Late Pastor of a Church of CHRIST at Limehouse
Occasioned By The Death Of The Reverend Mr. Aaron Spurrier [5353]
Late Pastor of a Church of CHRIST at Limehouse
Preached Sept. 17, 1749
Having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better—Philippians 1:23.
ABOUT two years ago I stood in this place, and delivered a discourse at the ordination of your late pastor, and now I am here at his dying request to preach his funeral sermon: a sudden change, a quick alteration this! He has soon done his work, run out his race, and finished his course, and is entered into the joy of his Lord; and what remains for you to do, is to take notice of the providence, and make a right use of it; and now to attend to the words read, the subject of the following discourse; which are part of an epistle sent to the church at Philippi by the apostle Paul, when he was a prisoner at Rome.
And after the inscription of it; and description of the church, its officers and members, and various expressions of respect unto them and petitions for them, the apostle gives an account of his bonds, and the usefulness of them for the spread of the gospel, and the encouragement of gospel-ministers: and though some did not preach Christ from right ends, and with right views, as others did, it was a pleasure to the apostle that he was however preached; and he was persuaded, that the ill designed him in their ministry would be for his good and Christ would be magnified in him in life and death: that continuance in life would be for the glory of Christ, and the good of his interest, and his death also would be gain both to Christ and himself: And this made it difficult with him which to choose, life or death, since he could not well say in which way Christ would be most magnified in him, whether by his life or by his death: and seeing that living in the flesh, and laboring in the ministry a little longer would be more necessary, useful, and profitable to the churches of Christ; and so be for the honor of his name; and to die and be with the Lord, were better for himself; this put him in a strait between life and death, a desire to live for public usefulness, and a desire to die for private and personal gain, as David was on another account, and which some think there is an allusion to here, 2 Samuel 24:14.
I have not read to you the former part of the text, far I am in a strait betwixt two; because I observed, your pastor left it out, when he gave me the words read, and desired me to preach from them: for whatever difficulty he might have had in his mind, as doubtless he had, which to desire, life or death, whether to live longer, that he might be more useful to you, this church of Christ, and be more serviceable in the interest of religion, or to die and be with Jesus; it was all over then, he saw his work as done, it was the will of the Lord to call him home, and he was desirous of going, that he might be with him. In the passage before me, I observe,
I.The phrase by which death is expressed, to depart.
II.The desire the apostle had to depart, or die, having a desire;
III.The ground of that desire, what raised or moved it, to be with Christ.