Transcribed from the 1838 John Heaton edition by David Price.
OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF
The Rev.
William Thistlethwaite, m.a.,
late incumbent of that church, and
published at the request of
the congregation,
BY THE REV. J. SLADE, M.A.
VICAR OF BOLTON.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOLTON:
PRINTED BY JOHN HEATON, DEANSGATE.
And Sold by all Booksellers.
Rom. xiv. 8.
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
The text refers to the foregoing verse: “None of us liveth unto himself; and no man dieth to himself.” We are very apt to feel and act, as if we were independent creatures. Perhaps if examined, as to our particular creed, we should readily confess ourselves to be placed under the sovereignty of the Almighty; and to be accountable, as Christians, at the bar of Him, who will “judge both quick and dead.” But few are daily conscious, as they ought to be, either of their dependence or their responsibility. Their creed is not in their heart; they live chiefly and practically under a system of self-government; grievously forgetting the dominion of the Lord who created and redeemed them. A proud spirit is, as it has been from the beginning, the bane of man: he fell through impatience of his Maker’s mild yoke, and an intolerance of his Maker’s superiority: and the poison, thus whispered into his ear by the evil one, still lurks within him; corrupting his feeling and principle, and rendering him greatly insensible to the divine superintendence and blessing.
p. 4This pride and selfishness however the gospel is designed to humble and correct; and it does produce the mighty change in the heart of every sincere believer; of all who feel its vital power, “the power of God unto salvation.” Of all such it must be said, in the utmost latitude, in the most unqualified sense, “none of us liveth unto himself.” There is no true disciple of the Lord Jesus, who makes earthly interest, gain or pleasure, ambition or lust, his ruling and absorbing object. Such is the character of the degenerate and lost world: there is no fitter description of a worldly man than this, that he lives to gratify his own humour, and carry out the schemes of his own wilfulness, and promote his own prosperity during his little career: earth is his sphere of action, and all centres in self. But every follower of Christ is called out of the world, effectually called and chosen and delivered: he has another mind, another spirit, another view. He cannot live for himself: it is not merely against his conviction, his sense of propriety, his professed and deliberate principle, it is against his new nature: he is born of God, with new affections, new desires, new purposes, new prospects; the Spirit of the living God dwells within him; cleanses him from all fleshly corruption; and brings his will, brings all that he is, and all that he has, into subjection to the Godhead. This is the character, the certain and essential and distinguishing character of all who belong to Christ: they live not, in any regard or in any matter, for themselves.
Nor do they die unto themselves. They die not, p. 5either like the beasts that perish, or for their own disposal and glory; not to make bodily or earthly provisions; not to give orders for their funeral; not to hand down their name and style to posterity upon a blazoned escutcheon; not to bequeath their riches to others: “after all these things do the Gentiles seek.” But a grand and glorious change has been made by the gospel: the true nature of death stands now unfolded in all its awful and stupendous reality: it is a passage to another state of being: the disembodied soul flies and lives elsewhere: not, as on earth, for a few short years, but for eternity. And what may be thought or said of me, whether by the present or by future generations, whether by friends or foes; what may become of my property, baubles or possessions; what may be done with my corpse, whether meanly or superbly coffined, whether laid without winding-sheet or clothed with purple and fine linen,—all these are matters of minor note, of comparative indifference. I shall have been living and dying for another, an eternal world; and the great consideration is, where and what that world shall be.
We are thus led, as by the Apostle’s own hand, to enter more immediately on the text. “Whether we live, we live unto the Lord.” It is the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath done these marvellous things for us; He has removed from us the burden of the wrath of God; He has rescued us from the bondage of corruption, and changed the curse into a blessing; He has given unto us the Spirit of holiness, and thus p. 6re-created in our new-born soul the image of the righteous God. He moreover has dispelled the clouds that rested on the tomb, and has “brought life and immortality to light by the gospel.” And O remember the mighty cost, the precious sacrifice, by which He purchased us unto Himself. The eternal Son of God stooped down from heaven to earth; the Word, which was in the beginning with God and was God, was made flesh; “humbled Himself and became obedient unto death;” “bore our sins in His own body on the tree:” died and rose again, rose as the first fruits of a sleeping world. Thus have we “passed from death to life,” from nature to grace, from ruin to a state of salvation. And no believer can deny, that he is bound, “whatsoever he does in word or deed, to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.”
Yet, brethren, it is not merely what we are bound to do or to be, as baptized into Christ and believing in His name; it is what we are, actually are, as partakers of His gospel, and cleansed by His blood. St. Paul says, “we live unto the Lord;” we do so live as a matter of course and necessity: our life is altogether devoted to Him: such is the very meaning and essence of our Christian fellowship. Being His real property, “not our own, but bought with a price,” we place ourselves at His disposal: “our meat is to do the will of Him that sent us.” This is our decided character, by which we desire to be known; known of God and known of all men. “The life which we now live in the flesh we live p. 7by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us, and gave Himself for us.” It must unquestionably and inevitably be so, for “our life is hid with Christ in God;” this, if we are Christians, is the well-spring of our thoughts and desires and feelings and principles and habits; and though they contract a taste and taint of evil in their passage through the corrupt channel of nature, still do they always retain the proof and prevalence and ascendancy of their heaven-born character; and do clearly mark us, in the eyes of every spiritual and right-judging person, as members of Christ and children of God.
Such are all the sincere followers of the Lamb, the faithful and elect of God: all in their various spheres of life, high and low, rich and poor; living in the same Spirit and by the same gospel, unto the same redeeming Lord; and travelling together in one way to the same everlasting kingdom. They are all brethren; all of equal privileges in the sight of their God and Saviour; all, however wide their worldly differences, however diversified their appearances or acquirements, distinguished by the same holy signs—by the sign of the cross in their forehead; by the image of the cross in their heart; by the bearing of the cross in their lives, and treading in the footsteps of their divine Master. “To me to live is Christ:” this is the common language, this the good confession, this the joyful, thankful assurance of each and every one: this their watchword, this their safeguard and defence, this their abounding consolation, one with another, amid all the dangers of an ensnaring p. 8and harassing world. The rich man has no other protection, and no other does the poor man need; Christ is “all in all,” and “none can pluck them out of His hand;” dwelling together, as in a strong tower; “kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.” Each of them still, while in the body, attentive to the duties of his own calling: no earthly business or occupation, belonging to their respective conditions, despised or neglected; but all “done heartily as unto the Lord, and not as unto men:” all earthly desires so regulated, all earthly plans so formed, all earthly objects so pursued, as not to interrupt, much less to stifle, the life of God in the soul.
Having lived unto the Lord, we shall die unto the Lord: having continued His property through life, He will claim us as His own in death. The tyrant of the grave shall have no power, no dominion over us; his spear is broken; the battle fought, the victory won: Christ has conquered, and we are “more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” Christ is Lord of the immortal spirit: “He is able to keep that which is committed to Him against that day;” and when the soul escapes from its prison-house, He sends a guardian angel to take the charge, and conduct it safely to Abraham’s bosom, to the rest that remaineth for His people. Brethren, we have the Lord’s own word and authority, for the establishment of our faith and the comforting of our souls. He said to the penitent thief, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” He admonished those who believed not, p. 9that Jehovah was declared to be “the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” long after their bodies were laid in the grave: and “God is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live unto Him.” In this entire confidence and security, His pious disciples in every age have welcomed their latter end, and fallen asleep sweetly. The first martyr Stephen, full of the Holy Ghost, worshipped and prayed to Jesus in his dying moments, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;” at once a plain indisputable testimony, that Christ is an object of divine worship, and that He does receive the souls of the faithful, when delivered from their earthly tabernacle. And the Apostle, who said, “To me to live is Christ,” said also, in the same breath, “to die is gain:” death could not be gain to him with any thing less than Christ: it is evident, that St. Paul was rapt in the contemplation of the immediate presence of his Lord: whilst living, he was with Christ; when dead, he would be with Him more blessedly still.
In truth, the proper representation of the matter is this; “the Lord’s kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,” that which He has won by His victory over sin and death and the grave, that which He has opened to all believers, that of which every abiding believer is an actual and irremovable member. It is a kingdom never ceasing or suspended; reaching onward without a broken link, from time to eternity. The present state of being should be regarded as the threshold of this boundless kingdom; as but the foreground of p. 10trial, in which the Lord’s servants are exercised and matured and made meet for their full and final inheritance. Death is called the gate of life, that life for which the present is but a prelude and preparation. Earthly graces will be perfected in heaven. The Lord’s dominion over us is whole and uninterrupted: He calls us from one division of His kingdom to another, from one state to another, at His own time and in His own way: “He has the keys of death and hell,” of death and the unseen world. “He openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth.” “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” He keeps them by His almighty power, keeps them in His wisdom and mercy, till they are ripe for glory. None can delay and none can hasten his work. And what faithful soul would desire it? Nay, Lord, come and call when Thou wilt; but make Thy servant ready.
O how refreshing, delightful, encouraging to us, on our way to Zion, to perceive around us those who are “living unto the Lord,” with their eyes and hearts fixed upon the heavenly inheritance. And O still happier sight, and yet an awful rejoicing, to behold a brother “dying unto the Lord;” to witness the triumph of our holy faith, in nature’s last hour and Satan’s last buffeting; to observe the trophies of divine love adorning and cheering the melancholy bed—the tranquil smile, the unwearied trust, the patient contented thankful resignation; the uplifted hand and eye, the illuminated countenance, the peaceful spirit all the p. 11while ready to wing its flight. Go boastful science, go vain philosophy, and visit the death-beds of your votaries; mark well the doubts and fears betraying themselves under the mask of a bold profession; mark the impatience and vexation; the present burden and the miserable foreboding; go and discover your infidel champions, the proud Goliaths of your kingdom, trembling and quailing under the lifted stroke of death; and despairing under the load of unforgiven sin, under the terrors of an insulted and avenging God. Go to your despisers of the crucified Jesus, to those who have been too wise to seek or too busy to find Him; see them, as I have seen, stretching out their hands in agony, and saying, “Is there none to save a fellow-creature from destruction?” Then, when ye are sickened with such scenes, repair to the bedside of a departing saint, and see how a Christian can die. Go and study a lesson, more instructive and more precious than all your pages of human lore and learning; go and learn from a lovely example, how to live and how to die.
If I seem to be describing these blessed truths and facts with a minuteness and a particularity and a real resemblance, it is because I am drawing from the life; because they have been so recently embodied before my eyes in the person of a Christian friend and minister—your deceased pastor. You know that he lived unto the Lord: and I have enjoyed the privilege of attesting the fruit of that living in his latter days—days of severe pain, but days of comfort and serenity. He spoke p. 12thereof in a manner, which convinced me, that he wished his views and experience to be made public; possibly looking forward to the day, when I might be fulfilling this very office. He said “I wish you distinctly to understand how I am: I have no ecstasies, no rapturous flights, but a calm composure, a quiet resting, a peaceful waiting for the Lord: and I desire the Lord to deal with me as seemeth to Him good: to give me patience, to give me his grace that I may endure unto the end; and to continue or remove me at His pleasure.” It was an affecting communication, an overcoming moment.
By these and similar words, it was manifest that he set his great value, not upon any peculiar notions or points of doctrine, but upon a living and fruitful faith, upon the practical influence of the spirit of God; upon the state of mind and heart and character and life, as resulting from christian principles and views.
Such undoubtedly then has been the scope, such the transcendent object of his ministerial endeavours and exertions—to produce like faith and fruit in you: and you, brethren, will bear a willing testimony to his holy zeal and faithfulness; through a period of well nigh thirty years have you made trial of him, yea full proof of his labour of love. The memory of him is bound round your hearts by a multitude of the tenderest holiest ties. Many of you he baptized into the church of Christ; he has been all along your spiritual guide, training you up from childhood in the way you should go. To many has he delivered the blessed elements, the signs of the body and blood of Christ, as ye were assembled around p. 13him at the table of your Lord, and feasted together upon redeeming love. Many has he visited on beds of sickness, relieving your wants and comforting your sorrows, and teaching you to improve them all. And not a few of your relatives and friends, gone to rest, he attended in their last moments; and instructed and confirmed and soothed their lingering spirit. You remember the scene: you saw and loved him there: and you owe him now a debt of gratitude. And in many a walk of kindness and usefulness, and many a place of righteous resort, you have watched and honoured and applauded him: but his race is run; he is gone; and the place that knew him, shall know him no more.
Nor were his services confined within the precincts of his own congregation, but always ready to be extended far and near. Various societies and charities have rejoiced in his help and activity, and will heavily feel their loss. But I must forbear and leave the fond strain of regret, for a word of serious and spiritual improvement. Was he faithful? Then the larger account have you to render. Did he preach the truth in love? Then the more will his preaching condemn those hearers, who have failed to be convinced and converted. He has expounded and illustrated for you the whole of the sacred volume, from Genesis to Revelation; he dug deeply into that precious mine in the field of the word of God, and presented for your acceptance the treasures and the jewels in all their intrinsic worth and brightness. The Bible, the inexhaustible p. 14stores of the whole Bible, he laid open before you in all their vast and magnificent abundance; and led you, by precept and by example, to “the way and the truth and the life.” If you have not received the word and the spirit of grace, if you have not laid the doctrine to your soul, if you have not in earnest begun the goodly work, if you are not far advanced, the fault is not with the departed: you will not seek to charge him with neglect. Whom then? and where does the burden lie? “Son of man, speak to the children of thy people and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people: Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.” The trumpet has sounded in your ears, long and loud; the clear, thrilling, evangelical trumpet. The herald of God has done his duty; would to God that every conscience could whisper, “And I have done mine.”
And all you, who have listened to him with teachableness and sincerity, who have caught from his lips the word of life into your willing ear, and laid it up in your heart, take comfort and be thankful. You have not profited as you might, as you would now fain have done: you lament your infirmities and corruptions; your minister lamented his: but the Lord loveth sincerity, and pardoneth the transgressions of His people. p. 15You value your past privileges; and you adore that divine goodness, which made them profitable to your salvation. You dwell, not with the tear of sharp regret for a ministry slighted, for opportunities unregarded and lost; but with tears of grateful love, in the remembrance of one, who was ordained by God to lighten your darkness, and to be the messenger of peace to your soul. And while you are gathering here the plentiful fruits of righteousness, you are looking forward to the far more glorious harvest in the end of the world; looking to the day, when the shepherd and his flock shall stand together for presentation before the eternal throne; and he shall say, “Lord here am I, and those whom thou hast given me.”
O my brethren, no sheep of his, no true member of the Lord’s flock, shall be forgotten on that day. The world knows them not; the earthly shepherd himself may not have known them all: but “the Lord knoweth them that are His.” Rich or poor, honoured or despised, loved or hated among men, if they have lived unto the Lord and died unto the Lord, the Lord will confess them at last, will infallibly select them every one out of an assembled world, and set them on His right hand. “Them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” Be this my sleep, come soon, come late: Be thine the time, good Lord, and mine the blessing. Lord, hear my prayer; I make but one: “Let me but die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his.”