THE faith that is to Israel given,

Is God's free gift sent down from heaven;
And does the matchless grace display,
Of Christ the life, the truth, the way.

What though I am defiled with sin,
And born unholy and unclean;
Through grace I'm taught on God to call,
And at his footstool humbly fall.

My cry at first may seem in vain,
But faith is taught to call again;
And for this cause the gospel saith,
"T is for the trial of your faith.

Though 't is not meet that I should take
The children's bread my food to make;
Yet grant me Lord-though this be all-
The crumbs which from the table fall.

The meanest of thy saints, O Lord,
Share in thy tenderest regard;
And though my cries seem from thee cast,
The promised good will come at last.

Have mercy then, O Lord, on me,
May I thy great salvation see;
And praise, with all thy saints above,
Redeeming grace and dying love.

May heavenly manna fall around,
And grace o'er all our sins abound,
To shew the Lord is there.

May all his servants preach the word
Of Christ their sin atoning Lord,
And lift his glories high;

Yet while they tell of Jesus' name,
And all his wondrous love proclaim,
Oh may they feel him nigh.

Make bare thine arm Almighty God,
And stop poor sinners on the road
To everlasting woe:

Draw them with cords of sacred love,
And lead their thoughts to things above,
Away from things below.

Let thy dear children all be fed
With Christ the ever-living bread,
Till here they want no more;
That while on dying love they feast,
And thy salvation sweetly taste,
They may thy name adore.

Thus may the hours of this blest day,
With sacred pleasure pass away,

While we thy praise resound;
Oh may our hearts, in faith and love,
Mount upward to thy courts above,
With sacred awe profound.

Prepare us for thy courts above-
The realms of everlasting love-

Where we may dwell with thee;
See dearest Jesus face to face,
And sing the triumphs of his grace,
Through all eternity.

HAVE I an interest in thy love,
Thou God of truth and grace;
And shall I dwell with thee above
In yonder shining place?

Did Jesus die to save my soul

From wretchedness and woe?
Then he, blest Lamb, shall have the whole
Of praise and glory due.

Has the bless'd Spirit sanctified
This sin-polluted heart;
And have I for his mercy cried
With penitential smart?

Then will I, now and evermore,
Adore the sacred Three,
For saving, by almighty power,
A wretch so base as me.

SUBSTANCE OF A SERMON DELIVERED IN CORPUS CHRISTI CHAPEL, STONEHOUSE, ON LORD'S DAY MORNING, MARCH 12, 1843: OCCASIONED BY

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THE DEATH OF THE REV. SEPTIMUS COURTNEY, A. M. LATE VICAR CHARLES, PLYMOUTH.

"Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets."-Lam. xii. 5. BLESSED then are they that mourn for they shall be comforted in grace here below and glory hereafter. For there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner, being an hundred years old, shall be accursed! Hence our commission: ་་ Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that April, 1843.]

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her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." And hence we invariably find it better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. Surely then there is an ap. pointed time to man upon the earth: are not his days also like the days of an hireling? For man dieth and wasteth away, yea man giveth up the ghost and where is he? Ah! that is the question, unto which alone the scripture can give a proper answer. Wherefore, while on the one hand, "I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, blessed art the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them;" so likewise, on the other, it is as solemnly proclaimed, "The wicked shall be cast into hell, with all the people that forget God," Prov. xvi. 4. Witness for example this truth fully exemplified in the instances of Dives and the poor man, as it is written, Luke xvi. 19-26. And thus the fact, if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it

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shall lie. Most certainly! For as on the north side lieth the city of the great King, wherein God is known in his palaces for a refuge, so, on the contrary, Tophet is ordained of old for the king (Apollyon) it is prepared,

and the breath of the Lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it. Rev. xxi. 23-27. "Therefore I

would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Wherefore comfort one another with these words (1 Cor. xv. 51-57).

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How true then the record: "The days of our years are threescore years and ten and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow: for it is soon cut off and we flee away." proof hereof tell me. Your fathers, where are they? Or the prophets, do they live for ever? No indeed, for one event happeneth unto all, to the righteous and to the wicked: whether high or low, rich or poor, male or female, old or young, black or white; all go unto one place, all are of the dust, and all turn to the dust again: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So teach us then, O Lord, to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto each and to all," Set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live." And believe me, brethren, it is one of our greatest mercies that the decree hath so gone forth; for I would not live here always, in the prison of a body of death, disease and wretchedness. Well spake the poet :

"When languor and disease invade,

This trembling house of clay :
'Tis sweet to look beyond our cage,
And long to flee away.'

Inasmuch as that we know, "If our earthly house of this tabernacle

were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens !" Sweetly therefore, our Lord comforted his sorrowing disciples: "Let not your hearts be troubled," John xiv. 3. And again: "If ye loved me ye would rejoice, because I said I go unto the Father," verse 28.

No wonder then, the apostle, when contemplating this heavenly state or unseen world, should break out, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him: but God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. Lord, what is man that thou art thus mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him? Man in and of himself is a thing of nought, being altogether vanity. Hence the creature was made subject to vanity, that the creature itself should be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Do you notice the end of man? Why, that as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven. Passing away, therefore, from the mere letter of our morning scripture, and viewing the words of my text in this spiritual or gospel point of view, what a

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wonderful subject opens up to the apprehension of faith in God's elect. For there is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. And is it enquired, what is he now? The good man is gone a long journey, he hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come again at the day appointed. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and breth

ren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. Thus, man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. In speaking unto you, then, from this portion of the Lord's most holy word, my humble attempt will be, through grace, in the first place to unfold a little of His love, who "though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor:" shewing also at the same time, that after he had finished redemption work, he for ever sat down on the right hand of God. "Man goeth to his long home."

When? Even as aforesaid, in the Lord's appointed time, way, and manner! Or as it is expressed in the third verse, in the day when the keepers [hands] of the house shall tremble, and the strong men [legs] shall bow themselves; and the grinders [teeth] shall cease to do their office because they are few : and

those that look out of the windows [eyes] be darkened, or closed in death. And the doors [mouth or lips] shall be shut in the streets: for the dead cannot praise thee, O Lord! When the sound of the grinding [jaws] is loose, or a conscience open to receive and masticate food. And the daughters of music [ears] shall be brought low. When the almond tree [the hoary head] shall flourish, for the hoary head is a glory if it be found in the way of righteousness. And the grasshopper [human frame] shall be a burden to the new born spirit. Then shall the silver cord [pith of the backbone] be loosed, pulse cease to beat, and the poor body become a breathless corpse, fit only for corruption. And then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Thus died all old testament saints and new testament believers, in the faith and fear of the Lord, and comfort of the Holy

Ghost! Thus the Lord's words are verily fulfilled: Dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return. And thus departed our highly favoured and esteemed brother in the Lord, Jesus, the late S. C. when returning into his rest beyond the skies to be for ever with Him in whose presence there is a fulness of joy, and at whose right-hand are pleasures for evermore. Oh, he was a good man, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost; and much people were added unto the Lord through his honoured instrumentality. Often hath it been my privilege to sit at this Barnabas' feet with sacred pleasure, and received the word fall. ing from his lips, with greater sweetness than the droppings of the honey from the honey-comb. But now all is over, and the place that once knew him shall know him again no more for ever. Farewell, then, sainted man of God, we shall soon follow after to join the hallelujah, anew, unto God and the Lamb! Hear ye therefore the dying testimony of this great man and bright example in Israel when (on his bed) surrounded by his weeping and affectionate family: I die as I wish: happy in the Lord: I die in Christ! And then addressing his medical attendant in a most loving and christian-like manner respecting his latter end also, he fell on sleep, in the everlasting embrace of Jesus, in full assurance of a blissful immortality. What a loss to the mourning bride (spiritual child of Christ!) What a loss to his truly amiable and spiritual family! And once more, what a loss especially to the poor of his flock, whose wants and necessities it was ever his greatest pleasure to relieve! Well, well, be it so, for even this cometh from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in works. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

But, passing away from the servant, the Lord help us to go a step

higher, and take a view of Him who saw no corruption, and of whom Adam was only a figure. Behold, therefore, here shadowed forth the Man whose name is the Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. How blessed this revelation, the counsel of peace, which was from everlasting, shall continue to be between both God the Father and God the Son, whereof God the Holy Ghost is witness unto us. What this counsel was is evident from various parts of the book of God: when God the Father went forth for the salvation of his people, even for salvation with his Anointed. Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst I have laid help upon one that is mighty: I have exalted one chosen out of the people. And then the Son humbled himself, to become the head of his body the church, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. Now, therefore, on this ground it was, by mutual covenant engagements, the Son of God was called the man, long before the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. Not that he was really and properly so, until born of the virgin in the fulness of time; but simply be cause from the agreement between the Holy Three, he was ordained or decreed to become such in the days of Herod. Hence he declares the decree, Psalm ii. 7. And again, Prov. viii. 22. This therefore was his original going forth in the council chamber of eternity: when the Lord called him in righteousness, promised to hold his hand, and to give him for a covenant to the people. Oh! then how great his love and rich his grace, so to be made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and ho

tion, in contradistinction to angels or devils. Micah v. 5.

Behold then, for the moment, this glorious man going before the children of Israel in the pillar of a cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, when leading them in the right way to the city of habitation. Joshua also, when by Jericho, lifted up his eyes, looked, and saw this Man over against with his sword drawn in his hand, chap. v. 13, 14. Manoah likewise entreated the Lord, and said, "Oh, my Lord, let the Man of God which thou didst send come again unto us," Judges xiii. 8, 10. And once more, Daniel, when by the river Hiddekel, looked and saw a certain Man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded, chap. x. 5, 6. But we must not stop here, for see also this Man of Sorrows, when he came into our world, going about doing good, opening the eyes of the blind, and preaching the gospel of his kingdom.

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[Here proved how this Man goeth

his active obedience to the law of God as our almighty Surety. Heb. vii. 22. Then proved the way this Man goeth in his passive sufferings unto death. Heb. v. 7. After which made plain he goeth into the grave. Hos. xiii. 14. And then made manifest, that having completely finished the work his Father gave him to do, he goeth indeed to his long home, heaven itself. Heb. ix. 24; 1 John ii. 1, 2.]

And wherefore is heaven called man's long home, think you? Not only on account of its having been long since appointed as the rest for the people of God; but likewise because when at home (sweet home!) we shall see our father, mother, brothers and sisters, with their servants the angels or ministering spirits. Matt. iii. 35. Then what a glorious place must our long home be, where we shall see him as he is, be like him, and behold his face in glory. Rev. vii. 9,17. Which will lead me to go on,