A FUNERAL SERMON.* JOB Xix. 25, 26. "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." THIS blessed text presents truths to the believer, which are able to support his soul under any circumstances, whether they be the trials and difficulties of life, which in their own nature are productive of anxiety, disappointment, and distress; or in the most delightful moments, to chasten his joys below, to temper them with the thought of their connexion with eternity, and to help him to consider the importance of his present life, in relation to death and judgment. The prisoners within these walls have had the first place in my concern and regard upon earth, next to that of my own soul's salvation, for twentyfour years. The congregation here on the Lord's day, was that with which the goodness of my Redeemer appointed me to worship him. On the first Lord's day of my leaving you, to adore him in the courts above, may he in mercy bless this sermon to your hearts, by inclining you to look "To be read at the gaol, on the Sunday after my death, if a kind friend will perform that office.-S. MARTIN." This sermon was read to the prisoners according to this request, by the Rev. J. E. Cox. unto Jesus and live, that when the days of your appointed time below shall have an end, my Redeemer may be welcomed by you as your Redeemer; that by the atoning blood and righteousness which cleanse and adorn his church, you and I may meet in the world of glory. I. The text expresses the attributes of Jehovah in the Redeemer, his eternity and immortality. II. It mentions his second coming. III. The dissolution of the body, and its resurrection. IV. The soundness of Divine knowledge. "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." I.-Let us reflect on the eternity and immortality of the Redeemer. The Christian's faith has a continued reference to these Divine attributes, without which the name of Jesus would not be to him as ointment poured forth;" so suitable, so precious, so allsufficient, as to supply his countless necessities, to encourage his hope, and to increase his faith, as an ascending spring of living water, rising up unto him, its author, unto everlasting life. What can the sinner do, just awakened from the sleep of death, at the moment in which he sees his natural ignorance of God and of himself removed, without an ever-living Redeemer to show mercy ? If Jesus were not the living God, the everlasting King, "who only hath immor tality," how could he save a guilty and ruined sinner, exposed by nature to eternal death? My dear fellow sinners, I have known the suitability of the Redeemer, who possesses these glorious attributes, and I would recommend him to you. It pleased God, by his Holy Spirit, to spare me, who by nature was alienated from him, who in practice had transgressed his law, neglected his gospel, ruined my own soul, and contributed to the ruin of others by my thoughtless and ignorant life; having lived as if this life were every thing and eternity nothing, as if God had no claim upon my time, my reason, or my affections; as if I needed no friend beyond my fellow creatures, no pleasures but those of this life, no food and raiment but for the body, and no heaven but this world. This description of my character and condition, before my knowledge of the living Redeemer, is precisely like your own, if you be yet ignorant of him; and your need of the Redeemer is equally great. But you may not understand it; and yet I earnestly hope you may be disposed to examine yourselves; for when, by Divine grace, we perceive this to be the condition in which we stand before God, the need of a living Redeemer is powerfully experienced, and if such a deliverer were not then disclosed, sinners would perish in eternal ruin and despair. No human comfort can reach a soul " weary and heavy laden" with sin. What could you do for a dying man on the brink of the ocean of eternity, with every false hope foundered, but take the word of God and inform him of Jesus? When Peter felt himself sinking, as he stood upon the waves, his fellow sinners in the ship could not save him ; unseen spirits might have beheld his danger, but good angels know the bliss of acting only by Divine commission, and Jesus, the living Redeemer, the source and fountain of life, could alone take him by the hand, and save him. We are by nature sinners, fallen so exceedingly low, that if there were not a Mediator, who is equal with the Father in every attribute, to approach him on the behalf of man, and to succeed, all would be lost for ever; spiritual death in sin would be succeeded by everlasting death. Death is powerless, nor can its victim raise itself to life: nor can man approach Jehovah: the living Mediator can alone meet the Father, as the sinner's friend. And this Redeemer, by the light of his Spirit on his word, is able to effect a resurrection of your souls unto God, to raise you from the spiritual death in which you lie by nature. Fellow sinners, mark the immortality of the Redeemer, in the eternal purpose to redeem. It is written of him, "I was set up from everlasting, -rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men,' Prov. viii. 23, 31. And again, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee," Jer. xxxi. 3. Because his Redeemer ever liveth, the Christian is assured of continued protection and guidance in the path of life; having forsaken the paths of hypocrisy, injustice, drunkenness, sabbathbreaking, gaming, lying, idleness, violence, and folly, he looks to his living Redeemer for grace to persevere in holiness, and hence he rests on the Divine promise in every temptation, "My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." He is a present refuge in the storms of life, and an eternal friend. If Jesus were not ever living, with the infinite circle of his own boundless eternity ever present to his omniscient view, and beholding that on which we look back in the eye of our minds, he would not be "the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world." Because he ever liveth, from the event of the fall of man, to his first advent, he has continually been disclosing himself to his servants by promises, types, prophecies, visions, and by other manifestations. "Abraham desired to see his day; he saw it, and was glad." In vision, Isaiah beheld him with dyed garments, with his human nature stained with atoning blood. And Job beheld him with the faith which he ever lives to communicate, which now rejoices my poor heart, and enables me to use his words as my own in expressing them to you, "I know that my Redeemer liveth." When the day arrived which "prophets and righteous men desired to see, but saw not," the day of his first advent, Jesus was ready to undertake the promised work, and said, "Lo! I come to do thy will, O God;" for he ever liveth! Then did the immortal Godhead unite himself with human nature, and become the Mediator between God and man, as well as the compassionate friend and brother of our nature; he became the companion of men, to breathe the same air, to abide in the same world, to eat and drink with them, and as a servant of Jehovah, to be subject H |