by RUFUs ELLIS,
Minister of the cong REGAtion,
- º - º
cAMBRIDGE:
Jo HN wilso N AND
timinarsity Apress,


GBut 650 ing to the father:
S E R M ON
PREACHED IN FIRST CHURCH, BOSTON,
By RUFUS ELLIS,
MINISTER OF THE CON GRE GATION,
SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 1883.
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CAMBRIDGE:
J O H N WILSON AND SON.
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1883.
NATHANIEL THAYER.
Born IN LANCAstER, MASSACHUSETTS, SEPTEMBER 11, 1808.
DIED IN Boston, MARCH 7, 1883.
*
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S E R M O N.
“If YE LovED ME YE would REJoICE BECAUSE I SAID, I Go To
MY FATHER.”—John's Gospel, xiv. 28.
THERE is a simplicity in this language of Jesus, as in
the words of a child, which is very touching and in-
structive. In contrast with it, much of our speech
concerning our going away from earth is formal and
meaningless. They who really loved their Master
should be glad to hear Him speak of dying, because
the world to come would be, even more than this,
His Father's world,—better and fairer for the increase
it should bring Him of that joy in God which had
made the years of His mortality so blessed. As He
tells us in another place, it would be an ascending,
a rising into a diviner life, an entrance into heaven
and the heaven of heavens,—even for Him, the child's
going home. Now of this Home with God, with all
its great expectations, we are permitted to say that
it is ours as well as His; and upon this Home which
is ours as well as His, these words of our text, so
few and simple, cast a flood of light. It is sometimes
4
said, almost in a tone of complaint, that the Teacher
is very sparing in His disclosures concerning the life
beyond the grave; and it is true, if we would have
time and place, pictures and occupations,— what
are called, indeed, heavenly relations, but are rather
the renewals of the conditions of our earthly life, – a
literal resurrection of this body, and a reconstruction
of this planet to be the body's home. We have, it
is most true, nothing of the sort, which we can claim
as His: for we must not cut to the quick phrases
which were borrowed from the common speech of
the people; and we must not take to the letter what
was spoken in a figure, — as if it were really meant
that some are to enter into heaven with one hand
and one eye, as if these were to sit at feasts, and
those were to burn in fire. Such picture-language
must take on a spiritual and moral interpretation,
and can have no other validity; and we may fairly
conclude that it would be mischievous for us to be told
—if it were possible for us to hear—in advance the
conditions of man's life beyond the grave. One world
at a time is God's method with us. And yet, on the
other hand, the revelation which Jesus brings us is .
the very gospel of a life to come,—at once the assured
reality of this life, and the singular blessing which is
bound up with it. He goes to the very heart of the
matter; and, with lips that utter no uncertain sound,
in telling us one thing He tells us all things. Unlike
5
too many religious teachers, He does not feed our
hopes upon what are only imaginations, but He puts
beyond all doubt the one thing that we need to
know. He tells us that to die is gain; gain, because
to die is to live unto God, in that world to come, in
some grander fashion than is possible here on earth
even for the wisest and the best, — yes, even for
Elect of God.
To Jesus the life to come is as certain as the death
through which we enter into it. So deep was He in
this persuasion, that He not only declared but was
the Resurrection and the Life. Between the life to
come, as He conceived of it, and the life which He
was then living on earth, there would be no interval.
Even before the grave opens to receive our dust, we
are transfigured and translated, and pass through the
gate of heaven. “To-day shalt thou be with me in
Paradise” were His words to the poor penitent at
His side, as He hung there upon the cross, in the
most solemn moments of His life. And how clear
He is, that this sure life shall be a grander life, — that
it shall be gain unspeakable for Him to die, – and
how clear as to what the gain shall be. It has been
well said that “in the Christian doctrine of a future
state we have this remarkable conjunction, that the
real belief in the doctrine goes together with and is
fastened to the moral sublimity of the state. In the
Pagan doctrine both of these were absent: the life
6
iº
itself was poor, shadowy, and sepulchral on the one
hand; and the belief in, it was feeble and volatile on
the other. In the Christian doctrine both are present
together, — the glorious nature of the life itself, and
the reality of the belief in it. No ground lays firm
hold on our minds for a continuation of existence at
all, except such a ground as makes that continuation
an ascent. The prolongation of it and the rise in the
scale go together, because the true belief is, in its
very nature, an aspiration, and not a mere level ex-
pectation of the mind; and therefore, while a low
eternity obtained no credit, the Gospel doctrine in-
spired a strong conviction, because it dared to intro-
duce the element of glory into the destiny of man.” "
And so He, who alone was found sinless amongst men,
spake, as never man has spoken before or since, touch-
ing life and immortality. Compare His words with
other last words, – sweet and hopeful and blessed too,
and not to be cheapened, and yet nowise so clear and
strong and divine and inspiring as His, – the words
not of one like Jesus, on His way to die in the very
flower of His manhood and on the very threshold of
His purpose, but of a man worn with age and gray-
headed—the martyr Socrates, his best days ended
and his work done. “There is great reason,” he
says, with his characteristic caution, “to hope that
death is a good: and be of good cheer about it, O
* Sermon on “Eternal Life,” by the late Canon Mozley.
7
judges, and know this of a truth, that no evil can
happen to a good man, either in life or after death;”
but he adds, even more cautiously, as his very last
word: “The hour of departure has arrived, and we
go our ways, I to die and you to live. Which is bet-
ter, God only knows.” God be thanked for him who
died in Athens, for he was of the truth, – one of those
prophets who desired to see and hear the things
which the disciples of Jesus saw and heard, but saw
and heard them not,-one who helped man to live
more manlike ; but all the more let us bow the knee
unto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
in whom the Divine Fulness was pleased to dwell,
that, for the joy which was set before Him, He endured
the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the
right hand of the throne of God, that in Him the whole
family in heaven and earth might be named, and
small and great be of one household,—that He might"
be the Father's Son and our Brother, to tread for us
the path of struggle and prayer, and bring us in this
world, and in the world to come, nearer to His God
and our God | n
By all means, my friends, take note that in this
teaching of Jesus concerning the mysteries beyond
our dust, the whole emphasis rests upon things
spiritual and moral, and therefore real and universal.
There are scarcely any other positive and characteristic
elements in His doctrine of immortality; so that some
8 *
have even been misled to say that only the righteous
are, or can be, immortal. How could it be otherwise
in the Lord's teaching, seeing that to Christ, and all
true Christians, life is not worth living, here or any-
where, save as it centres in Him “whose word is
truth, whose name is love.” Failing this, its root is as
rottenness, and its blossom must go up as dust. “My
meat,” He said, “is to do the will of Him that sent
me, and to finish His work. . . . Seek ye first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all
these things shall be added unto you.” And so, as
He looks forward and upward, His eager interest,
expectation, and promise are purely religious. He
makes no mention whatever of so many things which
engage our minds and hearts in this life, and are the
ministers and occasions of so much pure and profita-
ble delight and longing. He does not ask, with the
great Gentile teacher, “What would not a man give
if he might converse with Orpheus and Musæus and
Hesiod and Homer?”— not because these glories
and excellencies and wonders of science and poetry
and art have no part in our real and abiding and
eternal life, not because we do not crave immortality
for all the great and good that we have ever known
or heard of; but because holy love, which is God,
must come first, and we must be born into it, at
all temporary costs and sacrifices— even of things
in themselves precious, and which the Father will
9
surely add as needful. For not a few who have
believed in the life to come, this life has had no moral
significance whatever; to Jesus, as we may almost
say, it had no other significance. He is simply silent
as to all else; for He knew that he who hath the
perfect God hath all, and that without love the wis-
est as well as the simplest, the king and the beggar,
are counted dead before Him. It is the life of God
in us which is eternal, and gives the Law to all living;
by which alone, here and hereafter, with steady
increase of divine opportunity, the child of God
mounts upward to his appointed ends,--blessed issues
of all that is good and beautiful and glorious on earth
and in heaven. So we believe in the life of the
world to come, and look forward to it, not with vague
wonder and amazement, but in hope as to a better
world, a world of compensations and comforts and
grander opportunities, – just so far as we believe in
God, and live upon His gifts, and look forward to His
promises, as Jesus believed and lived and looked for-
ward. It is a part of our endless expectation in Him.
The nearer we can come to Him here, the nearer shall
we be to Him there; and the more unhesitatingly
shall we declare that in that other world much which
here has been failure shall be success, and many who
seemed to have been forever banished shall be re-
stored to the Home of the Father, that there may be
joy in the presence of the angels of God.
10
“If ye loved me ye would rejoice.” They are
words of truth, and yet it must be confessed that it
is a very high strain. They did love Him, but hardly
in that wise. It is not easy so to love; “Nature
will have her right.” How can we fail, even because
of our love, to think more of our loss than of their
gain who have gone the way of all the earth, – even
though feebleness has become strength, and sickness
health, and age immortal youth and fresh opportu-
nity | The heavens have indeed been opened above
our graves, and more than ever are we encouraged
to believe that, when the dust returns to the earth
as it was, the spirit returns to God who gave it; but
so long as the generations of men come and go there
will be a time to mourn, as we linger in the light of
lives which once illumined all our days, and recall
those whose strength has been so largely shared
with us that we cannot bear to part with it, though
for them it had long been labor and sorrow. There
are those whose going away from us must not fail of
a commemorative word.
I am sure that such a departure is near your minds
and hearts to-day; and for you, as for myself, you
would have me say that it was an auspicious day
for our church when, some twenty-five years ago,
Nathaniel Thayer came to worship with this congre-
gation in the Chauncy Place Meeting-house. . A de-
scendant in direct line from our famous John Cotton,
1].
himself a clergyman's grandson, son also of one of
the most honored ministers of our Commonwealth
and Congregational body, our fellow-worshipper
brought with him a reverent spirit, a sincere loyalty
to Christian institutions and usages, and, withal, a
mind to do his full part in the work of a religious
society. Open-hearted and open-handed, he had—
as the true son of his father, who was quite as good a
layman as clergyman—a very lively sense of what
a minister needs, and of what the parish needs from
one who would help and not hinder, by word and
look, by speech and silence, by presence and by
absence. Characteristically an affectionate man, it
was easy and natural for him to make the church
porch another household with his bright face, his
cordial greeting, — yes, his ringing laughter. You
could rely upon him for charitable judgments, and
those passing words of inborn friendliness which do
more to bind a congregation together than whole
columns of set speeches and whole days of formal
visits and long evenings of parish sociables. He
was good on common occasions, and when unevent-
ful days betray the worshippers into routines and
monotony, and tempt us to carelessness and indif-
ference, and simply because there is no crisis in our
affairs, things may go by default; but he was at his
best when the work became pressing, and if at
any time — as once with us — there seemed to be a
12
threatening of catastrophe, his fidelity and good
judgment and exceeding liberality left nothing to be
desired. I am sure that many men and women, old
members of the society and new-comers, who, ac-
cording to their ability, and beyond their ability,
have contributed to the large cost of this new house
of worship, will say that I am only rendering honor
to whom honor is due, when I place Mr. Thayer first
amongst those—his peers—to whose free gifts our
congregation and our city owe this beautiful place
of prayer. Too costly, does any one say? Hardly,
if the men and women who shared the cost were
glad to spend upon a consecrated building what so
many lavish upon things which are ugly and useless,
or worse, – or are at best the toys of the moment.
Why should we find fault, as some do, when we are
allowed to enter into the gifts of a former generation,
and are encompassed by beauty for which others
have paid the price? We owe our success in that
always difficult passage, from an old to a new house of
worship, more to Nathaniel Thayer than to any other
person. He was happily able to bear the burden;
but, as you know, the willingness to stand up under
such loads is often in inverse proportion to the abil-
ity. Long months, during which the society was at
once occupying the old and building the new church,
could hardly have been outlived if our friend had
not assumed, for the time, the whole charge of the
13
work, and that without the slightest security for
repayment. And here a temperament sanguine to
a fault stood him in good stead, and especially made
up what was lacking in this way to your minister.
He carried about with him at that time some figures,
which he offered to the doubtful as a demonstration
of success. I must allow that his arithmetic rather
silenced than satisfied me. It was because he failed to
put on the paper — though it was more or less con-
sciously present to his thought, as amongst the possi-
bilities of the future—the princely contribution which
in due time would set the matter at rest. Had he
been a less generous, or even a more cautious man,
our over-venturesome undertaking — which, it should
be added, was no pet project of his—might have
utterly failed. And this is only a single illustration
of his sense of the responsibilities of wealth, and his
recognition of the claims of ideal things, living insti-
tutions, upon the living generation. The story of
education and science east and west, of the New
England town library, of hospitals for men and
women and little children, of the numberless public
provisions for the unfortunate, – yes, if to reveal that
were becoming, of many a private scholar, – cannot
be told without the constant recurrence of this name.
He helped largely to establish and strengthen what
may be called a custom and usage of giving — one
of the most reassuring characteristics of an age which
14
has so increased in goods, and been under such strong
temptation to a selfish luxury. In every charitable
enterprise we instinctively turned to him amongst
the first, and fell back upon him again amongst the
last; and he gave not grudgingly or of necessity,
but as one of those cheerful givers whom the Lord
loves. And those of us who are no longer young,
and look back with fond remembrances to the sim-
plicities of our childhood, were glad to note our
friend's persistency in the plain ways of our fathers,
—the homely fashions of the old village and the old
town, the quiet equipage, and the entire absence
of all ostentation, and of everything airy and pre-
tentious. We have great need of such examples to
bind together all sorts and conditions of men, to
anticipate and prevent social antagonisms, and to
make it impossible for us to divide a great common-
wealth into jealous and conflicting classes of rich and
poor, fashionable and unfashionable. Where the
need is so great and the peril even is so imminent,
we may count upon an answering supply; and we
will seek to be grateful for the past, rather than in-
dulge anxieties for the future. It may be that our
New England communities — especially our religious
congregations — are passing through changes which
will bring to the front a new order of citizenship and
churchmanship; but it does not yet appear what new
supports are to supply the places of the old pillars,
15
and we can only say, as the gray head is laid low
and the blossom of youth perisheth, “All are in the
hands of God.” Let us say it with an unfailing
gratitude and an unfaltering trustſ
Yes, God is our refuge and strength for years to
come and works to be finished on earth; and His life
in us alone makes our immortality more than a con-
tinuation of life, even a glorious ascent to Him who
is our home and the home of that great human
society, which, as it once bore the image of the earthy,
now and evermore bears the image of the heavenly.
We too, like the great Forerunner, go forth from
the Father and come into the world; and we too
shall leave the world and go unto the Father, — from
first to last, consciously or unconsciously, the chil-
dren of the Heavenly King. Live at your noblest
and your best, to minister, and not to be ministered
unto; come to yourselves from all your dreams of
worldliness; and then, to be what you are shall be the
earnest of what you are to become, – the best evi-
dence that a blessed immortality is your portion, and
that for you to die is gain.
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