SERMON XV.

Delivered at Southwark Chapel, on Sunday Evening, September 2, 1832
Occasioned by the Death of Adam Clarke, LL. D. F. S. A.
M. R. I. A. &c. &c.

BY THE REV. J. E. BEAUMONT.

'Jesus said, I am the resurrection. JOHN, xi. 25.'

"THE Voice said, Cry! And the prophet said, What shall I cry?' The voice said, 'Proclaim!' And the Prophet said, "What shall I proclaim-what now shall I announce ?' All flesh is grass-all flesh is grass! The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand forever.'

I heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Write.' 'I heard a voice from heaven '—and this voice relieves us under the pressure of the burden of the other communication- I heard a voice from heaven, saying, From henceforth blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Even so, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.' That is the last beatitude in the Bible the fifth chapter of Matthew has many beatitudes in it, but it has not all the beatitudes. The series of beatitudes that are in the fifth of Matthew have their growth and their development here; but the last beatitude that closes the Apocalypse, the revelation that was announced by a voice from heaven-that has its ripeness hereafter.

But here is, in the text, another voice-the voice of Jesus. let me hear this voice!

"Forever his dear sacred name

Oh,

Shall dwell upon my tongue;

And Jesus and salvation be

The theme of every song.'

'Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. Believest thou this?' said he unto Martha at the grave of Lazarus. Here, in passing, let me remark, how thankful we ought to be for the Gospel according to John. It was penned after the other Gospels, and answers a particular purpose. It seldom narrates the facts of evangelical history which had already been substantiated in the mouth of two or three previous witnesses; but it possesses incidents, full of value and encouragement, which had been overlooked by the former evangelists, or which, at any rate, they had formed no place for in their records. John, you know, was the beloved and the loving disciple and while the private friendship of Jesus had made but a slight impression on minds of a sterner order, it put an indelible stamp on his softer nature, and met with a faithful historian in his hands. The other evangelists proclaimed to the four winds of heaven the public doings and sayings and sufferings of their Lord. John, the beloved-John, whose heart was made of love, records the incidents that are of a more private, but not less instructive and encouraging character.

Such is the history of our Saviour's friendship with the family of Lazarus and Mary and Martha. The information was conveyed to Christ of the sickness of Lazarus. It was thought that he would have immediately sped unto the scene of affliction; but he tarried where he was for some time before he moved to the house of mourning. Upon his arrival, Lazarus was dead and buried. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died, But I know that, even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her '—himself bearing witness unto the truth- Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.'

I confess that my own feeble mind has been so stunned by the sore calamity that has come upon the church of God-by the indescribably-awful affliction that has overtaken us, as a section of that church, that it has been all but impossible for me to attempt to fasten my attention upon any subject whatever. At the request of Mr. Toase, iny superintendant, and at the request of the Leader's meeting of this circuit, I had yielded so far as to say that I would attempt, on this evening, God willing, some improvement of the bewildering, withering, overwhelmning visitation that has so sud

denly overtaken us all. It has been but some few desultory fragments of time, except the hours at the dead of the night, that I have been able to secure to myself for anything like a consideration of this matter; and aware that those who might visit this house this evening would visit it not to hear the sermon so much as to catch some notice of the history and the character of the much-honored, much-loved, eminently-lamented man of God, who has passed away from us, I have occupied the most of those moments that I have been able to keep for the purpose, in drawing up such a notice of him as my own knowledge and the universal testimony of mankind and the church of Christ had supplied concerning him. Therefore, what I am going to say on the text is merely introductory to that.

There are three things on which I propose to fasten your attention for a short time. I am sure that I need not say to you, that on this occasion, perhaps, more than on any preceding one in my public life, I need the sympathy and the prayers of the people whom I am addressing, God grant that by the sadness of the countenance the heart may be made better !'

I propose first to develope the ravages of death, as implied in the language of the text; secondly, to contemplate the resurrection of the pious dead, as promised in the text; and, thirdly, to show you the connexion between that magnificent event and the mediation of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.' May God assist us in this service!

First THE RAVAGES OF DEATH. These have of late been most afflictingly exhibited before us; but at present I propose to confine my attention to the death of ministers. Lazarus was a minister a minister to the Lord Jesus Christ; not a preacher, indeed-not an evangelist; but he was an eminent friend of the Redeemer, and therefore no unfit type of the man of God whose death

we mourn.

:

Ministers must die; we must change the pulpit for the grave we must put off this tabernacle, as our Lord and Master hath shown us-we must put away the sacerdotal garment for the shroud : our voices that fall upon your ears must be choked and suffocated in death the sanctuary, the pulpit, the place that now knows us, must know us no more.-Ministers have their afflictions. He that entereth on the work of the ministry, entereth into tribulation. Jesus said unto Peter' Feed my sheep'-' feed my lambs.' Then said he unto him, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself and walkedst whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not

The death of ministers is exceedingly monitory and instructive. It may be a chastisement upon themselves or upon the church. They may have been unfaithful in some matter-they may have grieved the Lord as Moses did; and the Lord may say to them, as he said to Moses, that he must die or as Aaron grieved the Lord; and Aaron died on the top of the mount; and Moses took the robes of Aaron and put them on his son.

The death of ministers may be a chastisement upon the church: either the church has made too much of them, or too little of them. It is not usual for the former to be the case-it is more usual for the latter. The church of Christ, I verily believe, is not guilty in the latter matter, as to the venerable man that is gone. The people of God for fifty years had invariably, transcendantly, unequivocally, universally honored and revered him and no vicissitude that has occurred within half a century, has lowered him in the estimation of the members of Christ. His sun is gone

down you are told that he was seventy-two years of age; and although three score years and ten, his sun has gone down while it was yet day; for his natural strength was not much diminished; his eye had much of its original fire; there was much energy locked up in the sinews of his arms; there was a mass of muscular vigor in his trunk; there was astonishing power about him, physical and mental, to the last morning of his earthly existence: and therefore, in some sort he was not worn out. Oh, no! and this makes his death so much the more affecting. But still we learn from this history, that the death of ministers, and even ministers in the very efflorescence of their vigor-in the height of their usefulness-on the very summit of their influence, is for the glory of God. Stephen died in the very height of his usefulness: the attention of the church of Christ was drawn much to Stephen; he was developing amazing powers for the furtherance of the cause of God; but suddenly he was cut off. John the Baptist died in the midst of his years-in the very centre, as it seemed, of his energies. Ah! what has not death done! What mighty energies has it not stifled! What bright intellects has it not, apparently to us, quenched! Oh, the mighty dead! But it is all for the glory of God-it is all for the glory of Christ. So when Jesus was told that Lazarus was dead, and found all weeping and lamentation on that account, he told them that it was for the glory of God.' Ministers die ; but Christ liveth: he liveth and reigneth forever; his immortality secureth the welfare of the church; his ascension to the right hand of the Majesty on high, is a pledge that his church shall flourish till the end of time. 'I am the resurrection.'

Secondly: Let me notice THE DELIGHTFUL DOCTRINE OF THE TEXT, CONCERNING THE RESURRECTION OF THE PIOUS DEAD.—