ETERNAL LIFE.

REV. W. NEWMAN, D. D.*

EAGLE STREET CHAPEL, RED LION SQUARE, FEBRUARY 16, 1834.

"Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."-EPISTLE OF JUDE, 21st verse.

I HAVE Come up this morning, my dear brethren, to condole with you on the loss of your beloved pastor. I knew him from the commencement of his ministry in this place; I loved him, and most sincerely sympathize with you in the removal of him from the scene of his interesting labours. I have had intercourse with him for nearly thirty years, and certainly never anticipated the scene which now presents itself to me. Never could I have imagined that I should ever be called to such a service as this to which I am now called. I appear before you, brethren, in pursuance of the dying request of my departed brother; who also selected the words which you have now, and repeatedly heard. The selection of these words, it appears to me, and probably it appears to you also, indicates the tone and temper of his mind in the last stage of his pilgrimage, and in the near prospect of eternity. When he was drawing nigh to the close of all the services in which he had been occupied, was he looking for the divine reward as a matter of debt? Oh no, he was "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Was he like the actor, retiring from the stage, and looking around for the plaudits of the spectators? Nothing at all, my friends ; he was "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

The Lord grant unto you and me, brethren, that we may enter into the spirit of the sentiment contained in these few words, which very plainly teach us three things: In the first place, that the ultimate object of our faith and hope and love must be, "eternal life." In the second place, that this life is to be ascribed to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And thirdly, that for this life we must be looking and waiting.

In the first place we are taught by these important words, that THE ULTIMATE OBJECT OF OUR FAITH AND HOPE AND LOVE, MUST BE Eternal Life. "Eternal life;" that must be a life of honour and enjoyment; of enjoyment in the best society, and crowned with this glory-that it will never end; it will be eternal, or everlasting.

This life will be a life of honour. What think you, my dear friends, of being raised to a kingdom? Did not our blessed Redeemer say to his little flock, "Fear not little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom?" What can you receive more than a kingdom? The metaphor is borrowed from

• Funeral Sermon for the Rev. J. Ivimey, Minister of Eagle Street Chapel.

the highest dignity that is known on earth. Who can be higher than a king? Or if the metaphor be borrowed, in other parts of the Scriptures, from the Sanctuary, who can be higher than the priest-God's representative? But it is promised to all the disciples of Christ that they shall be kings and priests. What think you, brethren, of those mansions of glory which our Lord declared to his disciples he was going to prepare for them? "In my Father's house," said he, “are many mansions, if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." Oh wondrous work! It will be a life of honour; a honour which conquerors obtain. Crowns of victory are in reserve; a crown of righteousness; a crown of life; a crown of glory that fadeth not away. How will you raise up your thoughts brethren, to these wonderful words of our blessed Redeemer respecting these conquerors, when he declares, as you have often read, that he will give to him that overcomes, to sit down with him upon his throne; "Even as I have overcome," says he, “and have sat down upon my Father's throne." That lofty throne; that wide throne; in which he will make room for all that have fought with him, for all that have conquered with him; all shall enter into the joy of their Lord.

This life will be a life of enjoyment. Of rich enjoyment. It is represented, you know, by a feast. "Many shall come from the East and from the West, and from the North and from the South, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob" at this feast. It is represented in the last book of the New Testament by a marriage supper. Oh glorious prospect which our Saviour has opened the prospect of sitting down at the marriage supper of the Lamb! Allow me to read a few words, which you have in the nineteenth chapter of the book of the Revelations. "I heard," the holy prophet of the New Testament says "I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, "Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb." Are these great swelling words of vanity, that mean nothing? No, brethren, for it follows-“ And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God." This life, allow me to remark again, will be a life of enjoyment in the best society. Man was originally constructed on the social principle; and in Paradise even it was "not good for man to be alone." All the children of God are taught to look forward to the society of "just men made perfect;" the society of an "innumerable company of angels;" the society of "God the Judge of all, and of Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant."

And the crown of all is, that this life of honour and enjoyment, and in the best society, will be an everlasting life. There will be no termination. Oh the thought, were it possible that such a thought could enter into the minds of the blessed above-“ That ghastly thought," as Dr. Young has expressed —

"That ghastly thought would drink up all the joy."

But they know that it is eternal life; that from that Paradise they shall never be expelled; they shall never see any forbidden fruit, there shall be no subtle serpent there; no danger of losing that inheritance, that glorious inheritance, which has been "prepared for them from before the foundation of the world

We proposed to shew you, in a few words, in the second place, that THIS ETERNAL LIFE IS ASCRIBED TO THE MERCY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. And here I do call upon you to remember, my brethren, that this is very properly ascribed to him, because, in the first place, it is he that announced it. He has announced it to the sons and daughters of death and condemnation. Witness those memorable words in which he said, "God so loved"—that is, so pitied" the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish but have everlasting life." That they who have all deserved to perish should not perish, but have eternal life. "Eternal life!" "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might have life." In accordance with this, you may remember, that the Apostle Paul himself says, concerning Jesus, that "he has abolished death, and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel." He has brought life and immortality-immortal life-into a clearer light; he has poured a flood of light upon those dark things. It was not Socrates, it was not Plato, it was not any one of the admired sages of Greece and Rome ;-alas, they were dreaming, they were groping in the dark; it was our Lord Jesus Christ, who has illumined these obscure and dreadful things, and opened them in the light of heaven; and the good news of the kingdom will make this known; we rejoice in the assurance, that ere long it will be made known in all the languages and dialects that are spoken by the children of men, in all nations, and in every part of the earth. Oh, may the time speedily come when all men shall have the Gospel which our Lord Jesus Christ in his own ministry made known. This life is ascribed to his mercy, because, I may observe again, he has procured it. "I am come," said he, "that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." So the Apostle John, who always echoes the sentiments, and often the very language of his beloved Master, says, "In this was manifested the love of God; God sent his only begotten Son that we might have life through him."

But I must not dwell upon this; allow me to say, it is ascribed to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, and most appropriately, because it is he that bestows it. Eternal life is his gift. Here I may call to your recollection what he said to the woman of Samaria: "The water," said he, “that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Then Jesus becomes the beginning of eternal life in regeneration, and this regeneration is carried on in sanctification. But the disciple of Christ must die. Certainly; "it is appointed unto all men once to die;" he who is "the Resurrection and the Life," has not forgotten this. He knows that his children must die as well as others; "One event happeneth to all." But he will take care of his children; rejoice over them, and do them good. There must be a separate state for the body; the body returns to the dust; the spirit returns to God that gave it. Jesus our Lord, into whose hands all things are committed, hath not overlooked this. The earthly house must fall into decay, must fall down into the dust. It was a very fine thought expressed by one of the ancient Fathers as to the death and the separate state of them that believe: "It is as if Jesus said to his disciple, The earthly house must indeed decay, and it will fall into the dust. I intend, however, to rebuild that earthly house, and in the meantime come and live with me." That is the separate state, that is the state of blessedness; the blessedness of our departed brother: the blessedness of millions more who are absent from the body and at home with

the Lord. Whilst they were at home in the body they were absent from the Lord; but they are gone to live with him until the proper time shall come, when the earthly house shall be rebuilt, and all the glory of the second house shall be seen in them. Yes, it is the mercy of our Lord Jesus that bestows eternal life. There will be a public manifestation of this at the last day. I say, there will be a public manifestation of this at the last day, brethren, when all that are in their graves shall hear his voice. And are we not looking for mercy there? Are we not hoping for the memorable sentence? We know who the Judge is that he is Jesus Christ the Righteous. We are conscious of innumerable imperfections and defilements. The Apostle Paul knew that such was the case with the best of men upon earth: and the dearest friend he had, when he referred to him-Onesiphorous, an eminent Christian, a man of great boldness and valour in the Christian cause, who had dared to shew kindnesses to the pesecuted disciples-you remember in what manner he prayed for him-" The Lord grant unto him by faith that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day." Deeply impressed with the solemnities of that day, he implored mercy for his dearest friend. He was asking for that mercy himself—the mercy of the Lord the Judge in that great day.

Again, I would just remark, it is most appropriately called the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life, for, in truth, he is himself that life. The more you examine the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament, the more you will see it is confirmed by the sacred writers that Jesus Christ is himself that eternal life. And the enjoyment of eternal life is the enjoyment of his love, is to be conformed unto his likeness; to be drawing water from the wells of salvation in him; to drink at the fountain-head which is in him. Therefore he said, you may recollect, "I am the way, the truth, and the life:"-the life !— "no man cometh to the Father but by me." And the Apostle John, who always echoes, as I have said before, the sentiments of his beloved Master, has very strikingly expressed this in the first Epistle that bears the name of John, as you may see in the beginning of the first chapter, where he speaks of Christ "the Word of Life;" For," he adds, "the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us." Our Lord Jesus Christ, you perceive, is called by the name of "Eternal Life." And again he says, in the closing part of this first Epistle, "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." Jesus Christ is "the true God and eternal life."

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But I hasten to remark, in the third place, that THIS ETERNAL LIfe is to BE WAITED FOR; is to be looked for. Thus it stands in our text-" Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." The word which is here translated "looking for," frequently occurs in the New Testament, and is often rendered by our own translators, "waiting for." Thus you remember reading the account of Anna the Prophetess, and good old Simeon, Joseph of Arimathea-a counsellor and member of the Sanhedrim, the great court-all these were looking for, were "waiting for" the kingdom of God and the redemption of Israel. Our Blessed Lord himself is represented as a master expected to return from a wedding; and he charged his disciples to be like those servants who were looking for their master's return; to be in readiness, like

257 those servants, that when he appeared they might immediately open to him. The same word, or a word of the same root, is used in many other places which I must not now attempt to repeat: only let me remind you, for a moment, that it is the common description in the Apostolical Epistles-it is the common description of all true disciples of Christ-that they are waiting for Christ. Well, infidels care nothing about him; perhaps scarcely believe that there ever was such a person; but the disciples of Christ are "waiting for him;" and they were renewed by the Spirit of God for this purpose-to wait for the Son of God from heaven, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come. They are "looking for," the Apostle Paul says, they are " Looking for and hasting unto, the appearance,”—the glorious appearance—they are "Looking for the appearance of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ."

I will only say further here, for I must not enlarge, that this waiting implies hope. Hope is the union of expectation and desire. There where there is no desire, and there may be desire where there is no expectation; may be expectation but hope is the union of both. Now this hope implies faith, and again faith implies that there is some promise. Faith must be built upon a promise, or some divine declaration, whatever form it may assume; otherwise our faith is presumption. But this promise is recorded, and you have often read it, my brethren, and you have, I trust, rejoiced in it; you have partaken, in some measure, of the sentiment of the high and heavenly exclamation of the Apostle John, when he said, "And this is the promise"-including all promises in one, all the exceeding great and precious promises, putting them all together, binding them all up in one-" And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life."

Well, it was this promise, my dear brethren, that supported your beloved pastor: it is this promise which, we trust, he is now richly enjoying in that glorious state to which I have now been referring you; while we, with all our sinful imperfections about us, are worshipping in this sanctuary below. Oh, brethren, it is very refreshing to remember that the Lord graciously supported him. It is very delightful to you and to me to recollect, that we have good evidence concerning him, how he was carried through the storm and the tempest, the battle and the conflict of life, and how he was brought at length to enjoy that peace, that divine peace, that peace which the Lord of Peace himself gives, and which never could be taken away from us.

"The

I shall not stay to expatiate on the integrity, the intrepidity, the zeal, the disinterestedness, and the benevolence, that characterized him in his career. His integrity was unimpeached and unimpeachable; it was undisputed and universally recognized. His intrepidity was that of a lion; as it is said, righteous is bold as a lion." Had our departed brother lived three hundred years ago, he would have been a fit associate for Martin Luther or for John Knox. And his disinterestedness every one acknowledged. He was highly exemplary in this; probably there never was a man in this city, or in any other city, that was more exemplary than he was in the feature of the Christian character, to which I am now for a moment calling your attention. He never was, that I am aware of, accused of any thing contrary to these; and if he had been, he would have repelled the accusation with scorn. In the disinterestedness of his character I have often thought our brother was indeed a very right and shining example to all those who are engaged in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.