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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
THE BLESSEDNESS OF DEPARTED SAINTS [Note: Intended for a Funeral Sermon.]
AS connected with the context, these words were intended to comfort and encourage those who should suffer martyrdom for the cause of Christ. The destruction of Antichrist is declared in the preceding verses. But as, in the meantime, the saints would be harassed with grievous persecutions, they are here taught to endure their trials with patience, in an assured expectation of a glorious recompence at the instant of their departure from the body. This will account for the very extraordinary way in which the most simple of all truths is here both announced and attested. The blessedness of departed saints, one would have thought, should not have needed to be promulgated in so solemn a way; especially when Christianity had been for a long period propagated, and, if I may so say, established throughout all the Roman Empire. But the circumstance of its being thus solemnly declared may well lead us to contemplate it with peculiar attention.
Let us, then, consider the blessedness of departed saints,
I. As announced from heaven to the Apostle John—
But who are they who are here pronounced blessed?
[Some imagine that martyrs alone were referred to: and it is certain that they were primarily in the mind of him who spake; because they are the persons to whom, more particularly, the preceding context belongs. But yet it cannot be said of all martyrs, that they are “blessed:” for we are assured on infallible authority, that persons may go, and probably have gone, from the flames of martyrdom to those more tremendous flames that never can be quenched. St. Paul says, we may even “give our bodies to be burned, and yet want that charity” which is indispensable to our final admission into heaven [Note: 1Co_1:3.]. We must extend our views to believers: yet even of believers it is not necessarily and universally true, that they are blessed: for we know, that there are some who “for awhile believe, but in time of temptation fall away [Note: Mat_8:13.].” In truth, it cannot be certainly said of any, whilst they are yet alive, that they shall be happy in the eternal world; because there is no human being of whom it can be infallibly declared, that he shall persevere unto the end. After the fall of David, and Solomon, and Peter, and Demas, who shall venture to say, that he may not, after all his profession, “make shipwreck of the faith?” It is of “the dead” only that it can be affirmed, that they shall certainly be saved: and of those only who “die in the Lord.” They must first be in Christ by a living faith; they must then “abide in him,” bringing forth fruit to his glory; and, lastly, they must “die in him,” humbly “hoping in him even to the end,” and being “faithful unto death.” Persons so living, and so dying, are truly blessed.]
And why is their blessedness so peculiarly proclaimed?
[It is announced, by an audible voice from heaven: and the Apostle is commanded to record it, for the benefit of all future generations. Whence was the necessity for such a manifestation of so plain a truth? Had it not been known in the Church as long as any written record of God’s mind and will had existed? True; it was known: but yet it was foreseen that it would be obscured by that corrupt Church that would in due time arise; and a special revelation of it therefore was given, in this extraordinary manner, for the comfort of God’s saints whom that Church would persecute; and for a warning to those who should give way to fear, and turn from the holy commandment committed to them. That persecuting Church would inculcate the doctrine of purgatory, in order to enrich her ministers: but those who should die in defence of the Gospel might rest assured that their felicity would be immediate and complete, as soon as ever they should have sealed their testimony with their blood; as would also he the misery of those who either inflicted those sufferings, or, through fear of suffering, renounced their holy profession. The faithful should “from henceforth,” from the very moment of their death, be happy; but the others, from the instant of their departure from the body, should “drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which should be poured out, without mixture, into the cup of his indignation.” The faithful universally, and the faithful exclusively, might apply to themselves this glorious truth. They should be “blessed;” but they alone: “the fearful and the unbelieving should altogether be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where they should immediately and to all eternity endure the second death [Note: Rev_21:8.].”]
Lest, after all, this declaration should not have its due weight on our minds, we are led to contemplate it,
II. As attested by the Spirit, to every child of man—
Were the Spirit’s testimony conveyed only in a way of simple asseveration, it would be amply sufficient to engage our fullest confidence: but it is given in such a way as to approve itself to the judgment of every considerate man: for, with the testimony, he makes known the grounds and sources of that very blessedness, to the certainty of which his testimony is borne.
1. They (the departed saints) “rest from their labours”—
[The trials of those who are called to suffer martyrdom are greater than we, who enjoy the protection of the civil magistrate, can imagine. I say again, We, of this happy land, have no idea of the horrors of the inquisition, or of the cruelties exercised by the Papal Church. Even in our own land, in former days, multitudes of the most holy men have been burnt alive for their fidelity to Christ. O! what a transition must those holy saints have experienced, from the flames of martyrdom to the bosom of their Lord! But, in truth, the labours of every saint are very great: it is an arduous course that they have to run; a distressing warfare to maintain. Hear the holy Apostle himself groaning under the burthen of his in-dwelling corruptions, and crying, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death [Note: Rom_7:24.]?” Those, indeed, who think but little of eternity, may pass through life without much care or conflict: but they who know the value of the soul, and consider that, by every act, word, and thought, they are treasuring up for themselves an ever—increasing weight, either of misery or of glory, to all eternity; they, I say, feel a burthen upon the mind, a fear of falling into sin, a desire to approve themselves to God, a longing to be dissolved, that they may be with Christ: and to them rest will be sweet, as to a weary traveller, or as the haven after a tempestuous voyage.]
2. “Their works do follow them”—
[Their works, however excellent, do not go before them to receive a recompence on the ground of merit; but they follow them as evidences of their integrity, and as proofs of their union with the Lord Jesus Christ. In this view, the very least work they ever performed for Christ, and by virtue derived from him, even “the giving of a cup of cold water to a disciple for his sake, shall in no wise lose its reward.” Every prayer that they ever offered, yea, the very groans by which their feelings found an indistinct utterance; and their tears, which from time to time were treasured up in God’s vial; shall then be brought forth by him as witnesses for them, and as demonstrations, that, in his final decisions, God conducts every thing with perfect equity. Indeed, if God were not to bring forward their works with a view to future retribution, he would account himself unjust: as St. Paul has said; “God is not unrighteous, that he should forget your works and labour of love which ye have shewed towards his name.” Though, as I have already said, our works can challenge nothing at his hand on the ground of merit, they may, and shall, challenge a reward of grace, and actually be the measure of our recompence at that day: for God will deal with every man according to his own works; and “every man shall receive according to his own labour.” How truly blessed then will be the man who “died in the Lord!” Perhaps, at times, he was ready to doubt whether he should find acceptance with God at all, or not: but now, to his unutterable joy, he hears his Saviour say to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Now, then, his utmost desires are all satisfied; and he is completely happy in the bosom of his God.]
Let me now conclude, with briefly adverting to the text—
1. In reference to the deceased—
[— — — — — — [Note: Here may be stated the character of the deceased.
The character of the person, on occasion of whose death this Sermon was preached, was as near to perfection as could well be expected in the present state of the Church. The Author, in the space of forty years, has seen few that he considers as equal to her, and never one that was superior. She was indeed “a Mother in Israel.” Her name was Jane Chapman. She was one of the first-fruits of the Author’s ministry: and during nearly forty years she maintained so undeviating a course of piety, as to be the admiration of all who knew her. Till about the age of fifty-three, she lived ignorant of God and of his Christ. Her mind was first awakened to a sense of her lost condition by reading Vivian’s Dialogues between a Minister and his Parishioners: and, from the moment that she sought for acceptance with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, her soul was filled with peace and joy in believing. Doubtless there were variations in her frames, as well as in those of others: but the general tenour of her life was remarkably peaceful; and she closed a most honourable career of piety, at the age of ninety-one. What the particular character of her religion was, shall now be stated in few words; but not so much for the purpose of doing honour to her, (though she is worthy to be held in the highest honour,) as for the benefit of those into whose hands this brief memorial may fall.
Her religion, then, was modest and unassuming: there was nothing of that obtrusive forwardness which is so common amongst the professors of our days, and so justly odious both to God and man. It was also fraught with humility and contrition. A deep sense of her utter unworthiness abode at all times upon her mind: yet there was nothing of gloom about her, nothing of melancholy; for her contrition was tempered with a lively faith, a faith that was remarkably simple. There was no leaning to any thing of her own; nor any doubting of the sufficiency that was in Christ. Her whole life was one act of faith: she “lived entirely by faith in the Son of God, as having loved her, and given himself for her.” At the same time it did not shew itself in a bold unhallowed confidence, but in a meek and humble affiance: and it was operative upon all her tempers, her spirit, her conduct, insomuch that it was really her “meat and her drink to do the will of God;” and so uniform was her deportment that she seemed to have been cast into the very mould of the Gospel, and to possess, as far as the frailty of our fallen nature would admit, “the very mind that was in Christ Jesus.” She was truly a light, not only in the world, but in the Church to which she belonged: and, whilst her graces were extremely diversified, and capable, like the rays of light, of bearing a distinct scrutiny, they were so blended (the sombre with the brilliant), and kept in such proportioned measure and simultaneous motion, as to display a brilliancy which it was impossible to behold and not admire. Her death was such as might be expected: truly it might be said of her, “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.” Her last words were, “Come, Lord Jesus! I long for thee. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly!”—May the latter end, both of him who writes this Memorial, and him who reads it, be like hers! Amen, and Amen!]]
2. In reference to those who are yet living—
[Inquire, I pray you, whether ye be “in Christ:” for, if ye be not in him, and abide not in him, it is in vain to hope that ye can “die in him” — — — It is in vain also to dream of blessedness in the eternal world. This is the privilege of those only who “live and die in the Lord” — — — O ye who are strangers to a life of faith in the Son of God, think what your feelings will be, when your works shall follow you to the bar of judgment! In what light will they then appear? What judgment will you then form of a life devoted to the concerns of time and sense? Will a neglect of God and of your eternal interests be thought so venial then, as you account it now? Will such a witness benefit you at the bar of judgment? Or will the prize that shall be accorded to the successful racer and the victorious warrior, be held forth to you? No; the “rest” which is here spoken of, is reserved only for the weary traveller, who has walked with God, and “held on his way even to the end.” Let this record then, which was written for your instruction, sink deep into your ears: and cease not to cry mightily to God for his converting grace, that you yourselves may be that character, for whose consolation it was so announced, and for whose encouragement it was so attested.]