Section 1140
IV. Give me leave to offer some few things to prevent immoderate sorrow, to restrain grief, and keep it within due bounds and limits
Though it is lawful, and there is cause for it, yet care should be taken that it is not exceeded, and even in this your particular case, who have so lately lost your dear pastor. And,
1. Let it be observed, that it is the will of God that so it should be, and you ought to acquiesce in it; the will of the Lord is done, and it cannot be undone: when the disciples had endeavored to dissuade the apostle from going up to Jerusalem, and could not prevail, they ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done: (Acts 21:14) so you have been praying and entreating the Lord to spare the life of your pastor, but he has not thought fit to grant your request; and it now becomes you to cease, and be still, and not complain and murmur, since the will of the Lord is done; who does all things not only after his own will, but after the counsel of it; he does all things well and wisely, for the best, for his own glory, and his people’s good; and there is nothing in which you can more imitate Christ, and be like unto him, than by resigning your wills to the will of God, who said, not my will, but thine be done; (Luke 22:42) you should remember that God is a sovereign, and must be submitted to: he “does according to his will in heaven above, and in the earth below, and none can stay his hand, nor ought any to say to him, what doest thou?” Good old Eli said, with respect to a case more afflicting, more distressing, and more severe than yours, it is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good; (1 Samuel 3:18) he has a right to do what he will with his own, and he does so without giving any account of his matters to the children of men: the Lord gave you your minister, and he gave him his gifts for the ministry, and all his usefulness was owing to him; and now he has taken him away; and you should be still, and know, own, and acknowledge that he is a sovereign God, and does as he pleases; and, with David, it becomes you to be dumb, and not open your mouth in a way of complaint against him, because he has done it. (Psalm 46:10 and 39:9)
2. Your minister’s work was done, which was appointed for him to do. There is nothing that more manifestly falls under the decrees and determinations of heaven, than a minister’s life and work; it is appointed of God where he shall minister, to whom, and how long; how many souls shall be converted by him, and what comforts shall be administered through his means, and to what length of time he must continue in his service. Now there was not one sinner more to be converted by your minister, nor any more comforts to be conveyed to you through his hands; all the work that was cut out for him was done by him: but this cannot be better expressed than in his own words; and because these will, in all probability, have a greater influence upon you, and more weight with you, than anything I can say, give me leave to read a passage or two out of a discourse, [5369] published by him. “God, says he, never calls home an useful minister till his work is done, till every sinner is brought in, whom he was in any degree to be instrumental to awaken, convince, or direct to Jesus; and till every saint is so far instructed, edified, and comforted by him, as was settled and agreed in the divine counsels, when God was pleased to determine and appoint, that he should be called to labor in his vineyard—And as all the names of the elect are particularly set down in the Lamb’s book of life, so under shepherds are sent forth by the great Lord of the harvest, who, as he assigns them their work, so he has settled every circumstance relating to it; how long each shall be employed, and when he is to be removed to make way for a successor: how far he shall be owned, and succeeded; what temptations and difficulties will attend him; what discouragements he will meet with, and how he shall be supported and carried through it, in the midst of all opposition, till his warfare is accomplished, and his work is finished—We are ready to entertain hard thoughts of God, continues your dear Pastor, and to open our mouths against heaven, when he is pleased to take away a minister whom we valued, in the bloom or meridian of life, especially if he is called off when we think he was best furnished for, and had the greatest run of success in his work; not considering that one reason why he was so very useful, whilst with us, was, because his work was to be cut short in righteousness, and his stay upon earth limited to a few years: it is not so material how long ministers are continued with us, as how useful they are to us, whilst that is our mercy. God can easily dispatch a great deal of work by his servants, in a little time; and if he is then pleased to dismiss them, the advantage is theirs, by being taken the sooner to regions of everlasting rest and triumph—This should serve then, adds he, to still our murmurings, and hush our complaints, even though we should lose a minister dearer to us than the apple of our eye: let us remember he had his particular work to do, that now his work is finished and compleated; and when this is the case, what can be more merciful than for a faithful servant to enter into the joy of his Lord?”
3. The residue of the Spirit is with the Lord; Christ your ascended Lord and King has received gifts for men, yea for rebellious ones; and he has a fullness of them in his hands, which he can give, if he pleases, to others to fit them for the work of the ministry; that they may be useful for the perfecting or gathering in of the saints, and for the edifying the body the church: instead therefore of mourning over the death of your pastor, especially in an immoderate way, be praying to the Lord of the harvest to send a faithful laborer into this part of his vineyard; and who knows what a blessing is in reserve for you? Your Elijah is gone; it may be, a double portion of his spirit may fall upon some Elisha or another, who may be sent to you.
4. Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the church, lives, and will live for evermore, to protect, defend, and provide for you; though your spiritual father is gone, your everlasting Father, on whose shoulders the government of the church is, continues; though the under-shepherd is removed from you, the chief and great shepherd, and bishop of your souls, is still the same, yesterday, today, and forever; an everlasting friend, that sticks closer than a brother. And moreover, though the fathers, where are they, and the prophets, do they live forever? No; they do not, yet the word of God lives and abides forever: the gospel is an everlasting gospel, and there will be men to preach it to the end of the world. Christ has promised his presence with his ministers so long, which supposes that they will be continued to the end of all things. Christ has, and ever will have a standing ministry in the world, until all his elect are gathered in, and “these are come to the unity of the faith, to the “measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
5. It should be observed by you, that what is your loss, is your minister’s gain; he is taken away, perhaps from evil to come; he is safe housed before the storm falls upon the churches and ministers of Christ, which seems to be gathering thick; and can you be sorry for that? could you have seen the saint when he entered into the joy of his Lord, clad with robes of immortality and bliss, how he was received into the Father’s presence, embraced in the arms, and laid in the bosom of Jesus, and the Spirit of glory resting on him; could you now view him, as you have reason to believe he is, inheriting the throne of glory, with the crown of righteousness on him, encircled with the glorious forms of angels and fellow-saints made perfect, it would surely bid you wipe off your tears, and dry your eyes. To all which I would only add, that though you will see his face no more in this world, which is the cause of your present sorrowing, you will see it in another; he will rise again in the resurrection of the just, and you that believe in Christ will rise too, when the dead in Christ shall rise first; and then he and you will meet, and be with the Lord, be forever with him; with which words you should comfort one another. Your minister will appear at the head of you, to whom he has been a spiritual father, and you will be then his joy and crown of rejoicing; he will look upon you with pleasure, and you will see his face to great advantage, which will then be as the face of an angel, and shine like the sun in the Father’s kingdom; for they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and everse (Daniel 12:3)
Thus have I gone through what I proposed; and there is nothing remains now but to give you the character of my deceased brother, and your pastor, which I suppose is expected from me: and here I want the eloquence of the deceased to paint him out in his proper colors, and to describe him as the accomplished man, the real christian, and excellent minister. Something I shall attempt to do, and you that knew him most intimately, will supply the rest in your minds, from your own observation.
The Reverend Mr. SAMUEL WILSON, descended from godly ministers of the denomination of Protestant Dissenters, both by father and mother’s side. He was the son of the Reverend Mr. EBENEZER WILSON, a worthy minister of Christ in this city; whose father also was an eminent preacher of the gospel, at Hitchin in Hertfordshire; and as he had a religious, so a liberal education. His grammar and classical learning, he received under some of the best masters of it, [5370] in this city: his academical studies he went through, under the direction of Dr. Ridgely and Mr. Eames, under whom he made great advances in polite and useful literature; with which being furnished, he shone out and made that figure in the church and world, he afterwards did.
His natural parts were very quick and strong; he had great vivacity of spirit, a lively fancy and imagination, a retentive memory, a penetrating mind, and a solid judgment; which, with the above advantages of human literature, and above all, having the grace of God bestowed upon him, and spiritual light and knowledge given him in the mysteries of the gospel, made him the great man he was.
He was favored with many preservations and providential deliverances, in his infancy and younger years, when life was in danger: which he has remarked with his own hand, [5371] as expressive of the tender care of providence over him; and no doubt the Lord saved him, in order to call him by his grace, reveal his Son in him, and make him an able minister of the New Testament.
He received his first serious impressions, under the ministry of the late Reverend Mr. Daniel Wilcox, an eminent minister of the Presbyterian denomination in this city; as he himself relates in a discourse [5372] he published on occasion of the death of that minister, upon the same words which I have been treating of: and that he was truly a partaker of the grace of God, was not only the judgment of the church to whom he first gave up himself, but will easily be admitted by all good men that have known him, heard him, or read him. And it was your happiness as a church, that you had such a minister, who himself had tasted that the Lord was gracious: an unregenerate ministry has been the bane of the Established church, and is like to be the ruin of the Protestant dissenting interest.
Though the father and grandfather of our deceased brother were both of the Baptist denomination, yet it was not this that determined him to become of the same persuasion himself; besides, his father dying when he was young, he was under another influence; and when he entered upon the inquiry about baptism, no one, he himself says, could enter into it with a more earnest desire, to find truth on the side of the common practice, all his conversation and prospects leaning strongly that way; but, upon taking the method which he did to search the scriptures, collect the whole evidence from them, and consider every part separately, he found himself obliged to conclude the balance was greatly on the side of adult-baptism by immersion; and therefore determined to comply with his duty, and on the closest reflection never saw reason to repent of it: [5373] this inquiry, or which he calls a scripture manual, was published a little before his death, and is worthy the perusal of every serious inquirer into truth; and by which, - and other printed performances of his, though dead, he yet speaks.
After he was fully satisfied in his mind about the point of baptism, he joined himself with the church then under the pastoral care of the Reverend Mr. Edward Waltin; and when he had finished his studies, was called forth by that church to the work of the ministry, into which he came not only with the entire approbation of that church, but with great acceptance to the public: he was soon called to be an assistant to the Reverend Mr. John Noble, in whose meeting place [5374] Lord’s-day evening lecture was opened for him, where he preached to a crowded audience: he came forth even at first with clear evangelical light, with great warmth, zeal, and fervency of spirit; and, like another Apollos, with a torrent of eloquence, being mighty in the scriptures; all which recommended him to all sorts of people, and made him exceeding popular.
After some time, you, this church of Christ, being destitute of a pastor, called him to take the pastoral care of you, which he accepted of, and was solemnly inverted with the office of a pastor, elder, or overseer, many ministers assisting in that service, who, all rest from their labors, excepting myself; this, I think, was about five or six and twenty years ago. His ministry among you has been greatly owned to the conversion of many sinners, and to the comfort and edification of you all present, as well as of many that are gone to glory before him. The low estate in which you were, when he came to this place, and the numbers of which you now consist, and the flourishing condition in which you now are, abundantly show the success of his ministration among you; notwithstanding the breaches, which by one providence or another, have been made upon you; his popularity continuing to the last.
Need I describe him as a preacher to you, who, at least many of you, have so long sat under his ministry; his mien and deportment in the pulpit was grave and venerable; his gesture graceful; his address very moving and pathetic; his language striking; his discourses spiritual, savory, and evangelical; having a tendency to awaken the minds of sinners to a sense of sin and danger, and to relieve and comfort distressed minds: he was indeed an eloquent preacher, and a warm defender of the peculiar doctrines of the christian religion; and in one word, laborious, indefatigable, and successful; not a loiterer, but a laborer in the Lord’s vineyard; as in his public work, so in the more private duties of his office, visiting the church and members of it, without respect of persons; fervent in his prayers for them, and with them; hearty in his advice unto them, and unwearied in doing any service for them he undertook. And let me not forget his conduct at your church-meetings, where he presided, becoming his character and office; what authority he used when necessary; what prudence in all things; what patience in bearing with the infirmities of the weak, and it may be sometimes the rudeness of some, and the invectives of others; what lenity to offenders; what compassion to backsliders; what reluctance to pass the awful sentence on the incorrigible, and with what tears in prayer he would weep over such unhappy professors!
His gift in prayer was very remarkable and extraordinary; with what fullness of matter, freedom of mind, and fervor of spirit, as well as pertinency of expression, and propriety of language, would he pour out his soul before God, and wrestle with him; what a compass would he fetch, and reach every case, both private and public; and not only express the sense of his own heart, but that of others that joined with him, in a better and fuller manner, than they could do it for themselves.
He was affable and courteous in his behavior to all men, of a cheerful spirit, his conversation pleasant, profitable, entertaining, and useful: which made him generally beloved by all sorts of persons. In social life, he was the tender husband, the affectionate father, and the faithful friend.
In his last illness he was seized at first with such a stupor, as rendered him very little conversible during the whole time; so that nothing of his gracious experience could be taken from him, only some broken words and expressions now and then were dropped by him, which showed him to be in a spiritual frame: but from a small manuscript, written by him in health, I shall give a few extracts, in which he not only expresses his sense of mercies, temporal and spiritual, but observes the gracious dealings of God with him, and his experience of his divine favor. “I have had, says he, many sweet visits of his love, especially in secret, and at his table. God, in Christ, adds he, I hope is my portion, his providence my defense, and his good Spirit my guide and comforter.” And in another place, he expresses his sense of the corruption of his heart, the infirmities of his life, his faith and hope in a bleeding Savior, and his desires after unspotted purity and holiness; he complains of “a polluted, proud, peevish heart, prone to atheism, folly, and every evil—and of a life tarnished with many blemishes, sad indiscretions, and heart-breaking ingratitude—surely, says he, God hath hardly done more for any, nor any left to do more against him!—then expresses an hope limited to a bleeding mediator—and concludes, blessed day that will bring perfect purity.” Which day is come to him, and has brought it to him. A word or two more, and I have done.
To you, the mournful widow of the deceased, give me leave to say, your loss is indeed great; you have lost a kind and indulgent husband; but remember, Christ your spiritual husband lives; and from him, and his love, you can never be separated; put your trust in him, he will never leave you nor forsake you. To you his dear offspring, whom he most affectionately loved, you have lost one who has been, and still would have been, the guide of your youth, and constant monitor; follow his example, remember his instructions; shun the pleasures of sin, and the vanities of this world; flee youthful lusts; seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and serve your father’s God, and things will be well with you. And to you, this church of Christ, among whom he has ministered many years, I would only say, abide by the truths he preached to you; imitate him in everything praiseworthy, and of good report; you have lost your shepherd, keep close to one another, and do not scatter and stray from the fold; preserve the order and discipline of Christ’s house; seek peace and pursue it, unite in your counsels, be frequent and fervent in prayer; and I doubt not but in due time, God will send you a pastor to feed you with knowledge, and with understanding.