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Additional comments;/ Commentaires supplementaires: This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est filme au taux de reduction indique -i-desso;.;. 10X 14X 18X L'Institut a microfilm^ le R-"t a K„„,„,. ;„.,,-•• 'o have boon „„ ;-«rroc,i„„„,„,„„ J^ '';^' J «e..l.er i» , „,, tl'o third ,l„v. ,v„j „,,„, "•;■ ;■■ "" ■■osurroction on «e'fl.«».so,.si.,n «.i.,, ;^ , "" «"' '" '■^■"ark tl.o caln, ''<'f"'e liin, „f I,,,,,,;,,' '"' """"pates wlm, „«» ■»»-'<"■' contra,." :';„;•"" -"^"^^ an,. t,.e eternal covenant, and ,,0' ."" '""'""'« «■• often evinced b; h ,„ '7 "^ """ "epWation '"e-^ is a thirj cla , T^ ' '"■'"'"^^' ^ga'". "•"■^.s Of „„r eon e , r«"^-«»<' '0 tl„;„.; foretell, the future onn'^L'" ""','"" "■" ^''*'»- the disciple, .he„„elve ;"•""""''"'"'' ""'o-S louchins in his lan^a"e ... something most ^o'"'- We see in "l^*' „ ir""".'"" "''"' Peter and at once the dignity of the "^ "'"' ""'^^ "Po^les --"»...' familiarity of ul ;r'r T" "'" »«"*- '■aWt of Jesus to i, dnL ! T " ''""^ "»' 'he «ently chides the '.l^^t P t """'"'''' """"e "ere in the closing"!™ „t t^' ;"" '«" "PP*"" '» elmraeter shall I °» „ es„''- ^"'P^' """"'ve, "■-eh on his friendship with w, 7"^- """'"""" '"" so his question as to tL fit,. rT ""'''«'•■ ^^ Joi.". i. onl, auswe Tlf '"' ^»"»- ^Postle Panied with the sug^esL" T *'™"' "O'om- s«g,est.on to mmd his present duty. vo lifted country. '^0011 no is it his 'tion on l»e calm '«t was Hfl the posuio »g an tiation ^gain, is the tviour mong most and sties nde- the Ihe Jars ive, too i-nd itle m- ^'Follow thou nie." Nor is it uninteresting to mark the evidence of the good man's disposition to acquiesce. Jesus had already said, Follow me ; and observe, It is said that, turning about, Peter saw that other dis- ciple coming after him — a proof, this, that Peter was already on the way. The word.« Follow me, have with reason been interpreted, in the light of anothei' passage, as meaning. Follow me in suffering : make lip your mind to fellowship with me in the cro.ss, for it is recorded in chapter thirteenth that when Simon Peter asked of Jesus, Whither goest thou, his divine master rei)lied, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now ; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. The ^"ords, " thou shalt stretch forth thy hands " aptly apply to crucifixion, and it is the very uniform tradition of the early church that Peter died this manner of death at Home, crucified on the same day on which Paul was beheaded — that is, about the year sixty-eight, or the last year of the Emporor Nero. It is, moreover, the tradition that the holy man was crucified with his head downwards, himself . requesting it should be so : An admirable humility ; for it was not that he shunned conformity to his Lord, as not glorying in his cross ; but that, feeling himself , unworthy of the honor of a literal fellowship with him, he would invite a lower shame for his sake. There are who doubt the fact even of Peter ever having been at Eome at all, and so do not receive If 8 *his tradition • hnt f».« • --derstood to denote le^ Z T^ "*" '"^^ ^ """d the original wordXvr^'T'' "^ "»'»»«> ^■•« accuracy, be Jd^^'^ "^' "«" " "ay, with W«rds in lescrib- ch the epara- at no *eter's 'gthe oint : com- sions ) for ions our it. lot '.ed ay 9 observe, is assumed rather than expressed, but only the more solemnly impressive. And death is not referred to in the abstract, but in its end or design ; it is not said, " signifying what death he should die, but by what, or what kind of, death he should glorify God." Let us meditate on these truths, looking for the divine blessing. The certainty of death for all is here assumed : alas ! a fact familiar tr s, and as to which our only danger is our allowing oar familiarity with it to abate our sense of its importance. It should aft'ect us that a thing so Strange in its nature should now be reckoned our natural lot : that none can escape it ; that all must make up their mind to it, the good, the bad ; the sainted apostle ! Is it, then, right to call death as some call it, the debt of nature ? No ! reason revolts at the thought. Who that reflects at all on what is observed on every side, of vanity, vexation, grief, but feels and is ready to say. Surely this world is not as it came from the creator's forming hand. Surely a good God cannot take delight in the misery of his creatures. Whence this universal sighing? Whence are all the ties that bind us to one another in this state of existence liable to be so rudely broken ? Hoav is it that man sickens and fades away, more evanescent than the very herb or flower of the field ? more,— for, as an ancient Scripture puts it, the herb or tree that fades 10 eartli, he has disapnearpd 4 7 1 ™''*'* »" conditions is thoZS t^lTV'T """""'"« w„ w.e„deJlS^;;— -;;^;'^^^^^ ravages of sickness and tho * '^^'' *^'® <-oeswhat.as:::;ra'^'ir;ordirr""' ■evoking; and affection itself sarV """' oat of mv siffht tt,:. • ^ ' ■^"y ™y dead "olato:^ 'of fl,^:;;;' -'->. " '« something on the cause mZ' ^I'ZT vJ ^""•"^"""^ «.« language of the aple'pan,!^^^^™ '^ ~es dea.h as a n.ona.h o. t^Z, Z^ t^-t so inexoSro^TSr """"■='' »^ innumeraWe are thv ..,K .' ^ '°'™'''' ""Ow the rigour onl^sXr^nLT ^ "'"*"'»«"^ of Adam have been thlv f r""™' ""^ '»'" •■ave themles ben raine 't wt "' T" iH of water is man dieth, is visible on »at humblinff d, the fairest y under the dissolution, ill. become y my dead 5 something peculations opher must the Bible ange. Sin pressive is 5.)! He ' resistless IS reigned onarch or rors, how irelenting • the sons »ee; they >f others ver lines ive been p wlilkest domaio ; 11 and from thy dominion no age, no sex, no condition is free. Thou draggest the infant from the mother's breast, the mother from her helpless children. Thou comest unbidden to the banquet, and summonest princes from their revelry ; thou sendest thy pale messengers and surprisest the senator amidst his devices, the philosopher, the theologian ; the humble artificer, also, while plying his industrious craft. Thou waitest not for unfinished schemes, or new- bought acquisitions. Thou delightest, as it seems, to reverse human purposes, to turn the day of joy into mourning : thou destroyest the hope of man ! Has not the bridal chamber been darkened with the funereal pall ? has not the goodly mansion, as soon as built and garnished, yielded its intending occupant to the claim of the narrow house ? What thousands have paid this ghastly king tribute on the battle field, and on the deep sea ! What swarms of busy cities have been gathered into his dark repositories ; and still the grave saith not, It is enough ! Yes : there is no other explanation. Sin has entered and death has reigned. The sceptic may wrangle, the mocker may blaspheme : but the doctrine of the fall is written on all the pillars of the globe, and attested by every thing within us and around us. Hence the withering blight which has gone forth on the constitution of man ! hence creation groans ! hence every feeling of uneasin^^; every sigh of weakness ; every token of mortality ! 12 Now, in the light of the ascertained cause, revela- tion also instructs us as to the end, or purpose, of death. It is true, God delights not in the misery of his creatures. When the freethinker says, a good God cannot so delight, we grant it to him. The thing which so appals us redounds in some way to God's glory. The language of our text suggests the ques- tion, how by death God is glorified ? and we shall answer this by looking at death under three various aspects : (1) Death, as it is the universal law the doom of a sinful race : (2) Death, as it has been submitted to by Christ, the surety: (3) As it still, though powerless, forever remains the lot of the saint' We love to preach Christ -and the second of these considerations is necessary to our full illustration of the third. I. Death as the penalty of sin glorifies-need I say?_the retributive justice and holiness of the creator and divine Lawgiver. The word had gone forth. Dying thou shalt die ; and the offence once committed, the commandment violated, the curse must needs come, even judgment on all men to con- demnation. But though the immediate effect, this IS not, blessed be God, the only, or the chief end The mspned writer to the Romans (chap. 5) suggests another end, both of the offence and of the judgment The law entered that the offence might abound ; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound in I T^^W. 13 The reasoning of the apostle implies, that divine wisdom hP8 taken occasion, by man's sin and ruin, to manifest the riches of divine mercy ; or, sin has been over-ruled, and death as following in its train, as a foil to set off in surpassing lustre, the great redemption, and the benefits accruing to the objects of redeeming love from the doing and dying of the Son of God. II. Let us view God as glorified, in the death of his Son. We have affirmed that death is not the debt of nature, however it is now the law, the neces- sity of fallen nature. We equally affirm that to true christians it is no longer the debt of sin, as its expiation I mean ; albeit the body even of the '^aint dies, in some sense, because of sin. If we but con- sider the reference of the Saviour's death to the law of God, and, I may add, to the love of God, we shall see the evidence of both these affirmations. It is Christ who has paid the debt ot sin. How, but as magnifying the righteous law, and as vindi- cating the divine holiness, can we account for the death of the Just one ; and more than the death of the body, that agony of his human spirit endured by him in the garden and on the cross ? Let the free thinker look here. Look here, you who say, when either the disorders of earth, or the threatened tor- ments of hell, are the question : it cannot be that a good and great God can take pleasure in the sorrows 14 of poor imi«rfect creatures. We -rant it n .' explain, then, this mystery-a far Lt f Hrr:r^r'~-»STe:::tr He suffered at the l.and „f P T " "" "■^'"^''^ ^ ^^ not oniyperjitir :^!; ;r:; fc"""-'' ::to;ien^.%^°-"-"^^-~^^^^ m to grief . Himself put the cup i„to tlie hand of the innocent sufferer. Was it that 1,„V i , in the suffering of Ms be^^Vs '" Z)'^': that he loved him less • <,l,nn ^' ^ ""' >oved „. more ? VZ ^^n7,T'\ """' """ "^ tion more-loved-and r; , '■'" "" ''^""f- gloryof the lawgive?!! «" "" '°"''-""' ness more Z7 ' ''*""'' "*■ '■ig'"eous- -»..:, ^rrhre.:::^;'?;:* soul troubled : Father save m« f . ""^ Hear him o^^ T "^® ^^°^ t^^s hour!" i^iear him add^oh wondrous words I-« but for ,h- ety, or justice must." "He made him PWpW(9»\©S%« 15 to be sin, for us, him who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Hence, while we have said that death is not the debt of nature, we show our reason for also saying death is not, in the ease of the saints, the debt of sin. It is not left to them to pay this debt, whatever relation their death has to sin as its original iirocuring cause. They are not called to glorify God, in satis- fying his justice, or redressing the wrong to his law. Justice is satisfied — the law honoured— yea, magni- fied already. Yes ; God has been glorified in the highest — for never was sin so seen in its demerit and turpitude as in the cross ; never the law so seen in its dread majesty ; but, alike, never as in the cross did divine love appear in its magnitude and intensity ; — passing knowledge "in its length and breadth, its depth and height."" And so sin and death are turned into ministers of good to ransomed men, as well as of glory to the divine Lawgiver, and the praise of abounding mercy. For, grace reigns unto eternal life, through righteous- ness : " Reigns" — whatever of resistless power we have found associated in the personification of death as a tyrant and enemy, is, to say the least, associated with this personification of grace. But the apostle says ** much more." If from the king of terrors there is no escape ; to the designs of grace there shall be no hindrance. Death reigns a usurper. Grace is now li iii 16 one ».an-j„atifiea«o„ for mj^' off """" ''^ "■" -amre, the saint gMfi'God h ^T "'^ "«'" "^ the debt of sin in w « ^^ '''*"'' ""'■ «« b^-ng God in dying? Ci^: ,vT " ' '"'' "™ '^ S'-^' -passively, as dm if t ""'"'"• ' ""'^'^ "'"o' 'ations wWch beil JT"" """ "" «'« tribu- "-pens his sen e T/dep^nler f '"^'^''' ;ion for divine strengthrngTe^rat;' "T" ness .-actively as if «flv. 7 i^eriected in his weak- Of every .^ee';;:; tSalT ""■ ""' ''^^^<=- ^•i^j..hepatieneea„d;:i;rr.b?:rr-'-p^- ilie question has indeed >.nm„,- '"oughts of devout a wel, r r ,""""" ""' why a christian should Z ^ 'P^^'ative minds, <'-«h at all, now tTat .t™ ''''^"'" '" "'^ '-- "f »v''«««-'«o:rri:re;:%^7''^-<'. —.-trirtir^"''^-^^^^^^^^^^^^ I ! »,'t'*»««?i!«»3W»W»s,,«^.^ „: 17 fficacy as well •pass ? the life s come by the ces: who can h in its value ? cJi is, on the —the gift of >f the saint, the debt of nor as being im to glorify ctively also : 1 the tribu- pilgrimage^ Mortis oeca- 1 his weak- le exercise and espe- Jrcised the ve minds, lie law of een paid, 3stroy the we might * he has enal ajid most formidable in it ; so that the Saviour says of him that believeth in Him, that he shall never die. Death unstinged is as no death. However, in a sense, the body indeed is " dead because of sin, while the spirit is life because of righteousness." But, then, what remains of death and of the humiliation of the gi-ave is but a step to the believer's exaltation,— a part of that process of change by which the sancti- fication of the heir of glory is perfected— a change affecting the soul in the first instance, but the body also, in purifying and refining it into a meet associate for a perfected spirit— a change by which it regains its pristine vigour and beauty, or more than its pris- tine, in a conformity to Christ's glorious body. It may belong to the necessary education of the soul itself, that through the felt oppressions of the clay tabernacle in which it groans being burdened, it shall receive indelible impressions of the power of that moral contagion of sin so long adhering to the flesh : while, like the remembrance of life's sorrows, this may enhance the enjoyment of heaven's purity as well as rest;— evoke more ardent admiration and louder praise of the patience that forbore, the power that upheld, the grace that, after they have suffered a while, and by that suffering, made the children of God perfect, strengthened, settled them. Yes ; God works in a mysterious way,— brings great results from seeming opposites. The corn of wheat must m "I I i; It; I' I IS .lie in tl,o ground, to vc.gctato and hoar f,.„i, He who a*, „hy should a cluhMan di„ at all . mi,,,,, a,k ns well, why .suffer at all ? „,, why ,-, ,.,, ,^,l'^,^2 t.on not porfeeted at oneo as is his jnstificat !„- why permitted to sin at all I or, as wolUsk ^ ^ h„ p.a.„ of salvation was himself peHected through suffenng? fo,dd he not have converted the world as by m,„.cle, by eoming down from the eross, wh n' the enemy blasphemously taunted him : ■■ „„' JZ hxed to the aceursed tree he remained, but not from any mcapae.ty to save himself apart from his own love and eovenant. He did a greater thing when n dymg, he overeame death ; and if he dumned not the grave, even as ho abhorred not the viZ's the mg of terrors m the very citadel of his kingdom raise .t up ; g,vmg earnest, thus, of his final triumph over the htst enemy, when the grave, obedient toT ahme Lw n 'i'" "" "" "^ ^''P'--' -1 death Shad be swallowed up in victory kingdom Tr ?°''' ^^y' ^^'"' '''»■"'* '■"•™t the kingdom of God : not that matter is inherently evil «n error mto which some early sects fell -but 1^^ once tamted by sin, and, in the case of man^ who ha" obtamed mercy, bearing the tmces of Its fo™Ir servitude to the wicked one. it may be needfuVZ i 19 ar fruit. He n ? miglit ask lis sanetificu- I'stification— ask, why tho ctecl tlirough I the world, > cross, when " Ho saved 10 not down : but not from oni his own tiling, when, he shunned the virgin's overcoming is kingdom, alfilled that days I will lal triumph client to his and death inherit the intly evil— —but that rwho have its former edful that. like tho house vitiated by the fretting leprosy, it be taken down, disorganized, dissolved — ere it shall bo fitted to bear tho image of tho heavenly. Finally ; not passively only, is God glorified by the death of tho saints : the text suggests by its language that actively the dying disciple is to glorify God : The words describe his duty as well as his destiny. And it is of vital importance to see the relation of a christian's work, whether in living or dying, to his well-being and peace. Our Saviour furnishes a solu- tion* of this matter. "Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit" (John 15). Let it be observed, all obedience is fruit ; life is presupposed — union to himself — the spiritual engrafting. It is not honour- ing God to account the christian's death — even mar- tyrdom — a meritorious expiation. So some have spoken of the baptism of blood effecting in the case of martyrs what the baptism of water and of the spirit may have effected for others. Away with such a thought ! ^' The exercise of the christian's grace in • For evidence tlmt some in tho earlier centuries ascribed to martyrdom Buch an efficacy (" lavacrum sanguinis") see Hermas' Pastor, or Tertullian ; ' Vitam vobis rsays Hermas, addressing tbe martyrs) donat Dominus-delicta cnim vcstra vos gravabant : et nisi passi cssetis hujus nominis causa, prop- ter pcccata ccrto vestra mortui eratis Deo." So Tertull. do resur., " Nemo «oim peregrinatus a corpore statim immoratur penes Dominum, nisi ex martyrii praerogativa rcilicet paradiso, nun infcris divcrsurus." The death of a martyr was supposed to efface sin, and to iutroduce the person immediately to paradise. Some think the error was founded on a misinterpretation of such scriptures as Mat. v. 10-12 ; Mark x. 39 ; Rev. vi. 9., &c.— and they observe an analogy in the idea with that of the ancient Greeks in assigning to heroes the first claim to the Elysium, or the isles of the blessed. ' Irl ' 20 or of wliiel, hi, „„,„„,. I ''""' "P"""". f""'» of ri«„ ,.t 'V"-'""' """ ™^» "'■ "» '1.0 "y Jo-ua a.^/' «:„ 'T,"^"''"^^"'''*'-' '"Go,l implied in our text- it i.'.i. T" '" " """"' '™™" "cribod, a work of fai„, i„ X^ '" " -"■* ?«>- that 1,0 acquit l.im.eif^,;^,^;''"^'' " """"'""' hi" nox':"„:tv'':„'::' r-""'^ "-^ - - do., ^e.o„dit.i,toro::riror"\rv^ part IS hero indicif/>,i o u , ^^^ higher -"in. 1.0 tat: : ?:r " '"^ '•"^'^"™'^ 't^So of the oarthly jou™!; 7" "! """^ P'-'o-^ I'is various graces ^01!^ ", ""'""•" "» ^'"oh not patience onlv an ff''™""'^ '■""' "'^'"Wted- -d':nd„:::-i::tctr"'r'" -«de„ee in tl,o expectation '„;;„" ,,7 7' ™ry valley „f death is still a LTl ^''° soldier of the cro^s mJ V "" "'""='' ^e but for his LoJ:' "r '■"'"'"■ ""- ""- ■"'»»«'f -.act.n:rh::r:r,:rt-rr''^'''"''' others, and commendato^of t e Go ' w?*"' '" It seems as if this were Pa „l P"' "' ^''™'- expressions so whutpre;r:::t/!:::Lt:';;: SI we live unto the Lord, whether we die we die unto the Lord." "To the Lord !" it is not safety alone he thinks of ; nor liis well being, though to die is gain : the true soldier of Jesus owns his Lord's i)roiniety in his latest acts or aspirations— for so the apostlo interprets his words again, as he thus describes his utmost M'ish, " that Christ may be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.' (Phil. i. i And what variety is to be seen in the modes of death, and seasons of death, affording correspouiliug varieties in the opportunity and means of (iod bein- glorified both actively and passively ! To Peter and John, as we have it in the record, different parts were assigned : to Peter, " to stretch forth his hands;" and he failed not, when his hour as a confessor came. John, no less a martyr in spirit, according to history scarcely less in act,— saved from a cruel death as by miracle,— was reserved to honour in exile the same testimony of Jesus. Who can doubt that the one end of glorifying God was in view of the supreme dis- ^loser as to both, though more specially expressed as to the one ? Ever present to his own mind, he Jesus recognises this end through every scene of his earthly course. When he spake of his own sufferings, this, as we have seen, was the thought that stilled to acquiescence his troubled spirit. This was his ex- planation of the sickness of Lazarus whom he loved : "lliis sickness is not unto death, but for the glory Ijl is •I; 11 I' III 22 .r l^oiyi xg Said I not unto tliee that if to t^ „ ''° "'"""•■"■"« ^'■■^">' ^ >«' «« ho aaid ot ■„„„.„ co„.o,.ni„« the man bom blind ; " It i, -H,vebe,a..„,.,ba.w:c:er:ft:2: W1..C],, w,th others, precedes tl.e beavenly rest I of pr„ve,b i„ the mouth of certain obset:err_ . uch a ch,ld or youth is too good to live long Like a ., se,.t,„.e„ta. aphorisms, this needs q„aUfica«™ 1 ied t 'T """"' " ""' "'" '°™<' "^-P'e Joh» Ood does now and again do a great work in a litH. n ' '"""■' *" 8'orifying his sover- -that those ^uhd^i^.r^rz the militant church in mid-time of theirdl^ r*er for heaven, in the ordinary sense 0^— S.OU, than many who have been le.» behind, Z^Z l*H 23 been full of years ere they have been gathered into the garner. Perfected, of course, each must have been at death ; but in all the symptoms of compara- tive ripeness that fell under others eyes, they may have been inferior to many of their survivors, whether in the fervour of devotion, or in the abundance of their good works. It is hard to say which is more honoured, he who is earlier released from labours, and received to his reward, or he who is trusted longer,— shall we say needed more ? at the post of difficulty and danger,— longer spared to represent the master's cause on earth— reserved, it may be, for a brighter crown in connection with harder toils. Is it not said, they who turn many to righteousness shall .shine as stars for ever and ever ? The sentiment of our context forbids any nice adjustment of this question: "What is that to thee ?" follow thou me. Grudge not his free and full salvation to the labourer of the one hour ; the labourer of many hours owes all to the same grace. Let the beauteous moral picture have our mede of admiration, when from the lips of the comparative suckling God perfects praise. But we account it not less beauteous when we behold the aged pilgrim holding on his way with unfaltering confidence in the God for whose salvation he has long waited ; enduring without a murmur the tribulations of the long and weary road ; more hum- ble, more gentle, more weaned from the world, more 'I i 24 loving to his associates in the heavenward iouraev Gnidge not. if the Shepherd, descending 1 h£ P^en, sees ,t meet to remove the tendef li^yto a more congenial cli,„e. But we shall not donbtihe wisdom or love that spares another, like the ceda^ thepmS pT '"" ''"ff^'-gof life's s?o™t the praise of God's grace .■ or, like the palm tree still J^e end:- " "P"*'*'^ " ""^ "' '=°»«''^»™ ^ Often has the glory of the natmal horizon under the lingering rays of a departing sun, suggested iMf to observers as a like moral radianc^ haTgildedT hom> of the saint's descent to the grave • mdM III faith and love of a long life have seeS gathered il' he chastened, but assured, accents of fhe puS latest utterance ; and, even when the voice has uCd lllT's^r T"" '"■"" ^^^''^ '' looked fS glory , and the dying one has seemed to say to loved 111 indXerfitaS.*!;j\^^^^^^ by the read;;:ifTe parents, both dying i„ a good oW Z «nd both „f ^ '"''"•°f'' °^ honoured ever, also, have been present t« his m'indwh„ni''''T' ^'^^ «'*»'«'8. ^ow- the saint. Never can he foreet th^ r^v'Z^*" descnb.ng the death bed of word and air of the one so Sf of a Mother *" ^t'* T^*''"^ ^"^^ «"«''« domestic virtue : nor ever for^eK^. t , " Israel, a pattern of every theotherjofanatu^alirhLhsSt th^."^^^^^^ *'' <*" *''"^ ^'"'« of the silence under s.nse"^ of rem'^aSered TrZ^L^.''''^'^1^'^ P''««'°''- on h.8 heavenly f«ther-the fittinTcTose otlTflTf -^^'T^ *'«» "-pHance m.nstry honoured by no fe" tokens of thiZlr"^"'" P''*^' *'"*"'* remmscence is the less irrellvant as it was^f W « *'"/'*^"''*'- ^his writer's regard for. his senior colleague in Knnl Pn °°« /'"'"ent in the fraternal, partly filial) that not .pM?)!. i °^ College ^a feeling partly ■ocks; b; 'his whole Vetnce^rJ'^inV^h'isTvSl' ^''''"' ''^'"-' dignity and courtesy, of his revered f^""*^' "^'^'^ manners, yet with 25 OBITUARY, OR MONUMENTAL, PART. The subject, you will perceive, has been chosen not without reference to the decease of one long known and revered among us, and to the value of whose services it affords me pleasure to bear my hearty testimony. Of Dr. Burns' many labours in this land of his adoption, I need the less speak, as I should have to repeat, probably, much that has been said by your pastor in the morning.* It may be more appropriate, that having had the opportunity of knowing the venerable departed longer than most about me here, and of observing his labours in what is called among us the old country, I should bear chiefly on these, not omitting his most recent services in our Theological college. My attention was drawn to our deceased friend in the comparative youth of my own ministry, and towards the mid-time of his, as one taking a very prominent part in the cause of evangelical religion, and watchfully guarding the rights and interests of the christian people, at a time when this required no small vigilance and resolution. Men may acquire, on very cheap terms, the repu- tation of friends of the evangelical interest, when the tide has come to turn in its favour ; but it is due to Dr. Burns to say that he stood againt the current when that ran in the contrary way. It is known that a blight had extensively come over churches in Scotland, England, and Ireland, half, or say, three * The pastor of the church in which the family of the deceased sat had conducted the morning service : an arrangement the more fitting, as the deceased himself liad latterly ministered on many occasions in the pulpit of the same church (Gould Street.) Indeed, during not a few months of the vacancy in that charge occasioned by the return to Scotland of the former minister, my reverend and learned friend, Professor Taylor, Dr. Burns had largely taken on himself the responsibility of the pastorate ; a generosity which the congregation, when again provided with a minister, honourably showed itself capable of appreciating. 26 quarters of a century affo- and in I h u ,. -. fuii exhibit of.JJ;:";'; " '''^"--^- 'a,her ,l,a„ ,he rule, a. ay 2 I 77 ""' "", "" ""'""'■'' i' came ,„ be i„ „„',„ JZZ^ T T '"" "WUy reassertion of the trno «,- • . . ^ of revival, and of church gover^lT tu 'r;!"""' ' '" "- "^'^ "■'"" ^iona, doc J.3 orTuX : : , vMaTTr' "°.'' "°°'^'- ^Phe.„, hi,i„„edia,e pas.o,a e r Pai ,17" *" '° *° r--adhec!tL:::ir,:z;r:ir': pamcal sphc«,, a.d amund, a far Tc ,• L """"'""^ evinced in relii,i„,„ „k„ °'™" """^ <" l« young and ^ ril HfT' r'^"- »^='P'«^ 'o .he a»..ey„ndhi,n.„rdr„;t rciTLrir'' reverend infonner) U.e example of 2 en 1 'nd, 7 sp.ri. provoked .„ a prai»c™.hye.„„la:i„r'' '"'"■° -rhrr;htTnr::::i:;\-:t.:r- member of church courts nn^ <• .u attitude, as a his pen a. w. I i. ' '''' ^"'^"'^^ community, by " pen as well as his voice pleading for the riaJ.» J I cannot but reearH ht^ u • ^ "S"'' ®°d regard h.m as having been, for no few years. iM 27 one of the bulwarks of Scottish evangelism and public mo- ralify. His mind naturally addicted to historic investigation, and his principles disposing him lo venerate the memory of our Scottish martyrs, we find him appropriately employed in editing the works of Wodrow, and by various contributions from his pen through influential organs of public opinion seeking to extend a knowledge, and revive the influence , ofthe early Scottish confessors. I recognise the same disposition in his care ofthe memory of one wno was more his own contemporary, the late Dr Stevenson McGiU, of Glasgow University, one whom f also shall ever venerate, having had the privilege for more than one season of waiting on his prelections as a Theological Professor; and whom Dr. Bums highly estimated as having given large impulse to the cause of ecclesiastical revival, in the West of Scotland especially. Nor was it in the ecclesiastical field only that the influence of the father we this day mourn was exerted and felt. I honour much and know well his labours in more than one department of philanthropy, beyond the range of direct pastoral work, though not alien from it. It was given to him beyond many to see the defects of the Scottish poor law, defects which were indeed recognised, so far, by assemblies after assemblies of the church ; the provision for the poor being acknowledged to be in a great measure illusory in numerous parishes of Scotland. But the real remedy was tardily applied. Our departed friend contended for the estab- lishing of a legal provision more adapted to the changed circumstances of Scotland, and for a very considerable modi- fication of what was tenaciously cherished by some as the 28 Scottish system, though perhaps rather to be called the m.V apphcation to an altered state of society of an ancient scheme, which Knox and our early ecclesiastics acquiesced in as a necessity of their times, rather than approved. The state has rightly, with the general consent of the Scot- tish mind, revolutionized its scheme of providing for the poor. No legislation in such an interest can meet every difficulty, and abuses must be watched against. But the principles of the new arrangement, I verily believe, are in far more harmony with a right jurisprudence, and with the laws of the Bible than what prevailed for a century before. Dr. Burns in press- ing his views on the public,-views which I cordially suppor- ted along with him,-had to oppose the specious pleadings of men of no small name, who setoff with much eloquence views honourable enough to their warmth of heart, but neither resting on a solid philosophy, nor sustained by legitimate reasonings from the word of God. It is too large a subject to discuss in a Pulpit discourse ; but the principle contended for by our departed friend is, mainly, that a direct responsibility hes on the body politic for the care of its destitute members, a responsibility which it may not wisely nor righteously de- volve on sectional churches, or ecclesiastical functionaries. These last, of course, have a duty, and a very sacred one, in- cumbent on them as concerns the oversight of the poor es- adm' t'h t f, '°" "'"'"^ "' *'^ church-though we cannot adm.t that the state may ignore the direct claim even of these as citizens. But a safe as well as a just policy requires that ZfTTu'^T"'^"'^' ''"'"'''' pauperism of a realm be not left to the hap-hazard inspection of officials whose TimI and opportunity for adequate attention to it is uncertain • nor IS It just to churches to assume-as was too long assumed , -their sufficiency to provide the means of alimenting a na- 29 tion's poor. Hence, in what is now called the old system, the admitted and oft lamented inefficiency of the Scottish provi- sion, necessitating, for eking it out, mendicancy with all its demoralizing effects; and, more serious still perhaps, the withdrawment from their proper spiritual vocation of reli- gious functionaries-an evi! this latter seen and regretted by none more than earnest opponents of the change which wnich became necessary ; though they strangely failed to see that the cause of the evil was inherent in the very princi- pie of th< system they were so eager to uphold. Of course I do not forget that, in upholding it, they counted on a larger provision of religious appliances: and, who can deny that these in good working will diminish the pauperism of a coun- try, by diffusing moral and industrious habits ?— but, besides all that is uncertain and contingent in the assumed har- monious action of sects; we may not assume that spiritual officials can be created at pleasure ; nor that the vicissitudes of a country may not involve even virtuous citizens in distress on a scale far outrunning optional efforts to meet the exigency • nor finally, that it is for the interests of religion itself that the in' vid.oustask of deciding on the poor citizen's claim for bread- even the claim of the irreligious citizen-should be left in the hands of the ministers and repreniatives of a gospel of charily and peace. ^ Besides the larger writings of Dr. Burns on this important question, a small synopsis of his argument, in a mere fly-leaf came some time ago into my hands-I may have seen h before, but had forgotten it-of which I said to him, that no abler piece of reasoning ever came from his pen.* • It is an amazing proof how far an amiable enthusiasm may overpower an able man^ logic, when such an argument as the foUowing co^ld S the mmd of Dr. Chalmers. In referring to our Lords words, ^ ^ve to ete 'j 80 On one other great question of philanthropy I have also pleasure ,n paying a just tribute to our departed fri nd" dt cernment as well as humanity H^ Uh a T I of slavery in Bri.;,hn *^« 'abound for the abolition I Slavery in British possessions and in America. He saw wb«. many were slow to see that ih.t r r "^^aw.wbat mere ab.m. nf .», / ^°"" °^ oPP'^ssion was no mere abuse of the domestic relation of m.^ter and servant, as not a few vainly argued, but involved a claim in it!! wrong, to an absolute and in effect irrp,! k, safpfnra«„ • ^° cHect irresponsible power, un- safe for any superior to wield, and incompatible, in the inferior' W.U1 inviolable rights of humanity and o'f consdence. my ~"^^ -^<^ ^-^^« from men of whom were told ;t ^'^ ^^P^^\ ^^"^ ^^-g-" and, not seldom, we were told that we were insisting on more than the Bible re- ^^^^^^^^ to the introducing o,^t;;raXreVo ' io^ T. "^ ''''^-- "religious wrong to extinguish that rnTZ ^''""^"'"-that it is a sort of the duty Of giving to depen^^ Su e ^0 eLT Tt^^'''' '"'''' ""'''« have seen that, besides that no system hL ''°'1"^'»* /^'"-"thropist might yea. on the highway, in cases oLuddeTn^ "" ''"""^ *° *'"""»"•«'» -*'''^. the theory he was sLpZatoZuLTlT/'^r-' °^^^"P«<>"«' -«ency' principle of the system not its' abuses w "f ? '" ^"^''"'•^' <'* » ^^e for Scotland, a J now' T sl^TiZlT^^SX'' "^ " ^^"^-^^'^ "asking " in some form, or application frreilef Th' „ .^T' r«"PP"'«<'« mode of askinff ; and surely humanity as well J ^ ^ ' "' *° *•*" ' tected by an anticipative provisir wSh 1 . '^''"''^' '« '^•="«^ P'"" charged with the duty of d^scr^ra'tir. h T '" """^ '««Ponsible agency promptly meeting as'c^t^i:™: X"^^^^^^^^^ ^'^^^^'^'^^ <*' sensibility of virtuous poor to th hoi 'of rudo "^ T*'"" '"P""''^ *»»« tion of soliciting aid of every naslr hf "^^'^^ '"Pilses, or the humilia- be at every turn'assailed X' t^e cTaS^^oTs ann T T"'"« '""^ ^^^ *" sturdy vagrant: yet Dr. ChaLers^„r»„T T ' °^ *'*" *'»"«>««« ""d to face mendicancy, ev n L t^ e.trem. fT " '"' ""' ^""^'^ '^'^^^ «°"«ty acjuiesce in alega^l' poor r^oVatm ^^srsT^r^-^^ ^''- (See vol. X. of Chalmer. Works, or v'ol. ii of histmical Economy.) have also iend's dis- B abolition saw, wbal on was no 1 servant, I in itself wer, un- B inferior' (. In my id of our of whom dom, we Bible re- "ask" for nd for the istical and preforence 8 a sort of lath made list might sh asking, urgency, (it is the proposed supposes as to the itter pro- e agency h also of sing the bumilia- giver to ess and i society ler than quired. We knew and felt it to be otherwise. We saw the puerility of the distinction attempted to be made between sla- very per se (as it was phrased) and slavery in its abuses. We saw that these abuses were not accidents of the system, bunts essence; and we denied that any exceptional dispen- sation of the Almighty, allowing to a certain people a ceHain interference with the natural liberties of others, any more au- thonses communities of men, without like warrant, to tamper at w.ll with the liberties of other men, than the precedent of the extermination of the Canaanites warrants to nations atam- penng with lives, or wanton invasion of territory. Providence, finally, -the event-has brought suffrages enow to our side> which would have been more gracefully tendered to the truth Itself. At bloody cost the prin ciples of natural and christian w^ow and fatherless. For. when it is reasoned that the f'qint mln.stra ont::/e?r;h"r"'''t''°"^ '""^'^ ^^^^'^^ him,makearomarab?e contrast with the absence of miracles wrought to feed the hungry-we shall "Zs ctiT^^ *''^* '"^" '" '''' <^«P"t--* °f bodily sickness Christ did not supersede the physician's part. His power was Hi hie ;" ?""' '"'"' -itl.,u.asen beyond the re'ach of S: heXglrt His object, of course, was to manifest his super-human power concWvelv^r P"^^^"! "^"'"^ntation, Dr. Burns never "reasoned more reTl Tf r •'. ^" P""'** '^^^' °^J«'=«°° to a poor rate, that a lo Inn/n fr°"c°"' '°'"'' 'resembling that of England than what reneficencr'" '" ' *""*' *" '^"* "" '^' '"'''''' "^ ?"'»*« He justly held, that, when the state has fi^t done its incumbent pwt, in 32 law have been vindicated. Thanks to God, it is now alike rue of American as of British territory. s.ave;y cannotlreath wo Tv i! ' "''" °' ''' ^^^'"''''°°' '-»« -t" 'hose who by their erroneous theories of interpretation, connected the cause of the blessed Gospel with an nsupati n and oppression to which its whole spirit is opposed. I o^rSu late myself, and, were our deceased friend'within 1:;:^^ of" o7r;::;:r '^'^ ^^-^'^^-'^^^^ ''-- ^^^ --^p' ^^ for the protoction "industry noZ'"'' ," ,"" *'' """^'^ «^»'« -"«"«» neons liberality, and ccclegia8tic»l fin7 T^ ' ' '"'^'^'^ual sponta- •nonting the rTlief. especia f ««''^. '« «"PP'e- thia supple^entar; part th^' ^.l; be x^ Z'to'do « ■■^•"" ""'= ''"^ when called to deal with a mnr^ !«„ ^ ^ ? . , ''^ "'^ *"<"■« cordially, the church or mdividua^^warcltlif "/'/'""* ^'"'" *"" "ff«''"K " national destituUoa f^^rniru " rZ^ri^, ^tf '^ ^'^ «" ^^ "^ "^ going persons, were expected-aided hv li "''''''• "°^ ''^"'«'' reluctant heritors to jfrrTr, , ^ '^ occasional help doled out by ing from the r^^^^^^^^ -lief, to theexemp- .bsence from ttrbbara^ .^ :i tT "'"^^"^-P-*^^''''^ ^y their their tastes, in other kSsrsTstemLt ""°""' '" ^^""'"^"on of chiefly ontLe middle andlow.rr?! "°'-'' ''•"' ^'i""^' ''»Po«'ng duty Which in rea^'otstuld rsh"rby\r^^^^^^^^^^^ ^J^^ P"«>"' in making that supplementary which should '^ « ^' ''"^"" *'^ "*""•« to say, making contingent on IdrL In ,,?"' ""'^^d'^"!) that is church collections of a portion of «'' " "'* ^''"^ ^'" °«f<'"°88 or impost as couldaone rearau imntti'rT'*^' *"'•• ''" authoriteUve « -ellas theobs rver of iLlrnS^r^^^^^ "' *^« «*"'«*'' i^tc-a ir^^r r^ -- -J: si 3a It only remains that I should refer to the services rendered by my venerable colleague to the Theological seminary. He 18 well known to have taken a deep interest in that institu- tion from its commencement. And, the direct professorial work which he performed has extended over a considerable number of years. I, was gratifying to me to know him to have expressed that one element in his satisfaction in accept- ing the appointment was, that he would be associated in labour with one, (meaning myself,) with whose theological sentiments he generally agreed. During his very latest years, though nominally on the honoured emert/ua list, he yet was liberal in his exertions, and constant in his solicitude for the good of Knox' College. When he prelected less, he conversed ac often or more. If we had his autumnal decay, we had also his autumnal ripeness, and the benefit of his large experience. His affectionate interest in studious youth secured to them at all times ready access to his counsels ; and I have no doubt his memory is affectionately cherished by students as well as by his colleagues. W e shall miss his well known form, and lliUrwf»K°l-''"'?!' ,^*"°P''««'°». ",at never had he found prompter com- S SouVBri Jn" '" ''!"*i' f '''"''' ''"''''''' "'"" *'>-. '" ^is visits to South Britain, he accosted the f.anlc and open hearted Englishmen v,ho rarely dreamed of alleging as an excuse for shutting hi. pocke agaZt an urgent appea to his charity, that he was already hdd lilblo by laTto do his part m relief of the general poor. faunZT^'^ ''"^"''"' "°'*"'^ ""' note to meet objections which maybe founded even on recent and present workings of the Scottish law Thl equiteble principle once recognised, we fear not for its resets under tL Suf " : -f .<>''-ks and guards as experience will" ggest to "^^ legislators. Already ,n England, many of the faults long charged on a system which pressed so disproportionately on the residents in certain SZ Slle'whil"" T "^^f""" "^ '""^ P"""P''^ «^ parochial unrn!:: nlin?„\ ? ""'y,'^««''«. ^^ suppose, to be extended to the whole national territory and family whether in England or Scotland -The ;s:. '''""'' •" ^^" '^^'-^' - '^^ ^-- of --ons of ei;cto.'; 34 W.1I «meml«.«d voice, within .ha „a|U where ho loved ,o Znl 7 "',°"'^°-"« ='""«». >" »- inL„ce of W w hal Like other men he had hi, imperfections ; but hi, ex cell.no,« «„od out prominent, commanding re." t aid .nwng eateem. Tho. who differed from him Tnd con »»• a certain ■mpulstveness of nature led now and again to unduly ha«y udgments on men and things : but at .he wors., .his had a redeemtng quality beside it; a more than usual frankness in owning a mistake. And I can .e,.ify .„ another kindred disposition being conspicuous, one of .he best .e..s of a superior mind, .hal, on ques.ion8 affec.ing .he public interests, he was ready lo receive Ugh, from wharever quarter; but especially on matters strictly profe«,ional, 1 have known few who wel- corned more cordially the unres.rained interchange of .hough. »i.h friend, or colleagues. I could submit ,o him a criticism and method on any of his spoken or written lucubrations lar more sure of paUen., and candid, consideration, than in dealmgw..hle»ermen. Fa.her-pa.riarch-I migh say,! of C.n«i.,. P,e,by.e,i.„ Church-res. in .hy bed ! we kL 35 who said, '« he is not dead but sleepcth :" Sleep on a while ; Ihou Mhalt stand in thy lot at the end of the days. Mourning relatives may find joy in the thought, that the fir.t morning that has shone on the lurf beneath which, the departed lies is that of the day of the Son of Man-of his rising in tri- umph from the grave, and shedding so blessed a light on its darkness. Death, take your part : king of terrors, do your worst. We know the limits of your power. It is not much you can do : it is not long. Each returning Sabbath assures us of the completion, in his people, of the triumph over the grave the Saviour has won in his own person. How consoling the thought- even they who shall never know death, being found alive at Christ's coming, but who shall, in a twinkling of an eye, be changed at the sounding of the last trumpet, even they shall not prevent them who are asleep ! '♦ The dead in Christ shall rise first ;" not sepa-ate, but together shall they ascend to meet their Lord, and enter with like joy on their common inheritance. GENERAL APPLICATION. Let God be glorified ! We have spoken of man, that is, of the grace of God which was with him ; and we would conclude as we began by speaking of Jesus. We would revert in one word to the direct lessons of the text ; desiring to leave on the mind the impression at once of what is consoling and what is admonitory in this passage of Holy writ. It instructs that every circumstance that can affect your future is in the hand of a heavenly friend who 36 foresees all and controls all : and, if it teaches us that even m dying we may not be selfishly concerned for safety alone, surely it implies that forthwith, and m all thmgs, we should aim at the one great end of promoting God's glory. And, especially, calling to your mind one leading idea, that all our acceptable obedience to God's will presupposes faith in the Saviour's finished work, we invite you by the con- sideration that He has glorified God in sinner's be- half, to take boldness humbly and penitently, but with steady affiance, to cast yourselves on Him How pleasing to know that our salvation on this wondrous plan derogates from no perfection of God ' that truth is at one with mercy, as revealed in his Son ; and that even as the Son hath glorified the Father, and the Spirit glorifieth the Son, so do we honour all the Godhead, when, renouncing false refu- ges, we avail ourselves of a provision in which all harmonise ; and, recognising our obligations to a grace so free and abounding, yield ourselves living sacrifices to God, in a willing performance of every duty, and patient endurance of appointed tribulations ! es us ernecl I, and tid of ig to table the con- ; be- but lim. this ^od! his the we 3fu- all ace ces md