are! 20 2. How charm-ing is their voice! How sweet the tidings # Who bring sal-va-tion on their tongues, And words of peace re "Zi - on, be-hold thy Saviour King; He reigns and tri-umphs here." Which kings and prophets waited for, And sought, but nev-er found! THE PRESBYTERIAN MAGAZINE. NOVEMBER, 1856. Miscellaneous Articles. THE SAINTS IN GLORY SPEAKING TO US.* "And by it, he being dead, yet speaketh." THE saints' death, while it is great gain to themselves, yet is it a loss to survivors. While they live we enjoy their pious labors, their assistance, counsels, conversation, prayers, charity, and their living examples; but when they die we lose these advantages. But though death deprives us, and the world at large, of the good man, and removes him from our sight and society for the present, yet we do not lose all his services: his usefulness is not confined to the present life, nor buried with him in the grave. Abel is dead, yet he speaks. The apostles and prophets, the confessors and martyrs, have been dead for many ages, yet they speak; and every good man at this day, dying in the same faith, speaks the same emphatical language, and gives additional lustre to the bright cloud of witnesses. As we are assembled this day to wait on God in the way of commanded duty, and perform the last offices of respect to the memory of our reverend father and dear brother, your late worthy pastor, the news of whose sudden remove having reached my ears with all its attendant train of distressing, yet, in a certain sense, delightful circumstances; these words, which form a part of the finished cha • [We lately received the manuscript of this exceedingly interesting sermon from ELISHA H. PERKINS, Esq., of Baltimore, who sent it to "THE PRESBYTERIAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY." The sermon was written by the Rev. A. MITCHELL, Pastor of the Church of Upper Octorara, Pennsylvania, on the occasion of the death of the Rev. ROBERT SMITH, D.D., of Pequea, in 1793. We have divided the sermon into two parts, and placed the strictly biographical part under the heading of "Biographical and Historical," a few pages farther on.-ED.] 37 VOL. VI. NO. 11. racter of an ancient saint and Christian hero, and which have been read unto you, impressed my mind which shall be the subject of our meditations on this mournful occasion. And if ever this part of the character of Abel could, with propriety, be applied to any one since his day, it may be justly applied to the Rev. Doctor Robert Smith, who, being dead, yet speaketh. And while we have the remembrance of that excellent man fresh in our mind's memory, may we apply the design of the text to ourselves, and improve the bereaving Providence in a profitable manner. It is not in our power to render the deceased any service; for we well know he is now raised far above and beyond the reach of human benefits. And as many of you, I trust, have gained real advantage from his life, your business now is to reap the same from his death; and as his useful life has been attended with blessings, so will his death if duly improved. Let us, therefore, attend to our text; for it is God by Abel who speaks to us. In treating of this subject, I shall attempt, by Divine aid, the following things: I. Inquire by what means Abel and the saints departed speak to us. II. The way and manner, or how they speak to us. And III. Shall conclude with an exhortation to hear and imitate them. I. I am to call upon you to attend to the instrument or means by which Abel and all the saints in departed glory speak to us, and, I might add, to what purpose. The text produces one, viz., Faith. And a similar portion of sacred writ which we have in the same Epistle 6: 12, affords another, viz., Patience. By the exercise of these two, we may, through grace inherit the promises. While the heirs of glory are in a state of probation, faith and patience are peculiar to their case and circumstances, and indispensably needful. In heaven there will be no call for the exercise of them; for faith will be superseded by the sight, and hope, the child of faith, in the fruition of the glorious object, Christ; and as there will be nothing to suffer there, so no need of patience. But while we continue in this state, we live and walk by faith, and in patience we are to possess our souls. As the saints are made both for a state of trial and of perfect felicity, FAITH is a necessary qualification for the one, and PATIENCE is as requisite and necessary to enable us to bear the calamities of the other. Abel and the saints in glory tell us, that it was by faith in the blessed Jesus that their persons, services, and all their labors of love, found a gracious acceptance with God. By faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And we are accepted through the Beloved, says another heir of glory. Eph. 1: 6. Again they tell us, it is only by faith that we do and they did gain any notices of the glorious and terrible regions of the eternal world. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. Heb. 11 : 1. We can learn nothing of these things by the senses. It doth not yet appear what we shall be. The all-important scenes of heaven and hell are concealed from mortal sight, and death alone can draw the curtain. By intelligence we can gain no knowledge of them, for none of the inhabitants of that invisible state do ever make any visits to our world to give us information of what is doing on the other side; therefore, all we can know about the one or the other is by faith, and that faith is a belief of the testimony of God concerning it. The written Word of God is his testimony: "And whosoever will not believe this, will not be persuaded, though one should arise from the dead." Luke 16: 31. Abel and the saints departed inform us of the necessity of regeneration, and the implantation of grace. Now the faith that produces this change, and unites us to Christ, the living Head, is not merely an assent to the truth of His doctrine and mission; for such a faith the very devils have, and a thousand professing Christians have had, who, notwithstanding that, are now consigned over to eternal wrath and vengeance. But the soul that believes in Christ, so as to be justified freely by grace, is one, who having been truly humbled under a sense of his sinful and dangerous state, is made cordially willing to embrace the offered Saviour under all His characters, and thankfully to submit to the way of salvation by Him; ascribing all the glory to the riches of His grace, and cheerfully devoting himself to His service; being ready, through the assistance of the blessed Spirit, to yield a willing, a constant, obedience to all his precepts and commands, which are not grievous (1 John 53), but in all things agreeable to truth and righteousness, and subservient to our real happiness. Furthermore, they tell us that it is by faith we gain the knowledge of the saints' inheritance in light and glory; and, what is more deeply interesting, we gain a right and title to that inheritance by faith also. I would be understood here to mean, that faith is not a meritorious condition, but a suspending term, without which the benefit cannot be obtained. Every unbeliever is a subject of condemnation, and an heir of hell. John 3: 18; Mark 16 16. But faith unites him to Christ. Rom. 8: 1. And by means of our union, our interest in that blessed possession is secured to us. This inheritance was purchased at the immense price of Christ's blood, and faith in His blood is a compliance with the terms of the new covenant. Now this faith assures us of the reality and worth of eternal invisible things, and produces a confident assured satisfaction of soul, that God will infallibly perform what he has promised, whereby the believer is as confident of them, as if they were before his eyes and in his actual possession. Heb. 11: 1; 2 Cor. 4: 18. Abel and the saints in glory acquaint us, that the inherent qualifications for the heavenly state and world are also gained and obtained by faith. Gal. 5: 6; Acts 15: 9. Whoever will give credit to the most plain declarations of the Gospel, and whoever has any just acquaintance with his own heart, must be convinced of the deep defilement of human nature. The pollution of the human heart hath been the fatal source of all the iniquity and disorder that have appeared in our world; a good reason why the heart needs cleansing and purifying. Now the heart is purified by faith. This is a belief of the truth which enables the mind to behold things in their true light. Faith beholds God in His true character, Christ in His real character, and ourselves as we are; it enables us to see sin as it is, and holiness as it is; in a word, faith inspires with such principles, and gives the soul such views as will lay the foundation for the new nature. Faith must be at the root of every grace and Christian virtue, and only from that all holy Gospel obedience can spring. Without it we cannot please God, and be accepted by Him. John 1: 16; Heb. 11: 6. Finally, they inform us that we must take the impenetrable shield of faith, by which we shall not only be able to quench Satan's fiery darts, overcome the world by bringing an infinitely better one in view, which is perfect in nature and endless in duration; but also by which the heirs of glory will be furnished, strengthened, fortified, and encouraged, in their Christian race to the heavenly inheritance. The present world is no friendly region to the child of grace. While here, we are far from home, in an enemy's country, surrounded with foes, and liable to hostile attacks from every quarter, from earth and from hell; the flesh is weak, corruption is powerful. These are often the circumstances of the best of men. Now it is by faith alone that any are furnished to conflict with and repel these enemies. Faith brings the goal of eternal bliss to view, and a sight of that will quicken and animate the believer, Rom. 13: 11. Faith will realize an omnipotent, omniscient, and an omnipresent God, which will cause him to endure, as seeing Him who is invisible. Heb. 11: 27. In the night of adversity, when earthly joys are fled never to return, when not a creature can yield support or comfort, the eye of faith will pierce the incumbent gloom, and trust a faithful God and Redeemer, while it looks not on seen but on unseen things of eternal bliss. In this chapter we read the astonishing, the amazing effects of faith; by faith those renowned heroes put to flight the armies of the aliens, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of flames, and did other wonderful exploits. These, indeed, were effected by the faith of miracles, which has long since ceased, and |