadoption, justification, redemption, preservation, pardon, calling,\nperseverance, resurrection, and glorification, all depend upon their\nelection union,--and this union depends upon the everlasting love of God;\nit is not faith that unites to the Lamb, that is only a spiritual faculty\ngiven to us by the holy spirit, to discern this blessing, which leads\nforth the mind, in affection and gratitude, to a covenant God for it.\nThis union is dated from eternity, revealed in the word, preached in the\ngospel, manifested in our effectual calling, enjoyed by faith, and will\nbe celebrated in the most open and glorious manner, in the thousand years\npersonal reign of our Lord Jesus Christ upon earth, and blessed are they\nthat are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.  Nothing done by he\nchurch of God, before or after calling, can destroy this union.  In the\nvery existence of Christ, as head, they must live--\"For because I live,\nye shall live also.\"\n\n4.--As Mediator--he ever did, now does, and ever will, live for his\npeople; and in his glorious title as the son of God, as God-man, he has\nreceived all blessings for his church; and these are comprehended under\nthe term LIFE.  The Lord hath commanded his blessing, even life for\nevermore; and as the Father hath life in himself, even so hath he given\nto the son to have life in himself.  Christ, as God-man lived in the\npurpose of God from eternity; and though he is compared to many things\nwhich have not life--to water, to bread, to a stone, a way, a tree--yet\nthey have these additions, _living_ water, _living_ bread, _living_\nstone, _living_ way, _tree_ of life.  In this most blessed character the\nancient saints saw him by faith, received him, and lived and died upon\nhim.  Job's faith was fixed here, and rose to sweet confidence, to full\nassurance--\"I know that my redeemer liveth\"--yes, now--in this character\nbefore God for me, and I see my interest in him.  Every believer is now\nmore or less thus favoured.  God gives, 1st. Faith to believe in him as\nsuch--2ndly. To rely upon him--and, 3rdly. To enjoy interest in him.  He\nlives, the ever-living Mediator; considered as God-man, he is the\nMediator of union between God and his creatures--_as elect_--both angels\nand men; and he is the Mediator of reconciliation for his church, as\nfallen; as the Head of the Church, and the Son of God, he was called to\nact for her as fallen; and when declared Son of God by the Father, he was\nsworn into his office as High Priest; to which, in the boundless love of\nhis heart, he gave his consent to make reconciliation for the sins of his\npeople, to give perfect satisfaction, and to harmonize all the sacred\nperfections of Jehovah.  In this most sacred character he appeared in\nheaven as the Lamb slain, from the foundation of the world; to him the\nold testament church looked, and in the fullness of time, he came and\nbegan his work in the wonderful and mysterious act of his\nincarnation:--made of a woman--made under the law, he was circumcised,\nand became a debtor to fulfil the whole law for his people.  The nature\nthat he assumed, although it was perfectly flesh and blood, yet it was\nperfectly holy.  Hence his appeal to God the Judge of all: \"Search me, O,\nGod, and try me, and see if there be any wicked way in me.\"  His human\nnature was a holy thing; and possessed in it more holiness than all the\nangels of light; and in it, he did all the churches' duty in obedience to\nthe law; he obeyed the ceremonial law as the seed of Abraham, and kept\nthe law of God in thought, mind, will, and deed perfectly.  He worshipped\none God, never bowed to creatures, or profaned the holy name: honored the\nsabbath and his parents; nor felt a base desire; nor tinged with sinful\nanger, much less murder; nor with heart or hand did he ever rob God or\nman; nor ever bore false witness against any; nor could a covetous\nthought enter his sacred breast; but with his whole nature loved God and\nhis neighbour, and did unto all men what men in their doings ought to do\nto each other.  This he performed for us; and, in consequence of the\nessential dignity of his person, as God as well as man, He is styled\nJehovah, our righteousness.  This is imputed and placed to the account of\nhis people by the Father.  God the Holy Spirit opens the grand subject to\nus, we receive it in the mind and affections.  Conscience testifying\nthis, we have peace with God.  In this righteousness the church is\nperfected; in it they stand justified before God, and shall never come in\nto condemnation.  But in his glorious character as Mediator, his having\nbecome surety for his people, he had to pay the dreadful debt of\nsuffering the awful penalty.  As the consequence of the sins of his\nchurch, he engaged to endure the hell we had merited.  The curse of a\nbroken law, and all which that awful idea contains.  He took the bitter\ndraught, the dreadful cup, and drank eternal health to his dear people.\n\n                      \"He sunk beneath our heavy woes.\"\n\nAll our guilt met on him--the chastisement due to us he bore--the pangs\nof the damned seized his holy soul; and with convulsive struggles on the\nground, with heart-rending sighs, and prayers, and tears; with thorns,\nscourges, contempt, griefs, and unknown agonies, awful storms, and\ninconceivable torments, he sweat out, cried out, and bled out the sins of\nhis people.  He by himself purged our sins--the physician's heart was\nopened by a spear to heal all the diseases of his patients--_was ever\nlove like this_?\n\n    \"Our ransom paid in blood for deadliest guilt--\n    Oh! hide thy shame-spread face, and turn thy eyes\n    In mournful prospect back to Calvary, now\n    Back to the garden, to the dolorous ground,\n    Grief-moistened with his blood-sweat agony.\n    Ah, what agony! ah! felt for whom?\n    Say, angel, near him then that heard: 'Behold\n    Thy humbled Maker'--agonized thyself--\n    Asked, but thou canst not say.--No thought can pierce\n    Of man or angel, that profound of pains:--\n    'Twas the soul's travail, sorrow's sharpest throe.\"\n\nAs our surety, sponsor, representative, and mediator, he has put away all\nour sins; he died, he rose, he triumphed over all his and our foes, and\nkindly speaks to us--\"Fear not, I am he that liveth, was dead, am alive\nfor evermore, and because I live, ye shall also.\"  While he lived upon\nearth, he lived a life of faith, hope, dependance, love, humility, and\nholy zeal, and the believer's privilege is to _live_ and _say_, as he\nlives, \"The life I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of\nGod\"--a life of faith, dependance, hope, confidence, love, humility, and\nzeal, though daily interrupted, and the subject of much deadness,\ncarnality, and unbelief; yet as fresh life is given from his fulness, I\npossess a life that will never die.  The Lord has promised to water his\npeople every moment--\"every thing liveth where this water comes; and it\nis in the believer, a well, springing up to eternal life.\"  And as we use\nthe means, we sing, \"Spring up, O, well.\"  Sing ye unto it: for as well\nthe singers as the players on instruments, shall be there.  All my fresh\nsprings in Thee, who hast said, \"because I live, ye shall live also.\"\n\n4.--His life of intercession and advocacy in heaven.  Hence the apostle\ndeclares, that \"he ever liveth to make intercession for all that come\nunto God by him;\" and as we have been redeemed and reconciled to God by\nhis death; much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.\nHe appears in the high court of heaven for us, in the full virtue of his\nblood, and righteousness--\n\n    \"Looks like a lamb, that's newly slain,\n    And wears his priesthood still.\"\n\nThis is ever available to the Father for us; he is our priest before the\nthrone, carrying on the work of manifestatives.  Salvation, the great\nsacrifice, once offered, has infinitely more voices for us before God,\nthan all our sins can have against us.  His blood is said to speak for\nus; it cries aloud to the God of justice for the church; yea, for every\nsensible sinner, that mercy might be shewn, and pardon enjoyed by him\nupon the ground of strict justice, truth, holiness, righteousness, and\njudgment; it speaks _for_ us to God--and _to_ us from God--\"I have loved\nthee, I have redeemed thee, I have called thee, thou art mine.\"  Our\ngreat high priest bears all the names of his dear people upon his heart,\nand though exalted above all principalities and powers, he cannot forget\nhis poor relations on earth.  The days of his _passion_ are ended, but\nnot of his _compassion_.  Our spiritual Joseph, though Lord of all, is\nnot ashamed to own his brethren, the poor.  Many, when exalted, forget\ntheir former poor acquaintances; but our ever-living, ever-loving,\neverlasting friend, has sworn by himself as the living God--\"I will not\nforget you;\" he lives in heaven for his people; by his death he paid the\ndebt; by his resurrection he came out of prison; and by his ascension he\nshews himself openly to God, the creditor, and pleads satisfaction; he in\nacting in heaven as our advocate with the Father; he is the faithful\nfriend at the bar of justice, answering all the charges that sin, natural\nconscience, and Satan, can accuse us of.  Hence, for his people, he gives\nthe challenge--\"who is mine adversary, let him come near,\" and by the\napostle asks, \"who shall lay any thing (unpardoned) to the charge of\nGod's elect, seeing he maketh intercession with God,\" and this precious\nportion has warned and cheered thousands.  \"My little children, I write\nthese things unto you, that you sin not; but if any man sin, we have an\nadvocate with the Father,\" and such an advocate must carry the cause; he\nhas never failed--and demands no fee, but _the fruit of the lips giving\nthanks to his name_; and while his personal appearance in heaven has any\nvirtue before God, his mourning disciples are safe, to whom he has said,\n\"and because I live, ye shall live also.\"\n\n5.--His life of glory in heaven.  He is the very glory of the place.  We\nsay at times, of some persons, they are the very life of the\ncompany--Christ will be the very bliss, the very joy, the very life of\nthe church above for ever, when he is surrounded with all his\nblood-bought throng, and with all his holy loving angels; the lamb in the\nmidst will make all their heaven; his person, his glory, his looks, his\nsmile, his love, will feast their happy minds to all eternity; while the\nglorious majesty of God shall be enjoyed, through the all glorious body\nof Jesus Christ, as the rainbow round the throne, to behold this glory.\nThe Lord has made choice of his people, set them apart for this very\npurpose, redeemed them to God, called, fitted, qualified their souls, and\nwill raise them up again in the last day, and for this the Redeemer prays\nand demands, \"Father, I will that those whom thou hast given be with me,\nwhere I am, that they may behold my glory,\"--and as he smiles, they will\nsing--or,\n\n    \"Overwhelmed with raptures sweet,\n    Sink down, adoring at his feet.\"\n\nAnd what adds a blessing to the whole is, that this bliss, this felicity,\nwill be for ever; yea, lasting as the very existence of him, who, for the\neverlasting consolation of his people, hath said, \"and because I live, ye\nshall live also.\"  Our most blessed Lord is the author, giver, and\nmaintainer, of all natural, spiritual, and eternal life, for all live in\nhim; he is the root and spring of all the life of sanctification, and\nglorification of his people, and though they are said to live in him by\nfaith, yet more properly it is Christ living in them.  Christ liveth in\nme--all the blessings of the covenant of grace are in him--the eternal\nfavor of God, which is our life, is in him--and this is the grace which\nwas given us in him before the foundation of the world; he came, that his\npeople might have life, and have it more abundantly in experience and\nenjoyment; he came that he might abolish death, and bring life and\nimmortality to light by the gospel.  Justifying, pardoning, and\nregenerating grace, is brought to light in the word, and often brought to\nlight in the souls of God's children, and they by virtue of union to\ntheir covenant head, live--live in the love, favour, mind, purposes,\ndecrees, covenant, and promises of God--live in Christ, secured, hid,\nlocked up--where Christ is hid as head, there they are hid--live\nrepresentatively before God--live spiritually by quickning power, and\nthis life in the soul is the holy spirit as the spirit of life.  The Lord\nand giver of life, producing as an evidence of his indwelling--a\nspiritual hungring and thirsting after the favor of God, the sense of\npardon, holiness, love, and communion, humility, self-abhorrence,\nspiritual repentance, holy confidence, resignation, and joy--and where\nthese are found in the soul, by divine teaching they are the evidences of\nbeing disciples indeed, and it is to such genuine disciples our dear Lord\nspeaks in the sweet language of the text--\"ye see me; and because I live,\nye shall live also.\"  Such indeed was our dear departed\nfriend--spiritually quickened and made alive to God, she possessed those\nimmortal principles which supported her through the changing scenes of\nher pilgrimage--cheered her heart at times--subdued her fears--brought\nher mind to God--endeared the Saviour--bowed her will to the Lord's\nwill--and caused her to long to be dissolved, and to be with Christ: to\ngrace, and grace alone, she attributed all her salvation from first to\nlast; her soul hated every system that was calculated to exalt the\ncreature in any sense whatever.  Convinced deeply of the depravity of the\nhuman heart, she was often led to self-abasement, self-loathing, and\nself-condemnation, taught out of God's law--she felt her need of a\nsurety, a mediator, a law fulfiller, a better righteousness than her own;\nshe saw the way of forgiveness by the great atoning sacrifice of Christ;\nand was taught to believe, to receive Christ with his whole finished\nsalvation; she loved to hear him extolled; his very name was precious to\nher; his word was dear to her; she loved his people who stood manifest to\nher conscience, that they were taught of God; she highly esteemed those\nministers, whom she considered faithful to God, to truth, and to souls;\nshe prized the ordinances, because they were of divine appointment, and\nbecause the Lord had often met her in them.  Her poor mind was often\ndiscouraged by heavy trials, within and without; her path, in many\ninstances, was rough; she was often in many waters; the floods at times\nlifted up their waves; but here she learned the vanity of all things\nbelow the stars, the emptiness of the creature, her own weakness,\nunbelief, and rebellion, these were matters of humility to her; but in\nthis _right_ though _rough_ way, she also learnt the faithfulness, power,\nwisdom, and goodness of God--the value of a throne of grace to carry her\nburden to, and empty her ashes at the foot of the altar.  Her mind was\nseldom long from the general infirmity of the Lord's people, I mean the\nfear of death; she often gloomily anticipated the last act, the struggle\nof body and soul at parting her weak nerves, lowness, and dejection.\nSatan also, taking the advantage, was frequently the cause of great\ndistress in the prospect; yet her dear Lord, in due time, delivered her\nfrom these fears; and that same grace which made her willing to be saved\nin God's way, made her also willing, yea, desirous of departing, to be\nwith Christ.  How true is the language of our poet,\n\n       \"Who can take Death's portrait true?--Fear shakes the\n    Pencil--Fancy loves excess--Dark ignorance is lavish of\n    Her shades--and these the formidable picture draws:\n    Man forms a death that nature never made;\n    Then on the point of his own fancy falls,\n    And feels a thousand deaths, in fearing one.\"\n\nNone, indeed, return from the grave to tell us what it is; but it is well\nknown, that most of those who have been much troubled in mind all their\ndays, have had the most serene moments at last.  That God, who has\ndelivered in six troubles, has always been found faithful in the seventh,\n_the last_.--Descending into the waters of Jordan, the deep has never\nswallowed them up: they have found the rock of ages for their feet to\nstand upon, at the bottom of the brook.\n\nI remember, after a season of long and painful affliction our dear friend\nwas enabled to come up to chapel.  I was totally ignorant of her coming:\nbut previous to this, I could find no portion of scripture to speak on\nbut _this_: \"And came to deliver them who, all their life-time, were\nsubject to bondage, through fear of death.\"  This was the last sermon she\never heard: and the truths contained in it, she sweetly felt.  Her\ndireful complaint increased.  Her sufferings were very great indeed.  And\nas all other persons in like sorrows, so she ebbed and flowed in mind;\nbut her God was with her in her final hour.--\n\n                  \"Her final hour brought glory to her God.\"\n\nIn point of gospel principles, she was always at a point: but at times\nsorely troubled about an interest in Christ, by reason of the cloud that\ncometh betwixt.  But every fresh smile from the Saviour, every sweet word\ndropped into her mind.  Frequently reading the word and precious hymns,\nthe visits of God's dear people and humble prayer relieved her again.\n\nThe last visit I paid her, I perceived she was near home.  Not being able\nto speak for a time, I feared she would speak no more: but after waiting\na little while, (as a proof of what her mind was fixed upon) she\nexclaimed, with peculiar solemnity, \"By thine agony and bloody sweat, by\nthy cross and passion, by thy precious death and burial, by thy glorious\nresurrection and ascension, good Lord deliver me!\"  Here, on this rock\nher faith was built in life, and firm in death.  A friend asked her if\nshe was happy.  After pausing, she said, \"Happy, happy!  I know that\nChrist died for sinners, and it is _there_ I am fixed.\"  She requested\nthe twelfth chapter of Isaiah to be read to her.  While reading, she\nsaid, \"How precious!\" and begged to hear it again.  At the last verse,\n\"Cry out and shout thou inhabitant of Zion,\" she said, \"Do so, do so; for\n_our_ God is a great God.\"  Soon after this, she repeated, in a very\npeculiar manner, the whole of Mr. Hart's hymn:\n\n         \"Christ is the friend of sinners, be that forgotten never.\"\n\nOn this she commented as she went on, in a most striking manner.  One\nthing she observed: \"Oh, it is easy to say we are sinners, but hard to\nfeel it.  Yes it is the righteousness of Christ that I must appear in\nbefore God--nothing but the work of a precious Christ wherein I can stand\njustified before God, and whether I sink or swim I am fixed there.\"  She\nthen wished to hear the eighth chapter of Acts; and coming to the fifth\nverse, she seemed delighted.  \"Philip went down to Samaria, and preached\nChrist unto them.\"  \"He did not tell them some great nobleman was coming\nto bestow great riches upon them; but he went simply to preach Christ to\npoor sinners.\"  She then repeated the sweet verses: \"Not all the blood of\nbeasts, &c.\"  She begged the prayers of the Church when they met; and\noften asked if she had been remembered by them.  To those around her, she\nsaid, \"Oh, do beg of the Lord to cut the thread, for I long to be with\nhim.\"  Then she said:\n\n    \"The holy triumphs of my soul,\n       Shall death itself out-brave;\n    Leave dull mortality behind,\n       And fly beyond the grave.\"\n\nOne of her dear daughters telling her, she would _soon_ be with her dear\nJesus, she said, \"do you think I shall, you have told me so so many\ntimes--Oh, why is he so long coming.\"  Soon after, finding herself very\nlow, nature sinking, and feeling she was going, she said to her daughter:\n\"Are yon alone? call up the rest of the family:\" and while standing\naround her, they witnessed her struggle.  But recovering, she burst into\ntears.  \"Come back again! dear Lord!  I thought that I was going! how\nlong, Lord.\"  She requested a gentleman to fetch a doctor, merely to let\nher know, by her pulse, the pleasing news, that she was near her end.  On\nbeing informed she was near, she was more composed.  At one time, she\nexclaimed: \"As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my\nsoul after thee, O, God.--I want to drink at the fountain.\"  Lifting up\nher hands, as if filled with increased joy, she said; \"Too much, dear\nLord--dear Jesus, I want to embrace thee, as thou dost embrace me.\"  She\nbegged they would lift her poor suffering arm out of bed, that she might\nembrace her dear Jesus.  Some sweet verses were spoken to her, on the\nsoul's entrance into glory.  She said: \"Jesus said unto the woman, 'Go,\nand sin no more.'\"  \"Now,\" said she, \"is the time for that; those words\nused once to distress me; but Christ the Heavenly Lamb takes all our sins\naway--that is where I rest.\"  One of her daughters said, \"Upon the rock\nstill, mother?\"  She answered: \"None but Jesus!--look up to the Lord for\nme.--Why are his chariot wheels so long in coming?\"  Just before her\ndeparture, she said to her husband, waving her hand: \"All is well.\"  Mr.\nKing and Mr. Borrows coming into the room--one of them observed, that\nthough she had lost her sight, what a mercy that the light and holy fire\nin the tabernacle, should never go out--nor never be put out.  On hearing\nthese words, she waved her hand; and presently, without a sigh, she\nbreathed her last.\n\nAnd blessed are the dead which thus die in the Lord: all the Lord's\npeople die safe--all die in faith.  They all die in peace and friendship\nwith God and conscience.  But this is meeting death, and finishing the\nwarfare in militant glory.  May the dear family, who were kind,\naffectionate, and perpetually attentive to her, experience the like grace\nin death--sweetly sleep in Jesus; and whatever may be their fears in\nlife--Oh, that their end may be blessed.\n\n    \"Shudder not to pass the stream,\n    Rest with all thy care on him;\n    Him whose dying love and power,\n    Still'd its tossing, hush'd its roar.\n    Safe is the expanding wave,\n    Gentle as a summer's eve;\n    Not an object of his care\n    Ever suffered shipwreck there.\"\n\nAnd while we thus record the riches of sovereign grace, as experienced in\nlife and death, by our dear departed friend, we must not, we cannot,\nforget the memory of departed worth.  Again, another friend in the Lord,\na lover of his truth, a respectable member of the church, Mrs. WALTON,\nwho sat just before Mrs. TURNER, in the chapel; a debtor to grace indeed;\nshe was the daughter of a most respectable and pious deacon of a church,\nwho was much esteemed for his piety and usefulness--beloved of his God,\nand by those who knew him--and after a life of usefulness in the church,\nwas suddenly called home to a grace-provided glory.  While at chapel, he\nhad joined in singing the hymn before the sermon; the minister gave out\nhis text--\"Oh come taste and see that the Lord is gracious; blessed is\nthe man that trusteth in him,\"--when he was seized with death, and\nshortly after expired; to the grief of his family, the church, and the\nneighbourhood.  Our departed friend was of course religiously educated,\nwhich is no small mercy impressed by grace; at a very early period of her\nlife, the Lord led her to see her own state, as a sinner before God, and\ngradually drew her mind into a spiritual acquaintance with divine\ntruth--led her soul to the glorious person, and finished work of Christ,\nas her refuge, surety, atonement, righteousness, and advocate--here she\noften found rest and peace--these important truths were the very delight\nof her soul, when she thought, read, conversed, or heard of them--she\nloved the truth, as it is in Jesus, nor would she attend any place of\nworship where she thought the Minister was shy of any precious doctrine\nof the gospel--she was decided, though far from being disputatious; and\nas grace made her so, the Lord fulfilled his promise in her soul's\nexperience--\"Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will\nkeep thee in the hour of temptation, and if any man love me, and keep my\nwords, I also will love him\" (manifestatively); but like almost all the\nfamily of God, she often experienced much lowness, dejection, fear,\nunbelief, and doubtings; sweetly revived again, the graces of the holy\nspirit gained the victory over these sad corruptions of the human heart.\nSinking and rising, rising and sinking in mind, was her experience till\nvictorious grace gained the conquest in death.  For\n\n    \"To patient faith the prize is sure,\n    And all, who to the end endure\n    The cross, shall wear the crown.\"\n\nHer attendance upon the word was _early_, _constant_, and _uniform_--as a\nwife, a relation, a neighbour, and a friend, few could equal\nher--diffident, humble, and serious, loving, kind, peaceable, and\nbenevolent, none perhaps exceeded her; and this she was by the power of\nelecting grace.  How great her gain, how deep the loss of all who were\nrelated to her in her respectable family, and in the church of God;\npossessing a spiritual knowledge of Christ, precious faith in him, a hope\nthat maketh not ashamed, founded alone on the person, blood, and\nrighteousness of the Son of God, love to his person, to his truth, his\npeople, his ministers, his ways, and works, evidenced her eternal\nelection of God, her complete redemption from the ruins of the fall, and\nthat the work of grace was genuine on heart, carried by the arms of\ndivine power and faithfulness.  She persevered, _because carried_ to the\nend of her days; this is indeed the privilege of all the Lord's people.\nFor in his love, and in his pity, he saved them, bare them, and carried\nthem all their days; nor can there be any final perseverance of the\nsaints, but as they are carried--\n\n    \"But he that hath loved them, bears them through,\n    And makes them more than conquerors too.\n\n                                                              Hallelujah.\"\n\nHowever dear the Lord's people may be to their families, or to the church\non earth; as sinners, all must bow to the awful sentence of \"dust thou\nart, and to dust thou must return.\"--Even\n\n    \"An angel's arm can't snatch me from the grave;\n    Legions of Angels can't confine me there.\"\n\nAn old divine of the last century remarks that \"mankind are like sheep\ngrazing upon a common--death is the butcher appointed to take away first\none and then another.\"  Surely then we may ask who next shall be summoned\naway, my merciful God is it I?\n\nWhat a mercy for the people of God they cannot die unprepared--none\nunfit; the grace that provided the kingdom has provided a fitness for it,\nin the person and work of the dear Redeemer, and in the effectual\noperations of the holy-making God the Divine Spirit; and without this\nholiness no man shall see the Lord--without this holy change of _state_,\nof _principle_, and of _pursuit_, none can enjoy either the liberty of\nthe Gospel now, or the glory beyond the grave; and however the wicked may\nbe _driven_ away in his wickedness, the righteous hath hope in his death,\n\"for thou shalt come to thy grave in full age, like a shock of corn, that\ncometh in his season, fully ripened for the heavenly garner.\"  Such was\nour dear departed friend--deeply afflicted in body, such as baffled all\nhuman skill; she gradually descended to the grave, sweetly supported,\nkept up by mighty grace, and consoled by the word of truth.  She beheld\nher pious and affectionate family around her.  On one occasion she had\nbeen remarkably low in thinking of death, when the Lord kindly, but very\npowerfully whispered to her heart, \"blessed are the dead which die in the\nLord, even so saith the Spirit.\"  This sweet sentence being clothed with\nsuch energy delivered her mind from all fears of death.  Often did she\nexclaim \"oh! why is the Lord so long in coming? come, come Lord, I long\nto be at home;\" and although her sufferings were great, her faculties\nwere kept amazingly strong, so much as to enable her to repeat the whole\nof her favorite hymn she had often heard sung at the chapel, on\npreparation to meat God, ending with--\n\n    \"And if pale death to me appears,\n    Creating new alarming fears,\n    My last appeal to Calvary's blood,\n    And I'm prepar'd to meet my God.\"\n\nOne of her affectionate family read to her the 40th _Isaiah_, and sweetly\ncommented upon it, which she very much enjoyed.  Her desire to depart and\nbe with Christ seemed to increase, and her affliction continuing still,\nshe hastened quickly to meet the last enemy of her nature, though the\ncovenant friend of her soul; prayerful, sincerely, solemnly, and\ncomposedly she breathed her soul into the hands of her redeeming Lord;\nshe slept in peace--she fell asleep in Jesus, and experienced all that is\ncontained, in the precious declaration, \"blessed are the dead which die\nin the Lord.\"--Her sun sweetly set to rise in another horizon, where it\nwill never be clouded--never set again--never, no never go down: but\nthere the Lord is her everlasting light--her God--her glory; and the days\nof her mourning are for ever over.\n\n    \"Forbear the righteous to deplore,\n    They enter into rest;\n    Released from care, and sin, and woe,\n    To everlasting bliss they go,\n    And learn what they might doubt below,\n    To die is to be blest.\"\n\n\n\n\nHYMN.\n\n\n    Saints, who mourn the slumbering dead,\n    Look to your incarnate head!\n    See him mounting from the tomb,\n    Death and hell await their doom.--_Hallelujah_.\n\n    Now, on glitt'ring thrones above,\n    Seraphs chaunt redeeming love;\n    Ransom'd saints the concert join,\n    Echoing the hymn divine.--_Hallelujah_.\n\n    Borne on clouds of azure light,\n    Angels wing their rapid flight,\n    And around the bursting grave,\n    Welcome him, who-died to save.--_Hallelujah_.\n\n    Come ye rescu'd, sing his praise,\n    Jesus loves to hear your lays;\n    He who conquered hell and death,\n    Hears the humblest sinner's breath.--_Hallelujah_.\n\n    Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!\n    Triune God! of saints the boast;\n    Let us soon amid the throng,\n    Join the chorus in their song.--_Hallelujah_.\n\n                                                                J. C. jun.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n  [Picture: Graphic of hand with finger pointing right] Shortly will be\n  published, CHOICE SAYINGS OF DYING SAINTS, selected from some of the\n  best Authors.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n       R. Weston, Printer, Queen's Gardens, Crosby Row, Southwark.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES.\n\n\n{4}  Ezekiel 24.","title":"Consolation in Life and Death, Derived from the Life of Christ: Being the substance of a sermon on the death of Mrs. Turner, preached at the Surrey Tabernacle, on Sunday evening, the 15th of August, 1824","tradition":"philosophy-ethics","translated_text":null,"word_count":7991}