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In JHemottam. 
 
 TRIBUTES TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REV. C^P.^ADSDEN, 
 
 LATE RECTOR OF ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, CHARLESTON, S. C. 
 
 MOSTLY DELIVERED SHORTLY AFTER HIS DECEASE ; TO WHICH ARE ADDED , 
 AT THE REQUEST OF MANY OF HIS FRIENDS, 
 
 THIRTEEN OF HIS SERMONS, 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 
 KEV. JAMES H^LLIOTT. 
 
 n 
 
 CHARLESTON, S. C: 
 FOGARTIE'S BOOK DEPOSITORY, 
 
 260 Kino Street, 
 1872. 
 
3W^ 
 
 &*>* 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 
 
 S. AND B. M. FOGARTIE, 
 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 i q {, rz 
 
 RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE : 
 PRINTED BY H. 0. EOUGETON AND COMPANY, 
 

 
 
 PEEFATOET NOTE. 
 
 TN this Memorial to a beloved friend, I have 
 contented myself with simply arranging the 
 material placed in my hands. Some of these 
 contributions have reached me within a few days, 
 and this, together with the incessant interruptions 
 of a city congregation, will, I hope, excuse the 
 delay of publication. The leading motive of this 
 compilation is, not to exalt one who, with un- 
 feigned modesty, shrank from all praise, nor to 
 gratify the partialities of a large circle of ad- 
 mirers and friends ; nor even to soothe the sor- 
 rows of his bereaved and stricken family, but to 
 magnify that grace of God, which shone so 
 brightly and constantly in him. Tributes from 
 so many and various quarters, prove how near 
 he stood to the heart of the Universal Church ; 
 how sweetly and purely he represented the es- 
 sence of all true religion. Men of widely differ- 
 ent views saw in him the lineaments of the 
 Master, and glorified Christ in him. They are 
 republished just as they have come to me ; and 
 
iv PREFATORY NOTE. 
 
 are arranged in the order which commended it- 
 self to my mind as the most natural. Each wri- 
 ter speaks, of course, from his own point of view ; 
 and this variety should be regarded as giving 
 additional and cumulative value to their com- 
 bined testimony. Nor is this consentient voice 
 an unimportant witness to the real unity of the 
 Church of Christ, in the midst of all its superficial 
 and noisy differences ; and, perhaps (I speak it 
 with diffidence), it is while contemplating a life 
 like that of Gadsden's that we are nearest the so- 
 lution of that great problem, which is pressing 
 upon the hearts of Christ's true people ; namely, 
 how they who are one in faith, one in allegiance 
 to a common Lord, one in baptism, so far as its 
 essentials are concerned, may be brought into a 
 closer unity of affection, of fraternal acknowledg- 
 ment, and finally, perhaps, of external organiza- 
 tion. Gadsden seems in a great measure, to 
 have solved that problem for himself; and that 
 without violating the order and discipline of that 
 branch of the Christian Church to which he be- 
 longed. Where he saw Christ, he loved and ac- 
 knowledged Him ; and they who are Christ's, 
 clasp hands, and mingle tears above his grave. 
 
 J. H. E. 
 
COXTEXTS. 
 
 I. Tributes from Brethren of his own Denom- 
 
 ination, 
 
 Sketch from the "Monthly Record" . . . 1 
 Funeral Sermon preached by Rev. TV. B. TV. 
 
 Howe, Assistant Bishop Elect ... 30 
 
 Extract from Sermon by Rev. A. T. Porter . 65 
 Memorial Tribute in the General Convention . 68 
 
 II. Tributes from Brethren of other Denom- 
 
 inations. 
 
 Remarks of Rev. E. T. TVinkler, D. D., of Cita- 
 del Square Church (Baptist) ... 81 
 
 Remarks of Rev. VT. H. Adams, Circular Church 
 
 (Congregational) 84 
 
 Remarks of Rev. Charles S. Tedder, Huguenot 
 
 Church 93 
 
 Remarks of Rev. J. T. TTightman, Methodist 
 
 Episcopal Church 95 
 
 IH. Funeral Ceremonies, Etc. 
 
 Sketch of Funeral Ceremonies attending the Bur- 
 ial of Mr. Gadsden 99 
 
 Resolutions passed by Yestry of St. Luke's 
 
 Church ....... 104 
 
 Lines on the Death of the Rev. C. P. Gadsden . 107 
 
 IY. Sermons of Rev. C. P. Gadsden. 
 
 The Holy Spirit the Guide to the Understanding 
 
 of the Scriptures Ill 
 
 Christ receiveth Sinners 132 
 
 The Ground of the Believer's Acceptance . 146 
 
VI CONTENTS. 
 
 A Brand plucked out of the Fire .... 160 
 The Carnal Mind Enmity against God . . 174 
 The Altar to the Unknown God . . . .190 
 Forsaking All to follow Christ .... 205 
 Aaron standing between the Dead and the Liv- 
 ing 220 
 
 Jesus in the Midst of those gathered in his Xame 235 
 
 A Communion Sermon 253 
 
 The One Man who cannot be convicted of Sin . 269 
 The Godhead of Christ the Only Key to his 
 
 Character 285 
 
 Christ coming to Judgment .... 308 
 
%n jftemoriam 
 
 EEY. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN, 
 
 i. 
 
 TRIBUTES FROM BRETHREN OF HIS OWN 
 CHURCH. 
 
 Sketch from u Monthly Record," dated August, 1871. 
 
 npHE drapery of mourning in which. " The 
 -*- Record " goes forth to the Diocese, poorly 
 represents our feelings under the bereave- 
 ment that has befallen our Church and 
 community. Nor can words do more than 
 faintly express the profound sorrow and 
 sense of irreparable loss, with which we 
 contemplate the breach made in our min- 
 isterial ranks. A prince has fallen in 
 Israel. A leader, whose arm and voice 
 were ever foremost in the great battle for 
 Christ and truth, has been stricken down in 
 the midst of the conflict, and we sadly ask, 
 Who can take his place, or be to us in the 
 future what he has been in the past ? 
 
.2 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 None but those who have watched and 
 toiled by his side can understand how 
 deeply and extensively the life of our dear 
 departed brother has been interwoven with 
 the history of the Church in this Diocese 
 and city. He was wrought into it at so 
 many points, that the wrench of his death 
 pulls at fibres which have found their way 
 into a multitude of hearts. His congrega- 
 tion mourn the loss of a devoted, sympa- 
 thizing pastor, who truly bore them on his 
 heart, and who to the full extent, and 
 beyond the full extent of his strength, was 
 ever laboring for the promotion of their 
 spiritual welfare ; in private and in public, 
 in the pulpit and in the Sunday-school, in 
 the chamber of sickness and of affliction, in 
 the social circle making full proof of his 
 ministry, and ever holding up before them 
 the one great attraction of the Saviour 
 .dying for their sins, and living for their 
 complete redemption from corruption and 
 death. His brethren deplore the absence 
 of a genial, bright, and active spirit, whose 
 zeal often quickened theirs to fresh exer- 
 tion; who was ever willing to share their 
 burdens ; who brought into their counsels 
 so buoyant and hopeful a temper ; whose 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 3 
 
 judgment was as clear as his knowledge 
 was accurate and extensive ; who was gifted 
 with so delicate a perception of his own and 
 others rights ; who was the very imperson- 
 ation of candor, modesty, and truth. Every 
 interest of the Church will miss his ready 
 and faithful cooperation, which shrank 
 from no duty, and shirked no responsibil- 
 ity. The community at large suffer the 
 privation of one who was prompt to re- 
 spond to every call, come from whatever 
 quarter it might ; whose face was seen on 
 the platform, wherever good might be 
 achieved, and religious influence brought 
 to bear upon civil and educational inter- 
 ests. The councils of the General Church 
 will miss his wise moderation and delight- 
 ful suavity of speech and manner, by which 
 so many were impressed at the last Con- 
 vention, and of which we heard at the dis- 
 tant North from those who had previously 
 been unacquainted with him. Of his family 
 we say only, that they to whom he was best 
 known can alone feel the poignancy of a 
 blow which has extinguished the light of 
 their home, and left them no earthly com- 
 fort but the precious memory of his endear- 
 ing qualities, and the deep sense of the 
 
4 IN MEM OR I AM. 
 
 privilege accorded them of intimate com- 
 munion with a soul which habitually lived 
 in intimate communion with God. 
 
 The leading events of Mr. Gadsden's life 
 have been already given to the public, but 
 it will be necessary to recapitulate them 
 more at length. He was born on the 5th 
 of August, 1825, and thus had nearly com- 
 pleted his forty-sixth year. His father, Mr. 
 John Gadsden, was a younger brother of 
 Bishop Gadsden, and a man of considerable 
 legal ability and literary culture, which ill 
 health and a comparatively early death dis- 
 appointed of their maturer fruits. His 
 mother died also while he was yet a child, 
 and he was left under the charge of his ma- 
 ternal aunt, Mrs. Barksdale, a lady of decided 
 piety and excellent sense, to whose consci- 
 entious training and admirable example he 
 always acknowledged himself deeply in- 
 debted. His religious impressions were of 
 a gradual and gentle growth. His piety, 
 like that of Timothy, must have dated from 
 his childhood, steadily gaining strength and 
 consciousness with his increasing years. He 
 seems, through the preventing grace of God, 
 to have escaped in great measure the irreg- 
 ularities and vices which too often deform 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 5 
 
 the period of youth, impairing the moral 
 sensibilities, leaving as their bitter memen- 
 tos the stains and scars of sin, and laying 
 the foundation of habits to be subdued, if 
 at all, only after long and painful struggles. 
 It was in harmony with this comparatively 
 blameless development of his Christian char- 
 acter that he could not refer in after life to 
 any one remarkable stage of religious ex- 
 perience, although, doubtless, there were 
 periods of deeper conviction when the press- 
 ure of divine truth made itself more con- 
 sciously felt, and brought his heart and will 
 more entirely into subjection to the obedi- 
 ence of faith. The most decisive of these 
 impressions occurred in his sophomore year 
 at Columbia, S. C, while sitting under the 
 powerful ministry of Dr. Thornwell, and 
 led to the complete surrender of his heart 
 to God, and public profession of the gospel 
 of Christ. The testimony of those who 
 knew him in college bears ample witness 
 to his fidelity to his confirmation vows. 
 His companions also testify to his unusual 
 excellence as a speaker and debater. 
 
 Dr. Thornwell recognized in him the 
 promise of a bright and useful career, and 
 he responded with a cordial appreciation of 
 
6 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 the genius and piety of his distinguished 
 instructor, which ripened into a life-long 
 friendship. His own theological views were 
 probably considerably influenced by the 
 powerful presentation of that scheme of 
 doctrinal truth of which Dr. Thornwell 
 was so eloquent and uncompromising an 
 expounder; and while this daily contact 
 with one of the brightest luminaries of the 
 Presbyterian Church did not weaken in the 
 least his attachment for the forms, and gov- 
 ernment of his own, it doubtless contributed 
 to establish him in those views of theology 
 which remained with him to the end of life, 
 and which he always held to be most con- 
 sonant with the creed of the Reformers, 
 and with the acknowledged standards of 
 the Church of England and our own. 
 
 These views, however, were not in his 
 case the mere formulae of a dry and sapless 
 creed, but were the channels through which 
 divine grace flowed, to bloom in abundant 
 foliage and flower and fruit. His was em- 
 phatically a living faith, borrowing earnest- 
 ness and solemnity and depth from his 
 profound sense of natural depravity, of 
 God's sovereignty, and of the fullness and 
 sufficiency of the Saviour's work. Christ 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 7 
 
 became to him his all in all ; and when he 
 devoted himself to the ministry of the gos- 
 pel, he did so with the solemn purpose of 
 holding Him up in his life and death, and 
 resurrection power, as the great object of 
 men's reliance, and the sole means of their 
 conversion and sanctification. After the 
 usual course of study under the direct su- 
 pervision of his uncle, the then Bishop of 
 the Diocese, he was ordained Deacon at St. 
 Philip's, on the 4th Sunday in Advent, 1844, 
 and was immediately engaged as an assist- 
 ant to the Kev. William Dehon, then in 
 charge of the extensive parish of St. John's. 
 We must not "pass over this period of his 
 life without adverting to the important in- 
 fluence which it was calculated to exert 
 upon Mr, Gadsden's opinions in reference 
 to Church questions. The system of doc- 
 trine he had embraced naturally led him to 
 what is known as the Low Church theory, 
 according to which, the claims of any visible 
 ecclesiastical organization to be the true 
 representative of the Apostolic Church 
 rests rather upon its accordance with the 
 doctrine and spirit of the Apostles, as ex- 
 hibited in the New Testament, than upon a 
 direct lineal succession of orders in the three 
 
8 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 branches of the holy ministry. We cannot 
 stop to enter into controversy which, in this 
 connection, were entirely unsuitable ; but we 
 notice the way in which Mr. Gadsden's posi- 
 tion at this time tended to the completion 
 of his theological education upon thorough 
 and comprehensive grounds. His uncle, the 
 Bishop, whom he personally loved, and 
 whose character he always held in the 
 highest esteem for its consistent and prac- 
 tical piety, differed from him very materi- 
 ally in his estimate of the claims of the 
 Church and Liturgy ; and he was not likely 
 to maintain his own position without a keen 
 and searching investigation of the ground 
 on which he stood. To this we attribute 
 his unusual acquaintance with the contro- 
 versial literature which bears upon the Con- 
 stitution of the Church, the scope of her 
 offices, the history of the Prayer Book, and 
 the interpretation of the Rubrics. On these 
 points he was peculiarly at home, and abun- 
 dantly able to maintain himself against all 
 comers. But his temper was too good, and 
 his spirit too Catholic, to allow controversy 
 to degenerate into strife ; and hence to the 
 last the Bishop and himself remained upon 
 the most affectionate and confidential terms, 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 9 
 
 which is saying a great deal when we re- 
 member that both were men of quick tem- 
 per, and uncompromisingly tenacious in the 
 maintenance of their opinions. 
 
 Mr. Gadsden's ministry in St. John's was 
 eminently useful, and we are inclined to 
 consider it one of the happiest periods of 
 his life. He was always fond of the coun- 
 try, and although there is nothing peculiarly 
 attractive or varied in the scenery of our 
 pine lands, the very rustling of the trees 
 and the fresh air of the forest had charms 
 for him which more than reconciled him to 
 the monotony of the view, bounded by in- 
 terminable lines of inflexible regularity, and 
 canopied by the sombre foliage of the pine. 
 Here he married his first wife, the eldest 
 daughter of Mr. Thomas W. Porcher, and 
 in his hospitable dwelling found a congenial 
 home, and formed ties which have lasted in 
 undiminished tenderness to the end. Dur- 
 ing his first prolonged illness in 1870, Mr. 
 Porcher was his untiring nurse ; and one of 
 his latest anxieties in his final sickness was 
 to see him before he died, and while con- 
 sciousness was still left to him. In both 
 these respects he was happily gratified. 
 
 It was in St. John's that Mr. Gadsden 
 
10 IN MEMOR1AM. 
 
 had his first experience in ministering to 
 the negroes, who formed a large proportion 
 of the charge of these devoted ministers of 
 Christ. From the first he showed his apti- 
 tude in interesting and instructing them, for 
 which, indeed, his natural gifts eminently 
 qualified him. His great fluency in extem- 
 pore address, animated manner, and fertility 
 of illustration, attracted and held their atten- 
 tion ; while the f ervor with which he dwelt 
 upon the love of Christ, and the solemnity 
 of his appeals to conscience and their own 
 experience, were the unfailing means of ac- 
 cess to their hearts and sympathies. He 
 very soon became the object of their affec- 
 tions, and his influence with this class of 
 our population survived the shock of the 
 war, and maintained itself against the po- 
 litical jealousies engendered by their en- 
 franchisement. The galleries of his church 
 were frequented by the colored people after 
 they had deserted those of almost every 
 other Episcopal Church in the city ; and his 
 communion seasons found him ministering 
 as usual to numbers who could not be in- 
 duced to leave their pastor and tried friend 
 by any appeal to prejudices of color and 
 caste. Among those who flocked to his fu- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 11 
 
 neral they were largely represented, and 
 we feel assured there were no sincerer 
 mourners at the side of his grave. Last 
 year, when his death was daily expected, 
 one of their prominent leaders observed 
 that the night before two thousand of the 
 freedmen of Charleston were praying for 
 his continuance amongst us ; and we see no 
 reason to suppose that the statement was at 
 all an exaggerated one. 
 
 It was this same happy power of adapt- 
 ing himself to their capacities, added to 
 the affectionate interest which he always 
 manifested in them, that rendered our dear 
 brother so universal a favorite among the 
 young. Much of his Sunday's labor was 
 devoted to their instruction, and in this de- 
 partment of his ministerial work he ever 
 took especial delight. It was his custom, 
 we are told, not only to be present with the 
 school in the morning, but to gather the 
 children around him for half an hour before 
 the afternoon service, and to lecture to them 
 in his happy and impressive way. He had 
 been thus engaged lately, expounding to 
 them the Apostles' Creed, clause by clause. 
 The day before he was taken sick, he had 
 reached the words " life everlasting." Hav- 
 
12 IN ME MORI AM. 
 
 ing addressed them upon the former of these 
 pregnant terms, he told them, that upon the 
 coming Sunday he would conclude the whole 
 series by explaining what was to be under- 
 stood by " everlasting" When the ap- 
 pointed hour came, he was himself upon 
 the very eye of entering upon the full bless- 
 edness of that life, and of knowing, as man 
 on earth cannot know, the mysteries of the 
 eternal and far more exceeding weight of 
 glory, which was awaiting him before the 
 throne of God his Saviour. 
 
 But to return : In 1852, upon the death 
 of his uncle, then the Rector of St. Philip's 
 Church, in Charleston, the Rev. John B. 
 Campbell, the former assistant, was called to 
 the Rectorship of the parish, and Mr. Gads- 
 den was invited to fill the vacant place. Here 
 he spent nearly six years, laboriously and 
 faithfully discharging the duties of a city 
 minister, remaining at his post during the 
 epidemics of 1854 and 1856, and exposing 
 himself with unflinching fortitude to the 
 perils of the season. During these years, 
 he was preaching to a congregation, many 
 of whom could hardly be said to sympathize 
 with him in either his doctrinal or church 
 views ; but such was the geniality of his dis- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 13 
 
 position, the uniform courteousness of his 
 demeanor, and the evident sincerity and 
 frankness of his convictions, that when he 
 left them, those who differed from him most 
 widely were delighted to retain him as a 
 friend. During this engagement he had 
 other inviting calls to churches at the North, 
 and in his own native city, — how many we 
 know not, for he was very reticent on these 
 subjects ; but he declined them all, believing 
 that for the time his path had been decided 
 by the providence of God, and willing to 
 retain a subordinate place, when he might 
 have been at the head of large and flourish- 
 ing congregations. 
 
 He was also engaged during this period 
 in editorial work, in which he took great in- 
 terest, being one of three who conducted the 
 " Southern Episcopalian," a monthly mag- 
 azine devoted to the cause of religion and 
 of the Church in this Diocese. Many of its 
 most popular articles were from his pen ; and 
 after the death of the Rev. J. A. Shanklin, 
 he continued to conduct it with his surviv- 
 ing co-laborer until the war put a close to its 
 existence. Many happy hours, the remem- 
 brance of which is deeply cherished by the 
 last of this little band, were spent in consul- 
 
14 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 tation and prayer for the success of their 
 labors in a field which called for continual 
 circumspection and prudent forbearance. 
 
 In the year 1857, some difficulties occurred 
 in St. Philip's Church, between the Rev. Mr. 
 Campbell and his Vestry, into which it is 
 needless now to enter ; and Mr. Gadsden, 
 from motives of delicacy, which at the time 
 we considered almost overstrained, concluded 
 to tender his resignation, and enter upon 
 another field opened to him by the provi- 
 dence of God in the northeastern section of 
 the city. This step he took after much 
 prayer, and to the great regret of the con- 
 gregation of St. Philip's. He was now about 
 to enter upon the arduous work of creating 
 and building up a new parish, a far more 
 difficult task in our stationary and conserva- 
 tive population than among the ever flue-' 
 tuating and swelling masses of the North. 
 In pursuance of this design, a plain wooden 
 structure, now known as St. Mark's Church, 
 was erected upon Elizabeth Street, and here 
 for several years he labored with much suc- 
 cess in gathering a congregation around him 
 and preparing the ground for a larger and 
 more suitable edifice. In due time the cor- 
 ner-stone of the present St. Luke's was laid, 
 
REV CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 15 
 
 and into the details of its construction Mr. 
 Gadsden threw himself with all his wonted 
 ardor, watching it as it approached comple- 
 tion with the affection of a parent for his 
 child. The cost of lot and building was 
 large, and left the congregation burdened 
 with a considerable debt. Had things re- 
 mained as they were at the inception of the 
 enterprise, no serious difficulty would have 
 been experienced in paying off these incum- 
 brances ; but the breaking out of the war 
 threw everything into confusion, dispersed 
 the congregation, and, finally, swept away 
 their means ; and when after the surrender 
 of Charleston they slowly gathered back to 
 their homes, the embarrassment was such as 
 to make it a serious question whether it 
 would be possible to save their bonds from 
 foreclosure, and the church from falling into 
 the auctioneer's hands. Nothing but Mr. 
 Gadsden's influence, and his deep hold upon 
 the affections of his people, prevented this 
 misfortune. At one crisis he pledged the bulk 
 of his remaining property for the redemption 
 of the debt, and actually sold a considerable 
 portion of it to raise the means to meet the 
 first installment. This generous act was but 
 of a piece with his uniform disregard of his 
 
16 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 own interest, when what he conceived to be 
 the honor of Christ and of his Church was in 
 the balance. At a subsequent period he de- 
 clined inviting prospects of usefulness else- 
 where, upon the understanding that his peo- 
 ple would take immediate steps to extricate 
 St. Luke's from its involved and dangerous 
 position. Arrangements to this effect were 
 almost consummated, when the summons 
 came to him to leave his earthly cares and 
 enter into his rest. Let us hope that his ef- 
 forts, prayers, and sacrifices will not have 
 been in vain, and that they who loved him 
 so in life will not suffer his work to be scat- 
 tered, and that St. Luke's will be preserved 
 to the Diocese and city, as the most suita- 
 ble monument which can survive to tell of 
 the priceless devotion of their beloved pas- 
 tor. 
 
 Mr. Gadsden's patriotism was one of the 
 natural sentiments to which he gave full 
 sway. Not that it ever hurried him beyond 
 the bounds prescribed by the highest relig- 
 ious principle. He never, in the ardor of 
 his political convictions, forgot that he was 
 a minister of Christ, or that he belonged to 
 a kingdom which was not of this world. No 
 personal bitterness was mingled with the 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 17 
 
 sense of a great wrong inflicted upon the 
 South, upon his beloved State, and upon 
 the city of his birth. An ardent admirer 
 and disciple of the great Calhoun, an admi- 
 rable portrait of whom, inherited, we be- 
 lieve, from his father, hung in his drawing- 
 room, he accepted his interpretation of the 
 Constitution, and of the relations of the sev- 
 eral States in sovereign parties to the fede- 
 ral compact. Hence, when war came, he 
 regarded it as the only means left the South 
 of vindicating these great principles, and 
 was willing that his fortune, and if need be 
 his life, should be hazarded in the struggle 
 for their maintenance. He never degene- 
 rated into what is called a political preacher, 
 but he encouraged his people under their 
 reverses, ministered freely of his substance 
 and time and personal strength in supply- 
 ing the destitute, comforting the bereaved, 
 and tending the pallets of our wounded and 
 dying soldiers ; and when his congregation 
 had been scattered, and it was no longer 
 possible to open St. Luke's for service, he 
 employed himself in preaching and minis- 
 tering to the confederate forces stationed 
 around the city. When defeat came, he re- 
 ceived it as the will of God, and without 
 
 2 
 
18 IN MEM OR I AM. 
 
 questioning the Supreme decree, although 
 it shattered the human aspirations of his 
 whole life, resumed the duties of a parish 
 minister with undiminished zeal and pa- 
 tience. Henceforth he looked only towards 
 the city which hath foundations, whose 
 builder and maker is God. Life became to 
 him yet more a pilgrimage, the world yet 
 more a wilderness, heaven yet more a home. 
 His whole nature concentrated itself with 
 redoubled interest upon his work, and his 
 spirit plumed itself afresh for higher flight 
 towards the founts of glory. 
 
 In addition to the burdens laid upon him 
 by the misfortunes of the war. Mr. Gads- 
 den had griefs of a more private nature. In 
 1858 he buried a boy in whom were garnered 
 many hopes ; and during the war, in 1864, 
 within a month of each other, he was called 
 to surrender his onlv daughter and his 
 beloved wife. These successive strokes, to 
 which his affectionate temper made him 
 keenly susceptible, he bore with a beautiful 
 resignation : committing them one after 
 another to the arms of his Saviour, with 
 an unfaltering trust in his faithfulness and 
 love, and rejoicing in the decisive proofs 
 which were vouchsafed him of their interest 
 in the covenant of salvation. 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 19 
 
 When time had healed these wounds, he 
 entered once more into the wedded estate, 
 and in the partner who has lived to survive 
 him found a tender helpmeet and a wise 
 counselor, who could enter into all his views, 
 and was ever ready to share and lighten his 
 burdens. May the God of all comfort sup- 
 port and strengthen her in this great sorrow, 
 teaching her by actual experience that his 
 grace is sufficient for her, and that there is 
 no tear, come from how deep a fount it may, 
 that his hand is not loving enough to wipe 
 away. 
 
 As may be supposed, Mr. Gadsden was a 
 hard and indefatigable worker. His consti- 
 tution seemed a good one, and his animal 
 spirits were remarkably buoyant and elastic. 
 These remained with him to the last, and 
 undoubtedly contributed mainly to enable 
 him to bear up against the continual strain 
 to which his mind and body were subjected. 
 But they also helped, perhaps, to blind him 
 to the danger to which he was exposed, of 
 falling a sacrifice to his zeal. At length, in 
 the spring of 1870, his overtaxed powers 
 gave way, and he was laid upon a bed of 
 sickness, from which it was feared he would 
 never arise. The best medical skill of the 
 
20 IN MEMORIAL. 
 
 city pronounced his case hopeless, and one 
 of his brethren in the ministry was commis- 
 sioned to tell him that his end was approach- 
 ing. But Mr. Gadsden, although he re- 
 ceived the intimation with entire calmness, 
 expressed his opinion to the contrary. He 
 did not doubt their superior skill and knowl- 
 edge of his case, but simply said that he 
 felt no consciousness that death was at hand, 
 and that it was his belief that God would 
 raise him, up and permit him once more to 
 carry the message of salyation to dying men. 
 And, strange to say, spite of all the prog- 
 nostications of physicians and friends, after 
 hoyering for weeks between life and death, 
 he was, like Hezekiah, respited, and after a 
 few months spent at the North, returned in 
 the fall astonishingly restored to an appear- 
 ance at least of his former health. But it 
 was, as subsequent eyents haye proyed, in 
 appearance only. He looked too well for 
 one whose yital powers had been so recently 
 and utterly prostrated, and one of whose 
 capital organs, the usual ce'ntre of functional 
 derangement in our climate, had been pro- 
 nounced to be " utterly worn out." But of 
 this critical condition of his system he seemed 
 unconscious, and plunged once more into all 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 21 
 
 his parochial duties with undiminished activ- 
 ity. So things went on through the spring 
 of this year. At the earnest solicitation of 
 his Vestry, he consented for a time to forego 
 his afternoon discourses, but even these he 
 resumed about two months before his death. 
 Summer came on, and an unusually hot July 
 found him at his post, in the full exercise of 
 all his powers, preaching, lecturing, visiting 
 as usual. But the hour had come. On 
 Sunday, the 16th of July, he complained of 
 unusual weariness, and spent upon his couch 
 the hours not actually engaged in the ser- 
 vices of the sanctuary. On Monday morn- 
 ing he expressed himself as being unusually 
 well — went out, but returned about midday, 
 with symptoms of a dangerous character. 
 A distressing nausea now set in, and his 
 physicians again began to feel the most 
 serious apprehensions as to his condition. 
 The alarm spread, and anxious friends 
 thronged around his bedside, to watch the 
 progress of the case. This time he seemed 
 to have the sentence of death within him- 
 self. To one brother he said, " I feel that 
 my work is done ; " to another, " I am like 
 a watch whose mainspring is broken ; " again, 
 " I seem like one waiting at the ferry while 
 
22 IN MEM OR I AM. 
 
 the boat is approaching." Willing to re- 
 main, he was still more willing to go ; and 
 as his disease assumed more evidently fatal 
 proportions, his hope and assurance rose with 
 it, and putting from him all thought of life, he 
 addressed himself with marvelous calmness 
 to the discharge of such work as was left to 
 his failing strength. Messages of love were 
 sent to his congregation, to his Sunday- 
 school, to his brethren in the ministry, and 
 to his aged Bishop, between whom and him- 
 self there had always existed a most tender 
 and confidential affection. There were other 
 confidences and beautiful manifestations of 
 Christian spirit, over which, as too sacred, 
 we drop a veil. Love to all seemed now the 
 overpowering sentiment of his soul, even 
 faith and hope becoming dim in comparison. 
 In that supreme moment, like his beloved 
 Master, he thought of others rather than 
 himself. He was raised so entirely above 
 doubt and fear, that all his anxieties were 
 for them whom he was leaving behind. Of 
 his former sickness he expressed the thought 
 that he had been raised up to give to his 
 people a final testimony, as from the grave, 
 to the sufficiency and power of the truths 
 which he had preached to them. Of him- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 23 
 
 self lie said, that during this sickness his 
 views of sin and Christ were such as he had 
 never known before. On Sunday, the 23d, 
 he received the Communion from the hands 
 of the Rev. Mr. Howe, recently elected 
 Assistant Bishop of the Diocese ; and on 
 Monday, at about a quarter past four in the 
 afternoon, he breathed his last. About 
 twenty minutes before his death, he was 
 lifted from his bed into a therapeutic chair, ' 
 and raising his arms, or alluding to the fact 
 of their being raised by his attendants into 
 a position suggestive of such a thought, he 
 murmured, " I am reaching toward my in- 
 heritance." Shortly after, without a strug- 
 gle, he fell asleep in Jesus. 
 
 It will not do to forget, though we fear 
 we have omitted many interesting particu- 
 lars which, as evidences of divine grace, we 
 would not willingly let die, how upon a pre- 
 vious day he called an old friend and rela- 
 tive, Mr. James Holmes, to him, and men- 
 tioned that there was a verse written in his 
 Bible, which he wished him to refer to as 
 exactly expressive of his feelings in view of 
 death. The history of these lines was re- 
 markable, and they seemed to have made a 
 deep impression upon him. The words are 
 these : — 
 
24 IN- MEMORIAM. 
 
 "In peace let me resign my breath, 
 
 And thy salvation see ; 
 
 My sins deserve eternal death, 
 
 But Jesus diedjfor me." 
 
 We hope, when his epitaph is written, 
 they will be inscribed upon his tomb. 1 
 
 I The history of these simple and affecting lines is given 
 in the admirable memoir of Dr. Marsh, written by his 
 daughter, the well known author of the " Life of Captain 
 Hedley Vicars." It is well worth reproducing here. During 
 a visit to Lord Roden, at Tollymore Park, Ireland, "Dr. 
 Marsh told the story of the blessed change which took place 
 in the views of his old school -master, Dr. Valpy, repeating a 
 verse he had written as his confession of faith, not long be- 
 fore his death. Lord Roden requested my father to write 
 out the lines for him, and then fastened the paper over the 
 mantel-piece in his study. It hangs there still, yellow with 
 age, its firm and legible characters bringing to memory with 
 almost painful vividness the beloved one who traced them. 
 
 " Some time after Lord Roden had adopted this verse for 
 the motto of his study, one of the old heroes of Waterloo, 
 General Taylor, came to visit him at Tollymore. He had 
 not, at that time, thought much on the subject of religion, 
 and preferred to avoid all discussion of it. But whenever he 
 came into the study, to talk with his friend alone, Lord 
 Roden remarked that the eyes of the old soldier invariably 
 rested for a few moments upon the motto over the mantel- 
 piece. At length he broke the ice by saying, ' Why, Gen- 
 eral, you will soon know that verse by heart.' ' I know it 
 now by heart,' replied the General, with emphasis and feel- 
 ing. 
 
 " l From the hour of that visit, a change came over his spirit 
 and life. No one who was intimately acquainted with him 
 could doubt its reality. During the following two years 
 he corresponded regularly with Lord Roden about the things 
 which concerned his peace, always concluding his letters by 
 quoting the favorite motto. 
 
 II i At the end of that time, the physician who had attended 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 25 
 
 The funeral of our brother took place on 
 Tuesday afternoon, the 25th, at five o'clock. 
 It was the occasion of such a demonstra- 
 tion as has been seldom witnessed in our 
 city. There was no pageantry ; the services 
 were of the simplest character ; but the com- 
 munity seemed moved to its heart, and with- 
 out respect to color or sect, gathered to 
 testify its admiration and love for one who 
 himself embraced all in his overflowing 
 affection. Ministers of all denominations 
 stood around the chancel, and followed the 
 body to its final resting place, almost a mile 
 away. Five of his brethren divided the 
 burial service among them, and at the grave 
 
 General Taylor wrote to Lord Roden to say that his friend 
 had departed in peace ; and that the last words which fell 
 from his lips were those which he had learned to love in 
 life-time. 
 
 " ' It happened in after years that Lord Roden told this story 
 at the house of a near neighbor. A young relative of the 
 family, an officer in the army, who had recently returned 
 from the Crimea, heard it, but turned carelessly away. Some 
 months later Lord Roden received the intelligence that his 
 young acquaintance was in a rapid decline, and was desirous 
 of seeing him without delay.' 
 
 " As he entered the sick-room the dying man stretched out 
 both hands to welcome him ; at the same moment repeating 
 these simple lines: ' They have been God's message,' he 
 said, ' of peace and comfort to my heart in this illness, when 
 brought to my memory, after days of darkness and distress, 
 by the Holy Ghost the Comforter.' " 
 
26 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 the assembled throng sang two of his favor- 
 ite hymns, " Rock of Ages," and " There is 
 a land of pure delight ; " and the earth 
 closed, until the resurrection morn, upon 
 the mortal remains of one of the most love- 
 able and delightful of Christ's witnesses 
 upon earth. 
 
 And he was truly, in life and death, 
 Christ's witness. This was the distinguish- 
 ing feature of his whole ministry. From 
 first to last Christ was the burden of his 
 preaching. Like the Apostle, he seemed to 
 know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. 
 What men might think of this devotion to 
 a single subject, he cared not. In compari- 
 son with the gospel of salvation, he knew 
 of nothing which could claim an instant's 
 regard. He loved beauty. No one found 
 more delight than he in exploring the treas- 
 ures of European art, when some years 
 ago he was obliged to visit England and the 
 Continent for health. No one gazed with 
 more rapture upon the evidences of divine 
 goodness and creative skill, as displayed in 
 the coloring of the heavens, the changeful 
 play of ocean, the rich sweep of the varied 
 landscape, the silent majesty of the snow- 
 crowned mountains : with what enthusiasm 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEX. 27 
 
 we have heard hini descant upon each and 
 all ! Nor was he in any degree insensible 
 to the charms of literature, and especially 
 of poetry — nor unwilling to lay them all 
 under contribution when they could be used 
 to illustrate the subject in which his soul 
 found chief delight. But that subject was 
 Christ, nor could anything divert him from 
 it, nor was anything allowed for an instant 
 to obscure it. This singleness of view may 
 have offended the taste of some, but to him 
 who had his eye constantly fixed upon the 
 Sun of Righteousness as the grand luminary 
 of the spiritual and moral world, such devo- 
 tion was perfectly natural. At all events, 
 we can safely leave it to our brother's dying 
 bed, and to the scene around his grave, to 
 plead the wisdom of his choice. None who 
 witnessed them but would say, " Let me 
 die the death of the righteous, and let my 
 last end be like his." 
 
 We have said little of our brother's 
 preaching, and only incidentally touched 
 upon his intellectual endowments. As the 
 basis of all, he had a quick and clear appre- 
 hension, a retentive and ready memory. He 
 seized rapidly the material points of the 
 subject before him, whether read or dis- 
 
28 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 cussed, and could always restate them with 
 precision and fullness. It followed from this 
 that in argument he was singularly ready 
 and acute, being never at fault for either 
 thoughts or suitable expressions. His mind 
 was rather legal than philosophical, and his 
 intellectual leaning more to metaphysics 
 than science. He might have been eminent 
 at the bar or in the chair of logic, had his 
 calling been such. But these mental char- 
 acteristics appeared far more in conversa- 
 tion than in preaching, in which neither 
 argument nor metaphysics held a prominent 
 place. His delight was to unfold Scripture 
 and dwell upon the perfections of the Re- 
 deemer. Of this theme he never grew 
 weary, and to him, " Thus saith the Lord " 
 stood in the place of all argument. 
 
 Upon the platform he was a great favor- 
 ite, and there were few occasions of mis- 
 sionary gatherings or Bible Society anniver- 
 saries when his powers were not called into 
 requisition. Then he quickly kindled with 
 his theme, and poured forth the unstudied 
 utterances of his heart with a most happy 
 and engaging facility. Sometimes in these 
 extemporary effusions he rose above the 
 highest level of his written discourses, but 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 29 
 
 he never disapointed expectation, or failed 
 to warn, instruct, and please his audience. 
 
 We might run on at much greater length, 
 and still feel that a thousand things had 
 been left unsaid which could have been said 
 without fear of tiring those for whom we 
 write. But what a precious legacy and les- 
 son our brother has left to the Church ! How 
 fortunate the congregation who has enjoyed 
 the ministrations of such a pastor — the 
 community which has numbered him 
 among its citizens — the brethren who have 
 been privileged to watch and share his la- 
 bors ! And how solemnly near have the 
 closing scenes of his life brought eternity, 
 and Christ the eternal Judge, to our view ! 
 We have almost been permitted to hear the 
 words, " Well done thou good and faithful 
 servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 
 And shall we not lay it to heart ? Will we 
 not all strive to follow him as he followed 
 Christ? Blessed is that man whom when 
 He cometh his Lord shall find so doing. 
 
 J. H. E. 
 
A SEEMON", 
 
 PREACHED JULY 30, 1871, IN ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, 
 
 CHARLESTON, S. C, ON THE DEATH OF ITS 
 
 RECTOR, REV. C. P. GADSDEN. 
 
 By Rev. W. B. W. HOWE. 
 
 ASSISTANT BISHOP ELECT. 
 
 Eulogies. — It is difficult to speak in such a way as to 
 satisfy your hearer. For one, who knows all about, and who 
 loves the dead, will think you fall short of What he knows ; 
 while another, not so familiar with them, will suppose you 
 have exaggerated, if he hears anything above his own nature. 
 For eulogies are endured just so long and so far as each one 
 thinks he could do what he hears ; but what goes beyond him, 
 he disbelieves. — Thucyd. 2d:3bth. 
 
 " Fervent in spirit; serving the Lord." — Rom. xii. 11. 
 
 In these last chapters of tlie Epistle to 
 the Romans, the Apostle enters upon the 
 practical lessons which are to be drawn from 
 the deep discourse which he had held in the 
 earlier and middle portion of his Epistle. 
 In this earlier portion, there are " some 
 things hard to be understood ; " but in the 
 last part, and on to the end, he who " runs 
 may read." 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 31 
 
 It is so with my text, and the kindred 
 exhortations which accompany it. They all 
 speak of the every-day duties of a Christian 
 both towards God and towards his neighbor. 
 Whether or not we apprehend the " deep 
 things of God," which He commissioned his 
 servant to 'speak in this Epistle, we need 
 not be at fault when we come to words like 
 these : " Be kindly affectioned one to an- 
 other with brotherly love, in honor prefer- 
 ring one another. Not slothful in business : 
 fervent in spirit : serving the Lord. Re- 
 joicing in hope : patient in tribulation : con- 
 tinuing instant in , prayer : distributing to 
 the necessity of saints : given to hospital- 
 
 In thinking what Scripture words I should 
 choose to place at the head of some remarks 
 upon the death of our dear brother, the Rec- 
 tor of St. Luke's, among the many which sug- 
 gested themselves to me as being character- 
 istic of him, were those of the text, " Fer- 
 vent in spirit : serving the Lord." I think 
 you will all agree with me, though you 
 might have chosen other passages, that this 
 one belongs to him in a remarkable degree ; 
 for to be " fervent in spirit " means to have 
 your heart set on fire with zeal for God, 
 
32 IN ME MORI AM, 
 
 just as Apollos had in Ephesus, who, being 
 " fervent in the spirit, spake and taught dili- 
 gently the things of the Lord;" and just as 
 St. Paul, at Athens, had his " stirred with- 
 in him, when he saw the city wholly given 
 to idolatary ; " for the " coals thereof," in 
 the words of Solomon, " are coals of fire 
 which hath a most vehement flame." 
 
 Every one of us have our gifts, one after 
 this manner and another after that ; and the 
 charismata, as St. Paul calls them, of Chris- 
 tians, are natural gifts, heightened and in- 
 tensified by the fusing power of the Holy 
 Ghost. It is true, some of the ancient cha- 
 rismata were eminently supernatural in their 
 character ; as, for instance, those gifts of 
 healing, the gift of tongues, the interpreta- 
 tion of tongues, the discerning of spirits, 
 and others. But then again, when the 
 Apostle speaks of the Spirit, as " dividing 
 unto every man, severally, as He will," and 
 when he says, in connection with the text, 
 " Having gifts differing according to the 
 grace that is given to us," he does not mean 
 gifts which are necessarily miraculous, but 
 also what we call natural gifts, exalted and 
 perfected to the Master's use by the Holy 
 Spirit. Even natural gifts come of course 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 33 
 
 from God, but you can conceive how these 
 may be expanded and elevated in the manner 
 I have tried to indicate. In other words, 
 brethren, the grace of God, which is by Je- 
 sus, takes us just as it finds us, and makes 
 the most it can out of us. Hence you will 
 see as great differences among the best of 
 Christians as among other people, simply 
 because our characteristics are developed in 
 the line of their proper direction. 
 
 Now, one striking characteristic of our 
 dear brother of St. Luke's, and which, 
 probably, has impressed every one who met 
 him, was his great earnestness. This was 
 his gift by nature, as we say, and had he 
 chosen any other calling than that of the 
 sacred ministry, he would have unfailingly 
 exhibited it. Had he elected the bar, for 
 example, his clients would have had him 
 with them with all his heart and soul, and 
 he would have pressed their interests and 
 their claims from court to court. 
 
 Devoting himself, as he did, to the work 
 of the ministry, and feeling deeply its re- 
 sponsibilities, and having his whole soul, 
 down to its lowest depth, pervaded by the 
 love of Christ, and being " instant in 
 prayer," we need not be surprised at the 
 
34 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 one common judgment rendered, not alone 
 by the church whose minister he was, but 
 by our community, as being a man who was 
 " fervent in spirit : serving the Lord." 
 
 Let me then, as well as I can, and crav- 
 ing your indulgence for my most imperfect 
 sketch, which cannot but disappoint you, 
 glance briefly at a most precious life, which, 
 for you and me, alas ! has been quenched in 
 the grave, but which still lives unto God, 
 and which here on earth has not been lived 
 in vain. 
 
 Christopher Philip Gadsden, the son of 
 John and Ann Gadsden, was born in this 
 city on the 5th of August, 1825. By both 
 father and mother he came of good Carolina 
 stock, identified with the early interests of 
 the State, and which bore its full share of 
 self-denial with others in the war of the 
 colonies with England. He was baptized 
 in St. Philip's Church on the 30th of Sep- 
 tember, 1825, and at her chancel, in due 
 time, with other children of the congrega- 
 tion, he " said his catechism." When but 
 six years old he lost his father ; and in three 
 more years his mother likewise went down 
 into the grave, leaving him in charge of a 
 widowed maternal aunt ; a woman of de- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 35 
 
 voted piety, who became a second mother 
 to him, and to whom he ever showed an 
 affection which was nothing less than filial. 
 His second father was his uncle, the late 
 Bishop Gadsden. But I must hurry on. 
 In due time he entered the South Carolina 
 College, and up to this time, I believe, he 
 had not exhibited very much, if any, inter- 
 est in the things of Christ, which so remark- 
 ably characterized his after years. The 
 chaplain of the college was Dr. Thorn- 
 well, and through his preaching it was, 
 under God, that our brother was awakened 
 to a higher life, and to the reality of the 
 world to come. His baptismal gift, which 
 hitherto had lain more or less dormant, now 
 burst its seed-coat, and forthwith began to 
 bloom. He renewed and ratified his bap- 
 tismal covenant in Confirmation, and from 
 thence went to the Holy Communion, and 
 ever since, as many can testify, has shone 
 brightly for Christ, until at last the dawn 
 has lost itself in the perfect day. His col- 
 lege course was eminently honorable to him- 
 self, and he graduated with distinction in 
 1844. 1 
 
 1 A classmate writes, in reference to his college life : 
 " It was his custom to assemble two or three friends in his 
 
36 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Knowing him as we do now, we need not 
 to be told that, on quitting college, he could 
 do nothing less than make choice of the 
 sacred ministry for his work in life. Pene- 
 trated as he was with the deepest affection 
 for his Saviour, and with a most ardent love 
 for the souls of men, how could he help de- 
 voting himself to the work of preaching, 
 all his life long, the unsearchable riches of 
 Christ ? On leaving college, therefore, he 
 became at once a candidate for Holy Orders, 
 and pursued his theological studies under 
 the direction of his uncle, Bishop Gadsden. 
 Completing these according to the prescribed 
 course, and having passed the necessary ex- 
 aminations, he was admitted into the Di- 
 aconate in the latter part of the year 1847, 
 and in St. Philip's Church. Immediately 
 after his ordination, he was called into the 
 parishes of St. Stephen's and Upper St. 
 John's, including, also, Middle St. John's 
 Berkley, as an assistant minister, in his 
 large cure, to Rev. Wm. Dehon, the rector. 
 Here he was made Priest in the church in 
 Pineville, December, 1849. There, too, in 
 
 rooms, on every Sunday evening, when a sermon was read, 
 besides other exercises suitable to the day. I remember we 
 listened to nearly the whole of Melville's Sermons, which 
 were often selected on such occasions." 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN, 37 
 
 Mr. Dehon, he met an entirely kindred spirit, 
 and one who was equally devoted with him- 
 self to the service of his Master. They 
 were most unlike in temperament, but 
 each admirably supplemented the other. 
 The one, brimful of a high and holy enthu- 
 siasm which never run low ; the other, calm 
 and wise, and with a supreme judgment of 
 men and things, and of an almost angelic 
 purity of character, and as firm as a rock 
 when he had reached a conclusion. For 
 about five years these two walked hand in 
 hand together, and took sweet counsel each 
 with the other ; and together they labored 
 to win souls unto Jesus, and to build them 
 up in the knowledge of the Lord. In those 
 days a very large portion of a country cler- 
 gyman's labors was upon the plantations, 
 and addressed to the then slave population. 
 After morning service, at the parish church, 
 the clergyman would ride for miles, and 
 hold a second and third, and sometimes a 
 fourth service, on Sunday. In neat chapels, 
 built expressly for worship, or in buildings 
 adapted to the same, he would gather his 
 congregations, and preach the only Name 
 whereby we can be saved, and administer 
 the sacraments as the Lord hath appointed. 
 
38 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 And the work which these two dear brethren 
 did in this way. along with many others. I 
 cannot believe to have been all in vain. I 
 know it was not at the time, and I believe, 
 moreover, hereafter, like u bread cast upon 
 the waters." it will be found " after many 
 days." We plead the demoralization of the 
 late war as an excuse for things which would 
 not have been heard of among us before the 
 war ; let us remember this when tempted to 
 ask. What profit in all this labor that was 
 once spent by clergymen upon the old 
 plantations ? Shall a moral earthquake 
 shake us, and not those also who are on our 
 very door-steps ? On week days, as well as 
 on Sundays, these faithful labors were car- 
 ried on, and to the last of his life our brother 
 continued to feel the deepest interest in the 
 spiritual welfare of the colored portion of 
 his earliest charge. 
 
 Thus time rolled on, and found him " fer- 
 vent in spirit, serving the Lord," wherever 
 he was. 
 
 In June, 1852. his uncle. Bishop Gadsden. 
 Rector of St. Philip's Church, died, and the 
 place of assistant minister in that chinch 
 became vacant ; and who could more wor- 
 thily be called to it than our brother ? It 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 39 
 
 was the church of his ancestry, and of his 
 own childhood and youth ; and his affections 
 went out to it with all the warmth of his 
 generous nature. But a nobler ambition 
 stirred within him than merely to minister 
 at the time-honored altar of the mother 
 church of the diocese, or to preach from her 
 . pulpit ; he felt the opportunity which would 
 be given him to pray men, "in Christ's 
 stead, to be reconciled unto God ; " and so, 
 not without pain to his affectionate heart, 
 he sundered the connection between him- 
 self and the calm quiet of his country par- 
 ish, and the " still atmosphere of delight- 
 ful studies," and association with the rector 
 of Upper St. John's, and came to the city, 
 and to the anxieties, and responsibilities, 
 and incessant occupation of a large city cure. 
 And with what ardor did he throw himself 
 into his new work. The Bible class, the 
 lecture-room, the Sunday-school ; his ear- 
 nest preaching, which drew many to hear 
 him ; his visits to the sick and dying, to- 
 gether with his zeal and love, which were 
 so conspicuous in them all, did they not put 
 you in mind of the days of Cobia, and did 
 it not seem as if Cobia's mantle had fallen 
 upon him ? 
 
40 IN MEMOR1AM. 
 
 And in addition to all this strictly parish 
 work, lie soon found himself on important 
 church committees, where his quick percep- 
 tions and fertile mind were invaluable. A 
 member of the Board of Managers of the 
 Society for the Advancement of Christianity 
 in South Carolina, I have over and over 
 again admired the facility with which, al- 
 most in a twinkling, he would suggest ways 
 to solve difficulties. I have seen the same 
 celerity of judgment exhibited in the Stand- 
 ing Committee. Sometimes he would be 
 overquick to reach his conclusions, but he 
 could always give you a reason for them. 
 When I have been asked about this or that 
 point, and could give no satisfactory answer, 
 my next words have generally been, " Gads- 
 den can tell you all about it ; " and if he 
 did not know, he would be able usually to 
 put you in the way of knowing. For years, 
 too, he has been a delegate to the General 
 Convention of the Church, and has had a 
 place among the members composing the 
 General Board of Missions. On nearly 
 every important church committee in this 
 diocese his name was pretty certain to ap- 
 pear, and in its duties he took an active and 
 useful part. In a word, to show in what 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 41 
 
 esteem he was held at home, where he had 
 ministered for well-nigh a quarter of a cen- 
 tury, I have but to remind you how, at our 
 last Convention, he was repeatedly, and for 
 fourteen successive ballots, elected by his 
 brethren of the clergy to the Episcopate, 
 being at the same time well sustained by 
 the laity. And if it had pleased God to 
 call him to that office and administration, 
 and to have spared his life to enter upon its 
 duties, most unquestionably he would have 
 exhibited, by his piety, devotion, and zeal, 
 some of the very highest characteristics 
 which ought ever to mark an incumbent of 
 the Apostolic office. 
 
 But not by us alone of South Carolina 
 was he esteemed. He was better known 
 throughout our whole communion than any 
 other clergyman in the diocese. Repeatedly 
 has he had from many quarters, and some 
 of them the chief cities in the country, calls 
 to large and important parishes ; but while 
 no man had a larger heart for the interests 
 of Christ's kingdom everywhere, he, never- 
 theless, clung to Charleston, and to his own 
 struggling church, with the most supreme 
 devotion. Among his many duties, likewise, 
 and for several successive years before the 
 
42 IN MEM OR I AM. 
 
 late war, lie edited, in conjunction with an- 
 other brother and a bosom friend, and who 
 could have spoken to you of him far better 
 than I can, a church periodical, and did it 
 as he did everything else, with the purest 
 zeal and love. But whatever else he did, 
 the work which he felt to be most directly 
 characteristic of the Christian ministry, and 
 which certainly most distinguished him, 
 was to preach with all his might and main, 
 " Jesus Christ and Him crucified." He did 
 not, I think, underestimate in others that 
 organizing capacity which set in motion 
 parish work, such as homes and schools, and 
 visiting committees and the like ; but this 
 was not his forte. His heart was set on 
 pleading for Christ from the pulpit, in the 
 Sunday-school, by catechizing children, and 
 in meetings for prayer. And he had pecul- 
 iar gifts for this work of the ministry, and 
 in a measure which is not often possessed 
 by his brethren. His elocution, although 
 inclined to be redundant, was extremely 
 warm and animating : his language easy, 
 flowing, and chaste : his fancy, exuberant 
 and requiring the bit and check-rein, kin- 
 dled as he warmed with his subject ; and as 
 he told you of the love of Jesus, and from a 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 43 
 
 heart filled with that love to overflowing, 
 his face beamed and his eye brightened, and 
 you had before you, and not a doubt of it, 
 a man of whom it could be said, " The love 
 of Christ constraineth us." How happily 
 could he address children ! He was so fer- 
 tile in illustrations, and in word-painting, 
 that he seldom failed to win their undivided 
 attention. If I were to criticise his preach- 
 ing, I would say that his heart was so warm, 
 that sometimes it was not patient enough 
 to wait upon the head, or to allow a suffi- 
 cient address to the understanding, but 
 leaped at once, and with a single bound, 
 to the desired conclusion, and before his 
 hearers were quite prepared for it. But 
 this, if it was a fault, was only because he 
 was so " fervent in spirit." His position in 
 church matters, and in reference to theolog- 
 ical questions, was distinct and emphatic. 
 He was of the Calvinistic school in our 
 Church. Here he was with all his heart. 
 But what to many of us are the repul- 
 sive features in that system of doctrine, he 
 never brought out in his preaching — at 
 least I never heard him ; and I am con- 
 vinced he did not, just because he could not. 
 He had too much heart about him, and too 
 
44 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 large a share of the affections, and too many 
 kindly and cheerful social instincts to preach 
 straight out the system of Jonathan Edwards, 
 in all its cold and cheerless logic. The side 
 of Calvinism which he presented, was ever 
 its amiable side, and where we can all agree 
 with him heartily, that we " can do nothing 
 without Christ," and that every true Chris- 
 tian is bound to say with an Apostle, " By 
 the grace of God I am what I am." And 
 it is the glory of the Anglican Church, my 
 brethren, and a mark of her catholicity, that 
 she embraces, and truly embraces, men who 
 honestly differ within certain prescribed 
 limits. If she tolerates Laud on the one 
 hand, she no less tolerates Leighton upon 
 the other. Tolerates, did I say ? Nay, she 
 kisses the hem of Leighton's robes, and reck- 
 ons him among her saints. Into this spirit 
 of toleration our dear brother fully entered. 1 
 Decided as he was in his own views of truth, 
 and advocating them with great positive- 
 ness and assurance, he never doubted but 
 
 1 He more than tolerated, at times, those who did not see 
 as he did in all things. Thus, at the late election already re- 
 ferred to, and after a most unusual number of ballotings, he 
 withdrew his own name, and nominated, and begged his 
 friends to cast their vote for the writer, who had received, 
 but not at all to the same extent which he had, a portion of the 
 suffrages of the Convention. 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 45 
 
 that you could reject his conclusions with 
 just as much sincerity as he embraced them. 
 He was not the man to judge you, but left 
 you to your own Master to stand or fall. 
 Though you were what in common phrase 
 is called a " High Churchman," he never for 
 a moment thought you could not, conse- 
 quently, preach the gospel, or that your 
 true position was in communion with the 
 see of Rome. And while he thus acknowl- 
 edged our right and title to be where we 
 are, and that we had a work to do for the 
 Master as well as himself, he only asked 
 of us not to doubt his loyalty and affection 
 to the Church of his fathers, and of the 
 English reformers. Brethren, I do not be- 
 lieve that the Protestant Episcopal Church 
 had, in all our diocese, a truer son, or a 
 more devoted admirer than our brother of 
 St. Luke's. And, as to the Prayer Book, 
 it stood second only to the Bible in his esti- 
 mation. No doubt he thought it could be 
 amended in some things, as we all do, though 
 we might differ as to what things ; but, un- 
 der existing circumstances, I do not believe 
 he would have favored any change what- 
 ever — no, not so much as one iota. 
 
 But while he was thus devoted to the 
 
46 IN MEM OR I AM. - 
 
 Church in which he had been brought up, 
 and while he believed it the most catholic of 
 existing communions, he could not shut his 
 eyes, any more than the rest of us can, to 
 the lovely Christian example, and holy 
 walk and zeal, which mark so many who 
 do not belong to our household of faith. 
 Episcopal ordination he regarded not as es- 
 sential to a validly constituted ministry, but 
 simply as historical, and as the mode handed 
 down from the beginning — important for 
 the well-being, but not for the being of the 
 ministry. And here he was, to a certain 
 extent, sustained by Hooker, and by many 
 of the Edwardian and Elizabethan divines, 
 who, as some of us think, swayed by their 
 sympathies for the necessities of the Conti- 
 nental reformers, and by the pressure of 
 the Papacy, did, for a while, and in their 
 bitter controversies with Rome, some of 
 them, comparatively lose sight of the an- 
 cient traditions of the universal Church in 
 this particular. We all long for unity, and 
 to see our Lord's vesture once more with- 
 out a rent, and no one more so than did our 
 brother ; and with his views, shared by many 
 of our brightest lights, he went where some 
 of us could not follow him. But whatever 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 47 
 
 he might do in the way of what he thought 
 an effort after Christian union, he did not 
 consult merely his own aspirations ; but 
 what he did in this direction, he did be- 
 cause he believed he had a right to do it. 
 Never would he have broken the least of 
 the laws of his Church, whatever he might 
 have thought of their inexpediency, so long 
 as they tvere laws, in order to yield to his 
 own judgment and inclinations. Here, as 
 elsewhere, he would have taken up his cross, 
 and never have done violence to what he 
 believed to be the declared order of the 
 Church. I say all this because some- 
 times, he thought himself misunderstood in 
 these regards, and because he feared that 
 his deep attachment to the Church, as she 
 is, was not fully appreciated by others ; but, 
 unquestionably, he was mistaken herein, and 
 in due time would have seen it. 
 
 In a recent and most pleasant interview 
 that I had with him, and in which I told 
 him that in the future which awaits me, I 
 should lean upon him and count upon his 
 support, he told me that I should have it 
 earnestly and warmly, and that he had no 
 doubt at all of being able to cooperate with 
 me fully ; and he added, in reference to him- 
 
48 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 self, that so far from being not fixed in his 
 affections for the Church to which he be- 
 longed, he felt rather that there were two 
 objects on which he had placed them, if 
 anything, too strongly, and to the exclusion 
 of more distant objects of sympathy, and 
 these two objects were his native State, and 
 the Church in that State. 
 
 But let me turn elsewhere, and catch a 
 brief and passing glimpse of other phases 
 of his character. Some of us, my brethren, 
 are wont to liye altogether for this world, 
 and so as to shut out from our minds the 
 powers of the world to come ; while others, 
 dwelling upon the unseen and eternal, are 
 inclined to underrate the passing claims and 
 excitements of temporal interests, and to 
 regard them of small moment, in compari- 
 son with the truths of our redemption. 
 But of our brother, it was said by one who 
 knew him well, that he lived in both worlds 
 at the same time, more than any other whom 
 he was acquainted with. He lived with 
 God, and communed with Christ, and yet 
 took, without undue absorption, the liveliest 
 interest hi all that went on in the world 
 around him. And is it not hard to connect 
 death, and the slumber and silence of the 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 49 
 
 grave, with such active persons, who have 
 taken part in almost everything ? Does it 
 not seem as if the places which heretofore 
 have known them so well must know them 
 again ? It is so with him whom we mourn. 
 It will be long ere we cease to look for him 
 at the missionary meeting, at our conven- 
 tions, and wherever else, in the Church or in 
 the community at large, activity and zeal are 
 demanded. 
 
 Glance at the words of Scripture which 
 St. Paul has written in close connection 
 with the text, and how do we seem to see 
 our brother in them, as in a mirror, " re- 
 joicing in hope, patient in tribulation,, con- 
 tinuing instant in prayer, given to hospi- 
 tality." Who that knew him well does not 
 know how unfailingly the faith that was in 
 Jesus made him, in the language of the 
 Apostle, to " rejoice in hope " ? Like all of 
 us, he had his share of discouragements, and 
 consequent times of depression, but invaria- 
 bly his soul took wing for, and found a ref- 
 uge in, the things which are above, " where 
 Christ sitteth at the right hand of God," 
 and "he endured as seeing Him who is in- 
 visible." It is not too much to say of him, 
 in this connection, that in him the beautiful 
 4 
 
50 IN MEMORIAL. 
 
 Collect for Ascension Day met, more or less, 
 its answer : " Grant, we beseech Thee, Al- 
 mighty God, that like as we do believe thy 
 Only Begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 to have ascended into the heavens, so we 
 may. also, in heart and mind thither ascend. 
 and with Him continually dwell, who liveth 
 and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, 
 one God, world without end." And how 
 characteristic of him, also, are those other 
 words of the Apostle, " distributing to the 
 necessity of saints. " Few who claimed his 
 aid went from his door unassisted, if they 
 had the smallest' right to call upon him. If 
 they did go away unhelped, it was simply 
 because he had nothing to share with them. 
 By nature he was full of generous impulses, 
 and so. when grace came to be added to na- 
 ture, he only felt the more deeply the truth 
 of that saying of our Lord. ** It is more 
 blessed to give than to receive." If such 
 men had the ability to give as well as the 
 ivill to give, what a different aspect would 
 be presented by the struggling Church of 
 Christ ! But God's gifts are divided, and to 
 some He gives the ability without the will, 
 and to others the will without the ability. 
 " Continuing instant in prayer." In obe- 
 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 51 
 
 dience to this injunction, none but the 
 Father, who seeth in secret, and unto whom 
 all hearts are open, and all desires known, 
 knows how often, in the retirement of the 
 closet, and at stated hours of the day, he 
 made known his requests, and sought the 
 throne of grace. But here we may not 
 enter, for the Divine command reads thus : 
 " But thou, when thou prayest, enter into 
 thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy 
 door, pray to thy Father which is in secret, 
 and thy Father which seeth in secret shall 
 reward thee openly." " Given to hospi- 
 tality." How well, likewise, did he exem- 
 plify this Christian grace. Says the Apos- 
 tle, in another place, " Be not forgetful to 
 entertain strangers ; for thereby some have 
 entertained angels unawares." If a clergy- 
 man, a stranger, chanced to be in town, and 
 staying at one of our hotels, our brother no 
 sooner heard of it than immediately, if it 
 was possible for him, he "took him unto 
 his own home." He was never more pleased 
 than when, at church gatherings, he had his 
 house filled with Christian friends, and one 
 great regret with him for the loss of prop- 
 erty was, that it denied him, to a great ex- 
 tent, the exercise of this most beautiful and 
 
52 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 charming Christian grace. And thus, while 
 he enjoyed life, and was usually yery cheer- 
 ful, he continued to look " not at the things 
 which are seen, but at the things which are 
 not seen ; for the things which are seen are 
 temporal ; but the things which are not seen 
 are eternal." 
 
 But I must retrace my steps somewhat, 
 and take up the thread of his outer life 
 where last I dropped it. I left him at St. 
 Philip's Church in 1852, its assistant min- 
 ister, and doing and believing all that I have 
 said. He continued there until the 1st of 
 March, 1858, when he left, to become the 
 Rector of St. Luke's. His leaving St. Phil- 
 ip's was one of the great trials of his life, 
 as you may suppose ; but he met it under a 
 strong sense of duty. There was no Epis- 
 copal church at that time in the eastern 
 part of our city, and one seemed to be called 
 for ; and no one could enter on such a work 
 as building up a new church, and with the 
 same prospects of success, as could the as- 
 sistant minister of St. Philip's. The Bishop 
 of the Diocese, after careful consideration, 
 advised him to the step ; and so, leaving all 
 behind, and looking to that which was be- 
 fore him, he began his new work in a tern- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 53 
 
 porary building, which is now occupied by 
 the congregation of St. Mark's. And the 
 record of his work among you, my brethren, 
 from that day until Sunday, two weeks ago, 
 when he put off his armor, is too familiar 
 for me to rehearse it in detail. For nearly 
 thirteen years he has been in and out before 
 you, shrinking from no sacrifice ; neither 
 sparing himself in any particular, if thereby 
 he might win souls to Christ. You know 
 how he not only gave himself, but was 
 willing to give all that he had of worldly 
 substance, to relieve this church of its 
 pecuniary embarrassments. You remember 
 how, for a time, he would receive nothing 
 from you in the way of salary, because he 
 would have all your ability turned towards 
 the church building itself. Who of you 
 does not know how nobly he met such diffi- 
 culties and discouragements as would have 
 made the hearts of most of us sink into de- 
 spondency ? And all this while, as I have 
 intimated already, he was receiving the most 
 pressing invitations to take charge of large 
 and wealthy congregations. Let it be re- 
 membered, to the honor and glory of Christ, 
 that we have had among us, in these hard, 
 self-seeking times, a man who, while repeat- 
 
54 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 edly offered abundant support if he would 
 go elsewhere, invariably answered no, and 
 said he was ready to sell all that the war 
 had left him, and take rooms, and live by 
 the weekly offertory, if, thereby, this church 
 could be freed from debt. No wonder that 
 our whole community, almost, seemed to be 
 at the grave of such a man last Tuesday. 
 By so doing, it did itself honor, as well as 
 him. And you most of all, as well you 
 may, my dear brethren, now feel his loss 
 and appreciate his labors. It has been a 
 hard struggle with you, since the war, to 
 live. I felt it would be, when, standing on 
 this spot after the evacuation of the city by 
 the Confederate forces, I saw the devouring 
 fires sweep over this portion of the town and 
 leave it a blackened desert. But faint not, 
 be of good courage, for the memory of such 
 a man as your rector must carry a blessing 
 with it, as I trust you will find, not many 
 days hence. 
 
 I come now to the last, sad, but trium- 
 phant chapter in your dear rector's life. 
 Somewhat more than a year ago he had a 
 most desperate illness, in which he almost 
 descended into the very jaws of death. 
 Almost by a miracle his life was spared to 
 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 55 
 
 us. On his convalescence, your affection 
 made it possible for him to seek renewed 
 health in the bracing air of the mountains 
 at the North. He returned to you in the 
 autumn, and, after a " silence of eight 
 months," once more ministered from the 
 chancel and the pulpit on the 6th of No- 
 vember last. As I write, I have before me 
 the sermon which he preached on that occa- 
 sion. It is full of earnestness and affection. 
 He prays to be consecrated afresh to his 
 Master's service, and to you. " And for me, 
 that utterance may be given unto me, that 
 I may open my mouth boldly to make known 
 the mystery of the gospel ! " This was the 
 text from which he spoke on that occasion. 
 And the conclusion of that sermon runs in 
 this wise : " My dear brethren," said he, 
 " may God grant that the ministry renewed 
 among you to-day may be full of Christ, a 
 true witness ever to his person and work ; 
 and through the presence and grace of the 
 Holy Spirit, may it be humbly instrumental 
 in bringing his redeemed ones, by his cross 
 and passion, through a holy walk here to 
 the glory which He has purchased in heaven. 
 For this, let us as a congregation unitedly 
 pray, as we render thanks to God for his 
 
56 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 goodness, and consecrate ourselves to his 
 service." 
 
 Recovering, as he did, from so desperate 
 an illness, and almost brought back from 
 the grave by our prayers, many of us 
 thought that a long and useful career was 
 before him. Day by day, and month by 
 month, his strength returned, and only 
 within two or three weeks past he has been 
 heard to say that he never felt better, and 
 that some of the elasticity of his youth had 
 come back to him. Feeling himself so 
 much better, he undertook more work, and 
 when remonstrated with about it, replied 
 pleasantly, " What is the use of being a 
 well man, if one cannot work ? " Your ves- 
 try and yourselves, and those nearest to 
 him, prayed him not to undertake quite so 
 much, at least while the hot weather lasted ; 
 but he could not be persuaded, and felt that 
 his increase of work was a duty. Since 
 June he has been preaching twice on 
 Sunday, together with instructing the 
 children of the Sunday-school in the Creed. 
 Whether or not this helped to prostrate him 
 a second time, and that, too, after only seven 
 months of seeming health, it is useless and 
 more than idle for us to ask. On the last 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 57 
 
 Sunday morning, when he arose and pre- 
 pared for service, he found the mainspring 
 of his watch broken; and that was quite 
 the case with the owner. Almost the en- 
 tire machinery of life became suspended, 
 and important organs of the body, by com- 
 mon consent, refused to discharge their 
 functions. Ill as he felt himself to be, he 
 nevertheless went through the services of 
 the day. He very early realized that this 
 was to be his last sickness, and he girded 
 his soul accordingly for the encounter with 
 the inevitable. 
 
 His mind was perfectly clear, and for 
 several days he was free of pain. Not 
 until near the close did physical distress fall 
 upon him. His faith was firm, and when I 
 first saw him he was not only calm, but 
 cheerful. I think it would have been a 
 great disappointment to him to have re- 
 covered. I am sure he would not, if he 
 could, have exchanged his sick bed for the 
 most robust health that any of us enjoy. I 
 am convinced that he longed to depart and 
 be with Christ. He told me on that first 
 visit, which was necessarily brief, that he 
 had drawn exceeding great comfort from the 
 words, " If I go and prepare a place for you, 
 
58 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 I will come again and receive you unto 
 myself.*- " Especially,'' said he, " the 
 words, 1 1 will receive you unto myself." " 
 He had been thinking, too, of the text 
 on which he had preached on Sunday 
 afternoon, and his last one, " Seeing Him 
 who is invisible," and he had tried to 
 form some conception of what death was, 
 but could not, and dismissed it. 
 
 He asked me to come to him the next 
 day, and administer the communion, and 
 with that, and a fervent ;i God bless you'' 
 on his part and on mine. I left him. As 
 night approached he became worse, and 
 very restless, and expressed much anxiety 
 to his friends lest he should not be able 
 to partake of the communion the next 
 day : and when I called late to learn how 
 he was, and heard how much worse he 
 had become, I thought that most likely 
 on the next day, as one of his vestry 
 said, he would drink of the new wine in 
 his Father's kingdom, and be far beyond 
 the sphere of sacraments. I went to him, 
 however, the next morning, which was 
 Sunday, at seven, and found him calm 
 and collected, and anxiously awaiting me. 
 His face beamed upon me as I approached 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 59 
 
 him, and when I quoted the words of our 
 Lord, " With desire have I desired to eat 
 this passover with you before I suffer," 
 he said, " Yes," but added, as if for him 
 the communion, at that solemn hour, must 
 be something more than fellowship, " I 
 feel the need of all the grace I can obtain 
 for my trial." People's religious culture 
 and association must affect them in death 
 as well as in life, and with us of the An- 
 glican Church the Holy Communion is the 
 crowning preparation for the passage from 
 this world into the next ; and our brother, 
 in his desire to receive it, felt only as Hooker 
 and Herbert did, and all the old worthies 
 of the Church of England. He received 
 with thankfulness and profound devotion, 
 and as the high and holy service approached 
 conclusion, and we all united in the Lord's 
 Prayer, his voice was loud and clear, and 
 especially and very deeply emphatic at the 
 words, " Thy kingdom come." When we 
 passed to the Gloria in Excelsis, I subdued 
 my own voice so as that he might lead us 
 all through that glorious hymn, and well did 
 he bear his part, saying firmly and ador- 
 ingly, with hands clasped and eyes raised : 
 " We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we wor- 
 
60 IN MEM OR 1 AM. 
 
 ship Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks 
 to Thee for thy great glory, O Lord God, 
 Heavenly King, God the Father Almighty." 
 I could not leave him immediately as the 
 service ended, but waited a few moments, 
 as he did not seem too much fatigued, and 
 when I sat down beside him he said, " I am 
 a poor sinner saved by grace ; " and then a 
 moment after he added, " My constant 
 prayer is, ' Lead me to the Rock that is 
 higher than L' I want to feel my feet on 
 that Rock." I asked him what message I 
 should bear from him to his brethren of 
 the clergy, and without hesitation he said, 
 " Tell them to serve Christ, to love Christ, 
 and to preach Christ." It seemed to me as 
 if he could not express himself too strongly, 
 and that he could not find words enough to 
 say all he felt in regard to that only name 
 whereby we must be saved. I could not 
 think of staying longer, but tore myself 
 away. Steadily, and in spite of the most 
 unflagging devotion on the part of his phy- 
 sicians, did he sink downward towards the 
 grave, and when I saw him on Monday 
 morning he was far advanced on the way to 
 his heavenly home. I offered brief prayer 
 for him, but he could not follow me, and in 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 61 
 
 a few hours more he had peacefully, and 
 without a sigh, entered upon his inheritance. 
 His face, as he lay robed in his surplice, 
 carried no mark upon it of the recent phys- 
 ical distress, but seemed indicative of the 
 " rest which remaineth for the people of 
 God," it looked so placid in the last sleep. 
 
 And now his earthly part lies in yonder 
 churchyard, 1 along with the sacred dust of 
 kinsfolk and friends. The sweet hymn and 
 the ponderous sound of the organ will come 
 nigh his resting-place, but they will not 
 wake him. He is far away in the bright 
 and blessed country, and as Walton speaks 
 of Herbert singing hymns in heaven with 
 his friend Ferrar, so is our brother singing 
 in paradise with Dehon, and Wallace, and 
 Cobia, and Kaufman, and his uncle the 
 Bishop, who lie around him ; and with them, 
 in due time, he shall have part in the first 
 resurrection. 
 
 My brethren, I have spoken long, and 
 yet I feel I have omitted far more than I 
 have set down. I have spoken of his zeal 
 and his self-sacrificing spirit ; I have spoken 
 of him as a preacher and a theologian ; but 
 I have told you little of his inner life, how 
 he walked with God ; what a man of prayer 
 i St. Philip's. 
 
62 IN MEliORIAM. 
 
 he was : how full of the Holy Ghost he 
 was : how much he loved and reverenced 
 the Word of God. and fed upon it. His 
 outer life, which I have told you of. and 
 which was known and read by yon all. was 
 but the visible sign of all this inward grace. 
 He was what he was. because the Spirit of 
 Christ dwelt in him richly, and filled him 
 with love, and joy and peace in believing. 
 But. imperfectly as I have spoken. I must 
 come to an end. and where I have failed to 
 set him before you. leave you to fill up the 
 sketch. Yon will not soon forget him. or 
 his abundant affection for. and deep interest 
 in you. " Be ye also ready." and let me be 
 also ready, "for in such an hour as we 
 think not. the Son of Man eonieth." May 
 we all. brethren, follow him as he followed 
 Christ, and meet him above, and with him 
 spend a blessed eternity. 
 
 Bear with me a few moments more, and 
 I will release you. Permit me to say. that 
 one of our brother's chiefest anxieties in life 
 was the debt hanging over this church. It 
 was a constant source of grief to him. and 
 fear lest, after having been consecrated to 
 God. it should be offered for sale, and so 
 be lost to uiir Church : and to avert so dire 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 63 
 
 a consummation, lie stood ready to pledge 
 every cent he had in the world. If such a 
 thing had happened, I believe it would have 
 broken his heart outright. Your vestry had 
 recently been able to put a more cheerful 
 face on matters, and to arrange for the debt 
 satisfactorily, when suddenly, in the death 
 of the rector, the heaviest blow fell on 
 you ; for the whole arrangement was based 
 on his being at the helm. But what, breth- 
 ren, will you do now ? Will you pause, or 
 will you go on ? If the memory of your 
 rector is dear to you, as I know it is, you 
 cannot let this church go from us without 
 an effort; you cannot let the auctioneer 
 stand where his feet have stood for ten 
 years, and sell to the highest bidder. You 
 cannot let the sound of the mart be heard 
 where his voice, now stilled in death, has 
 spoken to you of the love of Jesus. Breth- 
 ren, these walls must be his monument — 
 this church must be a memorial church. It 
 cannot be that a lif e such as his should leave 
 no mark behind it. If this church is sold 
 beyond our communion, let Charleston 
 churchmen hang their heads for shame. Its 
 debt should be paid for the honor of the 
 dead, even if its doors be nailed up the next 
 day, and you have to wait for more auspi- 
 
64 IN MEM OR I AM. 
 
 cious times to reopen them. And we are 
 all with you in this matter, and we mean. I 
 trust, to make common cause with you. only 
 you must lead the way. From all the pul- 
 pits of our churches in the city, our congre- 
 gations will to-day be asked to come up to 
 your help, and I do not believe the appeal 
 will be made in vain. When men hear the 
 y of our brother's life, and how he 
 wrought, they will be sure to help you for 
 his sake, and to avert so sad an ending as 
 the sale of this church. 
 
 Be strong, then, and of good courage in 
 this day of darkness, and God will strengthen 
 your hands and establish your hearts. Go 
 to your brother churchmen and fellow 
 Christians, and say to them. Help us in our 
 need. We mean to rear no marble column 
 on which to write of the prowess of a mili- 
 tary chieftain : we do not ask you to help 
 us tell in stone of the fame of the states- 
 man: but we ask you to work together with 
 us to preserve in our communion a memo- 
 rial of one who was a good soldier of Jesus 
 Christ, who fought a good fight, and for 
 whom there is laid up a crown of life, which 
 the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give him 
 at the last day. and not to him only, but 
 unto all who love his appearing. Amen ! 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 65 
 EXTRACT FROM SERMON BY REV. A. T. PORTER. 
 
 " You have keenly in your mind, I trust, 
 a sense of the great loss which has befallen 
 the Church especially, and the whole com- 
 munity in general. A good man is a great 
 treasure to any people : his teaching, his 
 example, his walk and conversation, his 
 labors and his prayers are precious in God's 
 sight. We are so short-sighted, and so sel- 
 dom appreciate our blessings until they are 
 taken from us, that it is not common for us 
 to make much of them that fear the Lord ; 
 but when the righteous perish, we wake up 
 to the fact, and remember for a moment that 
 a light has suddenly been put out. Our 
 dear brother in the sacred ministry, who has 
 so recently gone to his rest, was a striking 
 illustration of one who pressed toward the 
 mark. If there was one characteristic more 
 prominent than another in his strongly 
 marked character, so well known among us, 
 it was that he had set the Lord Jesus Christ 
 before himself as his all in all ; in fact, it 
 was the characteristic which toned his whole 
 life. His devotion to the Saviour was that of 
 intense and child-like love ; he had utilized 
 his faith, and his personal Lord was as a 
 
 5 
 
G6 IN MEM OKI AM. 
 
 present and near companion. He served 
 Him because he loved Him : to exalt that 
 Saviour, to magnify his grace and love, to 
 impress the value and preciousness of his 
 death and resurrection and continual inter- 
 cession, to draw men to his feet, and to 
 teach them to believe and love Hini, all this 
 was the one object of his life. Jesus was 
 the theme of all his preaching. Jesus vras 
 the pattern of his life. Jesus concentered 
 in Himself every hope and aspiration of his 
 mind and heart and soul, in life and in death 
 the same. Gifted vrith a mind of more than 
 ordinary ability, vrith powers of extraordi- 
 nary endurance, his zeal in every good work 
 never flagged. Gadsden never thought of 
 himself. Like his blessed Lord, if there 
 was anything to be done, at whatever sac- 
 rifice, if he could further an enterprise or 
 help a brother, he did not know how to say 
 no. His utter unselfishness was one of the 
 many beautiful traits of this godly man : 
 differing materially with him hi certain 
 points of theology and in the administration 
 of the Church, as some of us did, yet his 
 large heart never allowed him to withhold his 
 support and countenance from any brother, 
 who needed his aid. And in a ministry of 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 67 
 
 seventeen years side by side, we have taken 
 sweet counsel together, and walked in the 
 house of God as friends. His clear head, 
 sound judgment, and practical sense made 
 him a man of extraordinary usefulness in 
 all the positions he held. Only in the 
 Church could men holding such different 
 views have worked together in harmony and 
 love. So long as we obey her rubrics and 
 canons, and hold to her order, creed, and 
 liturgy, her catholic system enables her 
 children to strive as brethren in the great 
 work of a world's conversion, though they 
 may not find the current of their thoughts 
 running always in the same channel ; and 
 here she asserts her superiority to sectarian- 
 ism. 
 
 " Now our brother has gone ; his labors are 
 forever over, his rest is permanent, his re- 
 ward is sure. But being dead, he yet speak- 
 eth. Surely the example of such a life must 
 give us renewed confidence in the strength 
 and freeness of Divine grace. The traits 
 which have called forth such a universal ex- 
 pression of admiration and affection, must 
 stimulate us to emulate him. Who of us 
 has not said, ' Let me die the death of the 
 righteous, and let my last end be like his ' ? 
 
68 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Then, my brethren, like him, may we all 
 set before us the Lord Christ. 0, let us 
 strive to realize more fully the awful nature 
 of sin, and the countless price of that atone- 
 ment which the only begotten Son of God 
 has offered for us ; let us strive to understand 
 how, as a prevailing intercessor, ' He ever 
 liveth to make intercession for us.' Let us - 
 endeavor more and more to bring before 
 our eyes the living, loving Christ ; touch 
 Him, live for Him, follow Him, love Him, 
 obey Him ! Then shall we, as our brother 
 did, make sure of the prize, and prove the 
 truth of our high calling in Christ Jesus." 
 
 MEMORIAL TRIBUTE IX THE GENERAL CONVEN- 
 TION. 
 
 At the General Convention held in Balti- 
 more, October, 1871, the following tribute 
 was adopted, and remarks made. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Pinckney, of South Carolina, 
 said : — 
 
 Mr. President, I beg leave to offer the 
 following resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That this House records upon 
 its journal the sense of our loss in the death 
 of the Rev. Christopher P. Gadsden, of the 
 Diocese of South Carolina, whose high char- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 69 
 
 acter and fervent spirit had endeared him 
 to many hearts, and promised even longer 
 usefulness in the Church of God. 
 
 He was one of the delegates to this Con- 
 vention, sir, as well as a member of the last ; 
 and, with the permission of the House, at 
 the suggestion of a friend, I beg leave to 
 insert the words " deputy elect to this Con- 
 vention." 
 
 The President. That amendment will 
 be made. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Pinckney, of South Caro- 
 lina. Mr. President, I beg leave to add 
 one word, while I offer to the House for its 
 consideration this resolution. 
 
 My friend and brother had served one 
 session with this General Convention, and 
 I have been deeply gratified to find that his 
 character and his love for Christ and the 
 Church have been appreciated by many. 
 We who have known him better in life can 
 estimate more truly his value, and we la- 
 ment more his loss. He was a man of ele- 
 vated Christian character, a man of integ- 
 rity, a man of truth. I have seldom on 
 earth met one more endowed with those 
 noble characteristics, open, honest, out- 
 spoken, without concealment, an honest and 
 
70 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 upright man, whom every one felt that you 
 could trust, and honor, and reverence, and 
 love. His missionary zeal has been invalu- 
 able to us in our diocese, and in the de- 
 pressed condition of our Church we sadly 
 miss his wisdom, his energy, his earnestness, 
 the fertility of his resources, which had 
 proved invaluable to us in our diocesan diffi- 
 culties and conferences. And, sir, that mis- 
 sionary zeal had impressed itself upon his 
 character and upon his heart, and it secured 
 for him the love and reverence of our whole 
 people. I doubt whether any man has died 
 in South Carolina more loved and more 
 reverenced, and whose death has touched a 
 greater number of hearts, in many, many 
 years past. I have certainly never seen 
 such crowds collected at any man's funeral 
 since the burial of John C. Calhoun. And 
 just before his death, prayer was offered for 
 him by Christians of every name in that 
 city, Protestant and Roman Catholic : all 
 combined around his grave in one common 
 testimony of affection, esteem, and regard. 
 
 Let me add one circumstance which shows 
 how he had impressed himself upon the col- 
 ored population of the South. He was an 
 ardent advocate of preaching the gospel to 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 71 
 
 the colored race, and from his earliest min- 
 istry he had been zealously devoted to this 
 purpose and object. A few days before his 
 death, I met one of the colored leaders of 
 the churches of Charleston, and he inquired 
 after the health of our friend. I reported 
 the physician's opinion of his case, and I felt 
 deeply this man's answer. " Sir," said he, 
 "God will spare, I trust, that minister of 
 Christ. Last night our circles of prayer 
 met, and we all agreed to pray for his val- 
 ued life ; and there were two thousand col- 
 ored men last night, in this city, engaged in 
 prayer for the restoration of his health and 
 the prolongation of his life." I felt that 
 his zeal, his diligence, his earnestness, had 
 been appreciated by those to whom so much 
 of his ministry had been devoted. 
 
 Mr. President, I think I can condense in 
 a single sentence what struck me as his 
 great characteristic. He was a faithful sol- 
 dier and servant of Christ Jesus, and I have 
 never met any Christian minister in this 
 country or in England who seemed to me to 
 embody more of the spirit of the baptismal 
 vow. In his daily life and conduct and con- 
 versation, in the pulpit and out of it, in 
 convention, diocesan or general, anywhere 
 
72 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 and everywhere, he maintained that spirit 
 of fidelity to Christ. The love of Christ 
 constrained him. He was eminently a faith- 
 ful soldier and servant of Christ Jesus unto 
 his life's end ; and that end, as we would 
 say, came prematurely. He was not forty- 
 six years of age, and yet he had been 
 twenty-five years in the Christian ministry, 
 and had deeply stamped his earnest, ener- 
 getic spirit upon the Church which he loved, 
 and for which he labored. 
 
 Our friends from Pennsylvania have 
 asked our expression of sympathy in the 
 death of that venerable man, whom I re- 
 member well as one of the bulwarks and or- 
 naments of this Convention. I fully sym- 
 pathize with them in a sense of their loss, 
 for that venerable gentleman had struck me 
 as so remarkable for his Christian courtesy, 
 and his manliness and honesty of charac- 
 ter. But, sir, he was in ripe old age. He 
 had run his course. He was ready to be 
 gathered to his fathers. But this, our friend 
 and brother, whose loss we now deplore, was 
 in the very meridian of his days, and the 
 fullness of his usefulness. He seems to us 
 to have been prematurely called away ; but 
 he had served God faithfully in his day, and 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 73 
 
 then he had lived already a long and useful 
 life, and his death was like his life, full of 
 love to his Master. I might fitly express 
 the spirit in which he died by the lines 
 which he made familiar to many hearts in 
 our community, and which have already 
 struck many a chord, namely, a verse writ- 
 ten in his Bible many years since, com- 
 posed by Dr. Valpy; and it breathes so 
 beautifully the spirit of Christ, which was 
 the spirit of his whole life and ministry, 
 that I venture, even perhaps contrary to 
 precedent, to repeat it here to you : 
 
 " In peace let me resign my breath, 
 And Thy salvation see ; 
 My sins deserve eternal death, 
 But Jesus died for me ! " 
 
 That was the spirit of his life — the 
 spirit of his ministry ; and I am sure 
 my ministerial brethren will coincide with 
 me when I say that it embodies the sum 
 and substance, the life and the marrow, of 
 the gospel message with which we are en- 
 trusted. 
 
 I move, sir, the adoption of this resolution 
 which I have presented. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Haight, of New York. I 
 had not the good fortune to know our 
 
74 IN ME MORI AM. 
 
 reverend friend until the time of the last 
 General Convention. At that time we were 
 brought into contact more especially by our 
 common interest in the missionary work 
 of the Church among the Africans at the 
 South. He came to me just before the last- 
 Convention to beg me to use my utmost in- 
 fluence, not to relax my own interest and 
 my own efforts in that work, but to en- 
 deavor, if possible, to induce the Board of 
 Missions to continue, and, if practicable, to 
 make that work more efficient. He came 
 to speak to me about the school in Charles- 
 ton, which had been the object of very deep 
 interest to that commission, and for which 
 we had incurred very heavy responsibilities. 
 I never can forget the simplicity and the 
 earnestness and the wisdom of his words : 
 and it was at my suggestion that he em- 
 bodied what he had said to me, in a letter 
 which was addressed to our commission, and 
 was placed in the report of that year of the 
 commission of Home Missions for Colored 
 People ; which was read by many with deep- 
 est interest, and no doubt contributed to the 
 deepening of the feeling of the Board of 
 Missions, that, notwithstanding the difficul- 
 ties with which that mission had been en- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 75 
 
 vironed, notwithstanding the apathy and 
 the prejudice of the Church, North and 
 South, that mission could not be relin- 
 quished with honor or with safety. 
 
 I was very much struck during the last 
 General Convention with his course on this 
 floor. There was something so manly, so 
 noble, so entirely in accordance with the 
 spirit of the wisest and the best men which 
 this Church has ever seen, that I felt there 
 was a man of power, intellectually and 
 spiritually ; that there was a man whose 
 labors and whose prayers would never be 
 wanting for the best interests of his Church. 
 
 Xo doubt, sir, we differed ecclesiastically 
 and theologically, and, perhaps, in some re- 
 spects widely ; but he was one of those 
 large-hearted and large-minded men, with 
 whom I had no difficulty whatever in hold- 
 ing the sweetest converse, to whom I could 
 unburden my own mind, feeling that I was 
 talking to a friend, to a brother in Christ 
 Jesus, one who I knew would never make 
 a wrong use of what I said, in whose honor 
 I could confide : and if this spirit could only 
 prevail universally in this Church, of trust 
 and confidence one in the other ; if we could 
 get rid of the miserable jealousies and sus- 
 
T6 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 pieions which abound, the position of tliis 
 
 Church would at once rise gloriously in the 
 
 sight of the world, and in the sight of our 
 © © 
 
 adorable Lord and Saviour. 
 
 I pray God that the spirit of that man 
 may be the spirit of us all. in our several 
 degrees. But fevr of us can hope to attain, 
 miserable sinners as we are. to the height 
 of spirituality to which he attained : but few 
 of us can hope to leave the record which he 
 has left of perfect sincerity, of undoubting 
 faith, of holy obedience : and God give us 
 grace in our measures, in our lot, to follow 
 h im , though at great distance, even as he 
 followed Christ and the holy Apostles. 
 
 Mr. MeCrady, of South Carolina. Mr. 
 President, it would not be well that the 
 voice of the laity should not be heard, from 
 the Diocese of South Carolina, and I shall 
 say but a few words. TThat I shall say 
 will not be in the form of eulogy, but I will 
 leave what I know he has done k for 
 
 itself. I will not tell about his ministry : I 
 will not tell about his faith, his integrity, 
 his courage : but I will say this : when, after 
 the war. we were many of us destitute, his 
 church found itself in debt, with a decree 
 against it for sale to pay the debt. A long 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 77 
 
 friendship had existed between the reverend 
 gentleman and myself, although he was 
 much my junior ; and he came to me and 
 stated what he was worth, showed me all 
 that he had, and said all must go to save 
 that church ; and he put it at my disposal 
 at a time when what he had was not worth 
 half as much as it was in former times. I 
 took it, and told him I would do the best I 
 could, but he must leave it to me. He did 
 leave it to me, and I did my best. I trust 
 that something may be saved to him. I 
 trust that efforts are now making, poor as 
 we are in the city of Charleston, to save 
 him from loss on account of that church. 
 But he was willing to give everything, so 
 much as he possessed of worldly goods. 
 
 He was a man devoted to his opinions. 
 I had a test of this, on one occasion, when 
 he was assistant minister to St. Philip's 
 Church ; on a visit to him we were talking 
 about the Prayer Book, to which he was de- 
 votedly attached, and which he reverenced, 
 and it was because of his reverence and at- 
 tachment to it that he listened to what I had 
 to say. I pointed out to him one word 
 which I told him I could never use in the 
 Prayer Book. He promptly said that he 
 
78 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 would not change a word, and said it in a 
 decided manner and with much temper, as I 
 thought at the time, so that I said not an- 
 other word. A year afterwards, on board 
 of a steamboat, Mr. Gadsden said to me, 
 " Mr. McCrady, I have never been able to 
 use that word, since you spoke to me, as I 
 did before ; can we not change it ? Why 
 don't you make some effort to change it ? " 
 I said that, as I thought, there were no op- 
 portunities. 
 
 In 1862, when the Church sat in council 
 for the Southern States, there was a great 
 desire to revise the Prayer Book, and it 
 finally was committed to three Bishops 
 chosen by the House of Bishops, three Pres- 
 byters chosen by the House of Delegates, 
 and three laymen ; I was one of the latter. 
 That commission had but one meeting. At 
 that meeting, to my surprise, the first letter 
 that I remember to have opened was a let- 
 ter from Gadsden, directed to the Bishop 
 who was presiding, Bishop Elliott, calling 
 his attention to the very word, and asking 
 that that might be changed, and referring 
 to myself as having suggested it to him. 
 
 Now, Mr. President and gentlemen, this 
 is difficult to conceive by those who knew 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 79 
 
 Mr. Gadsden well, who knew that he would 
 part with every dollar he had, sooner than 
 he would part with his opinions ; and yet 
 that gentleman had the courage and the 
 generosity, through pure conviction, to be 
 willing to do that. Let me say, however, 
 that I believe when he came here and sat in 
 1868, nothing would have induced him to 
 change a word in that Prayer Book. I 
 think he then thought — and it was from 
 the result of conversation with him that I 
 say so — that there was too much effort 
 then making to make alterations in the 
 Prayer Book, and that it must lead to 
 trouble. He had, therefore, made up his 
 mind to take it just as it was, and on no 
 account to make an alteration. I say this 
 in justice to him who cannot speak for him- 
 self, who I know would have said that here, 
 if he could have been present and had heard 
 what I have now related. 
 
 Mr. President, I have not a word of 
 eulogy to pronounce ; I am but a poor eulo- 
 gist ; but if what I have related does not 
 speak for him, no language would give ut- 
 terance to that which ought to be said. 
 
 The resolution was agreed to unanimously 
 by a rising vote. 
 
II. 
 
 TRIBUTES FROM BRETHREN OF OTHER 
 DENOMINATIONS. 
 
 BY REV. E. T. WINKLER, D. D., PASTOR CITADEL 
 SQUARE BAPTIST CHURCH. 
 
 A T the close of a sermon on " The King- 
 -^ dom of God" (Romans xiv. 17), the 
 Rev. E. T. Winkler, D. D., Pastor of the 
 Citadel Square Baptist Church, made the 
 following allusion to the recent death of 
 Rev. C. P. Gadsden : — 
 
 " The Kingdom of God ! blessed associa- 
 tion to which all true Christians belong; 
 sacred, imperishable union of all who love the 
 Lord Jesus in sincerity ; how the revelation 
 cheers amid earth's losses ! how potently 
 it soothes the sense of public bereavement 
 which has possessed our hearts for the last 
 fortnight, and which to many a considerate 
 and grateful spirit would have otherwise 
 cast a dreary shadow upon the festivities 
 of the Lord's Day ! Who of us has not 
 mourned the withdrawal from our com- 
 munity of an influence that has been felt 
 6 
 
82 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 for good in every social and religious circle ? 
 The Episcopal Church, honored as he was 
 among its dioceses, had no exclusive claim 
 to Mr. Gadsden. Around his dying bed, 
 that scene of triumph in his quiet home ; 
 beside that mournful couch attended by its 
 loving watchers, the sympathies of the whole 
 city and the whole State gathered; and 
 when he departed, who of us did not feel as 
 if something that had made life sweeter and 
 better had ceased to be ? Who did not 
 grieve for the manly form that had perished 
 in its prime ; for the noble spirit that had 
 passed away from its fields of usefulness; 
 for the wise and generous counsel hence- 
 forth silent in the place of ■ Christian com- 
 munion; for the bright and honored and 
 cheering example so soon absorbed into the 
 pure light whence it came ? 
 
 " As for myself, I have no special right 
 either to speak of him or for him. It was a 
 mere coincidence that we came to Charles- 
 ton, for official service, in the same year. 
 Since that time I have enjoyed no privilege of 
 association with him, save what was pos- 
 sessed by other evangelical ministers of the 
 city, who frequently united with him in the 
 advocacy of the general religious interests 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 83 
 
 of the community, and in prayers for the 
 world-wide success of Christ's cause. And 
 yet the coincidence, and all the genial and 
 inspiring circumstances of that long asso- 
 ciation, may justify the expression of a ten- 
 der grief that such a discrimination has been 
 made by the inscrutable providence of the 
 Almighty, and that such a man has been 
 taken away. Ah ! if he were here, how 
 much more potently could he speak of 
 Christ and his salvation, amid the en- 
 hanced reverence and affection of the peo- 
 ple ! and how greatly we need such potent 
 speech ! 
 
 " But let us not mourn for the pious dead. 
 Let us rather render a tribute of solemn 
 gratitude to God for such men. Let us 
 cherish a sense of pious obligation to re- 
 member their words and follow their foot- 
 steps. They have been summoned from the 
 dying chamber and the gloomy grave to the 
 shining fields of immortality. They were 
 kings in exile here ; they are now kings en- 
 throned. From their radiant seats they re- 
 gard us, they call to us : and Jesus also looks 
 and summons, from the central throne. 
 Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about 
 with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay 
 
84 IN MEM OB I AM. 
 
 aside every weight, and the sin which doth 
 so easily beset us and run with patience 
 the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, 
 the Author and Finisher of our faith." , 
 
 BY REV. W. H. ADAMS, PASTOR CIRCULAR (CON- 
 GREGATIONAL) CHURCH. 
 
 The Conclusion of a Discourse preached by the Rev. W. H. 
 
 Adams, Pastor of the Circular Church, Charleston, S. C, 
 
 July 30, 1871, commemorative jof the Rev. Christopher P. 
 Gadsden, late Rector of St. Luke's {Episcopal) Church. 
 
 u I have glorified Thee on the earth : I have finished the 
 work which Thou gavest me to do." — John xvii. 4. 
 
 These are the meditations which, the past 
 week, have proved strong consolation in the 
 sudden bereavement of an entire community, 
 of a faithful pastor, a beloved brother in 
 the ministry of reconciliation. 
 
 On this, the first Sabbath in heaven of 
 the Rev. Christopher P. Gadsden, his friend, 
 the Assistant Bishop elect, will doubtless 
 present to that mourning congregation his 
 portrayal of his character, history, and dis- 
 tinguished services for Christ. But it is a 
 grateful duty to the memory of one whose 
 blest ministry has not been circumscribed 
 by denominational lines, that a minister of 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 85 
 
 another communion, honored by an intimate 
 acquaintanceship with the departed, should 
 bear testimony that not in his pastorate and 
 sect alone, but in all his walk and conversa- 
 tion, he glorified God on the earth, and has 
 now finished the work He gave him to do. 
 
 It has been the privilege of the speaker 
 once each week, as a rule, for more than 
 four years, to meet in familiar Christian in- 
 tercourse this now translated minister. On 
 Monday noon, some of the evangelical min- 
 isters of the city have been accustomed to 
 assemble for prayer and conference. After 
 a half -hour of devotional exercises, a subject 
 previously selected, and usually relating to 
 experimental religion, is freely discussed. 
 It was here that he specially endeared him- 
 self to his brethren. Here, in the freedom 
 of fraternal intercourse, his true character 
 was displayed. Here it specially appeared 
 that he glorified God in the entire consecra- 
 tion of his highly cultivated faculties and 
 his whole heart to the honor of his Saviour. 
 To Him all his conversation tended. We 
 could almost invariably anticipate the na- 
 ture of his remarks ; however varied the 
 illustrations, however extensive his citation 
 of authorities, Christ was his one theme. 
 
86 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Was the question, " The best practical 
 methods of increasing the holiness of the 
 Church ; " we knew that he would advise 
 that ministers should themselves draw nearer 
 to Christ, and preach Christ more fully 
 and persuasively. If " Ministerial train- 
 ing " were considered, he would certainly 
 argue that the primary essential was for the 
 candidate to be found in Christ, and to per- 
 vade all his studies and life with the spirit 
 of Christ. On one occasion, in remarking 
 on the subject " What is comprehended in 
 saving truth ? " he closed an earnest exhor- 
 tation to " make Christ the main theme of 
 our discourses," with the words, accompanied 
 by his genial smile, " In brief, I think that 
 all truth is saving truth which, with one 
 arm around the cross, you can touch with 
 the other." 
 
 No narrow or sectarian remark ever fell 
 from his lips in that meeting. While ever 
 professing his firm adherence to the com- 
 munion of which he was a minister, he yet 
 maintained that he loved the Church Uni- 
 versal more. The catholicity of his spirit 
 was the tenacious bond which drew and in- 
 dissolubly united to him the hearts of breth- 
 ren of other denominations, as well as his 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 87 
 
 own. For several months past, tliese meet- 
 ings have been held by kind agreement of 
 brethren, at my own study. Occasionally, 
 by reason of ministerial engagements, there 
 would be present none but Bro. Gadsden, 
 and at times even he was compulsorily ab- 
 sent. Those seasons of intercommunion 
 with himself alone will be ever memorable 
 among life's rarest privileges. On one oc- 
 casion, after an hour's converse on Christian 
 union, he, as usual, proposed prayer before 
 parting. So deep was the impression made 
 by his heavenly-mindedness in these suppli- 
 cations, that on the following day I por- 
 trayed it to my people. Among his peti- 
 tions, he pleaded : " Let not this meeting 
 be discontinued. Let it continue a little 
 fountain springing up in the midst of the 
 week's care, which shall invigorate us for 
 more active and self-denying toil in our 
 Master's service." 
 
 It was my happiness last summer to meet 
 him in Xew York, returning from the White 
 Mountains, where his health had been con- 
 firmed, and to project an excursion up the 
 Hudson River to West Point. As we sat 
 upon deck, he related with fervent tones, as 
 strong as before his severe illness, his recog- 
 
88 IN MEMORIAL. 
 
 nition of a gracious Providence in his recov- 
 ery. He stated that vrhile being brought 
 down from his sick-room in the arms of 
 friends, to be taken to Somerville as a last 
 resort, he was greeted by a hymn sung by the 
 Sunday-school Convention then in session at 
 Trinity Methodist Church, diagonally oppo- 
 site his residence. He was afterwards told 
 that that hymn succeeded a prayer offered 
 by the Convention for his recovery. On 
 the way to the depot he felt the current of 
 his disease receive a check, and from that 
 moment his recovery began. He then 
 gratefully acknowledged God as the hearer 
 of prayer, and the fulfillment of the promise, 
 " Before they call will I answer, and while 
 they are yet speaking will I hear." 
 
 On being rejoined to his people he 
 preached a sermon, a printed copy of which 
 he placed on my study-table with the mod- 
 est remark that ,; it had been published not 
 for any intrinsic merit, but as commemora- 
 tive of his restoration to his people." But 
 this discourse, the last he ever published, 
 contains his creed. Here the secret of his 
 consistent walk with God, and his successful 
 ministry, is clearly announced. In entreat- 
 ing his people's prayers for his resumed min- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 89 
 
 istry, he selected Paul's request to the 
 Ephesians : " And for me, that utterance 
 may be given unto me, that I may open my 
 mouth boldly, to make known the mystery 
 of the gospel." (Eph. yi. 19.) In the ser- 
 mon occurs the following passage, suggesting 
 the subjects of his people's petitions for 
 their pastor : " An outspoken rebuke of 
 sin and unbelief ; a steady lifting up of 
 Christ as the atonement and righteousness 
 of the guilty ; a direct invitation to Him as 
 the only hope of the lost ; a courageous 
 cleaving to inspired Scripture in all its 
 breadth and depth, in the face of cavilers 
 and gainsayers ; with an acknowledged de- 
 pendence in all things upon the grace of the 
 Holy Ghost, — for this I would pray, and 
 ask your constant supplications to Almighty 
 God, as most necessary for an efficient min- 
 istry and a living Church." I cannot re- 
 frain from quoting from the close of this 
 discourse, which is a noble and befitting 
 monument to his whole ministry ; and by 
 these solemn words to-day, he, though dead, 
 yet speaketh : — 
 
 "As a preacher of the gospel, I am com- 
 manded to glory in the cross ; standing at 
 its foot, I am to point you to the finished 
 
90 IN MEMOR1AM. 
 
 redemption accomplished thereon. T am to 
 direct the eye of faith to the enthroned Sav- 
 iour, pleading as our great High Priest 
 within the veil, and bid you with all your 
 heart to trust in Him, and realize your pres- 
 ent acceptance in the Beloved, your justifi- 
 cation as you ' look by faith unto Jesus,' and 
 your eternal security as, united to Him 
 through the new birth of the Spirit, and in- 
 corporated with Him by the Holy Ghost 
 dwelling in you, you are ' kept by the power 
 of God through faith unto salvation, ready 
 to be revealed in the last time.' 
 
 " To every convicted sinner who 4 trem- 
 bling ' asks, 4 What must I do to be saved ? : 
 I am to make the all-sufficient answer, l Be- 
 lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
 shalt be saved.' To all ' passing by,' how- 
 ever thoughtless they may be of their souls 
 and the eternity which is before them, I 
 must cry (and O ! that the Spirit of God 
 may make the words potent !), ' Behold the 
 Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of 
 the world.' I must invite with that most 
 tender and attractive call of the Master, 
 6 Come unto me all ye that are weary and 
 heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' " 
 
 And then he continues, until he has cir- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 91 
 
 cumscribed the entire circle of faithful invi- 
 tation and warning, in pleading with sin- 
 ners to " flee from the wrath to come." 
 Would that this sermon were in the pos- 
 session of all who knew and loved him ! 
 They could not have a more adequate me- 
 morial. 
 
 Last Sabbath morning, as he lay on the 
 confines of eternity, in my deep sorrow I 
 opened a favorite book of his, which, im- 
 pressed by the frequency of his allusions to 
 it, I had borrowed from him. It was a 
 copy of that sacred classic, " Rutherford's 
 Letters," rendered especially attractive be- 
 cause filled with his own pencilings. You 
 can realize the depth of feeling sounded, as 
 my eye fell upon these words of Rutherford, 
 underscored by Brother Gadsden : u There 
 is nothing oat of Heaven, next to Christ, 
 dearer to me than my ministry" Yes, that 
 ministry, which he was about to leave for 
 that only dearer object, his Saviour, had 
 received his every glad energy ; had evoked 
 all the possibilities of his consecrated being. 
 Perhaps it was while recovering from sick- 
 ness a year since, that he marked the fol- 
 lowing passage : " Lord, give me submis- 
 sion to wait on. My heart is sad that my 
 
92 IN ME MORI AM. 
 
 days flee away, and I do no service to my 
 Lord in his house, now when his harvest 
 and the souls of perishing people require it ; 
 but his ways are not like my ways, neither 
 can I find Him out. , . . O that I might 
 preach his beauty and glory, as once I did, 
 before my clay -tent be removed to darkness ; 
 and that I might lift Christ off the ground, 
 and my branches might be watered with the 
 dew of God, and my joy in his work might 
 grow green again, and bud and send out a 
 flower." This is the last passage marked 
 by his pencil, in the volume. If we are 
 known by our favorite authors, as by our 
 companions, his character is clearly evinced 
 not only by his admiration of " the holy 
 Rutherford," but also in that this author's 
 longing for the salvation of souls, and his 
 most rapturous breathings after Christ and 
 his precious love, are the passages he has 
 the most frequently and uniformly marked. 
 Of the former, take this : " O if [that] I 
 could buy your soul's salvation with any 
 suffering whatever, that ye and I might 
 meet with joy up in the rainbow, when we 
 shall stand before one Judge ! " and of the 
 latter, this : "I resolve to wrestle with 
 Christ ere I quit Him. But my love to 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 93 
 
 Him hath casten my soul into a fever, and 
 there is no cooling of my fever till I get pos- 
 session of Christ. O strong, strong love of 
 Jesus, thou hast wounded my heart with 
 thine arrows ! O pain ! O pain of love for 
 Christ ! Who will help me to praise ? " 
 
 Ah, now that pain is quelled, in its 
 measureless increase ; and his more than 
 angelic praises are helped by the voices of 
 harpers harping on their harps unto the 
 Lamb that was slain. 
 
 My friends, to ourselves, as well as to his 
 charge and to this community, God is 
 solemnly speaking in this our great sorrow. 
 Let us take heed that we be also ready. 
 Let us also be encouraged. Henceforth let 
 it be our meat to do our Heavenly Father's 
 will, that if suddenly the Master should 
 come and call us from earth, we may be 
 able to reply, as could our beloved, lamented, 
 redeemed friend : — 
 
 " I have glorified thee on the earth. I 
 have finished the work which thou gavest 
 me to do." 
 
 BY REV. CHAS. S. VEDDER, PASTOR OF THE 
 HUGUENOT CHURCH. 
 
 The following is an extract from a sermon 
 
9-4 nr MEMORIAM. 
 
 preached by Rev. C. S. Yedder. at the Hu- 
 guenot Church. Charleston. S. C. from the 
 text. u I will give you rest," Matt. xi. 28. 
 
 ; - The last public address of that great- 
 hearted and beloved minister of Christ, who 
 entered into rest during the past week, was 
 upon the dosing words of the Apostle's 
 Creed. * life everlasting.' He told the chil- 
 dren of his Sabbath-school what life is: 
 that natural life is the breath , and 
 
 spiritual life the breath of the Holy Ghost 
 Time not then permitting, he promised to 
 speak to them, the next Sabbath, upon the 
 word • everlasting/ The next Sabbath 
 came — he did not. But. from his bed of 
 sickness, he sent them word^ that if he had 
 spoken to them of everlasting life, it would 
 have been to tell them that we could know 
 nothing of it until we enter upon it. and that 
 now he was going to see what mortal eye 
 had not seen, nor ear heard, nor heart con- 
 ceived. And he has gone ! From the 
 work to which he gave himself with such 
 self-sacrificing devotion, he has been called 
 to enter into the joy of his Lord, leaving the 
 savor of a name which is * as ointment 
 poured forth,' and t the memory of words 
 which will speak long, long after the lips 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 95 
 
 which uttered them have been mute and 
 motionless to earth forever ! He realizes, in 
 its fullness, the promise, ; I will give you 
 rest ' ! " 
 
 BY REV. J. T. WIGHTMAX. 
 
 The following is the substance of a tribute 
 to the Rev. C. P. Gadsden, delivered on the 
 Sabbath following his death, from the text, 
 " For to me to live is Christ, and to die is 
 gain " (Phil. i. 21), at Spring Street Church 
 (Methodist Episcopal Church, South), by 
 the pastor, Rev. J. T. "Wight-man. 
 
 " This day is a day of mourning. The 
 city is clothed in sackcloth. A good and 
 great man has fallen. The beloved Gads- 
 den is no more. His church is draped in 
 mourning, and the altar at which he faith- 
 fully ministered is bathed in the tears of 
 his devoted people. It is not in my recol- 
 lection that mourning was ever so wide- 
 spread in this city at the death of a citizen. 
 All unite in the common grief, without dis- 
 tinction of class or denomination. It would 
 seem as if almost any one else could have 
 been better given up. My lonely spirit 
 cries out, c Would to God I had died for 
 thee!' 
 
 81 He was lovely in spirit, exalted hi views, 
 
96 IN MEM OR 1AM. 
 
 ardent in piety, and he stood in the front 
 rank of every movement which advanced 
 the kingdom of Christ, His broad and 
 catholic spirit rose above barriers which 
 circumscribe the charity and labor of most 
 men, and bore him ' everywhere doing good 
 to all men.' The Bible Society, the Young 
 Men's Christian Association, the Orphan 
 House, the Confederate Widows' House, 
 the Missionary, the Tract, the Sunday- 
 school work, every enterprise which looked 
 to the elevation of the intellectual and 
 moral status of the community, received 
 new vigor from his counsels, and new beauty 
 from his sympathies. His heart was an 
 affluent fountain from which perpetual 
 streams flowed forth to nourish the roots of 
 every good word and work. 
 
 " He was a man held in universal respect. 
 All loved him. I loved him as a brother. 
 We now recall with chastened admiration 
 his manly patriotism in upholding the city 
 with faith and prayer during the darkest 
 and heaviest night of his country's struggle. 
 But especially does his character shine in its 
 brightest aspect under the light of the 
 cross. 
 
 " His earnest, pointed, and Christ-filled 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 97 
 
 sermons ; his ardent, agonizing, faith-illumi- 
 nated prayer ; his broad, noble, heaven-ex- 
 panded views ; his temper, charity, works ; 
 all, all have left us an example worthy of 
 imitation. Who does not wish to possess 
 his docile, humble, and sweet spirit ? 
 
 " But his work is done. ; A bright and 
 shining light ' has gone out in his church. 
 But thanks be unto the Father of all mer- 
 cies, he died in triumph, and has left a bright 
 example to the Church of the power of the 
 Son of God to support a soul in the passage 
 of death. Several days before his depart- 
 ure his mind was profoundly impressed with 
 the chapter from which the text is taken. 
 His life and his death are beautiful com- 
 ments on that chapter, by manifesting the 
 spirit of the holy Apostle, 6 For to me to 
 live is Christ, and to die is gain.' I speak 
 for the denomination which I represent ; our 
 sympathy goes forth for the smitten flock 
 and family, and to the God of all grace we 
 commend them in prayer." 
 

ni. 
 
 FUNERAL CEREMONIES, ETC. 
 
 A SKETCH OF THE CEREMONIES ATTENDING THE 
 BURIAL OF MR. GADSDEN. 
 
 HPHE services over the remains of this be- 
 -*- loved minister were performed at St. 
 Luke's Church, of which he was pastor, on 
 yesterday afternoon at five o'clock. The 
 public, by their number, their deportment, 
 and the solemnity of their bearing, gave 
 evidence of their consciousness that a sudden 
 and heavy bereavement had befallen them- 
 selves and their city ; and along the streets 
 through which the funeral cortege passed with 
 its sacred burden, the general grief was mani- 
 fested in a most striking manner, which has 
 been seldom witnessed unless upon the death 
 of the most conspicuous, most distinguished, 
 and most revered of our citizens. The body 
 was borne by the vestry and wardens into 
 the edifice which he had aided in founding, 
 and to the ministrations in which he had 
 consecrated a great part of the most active 
 period of his life, which now was draped in 
 
 L.ifC. 
 
100 IX MEMORIAM. 
 
 mourning, and was likewise thronged and 
 overcrowded by a vast concourse composed 
 of persons of every race, class, and denomi- 
 nation in our city. Every one seemed de- 
 sirous of testifying by his presence to the 
 zeal, ability, and faithfulness vrith which 
 this man of God had sought to perform the 
 duties of life. He had ever been accessible 
 to all — kind, friendly, and compassionate 
 alike to rich and poor : he had ever been 
 ready to take his part in every good and 
 useful work, and the people desired to show 
 their appreciation of the man and the Chris- 
 tian. 
 
 His clerical brethren, from every denom- 
 ination, whom he had always been ready 
 to aid and to cooperate with in the common 
 service of their Master, were also gathered 
 together on this solemn occasion. The 
 presence of the children of the Sunday- 
 school, who were seated around the chancel, 
 gave an additional interest to the scene 
 within the church. Their hearts seemed 
 touched with the tender recollections of him 
 who so often, so earnestly, yet always with 
 pleasant manner, had taught them from that 
 spot where his lifeless body now lay, and 
 they made no effort to restrain their emo- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 101 
 
 tions whilst they looked upon his bier. The 
 impressive services of the Episcopal Church 
 were conducted by the Rev. Messrs. Pinck- 
 ney, Prentiss, Elliott, and Howe, whilst 
 several other ministers, some of whom had 
 come for the purpose from their distant 
 homes, were present in the chancel. 
 
 After the ceremonies at St. Luke's, the 
 body was removed to the burial ground of 
 St. Philip's Church, where it was interred 
 amid the chanting of hymns, in which every 
 one united. Wreaths of flowers, crosses, 
 and garlands were deposited by his nearest 
 friends of the clergy, and by the immediate 
 family of the deceased, upon the newly made 
 grave, and the benediction was pronounced 
 by a reverend brother. Thus terminated 
 ceremonies which, from the beginning to 
 the end, were peculiarly impressive, from 
 the sincere affection and regard which were 
 so universally entertained for him whose 
 body had been placed in its last resting- 
 place. This was close by the church in 
 which he had been baptized, had been con- 
 secrated to the service of his Maker, and had 
 acted as assistant minister for five years ; it 
 was within reach of the sounds of the swell- 
 ing organ, and now, when the choral music 
 
102 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 and the voices of the morning and the even- 
 ing hymns shall be wafted on the air, they 
 shall be borne over his tomb, but will fall 
 upon " the dull, cold ear of death," and will 
 awake henceforward no responsive note of 
 praise from the lips of him whom, when 
 alive, melodious anthems and songs of 
 prayer had power to stir with sacred rap- 
 ture. 
 
 As the only surviving classmate of Mr. 
 Gadsden in this city, and connected with 
 his church from the inception of the enter- 
 prise which built it, it may be permitted us 
 to state, that at the early period of his col- 
 lege life he was conspicuous for his great 
 reverence for religion, and his earnest and 
 consistent piety ; and as an incident in his 
 career, that it was his habit to have prayers, 
 and to listen to, or himself to read a sermon 
 in his rooms during every Sabbath evening ; 
 on which occasions a few of his friends were 
 invited to be present. His fellow-students, 
 without exception, entertained a proiound 
 respect, both for his attainments, and his 
 high moral qualities. He graduated with 
 distinction in a large class, and he was con- 
 sidered one of the best orators among his 
 then associates. We only repeat what 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 103 
 
 others have so well expressed, when we add 
 in conclusion, that his life since has been 
 one of unselfish devotion to the require- 
 ments of his calling ; to serve his Master, to 
 convert souls, to minister to the wants, 
 spiritual and temporal, of his fellow-man ; 
 these were his greatest pleasures, for to such 
 duties he had consecrated his time on earth. 
 His life has been a toilsome one, and not 
 without its trials ; but it is not surprising 
 that, with aims like these, a man of so un- 
 selfish a nature — gifted with talents and 
 with irrepressible energy, displayed in what- 
 ever concerned the welfare of the Church — 
 should attain so high a rank in that in 
 which he worshipped and labored, as to have 
 recently received the support of a majority 
 of his order for the highest, most responsi- 
 ble, and most sacred gift it was in their 
 power to aid in conferring. 
 
 Mr. Gadsden belonged to a family which 
 has been distinguished for its patriotism, and 
 for its civic and social virtues. He also 
 greatly loved the people of his native State 
 and city, and he was willing at all times 
 cheerfully to sacrifice his interests, his prop- 
 erty, his life even, for their benefit. He 
 has done this ; and we doubt not that he is 
 
104 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 now reaping those blessed and more endur- 
 ing rewards which his Heavenly Father and 
 Saviour has in store for a faithful servant. 
 What we can do, now that he is dead, is to 
 show that we appreciate the labors and the 
 example derived from a review of the life of 
 one who was the friend of all who needed 
 the aid of a minister of God ; and more es- 
 pecially we can exhibit this practically by 
 perfecting the plans which we know were 
 those most dear to his heart. 
 
 F. P. P. 
 
 copy of resolutions passed by the vestry 
 of st. luke's church. 
 
 At a special meeting of the Vestry of St. 
 Luke's Church, Charleston, held on the 27th 
 July, 1871, the following proceedings were 
 unanimously adopted : — 
 
 Vain would be the effort to depict the 
 depth and poignancy of that affliction which 
 rests upon the congregation of St. Luke's 
 Church ; futile the attempt to give adequate 
 expression to the emotions which swell each 
 bosom, and bow each head with a grief too 
 deep for utterance. 
 
 In the prime of life ; in the active dis- 
 charge of ministerial and social duties : with 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 105 
 
 an intellect gifted, cultivated, and refined ; 
 a mind stored with the attainments of the 
 scholar and the theologian ; an imagination 
 fervid, chaste, and captivating ; a fluency 
 and felicity of expression of the highest 
 order ; a heart tender, loving, and over- 
 flowing with sympathy in the joys and sor- 
 rows of others ; a disposition gentle, kind, 
 amiable, and winning ; all consecrated to 
 the glory of God, in the salvation of man ; 
 all purified and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, 
 and rendered meet for the Master's service. 
 Such was the Christian pastor ; such the 
 faithful shepherd, whom " the Lord gave, 
 and " whom " the Lord hath taken away." 
 
 Early called to preach " Jesus Christ and 
 Him crucified," the last summons found him 
 (in response to prayer) with armor on, still 
 battling under the " banner of the cross," 
 against " the world, the flesh, and the 
 devil." 
 
 The fight fought, the course finished, the 
 faith kept ! His the crown, his the life- 
 sought welcome : " Well done, good and 
 faithful servant ; enter thou into the joy of 
 thy Lord ! " 
 
 Priceless the privileges of such a minis- 
 try ; incalculable its loss ; deep the respon- 
 
106 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 sibilities which rest upon each member of 
 that favored fold ! 
 
 Feebly, yet affectionately, and in humble 
 submission to the will of our Heavenly 
 Father, would we record pur sense of this 
 dispensation of his mysterious, yet all-wise 
 providence. Therefore — 
 
 Resolved, That in the removal of the late Rev. 
 Christopher P. Gadsden from the scenes of his earthly- 
 labors, to that "place prepared" in his " Father's 
 house/' " to the whole company of angels, and the 
 spirits of just men made perfect," the Church mili- 
 tant has been deprived of one of her ablest champi- 
 ons, one of her brightest ornaments, and most zealous 
 heralds of the cross. 
 
 Resolved, That to the congregation of St. Luke's 
 Church, it is the severance of the tenderest earthly 
 ties which can bind a devoted, zealous, and faithful 
 pastor to a favored, loving, and grateful people. 
 
 Resolved, That as emblematic of our deep bereave- 
 ment, and as a token of reverence and affection for 
 the memory of its late rector, St. Luke's Church be 
 draped in mourning for the space of six months. 
 
 Resolved, That the Rev. W. B. W. Howe, Assist- 
 ant Bishop elect, be respectfully requested to officiate 
 at St. Luke's Church, on Sunday morning next, and 
 on that occasion to deliver a discourse in consonance 
 with the mournful circumstances under which the 
 congregation will then be assembled. 
 
 Resolved, That to the bereaved widow and children 
 of our late rector, a copy of these proceedings be 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 107 
 
 transmitted, with the heartfelt assurance that we 
 mourn with and for them, for ourselves, and for our 
 children. (Monthly Record, August, 1871.) 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF REV. C. P. GADSDEN, 
 
 RECTOR OF ST. LUKE'S CHURCH, CHARLESTON, 
 
 S. C. 
 
 " It matters little at what hour of the day 
 The righteous falls asleep. To him 
 Death cannot come untimely who is fit to die ! 
 The 1 less of this cold world, the more of heaven ; 
 The briefer life, the earlier immortality ! " 
 
 Back to your fount of feeling, tears and sighs ! 
 Nor sighs nor tears are known above the skies J 
 The star-gemmed canopy of yonder world 
 Resounds with joyous tones, as, wide unfurled, 
 " The banner of the cross " waves high and bright 
 Before the wond'ring stranger's ravished sight ; 
 His rapture cannot e'er be told, 
 To find his name thereon enrolled ! 
 
 O ! 'tis a privilege to die the Christian's death ; 
 To testify confiding hope with dying breath ; 
 To leave for stricken, mourning hearts a balm 
 To sooth the deepest grief with holy calm ; 
 To place in memory's casket the blest hour 
 When Faith o'ercame the tyrant's dreaded power ! 
 
 But blessed, thrice blessed to lay life down 
 And wear in heaven the pastor's crown ! 
 
108 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 To find whole hosts around him throng. 
 Singing his praise who had so long 
 With zeal untiring, faithfulness, and love, 
 Pointed their souls to glorious realms above ; 
 Who joyed in all their joys, and ever kept 
 A sympathetic tear for those Who wept ! 
 
 A Christian's death ! Who does not yearn 
 
 A lesson from its scenes to learn V 
 
 But O ! to hear a minister's farewell ; 
 
 To listen to his church's funeral knell ; 
 
 To feel assured while sad we stand 
 
 Around his grave, he, in the land 
 
 Of everlasting rest, is reaping now 
 
 The rich reward of holy act and vow ; 
 
 To think we almost catch th' Archangel's strain, 
 
 " Soldier of the cross, well done ! Not in vain 
 
 Hast thou in the world dwelt ! " This were to know 
 
 The blessedness of mingled joy and woe ! 
 
 But from these thoughts we turn : on earth are tears, 
 And loneliness, and dread of future cares. 
 In heaven one universal hymn of thankful praise 
 Reechoes through the azure vault where cherubs raise 
 Their infant notes in glad hosannas, as they see 
 Him crowned, by Christ himself, with immortality ! 
 
 And shall the upper sanctuary ring 
 
 With joy, and we on earth no praises bring 
 
 To Him who hath vouchsafed to us the precious 
 
 boon 
 Of this beloved friend, and mourn that all too soon 
 He has been called away from church and home; 
 And we, who cherished, should be left to roam 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 109 
 
 Along life's pathway, all desolate and alone ? 
 
 No, no ! He cannot die too soon, whose work is 
 
 done ! 
 He cannot wear too soon the diadem, 
 By Christ prepared, of gold and costly gem ; 
 Yes, yes, in that bright sphere it now 
 Rests on his calmly placid brow ! 
 O ! who would have it laid aside, 
 Or wish again he had not died ? 
 Back then, ye tears — back then, ye sighs ! 
 From earth's heart-sorrows let thought rise, 
 Soaring beyond the stars to join the throng 
 Who praise Jehovah in rapturous song. 
 Then let it be our aim like him to live, 
 And win the crown our Saviour has to give 
 To those whose faithfulness and love 
 Have won a place in realms above ! 
 
 M. T. G. 
 Summer ville, S. C, 28th July, 1871. 
 
IV. 
 
 SERMONS, 
 
 BY REV. C P. GADSDEN. 
 
 THE HOLY SPIRIT THE GUIDE TO A 
 
 TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF THE 
 
 SCRIPTURES. 
 
 " Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all 
 things." — 1 John ii. 20. 
 
 TGNORANCE of God, with inability, by 
 A any powers of our own, to apprehend 
 Him, is a part of the curse which has over- 
 taken sinful men. The gospel of Jesus 
 Christ, however, assures every believing 
 heart, " that the Son of God is come, and 
 has given us an understanding, that we may 
 know Him that is true." " God^hath spoken 
 to us," by one " who is the brightness of 
 his glory, and the express image of his per- 
 son." But " the Light shineth in darkness, 
 and the darkness comprehendeth it not." 
 How ignorant were the nations, both Jew 
 and Gentile, of the glory of the only be- 
 gotten of the Father, " when He dwelt 
 among them ! " It was not until the Holy 
 Ghost descended, on the Day of Pentecost, 
 
112 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 that even the apostles had correct views of 
 the person and work of their Divine Mas- 
 ter. And what is evident, from the histor- 
 ical record, in regard to the Word Incarnate, 
 has, throughout the ages, been true of the 
 written Word. It is indeed, my brethren, 
 " a light shining in a dark place ; " and 
 " the eyes of our understanding must be 
 opened," by Divine grace, before we shall 
 recognize its brilliancy, and be guided in 
 the sheen of its splendor, to God. Hence 
 it is that David prays, " Open Thou mine 
 eyes, that I may see wondrous things out 
 of thy law; " " make me to understand the 
 way of thy precepts." 
 
 The subject to which I would invite at- 
 tention this morning is, " The Holy Spirit 
 the Guide to a true Understanding of the 
 Holy Scriptures." 
 
 And in considering a fact so important, 
 and the knowledge of which is so essential 
 to the salvation of the soul, I ask you, my 
 hearers, to unite with me in the prayer that 
 the Divine Sanctifier may " cast his bright 
 beams of light " upon us, and breathe into 
 our hearts the holy influences of his grace. 
 
 With paths of knowledge to be explored 
 on all sides, the Church and the world cry 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 113 
 
 out for an infallible guide. And there are 
 those who, overlooking the presence of the 
 promised Teacher, are casting themselves 
 upon human helps. Some follow blindly 
 the traditions of men ; and even acknowl- 
 edge the blasphemous pretensions of him 
 " who, as God, sitteth in the temple of God, 
 showing himself that he is God." Others, 
 with heedless self-will, fulfill another in- 
 spired prophecy, and " speak great swelling 
 words of vanity, promising liberty, while 
 they themselves are the servants of corrup- 
 tion." But it is neither from the uncer- 
 tainty of tradition, the modern dogmas of 
 the Papacy, or the self-confident speculations 
 of rationalism, that aid is to be brought for 
 the ignorance of man. The inspired Scrip- 
 tures of the Old and New Testament are 
 the only secure basis of religious belief ; and 
 the Church, " although a witness and a 
 keeper of Holy Writ," must, in her indi- 
 vidual members, as well as in her catholic 
 unity, be irradiated with the light of the 
 Holy Spirit, in order to " have a right judg- 
 ment in all things," and to " embrace and 
 ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting 
 life." 
 
 With the prof oundest reverence we rec- 
 
 8 
 
114 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 ognize M the ministration of the Spirit " as a 
 living power in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. 
 And when, in obedience to the command of 
 our Lord, we " search the Scriptures " with 
 faith and prayer, w£ claim his parting 
 promise to his disciples: "I will send unto 
 you from the Father the Spirit of truth ; " 
 " He shall testify of me ; " " when He is 
 come, He will guide you into all truth." 
 
 Now should any affirm that this testimony 
 is confined to the letter of Scripture, and 
 that the promise of Christ was exhausted 
 in the gift of that inspiration by which 
 " Holy men of God spake as they were 
 moved by the Holy Ghost ; " or that it was 
 intended only for the guidance of the Church, 
 when speaking with " authority in matters 
 of faith," and by her catholic councils, I 
 turn to the epistle of " the disciple whom 
 Jesus loved," and who, besides being in- 
 spired to write, must, of all men, have 
 known most of the mind of his Lord. I 
 read here a message to the " little chil- 
 dren " whom he loved " in the truth." 
 He is warning them against the many " an- 
 tichrists " who, in fulfillment of prophecy, 
 have, " in these last times " of the world, 
 " already come," " denying the Father and 
 
RE V. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 115 
 
 the Son ; " and his declaration is as plain as 
 this : " Ye have an unction from the Holy 
 One, and ye know all things." The anoint- 
 ing which ye have received of Him abideth 
 in you, and ye need not that any man teach 
 you: but as the same anointing teacheth 
 you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, 
 and* even as it hath taught you, ye shall 
 abide in Hira. 
 
 Other scriptures can 1?e brought from 
 both Testaments to confirm and illustrate 
 what is here asserted. I ( can show you 
 prophets and priests of the Old Dispensa- 
 tion, and apostles and saints of the New, on 
 their knees, pleading, with one accord, the 
 covenant of Jehovah for the teaching of the 
 Holy Ghost. I can point to heroes and 
 martyrs making this hope their confidence ; 
 and to preachers of the Word sounding 
 forth the free notes of the gospel trumpet, 
 with this refrain : 4; Not by power, nor by 
 might, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of 
 Hosts." I hear the sweet music of the 
 Psalmist's harp, as he thrills the chords 
 with praise for the " light and the truth 
 sent out to guide him." I might read to 
 you dogmatic statements, like these : " No 
 man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by 
 
116 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 the Holy Ghost." " The veil is upon their 
 hearts; nevertheless, when they shall turn 
 to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away." 
 " Now the Lord^is that Spirit, and where the 
 Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." " The 
 Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep 
 things of God." " All thy children shall be 
 taught of the Lord." Or, I could show you 
 examples of this teaching : such, for instance, 
 as that of Lydia, " whose heart the Son 
 opened that she attended unto the things 
 which were spoken of Paul ; " or of Corne- 
 lius and his company, of whom it is written, 
 " While Peter yet spake these words, the 
 Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the 
 word." Or, I might call attention to the 
 absolute need that there is of such inter- 
 vention, in the sinner's behalf, by repeating 
 the Apostle's explanation of the ignorance 
 of the unconverted. " If our gospel be hid, 
 it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the 
 God of this world hath blinded the minds 
 of them which believe not, lest the light of 
 the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the im- 
 age of God, should shine upon them." A 
 mind which is clouded by sin, and blinded 
 by Satan, the grace of the Holy Spirit only 
 can "turn from darkness to light:" and 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 117 
 
 hence the confession of divine power in the 
 words, " God, who commanded the light to 
 shine out of darkness, hath shined in our 
 hearts, to give the light of the knowledge 
 of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus 
 Christ." But vast and accumulative as 
 would be such an array of testimony, it 
 would not be clearer than the assertion of 
 St. John in the text. You have here the 
 inspired declaration of a fact, which is re- 
 vealed as a part of the common experience 
 of God's children ; and it is pointed out as 
 an essential feature of the life of faith. The 
 " ye," which the Apostle employs in this 
 passage, is emphatic. He appeals to Chris- 
 tian consciousness, and his language is 
 equally a challenge to faith, and a tender 
 assurance to love. He gives a characteris- 
 tic description of the " sons of God," by 
 which they are set forth in opposition to the 
 "many antichrists," of whom it is added, 
 44 They went out from us, but they were 
 not of us ; for if they had been of us, they 
 would no doubt have continued with us : but 
 they went out that they might be made 
 manifest that they were not all of us." As 
 the light of the sun divides the day from 
 the night, so the Spirit of Christ separates 
 
118 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 " the children of the day " from those that 
 " dwell in darkness." " As many as are 
 led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons 
 of God." " And if any man have not the 
 Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." The 
 Holy Catholic Church, " built upon the 
 foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
 Jesus Christ himself being the chief cor- 
 ner stone," is " a habitation of God, through 
 the Spirit." It is the presence of the Spirit, 
 and the life and truth which, from Christ 
 the Head, He imparts to redeemed sinners, 
 born of Him unto God, which mark in in- 
 effaceable characters of light the bounds and 
 limits of that " mystical body, which is the 
 blessed company of all faithful people." 
 And upon this body, our text declares, there 
 is " an unction from the Holy One ; " that 
 is, from the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the 
 true centre of unity, and fountain of bless- 
 ings to all his people. The prophet Daniel 
 predicted his anointing, to be the High 
 Priest of his Church, under this name of 
 the " Most Holy." St. Peter, in Jerusalem 
 on the Day of Pentecost, proclaimed him by 
 this title. An angel announced it to the 
 Virgin Mary ; and devils confessed it, when, 
 in anticipation of judgment, they trembled 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 119 
 
 at the presence, on earth, of " the Son of 
 God." Let us never forget, my hearers, 
 that the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier, is the 
 purchase of the cross, and the royal gift 
 of our glorified Redeemer, while he pleads 
 for us at the right hand of the Father, 
 From the High Priest of the Church, who 
 has " passed within the veil," the unction 
 of the Spirit " flows down to the skirts of 
 his garment," " refreshing the faithful " as 
 the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that 
 descended upon the mountains of Zion. 
 
 And while this unction is a consecration 
 of the whole Church, and of the entire man, 
 in each regenerate believer, to all the offices 
 which Christ the Head gives us a por- 
 tion in, when making us " kings and priests 
 unto God and his Father," it here especially 
 brings to view the investing of the Church 
 with the prophetic office, and the securing, 
 for each believing heart (in the communion 
 and fellowship of Christ), that Divine teach- 
 ing which is an eminent blessing of the 
 covenant of grace. " Ye have an unction 
 from the Holy One, and ye know all things." 
 It is a fact which rests upon an inspired 
 dictum; and in delivering it, the Apostle 
 appeals to Christian consciousness. If any 
 
120 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 of you reject the written Word of God, we 
 must have recourse to other discussions, in 
 order to secure assent to our supreme au- 
 thority. The evidences of Christianity must 
 be examined ; and the authenticity, credi- 
 bility, and inspiration of the Scriptures must 
 be established, by the cumulative proof, 
 which it is impossible to invalidate. We 
 invite here the most thorough investigation ; 
 we would urge you, with all the earnestness 
 of which we are capable, to sift the matter 
 to the bottom. If any of you doubt whether 
 the Bible is the Word of God, I beseech 
 you, as you fear God and value your souls, 
 lose no time in settling the question beyond 
 all peradventure. It is an awful condition 
 for any man to be in, that his only hope for 
 eternity is that this Book, which has, all 
 through the ages, withstood so many as- 
 saults of the most able and determined ad- 
 versaries, and which remains to-day, in all 
 the world, the one unlowered standard of 
 truth and right, may, perhaps, be a he! 
 But I address, to-night, those who accept 
 the Bible as the Word of God. If I was 
 not, my brethren, thoroughly persuaded of 
 this fact, I would not dare stand in this holy 
 presence. I hold the pulpit to be too awful 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 121 
 
 a place, too much surrounded with thoughts 
 of God and visions of his judgment, for any 
 man to make it a stage for the display of his 
 own fancies ; and to entertain sinners, for 
 an hour, with curious questions and novel 
 theories. If I had not Christ to lean upon, 
 and the truth of God authoritatively to 
 proclaim from the Record of his will, I 
 would close the Book, and forsake the as- 
 sembly. It would seem too dangerous a 
 jest, to be speculating to blind men, in the 
 dark myself, on the soul and its destiny, on 
 eternal life and death, on heaven and hell. 
 I thank God for the Scriptures of truth : 
 with all my heart, and in deepest humility, 
 I accept them as a certain and definite rule 
 of faith, sufficient in their plenary inspira- 
 tion, for the Church of ages ; a rule, from 
 which there can be no appeal ; none here, 
 because Christ himself hath told us, there 
 shall be none at the day of judgment. " He 
 that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my 
 words, hath one that judgeth him," our 
 Lord declares ; " the word that I have 
 spoken, the same shall judge him in the 
 last day." But with the Scriptures in my 
 hand, which testify of Christ, the question 
 meets me, How shall I ascertain their mean- 
 
122 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 ing ? The Book is nothing to me unless I 
 am master of its thought. I shall not find 
 eternal life, unless I know and obey its reve- 
 lation. And here, brethren, on the author- 
 ity of the Book itself, I take my position, 
 that the right understanding of this inspired 
 volume is not an acquirement of unaided 
 human nature, but a gift of grace. The 
 knowledge of " the truth as it is in Jesus," 
 here revealed, is only to be obtained from 
 Him who hath disclosed it. The Word of 
 the Spirit must be interpreted to our minds 
 and hearts by the Spirit. The Holy Ghost, 
 promised by God for this purpose, must 
 64 take of the things of Christ," which are 
 written in this Book, and show them unto 
 us. The fact is, my friends, that the com- 
 prehension of Scripture, and the saving 
 knowledge of Him to whom it testifies as 
 our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, is not 
 simply an intellectual result. It is a moral 
 act. It does not depend only upon mental 
 power, and study, and learning, and criti- 
 cism. These are indeed, to a certain ex- 
 tent, necessary concomitants ; and are by 
 no means to be disregarded. Men must ex- 
 ercise intelligence, and employ diligence 
 here, as they would in any department of 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 123 
 
 knowledge. But religion is not a science, 
 to be worked out to our own apprehensions 
 by methods of induction and discovery. It 
 is an objective revelation of fact and truth, 
 authoritatively set before us by God ; and 
 it must meet with a welcome from our 
 moral nature. It must be received with 
 the meekness of faith, and the child-like 
 docility of love. To accept the divine tes- 
 timony concerning God and his Christ, sin 
 and redemption, eternal death and ever- 
 lasting life, is a spiritual process. It de- 
 pends in a very great degree upon the 
 moral state of the soul. " If any man," 
 saith our Lord, " will do my will, he shall 
 know of the doctrine." " With the heart," 
 writes St. Paul, " man believeth unto right- 
 eousness, and with the mouth confession is 
 made unto salvation." 
 
 " We stand therefore, my brethren, in 
 regard to the doctrine of Christianity, in a 
 very different position from that which we 
 occupy towards intellectual philosophy or 
 physical science. In these, truth is to be 
 pursued and brought forth from her hiding 
 places, according to the natural processes of 
 the understanding, by induction, and with 
 the aid of observation and experiment. 
 
124 IN ME MORI AM. 
 
 The moral nature of man has but a sub- 
 ordinate relation to the investigation. But 
 this is the peculiar domain of the gospel ; 
 and as Christianity is the revelation of a 
 special economy of redemption, it deals pre- 
 eminently with supernatural subjects. It 
 rests its claims to attention, indeed, upon 
 facts which are supported by human testi- 
 mony ; and appeals for its credentials, to 
 matters of which the reason of man is able 
 to take cognizance. It freely submits its 
 external evidence to the closest scrutiny. 
 It brings forward proof, so strong that no 
 facts in the history of man are so well 
 authenticated. It demands, from the reason 
 of every man who has intellect sufficient to 
 make him provident of his personal safety, 
 a prompt and earnest investigation of its 
 claims. And they are worse than mad, 
 who pass it by (as they travel to eternity), 
 with indifference, or a sneer. But when 
 any one has, upon a thorough weighing of 
 its abundant evidence, accepted it as from 
 God, there can be no ground left for ques- 
 tioning any of its statements. A message 
 from God must come with authority; and 
 the will of our Maker, proclaimed by his 
 Eternal Son, demands, on our part, sub- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 125 
 
 mission. When, moreover, it appears that, 
 by reason of a deflection on our part from 
 rectitude, we are in moral antagonism to 
 holiness, we may well feel diffidence in mak- 
 ing our thoughts the measure of the Divine 
 counsels. " My thoughts are not your 
 thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, 
 saith the Lord ; for as the heavens are higher 
 than the earth, so are my ways higher than 
 your ways, and my thoughts than your 
 thoughts." To the Roman governor who 
 asked, with the indifference of skepticism, 
 " What is Truth ? " and waited not for an 
 answer, our Lord affirmed, " My kingdom 
 is not of this world." It is an empire very 
 different from the material power of Eome, 
 or the intellectual supremacy of Athens. 
 It is a moral power, a spiritual economy, 
 set up indeed visibly in the earth, in an 
 organized Church, but exercising its highest 
 glory as "the kingdom of heaven within 
 us ; " " purifying the heart through faith," 
 and " bringing every thought into captivity 
 to the obedience of Christ." " Therefore," 
 saith St. Paul, " if any man be in Christ, 
 he is a new creature ; old things are passed 
 away, behold, all things are become new." 
 When Nicodemus, the Pharisee, addressed 
 
126 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 himself to Jesus, as " a teacher come from 
 God," and would inquire what was the 
 instruction that He brought, our Lord met 
 him at the threshold with the declaration, 
 " Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a 
 man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
 dom of God." Renewal of the heart by the 
 Holy Ghost, the Master himself pronounces 
 the first step in the school of Christ ; and 
 the same truth He impresses afterwards 
 upon the Jews : " It is written in the proph- 
 ets, And they shall be all taught of God." 
 " Every man therefore that hath heard and 
 hath learned of the Father, cometh unto 
 me. 
 
 How emphatically, then, does Jesus con- 
 firm the word of his servant, when He 
 makes prominent, both at the outset and 
 the close of his ministry on earth, the neces- 
 sity of " the unction from the Holy One," 
 if we would " know all things." Humility 
 and reverence are indeed qualities essential 
 to proficiency hi any department, even of 
 human knowledge. A consciousness of 
 ignorance, and of constant liability to error, 
 with a profound loyalty to truth, are nec- 
 essary safeguards against delusion ; where 
 reason, in her legitimate sphere, is able to 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 127 
 
 sweep, with keen glance, the field of vision, 
 and make discoveries for herself. But when 
 from this vestibule of earth we pass into the 
 temple of the Lord ; to bow at the very 
 shrine of truth, in the blaze of that glory 
 before which the angels veil their faces, men 
 should surely be penetrated with the truest 
 lowliness. Standing on holy ground, and 
 permitted, through the veil of Christ's flesh, 
 to gaze into the very countenance of God 
 (though it flash not with anger, or, like 
 consuming fire, destroy us with its holiness, 
 but beam upon us, in the tempered beauty 
 of seK-sacrificing love), we should "put 
 our shoes from off our feet ; " and rejoice that 
 we are permitted to take hold of " God's 
 strength," and be instructed by his Holy 
 Spirit. In such presence, who would be 
 self-confident, or filled with his own pride ? 
 Who would not rather exclaim, with the 
 humbled man of Uz, " That which I see 
 not, teach Thou me." 
 
 It is because moral conformity to God 
 in some degree, is necessary for our under- 
 standing his ways, and the Holy Ghogt is 
 the only renewer of man's corrupt nature, 
 after the image of God, that his grace is 
 essential for the reception, on the part of 
 
128 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 any man, of " the faith once delivered to 
 the saints." He does not, because He has 
 completed the canon of Scripture as the 
 only rule of faith, and enriched the Church, 
 as " the pillar and ground of the truth," 
 with the record of eternal life, withdraw 
 Hiruself from " the true tabernacle," and 
 leave the children of the covenant to their 
 own devices. But in fulfillment of the part- 
 ing promise of the Redeemer (when as our 
 High Priest he passed within the veil), as 
 his vicar, and the representative of his lo- 
 cally withdrawn humanity, " he abides " 
 with his Church ; applying Christ to be- 
 lieving hearts, in all the ordinances of 
 grace ; giving the living ministry its only 
 power, and the sacraments their efficacy ; 
 and the Word its strength. He prepares 
 the hearts of men, and teaches them won- 
 drous things out of God's law. He reveals 
 to them, in the light of the commandment, 
 their ruined state, and from the central 
 cross of Calvary, irradiates the person and 
 work of the Incarnate Son of God, with 
 such grace and glory, that men are " drawn 
 to Him with cords of love," and embrace 
 and adore Him as their Saviour and their 
 Lord. It is the assurance of the presence 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 129 
 
 of this Divine Spirit, as the Teacher of those 
 who, by his grace, He is " making meet " 
 for glory, that gives reality and power to a 
 prayer, like that of St. Paul for the Ephe- 
 sians : " That the God of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto 
 you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in 
 the knowledge of Him : the eyes of your 
 understanding being enlightened ; that ye 
 may know what is the hope of his calling, 
 and what the riches of the glory of his in- 
 heritance in the saints, and what is the ex- 
 ceeding greatness of his power to us- ward 
 who believe." That petitions like these 
 will be fulfilled, is the sure reliance of God's 
 children. On their knees, before the mercy- 
 seat, with the eye of faith upon " the Holy 
 One " enthroned at God's right hand, and 
 with the " lively oracles " of truth inter- 
 preted to them by the Spirit, they receive 
 light from its source, and are " made wise 
 unto salvation." In the self-reliance of 
 worldly wisdom, other men doubt, and 
 speculate, and cavil ; it is the blessing of 
 God's chosen, that unto them " it is given 
 to believe." Guided by the eye of One 
 who hath loved them unto death, they are 
 led " into green pastures and beside still 
 
130 IN MEM OR] AM, 
 
 waters." There are those who laugh at 
 their credulity, and mock their humble 
 hope. But, leaning on the Saviour, and 
 assured by his tenderness, they would not 
 leave the sheltered spot in which they dwell 
 with Him, for the dangerous adventure of 
 the godless ; or the bold path which, with 
 delusive promise of discovery, tempts the 
 footsteps of the self-confident. Their psalm 
 of assurance and hope is that of the sweet 
 singer of Israel : " Thou shalt guide me 
 with thy counsel, and afterward receive 
 me to glory." My brethren, permit me to 
 impress upon you the necessity and the 
 blessedness of the teaching of the Holy 
 Ghost. In all your study of Scripture, seek 
 before all else the " unction from the Holy 
 One," that ye may " know all things." 
 Let each perusal of the Word of God be an 
 act of devotion. Realize the special pres- 
 ence of the Almighty. Look up to the 
 throne girt with the cherubim, and blazing 
 with effulgent glory ; remember your igno- 
 rance, and note the moral darkness with 
 which you are surrounded, in this world of 
 sin. Venture not to decide beforehand 
 what you would judge proper in a revelation. 
 Trust not implicitly to a reason, clouded by 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 131 
 
 passion and enfeebled by sin ; bear in mind 
 that the judgment may be warped by prej- 
 udice, and that " conscience " herself " is 
 denied " by transgression. Search the Scrip- 
 tures on your knees, with faith in the prom- 
 ise of God, to " give his Holy Spirit to those 
 who ask," and with fervent prayer for his 
 presence and guidance. 
 
 " He openeth our eyes to see 
 (Eyes that our pride of heart hath sealed) 
 The sweetness of Life's Heavenly Tree, — 
 The blind are healed ! " 
 
CHRIST EECEIYETH SINNERS. 
 
 " This man receiveth sinners." — St. Luke xv. 2. 
 
 This is the objection of the Pharisees and 
 Scribes against Jesus Christ. It has been 
 echoed by the self-righteous in all ages. 
 Yet it is the hope of the world, and the 
 glory of the Church. If it were not a fact, 
 Christianity would be no religion for a sin- 
 ful race. If it were not inscribed upon the 
 banner of the cross, the kingdom of grace 
 would gain no victory among men. It is 
 " a Man," around whom, as the centre of 
 their strength, believers press. We are at- 
 tracted by his true humanity ; we are won 
 by his tender brotherhood. But when we 
 look upon Him, what a man He is ! How 
 different from all other men ! How unique 
 his life ! how unparalleled his history ! how 
 pure his character ! how grand his self- 
 sacrifice ! how powerful his speech ! For 
 eighteen hundred years the world has gazed 
 upon Him with wonder and with awe. En- 
 emies have assailed Him. Friends have be- 
 trayed Him. The Church has too often 
 brought disgrace upon Him. The world 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 133 
 
 has been ready with reproach. Yet " never 
 man spake like this man." Never has any- 
 one lived and died as He did. None occupy 
 the same position ; no one attracts the same 
 regard. Whether friend or foe call upon 
 us to " Behold the Man," we know, at once 
 and instinctively, who is meant. But how 
 shall we draw near to Him ? He is so pure, 
 so far removed from us by the lofty excel- 
 lence of his character, and the singular holi- 
 ness of his words. Evil is abashed in his 
 presence ; sin is consumed in the splendor 
 of his goodness. Shall we be content to 
 gaze upon Him, as we would upon some dis- 
 tant star that gems the brow of midnight, 
 and whose cold beauty can have but little 
 influence upon our life? It is something 
 more than this that man wants in a religion. 
 It is the necessity of his heart. It must be 
 the informing principle of his nature. Wor- 
 ship must be a passion elevated and refined 
 into a life. Contrast Christianity, in its 
 effects, with the religions of the heathen 
 world. They were something apart, super- 
 added to the common round of life. They 
 were the ornament of existence, not its warp. 
 But this faith in Christ, which has irra- 
 diated the world with hope, is a factor in 
 
134 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 the being of those who are possessed of it. 
 It shapes their character and directs their 
 walk. Where will you lay your finger upon 
 the power which makes the religion of the 
 cross, the controller of life ? How does 
 Jesus chain to Himself the hearts of his 
 people ? 
 
 Look at the scene which introduces our 
 text. It is related by the Evangelist in a 
 sentence : but it is like one of those moment- 
 ary flashes of light upon the electro-plate, 
 which fixes the picture. " Then drew near 
 unto Him all the publicans and sinners for 
 to hear Him. 5 ' 
 
 What a painting is this ! All around the 
 edges are the deep, dark colors of evil. 
 Sin, in its horrid forms, is shedding upon 
 the canvas the hue of death. The world, 
 stripped of its disguises, is here concentrated 
 in its corruption. All that is base and vile 
 and degrading is united to make a vast cir- 
 cumference of gloom. And in the centre 
 He stands, who is " the Light of the world,'* 
 yea, whose Divine beauty is " the light " 
 in "the midst of heaven." Every color of 
 truth and holiness, like the rainbow tints of 
 the prism, unite in Him to give forth the 
 most dazzling brilliance. The contrast is 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 135 
 
 sublime. The separation between good and 
 ill is infinite. Any mixture is impossible ; 
 any overshadowing, with the cloud of wick- 
 edness, this pure centre of goodness, is be- 
 yond imagination. Not in the day of trial, 
 and before the throne of the Judge, blazing 
 with glory, and surrounded by the angel 
 host, will the distinction be more absolute 
 between right and wrong. You see Jesus 
 in the perfection of his nature. You see 
 sinners in the guilt and depravity of their 
 ruin. And yet you observe no repulsion. 
 On the contrary, He " who is the brightness 
 of his Father's glory " is " drawing all men 
 unto Him ; " that is, all who know and feel 
 themselves to be sinners : only the self-right- 
 eous, who are blind to their demerit, are not 
 attracted by his grace. " The Pharisees 
 and scribes murmured, saying, This man 
 receiveth sinners." How, I ask, can you 
 explain this fact ? Why is Divine Purity 
 the loadstone to draw to it evil, that it may 
 recreate it in its own beautiful likeness ? 
 Why is the only " Holy One " that has 
 ever stood in the circle of our humanity, the 
 force that lifts it to heaven, through the en- 
 ergy which binds its disordered members to 
 Himself ? I am searching now for the idea 
 
136 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 of Christianity ; the central truth which 
 constitutes its power ; and, brethren, I find 
 the answer to my inquiry in the objection 
 of the adversary, " This man receiyeth sin- 
 ners." There you have the formula of our 
 religion ; with this declaration, it will go 
 forth to conquer and subdue. The Man, 
 whose glory we proclaim, is indeed the most 
 wonderful that has appeared in the world. 
 In vain do you search history for his peer. 
 The mind of man hath never dared to con- 
 ceive such a person. Romance has no such 
 hero. Poetry has never risen to such an 
 ideal. Who can fail to admire ? But ad- 
 miration secures not the power we claim for 
 our faith. It is sympathy, fellowship, com- 
 munion, that the gospel offers. It presents 
 not merely a model, but a Saviour. The 
 Man whom, as one with God, we adore, 
 offers Himself to our love ; invites us to his 
 arms ; calls upon us to be his friends. His 
 message to a lost world is, that He " receiv- 
 eth sinners." 
 
 Is it not the sinner's alienation from God 
 which is his curse ? " Without God in the 
 world," he is necessarily " without hope ; " 
 yea, he is without everything that is ade- 
 quate to make him useful. Reconciliation 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 137 
 
 between God and man is the only idea that 
 offers happiness. Light only can dispel 
 darkness. Goodness alone can overthrow 
 evil. Has not God, in the person of his Son 
 Jesus Christ, undertaken this work ? Has 
 not the cross, with its atoning victim, the 
 substitute for the guilty child of Adam, ac- 
 complished it in behalf of all who will come 
 unto Him by faith ? " In Him we have re- 
 demption through his blood, even the for- 
 giveness of sins, according to the riches of 
 his grace." And now, the music of heaven 
 is breathed through this world of sin, and 
 the note which thrills the heart, and at- 
 tracts dead sinners to life and salvation, is, 
 " This man receiveth sinners." 
 
 If we feel that we are sinners — and to 
 convince us of this is the first work of the 
 Holy Ghost when He would quicken us in 
 Christ Jesus — how shall we realize our 
 banishment from God, our condemnation to 
 eternal wrath, our subjection to corruption 
 and death ! The sense of sin, how it crushes 
 us with the weight of guilt, the load of God's 
 displeasure, the fearful " looking for of judg- 
 ment \ " The working of corruption, how it 
 fills us with sorrow and darkness ! what 
 bitterness it diffuses through our nature ! 
 
188 IN MEM OR I AM. 
 
 what slaves to lust it makes us ! " 0, 
 wretched man," we are ready to cry, " who 
 shall deliver me ? " We search in vain, 
 within and around us, for strength or rescue. 
 " Led captive by Satan at his will," when 
 the commandment comes, " sin revives, and 
 we die." The one word that the heart of 
 the convicted sinner longs to hear is Salva- 
 tion. Is there any help, any hope? "A 
 man," says the prophet, " shall be a hiding- 
 place." In Christ we see the Man alone suf- 
 ficient for a refuge. If we can only know 
 that He will aid us, that He will not reject 
 our plea, that He will consider our misery ! 
 How precious, then, the word of the Scrip- 
 ture, " This is a faithful saying, and worthy 
 of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came 
 into the world to save sinners," even " the 
 chief." How encouraging to hear enemies 
 objecting to Him, that He " receiveth sin- 
 ners." How fully assuring his own promise, 
 " Him that cometh unto me I will in no 
 wise cast out." 
 
 My dear fellow-sinners, I do not stand 
 here to unfold to you a philosophy. It is 
 no part of my message to acquaint you with 
 science, or instruct in earthly wisdom. It 
 is not morals alone, that I am ordered to 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 139 
 
 enforce and expound. I have no word to 
 utter of politics and wordly rule : learning 
 and eloquence, even if they should be pos- 
 sessed by the preacher, must be altogether 
 subsidiary ; everything must give way before 
 the one great duty of an ambassador of 
 Christ, which is to point you to Him, and 
 assure you that " He is able save unto the 
 uttermost all who come unto God by Him." 
 If you are a sinner, and know it, I have a 
 message to your soul. " This man receiv- 
 eth sinners." He receives them at once, 
 fully to his love, gives them salvation, re- 
 stores them to God, and welcomes them to 
 heaven. O, had I ten thousand tongues, 
 this would be the invitation which I would 
 employ them all in uttering, the echo of the 
 voice of Christ himself, " Come unto me, 
 all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I 
 will give you rest." 
 
 (1.) He receives sinners freely. He does 
 not require you to bring anything whatever 
 to purchase his favor. Just bring your 
 poor, naked, guilty, polluted soul, with all 
 its vileness and all its weakness. He has 
 paid the penalty of its transgression, He has 
 earned for it by his obedience an eternal 
 reward. It is no bargain with you that He 
 
140 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 makes. His covenant has been entered into 
 with the Father, and it secures "all who 
 come unto God by Him." You are not 
 first to repent, and then come — not first to 
 amend your fife, and then seek the Saviour : 
 this is the self-deception of the Pharisee ; 
 it is the lie of Satan ; it is the device of a 
 proud and unsubdued heart. Christ is 
 exalted to " give repentance." We are 
 " created in Him unto good works." " It 
 is given unto us to believe " in Him ; and 
 He alone can " increase our faith." Come 
 then, with nothing in your hand, but with 
 the empty palm extended to touch the hem 
 of his garment, to grasp his cross, to seize, 
 as you cry to Him for mercy, his proffered 
 hand. " He is able to save," for He has 
 " purchased us with his blood," and for us 
 fulfilled the law. He is willing to save, for 
 He " loved us, and gave Himself for us." 
 Come to Him, as Matthew from the receipt 
 of custom ; as Peter, amid the waves of the 
 sea ; as the leper, who asked to be made 
 clean ; as the thief on the cross, who begged 
 to be remembered in the kingdom. 
 
 (2.) Christ receives sinners at once. He 
 will not put them off to the hour of death, 
 or the day of judgment, or to some uncer- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 141 
 
 tain future. As soon as you come, He will 
 meet you. If He turn away his face, or 
 seem not to hear, it is only that He may 
 try and strengthen your faith. Christ's 
 ^salvation is a present one. " While we are 
 yet speaking He will hear." His answers 
 to beseeching hearts are, " This day is sal- 
 vation come to this house." " Thy faith 
 hath saved thee, go in peace." " To-day 
 shalt thou be with me in Paradise." De- 
 lays are on the part of sinners, who " will 
 not come," do not believe, ask not, and re- 
 ceive not. Christ " waiteth to be gra- 
 cious." He says, " I will, be thou whole." 
 " If thou canst believe, all things are possi- 
 ble to him that belie veth." 
 
 (3.) Christ receives sinners with a loving 
 welcome. The same readiness that the 
 Pharisees faulted in the text belongs to 
 Him now. " He is the same yesterday, to- 
 day, and forever." Has He not come " to 
 seek and to save that which was lost," and 
 will He not take pleasure in his work? 
 " Behold," He says, " I stand at the door 
 and knock : if any man hear my voice and 
 open the door, I will come in to him, and 
 will sup with him, and he with me." O, 
 what a welcome is this to the soul that 
 
142 IN MEM OBI AM. 
 
 trustetli iii Hini. He stretches forth the 
 golden sceptre, and bids us live. " The 
 Lord thy God," saith the prophet, " in the 
 midst of thee is mighty ; He will save, He 
 will rejoice over thee with joy ; He will rest 
 in his love ; He will joy over thee with sing- 
 ing." 
 
 (4.) Christ receives sinners to a full sal- 
 vation. This is the glory and strength of 
 the gospel. If sinners were only received to 
 be instructed, or have an example set them, 
 or even to be pardoned, and then sent back 
 to keep themselves in the favor of God, and 
 make their way to heaven in their own 
 power : however great the condescension, it 
 would not avail to our deliverance. If the 
 truth were taught us, we should only the 
 more deeply be convinced of sin. The 
 brightness of Christ's example, if this were 
 all that was revealed to us, would only cause 
 us to despair. In the effulgence of his 
 glory, we could only cry, " My leanness, 
 my leanness ; " and the height of the prize 
 would make it beyond our reach. And if 
 once forgiven, and then turned over to our 
 own devices, how soon would we be hope- 
 lessly defiled with transgression, as each 
 step carried us farther from Christ. But, 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 143 
 
 brethren, Christ does not "receive sinners," 
 merely to mock them and leave them more 
 desperate in their course of evil. He calls 
 them to Him to bestow upon them life ; 
 He saves them fully, by uniting them 
 through faith to Himself. They are ac- 
 cepted, pardoned, quickened, preserved. 
 The grace of forgiveness is accompanied 
 with the grace of renewal. He covers us 
 with his righteousness, and at the same 
 time new creates us by his Spirit. He 
 brings us " near " to God, and then gives 
 the power to " walk with God." He com- 
 municates to us the Holy Ghost, and " makes 
 us partakers of the Divine nature." Hav- 
 ing " begotten us again to a lively hope," 
 and " reserved in heaven for us an inherit- 
 ance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that 
 fadeth not away," we are " kept by the 
 power of God, through faith, unto salvation, 
 ready to be«revealed in the last time." He 
 " will not forsake the work of his own hand ; " 
 He will not leave us to stumble in darkness, 
 and be lost again in the night of sin ; but 
 He will " beautify the meek with salvation, 
 and establish his word unto his chosen." 
 
 (5.) Christ receives sinners to his com- 
 munion. The Pharisees complained that 
 
144 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 He " ate with" sinners. This was in the 
 greatness of his condescension, and his readi- 
 ness to aid and bless them. He came near 
 to them in love, and held the most familiar 
 converse with them. He was not ashamed 
 of their company, and shrank not from their 
 corruption hi order that He might heal them. 
 And how fully is this realized by those 
 whom He receives to Himself, and presents 
 as righteous before his Father. He names 
 them " friends." He is " not ashamed to 
 call them brethren." He abides with them 
 forever ; receives them into his kingdom ; 
 gives them a new name as his children ; 
 places them around his table : feeds them 
 with Himself, the bread that came down 
 from heaven ; nourishes them unto eternal 
 life ; and by his indwelling Spirit, and with 
 his Holy Word and ordinances, maintains a 
 close and loving fellowship with them, as the 
 " members of his body." Jesus said, " If a 
 man love me, he will keep my words, and my 
 Father will love him, and we will come unto 
 him, and make our abode with him." 
 " Truly," saith the disciple, who lay on his 
 breast, " our fellowship is with the Father, 
 and with his Son Jesus Christ." 
 
 Such, brethren, is our gospel ; an invita- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 145 
 
 tion to the " man " who " receiveth sin- 
 ners." Others will condemn sinners, or 
 join with them in transgression, or punish 
 their crimes, or uphold them in their guilt. 
 But this Man " loved them and gave Him- 
 self for them ; " He shed his blood for their 
 salvation ; and if they will but come to Him 
 in faith, He will accept them fully, pardon 
 them at once, give them a welcome, be- 
 stow full salvation, and abide with them 
 in affectionate communion. Have you come 
 to Him ? and have you not found Him true ? 
 Will you come to Him ? He will receive 
 you graciously, and make you the monu- 
 ment of his mercy and loving-kindness, 
 10 
 
THE GROUND OF THE BELIEVER'S AC- 
 CEPTANCE. 
 
 " Accepted in the Beloved." — Ephesians i. 6. 
 
 So does the Apostle, in a brief but expres- 
 sive sentence, describe the blessedness of 
 " the faithful in Christ Jesus." No higher 
 privilege, my brethren, no greater distinc- 
 tion, is enjoyed by any of the sons of men. 
 It is the charter of salvation, which sover- 
 eign grace places in the hand of faith. It 
 is the assurance of the believing sinner, as 
 in trusting confidence he beholds "the 
 Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of 
 the world," and is taught by the Spirit of 
 Holiness, from the Word of Truth, " how 
 God hath made Him to be sin for us, who 
 knew no sin, that we might be made the 
 righteousness of God in Him." It is the 
 conveyance to " the new creature in Christ 
 Jesus " of all the blessings of the covenant 
 of grace, culminating in the eternal inherit- 
 ance of " the purchased possession," " unto 
 the praise of God's glory." Let us examine 
 this miniature likeness of a believer, and we 
 shall find how beautifully the Holy Spirit 
 has delineated the child of grace. 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 147 
 
 First, There is, of necessity, brought into 
 view the dark background of his unregen- 
 erate and unbelieving state. There was 
 for him then — there is for every uncon- 
 verted child of Adam — no acceptance with 
 God. " By nature," saith the Apostle, 
 " we were all children of wrath." " By 
 one man sin entered into the world, and 
 death by sin ; and so death passed upon all 
 men, for that all have sinned." However 
 man may dispute his guilt, he cannot deny 
 his mortality ; and " death is the wages of 
 sin ; " wherever it is found, it bears witness 
 of transgression. The only conclusion to be 
 drawn from the fearful spectacle of death, 
 universally triumphant over man, is that of 
 the Inspired Word, " All have sinned, and 
 come short of the glory of God ; " and the 
 God with whom we have to do, "is of purer 
 eyes than to behold iniquity, and cannot 
 look upon sin." There can therefore be no 
 acceptance for any member of an univer- 
 sally guilty race. " By the offense of one, 
 judgment came upon all men to condemna- 
 tion." And even had it not been so, and 
 were each individual, at his birth, freed from 
 the condemnation of original transgression, 
 where could be found, in any generation, the 
 
148 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 single man who could render himself accept- 
 able to God ? Consider who God is, holy, 
 just, and true, knowing all things ; " search- 
 ing the heart, and trying the reins : " and 
 then look at man, in his corruption and weak- 
 ness, his blindness and ignorance, his heed- 
 lessness and perversity, and remember that, 
 for him to be acceptable, there must be no 
 flaw in obedience, no single stain of evil, no 
 defect of motive or conduct, thought or deed, 
 through all the extent and in every moment 
 of his whole life. Nothing short of absolute 
 perfection can be acceptable to God. My 
 brethren, it surely does not require argu- 
 ment to convince you, that if the question 
 is as to acceptance with God, by the per- 
 fection of your own righteousness, not one 
 of you can stand. Will you confess no evil ? 
 admit no error ? acknowledge no sin ? 
 Under the just judgment of the law, " Who- 
 soever offendeth in one point is guilty of 
 all," and it is the essential characteristic of a 
 holy God, that He " will by no means clear 
 the guilty." If men would consider the 
 matter without partiality, aiid without some 
 vague and unfounded hopes of mercy in an 
 administration of pure and exact rectitude, 
 they would be forced to acknowledge that, 
 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 149 
 
 as a subject of God and under the law, man 
 cannot by any work and performance of his 
 own " be accepted." To be taught this by 
 the Holy Spirit, under the clear shining of 
 the inspired commandment, is the first tri- 
 umph of grace in the soul. " I was alive 
 without the law once," writes St, Paul, " but 
 when the commandment came, sin revived 
 and I died." And the regenerate believer 
 never realizes acceptance in the Beloved, 
 without deep convictions of his natural 
 alienation from God. The brightness of 
 his hope in Christ casts deeper the shadow 
 of his bondage under the law ; and his near- 
 ness to God, as he shelters beneath the 
 cross, makes him more than ever conscious 
 how before conversion he was " afar off," 
 by original and actual transgression. 
 
 Second. But it is a redemption that the 
 gospel of the Son of God proclaims ; and it 
 " declares his righteousness ; that God might 
 be just, and the justifier of him which believ- 
 eth in Jesus." The acceptance of the sinner 
 is the great end secured, " to the praise of 
 the glory of his grace." Upon what eternal 
 principles of holiness and truth this is ef- 
 fected, is what I shall presently ask you to 
 consider ; but first I desire to impress you 
 
150 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 with the full significance of the word here 
 employed by the Apostle to express the 
 restored condition of the ransomed believer. 
 " Accepted." This, while it necessarily in- 
 cludes forgiveness, has -a much wider mean- 
 ing. A criminal, convicted at the bar of 
 justice, may be pardoned by the clemency 
 of his sovereign, and released from the 
 death penalty of his offense : but this only 
 delivers him from punishment. It does not 
 introduce him to the favor, or obtain for 
 him the affection, of the king. It confers 
 no character of positive righteousness. It 
 makes him in no degree the object of re- 
 ward, or the proper claimant of further ben- 
 efactions. But when acceptance is spoken 
 of, something of positive good is implied. 
 Some performance is had regard to, which 
 has been satisfactorily accomplished ; some 
 quality inheres in the person or character, 
 which secures approbation. In the sinner's 
 being accepted with God, more is meant, 
 therefore, than that his guilt is canceled, and 
 his condemnation removed. Restoration to 
 favor, participation in love, intercourse, re- 
 ward are implied ; obedience rendered, and 
 services commended, are included. There 
 is not only release from imprisonment, but 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 151 
 
 the welcome lionie. St. Paul, in connection 
 with our text, speaks of those who are " ac- 
 cepted," as " made nigh by the blood of 
 Christ ; " " raised up together with Him ; " 
 u made to sit in heavenly places in Christ 
 Jesus ; " and " blessed with all spiritual bless- 
 ings." The word " accepted" has, bound 
 up in it, all the grace of the sinner's resto- 
 ration to Divine favor, and adoption into 
 " the glorious liberty of the children of God." 
 " Righteousness is imputed to him; " such 
 righteousness, so perfect and absolute, as 
 God delights in. Eternal love pours its 
 sunshine of joy and tenderness upon him ; 
 rewards of obedience are apportioned to 
 him ; blessings of life and salvation surround 
 him ; there are no mountains of sin, no 
 clouds of wrath, between God and his soul ; 
 the All Holy opens his heart, and graciously 
 welcomes him to communion and fellow- 
 ship. 
 
 My dear hearers, I want you to take this 
 word " accepted " into your hearts. I would 
 have your faith grasp it, in its full and won- 
 derful meaning. As you he at the foot of 
 the cross, and look up trustingly to the Sav- 
 iour who hung thereupon for your salvation, 
 I would that you should repeat it over, with 
 
152 IN 3IEM0R1A3L 
 
 gratitude and joy, weighing all its fullness, 
 and drawing out, in prayer and confidence, 
 the sweetness of its hope. If you do be- 
 lieve in the Son of God, it is all yours. If 
 you " have the Son, 2 ' you " have " this 
 " life." You are not only forgiven, but you 
 are brought very near to God, in the most 
 endeared relation. " He is your shield, 
 and your exceeding great reward/' I am 
 afraid, my brethren, that as the unconverted 
 world understand nothing of being " ac- 
 cepted " with God, because they would dare 
 attempt to purchase his favor with their 
 own wretched deeds of unrighteousness ; so 
 even those who " have a good hope through 
 grace " do not, because of remaining unbe- 
 lief, always enjoy the comfort of assured ac- 
 ceptance ; their trust is wavering, and their 
 joy is uncertain. Some scarcely venture to 
 hope ; others are shaken by varying frames ; 
 few of us always realize what a present 
 and eternal blessing it is to be " aeeejrted ; " 
 perfectly restored to God's favor, and fully 
 endowed with the glory of his inheritance. 
 Do you know what it is to be " saved by 
 grace " ? saved now ? already delivered ? 
 Can you, though deeply conscious of sin, 
 look up by faith in the spirit of adoption, 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 153 
 
 to God upon his throne of glory, and say, 
 11 My Father : and heaven, my home " ? 
 
 This is not presumption, as the unbeliev- 
 ing world calls it ; it would be worse than 
 that, if the acceptance was on account of 
 anything in or about ourselves ; it would 
 in that case be the insulting boldness of 
 unsubdued rebels, the too daring intrusion 
 of the unreconciled. But it is the author- 
 ized language of God's children, when it- 
 is spoken from the " broken and contrite 
 heart," with the gaze upon Christ, and the 
 arms of faith clinging to his cross. Every 
 guilty soul, that has been brought home to 
 God, is, as our text declares, " accepted in 
 the Beloved." 
 
 Third. And this is what I wish lastly to 
 dwell upon, that you may see how, in " the 
 riches of his grace," God hath " abounded 
 towards us in all wisdom and prudence." 
 If you would understand the ground of the 
 sinner's acceptance, go and stand before the 
 cross. See the Holy One, "by wicked 
 hands crucified and slain." Consider his 
 person ; " God manifest in the flesh ; " the 
 co-equal Son of the Father, and his hu- 
 manity undefiled. Review his life, and 
 search out, if you can, a single flaw in his 
 
154 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 obedience. God hath declared from heaven 
 that " in Him He is well pleased/' Him- 
 self confessed that it " behooved Him to ful- 
 fill all righteousness ; " and men, with the 
 voice of his judge and his executioner, have 
 pronounced Him " without fault,'' and " a 
 righteous man." And yet upon the tree 
 of shame He is " accursed," and suffers and 
 dies. " It pleased the Lord to bruise Him ; 
 He hath put Him to grief." The decree 
 went forth, * ; Awake, O sword, against my 
 shepherd, and against the man that is my 
 fellow, saith the Lord of hosts." And why 
 this Divine smiting of Innocence ? this in- 
 flicting of the death penalty upon the Just ? 
 The answer is given by the prophet, and it 
 is the only satisfactory explanation of the 
 facts. " He was wounded for our trans- 
 gressions, He was bruised for our iniquities : 
 the chastisement of our peace was upon Him ; 
 and with his stripes we are healed." " The 
 Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us 
 all." " Thou shalt make his soul an offer- 
 ing for sin." To which add the declara- 
 tion of the Apostle, " Christ Jesus, whom 
 God hath set forth to be a propitiation, 
 through faith in his blood, to declare his 
 righteousness for the remission of sins that 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 155 
 
 are past." " For, as by one man's disobe- 
 dience many were made sinners ; so by the 
 obedience of one, shall many be made 
 righteous." To quote the many passages 
 in which Jesus Christ is declared to be " the 
 Lord our righteousness," " by whom also 
 we have received the atonement," would be 
 to transcribe a very large part of the Scrip- 
 tures ; for this is indeed the burden of their 
 teaching. Man is stripped of all pretension 
 to righteousness, and shown in the nakedness 
 of his guilt, and the helpless defilement of 
 his corruption. It is emphatically declared 
 that " by the deeds of the law there shall no 
 flesh be justified ; " and then is held forth 
 the glorious gospel, " even the righteousness 
 of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, 
 unto all and upon all them that believe." 
 
 As Noah entered into the ark to be saved 
 from the flood ; as the manslayer fled into 
 the city of refuge, to be delivered from the 
 avenger ; so there is for the sinner deliver- 
 ance from the flood of Divine wrath, and 
 rescue from the avenging sword of the law, 
 only " in the Beloved." Christ is the true 
 ark, and the abiding city of refuge. To 
 Him, by faith, must we flee, convinced of 
 sin, conscious of ruin, oppressed with cor- 
 
156 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 ruption. Into Him, as " the second Adam, 
 the Lord from heaven," must we enter, by 
 a personal and appropriating trust ; we 
 must be engrafted into Him by the sover- 
 eign grace of the Holy Ghost, through a 
 new birth from above ; not " of water " 
 only, or sacramentally, in outward baptism, 
 but " of the Spirit," being vitally united to 
 Him as our Living Head, and made one 
 with Him in " his mystical body, which is 
 the blessed company of all faithful people." 
 Then, brethren, as our Great Head stands 
 face to face with God in heaven, in our na- 
 ture presenting the work which He hath 
 performed, and the sacrifice of Himself, 
 which He hath offered "once for all," in 
 behalf of his people, God looks upon Him 
 with acceptance, declares his work perfect, 
 his atonement sufficient, and his person un- 
 speakably beloved ; and in Him and through 
 Him He looks upon every sinner united to 
 Him by faith ; and such they are in his 
 sight, as is his well-beloved Son himself. 
 This, my hearers, is the glorious and eter- 
 nal hope of every believing child of grace. 
 If "the Beloved" of the Father is "ac- 
 cepted " before Him ; if He, filled with un- 
 utterable affection for his only begotten, 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 157 
 
 " raised Him from the dead and set Him 
 at his own right hand, in the heavenly 
 places ; far above all principality, and 
 power, and might, and dominion, and every 
 name that is named, not only in this world 
 but also in that which is to come ; and hath 
 put all things under his feet ; and gave Him 
 to be head over all things to the Church : " 
 then shall that Church " which is his body, 
 the fullness of Him that filleth all in all," as 
 it is joined in its every living member to 
 Him by faith, and trusts in Him alone, 
 enjoy a present and eternal salvation. In 
 each individual believer there is, indeed, 
 infirmity, corruption, and sin ; but the ac- 
 ceptance is not of us as we are in ourselves, 
 but as we are in Christ ; as his atoning 
 blood flows over us, and his righteous obe- 
 dience to the law is imputed to us : and " in 
 the Lord," saith the prophet, " shall all the 
 seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory ; " 
 " this is the heritage of the servants of the 
 Lord ; and their righteousness is of me, saith 
 the Lord." 
 
 How vital then, to every one of us, my 
 brethren, if we would know ourselves " ac- 
 cepted," is the question, Am I " in the Be- 
 loved " ? Have I been taught by the 
 
158 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 Spirit of God to know and acknowledge 
 myself a guilty and lost sinner? Have I 
 utterly renounced my own righteousness, 
 and all thought of creature merit or worth, 
 as the ground of God's favor? Have I 
 been drawn, by grace, to Him who was 
 lifted up on the cross for the salvation of 
 sinners ? Have I looked by faith upon 
 Him, the Incarnate Son of God, bleeding 
 and dying for my redemption ? Have I 
 seen how perfect is his work, and how com- 
 plete his righteousness ? And have I put 
 my case in his hands, with the cry of a 
 penitent soul, " Jesus, Master, have mercy on 
 me ; " " plead Thou my cause and deliver 
 me?" Do I believe that He hears me? 
 and do I rest upon Him with full confi- 
 dence in his promise, " Him that cometh 
 unto me I will in no wise cast out " ? Does 
 nothing shake me from this trust, and, 
 though assaulted by Satan, and enticed by 
 the world, and buffeted by remaining cor- 
 ruption in my own nature, do I ■" know 
 nothing," as my hope, but " Jesus Christ 
 and Him crucified," while I cling in God- 
 imparted strength to " the rock that is 
 higher than I " ? O, brethren, if this is so, 
 have you not felt how firm that rock is ? 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 159 
 
 how it is based upon the eternal God, and 
 rises grandly above all the billows and tem- 
 pest of guilt ? Do you not find in it, not 
 only munitions of defense, but springs of 
 comfort ? There is the water of the Spirit 
 to refresh, as well as the blood of atonement 
 to cleanse ; there is the grace of life, as 
 surely as the grace of rescue. Those to 
 whom heaven is a certain inheritance are 
 made meet by the sanctifying spirit for its 
 holy enjoyment, while their security and 
 their renewal are alike referred to the cove- 
 nant, by which grace has made them " ac- 
 cepted in the Beloved.*' And are there any 
 before me unaccepted ? who have not fled 
 to the refuge ? My dear, unconverted 
 hearers ! I cannot close without a word of 
 earnest call and entreaty to you. " Behold 
 the Lamb of God ! " Come unto Jesus, 
 just as you are ; you cannot make your- 
 selves better ; come at once, and He will 
 give you rest ; will present you faultless 
 before God ; will clothe you with Himself, 
 "and make you " accepted in the Beloved." 
 May God draw you, every one, by his Spirit, 
 to Him who was lifted up for your rescue ! 
 
A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF THE FIRE. 
 " Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire ? " — Zech. iii. 2. 
 
 This is the description of every sinner, as 
 he stands before God, " saved by grace," hi 
 Christ Jesus. There are few passages of 
 Scripture which set forth more clearly the 
 condition of those vrhom Christ hath loved, 
 M and washed from their sins in his own 
 blood, and made kings and priests unto God 
 and his Father," than the chapter from 
 which my text is taken. The vision which 
 was granted to the prophet is a graphic 
 picture of the guilt of a sinner, the accusa- 
 tion of his adversary, and the sufficient 
 mediation of the Saviour. i% And He 
 showed me," writes Zechariah, " Joshua, the 
 high priest, standing before the angel of the 
 Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand 
 to resist him. And the Lord said unto Sa- 
 tan, The Lord rebuke thee, Satan j even 
 the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke 
 thee : is not this a brand plucked out of the 
 fire ? Xow Joshua was clothed with filthy 
 garments, and stood before the angel, and 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 161 
 
 he answered and spake unto those that stood 
 before him, saying, Take away the filthy 
 garments from him. And unto him he said, 
 Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass 
 from thee, and I will clothe thee with 
 change of raiment. And I said, Let them 
 set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set 
 a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him 
 with garments. And the angel of the Lord 
 stood by." 
 
 Mark, my brethren, the position of the 
 believing sinner, as here exhibited in the 
 person of Joshua. He " stands before the 
 angel of the Lord ; " that is, the Jehovah 
 Angel, Christ the Saviour. To Him the 
 eye of faith, as soon as it is opened by re- 
 newing grace, is turned. To Him comes 
 the " weary and heavy-laden sinner," in- 
 vited by his loving voice, and, in the deepest 
 sense of guilt and ruin, stands before Him, 
 with his hand upon his mouth, and not a 
 word to say in excuse of his offenses. He 
 is not overwhelmed with the glory of his 
 majesty, or consumed with the brightness 
 of his appearing ; because He is the Angel 
 of the Covenant, the one Mediator between 
 God and man. He " is clothed with the 
 cloud " of that humanity which veils the 
 11 
 
^ 
 
 162 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Godhead, and the " rainbow of promise is 
 around Him." Let no sinner fear to ap- 
 proach his throne of grace ; for no guilt is 
 too great to be forgiven by Him, u who sav- 
 eth unto the uttermost." To " pluck brands 
 from the burning " is a Saviour's chosen 
 work. O, my dear brethren, that you 
 would trust his word, and test for your- 
 selves his mercy. Him that cometh unto 
 Him, He will in no wise cast out. Nor 
 tremble because, when you draw near, " Sa- 
 tan," " the accuser of the brethren," " stands 
 at yotir right hand." He is there indeed as 
 your adversary ; ready to do you all the 
 evil that he can. Having " led you," in an 
 unregenerate state, " captive at his will,", he 
 will not, without a struggle, surrender you 
 to the " Captain of your salvation." He 
 will accuse you to God. He will accuse 
 you at the bar of your own conscience. He 
 will bring the law to bear upon you, and 
 make your guilty soul tremble, at the thun- 
 ders of Sinai against transgression. " We 
 are not ignorant of his devices." Would that 
 men more thoroughly understood his enmity, 
 that they might flee to Christ, who will 
 bruise him under our feet shortly. Observe, 
 in the passage before us, how he antici- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 163 
 
 pates the attack of the evil one. While he 
 stands glowering upon the escaped captive, 
 ere he puts forth a hand, or opens his mouth 
 to revile him, the voice of the Redeemer is 
 heard, rebuking his malice, and owning 
 " the Church, which He hath purchased with 
 his blood," " chosen of the Lord;" and 
 each of its elect members, " a brand plucked 
 out of the fire." Satan must hold his peace, 
 when our champion is the Son of God. "If 
 God be for us, who can be against us?" 
 " Who shall lay anything to the charge of 
 God's elect ? It is God that justifieth : who 
 is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that 
 died, yea rather, that is risen again ; who is 
 even at the right hand of God, who also mak- 
 eth intercession for us." In that intercession 
 is the believing sinner's safety. " Deliver 
 from going down into the pit," is the plea, 
 " I have found a ransom." And now, hav- 
 ing looked upon the Intercessor, you may 
 turn your eyes upon him for whom He is 
 the Advocate. You shall see nothing that 
 does not merit punishment ; you can dis- 
 cover no ground of acceptance in a sinner; 
 " clothed with filthy garments," he stands 
 before the Angel. Nothing, my brethren, 
 so brings to light the vileness of the trans- 
 
164 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 gressor, as the glory of his Redeemer. In 
 the presence of Christ, at the foot of his 
 cross, before the mercy-seat, sprinkled with 
 his atoning blood, we are more deeply con- 
 scious of sin, than anywhere else. That 
 blood was shed for our offenses ; that infi- 
 nite sacrifice of God's dear Son was re- 
 quired for our acceptance. Nothing has 
 any child of Adam to bring, but " the filthy 
 garments" of his guilt. In these is he 
 clothed by birth from a sinful father ; and 
 from day to day he has more and more de- 
 filed them by willful transgression. But 
 coming unto Jesus, he stands before the 
 only One who is able to deliver, and as he 
 looks to Him, with a self-renouncing trust, 
 and the prayer for acceptance through his 
 blood, the " answer" of salvation will be 
 heard in the presence of saints and angels, 
 " Take away the filthy garments from him ; " 
 while with the assurance of his love sealed 
 upon the heart by the Holy Spirit, the voice 
 of Jesus declares, " Behold, I have caused 
 thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will 
 clothe thee with change of raiment." So 
 free, so glorious, is the grace of acceptance. 
 No sooner does the eye of the Saviour rest 
 upon the contrite sinner, than forgiveness 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 165 
 
 is bestowed, and while Satan seeks to ac- 
 cuse him, he is " clothed with the garment 
 of salvation." 0, my fellow-sinners, whither 
 will you turn for help ? will you not come 
 to this sheltered place ? Here before Jesus, 
 at the foot of his cross, and where He pleads 
 at the right hand of God, there is safety. 
 
 " When the accuser flings his darts, 
 I look to Christ, my terrors cease ; 
 His cross a hiding-place imparts ; 
 He is my peace." 
 
 " Is not this," He asks, in rebuke of the 
 adversary, as He spreads the skirt of a kins- 
 man over the believer, " a brand plucked 
 out of the fire ? " From the stroke of jus- 
 tice, from the sentence of the law, from the 
 flames of hell, have I rescued him. With 
 my life have I purchased his. " He shall 
 never perish, neither shall any pluck him 
 out of my hand." 
 
 How great, brethren, the blessedness of 
 being thus redeemed ; clothed with Christ, 
 our righteousness, and defended by the 
 Great Advocate of his people, at the bar of 
 God. Do you know, let me ask, this grace 
 of acceptance ? It is the very first that the 
 sinner should seek, and it is to be found 
 only by faith in the Son of God. " He that 
 
166 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 hath the Son hath life." Only believe, and 
 the mercy is yours. But, as our prophet's 
 vision teaches, the blessing does not stop 
 here. The justified sinner is to be admitted 
 to " fellowship " with God ; and " to show 
 forth," in a new and holy life, " the praises 
 of Him who has called him, out of darkness, 
 into his marvelous light." A voice falls 
 upon the ear of the child of grace, calling him 
 to ministry and self-sacrifice, to the obla- 
 tion of thanksgiving, in personal devotion 
 to Christ .his Lord. As the symbol of that 
 priesthood in which Joshua had a part at 
 the request of the prophet, " Let them set a 
 fair mitre upon his head," the privilege of 
 service is conferred : u So they set a fair 
 mitre upon his head, and clothed him with 
 garments. And the angel of the Lord stood 
 by." So also, St. Peter tells us that be- 
 lievers are " a royal priesthood." Not that 
 we have, either ministers or people, any 
 sacrifice of propitiation to offer ; for this 
 has been done " once for all," and He, who 
 made it upon the cross, " stands by " the 
 throne, pleading it in our behalf, and thus 
 rendering possible a eucharistic offering. 
 But the offering of ourselves, "body, soul. 
 and spirit," a living sacrifice, is " accepta- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 167 
 
 ble to God," and is required at our hands. 
 And who, my brethren, should be so ready to 
 present it, as those who haye been " plucked 
 out of the fire ; " graciously and wonclrously 
 delivered by the passion of God's dear Son ? 
 If we realize the death from which we have 
 been snatched, we will feel that the life 
 which has been bestowed should be devoted 
 to the Lord. Let every pardoned sinner 
 among you, who, standing before Christ, is 
 justified by faith, bear in mind what he is, 
 " a brand," which, gathered from the sin- 
 ful stock of fallen Adam, was being con- 
 sumed by the holiness and justice of God, 
 itself feeding, with its own corruption, the 
 flames of Divine vengeance. We have only 
 to look into the experience of the wicked in 
 this life, to see that the elements of eter- 
 nal misery are at work. The most fright- 
 ful idea which you can present to yourself 
 of hell, is the development of the disease of 
 sin. The malady which feeds upon the 
 moral and physical being of the transgressor 
 has but to run its course, unchecked by any 
 remedy, and everlasting death must be the 
 consequence. The penalties of Divine law 
 overtake the evil-doer, through the avenues 
 which himself has laid open to the assault, 
 
168 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 and the sinner, through, eternity, supplies 
 the fuel for his own destruction. What 
 gratitude, then, should be awakened in our 
 hearts towards Him, who, at his own great 
 sacrifice, has stretched forth an arm of 
 strength, to provide deliverance from our 
 guilt ! The salvation which has been 
 wrought, the pardon which is sealed upon 
 the believing heart by the Holy Ghost, the 
 sense of peace and security, which the shelter 
 of Christ affords, should fire the heart, re- 
 newed by grace, with the most intense de- 
 votion to the Saviour. " We love Him be- 
 cause He first loved us." We will live to 
 Him who gave Himself for us. No self- 
 sacrifice can be too great ; no affection too 
 strong; no labor too earnest. All I am, 
 and all I have, is his, who hath " saved me 
 by his grace." 
 
 And let the same consideration keep you 
 humble, in your thankfulness. What is the 
 value of a half -burnt brand ? What is the 
 merit of a sinner, already in the hands of jus- 
 tice? Well may we inquire, Why this 
 mercy ? Whence the depth of this love ? 
 Why me, O Lord, when others are con- 
 sumed ? Why men, when fallen angels are 
 unredeemed ? " O, the depth of the riches 
 
BEV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 169 
 
 both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! 
 how unsearchable are his judgments, and his 
 ways past finding out ! " 
 
 Use the thought also, my believing breth- 
 ren, for comfort and assurance. If Christ 
 has plucked you from the fire, will He suffer 
 you to be burnt ? Will He " forsake the work 
 of his own hands " ? It is a blessed thing to 
 realize that we are in Divine keeping. Om- 
 nipotence is our security. Grace has res- 
 cued us. The everlasting arms are around 
 us. God has said, " I will never leave thee 
 nor forsake thee." And though, in the path 
 of obedience, we shall meet with many dif- 
 ficulties, and be assaulted by powerful ad- 
 versaries, and tried with various temptations, 
 He who has snatched us from destruction 
 is " praying for us," with his all-prevailing 
 intercession ; his Holy Spirit is imparted in 
 the covenant of grace. The strength with 
 which the children of God battle against sin 
 is not their own, but his ; and the promise 
 is sure, that we shall be " kept by the power 
 of God through faith unto salvation, ready 
 to be revealed in the last time." 
 
 And let us be stimulated to the highest 
 effort after holiness, by the reflection that 
 it will bring glory to God, for such " brands 
 
170 L\ MBMOR1AM. 
 
 from the burning " to be transformed into 
 lights of grace, kindled by his love, fed by 
 the unction of his Spirit, and shining with 
 the brightness of his gospel, in the midst of 
 a dark and sinful world. " They glorified 
 God in me," writes St. Paul, when he 
 speaks of the effect that his conversation had 
 upon his fellow Christians. And he declares. 
 " For this cause I obtained mercy, that in 
 me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all 
 long-suffering.'* The grace of the Saviour 
 is wondrotisly illustrated in the saved. 
 They manifest his power and compassion to 
 the sons of men. They are i% living epis- 
 tles," in which are written by the finger of 
 the Spirit the glory of God. Reflecting the 
 image of Jesus, and the holiness of his gos- 
 pel, men " take knowledge of them, that 
 they have been with Him : " and we are 
 bid to look for Him. as i; coming to be glo- 
 rified in his saints, and admired in all them 
 that believe." What an incitement this, to 
 a holy walk : every Christian temper, every 
 humble effort to do good, each act of self- 
 denial, every victory over sin, exhibits the 
 power and grace of Christ : ;< brands plucked 
 from the fire " glow as stars in the firma- 
 ment, i; declaring the glory of God. and 
 showing forth his handiwork." 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 171 
 
 Nor let us forget the consummation of that 
 work of grace, which is begun in the rescue 
 of the believer from the " death in tres- 
 passes and sins." " The brand is plucked 
 out of the fire " to be exalted to everlasting 
 happiness and glory. The sense of deliver- 
 ance should grow in your heart into " the 
 hope of salvation." When we consider 
 " the hole of the pit whence we were 
 digged," we should lift the eye of faith to 
 " the mountain of the Lord's house, which 
 shall be established in the top of the moun- 
 tain." Some men's views of heaven are 
 clouded by their imperfect apprehension of 
 the grace of redemption. Conscious of sin, 
 encompassed with evil, they have but indis- 
 tinct glimpses of " the glory which shall be 
 revealed." They hesitate to contemplate 
 that of which they feel so insecure. " The 
 crown of life " is too much regarded as if it 
 were a reward of our imperfect obedience, 
 instead of " the gift of God through Jesus 
 Christ ; " and hence there is reluctance to 
 look upon its beauty, count its precious 
 jewels, and estimate its eternal splendor. If 
 we were, through grace, assured of having 
 been " plucked from the fire," we should 
 have much greater satisfaction in anticipat- 
 
172 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 ing our everlasting joy. Heaven would 
 look like home. We should survey the 
 " many mansions of our Father's house," 
 and "know " that we " have a building of 
 God, eternal in the heavens." And this 
 heavenlv-mindedness would incite us to 
 holiness ; we should be ever seeking to 
 be " made meet " for that which we are to 
 inherit. Little would we regard the trials 
 and losses of earth. " Strangers and pil- 
 grims," we should press "to the prize 
 of our high calling." Utterly unworthy, 
 we should yet realize that to this we are 
 " called ; " and to this, through grace, shall 
 we surely come ; for " plucked " by God 
 " from the fire," we are held by an arm 
 omnipotent ; and no man is able to pluck 
 us out of the Father's hand. 
 
 Are there any here to-day, who have not 
 been " plucked out of the fire ? " any who 
 are yet " brands " of sin, kindled by lust, 
 fed by corruption, blown upon by the 
 breath of Satan, and the winds of tempta- 
 tion, burning with passion, making of 
 themselves fuel for the righteous flames of 
 Divine vengeance against the guilty ? O, 
 my unconverted hearer ! that I could show 
 you your peril, and impress you with a sense 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 173 
 
 of your ruin ! Rapidly is sin doing its work ; 
 parching up your spiritual nature, destroy- 
 ing all that is noble and godlike in your 
 being. As the hissing flames enwrap some 
 majestic edifice, and, leaping from roof to 
 spire, leave a charred and ill-shapen ruin, 
 so is your moral nature assailed by evil; 
 and unless the conflagration is checked, the 
 " temple of your body " "will be a desolation. 
 Cry unto God for help. He can stretch 
 forth the hand that shall save ; He can de- 
 liver you from the destroyer, and pluck 
 you from the fire. But there is hope no- 
 where else ; and the flames that are feeding 
 upon you while you give way to passion, 
 and shroud your soul in unbelief, are but 
 precursors of the ruin which shall be com- 
 plete, when, with no Saviour to shelter, and 
 no advocate to maintain your cause, you 
 shall stand face to face with that God in 
 judgment, who is " a consuming fire." Be- 
 fore that awful hour, may Christ, by his 
 grace, " pluck you as a brand out of the 
 fire." 
 
THE CARNAL MDsD ENMITY AGAINST 
 GOD. 
 
 "The carnal mind is enmity against God." — Romans 
 viii. 7. 
 
 By " the carnal mind " is meant the cor- 
 rupt nature of man. The sacred Scriptures 
 inform us that, after his fall, " Adam begat 
 a son in his own likeness ; " and our Lord 
 declares that " Whatsoever is born of the 
 flesh is flesh.*' The Apostle therefore sets 
 forth the condition in which every child of 
 Adam is born into the world. 
 
 Without a correct knowledge of our 
 misery, we shall not earnestly seek that 
 renewal after the likeness of God, which 
 Jesus Christ, the second Adam, as St. 
 Paul names Him, hath, by his cross and 
 passion, purchased for his believing seed. 
 Let us then, with prayer for the teaching 
 of God the Holy Ghost, examine what the 
 Word of God reveals concerning our ruin. 
 The Inspired Record is explicit, as to the 
 way in which sin entered our world. The 
 Bible opens with the account of the crea- 
 tion of man " in the image of God,*' and tells 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 175 
 
 us of his being placed under probation, in 
 which a positive command of God was the 
 test of obedience. This command Adam, 
 yielding to the temptation of Satan, dis- 
 obeyed, and so came under sentence of 
 death. Besides the mortality of the body, 
 the penalty included the loss of the Divine 
 image in which man was created, and his 
 banishment, along with the fallen angels, 
 from God. Jehovah pronounced the sen- 
 tence, and our parents were driven from 
 Eden, into a world cursed on account of 
 their transgression. As the head of the 
 human family, God made with Adam the 
 covenant of works. His posterity were 
 "yet in his loins" when he transgressed, 
 and in him broke the condition of that 
 covenant, in which life is the reward of 
 obedience. Had he retained innocence, his 
 descendants would have inherited his re- 
 ward ; when he yielded to temptation, by 
 the just judgment of God, they were over- 
 taken by the curse. " In Adam," saith 
 the Scriptures, "all die." " By one man 
 sin entered into the world, and death by 
 sin, and so death passed upon all men, for 
 that all have sinned." The Word of God 
 declares the universality of sin. " The 
 
176 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Lord," we are told, " looked down from 
 heaven upon the children of men, to see if 
 there were any that did understand and 
 seek God. They are all gone aside ; they 
 are altogether become filthy ; there is none 
 that doeth good, no not one." " Who can 
 bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? 
 Not one." " How then can he be clean 
 that is born of a woman ? " 
 
 But what is each man's portion of this 
 universal guilt ? My brethren, there is no 
 question of higher moment. It is personal 
 to us all. To bring sin home to the con- 
 science, is one of the main ends of preach- 
 ing. To prove the depravity of human 
 nature, so that we may, every one for our- 
 selves, realize that " there is no health in 
 us," and be brought through grace to re- 
 pentance and faith in Christ, is, before all 
 things, necessary. Yet no task is more diffi- 
 cult to accomplish. It can only be effected, 
 in anv case, when the declarations and re- 
 proofs of Scripture are carried home to the 
 heart, by the convicting Spirit of Grace. 
 The text presents a fearful view of corrup- 
 tion. " The carnal mind is enmity against 
 God." No words could be more explicit. 
 It does not describe our fallen nature as 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 177 
 
 indifferent to God, or forgetful of Him, 
 or partially opposed to Him, but as itself 
 " enmity against Him/ 9 " An enemy," it 
 has been said, " may be reconciled ; a 
 carnal man may become spiritual ; but 
 enmity, in the abstract, cannot be recon- 
 ciled, and therefore the carnal mind, must 
 be crucified and destroyed." Let us surrey 
 the force and extent of this enmity, as it 
 reigns in the unregenerate sinner. 
 
 All the faculties of man's being are 
 affected by its influence. 
 
 Look at his understanding. 
 
 In the Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul 
 describes the condition of the Gentiles, be- 
 fore their conversion to Christ : " Haying 
 the understanding darkened, being alienated 
 from the life of God through the ignorance 
 that is in them, because of the blindness of 
 their heart;" and the prophet Jeremiah 
 addresses the impenitent of his day as a 
 " foolish people, and without understand- 
 ing ; which have eyes and see not ; which 
 have ears and hear not." Man has lost, 
 through sin, the intuitive perception of 
 truth. He does not clearly discern between 
 right and wrong ; nor can he accurately dis- 
 tinguish truth from falsehood. Enfeebled 
 12 
 
178 IN MEM OR I AM. 
 
 in intellect, his judgment is clouded, and 
 his reasoning powers weakened; the 
 venom of sin has poisoned his mind, and 
 his faculties are under eclipse. This may- 
 be observed, in regard to the concerns of 
 this life. How much toil is needed for the 
 investigation of earthly things, and the ac- 
 quirement of every kind of worldly wisdom. 
 How men strive after knowledge, and how 
 little of it do they attain. To get some 
 glimpse of the extent of our ignorance is, 
 perhaps, the greatest acquirement of those 
 who are most learned. And when the 
 things of God are considered, the darkness 
 of the understanding is more conspicuous. 
 44 The world, by wisdom, knew not God." 
 The noblest efforts of the mind, the toil of 
 sages and philosophers, could not recover 
 the lost knowledge of our Creator and Pre- 
 server. And when God revealed Himself, 
 and the Son of his love became incarnate 
 and brought us salvation, sinners, in their 
 blindness, rejected his grace and compassion. 
 " The natural man," saith St. Paul, " re- 
 ceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, 
 for they are foolishness unto him, neither 
 can he know them, because they are spirit- 
 ually discerned." In every age, and in all 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 179 
 
 regions of the world, apart from the en- 
 lightening grace of the Holy Ghost, " Christ 
 crucified," the great theme of the gospel, 
 has been " unto the Jews a stumbling block, 
 and unto the Greeks foolishness." " The 
 light shineth in darkness, and the darkness 
 comprehendeth it not." " We grope for the 
 wall," saith the prophet, " like the blind ; 
 and we grope as if we had no eyes ; we 
 stumble at noonday as in the night." 
 
 Look at conscience. 
 
 Without entering into an analysis of its 
 powers, it may be described as the faculty 
 which approves or condemns, according to a 
 standard recognized by the understanding. 
 The sanctioning power of the mind, it is 
 not itself a judge of right, but determines 
 whether there is agreement in conduct with 
 what reason accepts as law. Conscience is, 
 therefore, a most important faculty. God's 
 witness within us, it would, of all our en- 
 dowments, seem to be least capable of de- 
 terioration. Yet the Scriptures declare that 
 " conscience is defiled." This defilement 
 consists not so much in its sanctioning 
 error, so that men are conscientiously 
 wrong, for this evil is to be charged rather 
 to a perverted judgment, which, in every 
 
180 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 unrenewed man, rejecting the law of God, 
 sets up instead a false standard, according 
 to which, the moral sense renders its ver- 
 dict. But the great defect of conscience is 
 her inactivity. Enfeebled by sin, her dis- 
 cernment has been weakened ; her quick 
 instinct has been dulled ; she is seared by 
 contact with evil, and has lost her nice 
 balance and accurate perception. She 
 fails, boldly, on the instant, and with steadi- 
 ness, to witness for the right. Our hearts 
 must be " sprinkled from an evil conscience ; " 
 our moral sense must be stirred by the Spirit 
 of ; truth, or we cannot " serve 'the living 
 God." 
 
 Observe the memory. 
 
 How tenacious of evil, how feeble in 
 u holding fast that which is good ! " Hence 
 the anxiety of St. Peter to put Chris- 
 tians " always in remembrance of " Divine 
 things, "though they knew them, and were 
 established in the present truth." He was 
 aware of the defect of memory in the things 
 of God. He knew how ready we are to for- 
 get mercies, and become unmindful of com- 
 mands and promises, while we too readily 
 retain the most trifling matters, and have, in 
 our memories, a store-house for evil. 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 181 
 
 Consider the imaginations and thoughts. 
 
 " God/' we are told, " saw that the wicked- 
 ness of man was great in the earth, and that 
 every imagination of the thoughts of his 
 heart was only evil continually." And lest 
 this should be supposed to be the description 
 of a period of extraordinary wickedness, 
 such as introduced the flood, the truth is 
 repeated, in almost the same words, " The 
 Lord said, The imagination of man's heart is 
 evil, from his youth." " Vain thoughts," 
 saith the prophet, " dwell within us." Our 
 fancy is in wild disorder. Who has not 
 been painfully conscious of the corrupt 
 license of an unsanctified imagination ? 
 Unpurified by grace, the mind of man is 
 " a chamber of imagery," where idols are 
 portrayed in hideous deformity, and all is 
 sin and uncleanness. " Cleanse the thoughts 
 of my heart, by the inspiration of the Holy 
 Spirit," is the prayer most necessary for us 
 all. 
 
 But above all, mark the will and the 
 affections. 
 
 " The heart," saith the prophet, " is de- 
 ceitful above all things, and desperately 
 wicked." Our will is in rebellion against 
 God and his law. Our affections are en-- 
 
182 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 twined around unlawful objects; or, they 
 embrace such as are lawful, in an inordi- 
 nate degree. Idolatry is the ruling sin of 
 the fallen creature. We have " changed 
 the truth of God into a lie, and worship and 
 serve the creature more than the Creator." 
 Our Saviour's indictment against every sin- 
 ner is, " Ye will not come unto me." His 
 earnest, pleading entreaty is, " Why will ye 
 die ? " The opposition of the will is the es- 
 sence of sin ; and it is invincible, except by 
 the grace of God. God's people are " made 
 willing in the day of his power ; " and his 
 sons " are born not of blood, nor of the will 
 of the flesh, nor of the wi]l of man, but of 
 God." The affections accompanying the 
 will are led by it to embrace and cling to 
 evil ; and rebellion is fomented, and kept in 
 force, by hatred. Thus it is that " the 
 carnal mind," as the Apostle declares in the 
 text, " is enmity against God." The oppo- 
 sition seated in the will is sustained by the 
 darkness of the understanding, the defile- 
 ment of conscience, the feebleness of memory 
 in regard to the mercy of God, the vanity of 
 the thoughts, and the wanton disorder of 
 the affections, which, instead of entwining 
 themselves around Christ, and mounting to 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 183 
 
 God in heaven, grovel upon the earth, and 
 prefer " the creature to the Creator." 
 
 Such, my brethren, is fallen man ; so 
 fearful is the ruin of transgression. " There 
 is none that understandeth, or seeketh after 
 God." " In me," saith the Apostle, " that 
 is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." 
 O that sinners, instructed by the Word and 
 Spirit of God, could see themselves as they 
 appear in his sight ! as they will stand, un- 
 less changed in the day of grace, by the re- 
 newing Spirit, before angels and men, at 
 the judgment bar of Christ ! There is no 
 such thing as indifference ; no neutrality on 
 the part of any, in this matter. " He that 
 is not with me," saith the Lord, " is against 
 me." Disobedience to his will, separation 
 from his cause, rejection of his Son, is en- 
 mity. Unless " the carnal mind " be de- 
 stroyed, and the spiritual mind implanted 
 in its stead ; unless there be the new birth 
 of the Spirit from above, producing in you 
 the new creation in Christ Jesus, and chang- 
 ing the child of Adam into the son of God, 
 you remain in hostile opposition, " aliens 
 from the commonwealth of Israel, and 
 strangers to the covenant of promise." It 
 does not require high-handed wickedness, to 
 
184 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 prove that you are foes. Indifference, im- 
 penitence, unbelief, worldliness, will be suffi- 
 cient to manifest antagonism. " The carnal 
 mind is enmity against God ; " and why ? 
 " for it is not subject to the law of God, 
 neither indeed .can be ; " " so then they that 
 are in the flesh cannot please God." 
 
 But, my dear brethren, there is a gospel 
 to be preached to sinners ; a way of access 
 is provided for " all who are afar off." 
 " When we were enemies," saith St. Paul, 
 "we were reconciled to God by the death 
 of his Son." " Christ died for the ungodly." 
 His blood "cleanseth from all sin." His 
 righteous obedience to the law, imputed 
 through faith to his believing members, is 
 the ground of " acceptance in the Beloved." 
 His Holy Spirit, the purchase of his cross, 
 renews the children of grace, taking away 
 all their enmity, and restamping them with 
 the likeness of God. And if "to be car- 
 nally minded is death, to be spiritually 
 minded is life and peace." 
 
 Have you then been taught of the Spirit, 
 under the searching light of the Divine law, 
 to know your ruin ? Seek at once, and with 
 all your heart, the remedy. Go to Christ. 
 Confess your enmity. Ask Him to pardon 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 185 
 
 it. Beseech Him to remove it. He is ex- 
 alted to give repentance and remission of 
 sins. Put your case, then, in his hands. 
 Ask Him, as Advocate with the Father, to 
 " plead your cause, and deliver you." He 
 has left, in his Word, this promise, which 
 you can sue out in faith and prayer before 
 Him : " A new heart 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." 
 What more complete provision could be 
 made? This spirit, which the Spirit of 
 God shall implant, will surely triumph, 
 though "the flesh lusteth against it." 
 " The law in the members " will indeed 
 " war against the law in the mind ; " and 
 the tried believer may have the cry wrung 
 from him, in the contest, " O, wretched man 
 that I am, who shall deliver me from the 
 body of this death ? " But relief is at hand, 
 and the almighty succor granted shall cause 
 him to exclaim, " I thank God through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord." " Crucified with 
 Christ," he nevertheless shall live ; " and 
 
186 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 the life which he lives in the flesh, he shall 
 live by faith in the Son of God." The 
 enmity of the carnal mind shall be de- 
 stroyed. " The eyes of the understanding 
 being enlightened," the converted child of 
 God shall " know what is the hope of his 
 calling, and what the riches of the glory of 
 his inheritance in the saints." His moral 
 sense being purged by the blood of Christ, 
 and stirred by the Spirit of Holiness, he shall 
 " serve God with a pure conscience." His 
 memory, strengthened by the grasp it has 
 upon Jesus and his salvation, will be " filled 
 with the words of God's law," and the 
 recollections of his love. His " thoughts 
 within him " will refresh his soul with con- 
 templations of God ; " imaginations that 
 exalt themselves against God will be cast 
 down ; " his will, conformed to that of his 
 reconciled Father, will delight to submit to 
 the commandments ; affections called back 
 from their wandering, and fastened around 
 the cross, upon Christ our Redeemer, will 
 be " set on things above ; " and the whole 
 moral nature, renewed and sustained by 
 grace, will grow in daily resemblance to 
 God. " Old things will have passed away, 
 and all things will have become new." 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 187 
 
 I do not affirm that this will be the work 
 of an instant. Conversion may, indeed, be 
 sudden, like that of St. Paul, or the jailer 
 at Philippi ; or it may be more gradual and 
 gentle in its operation, like that of Lydia, 
 " whose heart the Lord opened, that she at- 
 tended to the things which were spoken," 
 or like that of Timothy, who " from a child 
 had known the holy Scriptures." But the 
 change being through grace effected, the re- 
 bellion of the will being subdued, and the 
 enmity of the heart removed, there will be 
 this blessed growth and progress ; for " the 
 faith of the just is as the shining light, that 
 shineth more and more unto the perfect 
 day." 
 
 The solemn question for each one of us to 
 ask ourselves is, Has this change begun in 
 me? Has the "enmity" of my " carnal 
 mind against God " been at all removed ? 
 Am I born again ? In sin, I was born into 
 the world ; have I, by the Spirit of Grace, 
 been born into the kingdom of Christ ? 
 Born of water in baptism, dedicated to 
 God, and sealed with the sacrament of the 
 new life, have I been regenerated by the 
 Holy Ghost, and made a new creature in 
 Christ Jesus ? Have I felt the intolerable 
 
188 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 burden of guilt and corruption ? Have I 
 gone to Christ in faith, to lay that burden 
 upon Him ? Can I trust that in Him I am 
 accepted, through Him forgiven ? Do I 
 find in myself new life — feeble, it may 
 be — struggling against corruption, some- 
 times -wounded, often weak, yet proving its 
 reality in faith and love and obedience ; 
 in clinging to Christ for his free salvation ; 
 communing with Christ, in the Holy Ghost, 
 for comfort and joy and peace ; fighting in 
 Christ and with Him, against every form of 
 sin; and desiring, above all things, to be 
 conformed in will and deed to the holiness 
 of God ? My brethren, these are the proofs 
 of the Spirit's indwelling. It is this devotion 
 to truth and right and God and holiness, in 
 the face of all temptation and opposition 
 whether from the devil, the world, or the 
 flesh, which shows that the^ power of sin is 
 broken, the enmity of the carnal mind ex- 
 changed for the life and peace of the spirit- 
 ual mind. I beseech you, if you know noth- 
 ing of this, seek it this very day, at the 
 mercy-seat. Go and plead your case, at 
 the foot of the cross, and before the great 
 High Priest, who " ever liveth to make 
 intercession." To be at " enmity against 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 189 
 
 Him " is the most terrible of evils. " Kiss 
 the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish 
 from the way, when his wrath is kindled but 
 a little. Blessed are all they that trust in 
 Him." 
 
THE ALTAR TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. 
 
 " As I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar 
 with this inscription, Tq the unknown God." — Acts xvii. 23. 
 
 These words are taken from the address 
 of St. Paul to the Athenians, when he was 
 arraigned before the court of Areopagus, on 
 the charge of being a setter forth of strange 
 gods. It is a scene of no ordinary interest : 
 the Apostle of the Gentiles, standing a wit- 
 ness for the truth in the midst of Mar's hill, 
 in a world-renowned court of antiquity, upon 
 a spot sacred to the Athenians, where tradi- 
 tion taught that even gods had been judged, 
 and where had been heard the loftiest notes 
 of Grecian eloquence. The land of genius 
 and philosophy, though subdued by arms, 
 had not lost her literary glory ; the monu- 
 ments of her refinement, and surpassing ex- 
 cellence in art, were grouped in elegance 
 around temples and porticoes ; columns and 
 arches were not, as they are now, in crum- 
 bling ruins, but lifted themselves beneath 
 the sunlight of an Orient sky, in primeval 
 glory and beauty. It was classic ground 
 upon which the Apostle stood, and every 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 191 
 
 object of nature and art, in the amphitheatre 
 around him, must have awakened in his cul- 
 tivated mind some association with the past 
 of this wonderful people. 
 
 Nor was the audience gathered before 
 him less remarkable. It did not consist of 
 illiterate Jewish peasants, or rude inhabit- 
 ants of Roman provinces. Philosophers and 
 rhetoricians, men of genius and learning, 
 were his auditors. There sat the pleasure- 
 loving Epicurean, and at his side the acute 
 and spiritual Platonist ; the Stoic scowled 
 with unnatural sternness from a neighbor- 
 ing portico, while some skeptical or cavil- 
 ing Sophist inquired in tones of contempt- 
 uous scorn, What will this babbler say ? 
 
 In the midst of such an assembly, the 
 Apostle was to give an account of his doc- 
 trine. His spirit was stirred within him, 
 at the idolatry, to which each smoking al- 
 tar bore witness, and the sin and ignorance, 
 which held captive the populace around 
 him. Classical associations were forgotten ; 
 poetry and art lost, for the moment, their 
 beauty. The enchanting view of Athens, in 
 her unrivaled loveliness, was darkened by 
 the pall of sin, and the dread frown of an 
 incensed Jehovah covered with a cloud 
 
192 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 " the eye of Greece." The doctrine of Jesus 
 and the resurrection was the absorbing 
 thought in the Apostle's mind, and to pro- 
 claim it, with power, was his single effort. 
 Yet it was not with inconsideration, that 
 the preacher urged his message. He had 
 learnt to become all things to all men, and 
 his sermon before the assembled wisdom of 
 Greece was every way worthy of the occa- 
 sion. Not that the Apostle laid aside his 
 plainness of speech, or sought to win his 
 hearers with the enticing words of man's 
 wisdom. It was forcible preaching of Christ 
 that he gave to these intellectual auditors. 
 It was God calling the world to account for 
 its iniquities. It was a Man ordained by 
 Him to be alike the Saviour and the Judge 
 of his creatures, that he made known ; and 
 fearlessly did he attack, even in this brief 
 speech, the errors of each self-conceited the- 
 orist before him. Examine his address, and 
 you will see how Epicurean and Stoic and 
 Academician, and all the sects of philoso- 
 phers, were met on their own ground, and 
 were struck with the sword of the Spirit, in 
 the hand of this champion of the cross. Yet 
 the manner in which this was accomplished, 
 cannot but hold us in admiration. It is in- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 193 
 
 spired reason ; it is God-directed intellect 
 which we see in conflict with the gifted and 
 the learned. But it is not my purpose to 
 analyze St. Paul's sermon : I ask attention 
 now to its opening sentences, that you may 
 derive from thence instruction for yourselves. 
 Then, St. Luke tells us, " Paul stood on 
 Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I 
 perceive that in all things ye are too super- 
 stitious. For as I passed by, and beheld 
 your devotions, I found an altar with this 
 inscription, To the unknown God. Whom 
 therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare 
 I unto you." The expression " too supersti- 
 tious " is ambiguous, and may have been se- 
 lected as capable of a double signification ; 
 literally it might be rendered, Ye are given 
 to the fear or worship of demons, or, Ye are 
 very much addicted to religious worship of 
 every kind ; and as this naturally led to su- 
 perstition, the Apostle may have designed 
 to rest a latent reproof under what might 
 be regarded as commendation. It was a 
 charge, however, whether complimentary or 
 otherwise, which was illustrated by what 
 the speaker had himself observed, as he 
 passed along the thoroughfares of their city. 
 Not satisfied with the legions of gods 
 
 13 
 
194 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 with which their own mythology furnished 
 them, nor yet with additions from Egypt 
 and Rome and other countries, in the midst 
 of their temples and multitude of shrines 
 they had raised an " altar with this inscrip- 
 tion, To the unknown God," confessing thus 
 that they were in need of instruction, and 
 in the darkness of paganism, waiting for the 
 light. "Whether this altar to the unknown 
 God was a tribute to the God of the Jews, 
 or, as some have thought, was erected in the 
 excess of superstitious devoteeism, or in ac- 
 knowledgment of an ignorance which they 
 mourned, it does not concern us to inquire ; 
 the fact that there was such an altar, as is 
 described by St. Paul, is mentioned by pro- 
 fane writers, and this is all that is necessary 
 to be known for the purpose which I have 
 in view this morning. Suppose, brethren, 
 the Apostle, instead of wandering through 
 the streets of Athens, had been passing 
 along the thoroughfares of this city, look- 
 ing in upon the churches, and taking note 
 of the worship which is offered on this holy 
 day. He would not be confronted with the 
 statues of Jupiter or Minerva, or any of the 
 deities of antiquity. But in churches Scrip- 
 tural in their creed and orthodox in their 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 195 
 
 worship ; nay, brethren, at once to bring 
 the matter home to yourselves, in this house 
 of God, and in the hearts of some who are 
 here assembled, would he not find many an 
 altar with this inscription, To the unknown 
 God ? All who here pretend to worship, 
 I presume, address their prayers to God. 
 Enlightened by Scriptural teaching, you 
 bend not before the shrine of saint or 
 angel. But who is this God upon whom 
 you call ? Is He a known or an unknown 
 divinity ? Permit me, brethren, to draw near 
 and behold your devotions. Here is an 
 altar which I will examine. At once I see 
 that here is no peculiarly Christian worship. 
 It is not the grateful oblation of a self- 
 condemned sinner, casting himself upon the 
 great sacrifice of Christ, and laying hold, 
 with the hand of faith, upon the altar of 
 the cross. Worship such as this may have 
 been seen in heathen times, in Athens itself, 
 before the light of the gospel shone upon 
 the hill of Mars. It is what men, in their 
 folly and their sin, call natural religion ; as 
 if any religion were natural to him who is 
 by nature a child of wrath, except such as 
 is hateful to a holy God ! A natural relig- 
 ion there indeed was, and we may, under 
 
196 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 that name, still remember it ; but it was the 
 faith and worship of unfallen Adam, of 
 man yet retaining his Maker's likeness and 
 walking in his Maker's law. Such a religion 
 becomes us not now ; we want a remedial 
 religion, a faith which sets forth more than 
 man's original relations to God. The gospel 
 of redemption, the approach through a 
 Mediator, is indispensable to such miserable 
 apostates as the members of the human 
 family. Yet some, even in Christian lands, 
 think to reconstruct the ancient altar at 
 which man, unfallen, might have bowed. 
 Inscribed with the name of God, it presents 
 only a vague idea of a Creator and Pre- 
 server, and a slight sentiment of gratitude, 
 very feeble and inactive, has called forth 
 their worship. Men often come to stand 
 before God in their own right and in their 
 own virtue, not to confess error and guilt, 
 not to beg for mercy, and seek for grace : 
 but to display, it may be, their own good- 
 ness in the royal court ; to justify themselves 
 in the presence of the All-holy, and to give 
 expression to a sentiment which is more 
 akin to poetry than to religion ; if it be not 
 pantheism, into which these worshippers 
 have fallen ; if nature's God is to them 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 197 
 
 anything more than the impersonation of 
 nature herself. Yet it is not his charac- 
 ter, his will, his mercy, or his wrath, on 
 which they dwell. In their conversation 
 they will talk eloquently of "the great- 
 ness of Providence," and of the Divine 
 beauty displayed in nature. If they write 
 books, they will have a poetic deity to pre- 
 side over humanity, and form a background 
 for the creature to show himself upon. If 
 they go forth into the fields, an enraptur- 
 ing tide of sentiment swells within their 
 souls. If they stray into the church, music 
 or scenic amusement is all that elicits their 
 applause, and they are eloquent on the 
 beautiful and aesthetic in religion. Such 
 men I have often met ; their altars have 
 attracted notice ; in some cases I have been 
 drawn towards them, with the hope that 
 the fire of real piety might be found burn- 
 ing there, and the incense of true devotion 
 rising up to heaven ; but alas ! I have often 
 been disappointed,~and have been compelled 
 with sorrow to read on their worship, how- 
 ever externally attractive, this inscription, 
 To the unknown God. 
 
 If any such should happen now to be in 
 this house of the Lord, any one who accepts 
 
198 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 revelation, and would be shocked to have it 
 supposed that he could offer any other than 
 Christian worship, to him I would speak. 
 The fall of man, and his redemption by the 
 Incarnate Son of God, are facts of which he 
 has heard from childhood, and which it has 
 never been his habit to dispute. Prayer, he 
 knows, must be offered through the one Me- 
 diator ; and he judges that the evangelical 
 language of our liturgy, dwelling upon the 
 name and merit of our great " Advocate 
 with the Father," is quite in accordance 
 with Scripture. Surely, then, we may not 
 expect to find his altar raised to an unknown 
 God ; surely it cannot be against such a wor- 
 shipper, that the Apostle could lay any 
 charge of ignorance of the object of his de- 
 votion. So some of you may be ready to 
 exclaim, but we would beg you to observe 
 before you decide, to look well before you 
 pronounce. There is indeed an appearance 
 of Christianity ; the fire of heaven may seem 
 to glow upon this altar ; but a nearer ap- 
 proach will show it to you shrouded in ig- 
 norance, and the coals that should be bright 
 and living, dead and entombed in the ashes 
 of unbelief. Men do not, perhaps, object to 
 the truths of Christianity, they do not deny 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 199 
 
 the fact of a redemption, they blaspheme 
 not the name of our beloved Saviour ; but 
 what practical use, in their approaches to 
 God, do they make of the Saviour and his 
 plan of deliverance ? Is not the form in 
 which they have been taught to conclude 
 their devotions, " through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord," the most empty, often, that can rest 
 upon human life ? a stereotyped hypocrisy 
 with which men cover their sin, and delude 
 their souls ? Do all who make use, in pub- 
 lic and private, of this precious name of 
 Christ, really draw near to God through 
 Him ? Do they realize, as well as profess, 
 that for such lost and ruined sinners there 
 is, there can be, no other approach ? Do all 
 who plead the name of Christ appreciate 
 the character of Jehovah, as a God of holi- 
 ness, of justice, and of truth ; who " will 
 not by any means clear the guilty,'" who 
 4i cannot look upon sin," and will surely 
 punish every, the least transgression ? Do 
 they believe the declarations of his inspired 
 Word which so plainly set Him forth as the 
 fearful " Avenger of the wicked?" and 
 have they a grateful recognition of the won- 
 derful plan of wisdom and love, whereby his 
 attributes are harmonized, his holiness vin- 
 
200 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 dicated, and a way opened for the exercise 
 of his mercy ? Is it to this plan of salva- 
 tion for the chief of sinners, by the atoning 
 blood and imputed righteousness of a Di- 
 vine Substitute and Saviour, received by 
 faith, that they turn for their every hope ? 
 Is it really trusting to Christ's work, and 
 Christ's intercession, that men use his holy 
 name, and seal their petitions with the 
 signet of his love ? Alas ! brethren, truth 
 compels us to say, We fear not ; in some in- 
 stances we know it is not so. Not all who 
 seem to erect Christian altars, thus worship 
 a reconciled God through a mediating Re- 
 deemer ; not all who name in their prayers 
 the name of Jesus, thus rest in his merit and 
 " lay hold of the hope set before them in 
 the gospel." 
 
 But I have not yet concluded my observa- 
 tions ; there is another altar that I wish to 
 examine. There seems here to be an ad- 
 vance upon both the preceding. Christian 
 worship, prayer through the one Media- 
 tor, is not only professed, but appears to be 
 offered with sincerity. Holy rites, perhaps, 
 are multiphed, times and places and forms 
 are much attended to. The Church's 
 courts are frequented, and our liturgy is, 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 201 
 
 perhaps, daily repeated. The closet, it may 
 be, is entered. David's habit of morning, 
 even, and noontide prayer, perhaps, is 
 adopted, and we would hope that this was 
 no altar to an " unknown God." Yet, 
 brethren, if we are wise, we will still let the 
 Apostle admonish us ; it was among a peo- 
 ple whom he designates, as some have 
 translated it, " very much given to devo- 
 tion," that he found this altar. " God is a 
 Spirit ; and they that worship Him must 
 worship Him in spirit and in truth." A 
 service of love and faith, of penitence and 
 obedience, is what alone He will accept. 
 The form of prayer without the beseeching 
 heart, the bended knee, the reverent ges- 
 ture, and well chosen words, without the 
 broken and contrite spirit, how hateful are 
 they in his sight ! What inscription will you 
 read upon the altar of the hypocrite, or the 
 formalist ? How will you characterize the 
 worship of the man who thinks to trick Je- 
 hovah with profession, as he deceives his 
 fellow-men; or that other who hopes to 
 purchase forbearance by a heartless round 
 of empty ceremony and tedious ritualism ? 
 What, I ask, can charity herself read upon 
 these altars, but the inscription of the Athe- 
 
202 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 nians, To the unknown God ? Unknown 
 in his omniscience, unknown in his spirit- 
 uality, unknown in his holiness. Christian- 
 ity has, indeed, its outward forms of profes- 
 sion, its divinely appointed sacraments and 
 ordinances, in which the faithful soul will 
 rejoice to manifest its " hidden life," and to 
 seek the increase of its grace ; but such is 
 the deceitfulness of our hearts, and our 
 earthliness of disposition, that we must be 
 on the watch, lest we rest in what is only 
 the external manifestation of that spiritual 
 life which is from God, and show our igno- 
 rance of our Maker, by offering Him a hom- 
 age which his holiness cannot do otherwise 
 than reject. " We are the circumcision," 
 saith St. Paul, " which worship God in the 
 spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have 
 no confidence in the flesh." It is a fearful 
 thing for one bearing the Christian name 
 to worship " an unknown God ; " to have 
 no Scriptural conception of the Divine char- 
 acter, and no spiritual communion with a 
 Heavenly Father. Brethren, let us ex- 
 amine our altars, and see what is the devo- 
 tion that we render. Do we know God, 
 Jiaving been first known and loved of Him 
 in Christ Jesus ? Do we know Him by 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 203 
 
 faith, approaching through his beloved Son ? 
 Do we know Him as a Spirit, requiring a 
 heart service ? Do we know Him as a 
 Father, reconciled in Christ Jesus ? Do 
 we know Him as our Lord and King, ren- 
 dering unto Him a cheerful and steady 
 obedience ? Do we know Him as a Teacher, 
 anointing us with the blessed " unction " of 
 his Holy Spirit, that we may " know all 
 things" concerning Christ and salvation? 
 Do we know Him as a Guide, leading and 
 sustaining us all the way of our pilgrimage ? 
 Do we know Him as our Friend, sympathiz- 
 ing with us in our sorrows, helping us in 
 our difficulties, sustaining us in our weak- 
 ness, consoling us in our afflictions ? In 
 fine, do we know Him as the Bible reveals 
 Him, and the Holy Spirit makes Him 
 known to his beloved and believing people? 
 and so do we worship Him, rendering no 
 formal and self-righteous homage, but calling 
 upon Him, through Christ, " without ceas- 
 ing," in our hearts ? St. Paul thus " knew 
 in whom he had believed," and hence his 
 deep concern for those who erected altars to 
 an unknown God ; hence his burning anx- 
 iety to " declare unto " them " Him whom 
 they ignorantly worshipped ; " hence his 
 
204 IN ME MORI AM, 
 
 boldness on Mars' hill, and amid a congre- 
 gation of philosophers, " preaching Jesus 
 and the resurrection." Brethren, let us de- 
 sire for ourselves, and all men, the true and 
 saying knowledge of God, in Jesus Christ 
 our Lord ; and if we would raise in our 
 hearts an altar to his worship, let us beseech 
 his Holy Spirit to efface from our guilty- 
 souls the Athenian inscription, and write 
 instead thereof, " Increasing in the knowl- 
 edge of God." Yea, let every one carry 
 away with him to-day the advice of Eli- 
 phaz : " Acquaint now thyself with the Al- 
 mighty, and be at peace ; thereby good shall 
 come unto thee. Thou shalt make thy 
 prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee, 
 and thou shalt pay thy vows." 
 
FOKSAKING ALL TO FOLLOW CHRIST. 
 
 11 They forsook all, and followed Him." — Luke v. 11. 
 
 Such, as you have heard in the Gospel for 
 the day, was the conduct of Simon Peter, 
 James, and John, when by the manifesta- 
 tion of his power, in the miraculous draught 
 of fishes, they had been assured of the 
 Divine mission of Jesus. The first impulse 
 of Peter, at least, had been of a very differ- 
 ent kind. No sooner did the " glory of the 
 invisible God," "in the face of Jesus 
 Christ," shine upon his heart, than, like 
 many others of whom we have mention in 
 Holy Scripture, he was overwhelmed with 
 the conviction of his guilt ; and realized, as 
 he had never done before, the impurity of 
 his nature, in contrast with the holiness of 
 God. The miracle proclaimed the present 
 Deity. " When Simon Peter saw it, he fell 
 down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from 
 me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." The 
 eye of his mind was pained with the out- 
 bursting of the Sun of Righteousness, and 
 when he turned it within, he saw so much 
 
206 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 corruption, that lie " abhorred himself " as 
 vile. The Saviour, however, revealed Him- 
 self to heal, and not to confound. The 
 splendor of the Godhead is softened through 
 the veil of a sympathizing humanity, and 
 the awfulness of holiness is tempered by 
 the attractiveness of love. The trembling 
 sinner is assured by the voice of compassion, 
 when Jesus says unto him, " Fear not." 
 And here is the winning power of grace. 
 When the guilty soul has found its Saviour, 
 it is drawn with invincible attraction to his 
 feet. The sense of sin which, in our unen- 
 lightened state, removed it far from his 
 presence, and made it afraid to look upon 
 his beauty, has become the propelling motive 
 of its approach. " This man receiveth 
 sinners." " He is come to seek and to save 
 that which is lost." His position, in the 
 centre of our race, is in reference to its 
 ruined condition. His work upon earth, of 
 righteousness and atonement, is performed 
 in behalf of the guilty. His gospel is 
 nothing else but a scheme of Divine wisdom 
 and love, for the recovery of the fallen. 
 His character is made up of the most at- 
 tractive sympathy and tenderness. His 
 words are sweet and comforting promises to 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN, 207 
 
 the miserable and vile. If man were not 
 an apostate from holiness, the religion of 
 the cross would not be the faith for his soul. 
 If the child of Adam were not sick and 
 wounded, the balm of 'the Holy Spirit 
 would not be consoling to his heart. It is 
 only because the world is confident in its 
 self -righteousness, and there is little appreci- 
 ation of our real condition in the sight of 
 God, that the messengers of peace and am- 
 bassadors of Christ have so often to exclaim, 
 " Who hath believed our report, and to 
 whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" 
 I wish you to remark the beautiful arrange- 
 ment of the gospel plan for bringing the 
 sinner to self-consciousness, and making 
 him know the evil of his heart and life. It 
 is by the revelation to him of Jesus ; by 
 placing the Son of God before him, and 
 centering his regard upon his Divine, yet 
 human person. It is true that in his office 
 of the Reprover of the world of sin, the 
 Holy Ghost uses the law as a great instru- 
 ment of conviction ; the thunders of Sinai 
 awaken in the soul the echoes of condem- 
 nation, and the sinner stands guilty by the 
 verdict of his own conscience. But if the 
 law were to act alone, it could only conduct 
 
208 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 to despair. Its lightning would blast; its 
 flames consume. The law, therefore, in the 
 Spirit's hand, is " the schoolmaster to bring 
 us to Christ," and it is by revealing Jesus 
 to the convicted soul, that the sense of sin 
 is deepened, even while the assurance of 
 pardon is conveyed. Think what must 
 have been the effect upon the woman who 
 was brought to our Lord in the temple, 
 accused by those who had taken her in 
 crime, and condemned by the law of Moses 
 to death, when Jesus, as the Saviour of 
 sinners, refusing the office of the judge, 
 spoke to her in the accents of compassion, 
 and bade her " Go, and sin no more." Did 
 not those tones of kindness penetrate a 
 heart, which before, perhaps, had been bold 
 and callous ? "Was not shame by their com- 
 passionate utterances deepened into grief ? 
 Was it not the gentleness of that Divine 
 presence, and the accents of love from holy 
 Hps, that awakened the first feelings of con- 
 trition, and bedewed her cheek with the 
 scalding tear of penitence ? Can you not 
 conceive that from that interview with the 
 Redeemer, there went forth an influence of 
 Divine grace, powerful over her future life ? 
 It was not so much reproof ; it was not in- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 209 
 
 dignant chiding, and heartless condemna- 
 tion, that could have moved her ; but the 
 look of Jesus she could not forget ; the 
 melting pity of his eye, the tender compas- 
 sion of his speech, the forgiving love of his 
 whole demeanor, she never could banish 
 from her heart. The Christ had entered 
 there, with his power to cleanse and to save ; 
 and all her hopes and all her desires were 
 to Him. If she was saved from her deep 
 degradation and crime, it was through that 
 personal contact with forgiving holiness to 
 which her accusers, armed with the law for 
 her destruction, had unwittingly brought 
 her. It is this attractive power of Christ's 
 presence that we see in our text, using the 
 sense of sin, which his miraculous power 
 had awakened, and which in its first im- 
 pulse of shame and degradation would have 
 escaped his gaze, to bind the convicted 
 soul to Himself as all its consolation and 
 hope; so that it will be his at any cost, 
 seeing no other centre of love and happi- 
 ness, and only too grateful to be invited, in 
 his own tender accents, to " forsake all and 
 follow Him." Nor is the experience, my 
 hearers, of God's people in our own day 
 and generation different. Christ is the 
 
 14 
 
210 IN MEMORIAM. ' 
 
 great attractor of guilty souls. His own 
 prediction and promise is hereby fulfilled : 
 " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 
 draw all men unto me." There is no 
 power in the world like this of a personal 
 Saviour. You may try, if you please, to 
 reform and elevate men by other means. 
 You may attempt the force of reason, the 
 attractiveness of human affection, the power 
 of shame, and the interest of self-love, but 
 each and all will fail, except as they are 
 combined in heavenly proportion in the 
 grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the 
 stone that God hath laid in Zion, upon 
 which to rebuild the ruined temple of 
 human nature. But on the other hand, how 
 often and how completely successful has 
 this " only name under heaven given among 
 men " been in the recovery of the lost, and 
 the building up, in the new and spiritual 
 life, of those whom Satan has cast down. 
 How many have " forsaken all and followed 
 Him," to find life, and peace, and joy to 
 their souls. 
 
 And now, if you have any idea of the 
 great central influence of our Christianity, 
 which, like the orb in which we live, by a 
 great law of spiritual force, attracts ever to 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 211 
 
 itself, you will take pleasure in observing 
 how this power acts, in enabling us to cast 
 off everything that would keep us from the 
 embrace of Mercy, so that of all who are 
 born of the Spirit of God and united in 
 Him to Christ, the sum of their experience 
 may be written, in the words of our text, 
 " They forsook all and followed Him." 
 
 (1.) And what, my brethren, at the out- 
 set, is more difficult to forsake, than all our 
 self -righteousness ? It is this, preeminently, 
 that keeps the sinner fronx the Saviour. 
 The natural man is full of his own right- 
 eousness. He is ignorant that he is an 
 offender, or, at the best, has no conception 
 of the extent of his departure from the 
 commandments of God. And even where 
 there has been conviction of guilt, still the 
 heart is so " deceitful and desperately 
 wicked," that it is ever devising excuses, 
 and making pleas in behalf of the offender. 
 It is an impossible thing, except by the 
 grace and Spirit of God, to bring a man to 
 make a full acknowledgment of his trans- 
 gression. Some, who propose to come to 
 Christ, bring with them the wretched works 
 of their own ungodliness, and expect these 
 to make no small part of the ground of their 
 
212 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 acceptance in the sight of heaven. Minis- 
 ters who are called to sick and dying beds, 
 and share men's thoughts in their serious 
 moments, are often shocked at the wonder- 
 ful hold that an opinion of their own worth, 
 in some thing or other, has upon the minds 
 of many who have sat for years under the 
 preaching of the gospel of free grace ; or 
 rather, I should say, we would be shocked, 
 if, alas ! we did not see so much of the same 
 folly in our own hearts. To make a sinner 
 know his vileness, and cast from him every 
 rag of self-righteousness, nothing save the 
 revelation of Christ by the Spirit of Grace 
 is sufficient. My hearers, turn your eyes 
 upon the crucified Son of God, and learn to 
 forsake all opinion of your own merits, while 
 you see Him, the only Saviour. It is not 
 looking into your own hearts that will ac- 
 complish this, so much as the looking to 
 Jesus. If you are attracted to his person, 
 see his holiness, and understand his work of 
 vicarious righteousness and atonement, then 
 you will begin to know that all your right- 
 eousness is as filthy rags. Then you will 
 realize that it is spiritual ^akedness that is 
 to be clothed upon with Christ, and utter 
 ruin and spiritual death, which, in Him, is 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 213 
 
 to find life eternal ; and so, by the sight of 
 his excellency, and works of wisdom and 
 love, will you be brought to forsake all self- 
 righteousness, and all that you can hope for 
 in the way of acceptance and salvation, in 
 the simplicity of self-renouncing faith and 
 holy, humble trust, to " follow Him." 
 
 (2.) Nor, my hearers, is it more easy for 
 the heart of man to forsake all its self-de- 
 pendence. It would seem as if this were 
 the essence of sin. To " be as gods " was 
 the bait held out by Satan to our first par- 
 ents ; and self-reliance is the fruit of trans- 
 gression. How difficult is it to bring men 
 to realize their spiritual weakness ! How 
 little do we know of our corruption and 
 proneness to err ! What slight sense have 
 most men of the force of depravity ! How 
 many trust in the firmness of resolution, the 
 strength of reason, the effort of their own 
 spirit ! Even the children of God have no 
 adequate idea of the desperate wickedness 
 and deceitfulness of the corrupted heart ; 
 and too often forget the needed aid of the 
 Holy Ghost. Men are either driven to de- 
 spair by the repeated failure of their un- 
 aided efforts ; or they are lighted up into 
 most dangerous presumption, through the 
 
21-4 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 ignorance that is in them. The voice of 
 Christ must be heard inviting to his refuge 
 of grace ; offering the strength of his Spirit. 
 and saying. " My grace is sufficient for you. 
 my strength is made perfect in weakness ; w 
 experience must have taught that M we are 
 not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as 
 of ourselves.'*' before there will be that for- 
 saking of all self-dependence, and that simple 
 leaning upon the promised aid of the Holy 
 Ghost, in which is seen the true following of 
 Christ. And it is by the attractions of his 
 person, and the gentleness of his invitations, 
 that the Saviour seeks to make us strong. 
 " Simon, Simon. Satan hath desired to have 
 you. that he may sift you as wheat : but I 
 have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." 
 • 4 1 will not leave you comfortless. I will 
 come to you." It is in the leaning upon 
 words of cheer like these, while we forsake 
 all hope in our own power, that the true 
 following of Christ consists. 
 
 (3.) Nor is self-seeking a thing that, 
 without a struggle, is altogether forsaken. 
 The outward exhibition of man's sin is that 
 he has departed from the true aim of his 
 existence, the glorifying God, and is intent 
 upon all kinds of lower objects, centering at 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 215 
 
 last in himself. It may be the world, or 
 the flesh, that is obeyed ; and the forms of 
 the service are ever varying. But the evil 
 is, that it is not God who is looked to. It 
 is not his honor that men have at heart. 
 His kingdom is not that which they seek ; 
 but " their own things," in the path of 
 wealth, or ambition, or ease, or pleasure. 
 However varied the fashion of the shrine, 
 the idol is found to bear the stamp of the 
 creature ; and himself, not God, is glorified. 
 Now it is no outward severing of ourselves 
 from the world, that will accomplish a 
 change here. It is not the form of the wor- 
 ship, but the idolatry itself that is the sin. 
 Men may be separated from the world, and 
 have an eye to God's glory, and be seeking 
 his honor, while outwardly they are mingled 
 in the necessary business of the present life. 
 On the other hand, the monastery and the 
 hermitage will not exclude worldliness and 
 self -worship. Daniel glorified God while he 
 was at the head of the government of Baby- 
 lon ; and Jerome confessed that the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil followed him with 
 increased power into the solitudes of the 
 wilderness. It is, my hearers, nothing but 
 the grace of Jesus, drawing out our souls in 
 
216 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 devotion to Him, that can cure any man of 
 self-seeking. The more we see Him by- 
 faith, the more constantly shall we follow 
 Him, " forsaking all " for his sake, whether 
 our lot be seclusion and retirement, or we be 
 surrounded by the crowd of men, and feel 
 the hourly pressure of public care. The 
 only thing is, our hearts must go forth to 
 our heavenly Friend, and his glory must be 
 before all else, in our regard. 
 
 (4.) And can this be done without the 
 forsaking, through grace, of that most dif- 
 ficult of all things to surrender, our self- 
 will ? Many, brethren, will be ready to 
 give up property and time and outward ser- 
 vice, but God demands the heart, and He re- 
 quires all the heart. Nothing must be kept 
 back ; the sacrifice must be entire. Every 
 thought must be brought into captivity to 
 the obedience of Christ. Self-will is the 
 darling of the soul, which must be placed 
 entire upon the altar, if the service is to be 
 complete. All sin in its essence is this, 
 that we oppose the will of God ; and the 
 heights of holiness are reached, when the 
 renewed soul is brought through grace into 
 complete and absolute submission, so that 
 God's will is ours, in all things. If, then, 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 217 
 
 we would follow Jesus, there is nothing we 
 must so much renounce and abhor, as our 
 own will. And this, which cannot be, but 
 by grace, shall be accomplished in us by the 
 Holy Spirit, as we learn to lore Christ more. 
 You know what it is, through the force of 
 human affection, to have your will blended 
 with that of a friend. Now God has placed 
 beside you his own dear Son, to be to you 
 " a friend that sticketh closer than a 
 brother ; " and it is by drawing near to 
 Him, communing wdth Him in love, hav- 
 ing a constant intercourse wdth Him in 
 prayer and Scripture and other means of 
 grace, tasting the delights of his compan- 
 ionship in the Spirit, that your will is, 
 through the grace of the Holy Ghost, to be 
 conformed to his will. Love is the parent 
 of obedience. " If ye love me," saith our 
 Lord, " keep my commandments ; " the in- 
 creasing affection will make those command- 
 ments " not grievous ; " and even where the 
 Divine will opposes ours in the most sen- 
 sitive parts of our natures, and goes en- 
 tirely contrary to our most cherished de- 
 sires, the excellency of Christ's presence 
 will be so great, and the beauty of the 
 King's countenance so attractive, and the 
 
218 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 sweetness of the Master's communion so 
 precious, that we will forsake all and follow 
 Him. 
 
 Such, my hearers, is the spirit of our re- 
 ligion. Such is the character of the service 
 which Christ, standing in our midst, seeks 
 at our hands. If we would be his; the re- 
 sponse of our hearts, through renewing, 
 grace, must be full and ready. ' We must 
 " count all things but loss, for the excellency 
 of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord," 
 and with our faith resting on his work, and 
 the gaze of our hope fastened upon his re- 
 ward, we must say, — 
 
 " Jesus, I my cross have taken, 
 
 All to leave and follow Thee ; 
 Naked, poor, despised, forsaken, 
 
 Thou, from hence, my all shalt be. 
 Perish, every fond ambition, 
 
 All I've sought, or hoped, or known ; 
 Yet, how rich is my condition, 
 
 God and heaven are still my own." 
 
 In giving up all for Jesus, we receive all 
 in Him. What we forsake is that which 
 would ruin us. What we receive is that 
 which constitutes our bliss. Permit me 
 then, my hearers, to ask how it is with you ? 
 How have you chosen ? 
 
 Think what Jesus forsook for you, and 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 219 
 
 say what are you forsaking for Him ? Think 
 not that you can render Him a half service ; 
 the demand is for the surrender of all : all 
 self -righteousness, self-dependence, self-seek- 
 ing, self-will : all, in short, that is not of 
 God, but of the world. Who among you, 
 my friends, will now be so attracted by the 
 loveliness of Christ, who has offered you, in 
 the gospel, to be your friend and Master, 
 that you will " forsake all and follow Him ? " 
 You only forsake a world which will soon 
 forsake you, and take in exchange One who 
 will never leave you. May God enable you 
 to make the decision of the Apostle in the 
 text, and " follow Christ" to his eternal 
 kingdom and glory. 
 
AARON STANDING BETWEEN THE DEAD 
 AND THE LIVING. 
 
 "And Aaron stood between the dead and the living, and 
 the plague was stayed." — Numbers xvi. 48. 
 
 What a subject for the pencil of a mas- 
 ter ! The picture is glowing with life in 
 the graphic sketch of Moses. The camp of 
 Israel is the scene. An angry crowd of 
 murmurers have gathered around the law- 
 giver ; they complain of the destruction of 
 Korah and his company, for rebellion 
 against the Lord. Excited by their sup- 
 posed wrongs, they swell in noisy tumult, 
 and, like a sea of troubled waters, pour 
 themselves, from all parts of the encamp- 
 ment, towards the tents of the Levites. In 
 the centre of the picture stands the taber- 
 nacle, with the pillar of cloud resting above 
 it ; and soon all eyes are attracted there, 
 for " the cloud covered it, and the glory of 
 the Lord appeared.*' Flashes of light shot 
 forth in anger, and announced the Lord 
 rising up to judgment. " And Moses and 
 Aaron came before the tabernacle of the 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 221 
 
 congregation;" but ere there is time to 
 contrast the calm dignity of these inspired 
 leaders with "the madness of the people" 
 arrayed against them, there is a voice from 
 the cloud. " And the Lord spake with 
 Moses saying, Get you up from among this 
 congregation, that I may consume them in 
 a minute. And they fell upon their faces." 
 They felt that prayer was their only re- 
 source. Justice was ready to break forth, 
 and mercy must be sought to throw herself 
 in the path of deserved vengeance. And 
 most significant is the conduct of Moses ; 
 he does not only intercede, though his pros- 
 tration in the dust is the attitude of the 
 mediator, but he commands that to be done 
 which, by showing upon what acceptable in- 
 tercession for the guilty can alone be based, 
 at once makes his mediation successful. 
 " And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, 
 and put fire therein from off the altar, and 
 put incense, and go quickly unto the con- 
 gregation, and make an atonement for them ; 
 for there is wrath gone out from the Lord, 
 the plague is begun. And Aaron took as 
 Moses commanded, and ran into the midst 
 of the congregation ; and behold the plague 
 was begun among the people ; and he put 
 
222 IN MEM OB I AM. 
 
 on incense, and made an atonement for the 
 people. And he stood between the dead 
 and the living, and the plague was stayed." 
 What a scene, if some master should por- 
 tray it on the canvas ! the surging and 
 angry mob, struck by the vengeance of 
 God ! their proud waves of opposition to 
 his will, stayed by the angel of death ! 1 
 the strong man, stricken to the earth, 
 writhing in anguish, exchanging in a mo- 
 ment the shout of tumult for the feeble 
 sigh of death ! women clinging in agony 
 to the stiffened arm, upon which, in health, 
 they had leaned for support ; looking with 
 unutterable grief into the face, which a mo- 
 ment since glowed with animation, now 
 fixed and cold in death, the flashing eye 
 dull, the scowl of passion gone forever, the 
 fierce countenance stamped with the seal of 
 pain ; aye, and while they gazed, amid the 
 tears of horror which fell upon their dead, 
 feeling the icy hand of the destroyer on 
 their own hearts, and hearing the summons 
 to eternity, sounding through their souls ! 
 children clinging to the insensible forms of 
 the mothers who bore them ; or themselves 
 swooning with a sudden collapse of the 
 powers of their infant life ! What riot of 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 223 
 
 death ; what a field of slaughter ; what 
 wide-spread desolation ! the camp which was 
 full of irrepressible activity, is now the city 
 of the dead ; and like lava poured from the 
 seething crater of a volcano, the stream of 
 death rushes on, over all that is strong, and 
 noble, and lovely ! and just by the last suf- 
 ferer, as with contortion of limb and pale 
 hue of agonized countenance, he embraces 
 his sudden doom, stands the high priest 
 clothed in the vestments of his office, with 
 mitre on his brow, and jeweled breast-plate 
 girded on his bosom ; the bells of his robe 
 shaken hi his haste, and his face lifted to 
 heaven, with a pleading look for mercy, as 
 he sprinkles the blood of atonement, and 
 swings the censer of prayer. I can almost 
 see him, as he rises amid that heap of slain, 
 the sole barrier to the wrath of God, the 
 only hope of the stricken camp. What a 
 moment of thrilling interest, as " he stood 
 between the dead and the living, and the 
 plague was stayed ! " Let the scene be en- 
 graved upon your minds, for it is full of 
 instruction ; it is a parable of grace, it is a 
 type of redemption by the Son of God. 
 
 The camp of Israel, on this occasion of 
 high-handed rebellion " against Moses and 
 
224 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 against God," is no inapt representation of 
 a world of sinners, in arms against God and 
 his law ; opposed in heart to his holy en- 
 actments, leagued together to resist his will ; 
 and only the more outrageously angry where 
 the violation of his commands has brought 
 down judgment, and they suffer under the 
 stroke of the Divine rod. " Our God is a* 
 consuming fire ; " He " cannot look upon 
 iniquity," and " will by no means clear the 
 guilty." " Though hand join in hand, the 
 wicked shall not go unpunished," and the 
 wrath of God is revealed from heaven 
 against all ungodliness and unrighteousness 
 of men. " No sooner did sin enter our 
 world, than the plague began." Nothing 
 but the mediation of the Prophet " like 
 unto Moses," the Son of God himself, can 
 avert the " wrath " of the All-holy. " The 
 Lord," saith the prophet Isaiah, " saw that 
 there was no man, and wondered that 
 there was no intercessor ; therefore his own 
 arm brought salvation unto Him, and his 
 righteousness it sustained Him." As Moses 
 was sent for the deliverance of Israel, and 
 made the mediator between Jehovah and 
 their guilty tribes, so " God so loved the 
 world as to give his only begotten Son," 
 
REV, CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 225 
 
 and there is " one mediator between God 
 and men, the man Christ Jesus." But his 
 intercession is not the pleading of cries and 
 tears and entreaties. It is not that He lies 
 prostrate before the mercy-seat, imploring 
 compassion. His mediation is based upon 
 his atonement ; the intercession on the 
 right hand of God is the result and con- 
 summation of Christ's priestly work upon 
 the cross. His plea for the guilty, by 
 which He would avert the stroke of justice 
 and turn aside the death which is the 
 penalty of sin, is his atoning sacrifice. He 
 stands, the " High Priest, passed into the 
 heavens, " and cries with a voice which finds 
 an echo in the will and purpose of the God- 
 head who planned redemption, " Deliver 
 from going down into the pit : I have found 
 a ransom." And thus, my brethren, may 
 the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 towards his rebellious but blood-bought 
 people, while, as their great High Priest, He 
 ever liveth to make intercession, be most 
 truly described in the words of our text : 
 " He stood between the dead and the living, 
 and the plague was stayed." He is the 
 only effectual barrier, placed by the ap- 
 pointment of God between the out-flashing 
 
 15 
 
226 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 fire of consuming justice, and the unpro- 
 tected head of the guilty sinner. Wrath is 
 " gone forth," the " plague is begun ; " the 
 deadly effects of sin may be seen on every 
 side — suffering, sorrow, disease, death, eter- 
 nal ruin ; a flood of wrath is pouring its 
 fiery billows upon a fallen earth. Terrible 
 are the ravages of sin ; fearful the destruc- 
 tion of body and soul. It is a very carni- 
 val of death, and there is no stay or hin- 
 drance to the desolation, except where the 
 great High Priest swings his censer, and 
 with the blood of atonement sprinkles and 
 protects his believing Church. Could your 
 spiritual vision be enlightened, you would 
 see the whole theatre of this world surren- 
 dered to the tragedy of death, except where 
 the true Aaron lifts his cross, and cries, in 
 the voice of loving welcome, " Look unto 
 me and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
 earth." " Neither is there salvation in any 
 other : for there is none other name under 
 heaven given among men, whereby we must 
 be saved." 
 
 Now I would ask you to-day, brethren, to 
 look upon this picture. O, that I had the 
 power to delineate, with such shades and 
 colors as would fix your adoring faith upon 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 227 
 
 the Son of God, the death of the sinner and 
 the intervention of the Saviour ! It is a 
 theme not only to fire the fancy, but to take 
 captive the heart. 
 
 First, I ask you to look upon the dark 
 background of the scene ; but you must not 
 be content to gaze as a mere spectator ; it 
 is your own portrait, with that of all your 
 fellow-sinners of Adam's race, that is drawn 
 by the pencil of the Spirit. I stand in this 
 pulpit to deal with realities, in which you 
 are all personally concerned. And, my 
 friends, there is nothing so real, or in which 
 you are so deeply interested, as the rebel- 
 lious attitude of the human race toward 
 God. To one who is not too entirely en- 
 grossed with the act of sin, in which he is 
 engaged with his fellows, to have any regard 
 to God and our relations to Him, and espe- 
 cially to all who are instructed from the 
 pages of God's Word, the mass of mankind 
 must appear as a great tumultuous mob of 
 opposers of the Divine will. Individual 
 transgression combines, with no other order 
 than that of hostility to the Lord, in a world- 
 wide antagonism to holiness and truth. 
 With will perverted, and passions excited 
 against the Divine law, from all the hab- 
 
228 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 itations of the sons of men there pours forth 
 a crowd of murmurers against God. The 
 authority of his commandment has for them 
 no power ; the indications of his providence, 
 which, like the pillar of cloud resting above 
 the camp, maybe read in all around us, can 
 neither awe nor restrain them. Self-asser- 
 tion, persistency in doing their own pleasure, * 
 and discontent at any of the checks or judg- 
 ments of Jehovah mark, and combine in 
 one league and fellowship of sin, all the 
 children of Adam. Various tribes and fam- 
 ilies, with great diversity of individual bent 
 and choice, unite in the world-wide protest 
 against the sovereign dominion of God. 
 What a spectacle must this apostate earth 
 present to the angels and hierarchies of 
 heaven, as, from the battlements of the 
 skies, they view the rebellion and disorder of 
 our race ! What a view must be spread be- 
 fore the omniscient eye of God, as, from his 
 throne of glory, He inspects the work of his 
 hands ! " They are corrupt, they have done 
 abominable works, there is none that doeth 
 good. The Lord looked down upon the 
 children of men, to see if there were any 
 that did understand, and seek God. They 
 are all gone aside, they are all together be- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 229 
 
 come filthy: there is none that doeth good, 
 no, not one." Can we wonder, that there 
 is " wrath gone out from the Lord ; " and 
 
 that ;; the plague," which is engendered of 
 siii, and which ends in eternal death, " is 
 begun?" My fellow sinners! are you not 
 conscious of that plague ? Do you not see 
 it in the disorders of society, in the social 
 evils, which everywhere mark the habitation 
 of men : in the wars, the discord, the injus- 
 tice, the rapacity of the human race ? Is it 
 not tracked by the ravages of disease, the 
 woes of the bereaved, the darkness and cor- 
 ruption of the grave ? Especially do you 
 not recognize its fearful taint upon your 
 own soul ? Which of you is without sin ? 
 Who does not groan under corruption and 
 spiritual death ? If any who are yet unre- 
 newed by the Spirit of Grace, are not awak- 
 ened to the terrors of their condition, this 
 very insensibility is the most, aggravated 
 symptom of the disease ; " conscience is de- 
 filed ; " the mind is wrapped in the gloom 
 of death. Alas for us, if only the whelming 
 judgments of God awaken us to our peril; 
 if the besom of destruction sweep us away, 
 ere we have been aroused to see the only, 
 but sure deliverance ! 
 
230 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Second. " Consider," saith St. Paul to 
 the Hebrews, " the Apostle and High Priest 
 of our profession, Christ Jesus." It is his 
 presence in the foreground of the picture, 
 standing like Aaron, "between the dead 
 and the living," which gives all the light 
 and beauty to the scene. Let St. John 
 describe to you how the colors are blended 
 in the glory of his person. " I saw seven 
 golden candlesticks ; and in the midst of 
 the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son 
 of Man, clothed with a garment down to the 
 foot, and girt about the paps with a golden 
 girdle. His head and his hairs were white 
 like wool, as white as snow ; and his eyes 
 were as a flame of fire ; and his feet like 
 unto fine brass, as if they burned in a 
 furnace ; and his voice as the sound of many 
 waters. And He had in his right hand 
 seven stars : and out of his mouth went a 
 sharp two-edged sword : and his counte- 
 nance was as the sun shineth in his strength." 
 It is this true Aaron, standing in the midst 
 of his blood-bought Church, which gives to 
 any of the sons of men the life of grace and 
 salvation. The " living " live in Him who 
 separates them from the dead. His person 
 is the only line of demarcation ; his work of 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 231 
 
 atonement the sole ground of deliverance. 
 He Himself is the door and the way, by 
 which every believing soul " passes from 
 death unto life." It is his ever-living inter- 
 cession, which secures the believing Church 
 from the doom of the guilty world. " He 
 is," saith the Apostle, " the Mediator of the 
 New Testament, that by means of death, 
 for the redemption of the transgressions 
 that were under the first testament, they 
 which are called might receive the promise 
 of eternal inheritance." And " Once, in the 
 end of the world, hath He appeared, to put 
 away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." All 
 that was prefigured by Aaron and his priest- 
 hood, the smoking altar and burning incense 
 and sprinkled blood of the Jewish ritual, is 
 accomplished in the atonement and inter- 
 cession of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law 
 by Moses detects the guilt of man, and pro- 
 claims the wrath of God; unable itself to 
 " justify the ungodly," it calls aloud to the 
 High Priest, " Make an atonement ; " and it 
 is not, and cannot be, until He stands " be- 
 tween the dead and the living," that " the 
 plague is stayed." Now, my brethren, I 
 would ask you, Do you receive this ? Con- 
 scious of the wrath, which is justly gone 
 
232 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 forth against your transgressions-, what is 
 your hope of deliverance ? Death is all 
 around. The strong and the weak fall be- 
 fore his scythe ; what will you do when 
 God riseth up ? and when He yisiteth, what 
 will you answer Hirn ? O, rny brother, ere, 
 amid the ranks of the dying, you sink into 
 eternal night, I would take you by the hand, 
 I would whisper in your ear, " Behold the 
 Lamb of God;" I would point your dim 
 and glazing eye to the great form of the 
 High Priest of our profession, as He stands 
 " between the dead and the living," as He 
 lifts the cross as the symbol of hope, and 
 points to heaven as the throne of his medi- 
 ation, the Holy of holies from which He has 
 rent the veil, that there may be free access, 
 in recovered life, to the presence of a recon- 
 ciled God. I would solemnly press home 
 upon each one of you this inquiry, and pray 
 God by his Spirit to carry it to your heart, 
 Upon which side of the death line are you 
 standing ? It is marked out by the far- 
 reaching shadow of the cross. Here, where 
 rebellious, murmuring crowds of uncon- 
 verted shiners are lying in the cold embrace 
 of spiritual death, the sentence is, " Con- 
 demned already ; " M and this is the condem- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 233 
 
 nation, that light is come into the world, 
 and men loved darkness rather than light, 
 because their deeds were evil." And there, 
 " passed from death unto life," with the 
 great High Priest between them and wrath, 
 swinging his censer, and sprinkling his 
 blood of atonement ; there, where the Spirit, 
 descending from the cross on which Imman- 
 uel hung, quickened, by the new birth from 
 above, the souls bought with blood ; there 
 is breathed, as in the sweet voices of the 
 winds of heaven, the assurance penetrating 
 every heart with which the Spirit bears wit- 
 ness, " There is now no condemnation to 
 them which are in Christ Jesus." Is that 
 assurance yours, as you exercise faith in the 
 Son of God ? Do you rest only on the work 
 of Christ ? Has his blood cleansed you 
 from all sin ? My dear hearers, I am in- 
 quiring after a fact, the result of which is, 
 that the plague of sin is stayed ; stayed in 
 its power now, and in its fearful conse- 
 quences hereafter. Christ stands to-day 
 between the dead and the living ; his face 
 averted from those, his countenance of love 
 beaming upon these. And as his censer 
 swings, and the day of his grace is not 
 ended, I ask, On which side of his person 
 
234 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 and work do you stand ? are you with, or 
 against the Son of God ? are you sheltered 
 by his cross, or more deeply condemned by 
 his rejected sacrifice ? " Between the liv- 
 ing and the dead," He will stand on that 
 great day of judgment, when, to those on 
 his right hand He shall say, "Come, ye 
 blessed ; " and to those on his left hand, 
 who sought Him not on earth, " Depart, ye 
 cursed, into everlasting fire." Then will 
 the states of life and death be fixed forever, 
 and by Christ will the sentence proceed e 
 
1/ 
 
 JESUS* IN THE MIDST OF THOSE GATH- 
 EKED IN HIS NAME. 
 
 "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, 
 there am I in the midst of them." — Matthew xviii. 20. 
 
 The presence of God is the life of the 
 universe. To his rational creatures the lov- 
 ing consciousness of that presence is the 
 highest joy. The curse of guilt is, that it 
 blinds to his glory, and makes sinners trem- 
 ble at the nearness of Jehovah. The awful 
 judgment denounced against those that 
 " know not God and obey not the gospel of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ " is, that they shall 
 be "punished with everlasting destruction 
 from the presence of the Lord, and from the 
 glory of his power." The consummation of 
 glory in the " New Jerusalem " is, that 
 " the tabernacle of God is with men, and 
 He will dwell with them, and they shall be 
 his people, and God himself shall be with 
 them, and be their God." With this hope, 
 the hearts of the children of grace are full ; 
 to this they look forward, when in the ear- 
 nestness of faith they exclaim -*- in response 
 to the promise of their Lord, " Surely I come 
 
236 IN MEM OKI AM. 
 
 quickly" — "Amen. Even so come, Lord 
 Jesus." 
 
 But there are, my brethren, for believ- 
 ing hearts, foretastes of that joy, before the 
 Lord " shall come to be glorified in his 
 saints and admired in all them that believe." 
 " The kingdom of heaven is within you," 
 and " among you," and while the Church is 
 in the wilderness, surrounded by enemies, 
 exposed to trials, and toiling in pilgrimage 
 to the Canaan of rest, the pillar of fire and 
 cloud is before her, and the promise to 
 every trusting heart is sure. " My presence 
 shall go with thee." The removal of guilt 
 from believers in Christ, so that they may 
 not fear the presence of God, and the exter- 
 mination of corruption, that they may enjoy 
 his communion, is that work of grace which, 
 begun here, shall be perfected in glory. 
 Only through redemption could it be accom- 
 plished for sinful creatures. Our first par- 
 ents, after their transgression, when they 
 " heard the voice of the Lord God walking 
 in the garden in the cool of the day," " hid 
 themselves from the presence of the Lord," 
 amongst the trees of the garden ; and ever 
 since, through all the generations of Adam's 
 corrupt race, the manifestation of God to 
 the wicked has been a " consuming fire." 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 237 
 
 But with " a Daysman," who can lay his 
 hand upon both God and the sinner, and 
 turn away alike the righteous anger of the 
 one, and the guilty fear of the other, " A 
 new and living way is opened " unto us, to 
 the presence of the Lord, and " through 
 Him, we have access by one Spirit, unto the 
 Father." " God was in 'Christ reconciling 
 the world unto Himself," and his presence 
 is now indeed the life and joy of his people. 
 The realization of that presence by faith, 
 and the communion which follows, while we 
 " walk with God," and " sit in heavenly 
 places," and " have fellowship with the 
 Father and with his Son Jesus Christ," are 
 the privileges of those who are " born of 
 God," and " made near, by the blood of the 
 cross." 
 
 The text shows us one form of this inter- 
 course, and I desire by God's grace to dwell 
 upon it, at this first Lenten service, so that 
 it may be to us, at all those meetings for 
 prayer, a reality and a delight. "Where 
 two or three are gathered together in my 
 name, there am I in the midst of them." It 
 is the promise to social worship ; the sure 
 word of Scripture, upon which we rest 
 united prayer. With that beautiful fitness 
 
238 rN MEMORIAM. 
 
 which marks our Liturgy, this assurance of 
 Christ, enlarged, by the incorporation of the 
 promise of the verse preceding the text, into 
 a pledge of " granting our requests," is 
 made in the language of St. Chrysostom the 
 closing plea of our " morning and evening 
 prayer ; " and could we possess our hearts 
 with the truth of this declaration, our meet- 
 ings in the congregations would be occa- 
 sions of joy, while, by faith, we beheld Je- 
 sus " in our midst ; " and " of his fullness, re- 
 ceived grace for grace." To aid us in this, 
 let us consider the blessing that is here 
 made sure to all believing hearts. " Where 
 two or three are gathered together in my 
 name." The numbers assembling are, you 
 will notice, made the smallest possible, that 
 there may always be the faith of acceptance, 
 where more than one of God's people unite 
 for prayer. Not only in the crowded tem- 
 ple, but with the " two or three," which was 
 Christ's chosen number, on several occasions 
 when, on earth, He was pleased to admit his 
 disciples to special nearness to Himself — 
 will He be present in worship. 
 
 It is not the place, or the ceremony, or 
 the mode of prayer, or the person conduct- 
 ing it, that ensures the blessing. But the 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 239 
 
 promise is to Christ's people gathered in 
 his name, — whether assembled on the 
 mountain-side, or in rocks and caves and 
 catacombs, or on the bosom of the great 
 deep, or in the upper chambers, or any- 
 where throughout this grand temple of 
 earth which is all dedicated to God ; with 
 its canopy of blue, and its star-studded dome, 
 and its furniture of hill and dale ; with its 
 warbling of feathered songsters, and the rich 
 melody of human voices ; with its music of 
 winds and waves, its sounding cataracts, and 
 its yet more impressive silence ; with its 
 splendor of sunshine, putting to shame the 
 flickering light of men, and its deep solemn 
 shade of mountain and forest ; with its con- 
 secrated altar, the blood-sprinkled heart of 
 redeemed man, and its priests, those whom 
 Christ hath breathed upon by his Spirit, 
 and "made kings and priests unto God," 
 through faith in his name. 
 
 It is to believing, praying spirits every- 
 where, that the promise is sealed ; only it 
 must be in Christ's name that they come, 
 and in Jesus that they trust, and on Him 
 that they depend, and Him that they seek, 
 and through Him that they ask ; and the 
 fullness of his grace will be there, as sure as 
 
240 IN MEM OBI AM. 
 
 when, from the magnificent temple at Jeru- 
 salem, the glory of the Shekinah burst forth 
 on the day of dedication, from the Holy of 
 Holies, so that king and priests and Le- 
 vites fled from the present Jehovah. To 
 the Samaritan who met Him at the well, 
 our Lord's own word was, " Woman, be- 
 lieve me, the hour cometh, when ye shall 
 neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jeru- 
 salem, worship the Father. The hour com- 
 eth, and now is, when the true worshippers 
 shall worship the Father in spirit and in 
 truth." 
 
 Everywhere is God's temple, if there are 
 only hearts there that burn with love, and 
 send up in faith, through the one Mediator, 
 the blood-sprinkled sacrifice of prayer and 
 praise. Your care, when you come together, 
 beloved, should not be only for the arrange- 
 ment of the outward sanctuary — though this 
 should surely be decent, and expressive, as 
 far as may be, of your reverent love for your 
 Lord — but your great anxiety should be, that 
 " in the name of Jesus," ye are come ; that 
 your need of Him has brought you to seek 
 his presence ; and your faith in his person, 
 and work, and atonement, and intercession, 
 is lively and active. 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 241 
 
 We should all ask ourselves, brethren, as 
 we take our place in any assembly of God's 
 people, Why am I here ? what are the mo- 
 tives that constrain me ? what are the ends 
 that I have in view ? what are the means 
 that I am now about to employ ? Is it 
 " Christ," who is Himself the answer to 
 every question that I can make of my heart ? 
 Sought by Him, saved by Him, consecrated 
 to Him, desiring to live to Him, and to com- 
 mune with Him, have I come ? Do I say 
 with Jacob, at Bethel, " This is none other 
 than the house of God, and this is the gate 
 of heaven " ? Is it any wonder, that Christ 
 is absent from our churches and our ap- 
 pointed times of prayer, when there are so 
 many false and sinful motives which as- 
 semble those who call themselves his peo- 
 ple ? Can you be surprised that He does 
 not sit in the gay circle of fashion, or mani- 
 fest Himself in love to the worldly and in- 
 different ? Can you wonder that they who 
 come only from habit, or who are dragged 
 thither by custom, do not meet the King in 
 his courts ? That they who bring with 
 them hearts full charged with care and 
 pleasure, that they who come to gaze idly 
 at their fellows, or converse pleasantly with 
 
 16 
 
242 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 companions, or sit in the seat of the scorner, 
 or sleep, it may be, with the indolent, or en- 
 gage in anything else rather than reverent 
 worship and communion, find no blessing, 
 where, indeed, they claim no Scriptural 
 promise ? Remember, it is not outward 
 profession, which a heart-searching God 
 will ever be satisfied with. " In the name 
 of Christ," does not mean only in the garb 
 of disciples, disguised, it may be, as Chris- 
 tians, while in truth we are wholly the 
 world's. It does not mean with his name 
 upon our lips, or in our prayer books, while 
 our hearts are set on idols ; but it implies 
 the sincere and humble approach of sinners, 
 who feel their need of the Saviour, and with 
 a sense of guilt, and faith in his blood and 
 righteousness, come to plead out before God 
 the blessings of redemption. 
 
 How is it to-day, my beloved hearers ? 
 How have you come up at this Lenten call 
 to the house of God ? Search your hearts ; 
 see to your motives. Have you real petitions 
 to bring ? have you personal application to 
 make to the King, as He sitteth upon his 
 throne, and holdeth forth to his blood- 
 bought Church, the Spouse and Beloved of 
 his heart, the golden sceptre and acceptance ? 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 243 
 
 If so, then let me aid you this morning in 
 obtaining a view of the blessing which is 
 covenanted to you. It is such, indeed, as 
 heaven itself affords no greater. It is the 
 foretaste of the bliss of saints ; it is parti- 
 cipation in the joys of angels, who stand 
 around the throne, and see the face of God. 
 Of the " two or three, gathered together in 
 his name," Jesus says, " I am in the midst 
 of them." He, with whom his people de- 
 parted from this earth are, in paradise ; He, 
 before whom angels, " thousand thousands 
 minister," and " ten thousand times ten 
 thousand, stand;" He is with us, not seen 
 by eyes of sense, but near to the gaze and 
 grasp of faith. Suppose it were otherwise, 
 and that, with mortal vision, we could see 
 the King in his beauty." How impressive, 
 how awful, would be the sight ! Such a 
 vision we shall surely have, when He shall 
 " come in the clouds, and all the holy angels 
 with Him." 
 
 How soon that may be, we know not . 
 what surpassing beauty shall there break 
 upon our raptured sight, we cannot con- 
 ceive. If we are the sons of God, " We 
 know, indeed, that when He shall appear 
 we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him 
 
244 IN MEMORIAM. \ 
 
 as He is." But now, " having riot seen, his 
 believing people love Him," and his presence 
 and communion are foretastes of glory. 
 Christ was present once, on earth, with his 
 disciples, not only in his time of humilia- 
 tion, and during his life and ministry, as 
 He passed through the world of sorrow to 
 the cross ; but after He was " declared to 
 be the son of God with power by the resur- 
 rection from the dead," and just before He 
 " ascended up on high, leading captivity cap- 
 tive." Let us think what that presence 
 was, and we shall come to know something 
 more definite of this. 
 
 Open the gospels, and read the narrative 
 of the life of Jesus, from Bethlehem to Cal- 
 vary, and you will learn much of the bless- 
 ing of which I am speaking. You will see 
 unfolded in daily activity, amid the affairs 
 of the world, and in the companionship of 
 men, the true humanity of the Son of God. 
 His character is delineated, by the touch of 
 inspiration, in the atmosphere of light and 
 goodness that surrounds Him. His heart 
 will be opened to you, in his words of love 
 and deeds of benevolence. His tenderness 
 and compassion will be recognized in his 
 sighs and groans ; and his overflowing syni- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 245 
 
 pathy, in his tears. " Never man spake 
 like this man." " He receiveth sinners." 
 "Behold how He loved!" "I find no 
 fault in Him." " Truly, this was a right- 
 eous man." These are testimonies, not of 
 friends, but of enemies ; of the officers sent 
 to take Him, of the Pharisees, of Pilate, of 
 the centurion who was in command at his 
 crucifixion : what then must have been the 
 judgment and appreciation of his disciples ? 
 of Peter, who confessed Him so nobly ; of the 
 sons of Zebedee, who would sit on his right 
 hand and his left ; of Matthew, who left 
 all, and followed Him ; of Mary, who sat at 
 his feet ; of John, who leaned on his breast ? 
 What a friendship was that which their 
 privileged souls had with Jesus ! How must 
 they have rejoiced in his love, feasted on 
 his words of wisdom, rested in his sym- 
 pathy, and been guided and cheered by his 
 intercourse ! You remember how they 
 shrank from the possibility of losing Him. 
 The grief that surcharged their souls is re- 
 flected to us in those words of their Lord, 
 " None of you asketh me, Whither goest 
 Thou ? But because I have said these things 
 unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart." 
 11 Let not your heart be troubled, neither 
 
246 IN ME MORI AM. 
 
 let it be afraid." They could not ask, for 
 they could not bear the thought of his de- 
 parture. 
 
 They could not endure that all that sweet 
 intercourse should come to an end ; that 
 those eyes, so full of love, should rest upon 
 them no longer, whose one look drove the 
 shining Peter to " weep bitterly ;" that that 
 strong yet gentle hand, which had plucked 
 them from many a danger, and touched 
 them in many a blessing, and grasped them 
 ever with the warm pressure of the truest 
 friendship, should be cold in death ; that that 
 tongue, which had spoken words of invita- 
 tion and warning and promise, which had 
 cheered them amid sorrow, and counseled 
 them in danger, and bid them not tremble 
 at death, should be hushed ; that those feet, 
 which had " gone about doing good," should 
 be pierced and still, and bound with the 
 grave-clothes ; that He, who was the centre 
 of their love and unity, their Master and 
 Teacher and Lord, should be taken from 
 them,' and they orphans, in a world of trial, 
 should be without his fellowship and con- 
 verse. This was a thing hard to be borne, 
 and the shrinking of heart at the thought 
 shows us what a companionship was that of 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 247 
 
 Jesus when on earth, a wayfarer, He dwelt 
 with men. 
 
 But this was before his passion : turn a 
 few pages in the sacred story, and read 
 again. What glimpses of joy are in those 
 forty days of his sojourn, after his resurrec- 
 tion ! He had now put on his spiritual body : 
 that in which He pleads for us, before the 
 throne on high ; with which He ascended 
 from Bethany, and with which " his feet 
 shall stand again on the Mount of Olives." 
 It seemed a recovered loss, and this gave 
 greater zest to the universal joy. When 
 He revealed Himself to Magdalen, it was 
 no wonder that she would have touched 
 Him, since she knew not yet the higher 
 blessing of his kingdom. When He " met," 
 with his " All hail," those women returning 
 from the sepulchre, it is not strange that 
 " they held Him by the feet and worshipped 
 Him." Those two disciples on the way to 
 Emmaus — it camiot surprise you that their 
 "hearts burned within them, while He talked 
 with them by the way, and opened to them 
 the Scriptures." What joy must have 
 taken the place of the first " affright," 
 when He stood in the midst of the disciples, 
 and showed them his hands and his feet, 
 
248 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 and said, " Peace be unto you." Can you 
 marvel that Thomas cried out, at the 
 sight of Him, " My Lord and my God ! " 
 Do you not expect that John shall know 
 Him at once by his voice, as He calls to 
 them from the sea-shore ? and how like 
 Peter it was, to cast himself into the sea 
 in order to reach Him, as soon as He was 
 recognized. And who shall describe the 
 joy of that assemblage of brethren on the 
 " mountain in Galilee," where " Jesus had 
 appointed them " a meeting ? or who shall 
 express the interest and love with which 
 they hung upon his words, as He " spake of 
 the things pertaining to the kingdom of 
 God"? 
 
 Here, in all these scenes, may you learn 
 something of the preciousness of the pres- 
 ence of Jesus with his people. Yet He 
 told them plainly that higher blessings were 
 in store. " Touch me not," He said to the 
 loving Mary, " f or I have not yet ascended 
 to my Father." " It is expedient for you 
 that I go away : for if I go not away, the 
 Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I 
 depart, I will send Him unto you," was his 
 word of consolation to his mourning disci- 
 ples ; and they understood, in time, how this 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 249 
 
 was true, when his pleading at the mercy- 
 seat procured for them the Holy Ghost, by 
 whom He is present with his Church in all 
 ages and at all times and places, with the 
 same tenderness, and nearness, and compas- 
 sion, and personal regard, which distin- 
 guished Him when He was on earth ; prov- 
 ing that He is indeed for all his saints Jesus 
 Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for- 
 ever. 
 
 Now, brethren, this is the testimony of 
 the disciple whom He loved, by which He 
 would win us to the like enjoyment of 
 a never absent Lord : " That which was 
 from the beginning, which we have heard, 
 which we have seen with our eyes, which 
 we have looked upon, and our hands have 
 handled, of the Word of life, declare we 
 unto you, that ye also may have fellowship 
 with us : and truly our fellowship is with 
 the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." 
 
 Yes, my friends, that fellowship with God 
 in Christ is ours, that presence of Emmanuel 
 is with us still. Not more surely to- the 
 disciples in the upper room, or upon the 
 Sea of Tiberias, or on the mountain in Gal- 
 ilee, or at Bethany or Capernaum, was Jesus 
 present, than " where two or three are 
 
250 IN MEMOR1AM. 
 
 gathered together in his name," He is now 
 "in the midst of them." 
 
 He is here to-day, if but two hearts 
 among us are humbly waiting for his pres- 
 ence. He is here, not bodily, not visibly, 
 not in the sacrament, or upon the altar, as 
 some say ; not in one part of the church, 
 more than in another ; not in the church at 
 all, as a building set apart and consecrated 
 for any such purpose, for " God dwelleth 
 not in temples made with hands ; heaven is 
 his throne, and earth is his footstool ; " but 
 truly, and by covenant promise, present by 
 the Holy Ghost, and in the hearts of his re- 
 generate and believing people. " Know ye 
 not," saith the Apostle, "that ye are the 
 temple of God, and that the Spirit of God 
 dwelleth in you ? " It is by the Holy 
 Spirit whom He hath sent, that the Saviour, 
 who is in his humanity before the throne 
 of heaven, yet dwells in the midst of his 
 Church on earth. That Spirit is " the 
 Spirit of Christ," as " taking of the things 
 of Christ and shewing them unto us." It 
 is his office, as " the Comforter," to repre- 
 sent Christ ; to be his Vicar and Vicegerent, 
 to bring his people near to Him, and Him 
 to them, that He may " dwell in their hearts 
 by faith." 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 251 
 
 God, the trinity in unity, Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost, is indeed everywhere 
 present. He fills heaven and earth, He fills 
 all things. But as Christ, the Son of 
 the Father, in the economy of mediation, 
 bears a peculiar relation, as Brother and 
 Saviour, to sinful, but redeemed men who 
 believe in Him, so the Holy Ghost, as the 
 Spirit of Christ, in addition to that Divine 
 and essential omnipresence which He pos- 
 sesses as one with Father and Son, bears a 
 special and official relation to the believing 
 Church. He fills it with his presence, as the 
 Spirit of Grace ; and in regard to that pres- 
 ence, as truly his own, Christ himself de- 
 clares, " I will not leave you comfortless, I 
 will come to you." This presence, beloved, 
 of Christ, by his Spirit in our hearts, let us 
 ever prize ; and above all things seek. 
 
 When you gather in the name of Jesus, 
 be not satisfied unless He thus be with you ; 
 and He will be, He is most surely, when 
 your faith is lively, when your hearts are 
 knit together in love, when spiritual and 
 Scriptural worship is humbly offered, when 
 his blood and righteousness is the sinner's 
 only plea. He is present, not on the altar, 
 to be fumed with incense, and honored with 
 
252 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 waving banners, and bowed to with pros- 
 trate form, as if He could there be localized ; 
 but in the midst of you, in your hearts, to 
 be loved, and honored, and trusted, and 
 worshipped ; that you may tell Him your 
 griefs, and breathe your vows, and whisper 
 your requests, and confess your sinsj and ask 
 his pardon and grace; and that He, the 
 same Jesus who was on earth, may love, 
 and pardon, and sympathize with, and save 
 you. 
 
A COMMUNION SERMON. 
 
 11 With desire I have desired to eat this passover with } 7 ou 
 before I suffer." — Luke xxii. 15. 
 
 How solemnly must these words of the 
 Lord Jesus have broken the silence of " the 
 large upper room " in Jerusalem, where, 
 " with his twelve Apostles," He was about 
 " to eat the passover." It was, we learn 
 from St. Paul, " the same night in which 
 He was betrayed." It was the occasion 
 upon which He abolished an Old Testament 
 ordinance which typified his salvation, and 
 established that sacrament of the New Cove- 
 nant, which is "in remembrance of Him;" 
 and in which, " as often as they eat the 
 bread and drink the cup," his disciples 
 " show the Lord's death, till He come." 
 Is there any incident of our Redeemer's 
 life more worthy of commemoration ? is 
 there any hour, around which faith and 
 love linger with holier memories ? Eighteen 
 hundred years have passed, yet who that 
 has " tasted that the Lord is gracious," but 
 feels the power of that scene, and turns to 
 the narrative of it in the Gospel, with a 
 
254 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 freshness that no familiarity can destroy ? 
 Wherever the Church of Christ has existence 
 it is solemnly reenacted, and affords the 
 simple but enduring bond of unity and fel- 
 lowship. We have met to-night, dear 
 Christian friends, in 'the midst of the week 
 which is made holy by the recital of our 
 Lord's passion, with the cross in view, and 
 the great atonement offered thereon, leading 
 us to the resurrection, to recall, with special 
 service, the night on which " the Lord's 
 Supper " was " commanded," and to ex- 
 press, in " the Holy Communion of the 
 Body and Blood " of Emmanuel, and with 
 Eucharistic worship, around " the Lord's 
 Table," that " we, being many, are one 
 bread and one body ; for we are all par- 
 takers of that one Bread." It is no mere 
 social compact that invites us, no voluntary 
 agreement only that associates us, and, 
 while the historic Church of Christ is our 
 visible organization, it is oneness with the 
 Master himself, which gives life to our 
 " unity in the Spirit," and, with the golden 
 cord of a love linked to his own heart, 
 graciously holds us " in the bond of peace." 
 No truer exhibition of the fellowship of 
 " the familv for which our Lord Jesus 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 255 
 
 Christ was contented to be betrayed, and 
 given up into the hands of wicked men, and 
 to suffer death upon the cross," can be 
 given, than " the cup of blessing which vre 
 here bless," as " the communion of the blood 
 of Christ ; " and the bread which we now 
 break, as the " communion of the body of 
 Christ." The Lord Jesus himself ordained 
 it, and the Church, through all ages, has 
 never ceased, " in the breaking of bread," 
 to " feed upon her Lord by faith, and to com- 
 mune, in Him, with all his faithful people." 
 If the world takes pleasure in tracing to 
 their origin its races and languages ; if 
 statesman are interested in showing the 
 sources of their country's constitution and 
 laws, the Christian may surely indulge a 
 higher instinct of his renewed nature, when 
 he recurs to the birth of the kingdom of 
 God, and commemorates the rise of those 
 holy institutions which are interwoven with 
 its family history, its language of affection, 
 and its laws of grace. I would take you, 
 this evening, to the fountain-head, from 
 which the stream of the Church's usage 
 flows ; and I would quicken your apprecia- 
 tion of this ordinance of the Redeemer, as 
 you see Him, in the last hours of a ministry 
 
256 IN MEMORIAL. 
 
 of love, appointing it as a memorial to his 
 disciples forever. There is something im- 
 pressive in visiting the locality in which 
 great men have lived, or where important 
 events were transacted. Who has not felt 
 the heart moved as he stood where genius 
 had a home, or where heroism was illus- 
 trated, either in self-sacrifice, or in glory ? 
 How do men take note of the battle-fields 
 of the world, or of the haunts of poets, or of 
 the last resting-places of the great and the 
 good ! It is not to be wondered at, the feel- 
 ing which thus seeks expression should have 
 made its demands upon Christianity ; and 
 that the home, and abiding places of the 
 Incarnate Son of God, should have been 
 sought for with avidity. But it has been 
 observed that in regard to no one, that ever 
 lived upon the earth, is there less certainty, 
 as to the localities in which they abode, 
 than in the case of our Lord. Confined, as 
 his ministry was, to the land of his birth, 
 though the whole of Palestine is fragrant 
 with the memories of his life, yet, in respect 
 to particular spots, which we would love to 
 consecrate with the assurance that there 
 He sat, and walked, and spake, and worked 
 his deeds of wonder and of grace, we cannot 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 257 
 
 be certain of the topography, and must sat- 
 isfy our minds with only general associa- 
 tions, with certain mountains and seas and 
 cities, which were sanctified by his presence, 
 and whose names can never die out of the 
 recollection of the readers of the Gospels. 
 With a life so unique, and a history so au- 
 thentic, it is from the inspired record, 
 rather than from the scenes of his ministry, 
 that we gather vivid conceptions of the Son 
 of Man. A universal Saviour, his biogra- 
 phy is the peculiar treasure of no single 
 country ; and men of all climes are equally 
 interested in his glory. There is, however, 
 in the narrative of the Evangelist, a graphic 
 power which takes hold of the imagination ; 
 and while the portrait is that of the mind 
 and character, and physical features are not 
 so much as hinted at, there is the vividness 
 of reality, carefully guarded by the exact- 
 ness of truth. Upon this likeness, presented 
 to us on every side by the four biographies, 
 we should gaze with ardent love. The flow- 
 ing stream of the Church's life, through 
 ages, is to be freshened ever from the foun- 
 tain-head of truth and love incarnate in Je- 
 sus Christ. As we gather to-night around 
 the table of the Lord, brethren in Him, liv- 
 
 17 
 
258 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 ing by his life, and bound together in 
 " the unity of his Spirit," let us be carried 
 back to " the night in which He was be- 
 trayed," and sit with Him, and the twelve 
 whom He had chosen. It is not mere imi- 
 tation that we would attempt : the Church 
 is free to adapt herself, in ritual observances, 
 to varying necessities ; so that the oneness 
 of the faith, as " delivered to the saints," 
 be intact. It is the truth, that we would 
 grasp ; the life, which we would secure ; the 
 love, that we would reproduce. Let us en- 
 ter that upper room. I know not how it 
 was arranged ; the custom of the Jewish fes- 
 tival was, no doubt, observed ; but this is 
 not dwelt upon in the inspired narrative. 
 That it is the passover, and that there is 
 the appointed food of the occasion, and the 
 cups of wine, which were drank in thanks- 
 giving, are all that seem noted. Nor is it 
 with the old feast, now passing out of view, 
 that we have to do ; " the New Testament " 
 in the Saviour's " blood " absorbs to itself 
 the interest. It is not the posture of the 
 Lord, or his guests, that I am engaged with. 
 He sits, or lies at table, as was the usage of 
 the times. But with the Master himself, I 
 am deeply concerned. He is near " the 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 259 
 
 hour of darkness," and " the baptism " that 
 He longed for is at hand. Never in all his 
 association with the twelve has He ap- 
 peared more distinctively their Lord. 
 
 You can form no conception of that scene, 
 in which Christ is not the central figure. 
 Painters have taxed their art to give reality 
 to the Supper, but however they may ar- 
 range the table, and place the disciples, the 
 Master in all cases unites the children of 
 his family around Himself. It is so in the 
 words of my text: " With desire I have 
 desired to eat this passover with you before 
 I suffer." It is so in his words of institu- 
 tion : " My body and my blood, given and 
 shed for you." It is so, when He appoints 
 the sacrament, "in remembrance of me." 
 This is the thought which is expressed, 
 where He says, " I am the vine, ye are the 
 branches ; abide in me, and I in you." 
 This it is which gives the saddest solemnity 
 to the warning, " One of you shall betray 
 me." If there is any significance, my 
 brethren, in this feast at all, it sets forth a 
 present Jesus. It did so at the beginning ; 
 it does so now. I see around that table, at 
 the time of the institution, the loving John, 
 " leaning on his Master's breast ; " the ar- 
 
260 IN MEM OBI AM 
 
 dent Peter, full of earnest protestations of 
 faithfulness to his Lord ; the affectionate 
 Thomas, who on another occasion said, 
 " Let us go and die with Hiin ; " James, 
 who would have " sat on his right hand in 
 his kingdom ; " Bartholomew, or Nathaniel, 
 who saw in Him the antitype of Jacob's 
 ladder of communication between God and 
 man ; and all the other disciples of Jesus, 
 full of personal devotion to Him, now soft- 
 ened into sadness at the unwelcome words 
 which He speaks of leaving them. Even 
 the traitor appreciates but too well the 
 central interest of the occasion ; and ap- 
 pears in bold pretension to have thrust him- 
 self on the right hand of the Master, just 
 opposite where love was nestling near his 
 heart. At the Lord's table, the supreme, 
 absorbing thought is Christ. The passover 
 pointed forward to his deliverance ; and 
 this, which takes its place, speaks, O ! how 
 eloquently, of a present Saviour, whose 
 death is our life. 
 
 And we cannot be unmindful that, on 
 this "night to be remembered," it is "the 
 Son of Man, who is going as it is written of 
 Him." The whole scene is crowded with 
 human affections and sympathies. It is in- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 261 
 
 deed a family gathering. The Elder 
 Brother sits with those who are dear to 
 Him as his own soul, and they are called in 
 his loving voice, not servants, but friends. 
 How strong is that instinct of our nature 
 which causes us to cherish memorials of 
 those we love ! How universal is the inter- 
 change of tokens of regard ! How unspeak- 
 ably tender are the last moments of inter- 
 course with those who are dying ! How we 
 watch their glances of affection, and cherish 
 their words of farewell ! Promises made to 
 them are doubly sacred, and requests which 
 they leave behind are laid up in the heart, 
 as a precious trust. The closing hours 
 bring into review all that we prized in char- 
 acter, all that was amiable in conduct. 
 The shadow of the grave deepens the lines 
 of memory, and the sadness of separation 
 makes the recollection of past joys more 
 vivid. There must have been much of this 
 feeling in the hearts of the twelve, as they 
 sat around their Master at this last pass- 
 over. If they knew not the bitterness of 
 the grief that was in store for them, yet, 
 because of what He had said of his going 
 away, " sorrow had filled their hearts ; " and 
 that " none of them asked, Whither goest 
 
262 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 Thou," was the silent but most expressive 
 confession of their sadness. How must the 
 man Christ Jesus in that hour have wound 
 Himself around their hearts ! Never had 
 they felt Him so necessary to their happi- 
 ness ; it was his tender appreciation of their 
 distress, that called forth the words of en- 
 couragement, so full of the sympathy of his 
 soul, " I will not leave you comfortless, I 
 will come to you." And is there not for us, 
 my brethren, as we sit with Jesus at his 
 board, the same fellowship with his human- 
 ity ? Do we not find here " a friend who 
 sticketh closer than a brother " ? May not 
 all our affections be in exercise, as we " re- 
 member his love," and appreciate his good- 
 ness ? "I sat down under his shadow," 
 may the believer exclaim, " with great de- 
 light ; He hath brought me to the ban- 
 queting house, and his banner over me is 
 love." 
 
 But who does not feel that " a greater 
 than Solomon is here ? " No perfection of 
 manhood is equal to this office. The twelve 
 in the upper room must have felt the pres- 
 ent God. Their faith was feeble, and their 
 understandings needed the enlightenment 
 of the Holv Ghost, as at Pentecost : but, as 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 263 
 
 often before, there had been " the bright- 
 ness of the Father's glory " " shewing Himself 
 through the lattice," and they were amazed ; 
 so now, especially, must that chamber have 
 been irradiated with the unearthly splendor 
 " of the Everlasting Son of the Father." 
 What act of Christ, on this occasion, is to 
 be understood at all, if He were not " the 
 Son of God " ? I will not speak of the 
 egotism of the whole scene, which nothing 
 but the catholic faith in his Divinity can 
 account for. I will not dwell on his self- 
 confidence in this hour of danger. I will 
 not insist upon the bold attraction of all to 
 Himself ; with faith, and love, and hope, 
 centering supremely in Him. I will not 
 pause to consider his royal gifts and legacies 
 to his Church, and his bold presentation of 
 his " wills " to God, when He claims for 
 his people a share in the " glory which He 
 had with Him from the beginning." I 
 will not produce examples of his searching 
 the heart, rebuking and warning the traitor, 
 nor of his utterances concerning the de- 
 vices of Satan, foretelling his own death 
 and resurrection. I have not time to gather 
 all the beams which are struggling through 
 the darkness of this night, from the veiled 
 
264 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 Sun of Righteousness, as He enters into the 
 cloud of his passion. I ask you to consider 
 a single fact — a demonstration of the 
 truth : I mean the institution of the Supper. 
 "And He took bread, and gave thanks, 
 and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, 
 This is my body which is given for you : 
 this do in remembrance of me. . Likewise 
 also the cup after supper, saying, This cup 
 is the new testament in my blood, which 
 is shed for you." Such is the simple or- 
 dinance of Christ's appointment. But its 
 simplicity is its grandeur. It is the ordi- 
 nance, not of man, but of God; of one 
 who has said, " I am the Living Bread which 
 came down from heaven ; if any man eat of 
 this bread, he shall live forever ; and the 
 bread that I will give is my flesh, which I 
 will give for the life of the world." He now 
 sets forth, in sacramental signs, what He 
 then declared in words, " I am that Bread 
 of Life." The eye shall help the ear, and 
 each shall discover to faith its life-giving 
 sustenance, the Incarnate Son of God, fed 
 upon spiritually, in the heart, by all who 
 live in Him. " The words that I speak 
 unto you," He tells us, " they are spirit and 
 they are life." But who could have uttered 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 265 
 
 thein, except " the Son of the living God " ? 
 What mere man, standing at the door of 
 death, could look beyond it, and see the 
 Church that would be born from his pierced 
 side, and leave it, for all time, such a me- 
 morial of Himself ; such a visible sign and 
 token of life in Him, and salvation from his 
 death ? I dwell not here, upon the feeding 
 upon Christ by faith, but I ask who is this, 
 who appoints " the sacrament of so great a 
 thing " ? His Godhead stands revealed, and 
 surely as we gather around this holy table, 
 and see the memorials of his body broken, 
 and his blood shed upon the cross for us 
 miserable sinners, " we must give most hum- 
 ble and hearty thanks to God the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for the re- 
 demption of the world by the death and 
 passion of our Saviour Christ, both God 
 and man." 
 
 My brethren, I will not detain you from 
 that feast, by any prolonged discussion of 
 the grace which it exhibits, and the life 
 which it conveys by an outward and visible 
 sign, to believing hearts. I would only have 
 you, on this evening especially, to draw 
 near to this holy table with the solemn 
 recollection of that first communion. Let 
 
266 in mem ori Am. 
 
 us realize the continuity and oneness of the 
 Church of Christ. It is not now confined, 
 as at first, to secret gatherings in upper 
 chambers ; but it may, thanks be to God, 
 come out into the blaze of day, and, in 
 churches dedicated to public worship, call 
 upon the Lord, publish the gospel of his 
 grace, and observe in the face of all men, 
 the ordinances of his appointment. But if 
 the mind is ever in danger of being led 
 away from the simplicity of faith, let us re- 
 fresh our hearts with the inspired records of 
 primitive piety, and primitive worship. 
 Let us hold fellowship with the past, and 
 rebind from Scripture the chain of love 
 which links us, in the faith, with Apostles 
 and their Lord. As we left our homes to- 
 night, the same paschal moon looked gently 
 down upon us, which shone on Jerusalem 
 when the traitor " went out " to deliver up 
 his Lord, and which shed its cold shimmer 
 upon the slopes of Olivet, and into the 
 thickets of Getksemane. when the Man of 
 sorrows was borne to the ground, bleeding, 
 in his agony. The ;same star-lit heavens 
 arch above us, and the angels, who spared 
 one of their companions to be a strengthener 
 of our Master, as " ministering spirits, min- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 267 
 
 ister from thence to the heirs of salvation." 
 The changes of earth are many, and 
 often sad. We miss from our assemblies 
 companions of former years. Hopes and 
 anticipations are here disappointed. But 
 the heavens in their calmness remind us of 
 Him who " changeth not ; " and the Church, 
 which has been " redeemed from among 
 men," by the precious blood of the Son of 
 God, should partake of the stability of the 
 rock on which she is built. We look, in 
 the Word of Inspiration, for " the faith once 
 delivered to the saints ; " we confess it in 
 the creeds of the primitive ages ; we give 
 expression to Scripture truth in the litur- 
 gical worship, which the martyrs of the Ref- 
 ormation purified for us, amid the fires of 
 persecution. Let us, as we commune to- 
 night at our Master's table, seek to be in- 
 deed in harmony with the first disciples. 
 While we adore " the man, who is my fel- 
 low, saith the Lord of Hosts," let us rest 
 upon his atoning sacrifice, feed upon Him 
 as the Living Bread, and realize, in view of 
 his cross, the oneness of those for whom He 
 shed his blood. 
 
 Christ will be present with us, as He was 
 in the upper chamber ; and we shall carry 
 
268 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 from hence, written upon our hearts by his 
 Holy Spirit, " the new commandment which 
 He hath given us," " As I have loved you, 
 that ye also love one another." 
 
THE ONE MAN WHO CANNOT BE CON- 
 VICTED OF SIN. 
 
 " Which of you convinceth me of sin ? " — John viii. 46. 
 
 This is a remarkable inquiry to be ut- 
 tered by any man. It is such a bold appeal 
 as could be put forth only where there was 
 absolute righteousness. It is the yoice of 
 innocence inviting investigation, and in no 
 way shrinking from scrutiny. 
 
 Which of you, my hearers, could think of 
 making it, even where you were least 
 known ? Which of you would dare to put 
 it forth, even though there may be but the 
 most inadequate knowledge of your sinful 
 heart, and the too easy f orgetfulness of your 
 life and conduct? I have never seen or 
 heard of the man who would not feel him- 
 self forced to acknowledge some fault, even 
 though he should plead that it is " a small 
 one," and bring with it a ready excuse. 
 And in all history, ancient and modern, and 
 through all the volumes of biography with 
 which the world abounds, you shall search 
 in vain for the character, save the one from 
 
270 IN MEMOR1AM. 
 
 whom the question of the text proceeds, 
 which, however high and noble and pious, 
 could invite, or bear such an investigation. 
 Whether you read the records of Scripture 
 or examine the annals of nations, you will 
 find neither hero nor saint without fault. 
 History furnishes no character that has not 
 its shade, as well as its sunlight ; its blots of 
 shame, amid, it may be, brilliant attractions 
 of genius and greatness. Think of any man 
 that ever lived, and see if the errors of a 
 fallen humanity do not weave themselves in 
 with his story, however noble and excellent. 
 But here you have a Man, standing amid 
 his countrymen, among whom He has been 
 going in and out for thirty years, whose 
 attention has been attracted to his life by 
 circumstances of peculiar interest ; you have 
 grouped around Him friends, who have 
 shared his intimacy, and have been asso- 
 ciated with Him in the closest intercourse, 
 and you have arrayed against Him enemies, 
 who are excited by the strongest feelings of 
 prejudice and dislike ; men who have been 
 stung by his reproofs, and made to tremble 
 for their authority and position, by his lofty 
 claims ; who have watched Him with the 
 keenest hate, and sought to entangle Him 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 271 
 
 with guile, and betray Him, if possible, into 
 some fault ; who have been haunting his 
 steps, and marking his ways, and plotting 
 actively against his life ; who have ob- 
 served his deeds, and treasured up his 
 words, and are anxious, above all things, to 
 have some " occasion " against Him : and 
 before thein all, He boldly flings out a chal- 
 lenge, invites an investigation, calls for the 
 exposure of anything that may be wrong ; 
 and presses them with the demand to which 
 the attention of all is attracted by the indi- 
 viduality of the appeal : " Which of you con- 
 vinceth me of sin ? " 
 
 And is there any attempt at reply ? Is 
 any fault charged ? Does either friend or foe 
 appear to give answer ? Or, from that day 
 to this, during a period of eighteen hundred 
 years, with the whole earth interested in the 
 history of the speaker, and many passion- 
 ately enlisted against his claims upon their 
 service, and some of the keenest intellects 
 that the world has produced arrayed in op- 
 position to the religion of which He is the 
 author, and much controversy, and great 
 bitterness and hostile misrepresentation, has 
 there ever been the smallest attempt to 
 bring forward an accusation, or to cast any 
 
272 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 slur whatever upon the purity "and moral 
 beauty of the character so boldly submitted 
 to scrutiny ? On the contrary, have not op- 
 posers of this gospel been themselves eulo- 
 gizers of Jesus ? And is it not from the 
 lips of infidels that we have heard some of 
 the most eloquent tributes to his surpassing 
 excellence ? Have not those who despise 
 his claims, and scorn his message, and sepa- 
 rate themselves, with the utmost care, from 
 any suspicion of being his disciples, come 
 forward voluntarily as his biographers ? 
 And while they would tear from his brow 
 the crown of glory with which, from ever- 
 lasting, He was invested, and would remove, 
 if they could, from his history all that is su- 
 pernatural, and are reasoning with a philos- 
 ophy, falsely so called, upon " the causes of 
 his greatness " and the extent of his ad- 
 mitted power, yet seek to make Him the 
 hero of their romances, and endeavor to give 
 a glow to their own vain imaginations, as 
 they reflect on their pages the splendor of 
 his career, and the sublime majesty of his 
 person ? Is it not a fact of deepest signifi- 
 cance, apart from all other evidences of the 
 truth of the Christian revelation, that Jesus 
 of Nazareth is acknowledged as unequaled 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 273 
 
 among men, and that however the corrupt 
 heart of sinners may impel them to hate his 
 holiness, and put from them his laws, they 
 have not been able, any of them, to construct 
 a single charge against Him ; but are forced 
 by the necessity of the case to uncover in 
 his presence, and confess that some remark- 
 able one is before them ? That which was 
 enacted with so much solemnity in Jerusa- 
 lem, at the bar of the Roman governor, 
 when Pilate again and again declared that 
 he " found no fault in Him," and " took 
 water and washed his hands before the mul- 
 titude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of 
 this just person," is now repeated by many 
 in all parts of the world, who like him, in 
 the presence of Truth itself, yet ask with a 
 voice of skepticism and a malicious sneer, 
 " What is truth ? " They despise the good 
 tidings of salvation ; but they dare not vil- 
 ify the character of the Saviour. His chal- 
 lenge they cannot respond to, and they fail 
 universally to " convince Him of sin." 
 Herod, on his part, is no more successful 
 here than Pilate, and his savage mockery 
 only brings out, as from a dark background, 
 the sublimity of the silent Sufferer; and 
 ever since, the mad assaults of unbelief have 
 
 18 
 
274 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 but thrown into greater prominence the 
 grand character of Christ. From the day 
 ■when the dying Julian exclaimed, " Naza- 
 rene, thou hast conquered," to the period 
 when Voltaire (who had written, with hor- 
 rid blasphemy, " Crush the wretch ! ") solic- 
 ited, in the supposed hour of death, the 
 offices of the Church ; and when Strauss is 
 reported to have renounced his elaborate 
 folly, in favor of a juster criticism and truer 
 creed ; the attacks of the enemy have only 
 caused the form of the Captain of salvation 
 to tower more grandly above the field of 
 battle, and have been the occasion of the 
 clearer demonstration of his surpassing excel- 
 lence. Now I point you to this, brethren, 
 as a fact to be noticed. I stand and repeat 
 the challenge of my Master, " Which of you 
 convinceth me of sin? " and I bid you ob- 
 serve that the failure, on the part of any 
 man of any age, whatever may have been 
 his attitude in regard to the gospel, to de- 
 tract from the purity of Christ's life, and 
 the perf ectness of his character, is a thing 
 so remarkable, that it is in itself a demon- 
 stration of the divinity of his person, and 
 the truth of his message. No other charac- 
 ter has not been blackened, in some degree, 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 275 
 
 in the strife of controversy, and the onset of 
 passion ; and no other character, we must 
 admit, is to be found, which, however 
 worthy, has not that about it, if it be thor- 
 oughly scrutinized, which will allow of, if it 
 does not invite, censure. " There is no man 
 that sinneth not." " If I justify myself,'* 
 saith Job, " mine own mouth shall condemn 
 me : if I say I am perfect, it shall also prove 
 me perverse." But the character of Jesus 
 stands alone. It towers above all biography 
 like the mountain pillowing its head upon 
 the clouds, and piercing the vault of heaven. 
 It is unique ; it has not any fellow ; it ad- 
 mits of no comparison. And this is to be 
 observed as much in the harmony of its uni- 
 versal excellence, as in the transcendent 
 superiority of each particular virtue. 
 
 This is a very marked peculiarity of the 
 character of Jesus, to which I wish to direct 
 attention. If you will consider any other 
 character that has appeared upon the stage 
 of the world, or if, in the domain of imagi- 
 nation, you examine the ideal productions 
 of genius, where the hand of a master has 
 given being to the conception of his own 
 mind, so life-like as to impress with a sense 
 of reality, you will always find, even if you 
 
276 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 leave out of sight the defects and crimes 
 which so sadly illustrate a fallen humanity, 
 that there is a disproportion in the virtues. 
 Some are marked and prominent, while 
 others are wanting, or are so much in defect 
 as to give undue preponderance to those 
 which form the man. You can designate 
 the personage by the virtue which he exag- 
 gerates, and which stands out without that 
 toning down, through the presence of other 
 qualities, which in combination would give 
 harmony to the life. Some ruling passion 
 shapes the course of each man's conduct. 
 Some peculiarity of moral disposition con- 
 stitutes his greatness. Your own minds, as 
 you run through any memories of biography 
 or of contemporaneous life, will furnish you 
 with illustrations of what I refer to. Men 
 may be classed and labeled by their cast of 
 soul, as well as by their features, their com- 
 plexion, or their stature. Now try any such 
 rule of judgment upon the character of Jesus 
 Christ, as developed in the gospel, and see 
 how entirely you fail to make any discrimi- 
 nation in excellences. All the virtues are 
 grouped in his person, with wonderful har- 
 mony and proportion ; every grace, while it 
 stands forth, attracting admiration by its 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 277 
 
 Divine beauty, is united with every other, 
 and the whole are blended with something 
 of that exquisite loveliness with which the 
 colors of the rainbow fade into each other, 
 or the hues of flowers are insensibly min- 
 gled by the pencil of God. I cannot think 
 of any virtue of which Christ is not the 
 model ; and yet I cannot think of Him so 
 that any one of the whole circle of graces 
 which constitute the purest goodness, is un- 
 linked from companionship with its fellows. 
 His life is not like the broken surface of 
 earth, upon which you trace mountain and 
 plain, where lofty summits compel adoration, 
 and lowly vales attract by their beauty ; it 
 is rather the broad expanse of heaven's own 
 placid face, where the stars beam out from 
 a depth of azure, and the glow of morning 
 and evening blends with the deeper hues, 
 and brings out the loveliness of the whole. 
 
 The harmony of the moral qualities in 
 the character of Jesus, the completeness of 
 his perfection, the unity of his life in a 
 diversity of spiritual endowments, which 
 make up the entire circle of goodness, is so 
 remarkable as to fix our gaze, and force us 
 to the conclusion that such loveliness was 
 not the invention of human genius, which, 
 
278 TN MEMORIAM. 
 
 in its noblest conceptions, has attempted 
 nothing like it ; much less the natural 
 outgrowth of any of the seed of fallen 
 Adam, where imperfection is the stamp 
 of descent ; but the manifestation of the 
 presence of God ; a proof itself, strong and 
 irresistible, of the incarnation of Jehovah. 
 " Never* man spake like this man ; " " This 
 man hath done nothing amiss ; " " Truly 
 this was a righteous man ; " and was, as this 
 perfect and harmonious excellence demon- 
 strates, the " Son of God." The testimony 
 here is from the lips of enemies, and the 
 universal heart of man, conscious of sin and 
 observant everywhere else of infirmity, re- 
 sponds. The reality of the life of Christ, 
 and the Divinity in Him, united to man- 
 hood, seem to be impressed upon the gospel 
 narrative, and woven in with all its facts. 
 Man could neither have developed, nor 
 invented, such perfections ; its harmony is 
 from heaven. And this, brethren, aids us 
 in no small degree, in entering into the 
 truth of Divine revelation, concerning the 
 relation which Christ our Lord bears to the 
 salvation of his people. Seeing the testi- 
 mony of Scripture concerning the sinless- 
 ness of Jesus acquiesced in, by the silence 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 279 
 
 or the extorted confession even of his 
 enemies, the great fact takes hold of our 
 hearts, and faith recognizes, with profound 
 and adoring love, " the Holy One and the 
 Just/' His presence in a world of sin is 
 itself a pledge of relief ; and we are pre- 
 pared to welcome Him as the central figure 
 in redemption. In three ways does " He 
 who knows no sin " reveal Himself to the 
 hearts of his believing people. 
 
 (1.) As their substitute. " He hath 
 made Him," saith the Scripture, "to be sin 
 for us, who knew no sin, that we might be 
 made the righteousness of God in Him." 
 " The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity 
 of us all ; " and "by the obedience of one 
 shall many be made righteous." It was 
 not only to make a pageant of holiness, in 
 a world of evil, that " the Son of God was 
 manifested," but " that He might destroy 
 the works of the devil." He stood forth, 
 the perfect man and the unequaled sufferer. 
 He " fulfilled all righteousness," and was 
 " obedient unto death, even the death of the 
 cross ; " and this that He might redeem 
 them that were under the law. He places 
 HimseK, by the appointment of the Father, 
 in the room and stead of the sinner. All 
 
280 AY MEMORIAM. 
 
 that the commandment required us to do. 
 He accomplished ; all that the law. which 
 we have violated, inflicted in the way of 
 penalty. He endured. " He was wounded 
 for our transgressions. He was bruised for 
 our iniquities ; the chastisement of our 
 peace was upon Him. and with his stripes 
 we are healed." There can no other satis- 
 factory account be given, of the unparal- 
 leled suffering and shameful death of Him 
 i; in whom " God himself declared ; - He was 
 well pleased/' You will find that part of 
 the gospel narrative which leads you to 
 the cross, a mystery indeed, until you hear 
 the voice of God saying, ;i For the trans- 
 gression of my people was He stricken/* 
 
 And now the tree of shame becomes the 
 emblem of self-sacrificing goodness, and the 
 token of covenanted mercy. The doctrines 
 of atonement and vicarious sacrifice for the 
 guilty, with the imputation of Emmanuers 
 righteousness, through faith, for the justify- 
 ing of the ungodly, throw a flood of light 
 upon the story of the Evangelist, and open 
 to us that blessed truth, the essential power 
 and glory of Christianity, that the holiness 
 of Jesus is the basis of redemption. If no 
 man. nor angel, nor God himself, can " con- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEX. 281 
 
 vince Him of sin, then " In the Lord, shall 
 all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall 
 glory/* " Who shall lay anything," asks 
 the Apostle, " to the charge of God's elect ? 
 It is God that justifieth ; who is he that 
 condemneth ? It is Christ that died, yea 
 rather that is risen again ; who is ever at 
 the right hand of God ; who also niaketh 
 intercession for us." " The blood of Jesus 
 Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 
 
 (2.) But Christ is the life, as well as 
 the sacrifice of his people ; their strength, 
 because He is their righteousness. The 
 holiness which we observe in the Re- 
 deemer flashes out, to them who look upon 
 Him by faith, the conviction of his Divinity. 
 " He is the brightness of the Father's glory, 
 and the express image of his person ; " " in 
 Him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead 
 bodily." It is thus only that his righteous- 
 ness, though assailed with all the powers of 
 evil, is triumphant over all temptation. An 
 innocent Adam fell before the snare of Sa- 
 tan : but " the second Adam " foils the 
 tempter, because He is " the Lord from 
 heaven," and as, by reiiniting his people to 
 Himself through faith, He presents them 
 " faultless before God," " the righteousness 
 
282 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 of God in Him ; so, from his Divine per- 
 son there flows forth, to every believing 
 heart, the power of a new and heavenly life. 
 That person, adorned with all the graces of 
 holiness, is most attractive to the heart. 
 God draws us to Him, in Christ, with the 
 " cords of a man, and the bands of love ; " 
 the compassion, the sympathy, the tender- 
 ness, the goodness of Jesus are the power- 
 ful forces which the Spirit of Grace employs 
 to ravish us with his love. " My beloved," 
 exclaims the spouse, " is the chief est among 
 ten thousand; " faith discovers all it longs 
 for in the Son of God, and as it appropriates 
 Him through grace in all his offices, his Di- 
 vine power is disclosed. " Of his fullness 
 do we receive grace for grace : " the union 
 of love is the strength of the redeemed soul, 
 and the believer, as he clings to the cross 
 and grasps the Saviour, exclaims with the 
 Apostle, " I am crucified with Christ : 
 nevertheless I live : yet not I, but Christ 
 liveth in me ; and the life which I now live 
 in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son 
 of God, who loved me and gave Himself for 
 me." The same Christ, who is " upon the 
 believer the righteousness of God," is also 
 " in him. the hope of glory." 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 283 
 
 (3.) And here comes constantly into view 
 another and most blessed relation of Jesus 
 Christ to his justified, believing, and there- 
 fore accepted people. He is their example. 
 " Christ," saith St. Peter, " suffered for us, 
 leaving us an example, that ye should fol- 
 low his steps." So glorious is this office 
 which He bears to his believing children, 
 that some have sadly mistaken it as all his 
 work ; but it grows out of, and is only pos- 
 sible, by reason of his atonement and grace. 
 When we are through faith " accepted in 
 the Beloved," then is it our duty and priv- 
 ilege, as his regenerate seed, to follow his 
 steps, as we " walk in newness of life." 
 
 And now all the glory of his sinless per- 
 fection bursts upon our view. Here is a 
 pattern that we can imitate throughout ; no 
 deduction is to be made for infirmity of any 
 sort ; the path is full of the sunshine of 
 holiness ; not only heroic virtues, and active 
 powers of life, but passive graces, sweet, 
 modest gifts of humility and meekness, 
 tenderness and love, bloom along this way- 
 side. O, how different a model is Jesus, 
 from that afforded by any other man, whose 
 life history delivers to us ! How wide the 
 sweep of his majestic greatness, how minute 
 
284 IN MEM OR I AM. 
 
 the filling out of the smallest requirement 
 of perfection ! The gospel narrative would 
 seem a romance of goodness to us poor sin- 
 ners, if it were not all so true ; and if we 
 did not know, by faith, " Jesus Christ, the 
 same yesterday, to-day, and forever," our 
 Brother and Friend. It is all just, the be- 
 lieving heart feels, when it describes Him ; 
 there is blended in Him the sublimity of 
 lofty virtue, with the sweetest touches of 
 child-like loveliness. It reminds you of the 
 Alpine rose, blooming fresh and sweet un- 
 der the grand snow mantle of the king of 
 mountains. It is the same blended sweet- 
 ness and majesty which is in God himself ; 
 for here is the Word, " the image of God." 
 Let us study his life, and, through grace, 
 imitate his holiness. You shall never con- 
 vince Him of sin ; and in this, because He 
 is your Saviour, is found, believer, your 
 safety, your strength, and your constant 
 directory of life and action. Our religion 
 is Christ. 
 
THE GODHEAD OF CHRIST, THE ONLY 
 KEY TO HIS CHARACTER. 
 
 Preached in Grace Church. Charleston^ 8. C. en the night of 
 
 Sunday, January 22. 1371. in the united services of the 
 Church in that city. 
 
 " What manner of man is this ? " — Matthew viii. 27. 
 
 SrCH was the inquiry of the disciples 
 when, in their fishing-boat upon the lake of 
 Galilee, they beheld the Master, whom their 
 cry of fear had aroused from sleep. i; Then 
 He arose, and rebuked the winds and the 
 sea." Where a moment since there had 
 raged c; a tempest, insomuch that the ship 
 was covered with the waves." ; - there was 
 a great calm." The assumption of such an 
 authority by one clothed with the weakness 
 of humanity, and the command issued to 
 the elements, and obeyed by ; - the winds 
 and the sea." made them marvel. And 
 well it might : for in what presence is the 
 impotence of man more apparent, than where 
 " the waves of the sea rage horribly " ? 
 The Lord. " who dwelleth on high, is 
 mightier : " but who, save He. can i; still 
 the noise of the seas " ? As the terrified 
 
286 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 fishermen looked upon Him whom they had 
 awakened from his pillow to share their 
 danger, and saw Him claim the prerogative 
 of God, must they not have been amazed ? 
 Did they not require the knowledge of his 
 Divinity, in order that they might acquit 
 Him of presumption ? And was not their 
 confession, upon a like exhibition of author- 
 ity, at another time, the only explanation 
 of the fact : " Of a truth Thou art the Son 
 of God." 
 
 And what is observed in this incident of 
 our Lord's life, we claim to be true of his 
 whole career ; not merely in outward man- 
 ifestations of power, but as regards his 
 moral nature, and in all that belongs to 
 Him as a historical personage. I am bold 
 to affirm, to-night, that if you receive the 
 gospel record of the life of Jesus as authen- 
 tic, the truth of his Godhead, revealed by 
 the Scriptures and confessed in the creed 
 of the Catholic Church, is the only key to 
 his character. 
 
 Modern assailants of Christianity do not, 
 like their predecessors, indiscriminately 
 deny the facts of our religion. The histor- 
 ical Christ has shed too brilliant a light 
 across the ages, and has exercised too potent 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 287 
 
 an influence upon society, for any one tak- 
 ing note of human progress to reject Hirn 
 as a factor in the affairs of men. The plan 
 adopted is to recognize his presence, accept 
 the main incidents of his life, and eulogize 
 the moral beauty of his character. There 
 are those who would rewrite his biography ; 
 and with the colors of fancy, paint an ideal 
 which they would have us receive in place 
 of the portrait of the Evangelists. But in 
 furnishing a hero for romance, they despoil 
 the original of his glory, and present an 
 outline which is seen to be impossible, the 
 moment that the facts of history come into 
 view. The great and good man whom they 
 set before us, when the authentic records of 
 his life are examined, is found to have put 
 forth claims, performed acts, and exhibited 
 traits of character, which, if we are to leave 
 out of view the underlying fact of his God- 
 head, are irreconcilable with any theory of 
 high moral excellence. If Jesus Christ is 
 not " very God of very God," then can no 
 defense be put forth in his behalf, which 
 can vindicate his conduct from the most 
 serious errors ; and the closer his career is 
 scrutinized, the more thorough will be the 
 conviction that He must, in spite of all that 
 
288 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 is attractive in his character, be charged 
 with what every Christian believer, who 
 cherishes love to Him as a Saviour, and loy- 
 alty as a king, would sooner perish than pro- 
 nounce. We cannot accept these false- 
 hearted tributes to our Lord. He must be 
 worshipped, or He cannot be beloved. He 
 must be adored, as one with the Father 
 and the Holy Spirit, or He cannot be thor- 
 oughly admired. To maintain this position, 
 by an examination of all his words and 
 deeds, would exceed the limits of a discourse. 
 I must content myself with a few particu- 
 lars, which may stand as examples of the 
 argument. It will scarcely be denied, that 
 the character of Jesus Christ claims atten- 
 tion. The form in which his goodness is 
 cast is unique. It admits of no comparison ; 
 but, like some cloud-capped summit, lifting 
 itself above surrounding peaks, stands amid 
 the heroes of earth, solitary and alone. Nor 
 in its sublime elevation above all the sons of 
 men, is its harmony and completeness to be 
 lost sight of. In others of our race, some one 
 trait has the preeminence ; and not unfre- 
 quently, defects of constitution bring out 
 into bolder relief the points that are admired. 
 A single virtue glows amid the infirmities 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 289 
 
 of humanity, and like the evening star en- 
 throned upon a cloud, its beauty from the 
 contrast appears more dazzling. This is 
 especially the case in some of the great crea- 
 tures of genius, where a single passion is 
 brought into view, and the mind is en- 
 chained by the admiration which it excites. 
 You can recall no great personage of his- 
 tory, or review no favorite embodiment of 
 fancy, in whom you will not distinguish the 
 particular feature of character for which it 
 is remarkable. You pass through the gal- 
 lery of portraits which adorn the corridors 
 of time ; you are able to classify and ar- 
 range your heroes ; the greatness of each is 
 a peculiar type. But where you stand be- 
 fore the Christ of the Gospels, you can make 
 no distinction in his excellence. There is no 
 predominance of virtues, but a harmony of 
 goodness makes beautiful the whole. The 
 active and the passive graces lovingly com- 
 bine. Masculine strength and womanlike 
 tenderness, gentleness and power, boldness 
 and meekness, unite to constitute the most 
 absolute purity that the mind can conceive. 
 " What manner of man is this ?" we are 
 forced to ask, as we notice how his splendor 
 pales all lesser orbs. The Christ of history, 
 
 19 
 
290 IN MEM OBI AM. 
 
 with all that is supernatural, beyond his 
 moral qualities, veiled from view, is of a 
 cast of goodness which lifts the thoughts to 
 heaven, and forces on us the conviction that 
 He has there his home. The world has 
 been unable to pass before this central fig- 
 ure of the race, without involuntary homage. 
 But we maintain that if the scrutiny is close, 
 and the record of the life of Jesus, as given 
 by the Evangelists, is accepted, this har- 
 mony will be marred by most inexplicable 
 contradictions, and that these can only be 
 removed when faith has taken in her hand 
 the key of his Godhead, and adoring love 
 recognizes his full-orbed glory, as " the 
 Man who is my fellow, saith the Lord of 
 Hosts." In illustration of this position, I 
 shall select from the completed circle of 
 Christ's excellence, as not being able to 
 consider all his graces, two of his most 
 attractive qualities : qualities which, if they 
 were absent from his moral portraiture, 
 would leave us without " the form of come- 
 liness " which we love ; and yet, traits 
 which are essentially in antagonism to acts 
 and declarations upon his part, and which 
 cannot be denied, without giving up the 
 Scripture narrative of his life. The fea- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 291 
 
 tures in the character of Christ, to which I 
 shall confine your notice, are his truthful- 
 ness and his lowliness. And you must ad- 
 mit, that to deprive Him of these would be 
 to blot out from the firmament of history 
 the most splendid constellation which has 
 ever burned upon the night of this sinful 
 world. 
 
 (1.) When our Lord was arraigned be- 
 fore Pilate, in answer to the appeal of the 
 Roman Procurator, He made this impres- 
 sive declaration : " To this end was I born, 
 and for this cause came I into the world, 
 that I should bear witness unto the truth." 
 It is the key-note of his character ; and his 
 life possesses no greater charm than that 
 transparent sincerity which sheds upon the 
 surrounding darkness of human action the 
 light of heaven. He is, as named in Reve- 
 lation, " the faithful and true witness." 
 His " beloved disciple," who leaned on his 
 bosom, and was admitted to his intimacy, 
 rejoices in "knowing Him that is true;" 
 and even his enemies, when they combine 
 " to entangle Him in his talk," are forced 
 to the confession, " We know that Thou art 
 true, and teachest the way of God in truth : 
 neither carest Thou for any man, for Thou 
 
292 IX MEMORIAM. 
 
 regardest not the person of men." If this 
 were but a flattering speech, it at least shows 
 what was the impression upon the popular 
 mind, as to his integrity. And where can 
 any one discover, in his whole career, the 
 slightest swerving from the right ? With 
 the courage which must support truth, if 
 she is to make no compromise. Christ calmly 
 goes forward, facing every enemy, quailing 
 before no opposition, looking steadily into 
 the eye of death. And does the history of 
 our race present any example that can be 
 compared with his. in detecting falsehood '? 
 With what majesty do his reproofs, like the 
 lightning which clears the clouds, scathe. 
 with their own keenness, the subterfuges 
 of the hypocrite, and discover the shams 
 and pretensions of the self-righteous ! 
 What awe is there in his denunciation of 
 the Pharisees ! What calm, yet thorough 
 refutation of the Sadducees ! If ever, my 
 brethren, truth fresh from her home in the 
 bosom of God. radiant in beautv. and strong 
 in her own glory, has stood upon our earth, 
 embodied for the admiration of men. and 
 panoplied against falsehood, it was in the 
 person of Jesus Christ. Evil saw Him. and 
 trembled. Error fled from his presence, as 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 293 
 
 night at the blush of dawn. Falsehood, 
 blinded by his purity, was taken in her 
 own toils. Hypocrisy shrank from the 
 gleam of his supernal beauty. Sincerity 
 bowed at his feet, and innocence flew for 
 protection to his sheltering arms. Faith 
 hung upon his promises, and childhood, 
 meek, gentle, and confiding, nestled in his 
 bosom. And yet, if we are to deny that 
 He, in whom truth thus- found her reality, 
 was God, we shall have the strongest asser- 
 tions to refute, the highest claims to deny, 
 the most unqualified declarations to disbe- 
 lieve. I shall not detain you with quota- 
 tions. A few, selected as examples of what 
 the narrative of the Evangelists abound 
 with, will enable you to judge of the argu- 
 ment ; and these are such as are inconsist- 
 ent, on any other theory than that of his 
 Godhead, with the truth and sincerity of 
 Jesus. At the same time, passing over 
 other Scriptures that furnish testimony, I 
 shall present only the words of Christ him- 
 self. I know not where, in the wide field 
 before me, I can better begin, than with 
 that precious declaration of Jesus to Meode- 
 mus, which may be called the gospel in 
 epitome. You remember how this half- 
 
294 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 persuaded Pharisee "came by night" to 
 converse with Him whom he believed " a 
 teacher come from God." You can never 
 forget the gentleness of Jesus in receiving 
 him, and the faithfulness with which He 
 discovered the plague of his heart, and 
 taught him the doctrine of the new birth. 
 But what I ask you to consider now is the 
 truth which He presents as the foundation 
 of his trust, and the assurance of salvation. 
 " God so loved the world that He gave his 
 only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 on Him should not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life." Precious gospel, to which the 
 heart of every believer clings ! But what 
 does it force us to think of Him who pro- 
 claims it? A man sits side by side with 
 his fellow-man ; he is an inquiring soul, 
 trusting to his teacher, and asking the way 
 of life ; and that teacher makes the fact 
 that He is the Son of God, only begotten, 
 the rock of his hope. What would you 
 think of the truth of any man, who should 
 deal thus with you ? who should tell you 
 when your heart is throbbing for the knowl- 
 edge of God, that he is the " only begot- 
 ten" of the Father, given in love to save? 
 How could you bear his lifting himself thus 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 295 
 
 above all other men, and claiming, in the 
 closeness of a private conversation, the 
 peculiar relation of sonship ? Why is no 
 explanation given, such as men are acute 
 enough now to furnish? Why are the 
 words " only begotten " left, in their blazing 
 splendor, without one cloud of criticism to 
 obscure their effulgence? What manner 
 of man is this, who in such familiar con- 
 verse, holds forth unblushingly such a 
 claim ? Surely if he were sincere, he must 
 have thought it no robbery to be equal 
 with God ; and offering no interpretation 
 of the relationship, would leave " all men," 
 who heard the declaration, " to honor the 
 Son, even as they honor the Father." 
 
 But I take another case. It is that of 
 the centurion, who seeks to have his ser- 
 vant miraculously healed. I need not re- 
 late a story which is in all your memories. 
 But I ask you to recur to the words, 
 " Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst 
 come under my roof ; but speak the word 
 only, and my servant shall be healed ; " 
 and to bear in mind the comparison of his 
 authority, as a military officer and master, 
 with that of Him whom he asks to heal. 
 Now, here is the direct ascription, to a man, 
 
296 IX MEMORIAM. 
 
 of Divine prerogative. You will find it 
 hard indeed to make anything else of it ; 
 and what is the answer of Truth, when the 
 power and majesty of God is attributed to 
 Him ? •• Verily I say unto you. I have not 
 found so great faith, no. not hi Israel.*' Or 
 turn to the occasion of the stilling of the 
 tempest, when the arm of Jesus plucked 
 Peter from the deep. Upon the power dis- 
 played in such a miracle. I have dwelt in 
 connection with the text. It called forth 
 in that instance, the inquiry from the disci- 
 ples. ,; What manner of man is this, that 
 even the winds and the sea obey Him ? *' 
 Now when the winds ceased, at the presence 
 of their Master, "the disciples worshipped 
 Him. saying. Of a truth, Thou art the Son 
 of God." Is there any check upon our 
 Lord's part, to this reverence ? any expla- 
 nation of this mistake ? Was this, in the 
 twelve, only Oriental courtesy ? or can we 
 possibly clear the sincerity of Jesus, if He 
 was no more than man, from the censure of 
 a silence which sanctioned the adoration ? 
 
 But these are inferences, you may say ; 
 let us take a more direct word. The Sav- 
 iour is with the Apostles, in the familiarity 
 of family intercourse. It is a time of deep 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 297 
 
 solemnity ; a solemn sadness, as at the ap- 
 proach of death, is on the hearts of men, for 
 the Master's words have been weighty with 
 the burden of the cross. And yet there are 
 the flashing of promises, and gleams of 
 heaven, upon " this hour of darkness ; " and 
 with the religious consciousness aroused, and 
 " the powers of the world to come " in view, 
 " Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the 
 Father, and it sufficeth us." What an op- 
 portunity here for rational distinction, and 
 the clearing up of mystery ! What a solemn 
 and affecting appeal, from a yoice crying in 
 the night of this world, for the light of God 
 and truth ! And what do we read ? " Jesus 
 saith unto him, Have I been so long time 
 with you, and yet hast thou not known me, 
 Philip ? he that hath seen me hath seen the 
 Father ; and how sayest thou then, show us 
 the Father ? Believest thou not, that I am 
 in the Father and the Father in me ? the 
 words that I speak unto you, I speak not 
 of myself : but the Father that dwelleth in 
 me, He doeth the works." What a com- 
 ment is this on that other word of Jesus, so 
 clear and grand to all who will receive it, 
 " I and my Father are one." But what 
 shall we think of the truth of a mere man, 
 
298 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 who, with the grave in view, and the cross 
 overshadowing his future, thus confounds 
 the minds of the simple, and leaves his lit- 
 tle ones, at the last hour, either to cling to 
 " the faith once delivered to the saints " or 
 else to be lost in a maze of ingenious criti- 
 cism, whose greatest utility is, that it brings 
 out, in clearer distinctness, the precious 
 truth, that Christ here declares himself, as 
 apostles and martyrs confessed, " the bright- 
 ness of his Father's glory, and the express 
 image of his person," — "in whom dwelleth 
 the fullness of the Godhead bodily " ? It 
 were easy to add to these examples, but I 
 have contented myself with such as are suffi- 
 cient for my purpose. If these acts and 
 declarations of Christ were done and spoken 
 when He was perfectly aware that He was 
 only a man, like you and me, — for it is to 
 this, that denial of his essential Divinity 
 must come at last, — then where is any plea 
 for truthfulness ? We must surrender the 
 purest character that history has handed 
 down, to companionship with deceit and im- 
 posture. The juggling prophet of Mecca 
 made no such pretensions ; and the claims 
 of the Grand Lama to be an incarnation of 
 God would be only a parallel blasphemy. 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 299 
 
 (2.) And now consider the other trait of 
 the character of Jesus, his lowliness. It 
 was foretold by the prophet Zechariah, that 
 Messiah should be " lowly." And Jesus, 
 when He invited the heavy laden to take 
 his easy yoke upon them, declared, " I am 
 meek and lowly in heart." Who, that has 
 read the story of the reputed " carpenter's 
 son," the " friend of publicans and sinners," 
 who " had not where to lay his head," can 
 fail to appreciate the description ? His 
 daily life was the illustration of his beati- 
 tude, " Blessed are the poor in spirit." 
 When He was born there was no room for 
 Him in the inn ; a stable was his home, and 
 a manger was his cradle. As an infant, 
 He was an exile. The despised Kazareth 
 sheltered his youth. " Capernaum," not 
 Jerusalem, " was his own city ; " when He 
 attended the festivals on Zion, Bethany was 
 his chosen retreat. He withdrew Himself 
 from the multitudes, whenever He could 
 snatch a moment from active benevolence ; 
 He enjoined men to be silent about his 
 mighty works ; He rejected a crown, ren- 
 dered tribute to Caasar, checked the fierce 
 zeal of his disciples, and found his com- 
 panions among fishermen. He lived in 
 
300 IN MEMORIAL. 
 
 poverty, and died upon the cross. His 
 motto was, " I seek not mine own glory." 
 A man equally humble and unselfish, the 
 world has not seen. He taught mankind a 
 new virtue ; for which heathen sages found 
 no expression, in any language of the earth. 
 He eclipsed the glitter of pride, with the 
 grace of humility, instructed the Church 
 that to suffer was more glorious than to con- 
 quer. The lamb is as symbolic of his tem- 
 per, as it is expressive of the vicarious sacri- 
 fice, which, on Calvary, He offered for sin. 
 The Holy Ghost descending on Him at his 
 baptism, in the form of a dove, is a signifi- 
 cant manifestation of his gentleness and 
 meekness. And yet, my brethren, this is 
 the man, who, while He puts from Him 
 proffers of the world and Satan, and sep- 
 arates Himself from the ambition of men, 
 asserts claims the most awfully august. It 
 startles us to hear Him say, with a calmness 
 which forces consideration of his meaning, 
 " My Father is greater than I." Would 
 you hesitate to charge any man with a 
 pride bordering on madness, who presumed 
 to make such a comparison ? What man- 
 ner of man is this," who is to be measured 
 in his greatness, with God ? Whatever 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 301 
 
 interpretation you put upon the words, they 
 of necessity assert a dignity, above that of 
 any created intelligence. Angels assimilate 
 themselves in no degree to Jehovah. In 
 his presence they veil their faces ; and " to 
 Him cherubim and seraphim continually 
 do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of 
 Sabaoth." That the Christ ventures to 
 vouch Himself only below the Father, 
 whether it be in his humiliation as Media- 
 tor, or as begotten of the Father, " God of 
 God," as some understand the passage, if 
 He be not Divine, is an instance of pride 
 the most unparalleled. 
 
 But we hear loftier utterances than this : 
 " I and my Father are one ; " "I am in the 
 Father, and the Father in me ;*" " Before 
 Abraham was, I am ; " and many like ex- 
 pressions are recorded. He permits Him- 
 self to be hailed, by men, as " My Lord and 
 my God ; " " the Son of God ; " and with 
 titles of similar import. Devils confess 
 Him " the Holy One of God." His disci- 
 ples worship Him, cry to Him for mercy, 
 own Him Lord, ask for " the increase of 
 faith," for the " help of their unbelief," and 
 for blessings temporal and spiritual ; and 
 when He hangs upon the cross, the thief at 
 
302 IN MEMOR1AM. 
 
 his side appeals to Him to be " remembered 
 in his kingdom." And what is the attitude 
 of this humblest of men, under these circum- 
 stances ? Does He check the idolatry, 
 enlighten the ignorance, rebuke the blas- 
 phemy of prayer addressed to man ? Does 
 He, like Peter and Paul and the other Apos- 
 tles , cry out in earnest protest, " We are 
 men of like passions with you " ? Does He, 
 like the angel before whom St. John fell in 
 the Apocalypse, answer, " Worship God " ? 
 Not at all. On the contrary He receives 
 prayer and adoration, as his right ; He for- 
 gives sins ; He dispenses blessings in his own 
 name ; He bids the penitent, who weeps at 
 his feet, " Go in peace ; " and assures the 
 dying malefactor, " To-day shalt thou be 
 with me in Paradise." Putting from Him 
 an earthly crown, He claims a kingdom 
 " not of this world ; " pronounces Himself 
 " the Lord and Master " of his people, 
 threatens his enemies with his advent in 
 glory, to call them to his bar ; and assures 
 his servants with the promise of the Com- 
 forter, and the precious hope of his coming 
 again to receive them unto Himself." We 
 are admitted to his privacy; we see Him 
 " lifting up his eyes to heaven " and calling 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 303 
 
 in prayer upon his Father ; and in that sol- 
 emn intercourse, He communes with Him 
 " of the glory which He had with Him be- 
 fore the world was ; " and calls upon Him 
 to " glorify his Son." Now think of a mere 
 man speaking thus ; putting forth, in the 
 face of men, claims which no other mortal 
 ever dreamed of ; in the midst of his pov- 
 erty, asserting the royalty of heaven and 
 earth, and all power, as Mediator and 
 Judge ; and then addressing God Himself, 
 with a demand, that He should " glorify 
 Him, with his own self, with the glory 
 which He had with Him before the world 
 was." If this is the language of one who is 
 not God, then I am at a loss to conceive 
 how pretension could be more bold, or self- 
 assertion could rise higher. Of necessity, I 
 have only touched upon the proof ; passages 
 crowd upon the mind as our thoughts are 
 turned in this direction ; and it is altogether 
 probable that many may occur to you, 
 stronger and more to the point, than those 
 which I have selected. But if I have placed 
 the argument before you in such a form that 
 you may pursue it for yourselves, by a ref- 
 erence to God's Word, I shall have succeeded 
 in my purpose. Sure I am, that if you ac- 
 
304 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 cept the inspired narrative, when you see 
 Jesus of Nazareth deliberately putting forth 
 such claims, you must either acknowledge 
 Him as God, or refuse to do homage to his 
 humility. No man, who was not a wild 
 enthusiast, or a self-asserting impostor, 
 would hazard such expressions as abound 
 in the teachings of Christ. He is God ; or 
 the pride of Lucifer hath been surpassed, in 
 the lowliest character that history delivers 
 to us. 
 
 Now this argument might be carried into 
 other departments of Christ's character ; 
 other traits might be selected, which fade 
 away before the contradictions of the phe- 
 nomena, if the humanity of Christ is all that 
 is admitted. Every page of the Gospels you 
 will find asserting, with more or less distinct- 
 ness, the truth of Christ's Godhead. Every 
 incident of his life is in proof of the catho- 
 lic faith. The evangelic history is, as St. 
 Mark names it, " The Gospel of Jesus 
 Christ, the Son of God." Strike out the 
 last clause of this title, or place it in the 
 alembic of what is so strangely called " ra- 
 tional criticism," and explain away its signif- 
 icance, and you will have before you a rec- 
 ord, which you will find it a difficult task 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 305 
 
 to deal with. Either you will reject the 
 whole, as fable, or the historical Christ will 
 disappear, to make way for the poor inven- 
 tion of rationalism. My brethren, are you 
 ready to give up your Bible, and take in- 
 stead " The Life of Christ,*' as invented by 
 the romancer ? Alas ! what a dreary ex- 
 change would you make. Miracle will dis- 
 appear ; truth will be clouded ; morality 
 will be in dispute. The cross, with its 
 atoning victim will be overthrown ; the 
 dove, that hovers above it, will be driven 
 away ; the throne of Jesus will be over- 
 turned ; his sceptre will be broken ; his 
 crown despoiled. Man, instead of walking 
 in the light of life, will be remitted to the 
 uncertainties of the ancient philosophers, or 
 surrendered to the changing principles of 
 the disciples of modern progress. Kay, my 
 brethren, let us, by God's grace, cling to 
 the old truth of the Bible and the Church. 
 Let us ;; contend earnestly for the faith 
 once delivered to the saints." Let us with 
 St. John and St. Paul, own " the Word 
 made flesh," " God over all, blessed forever- 
 more." Let us, with Athanasius, stand 
 " against the world; " let us cherish, in our 
 hearts, the scriptural Creed of Xicea; and 
 
 20 
 
306 /A r MEM OB I AM. 
 
 reverently bow before Jesus our Lord, as 
 " of one substance with the Father ; God of 
 God ; light of light ; very God of very 
 God." A Divine Saviour only can redeem 
 us ; and if Christ is not Divine, we shall be 
 utterly at a loss how to estimate Him. His 
 Godhead is the only key to his character ; 
 and that being lost sight of, we. are without 
 light or hope. 
 
 I would conclude, in the devoutly elo- 
 quent words of Mr. Liddon, who has treated 
 at length, and with uncommon ability, the 
 great argument which I have feebly endeav- 
 ored to exhibit ; and to whose " Bampton 
 Lectures," as having been indebted to them 
 myself, I would earnestly refer all who 
 would have their faith in Christ scripturally 
 instructed. 
 
 " Eternal Jesus ! it is Thyself who hast 
 thus bidden us either despise Thee or wor- 
 ship Thee. Thou wouldst have us despise 
 Thee as our fellow-man, if we will not wor- 
 ship Thee as our God. Gazing on thy hu- 
 man beauty, and listening to thy words, we 
 cannot deny that Thou art the only Son of 
 God most high ; disputing thy Divinity, we 
 could no longer clearly recognize thy human 
 perfections. But if our ears hearken to thy 
 

 
 REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 807 
 
 revelation of thy greatness, our souls have 
 already been won to Thee by thy truthful- 
 ness, by thy lowliness, and by thy love. 
 Convinced, by these, thy moral glories, and 
 by thy majestic exercise of creative and 
 healing power, we believe and are sure that 
 Thou hast the words of eternal life." Al- 
 though in unveiling Thyself before thy crea- 
 tures, Thou dost stand, from age to age, at 
 the bar of hostile and skeptical opinion, yet 
 assuredly, from age to age, by the assaults 
 of thine enemies, no less than in the faith of 
 thy believing Church, Thou art justified in 
 thy sayings, and art clear when Thou art 
 judged." " Of a truth Thou art the King 
 of Glory, O Christ ; thou art the Everlast- 
 ing Son of the Father." 
 
CHRIST COMING TO JUDGMENT. 
 
 A CHRISTMAS SERMON. 
 
 " Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to 
 give every man according as his work shall be." — Revela- 
 tion xxvii. 12. 
 
 These words of our ascended Redeemer, 
 among the last of the messages which He 
 communicated to his people, are at all times 
 solemn and interesting. They afford mat- 
 ter for serious reflection ; and are calculated 
 to awaken the devoutest joy, or the most 
 awful apprehension. But at a season like 
 the present, when our Church invites us to 
 the consideration of the first advent of her 
 Lord, and" we are gathered around the 
 manger of Bethlehem, to admire " the great 
 humility " in which the Son of God " came 
 to visit us," the mind instinctively goes for- 
 ward to a scene of striking contrast ; and 
 faith sees the great white throne erected on 
 the clouds, and hope is looking for this 
 " same Jesus coming again," " in glorious 
 majesty, to judge the quick and the dead." 
 The services of our Liturgy are arranged 
 with regard to this natural transition of 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 309 
 
 thought ; and in the Epistles and Gospels for 
 the Sundays in Advent, the first and second 
 coming of the Son of Man are kept jointly 
 in view. While rejoicing in the blessings of 
 the one, we should take heed to prepare for 
 the solemnities of the other. 
 
 The Gospel to-day presents us with our 
 Lord's own prediction of his second advent ; 
 its certainty being avouched, in the words, 
 " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but 
 my words shall not pass away." 
 
 The speaker who in the text declares, 
 " Behold I come," in the next verse informs 
 us, " I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
 and the end, the first and the last," and 
 thus identifies Himself with " One like 
 unto the Son of Man," whom St. John had 
 already heard claim for HimseK this signif- 
 icant name. Addressing his Church from 
 within the veil, the Lord Christ repeats 
 the prediction He had made when on earth ; 
 that " the Son of Man shall come in his 
 glory." With his own mouth He confirms 
 the message with which angels comforted 
 the bereaved disciples. " This same Jesus, 
 which is taken up from you into heaven, 
 shall so come as ye have seen Him go into 
 heaven." He puts his seal to the apostolic 
 
310 IN ME MORI AM. 
 
 prophecy, " The Lord himself shall descend 
 from heaven with a shout, with the voice of 
 the archangel, and the trump of God." 
 He places it beyond question that there 
 shall be a personal return of the ascended 
 Mediator, " whom," saith St. Peter, " the 
 heavens must receive until the times of 
 the restitution of all things, which God 
 hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy 
 prophets since the world began," 
 
 Deeply interesting, my brethren, in view 
 of this Divine assurance, is the inquiry as 
 to the manner, design, and period of this 
 second advent of our Master ; and as far as 
 the answer can be returned from Scripture, 
 it cannot fail to prove instructive. It is 
 true that there is difficulty in harmonizing 
 all the prophecies relating to this event. 
 Some, it must be lamented, have fallen into 
 error in their interpretations ; and have 
 published their theories as the prophetic 
 history of Christ's kingdom. Without rev- 
 erence and prayer, we may easily be misled ; 
 but this should not deter us from giving 
 heed to the declarations of Holy Scripture. 
 Rather should they warn us to approach 
 the study of prophecy in a humble spirit ; 
 distrusting our own wisdom, and earnestly 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN, 311 
 
 seeking the guidance of the Spirit of God. 
 We are not to expect to understand all 
 parts of a prediction before its fulfillment ; 
 but carefully should we seize and endeavor 
 to profit by whatever is plain and practical, 
 leaving it to God to make known, by the 
 event, what at present we cannot compre- 
 hend in the prophecy. In the spirit of 
 meekness and devotion, the investigation of 
 prophetic Scriptures is an employment full 
 of comfort and interest ; strengthening 
 faith, and animating hope, with the pros- 
 pects of the coming glory of Christ and his 
 redeemed. I have chosen my text to-day, 
 because it sets the coming of our Lord be- 
 fore us in its most practical aspect ; pre- 
 senting it as that in which we have each a 
 personal concern ; and bringing into view 
 those features of this sublime event which 
 may be easily comprehended by all men. 
 As to the manner of the advent, further 
 than that it will be a personal appearing of 
 the " same Jesus which was taken up from 
 us into heaven," the passage does not afford 
 us information. From other portions of 
 God's Word, we gather that it will be a 
 triumphant approach of the crowned Medi- 
 ator, majestic with Divine authority ; and 
 
312 IN MEM0R1AM. 
 
 terribly sublime in every element of Divine 
 power. " The Lord Jesus," writes St. Paul, 
 " shall be revealed from heaven, with his 
 mighty angels, in flaming fire." ;i His feet,*' 
 saith the prophet Zeehariah. i; shall stand 
 upon the Mount of Olives which is before 
 Jerusalem on the east." " And the Lord 
 shall be King over all the earth." "And 
 He shall reign over the house of Jacob for- 
 ever." St. John, in Revelation, declares : 
 " They which have part in the first resur- 
 rection shall be priests of God and of Christ, 
 and shall reign with Him a thousand 
 years." ''And a great white throne shall 
 be set, and He shall sit on it : from whose 
 face the earth and the heaven shall flee 
 away, and there shall be no more place 
 found for them." Daniel tells us, " A fiery 
 stream shall issue and come forth from be- 
 fore Him : thousand thousands shall minis- 
 ter unto Him. and ten thousand times ten 
 thousand shall stand before Him.*' 
 
 I have grouped these passages of God's 
 "Word, as a striking description of the man- 
 ner of the coming of the Son of Man, ex- 
 pressive of its grandeur, and impressing 
 upon us the most awful sense of its reality. 
 I shall not here enter upon particulars, or 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 313 
 
 attempt to do more than help you to realize 
 the majesty of your King. Once He came 
 in poverty and lowliness ; now He draws 
 near with the riches and glory of God. 
 Once He was " led as a lamb to the 
 slaughter ; " now He goes forth " the Lion 
 of the tribe of Judah." Once the humanity 
 veiled the Godhead ; now Divinity illumines 
 the glorified manhood. " When the Son of 
 Man shall come in his glory, and all the 
 holy angels with Him, then shall He sit 
 upon the throne of his glory." Whatever 
 may be the arrangement of this sublime 
 ceremonial, when earth shall receive her 
 Lord, it will be the hour of his signal and 
 visible triumph ; as the Apostle named it, 
 " the glorious appearing of the great God 
 and our Saviour, Jesus Christ." In refer- 
 ring to the design of this advent, I shall to- 
 day confine myself exclusively to the teach- 
 ing of the text. Not because every part of 
 that design is here unfolded, for there are 
 doubtless other ends in view, which are not 
 here brought to light; but what is proposed, 
 besides being the grandest purpose of all, 
 furnishes us with matter of- deep personal 
 interest, and calls for the gravest and most 
 earnest consideration. " Behold," our Lord 
 
814 IN ME MORI AM. 
 
 declares, " I come quickly, and my reward 
 is with me, to give every man according 
 as his work shall be." In this design of 
 Christ's coming, we profess our belief, as 
 often as we repeat the Creed ; and for this 
 to be prepared, we ask God's grace in the 
 Collect, which is used daily, during this sea- 
 son. I would now centre your thoughts 
 upon the coming Mediator, " judging the 
 quick and the dead." In that sublime 
 transaction, we shall every one of us, most 
 certainly, bear a part. To that bar we are 
 each one summoned. The convening of the 
 court is thus described, by St. John : " I 
 saw a great white throne, and Him that sat 
 on it ; from whose face the earth and the 
 heaven fled away, and there was found no 
 place for them. And I saw the dead, small 
 and great, stand before God ; and the books 
 were opened ; and another book was opened, 
 which is the book of life ; and the dead 
 were judged out of those things which were 
 written in the books, according to their 
 works. And the sea gave up the dead 
 which were in it ; and death and hell de- 
 livered up the dead which were in them ; 
 and they were judged every man according 
 to their works." Three matters claim at- 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 315 
 
 tention, in looking forward to this great 
 assize : the person tried ; the mode of pro- 
 cedure ; and the sentence. 
 
 (1.) This is a universal judgment. Here 
 are assembled the countless generations of 
 earth's inhabitants. Not only they u which 
 are alive and remain unto the coming of 
 the Lord," but the dead, small and great, 
 " stand before God." The earth shall have 
 restored the dust, to which she gave a rest- 
 ing place : the sea shall have given up the 
 dead, which, through ages, have been hidden 
 in her depths ; every grave will have been 
 rifled, every sepulchre disturbed ; the bodies 
 of all who sleep shall awake ; the archan- 
 gel's trump shall shake every temple, and 
 be heard in every cemetery ; and death and 
 hades, opening their massive bars, the spirit 
 shall return from the place of the departed, 
 and animate once more their reconstructed 
 tabernacles. From Adam to his last-born 
 son, no soul that drew the breath of life 
 shall be absent. Vast will be the throng, 
 but in the sense of his accountability, each 
 man shall stand, as it were, alone. " We 
 must all appear before the judgment-seat of 
 Christ ; that every one may receive the 
 things done in his body according to that 
 
316 IN MEM OKI AM. 
 
 he hath done, whether it be good or bad.*' 
 Would you, my brethren, bear this fact in 
 mind, and picture to yourselves the vast as- 
 sembly, gathered from every age and clime 
 around the judgment- seat ; would you an- 
 ticipate your own position in that awed and 
 unnumbered throng, called from your 
 graves by the trump of God, or overtaken 
 in the midst of life, by the sudden gathering 
 of nations, the result might be an awaken- 
 ing from the indifference of worldliness, and 
 the casting from you the apathy of sin. 
 "Who could offend, with the same careless- 
 ness, if, in the moment of temptation, we 
 saw, with all the vividness of reality, the 
 great white throne, and the multitude sur- 
 rounding it ; if we heard that which St. 
 Jerome tells us was always loud in his ears, 
 " Arise, ye dead, and come away to judg- 
 ment ; " if we beheld the books opened, and 
 " the sin of Judah " written therein, with a 
 pen of iron and the point of a diamond? 
 
 Consider the mode of trial which shall 
 obtain in that august court. " The dead, 5 ' 
 St. John tells us, " were judged out of those 
 things which were written in the books, ac- 
 cording to their works." These are " the 
 books of reckoning '' and " the Lamb's 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 817 
 
 book of life." The former have been kept 
 by Divine Providence, from the beginning 
 of time ; and register the history of our 
 race. Every man has there an ample page, 
 upon which is recorded, under the eye of 
 Omniscience, his minute biography. The 
 leaf is headed with our birth-sin, — " One 
 man's disobedience, whereby many were 
 made sinners," and all " by nature are 
 children of wrath." Here is described the 
 depravity of our hearts and our carnal 
 enmity against God : and there, crowding 
 the lines, and burdening the ledger, are the 
 transgressions of our daily life, willful, diver- 
 sified, repeated. Acts of omission and com- 
 mission, secret and public, great and small ; 
 sins of thought, hidden, as we hope in the 
 secrets of our hearts ; evil imaginations ; 
 base desires, which we would not have 
 whispered in privacy to a friend ; sins of 
 word ; idle and malicious breaths : scoffs 
 and ribald jests : impure and blasphemous 
 speeches ; sins of deed, committed in the 
 face of men, or hidden in the dark, from all 
 but the eye of God. O those wonderful 
 books of remembrance ! what a chronicle of 
 crime ! And these shall be brought against 
 impenitent sinners at the bar of the Judge. 
 
31 S IN MEM OBI AM. 
 
 Witnessed against from hence, brethren, 
 
 which of us shall not be found guilty ? 
 Our own conscience will render the verdict ; 
 and God. angels, and men. shall approve 
 the condemnation. But the sentence is 
 withheld, until the opening of •• the Lamb's 
 book of life." — "the book of life." in con- 
 trast with that whose every page credits us 
 with " the wages of sin." i; death." And 
 "the Lamb's book:" for He by his own 
 " obedience unto death." in the stead of his 
 people, hath, with his atoning blood, written 
 their names in this register of salvation. 
 Remember, my fellow sinners, at the day of 
 judgment, this volume, shall bear its testi- 
 mony for or against us. Our names. 
 through grace, written here as believers in 
 the Son of God. no reckoning shall be found 
 against us. He who says to his disciples, 
 ;i Rejoice that your names are written in 
 heaven." declares. " I have blotted out as a 
 thick cloud your transgressions : and as a 
 cloud, your sins." How intensely solemn 
 the inquiry, for each one of us. *• Is my 
 name in the book of life?" You cannot 
 indeed look into that volume and read its 
 holy record. " Secret things belong unto 
 the Lord our God : " - He knoweth them 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 319 
 
 that are his." But you can read the word 
 of invitation and promise in the Scriptures : 
 " Look unto me and be ye saved, all the 
 ends of the earth ; " " Him that cometh unto 
 me I will in no wise cast out ; " you can 
 search your own hearts, and, the Holy 
 Spirit enlightening and quickening you, can 
 decide on the evidence furnished by God's 
 Word, whether you have known yourself a 
 lost sinner, and with " a broken and con- 
 trite heart," which God will not despise, 
 have " believed on the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 The same Spirit, who records the name of 
 the elect sinner in the book of life, seals 
 him "unto the day of redemption;" and 
 while carrying on the work of grace in his 
 heart and life, " bears witness with his 
 spirit that he is a child of God." And 
 now, hear the sentence, as it is pronounced 
 from the throne ; and mark the justice 
 which it renders, " to give every man ac- 
 cording as his work shall be." To those 
 who are righteous in Christ, by faith, is 
 assigned the fullness of the reward of his 
 obedience. This is the name whereby He 
 shall be called, " the Lord our righteous- 
 ness," and " he that hath the Son hath life." 
 Yet this life shall be apportioned according 
 
320 IN MEMOR1AM. 
 
 to the capacity to contain it. In the con- 
 stellation of the blest, as they cluster in 
 heaven around the Sun of Righteousness, 
 " one star differeth from another star in 
 glory." The greater the grace, the fuller 
 the joy ; and the more meet the saints are 
 for glory, the more abundantly shall they 
 receive. " He that is righteous, let him be 
 righteous still, and he that is holy, let him 
 be holy still." And, too, in the sentence of 
 the finally impenitent, there is the exact 
 justice of God : they shall " reap that which 
 they have sown, and gather that which 
 they have strewed ; " and it will add to the 
 weight of their eternal misery, and increase 
 the sense of that " indignation and wrath " 
 of " God, who will render to every man 
 according to his deeds," for the condemned 
 to know that they have, through a life 
 of sin, " treasured up unto themselves 
 wrath against the day of wrath and revela- 
 tion of the righteous judgment of God." 
 
 And now the thought that presses upon 
 the soul is, When shall these things be ? 
 What is the period of our Lord's coming ? 
 My brethren, our text furnishes the best 
 answer to this question : " I come quickly." 
 You may desire a more definite statement ; 
 
 *' 
 
REV. CHRISTOPHER PHILIP GADSDEN. 321 
 
 you may spend labor and research in the 
 effort to elicit from Scripture, out of the 
 signs of the times, a more particular re- 
 sponse, but you can find none more safe and 
 practical, — none that should have a more 
 direct influence upon your life and conduct. 
 " Of that day and hour knoweth no man ; " 
 but of this we are certain. It comes. It 
 comes quickly ; all things are preparing for 
 it ; all events making way for it. Signs 
 are around us ; tokens are given us ; Scrip- 
 tures admonish us. Suffer not yourselves 
 to suppose that ages he between you and 
 that awful hour. It is not so far as many 
 think. It may be nearer than any one of 
 us imagines. It will come suddenly. It 
 will overtake us unexpectedly. It will sur- 
 prise a great many : " When they shall say 
 peace and safety, then sudden destruction 
 shall come upon them and they shall not 
 escape." " Behold," saith the Lord, " I come 
 as a thief. m Blessed is he that watcheth and 
 keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, 
 and they see his shame." " I come quickly." 
 It may be but a little while, and " He that 
 shall come will come, and will not tarry." 
 " Amid the confusions of earth, the fall of 
 thrones and upheaval of nations, while men's 
 21 
 
322 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 hearts are failing them for fear, and for 
 looking after those things that are coming 
 upon the earth,' we may see, each one for 
 ourselves, as we " stand in our lot," the Son 
 of Man coming in a cloud, with power and 
 great glory. But if the wheels of his 
 chariot tarry, and for his own reasons of 
 providence and grace, the day of his peo- 
 ple's redemption lingers, yet, my brethren, 
 He will come, by his messenger, Death, to 
 each of us. It may be quickly ; let it not 
 be without such preparation as is only to 
 be found in personal faith in the Son of 
 God. Remember, " It is appointed unto all ' 
 men once to die ; and after that the judg- 
 ment." 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 H 29 82 
 


 
 
 
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