A SERMON FOR THE RICH TO BUY, THAT THEY MAY BENEFIT THEMSELVES AND THE POOR. BY EZRA STILES ELY. NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY WILLIAMS AND WHITING, AT THEIR THEOLOGICAL AND CLASSICAL BOOK-STORE, No. 118, Pearl-street. Printed by J. Seymour. 1810. If any profit shall arise from the sale of this publication, it shall be devoted to the propagation of the Gospel among the poor in the Almshouse and Hospital. MUS A SERMON, &c. Let the Gospel be preached to every creature. REVELATION xiv. 13, AND I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, blessed are 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. . OH H that my words were now written! Oh that they were printed in a book! that they were graven. with an iron pen and lead, in the rock for ever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day on the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Thanks to God, that these words were written and printed in a book; for they have been the consolation of believers in every age since that of the patriarch Job. Christians, does not every recital of them make your hearts rejoice in God the Saviour? But what were the words of Job, without the words of Jehovah? Job utters his assurance of a resurrection. Jehovah promises eternal felicity. The resurrection, without the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus, would be the commencement of everlasting contempt. Thanks to God, that he said, "WRITE, blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord." Had this assurance been uttered from heaven but once, would it not have been echoed from kingdom to kingdom, from world to world, until the end of time? Could any child of Adam have failed of receiving this good news of salvation? WRITE, said the voice from heaven. Why should the words be written? Could they have been forgotten? Would they not have been repeated with rapture, from father to son, so that every dying man would have responded, "blessed are the dead who die in the Lord ?” The voice from heaven was the voice of Jesus, who pronounced the dead blessed; and the Holy Spirit added an explanation of the nature of their felicity. They "rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." Why was the whole prefaced by the command, "Write ?" Did not heaven and earth listen to the words spoken by Christ and the Spirit? Do not mankind believe them? "Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come, for ever and ever; that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: which say to the seers, "see not ;" and to the prophets, "prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things; prophesy deceits: get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path; cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us*." Here we learn the necessity of a written revelation. Men are stupidly opposed to the truth; and were the words of God committed to the memory and veracity of man, they would be forgotten or perverted. WRITE, that it may be read from age to age; that it may be remembered, believed, and obeyed by all nations. "Write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them†.' The divine declaration, that all who die in the Lord are blessed, has been written. The record has come even to us, in these ends of the world. But, alas! that it should be thus! it is not read by many; it is believed by a less number; and is constantly remembered by none. "Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord." Consoling words! They are full of truth, grace, and mercy. They can smooth the pillow, and soften the bed of death. But, shame to the inactivity of be * Isa. xxx. 8-12, † Ezek. xliii. 11. |