Self-sacrifice: a farewell sermon preached in St. John's Church, Blackburn

Self-sacrifice: a farewell sermon preached in St. John's Church, Blackburn ....Author(s): Kelly, James DavenportSource: Foreign and Commonwealth Office Collection, (1855)Published by: The University of Manchester, The John Rylands University LibraryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/60239444 .

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SELF-SACRIFICE.

A FAREWELL SERMON

PREACHED IN

ST. JOHFS CHURCH, BLACKBURN,

ON SUNDAY EVENING, DEC. 9th, 1855.

BY THE

REV. JAMES DAVENPORT KELLY, M.A. CURATE.

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST.

BIAOKBTJEN :

CHAKLES TIPLADY, PEINTEK AND PUBLISHER, OHX7BCK SIEEBT.

1855.





\y

TO THE

INCUMBENT AND CONGREGATION

OF

ST. JOHN'S CHUECH,

BLACKBUKN,

Jria luitnrtt

IS INSCEIBED.





SELF-SACRIFICE.

2 SAMUEL, XXIY, 24.

Neither will I offer Iwnt-offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.

These words refer to one of the most instructive narratives among all those -which Holy Scripture presents to our view. It is one which places before us in exact succession the sin, the punishment, the expiation. And not the least of its many- excellencies, as I trust to show, is the illustration it affords to the diviue law, that not actions, hut motives, are the true tests of our conduct: that things, not merely harmless in themselves, but aotually parts of our duty, may, through the distorting influence of some mean or selfish passion, be per¬ verted into deeds of evil, and be made instruments for bringing down punishment on ourselves: that even the impulses of God's Spirit, if they are received by a heart in any way unprepared, not wholly given up to God, may, lite wholesome food administered to a diseased body, only increase the malady, bringing a curse instead of a blessing on others, and on our own soul deadliest grief.

"Well is this shown in the story of David's numbering the people. There we read how the king received a command



6 SEM-SACRIflCE.

from God* to number Israel and Judah. This was in itself no novelty. Nearly five hundred years before, when the Israelites entered on their wanderings in the desert-land, a census of the people had been undertaken in the most exact manner by Moses and Aaron under the direction of God : and

again, at the completion of that dreary march, when the armed men were mustered on the plains of Moab, a similar and equally rigid computation was made of their strength. But in the days to which the text brings us, a change had come upon the nation and its ruler. Once God was their

king : now they had sought and obtained an earthly monarch. Once they humbly trusted in the arm of the Highest as their defence in war; now the thought of this had faded in the

splendour of their earthly arms. In what state did the com¬ mand given to David find him and his people It found the

king a warlike, haughty, ambitious potentate, proud of his material resources, forgetful of the source of all strength : it found the people just on the verge of that pinnacle of pride, which has so often been the turning point of a nation's great¬ ness, and which, in the ease of the Jews, was the commence¬ ment of a decline and fall that ended in those fearful days, when, by the banks of the Euphrates, a few miserable captives sang the requiem of their departed empire.

But this was the consummation of many minor warnings. The special punishment in the case we speak of was close at

hand; and this chastisement for the sin of entering on the execution of God's command in a spirit of self-dependence and

worldly pride had at least this gain that it effected speedy repentance. The pestilence that mowed down the flower of

Israel, and laid thousands of her noblest families in mourning,

* This appears to be the fair meaning of the words. The addition of tie margin is unwarranted by the original, and at variance with the context.



SEW-SACRJtFICE. 7

brought the king to his forgotten humility and sense of de¬ pendence. He acknowledges his error: with bitter sorrow he mourns his guilt. The destroying angel's hand is stayed : the prophet is sent to teach the penitent: he leams that he may again come before his God with the assurance of being accepted, and so he gladly seizes the opportunity of offering those sacrifices which symbolized the operations of God's pardoning grace.

In the very person to whom he was then led we may trace the hand of Deity. He was brought to Araunah the Jebusite, to a descendant, that is, of the old inhabitants of the place, ere yet the name of Jerusalem was heard, a man of a conquered race, held in subjection by the victorious Jews. Strange meeting that! when the proudest monarch on earth and a plain husbandman, an eastern monarch and a vanquished tributary meet together on a level, as king meeting king. But the pressing need of that day knew no difference of ranks, and the hand of an equal offered the princely boon which Araunah gave. And here it was that David, declining the proffered gift, made use in his answer of those memor¬ able words, part of which I have chosen for my text,

" I will surely buy it of thee, at a price : "neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the Lord my " God of that which doth cost me nothing."

My friends, this night I address you, as the assistant minister of this district, for the last time; and it is because I feel that such a time as the present occasion affords to me is not one to be spent in a mere effusion of regrets, however deeply felt, at the disruption of ties, however close, but is rather one to be occupied in endeavouring more strenuously to impress on your minds whatsoever of Divine truth I may have brought before you during my ministry here, that I have chosen these words. For in them it seems to me that king David gave utterance, consciously or unconsciously, to the



8 SELI'-SACKH'ICE.

great principle of a Christian's duty to God, the true idea of

self-sacrifice. To this subject I wish especially to draw your attention

this evening. I. The sacrifice. II. The mode in which it is to be offered.

May God assist us in our meditation, that we may have wis¬ dom to discern the truth, grace to maintain it in the face of all temptation.

I. To show that there is such a sacrifice to be offered

requires few words of proof: few can have read the lives of our Lord, or his apostles, without seeing it constantly enforced in words and exemplified in life. But if we ask for some definite statement of this duty in express language, I know no

passage which more clearly gives at once the statement and the reason than that of Saint Paul, when, exhorting his Cor- \ inthian disciples to purity, he says, " ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price." Most comprehensive sen¬ tence containing in its nervous language the very essence of the gospel: leading our minds to the grand subject of the

apostle's preaching, " Jesus Christ, and him crucified."

Perhaps it may seem to some that this is far too well known to need being enforced with such emphasis; Saint Paul knew human nature better: and the frequency and

urgency with which it is dwelt upon, as well as by our Lord as his apostles, shows the necessity and value of such a rule as this, which, once honestly received, fully acted upon, comprehends every other. Eor it at once involves the ac¬

knowledgment of Christ's atonement made for us on the cross of Calvary: it owns the truth that we through that atone¬

ment have been redeemed from the bondage of sin and made God's own : and so it deduces the necessary consequence from this truth, that henceforth we are not to live according to our own personal views but to the honour and praise of

\



SEM-SACBTFICE. 9

God. " Ye are not your own :" What can more directly cut at the root of the varying forms of social and individual evil What more than the full realization of this thought is requi¬ site to make earth that which it was destined by its Maker to be—one family of men Only turn for a moment to any kind of evil which at the present day occupies the attention and arouses the anxiety of every lover of his kind: the bar¬ riers between rich and poor, hatred in all its branches, mani¬ fested in national wars or family feuds, rivalry of classes, do they not all originate in that spirit of isolation, of selfish independence, which Christ's religion so directly contradicts And if we look on fairer scenes, and watch in hope the strug¬ gles here and there made for alleviating human misery or diminishing crime, the education of the young, the reclaiming of the outcast, we see in all the acknowledgment of mutual dependence, the inseparable connexion of the members of Christ. " We are all members one of another :" it is but a step to " bear ye one another's burdens."

It is the natural tendency of man, if unchecked, to work on others only as means to subserve his own gratification ; or even if he have not the courage and intellect to subjugate his neighbours, he yet can withdraw himself from them, he can abstain from doing real good. He looks on time, wealth, education, only as sources of enjoyment, for which he is accountable to none but himself: " our wealth is our own, who is Lord over us ?" No other form of religion which has ever been systematized in the world but our own most holy faith has given the lie to this great sin. Others have con¬ tented themselves with enactments against other acts: Christ's doctrine appeals to the source of acts. It cleanses the fountain, that the stream may be pure. Prom Him, and Him alone, we learn that man is not sent here to stand or fall by himself; that whatever his position may be, it brings with it a certain

duty to be performed ; and the higher the position, the more



10 SElF-SACBIFICE.

grave the responsibility: that everything he seems to possess, is not his, but entrusted for a season to his stewardship, faith¬

fully to be employed for the good of his fellows. Christianity teaches him to see in every man a brother; the beggar at his

gate, the criminal in his gaols, the leper in the hospital, the

untaught heathen, the godless fellow-countryman, all these

plead, all require and claim a service at his hands. And still further than this does the Spirit of Christianity

extend. It requires, as we said, a constant sacrifice, that which our church calls a " reasonable, holy, and lively sacri¬ fice unto God," the " offering and presenting of ourselves, our souls and bodies ;" our daily temple-sacrifice, the bringing of

every habit, every thought and passion, into obedience to the will of God. And only in the gospel do we learn how this can be done. Other teachers have instructed men to crush some part of their nature, to strive to eradicate some passion, as though a certain portion of the Divine handiwork were useless or hurtful. Vain attempt, for it was struggling against God. The gospel teaches us that God did not give man a nature so wonderfully composed, so exactly wrought, that any portion should be lightly cast away: impulses, affections, will, were not intended to be a mere chaos of jarring elements, but that what He requires is that every passion and appetite, good in itself, under appointed laws, should have its due limitation, that every one of the several parts should have its

assigned sphere, should above all be in subordination to the

ruling principle,—conscience. We often hear of the " object of life :" we may read much

speculation on the ultimate purposes of being. Whatever the secret plans of the Almighty may be, recollect that here we have one plain duty to fulfil, one grand object to effect, to advance the glory of God : and that this is to be done in life by devoting ourselves and all we have to promoting the welfare of our brethren, for time and eternity. The oft-re-



SElF-SACamCE. 11

peated cry of Lord, Lord, saveth not; the cup of cold water given in Christ's name, and for His sake, loseth not its reward, for it is given to Christ himself.

And be assured that no meaner principle than this of sac¬ rificing ourselves for God's honour ever did or can bring forth any really noble deed. It is not by some sudden im¬ pulse of benevolence, not by a gush of sympathy with visible distress, called out by fortuitous circumstances, that the abiding works of Christian charity, in the work of missions, of schools, of infirmaries, in succour of any kind, have been wrought, but by the daily, hourly reducing to practice of this Christian law. Search the life of any true Christian hero, writer, politician, missionary, man of business, whose name is inscribed on the roll of saints, strip it of the accidents of age and nation ; read of Saint Paul in the first century, or John Howard in the eighteenth; and the prominent feature in every one is that utter denial and forgetfulness of self, learnt from their Master, which made them lose sight of personal ease or comfort in the one absorbing idea of glorifying God in every thought of their lives.

Let then the thought be ever in your minds, the rule ever shown in your lives, that you live not to yourselves but to God, because you are not your own, but His. If, unsatisfied with precept, you want for your weakness more tangible help, then cast your eyes on Him of whom the Evangelists have given you the portraiture. See how every part of his life was a sacrifice of selfish feelings for the good of universal human¬

ity : take as the model for your imitation that life whose object is best summed up in those blessed words,

" I came, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me."

II. The second point which I wished to bring before you was the mode in which this sacrifice of self was to be offered. We have seen that our life is to be a sacrifice of self. Learn



Ij2 SEIF-SACKmCE.

we also that, to give it its true value, we mu3t apply to our own life the words of the text, and not offer to God that which has cost us nothing. In other words, it will not be sufficient that we professedly devote ourselves, as we all have

done, to the service of God, and then proceed on our task in a

languid, heartless manner. We must strain every nerve to make our sacrifice of real use, we must perfect our abilities, increase our knowledge, widen our charity, grow in patience, fortitude, earnestness. And further, in minor things, we must remember the one great end, and so study to render ourselves more efficient in God's work in every possible way. The study of science, the reading of a lecture, the care of

bodily health, the conversation with friends, are no longer to be looked upon as trifles, or purely personal considerations; they are all parts of a whole, and therefore, each in its place, to be improved to the utmost extent, that we may be more fitted for our life-long calling. This, I fear, is a rule too often neglected : it is a point in which many of us who make a profession of religion, make grievous mistakes. It is easier to neglect the improvement of our minds, the care of our

bodily health, or the ordinary labours of the day, and think that we are thereby giving up ourselves to special religious duties, than *to do all these with greater zeal than before, feeling that they are not trivial or worldly considerations, but means to a high end. It is too common to find men make a deliberate and, as they think, a necessary division of their time between the world and God, as though in this busy time six

days are of necessity given up to the world, and one with

difficulty saved from the wreck for any higher thoughts. It is too common to find persons who have given up the sin of a

thoughtless life, give up at the same time the improvement of all the varied gifts which have been bestowed on them, as mere vanities and worldly engagements, instead of consecrating all these in their highest form to the service of Him to whom they



SELE-SACBTFICE. 13

devote themselves anew.- Even in our more direct efforts for the improvement of ourown and our brethren's souls we are often put to shame by the energy, the restless activity, the multifarious diligence of the world around us. Verily " the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light."

One great cause of this, I think, is the not realizing God's presence more; and especially His presence in the small details of daily life. We can hardly connect the idea of His present help and co-operation in our business-life. It would seem to many out of place to think or speak of Him in the eager rush and struggle for a livelihood which marks this time. Many there are who feel, and doubtless in all sincerity, that they could do some great thing for Christ's sake, could cheerfully be led to the stake, and die the martyr's death, if suoh submission were required of them. But they find it a much harder thing to go through the stages of their ordinary life, uncheekered as it is by any striking scene, and all the while to be doing everything in the best manner possible, not merely for temporal advantage, but because God is present with them, and because everything is done with a wish to honour Him. Yet it is this very dull, uneventful, monotonous existence, as it is most wrongly called, that falls to the lot of most, and which we ought therefore bravely to endure. It is this which tries best our constancy and faith. And in no other

way, my brethren, will you be able to sanctify every trivial act of your lives, to assign to each its proper value, than by keeping constantly in mind the great object of your life, by re¬

membering whose you are and whom you serve. All lower aims, honour, ambition, yea, even friendship or filial piety, unless refined and sanctified by this principle of entire devo¬ tion to God, will fail to support you in any time of trial.

But let every one of us take this text as a rule: let us not offer to God that which has cost us no trouble; let us blush to give to Him the shreds and parings of time, when the



14 SELF-SACRIFICE.

greater part has been devoted to the service of self. There is no sphere in which it will not apply. It is not one which is limited to some few professions : not one that is confined to the church, the school, the sick-ward. In the day's actual work, in the shop, the office, the market, in every transaction with others, we must feel that here we are not giving up these hours exclusively to business or the world, but that we are using them for God's sake and for his honour, and there¬ fore that we ought to employ them in the very best manner.

Nothing then will be unimportant, nothing small or mean. As a Christian poet sings,

The trivial round, the common task, 'Will furnish all we ought to ask ; Koom to deny ourselves; a road To bring us, daily, nearer God.

And think not, my poorer friends, that the part you can take in the great work is worthless; that you cannot influence

your neighbours. No man can separate himself from his

fellows, or avoid influencing them. Be his position what it

may, be he steeped in poverty to the lips, or languishing on a

sick-bed, he may, even under such adverse circumstances, be

preaching to his brethren a lesson that nothing else could have taught them. Only resolve that in your whole course

you will live uniformly for God's glory; seek the good of your brethren for Christ's sake, and because they with you are members of Christ's body; only resolve that you will leave the world in some respect better for your presence in it, and

you may rest assured that your life has been neither valueless nor unappreciated. It can hardly be too often or too strongly impressed that it is not chiefly by the fitful and extraordinary exertions you make that the cause of Christ is to be benefited : it is by the daily, little-noticed life, the daily devotion, daily self-denial, that you are to be made nearer, more like to God.

Take then, my brethren, the text for your motto ; let it be



SELF-SACRIFICE 15

an incentive to your flagging zeal, let it nerve you to more definite as well as more sustained exertions in the Redeemer's cause. Everything around calls you to diligent action. The

cry of the age is " act, act in the living present." Saint Jerome tells us that he ever lived as if he heard the last trumpet sounding. Even so live you, knowing that the day is present, but the night fast coming on. Gone for ever is the time of indolence, the reign of indifference to the real interests of mankind,—gone with the days that are past: Advent has arisen, to bless a waiting world. Let it be advent with you now; the Advent of a new life in God : of high hopes and noble actions, nerved by a Christian's faith: live as those should live who are vowed evermore to God, as men who feel and acknowledge your sonship to Him. So shall each suc¬ cessive season find you making progress in the Christian life ; so shall each Advent look on a world in some part purified and regenerated by your labours, until at last when your labour is ended, and you are entering into your rest, the second Advent shall dawn on your waking eyes, and the actual presence of Christ shall drive from your hearts the memory of every sorrow, the thought of every sin.

Brethren, my task is ended here. Por two years and a half it has been my privilege to take a part in the spiritual charge of this district. I have been called to a new sphere of duty far from .this town. The time has come for me to say farewell.

It is a solemn and a sad season for a priest of God when he looks back on the days of his ministry: solemn,—for it reminds him of the vast responsibility that attaches to one who has pledged himself in an especial manner to the service of God and the welfare of men, who, knowing the blessings that attend the faithful pastor, knows also the terrible danger which any unfaithfulness on his part incurs: sad,—for however diligently he may have striven to discharge the duties of his



16 SEUf-SACRIFlCE.

high station, it cannot fail to bring in the retrospect the

memory of some golden opportunity lost, of some precious time misused. His office it has been, to point to the path of life, to save from the chains of sin, to preach the gospel to the poor, to teach the ignorant, to comfort the mourner ; has he never failed in any of these To him it has belonged to take up the censer, to run between the living and the dead, that the plague may be stayed : has he always shown such zeal as the crisis demands for the people's lives

Deeply do I feel my own shortcomings in all these points. Eor whatever good I may have been instrumental to effect, I humbly thank my God : for whatever, of evil done, or good left undone, I may have caused, may God in his great mercy pardon the least worthy of His servants.

To His keeping I commend you. May He support and

strengthen you throughout your whole life. To Him let us all fervently pray, that as He has been with us all our life

long until this day, so He will guard and keep us to the end; that day by day we may be more estranged from the world, more devoted to Him; and that finally, through the merits of His blessed Son, we who have worshipped together in this house of prayer, may, with all Christian souls, meet again at His right hand, in His eternal rest.

Wow to God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, be ascribed all

honour, majesty, power, and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Self-sacrifice: a farewell sermon preached in St. John's Church, Blackburn

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