DISCOURSE XVII.

J. J. AUDEBEZ.

LIKE a considerable number of the ministers in the Established Protestant Churches in France, Mr. Audebez began to preach before he had met with a real change of heart. But in 1822, ten years after his ordination, he became a new man. A native of the south of France, for several years he was stationed at Nérac, a small city not very far from Bordeaux. For many years past he has labored with considerable success in Paris; preaching in two or three Independent Chapels, which have been long maintained by the contributions of liberal French Christians. He was for some time aided by Dr. Grandpierre.

Mr. Audebez has published quite a number of excellent tracts and letters in advocacy of evangelical religion, and several volumes of sermons. The Rev. Robert Baird, D. D., in an article published in the "Biblical Repository," of 1839, reviews these sermons at some length, and awards to their author the character of an excellent preacher. "We hardly know," says he, "where the reader could find sermons more edifying. They are all good. Some of them are remarkably fine specimens of a most happy tact for exhibiting in a few words, and in a most perspicuous style, the real meaning of a passage of the sacred Scriptures. We had the privilege of hearing most of these discourses (of one volume) preached. And we can never forget the unassuming and earnest manner of the preacher, nor the impression which many of them made on his auditory." The visible effect, in a particular instance, he speaks of as being equal to that of any thing which he ever heard in any country, or in any language.

The following is translated from the volume entitled, Sermons on "L'Enfant de la Prophétie, ou L'Agneau de Dieu, etc."-The Child of Prophecy, or the Lamb of God, etc. Paris, 1837. It contains some fine conceptions, well expressed, and will convey a pretty accurate idea of the author's general characteristics as a preacher.

DEATH THE GATE OF HEAVEN.

"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 labors, and their works do follow them."-REV., xiv. 13.

VERY DEAR CHRISTIAN BRETHREN-Death being the inevitable wages of sin, we must expect that, sooner or later, it will approach us, to put in

execution the decree which gives it power over our bodies-"Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return."

But while death claims from each one of us its tribute, by causing us to go the way of all the earth," we are called from time to time to see its cold hand weighing heavily upon our neighbors, our friends, our relatives. And if in life, there are trials which render necessary powerful consolations, are they not those which result from the pain, affliction, and mourning, which are so frequently renewed around and in the midst of us?

Yes, for our rebel nature, for flesh and blood, it is a hard necessity to die! Perhaps it is a necessity no less sad to see the beings cherished by us, violently snatched from our arms by death, to be laid in the tomb, and leave us forever deprived of the sweetness of their society upon the earth.

The Apostle Paul well understood the bitterness, even for the heart of Christians, in such separations. Thus he offers to them a balm, which, at need, may be applied to the wounds they leave behind. "But, my brethren," he writes to the Thessalonians, "I would not have you to be ignorant of that which concerns the dead, that you should afflict yourselves as those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we ought also to believe that God will bring again by Jesus those who die in him, that they may be with him.”

These words, and the following, to the end of the chapter, may be suitably applied to soften the sorrow caused by the loss of those who are dear to us. The announcement of their future resurrection, the positive assurance that they shall one day be raised from the tomb, clothed with a body incorruptible and glorious, the prospect of reunion with them, never more to be separated, in a state of perfect happiness, where our relations with them shall never more, by any events, be interrupted or troubled. O, what charm, what sweetness is there in this revelation of the gospel!

But this source of consolation, whence Christians, at all times, may abundantly draw, is not the only one open to them. Our text presents another not less precious, and to which we would to-day direct your attention. "Then," said St. John, "I heard a voice from heaven, which said to me Write, Blessed from henceforth are the dead who die in the Lord! Yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them." Such is the truth which we shall now place before you, surrounded with the testimony rendered to it by the word of God. Such is the truth, under the influence of which we desire to place you, and with you to place ourselves, that we may be enabled continually to rejoice together and bless the Lord, whatever may be his dispensations toward us, toward our families, and toward our friends.

Many children die before they have done either good or evil; many others in whom sin has manifested itself in arious ways, but who were

not yet capable of rendering an account of their actions; again, many, who arriving at the age of discernment, have beheld, through the aid of pious parents, the infant Saviour in the manger; well, we think that we are authorized to believe, not from any express declaration of the Bible, but from the entire Bible-to believe, that to all such, redemption is mercifully granted; that washed, cleansed, purified in the blood of the heavenly Friend of children, they quit this life, of which they have only seen the morning.

By "the dead who die in the Lord," must, in the second place, be understood all those who, before breathing the last sigh, behold, and by faith unite themselves to Jesus Christ, should it be at the last moment of their earthly existence! There is, without doubt, great, terrible danger to the soul which delays conversion, and waits the last hour to seize hold upon the promise of eternal life. But it must be recognized and said that, nevertheless, there is a possibility that the most obdurate, the most obstinate of sinners may obtain grace and pardon, at the instant which introduces him into eternity, should he turn a suppliant regard of confidence upon the "Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.”

Beside the express declarations which the gospel offers to us in great numbers, we find an example, in the parable of the workmen, entering at the last hour into the vineyard, who each received a penny, as did their companions that had preceded them in the work; also the example, much more significant, of the thief converted upon the cross-examples which confirm what so often, and in different ways, is told us of the infinite mercy of God, that only awaits the return of the sinner to be efficaciously applied to him.

It does not then belong to us to pronounce upon the final condemnation of any nothing can be more presumptuous. We can not bound the extent of God's mercy, nor the dealings of his gracious providence. A celebrated preacher* has said: "The heart of an elect may be hid under the exterior of reprobation ;" and the religion of love which we profess, while it teaches us to work out with holy fear our own salvation, prescribes to us a charitable judgment respecting that of others.

Thus, leaving to the Searcher of hearts and of reins, the secrets which belong to him alone, we may say, with much firmer assurance, that by "the dead which die in the Lord," may be understood those who, having given signs of true conversion, being still in health, continue, on the bed of pain to make Jesus Christ their only support, and peacefully sink into the repose of death.

Finally, by "the dead who die in the Lord," we may understand, those who close a life, manifestly Christian, by a death which renders still more manifest their faith, their piety, their zeal, their charity and their lively hope.

In return, "to die in the Lord," is to be dislodged from this world,

*Saurin.

reconciled with God, and freed from the condemnation of the law, by the expiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is to be hoped-we love to say itthat many thus die, whose hearts have been changed by the invisible operations of the Holy Spirit, though this change be unknown to surviv ing friends. But whether the dying be known to us as the ransomed by Christ, or whether we have received from them no testimony of their heavenly adoption, it suffices for their participation in the benefits of the covenant, that they be sealed by the blood of the cross; we declare them blessed from the moment the soul quits its mortal tenement.

This truth, my dear brethren, we have reason to believe, is not received and understood in the same manner by all the faithful. There are those who, from not having attentively considered it in the light of the holy Scriptures, have formed incorrect ideas of it, substituting an opinion quite contrary to that taught us by the voice of Heaven.

This opinion is, that the children of God, in leaving this life, enter into a state of slumber, where, in truth, they suffer no ills, but in which they do not yet enjoy the happiness of heaven. Those who hold this opinion say, that it will not be until the morning of the resurrection when the soul shall be again united to the body, and raised from the dust, that it will enter upon the enjoyment of the felicity destined for it.

We admit that this idea may seem to be authorized by certain familiar expressions of the Bible; but when the Scriptures say of David, Solomon, Rehoboam, Jehoshaphat, and of most of the kings of Judah and of Israel, that each of them "slept with his fathers;" in the same manner as when the Apostle Paul says, that at the resurrection, we shall not all sleep; but that those which are alive shall not prevent them that are asleep ;" these expressions, "to be asleep," "to sleep," are not applied to the soul, but to the body. If we examine closely, we shall find that the inspired authors, in speaking of the soul after its disunion with the body, never say "it sleeps:" it is only of our physical nature that they thus speak.

To maintain that in leaving this "house of clay," the soul falls into a state of slumber, incapable of happiness or unhappiness, without sensation, and in a manner without life, is an error which is opposed both by reason and by Scripture. It is, at least, to be plunged into a dreadful materialism, which does not know or believe that the soul is essentially, or of itself, thought: and is not thought action? If then thought is an act incompatible with the body, and belongs exclusively to the soul, why should the soul cease to think because the body has ceased to move? And besides, to conceive of the soul without thought, is a thing as impossible as to conceive of the body without extent, hence the result that the soul always thinks; although its union with the body, and its infirmities, often prevent us, while this union continues, from tracing it in its incessant activity; and if the soul appears to be drawn into the sleep so necessary for the body, how often, even in this

state, does it not reveal itself in its permane it activity, by dreams of which memory so faithfully retraces the images! We repeat it, the soul ever thinks-it can not cease to think without ceasing to be. As our immaterial nature, and the word of our Creator teach, that the soul does not cease to exist in its separation from the body, we may boldly conclude that it does not cease to think, consequently does not slumber, deprived of sentiment and of action. No, my brethren, no; and that which true reason teaches, is admirably confirmed by the attestations of our holy books, which so strongly affirm, that "blessed from henceforth are the dead who die in the Lord!"

The first testimony we shall bring here, is offered by Jesus Christ himself in his parable of Lazarus and the rich man. Do we not there see Abraham in the abode of the blessed, in relation with the celestial intelligences, in the full possession of the promised inheritance? If the father of the faithful, as we see coming from the earth has arrived at the "city whose maker and builder is God," may we not conclude that all the children of his faith follow him there? Thus you doubtless have remarked, that the parable places no interval between the death of the poor Lazarus, and his being carried by the angel into the bosom of Abraham; neither is there any interval between the death of the rich man and his entrance into the place of torment. "Remember that thou hast had thy good things in this life, and Lazarus evil things; now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." If this example from sacred history gives testimony, it certainly teaches that death has but two issues-one leading directly to heaven, the other to hell; and that every man, as soon as he is disrobed of mortality, shall reap according as he has sowed, either eternal happiness or misery.

Another testimony which clearly brings out the truth, with which we are at present occupied, is that contained in the words addressed to the thief upon the cross. It can not be doubted that Jesus Christ entered into heaven at the moment in which he breathed his last. This, in sort, he himself affirms, when he says, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." And if it is certain that at leaving the body, his soul was received into the bosom of the Father, there is the same certainty that the converted thief enjoyed the same privilege, since our Saviour says to him positively, "thou shalt be with me to-day in paradise."

Moses and Elias, so long a time withdrawn from the world, nevertheless appeared together in glory upon the holy mountain with the Lord Jesus at his transfiguration; making themselves known to the three disciples, witnesses of this event; did they not attest in a powerful manner the happy condition of the faithful immediately after this life? and did they not proclaim that the just, beyond the tomb, are in a state of watchfulness, of activity, and of happiness-living in intimate communion with God, knowing each other, and reciprocating their thoughts and feelings?