Sermons ...

Preface

THIS brief and imperfect sketch is a compilation, from such published records as could be obtained, with the kind assistance of a friend in preparing the papers for the press.

Many of these sermons were preached and published " by request " a number of years ago, and, as a friend of my late father writes, "At that time they had a wide circulation, with highest appreciation, from those who could best judge of their value."

Frequent requests have recently been made for copies of some of these sermons, but most of them had been published so early in his ministry that they had passed out of print and could not be obtained. It has been a pleasant task to try to place in a more permanent form so much at least of the works of my father.

Only a small part of his writings are given in this volume. He had prepared for the press, Expositions of the Epistles to the Hebrews and the Ephesians, and of The Revelation, and some of the Prophets. Looking over the mass of neatly prepared manuscript, it has been a matter of amazement how all this work could have been accomplished by one who was not only Pastor of a large

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PREFACE, congregation, but also Professor of Greek and Hebrew in a theological seminary, and at this time the only one to teach the students anything to fit them for the office of the ministry. How well this was done, the band of noble men who are scattered all over this land and also in foreign lands can testify. All was work for "the Master" he so loved to serve, and not for worldly gain, as his salary from the seminary was merely nominal, a pittance of $300 a year.

It is easy to understand why the family rarely saw my father, except in the evenings, which he always cheerfully devoted to them. Or why, at sixty-eight years of age, he should be taken away, with no disease, as his physician said.

The truth is correctly given in a sentence from a sketch which appeared in 1876, in a work called "Men of Mark of Cumberland Valley, Penn.," by Rev. Alfred Nevin, D.D. He says, "Dr. McCarrell's last years were made sad by various causes, which could not operate upon such a nature as his without reaching and affecting the fountain of physical life. *

"The changes in the denomination* to which he was so warmly attached, causing separation, from

* The Associate Reformed Church, or, as it is sometimes called, the Scotch Presbyterian, was for many years a strong body of Calvinists in New York and Pennsylvania. (See life of Dr. John M. Mason.) And there is yet in the South, I am told, a large and influential body of Associate Reformed Presbyterians.

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V brethren with whom he had so long been closely connected in ecclesiastical fellowship, and the death of his eldest daughter all made a deep and visible impression upon him. That 'his strength was weakened in the way ' was obvious to all. With only a few days illness he 4 fell on sleep/ March, 1864, and is buried in the 'Old Graveyard' in the center of the city of Newburgh, N. Y., surrounded by his elders, who also are ' waiting for the adoption.'

" Dr. McCarrell was married to a Miss Jane B. Leiper, of Shippensburgh, Perm., a lady of superior excellence as a minister's wife. His family consisted of eight children, four of whom are living, and also one grandson."

On a hill which commands a fine view of the city of Newburgh and the Hudson stands the "Theological Seminary," a large stone building, It is now used as a boarding-school for boys ; the school is successfully conducted, and is still under Presbyterian influence.

The "old church" is the same unpretending edifice, with alterations in the interior. The truth is still taught by an able minister of the " Word," and the old sweet bell yet softly tolls the hour of service, — but many of that once large congregation no longer gather there to worship: many are scattered far and wide, and very many are singing the "new song" of the redeemed in the "upper Sanctuary." R. McC.

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44 r pHE Rev. Joseph McCarrell, D.D., was a native 1 of Shippensburgh, Pa., and was born on the 9th of July, 1795. His parents were warmly attached members of the " Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church " of that place, and the region was one whose history was connected with the earliest annals of the denomination, in the communion of which Dr. McCarxell lived and died, and for which he had an unchangeable affection.

His mind was early turned towards the ministry of the gospel ; and he entered upon studies preparatory thereto, availing himself of such helps as were within his reach, though in the main he had to depend upon his own efforts, and was in fact (to a great extent) a self-made man.

While preparing for, college in 18 14, the country was electrified by the news of the capture of Washington, the burning of the Capitol and other public buildings, and the threatened attack on Baltimore. The militia of the adjacent counties of Pennsylvania marched as quickly as possible to the scene

* This sketch was published in the Newburgh Journal at the time of Dr. McCarrell's death, April, 1864.

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of danger. Among them was Joseph McCarrell. For three days and nights the young studentsoldier was in the trenches awaiting the onset of the enemy. I have often heard him describe the magnificent scene which he witnessed — the bombardment of Fort McHenry, and the anxiety with which they watched at the dawn of each day to see whether our flag was still in place. (As is well known, it was this scene which inspired Mr. Francis M. Key to write that lyric which the American people will never willingly let die, — " The Star Spangled Banner.")

Soon after his return home, he entered Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, Pa., and graduated with high honors in the class of 1815. In 1818, he entered the Theological Seminary of the Associate Reformed Church, then in New York, under the care of the distinguished Dr. John M. Mason. He brought to the Seminary an amount of attainment in certain branches of learning which very few possess when leaving it, for he had made himself a thorough Hebrew scholar, and had read the whole of the Old Testament in that language.

Having finished the prescribed course of study, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Big Spring, Pa., on the 21st of June, 1821. For several months he supplied the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, in Murray Street, New York (Vacant by the resignation of Dr. Mason), with so much acceptance, that not a few of its members wished to call him as

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their pastor. But he was destined to spend his life in another sphere. Declining a call to a church in Hagerstown, Maryland, at the same time, he was soon after invited to assume the pastoral care of the Associate Reformed Church, Newburgh, N. Y. This invitation he accepted, and was ordained to the gospel ministry and installed pastor, March 14, 1823. His pastorate of this church covered a period of 41 years, and was nearly as long as the united pastorates of his four predecessors.

The society, though one of the oldest in Newburgh, was by no means large when he became its pastor, but from that time it steadily advanced in numbers, and has become the mother of two other congregations.

In 1829, the Seminary, which had been suspended in New York city for some years, was revived, established at Newburgh, and Dr. McCarrell was chosen Professor of Theology by the Associate Reformed Synod of New York. He held the office until a few years before his death, and during that period he had some seventy young men under his care, all of whom ever felt for him the warmest affection because of his rare goodness in every sense of that word, and the highest respect for his intellectual abilities.

As a preacher, he had not a particle of sensationalism about him. In the pulpit he was wholly free from all mannerism, and usually calm, yet occasionally he would rise to a high strain of pa-

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thetic eloquence, showing what a latent power there was in the man. He had a profound reverence for sacred things. The creed he professed was the creed he held with his whole heart, and from which he never varied. And he had the courage of his convictions, as he showed by preaching his sermons on " Bible Temperance" (which subjected him to not a little adverse criticism).

For the Bible he ever felt and manifested the deepest reverence. It was to him emphatically the very voice of the living God, the supreme standard of faith and manners. He recognized no other authority that could be compared with this, deeming it one to which enlightened reason and true science would implicitly bow. For many years he preached its precious truths with an ever-growing delight in them, and in the work of making them known to others.

Dr. McCarrell died at his home in Newburgh, March 28, 1864. He had been able to preach in his own pulpit, until within three weeks of his decease. He was mercifully spared the endurance of acute physical pain during his last illness. His mental strength was unabated, and at last he peacefully fell asleep in the Lord, in the 68th year of his age.

The funeral took place, on Friday, April 1st. The services at the house were conducted by the Rev. Dr. Brown, of St. George's Episcopal Church, (the neighbor and friend of the deceased for many years), and the Rev. Dr. Krebs, of New York. The

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services in the church were conducted by the Rev. Joseph Kimball of Fishkill, Rev. Alexander Jace of Newburgh, Rev. H. Mandeville of the Reformed Dutch Church of Newburgh, Rev. Dr. Snodgrass (a classmate in college), and Rev. Dr. Forsyth of Newburgh.

It ought also to be mentioned as a fact worthy of note that, among those who followed the body of Dr. McCarrell to the grave, was Father Reilly, the Roman Catholic priest, a young man of rare intelligence. He asked for himself the privilege of walking in procession with the other clergy of the town. He wished to show this mark of respect for one with whom in life he had held pleasant intercourse, and with whom he had often engaged in argument concerning the great problems of life.

The following tribute to the memory of the late Dr. McCarrell was written by Rev. Alexander B. Jace, who spent one year in the Theological Seminary at Newburgh (having received his previous education in Scotland) :

Another great and good man, abiit ad filures, has gone over to the majority and joined the nations of the dead. Now that the funeral is over, perhaps you will suffer me to bring one stone and lay it by his grave, leaving other hands to polish it and put it in its rightful place.

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When I first knew the doctor it was when the fruit of all that he had learned, and fashioned, and felt, was ripening in the light of immortality, and God's own hand was opening to receive it. At that time I was waiting on his instructions at the Semnary, and I speak not only for myself, but for my fellow-students, when I thankfully acknowledge how much our spiritual life was deepened by our intercourse with him. For the present, in order to condense my remarks, I shall speak of him as a preacher, a professor, and a Christian.

For several years previous to my acquaintance with him, his style of preaching had somewhat altered. He had left the more recondite themes to which his researches, as a professor, had conducted him, and confined himself more particularly to the exposition of those grand spiritual truths which were his strength and joy, and just in proportion as he drew less from the material of his studies, and more from the spirit of faith by which he was sustained, he spoke with greater unction and directness. As I recall the hallowed impression of these Sabbath services (the memory of which yet lingers with me), I would briefly state some of the causes of that solemn effect which his discourses would produce.

First of all, there was a wonderful individuality about his style of preaching, — so much so, that when his sermons were given to the world, you could always tell the author without looking at the titlepage.

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This was not in consequence of any oft-used illustrations, any sudden sweep of sentences, any of that epigrammatic verbiage, or misplacement of words, or tricks or feats of language, for which some preachers are distinguished.- What chiefly struck the hearer was his extraordinary command of Scripture, and the affluence of similitude which he gathered from this source. Sentence after sentence closely interlaced with scriptural phraseology would fall from his lips, clear as crystal, revealing his thoughts with distinctness, and riveting the attention of his hearers by their purity and energy. You can readily imagine that this was peculiarly attractive to those whose hearts were imbued with religious feeling, and whose study of the Bible had begun in the simplicity of childhood, when it was felt to be indeed divine. And when it was considered that the work was done so easily, so freely, and so naturally, it left a profound impression of his power.

In the pulpit the doctor's manner was singularly quiet. One finger of his right hand occasionally extended, and moving with the rise and fall of successive sentences, was almost the only action in which he indulged. Neither did his voice rise and swell in deep passionate excitement. Not that his preaching was void of feeling, but his feeling seldom, if ever, grew to the vehemence of passion. Still, although his manner was so quiet, his power over his audience was great. The tones of his

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voice, the changing expressions of his face, the ballad-like simplicity of his language, all showed the intense reality of his feelings, and hence, very readily communicated them to others. If he wanted the stern and stormy temper of the " deinotes" which is supposed to be essential to the orator, there was a spell in the quietness of his manner which affected the soul like the dews of the morning, or the tempered light of day.

Those who have listened to his remarks in the " Union Prayer Meetings " will remember the pure and seraphic expression of his countenance when it was lit with the ecstacy of holy feeling, and which awed by its unearthly beauty, as well as the marked solemnity of his manner when he repeated such words as these, " Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

In the discharge of his duties as a professor, the doctor was chiefly remarkable for completeness and conscientious thoroughness in all he undertook. However much the members of the class might fail, the doctor could always be depended on, and when the clock struck the hour for recitation, they could look for him with a confidence which I never remember to have seen disappointed. In all that he did he seemed to be impressed with the profoundest sense of his responsibility, a feeling which grew deeper and deeper as he advanced in life. Of no

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man could it ever be more truly said, that whatever his hand found to do he did it with his might, did it heartily, as unto the Lord. In his intercourse with the students there was always an utter want of display, a noble incapacity of guile, compelling him to seem what he was. Honesty and integrity were the habits of his soul, and one might say of his body too. To see and hear him in the class-room, to see his look, and hear his voice, expounding a point of faith, made you feel that he was one that could not but show what was in him, and speak out what was on his mind.

There might be too much of this at times for strangers. To them he might frequently appear firm to obstinacy, but no one could doubt his truthfulness ; or distrust, I say not his word, but his very aspect and gesture, and the glance of his eye. The doctor was pre-eminently true, unmistakably, unvariably, fearlessly true, and he could well afford to be so, for his nature was as gentle as it was genuine.

It would be a pleasing task in this connection to present a " catena " of his noble sentiments, a harvest of his genial touches, a list of his rememberable sayings, and no less pleasing to descant on his wonderful kindness and generosity to the students. How willing he was to give to them the stores of information, stores not shut up in note-books, but lodged in his brain ! Let it suffice that no one who knew him as a professor could choose but love him,

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while his reciprocity of the affection that they bore him was like the sunshine and the showers of Heaven. Take him all in all, I never knew a man so thoroughly delightful. Others may have more of this, or more of that, but there was a symmetry, a compactness, a sweetness, a true delightfulness about him, I remember in no one else.

His private character I can hardly venture to portray. If I were to do so, I might be charged with presenting an ideal, not a real character.

So, at any rate, I would have judged the Doctor's character had I merely met with it in a description, and not enjoyed the felicity of knowing it. In all his familiar intercourse he was as simple as a child, and when engaged in conversation there was a naive spontaneity and richness in his turns of thought which was exceedingly refreshing. In his speech there was no satire, because in his nature there was no bitterness. Humor, quaint, fantastic, happy humor, like Paul Richter's, only more elegant, overflowed his table-talk and imparted to it the richest flavor. Yet over all his speech and manner there breathed a sacred tenderness, which flowed not from any earthly source, but was the fragrance of a heavenly spirit. His child-like faith imparted a secret charm to his daily life. His nature, so trustful, so affectionate, so given to meditation, seemed to be ground well prepared for the seed of God, and surely in it that seed so grew and fructified as is rarely seen on earth. He always appeared to me

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1 1 like the "beloved disciple," whose head lay confidingly on the breast of Jesus, and to whom were revealed the most glorious visions of the church's future. The spiritual insight, the purity of conscience, the ecstatic joy, the womanly gentleness of feeling which are especially attributed to that apostle, were all of them characteristic of this godly man.

As he neared the close of life, the delights of religious meditation became more and more sweet. Day by day, he loved to bring the Saviour near him, and to live ever as John (the beloved disciple) would have done with the assurance that his dearest Friend and Brother was never absent from him. The one religious theme which engrossed his meditation, probably, more than any other, was the Brotherhood of Immanuel. To know Him, as possessing the power and wisdom of God, yet as being our elder Brother, was the joy of his life. To grow into His likeness was his single desire. To be with Him, as now he is in his Fathers home, was his abiding hope.

During the last few years the Doctor lost a daughter, (Mrs. Leiper) for whom his attachment was unspeakable. From that time dated an entire alteration in his manner. Not that his abiding religious views and convictions were ever altered. But his social faculty never recovered that great shock. It was blighted, and it seemed as if he was always desiring to be alone. A stranger who saw him for a

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time full of cordial talk, pleasing and being pleased, was apt to think how delightful he must always be, and so he was; but then such hours of talk were like angels' visits, few and far between. In him, as Mr. Carlyle would say, the "silences" were most predominant, and I think that every one must have been struck with this habitual stillness. The loss which he sustained had manifestly overwhelmed him. The deep and lasting love he bore his daughter, the grave could not destroy. In the recesses of his heart he carried it about perpetually, walking in the midst of men like one weighed down with sorrow. Every day and hour you could see his might was sinking, and when you looked into his face, you felt as David did of old, when the Lord's anointed fell.

The Doctor is now dead, his body safe past pain, his soul safe past sorrow. In a glory he shines past conceiving, in a fruition past prayer.

But in this world we shall see his face no more, and how distressing to think of that! His brethren will miss him in the "vineyard of the Lord." I leave it for others to record of him, in terms suitable to his worth, a sense of the value they set upon him. I leave it for them, that generations hereafter may know how much we value him, who carved his name upon the pillars of his church, and who, as a citizen, did so much to distinguish the town in which he lived. His death reminds us that the ministry of others is nearly run, that the voyage is drawing to

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a close, that we may see the lights and hear the voices that are sounding on the other shore ; and now the gray hairs, the long shadows, the fast thinning band of compatriots, and many other things, are voices proclaiming, " Work while it is called to-day, the night cometh, when no man can work." The grave of this great man is but a little hill, yet from that little hill how small do the great affairs of life appear, how great the small.

SERMONS ON BAPTISM.

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I

" For John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." — Acts, i., 5.

THE truth of God is the grand means of the regeneration and sanctiflcation of men. Thus prays the Saviour — " sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word is truth."

This is brought to bear in various ways upon the heart and life. By the works of creation there is made a display of the divine power and Godhead. " The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork. All thy works praise thee." In the book of God is the most full revelation of all that it is necessary for us to know so that we may glorify God and enjoy him forever. The truth of the Word is read and heard that it may be believed and obeyed. It is also confirmed by the oath of God, " for God ? willing to show unto the the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by his oath."

Still further is the truth illustrated and confirmed by signs in which our senses are made handmaids to faith. The great and distinguishing truths of the everlasting covenant are bodied forth in striking analogies addressed to our senses. These are called

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sacraments, sensible signs whereby Christ and the benefits of the New Covenant are represented, sealed, and applied to believers.

To this class of ordinances belonged, under the former dispensation of the covenant of grace, the tree of life, animal sacrifices, the rainbow, the circumcision, and the passover. Under the new dispensation of the same covenant, we have Baptism and the Lord's Supper.

Baptism is a sign and seal of membership in the visible Church under the new dispensation. It is the personal badge of visible Christianity. " Baptism is a holy ordinance instituted by Christ, wherein the washing with water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, doth signify and seal our engrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord's."

Let us consider — first, its form ; secondly, its signification ; thirdly, its subjects ; and fourthly, its uses.

Firstly. Under the form may be comprehended the author, the administrator, the element, the actions, and the formula.

The author of this institution is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is recorded in the commission given to the first ministers of the gospel, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." — Mark xvi. 15. " Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the

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Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; and lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." — Matt, xxviii., 19, 20.

The administrator of Baptism is an ordained minister of the gospel, not a woman or any other private person. This is clear from the words of the commission itself.

The element to be used is water. " Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we." — Acts x., 47. " I indeed baptize you with water." — Matt, iii., 1 1. The Quakers, or Friends, by rejecting water reject the whole ordinance. Romanists by adding oil and spittle corrupt it.

The actions are the administration and reception of the element of water by pouring or sprinkling by the minister officiating, and its reception by the person baptized.

The question relating to the form of baptism is between us and our Baptist friends. They do not own us as brethren, because they do not think we are baptized, and therefore we are not in the visible Church of God at all. The question is whether the element of water is applied to the subject by pouring or sprinkling, or the subject put into or under it. We assert the former, they the latter.

For our mode we claim the authority of Christ and his apostles, and the usages of the languages of inspiration corroborated by the Septuagint, (the Greek

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translation of the Old Testament), by writers in the Apocrypha, by other writers, Christian and pagan, and by the history of the foundation of the Christian Church.

The language of the text, Acts i., 5, is itself sufficient to settle this question with all who are willing to be taught by the highest authority in the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ. " For John truly baptized with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." How were they baptized with the Holy Ghost ? By the Holy Ghost " coming upon them." &7t£\$orToS rov ayiov IIvsvjxaroS iq? vpiaS, i. 8. " This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel [ii., 28, 32] ; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh." £kj£g3 ano rov nvevjAottoZ jaov ini TtaGav aapna. — Acts ii., 17; and again, " On my servants and my handmaids will I pour out of my spirit," ii. 18.

4 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear — e%ex £e tovto$ ii., 33. Jesus then baptized with the Holy Ghost by pouring out, by shedding upon his servants the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost. Baptism is then rightly performed by pouring.

The same language is employed by Luke in the 10th chapter, 45th verse of the Acts of the Apostles: " Upon the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of

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John the Baptist uses the same language in comparing his baptism with that of his divine Master :

" I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance : but he that cometh after me is mighter than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear : he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. — Matt, iii., 11 : and again Mark i., 8, and Luke iii., 16.

It was predicted respecting the Messiah, " So shall he sprinkle many nations ; " P.^l D " ia n Jl P. Isaiah Hi., 15. He sprinkles by the application of his blood for the pardon of sin. His blood is therefore called " the blood of sprinkling." " Ye are come to the blood of sprinkling," aifxari pavritfjuov, which speaketh better things than that of Abel ; Heb. xii., 24.

He sprinkles with his spirit. " Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you ; Dnintp D^p ttby VjiTiri and ye shall be clean ; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you ; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." — Ezekiel xxxvi., 25, 27.