A FUNERAL SERMON

ON THE DECEASE OF THE REV. A. REDFORD,

BY

JOHN STOUGHTON,

On the Evening of Lord's day, the 12th of July, 1840.

My beloved brethren, I appear before you this evening, to discharge a duty most affecting, and yet in one respect most grateful for while I am to attempt the improvement of the death of our beloved friend, I shall have an opportunity of bearing an affectionate testimony to his distinguished worth. Though, for some period before his removal from us he was laid aside from the discharge of active duties, yet I feel, that by his departure, we have sustained an inestimable, and, in some respects, an irreparable loss. Our Father is gone-The most distinguished example of christian piety among us is gone. The aged minister, who when he had ceased to preach with his lips, preached to us still more eloquently by his life, is gone. The Saint, whose character told on all the members of this church, and veneration and love for whom proved a bond of union to many, is gone-The devout believer whose intercessions in our behalf had power in heaven, and were perhaps among the chief hidden causes of the spiritual blessings that have descended on us, is gone. A thoughtless mind might imagine, that the removal of an aged and enfeebled saint of fourscore years, could scarcely be justly deemed a loss, but I feel it is; and many a countenance before me indicates that you feel the same.

.

I seem to be standing on the bank of Jordan, like Elisha the prophet, alone. I look around me, and the man of God, who was to me all that Elijah could be to his servant and disciple, no longer stands by my side. I seek for his venerable form, and his eye glistening with devotion and pleasure, which often animated me as I caught its gleam, but he has disappeared,—he is not—God has taken him. I look upward, and seem to behold him in a car of glory ascending to his rest; and as he vanishes from my sight I cannot but exclaim with Elijah,

D

"my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof." Well do I remember the words addressed to me in the charge delivered on the morning of my ordination, by another friend, now also in Heaven. "You have adverted to day to a departed parent-Behold another Father!"-For eight years I found him such. And the sentence that followed the words I have quoted, I have fully realized. "The office which you sustain, appears honourable to the inhabitants of this town, on account of the character which he has connected with it." The obligations I owe him I shall not attempt to express. Let them long remain in my heart-a source of silent gratitude.

In addressing you this evening, I am discharging a duty which devolves upon me by the particular request of my revered colleague; and the expression of that request I would regard as one of the many expressions of his love. He specified, on the paper containing this request, the text from which he wished me to address you; and as I hold all his wishes sacred, I cannot think of departing from this. The passage he selected himself, for this funeral discourse, you will find in EPHESIANS II. 8.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith.

The selection of these words reveals to us the state of his mind; his motives in choosing them were obvious. He wished that the same sentiments with which his own dicourses were ever and deeply imbued, should give an unction to his funeral sermon; and that the persons, attracted to hear it, by respect to his memory, should have an opportunity of listening to the things that belong to their peace; he wished no proud eulogiums should be pronounced on his name, but, that whatever excellence he possessed should be ascribed to the grace of God. He wished that the mournfulness and the melancholy of the funeral solemnites should be lost amidst an exhibition of the triumphs and glories of redeeming love. He wished that by the preaching of the gospel, as it were, by the door of his sepulchre; and enforced, as it is, by the echoes of his dying voice, sinners might be saved, and that the death of one might prove the life of many. Let us pray for grace, that all these wishes may be fulfilled, especially the last. I have understood that when he preached funeral sermons for others, they were generally blessed in the conversion of souls, may it be so with

his own.

In following out the desire expressed, my plan will be simple; to shew you that salvation is through faith; that salvation through faith, is pre-eminently salvation by grace; and that

the salvation thus obtained and enjoyed was beautifully displayed in the character and the dying experience of our departed friend. Although the importance of the sentiments just propounded warrant, and indeed require, a large space for their discussion, I shall be able to notice them but with brevity— rather to suggest than to amplify my thoughts-as the last part of the subject, the practical influence of the doctrine of grace in the character of the deceased, imperatively demands, on an occasion like this, a large measure of attention. May the Lord, the Spirit, whose assistance we peculiarly need, secure a due impression on every mind.

First-Salvation is through faith.

It is desirable in a few words to explain these terms. Salvation is an expression sometimes used to denote the whole assemblage of christian blessings, commencing in the first pardon and peace of the redeemed soul, and consummated only in the glories of the resurrection, and in the bliss of heaven.-At other times it is employed in a more limited reference, to express the aggregate of those spiritual privileges, enjoyed by the believer in the present state. In the latter sense it is adopted by the apostle; his phraseology points to what is in possession. "By grace are ye saved, through faith." Saving faith is the belief of saving truth. It is not essential to its existence that the mind should compass the whole range of theological enquiry, or that it should be entirely free from minor errors. It is compatible with imperfect views; it is not neutralized by mistakes, in the subordinate departments of christian doctrine. It is the cordial belief of the simple testimony of the gospel, that God has given to us eternal life, and that this life is through his son. It is the acquiescence of the mind, in this simple and suitable plan of mercy. It is the dependence of the soul upon the atonement and intercession of Christ. It apprehends and receives the Saviour under all-it flies to him as a refuge it lays hold on him as a support, through forms in which he is exhibited in scripture-it builds on him as a rock-it draws from him as a fountain-it feeds on him as the bread of life. This is the faith that brings salvation; and without it, all speculative knowledge, and all social virtue are nugatory and vain.

Does salvation include acceptance with God? It is faith that secures it. Being justified by faith, ye have peace with God: repentance, prayer, holiness, are indispensably requisite to the completeness of christian character; but neither one nor all of these constitute the specifick condition of acceptance with God. This pre-eminent influence is ascribed to faith;

but it is not any moral worth, inherent in this moral act, that forms a ground of claim for the inestimable blessing. It derives its efficacy purely from the Saviour who is its object, and its all. It is the hand that lays hold on the altar which bears his bleeding sacrifice; it is the eye that looks within the veil, and gazes on his priestly form as he intercedes before God; it is the foot by which the sinner moves to him as the city of refuge, and the ark of safety. It is the chain that binds him to the cross. Faith would be nothing, but for the object to which it clings, and the source whence it draws supply. Faith, without the mediation of Christ, is but a notion in the mind-a nice ide-aas it regards salvation, inefficient and useless. It were absurd to suppose that the belief of any proposition whatever, could of itself be the ground of a sinner's acceptance with his God. Christ in his voluntary humiliation-in his perfect life in his matchless sufferings in his sacrificial death as the lamb of God-in his efficacious intercession before the eternal throne, is the foundation of all saving blessings, and as such, faith regards him. But the connexion between faith and salvation is far from arbitrary; while it does not necessarily secure the sinners pardon, it is in the nature of things essential to it. In the case of an offended monarch who, to secure the ends of justice, should require the rebels to seek forgiveness through his royal son, who had offered to become their surety; would it be possible for that man to share in the clemency of his prince, and to be restored to his favour and service, who set at nought the appointed medium of forgiveness? Would there be any ground of hope for him while he disbelieved the very terms of the proclamation of grace and peace? And can it be, that any fallen guilty creature should have the sentence of the law against him cancelled, while he spurned or neglected the authorized terms of reconciliation? Can it be that he should reap the benefits of a provision in which he will not acquiesce; or be sheltered in a refuge to which he will not flee?

Does Salvation include the moral renovation of the charac

ter? Faith is its principle and its spring. "Sanctified by faith" is a scriptural expression, and it conveys a scriptural doctrine. 66 "Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth," was the Saviour's prayer; and it is the truth which faith apprehends and approves, that imparts to it its moral influence. When we look at the objects with which faith is conversant, we see at once the manner in which it produces its sanctifying results. It takes in the circle of re