SERMON

BY THE LATE

EEY. WILLIAM HALE DUNNING,

FORMER PASTOR OF THE

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,

ROCKPORT, MASS.

Preached at Rockpokt, June 16, 1867.

CAMBRIDGE :
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON.
1869.

SERMON

BY THE LATE

KEY. WILLIAM HALE DUNNING,

FORMER PASTOR OF THE

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH,

ROCKPORT, MASS.

Preached at Rockport, June 16, 1867.

CAMBRIDGE :
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON.
1869.

jSDbituart Notice*

¦ Rev. William Hale Dunning was born in Mobile,
Ala., Nov. 12, 1836.
He prepared for college at the Boston Latin School, and,
after the'regular course, entered Harvard University in 1854.
Graduating from the University in 1858, he commenced the
study of theology at the Andover Theological Seminary in
1860. On the 10th day of February, 1864, Mr. Dunning was
ordained Pastor of the First Congregational Church, at
Rockport, Mass. His health at this time was not perfect;
and the cares of a large parish were too great a burden for
him to take upon himself, with his declining strength. His
health failing, he spent some months in travelling in Europe,
and with encouraging results. But, after a pastorate of three
and a half years, he was at last compelled to resign his
charge, and was dismissed by council on the 6th of Septem
ber, 1867.
This was his last and only settlement. The months that
followed were only months of waiting for his transfer to the
Church Triumphant. On the 9th of February, 1869, he
died suddenly at Faribault, Minn., where he had gone with
the hope of recovering his lost health.
The sermon which follows this note, was the last one that
Mr. Dunning ever wrote, and, although written nearly two
years before his death, there is a beautiful appropriateness
in the theme. In the closing words of the sermon, — applied
by him to the ideal Christian who has passed into the heavenly
life, — he has given us the language, which, full of joy and
Christian confidence, is now to be used respecting himself:
"He has awaked with his Redeemer's likeness; and in that
likeness wiU he abide throughout eternity."

Rockport, Mass., March 30, 1869.

Mrs. WiUiam H. Dunning, Cambridge, Mass.

Dear Madam, — We have been delegated by the First Congregational
Church, of Rockport, to present to you their request for a copy of a discourse
delivered by our former Pastor, Rev. William H. Dunning, while he was the
minister of this Church.
The Church remembers, with feelings of peculiar interest, the last sermon he
preached to us, from the fifteenth verse of the seventeenth Psalm : " I shall be
satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness." Our Pastor was not at that time
conscious that these were his parting words, from the pulpit, to his flock ; but .
God so willed, and none more appropriate or more consoling could have been
selected. Believing that the publication of this sermon (or of some other, if you pre
fer) would be blest to our good, as we read over the words, formerly spoken to
us, — and feeling that no more fitting memorial of our deceased pastor could be
left us, — we do most respectfully request that a copy of the manuscript be
placed in our hands for publication.
In behalf of the Church, we are, very truly yours,
James W. Cooper,
Newell Giles,
Reuben Brooks, Jr.,.
Committee of the Church.

Rev. J. W. Cooper, Newell Giles, Reuben Brooks, Jr.,
Committee of the Church.
Gentlemen, — Your favor of March 30th, embodying the wishes of the
Church, was received a few days ago.
In reply, I desire to express to the Committee and to the Church the great
pleasure it affords me to receive and comply with their request.
I entirely approve of your selection of this sermoft. It was the last which
my husband wrote, — the Master willed it to be his parting message to his flock.
That the God of all peace may abundantly bless the people so dear to His
departed servant, and prosper in all things their present Pastor, is the earnest
prayer of Yours, very respectfully,
K. E. Dunning.
Dana Hill, Cambridgeport,
April 9, 1869.

SERMON.

" I shall le satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.'" — Psalm xvii. 15.
Never have our senses been more thoroughly feasted
with beauty, than during the last fortnight. Never has
the earth appeared more lovely in her garb of early sum
mer, than at-present.
The spring was cold, wet, chilling, as if Winter had
protracted his reign, loath to yield to more genial influ
ences. But at last his power was dissolved, and in a moment,
as it were, emancipated Nature has burst forth into all
those multiplied forms of vegetable Hfe, wherein she
shows the strength and the variety of her productive
energies. Our eye rests with delight on the familiar carpet of
green, spread over the ground, never more fresh in its
coloring than to-day, and spangled in field and meadow
with wild flowers of many a different hue.
Myriads of leaves, diverse in form and tint, flutter
in the wind, and the trees rejoice as they drink in
air and sunshine through their countless mouths ; while
from their shady covert the birds charm our ears with
matin and vesper songs. The blossoms of rare love-

liness have filled our eyes with beauty: every breeze
comes to us laden with their delicious fragrance ; and
our hearts are made glad in view of the promised fruits
of autumn, as well as through the promised abundance
of those other harvests which sustain man's life.
The Sun rides through the heavens in his golden
chariot, not now to scorch and wither with furnace blast,
but quickening and stimulating all growth, by the flood
of life-giving heat and radiance which he pours forth.
The sea reflects his image unbroken from her calm
bosom, as from a mirror of liquid silver ; or, ruffled by
the breeze, shivers his beams into ten thousand sparkles
of light.
At such a season as this, the earth, instinct with life
and radiant with beauty, claims the admiring regard of
every intelligent observer. But of that life and that
beauty she is not the creator: they are gifts bestowed
upon her; and a fitting contemplation of these gifts will
not fail to lift the thoughts from Nature to her God;
causing us to take upon our lips the devout ascription of
King David, —
" Thou visitest the earth and waterest it : Thou greatly enrichest it
with the river of God, which is full of water : Thou preparest them
corn when Thou hast so provided for it.
Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly : Thou settlest the fur
rows thereof: Thou makest it soft with showers: Thou blessest the
springing thereof.
Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness ; and Thy paths drop
fatness." He who is not wholly absorbed in the life that now is,
who gives some of his thoughts to that eternity not far
off, who is resting in the good hope of eternal life through

Jesus Christ our Lord, as he looks abroad over the earth
at a time Hke this, will find emotions arising in his soul
such as the poet expressed when he sang, —
" O God ! Oh, good beyond compare,
If thus thy meaner works are fair,
If thus thy beauties gild the span
Of ruined earth and sinful man,
How glorious must the mansion be
Where thy Redeemed shall dwell with Thee ! "
Doubtless in that mansion which God has prepared
for His people, nothing will be lacking to make perfect
the happiness of the glorified spirit, in the glorified
body oi the beHever.
Measure, if you can, the love of a father ; measure the
resources of the Almighty God. Then may you set
limits to that stream of blessedness which shall be
poured forth upon the children of the Highest.
Yet the text leads us to notice, that it is not any mate
rial delight, it is not any vast increase of bodily or men
tal activity and power, which is declared to be the
crowning joy of heaven, or rather the solid indispensable
base on which all heavenly felicity rests ; but it is the
attainment, the possession, of a moral image. " I shall
be satisfied, — when I awake, with Thy Hkeness."
A certain .condition of heart the inspired Word in
many places sets forth, as constituting the ground of that
absolute satisfaction which shall belong to the Christian
hereafter. In regard to this truth, as to many others, we can see
how God's book of providence and his revealed Word
practically coincide in their teachings.
We are prepared to find it written in the Bible, that

8
the joy of heaven will not mainly consist in pleasures
offered to the senses ; for experience has taught us that
those pleasures cannot satisfy us on this earth even,
where the spiritual part of our being is overlayed, almost
smothered, by the material. He who has been most
fortunate in heaping up the things which minister to
the senses and the intellect, the taste and the social
affections, is harassed by the lurking suspicion that he
has wants, and real wants too, which are still unpro
vided for.
If this dimly felt moral want, unsupplied, can render
a prosperous man uncomfortable here, — in the clearer
light of eternity, this need, coming out into far greater
prominence, would surely make him wretched even
amid the glories of the celestial city.
Again, we are prepared to learn from the inspired
volume that the highest blessedness of another state, the
highest joy of which our natures are capable, will con
sist in a moral condition ; because, even on this earth,
many of us have grasped the truth, that in those words
duty and virtue is comprised something nobler, better,
more truly desirable, than any thing contained in that
other .word, — pleasure.
This truth is made evident in the light of heroic
illustrations. When the story is read of that Lake-Erie pilot, who
remained steadfast at the wheel while the steamer was
wrapped in flames, and ran her on shore, thus saving
the lives of all on board, though, to accomplish this,
he sacrificed his own life, dying amid flame and smoke ;
though he deliberately cut himself off from ever casting

another glance at the beautiful earth, from ever again
beholding the sweet face of wife and children, yet is
it felt by the most devoted lover of pleasure, that it
was a thousand times better for this pilot thus to die,
at the post of duty, than, by deserting that post, to
have preserved his life many years, and enjoyed all
that makes life pleasant.
To spend one's days in voluntarily visiting prisons,
encountering hardened jailers and depraved criminals,
in the humane attempt to ameHorate their condition,
and finally to lie down and die of j#il-fever contracted
in this work, does not furnish an attractive picture
of a Hfe ; yet the most selfish of us cannot but feel
that John Howard, the philanthropist, chose his course
wisely. But to advance another step. To many men — per
haps to all men in Christian lands — there are, at times,
revelations made of a goodness far above the measure
of any of this world's standards. Glimpses are caught
of an honesty and a truthfulness which are absolute,
entire, — pervading every act, and every thought even ;
of a purity unsullied by a single forbidden imagination ;
of a love disinterested, self-denying ; of a nature abso
lutely unselfish.
Now it is God's Holy Spirit who brings such con
ceptions into our minds. But he uses various instru
ments to do this work. Sometimes the character of a
friend is the means employed. How often has an
irrehgious son been saved from utter scepticism regard
ing all goodness, by the remembrance of a pious mother!
Again, when the demands of the Divine law, as con
tained in the Bible, are read, a flood of light may be
2

10

poured upon the sacred page, causing the reader to
understand, as never before, the nature of that obedience
and service which is claimed by God of every man.
Perhaps, however, it is the portrait of our Lord Jesus
Christ, as drawn in the gospels, which most frequently
awakens in our minds the image of a goodness of which
we had not before conceived. In this life we see One
made like ourselves, encompassed with the same in
firmities to which we are subject, tempted by evil without
in all points as we are tempted, yet never yielding to sin;
resisting the Devil's most powerful and insidious as
saults ; drinking the cup which his Father put to his
lips, though the bloody sweat showed how bitter that
cup was ; doing his Father's will always and perfectly,
even when it pointed to Calvary and the tomb.
In His hatred of pride and hypocrisy ; in His tender
ness toward every repenting sinner ; in His unqualified
submission to the will of His God ; in His vindication
of an eternal, immutable justice, which measures out to
every intelligent creature the due recompense of his
deeds ; and in His ineffable love to the souls 'of lost
men, which made Him -willing to pour out His blood,
that justice might be satisfied, yet the sinner rejoice
through eternity in heaven, — in all this, we see those
mingled elements of strength and loveliness which, com
bined, form a perfect character. The image of Christ,
as set forth by the evangelists, compels the admiration
of every thoughtful reader. The intellect, if sound and
healthy, must approve this model of all excellence.
The office of the Holy Spirit, however, is not alone to
open the understanding, but to affect the heart; and
when He presents Jesus Christ before us, it is that, not

11

our approval, but our adoring affection, may be drawn
out toward Him; that we may be led to exclaim,
" Thou art the chiefest among ten thousand," and " alto
gether lovely ; " " Thou art fairer than the children of
men." And now, if our hearts have been reconciled to God,
through faith in this Saviour, the gHmpses of His char
acter which we begin to obtain, faint and imperfect
though at first they may be, will inflame our hearts with
new aspirations.
No longer shall we'be content to aim at earthly models,
since we have caught a view of a goodness which tran
scends them all.
As the painter knows not what glories his art is able
to produce till he has seen the creations of Raphael and
Titian, so man knows nothing of those higher degrees
of moral exceHence of which humanity is capable, until
he has seen their manifestation in the human nature of
Jesus Christ. And as the true artist, who has looked
upon the masterpieces of genius*, will never set before
himself less perfect standards- for his imitation, so the
true Christian, while the grace of God rules in his heart,
can never be content to strive after any other kind of
goodness than that exemplified in his Redeemer's life.
Loving Christ as the source of his salvation, grateful to
Him for the ransom which He paid, drawn ever closer
to Him by the loveliness of His character, he will desire
to become like Him ; he will wish the Saviour, when,
with omniscient eye He looks upon his heart, to see
there some reflection, real, though it may be very imper
fect, of His own moral image.

12
How often does association with an earthly friend
whom we greatly respect and love, create an intense
longing to possess certain valuable qualities which
appear in him, but in which we are conscious of our
own deficiency !
Much more wiU companionship with our Elder
Brother, our Almighty Friend, cause us to hunger and
thirst after that righteousness which belonged to Him,
not as divine, but clothed with our own nature.
And the more we consider the relations in which
Christ stands towards us, and the more we make His
life the object of a reverent study, the more shall we
desire to have His Spirit grow up within us.
In the experience of every Christian Hfe, there are
times when the soul, drawn very closely to its Saviour
in spiritual communings, can conceive of no greater
happiness and blessing than to be made to resemble
that Saviour in holiness and purity and love. The
emotions which then arise within the believer's breast
are perfectly expressed by the words of our text, " I
shall be satisfied, when* I awake, with Thy likeness."
And if this consummation is felt to be all-sufficient to
meet his wants, equally true is it that nothing else can
accomplish this end. All other blessings are felt to be
in comparison vain, and unable to fill the deepest long
ings of the heart. Hence it follows that no man can
hope to be satisfied — in the full meaning of the term
— here below ; for no man during this life comes, or
can come, into the perfect Hkeness of his Saviour.
We are brought, at this point, to consider the essential
difference between the condition of the child of God
here and hereafter.

13
In many respects, the condition is the same : for in
this life he has become reconciled to God ; already have
his sins been all freely pardoned ; already is a full justi
fication his ; his acquittal, when tried at the Divine Bar,
is as sure now as it will be after it has become matter
of past experience ; he is safe, for the sheltering wings
of the Heavenly Father's wisdom and love are already
spread over him.
But the likeness to his Saviour is here only begun.
On this earth it progresses, but is ever far from com
plete. When he awakes in glory, that likeness will be found
to he perfect.
Here the Christian has within him an army under
two banners. If he be faithful, there will not seldom
be a conflict waging in his breast ; for as often as he
tries to walk in Christ's footsteps, — as often as he tries
to do his Lord's commands, — he finds foes springing
up on every side. The Devil assaults the disciple, as
he assaulted the Master, and in the same threefold
methods, — appealing to the lust of the eye, to the
lust of the flesh, to the pride of life. The world is as
much opposed, in temper and spirit, to godliness in the
beHever now, as when, eighteen hundred years ago, it
crucified the Lord of glory. For the ages were Christ's
words spoken, — " In this world, tribulation." In this
world, for every true foUower of mine, a cross to be
borne while life lasts.
But the spiritual adversaries which are without a man
are as nothing to those which are within, — the traitors
who would sink him in hell, whom only God and his
own soul knows.

14
Do you ask concerning the nature of this hardest
struggle which man is ever called to wage % Let Paul
answer : " I find then a law, that when I would do good,
evil is present with me."
Notice, "is present with me," — not, comes up from
a distance agamst me ; but is already here ; " present
in my members" as he elsewhere says ; intrenched in
the citadel of the heart; master of many natural ten
dencies ; holding possession of many natural inclinations,
and, through them, fighting against every attempt to
keep God's law.
" I deHght," said he, " in the law of God after the
inward man; but I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my mem
bers." This clashing of forces within the same breast, this
contest between the deliberate purpose to serve God
and the powerful drift of natural feelings in an opposite
direction, was a terrible and living truth in the con
sciousness of the apostle. It was no product of a dis
eased or fanatical imagination, but as real and substantial
a part of his Hfe as the eating of his daily bread, or the
Working with his own hands.
Does any one say, This internal struggle has never
yet become a part of my experience ; I know nothing
of it?
The explanation is readily given. The army of
spiritual forces within such a one is under but one ban
ner as yet ; for the standard of a true and unqualified
loyalty to God has never yet been set up in that heart.

15

The resolve to do His will, in all points, at every
hazard, at any cost, has never yet gained access to that
soul. Still less has the fervent desire to be moulded
into the image of Christ, and to be filled with His Spirit,
gained the chief, or any place, in the thoughts.
Let one who has hitherto been ignorant of spiritual
conflict, be enlightened as to the scope and bearing of
the Divine law, and be led by God's grace to enter upon
the path of obedience to that law, and he will find
Paul's experience reproduced in his own case : " When
I would do good, evil is present with me."
God commands purity in the heart, as well as in
word and act. Does the imagination of man come
easily under this law ?
God commands that we put away from us aU malice ;
and do not grudges, and evil, unkind thoughts towards
those who have done us wrong, hold to their place in
our hearts, as the oak holds to the soil by its deep,
strong roots'?
God commands that we hold the substance we have
obtained as His stewards ; and do our fingers ever learn
to unclose readily at the call of His representations?
God calls upon us to live near to Him by faith ; and
do our thoughts quickly and easily turn from this visible
world to Him who is a Spirit ?
Is a devotional frame of mind gained without effort ?
The instant any man determines to serve God with
all his heart and soul and mind and strength, civil war
breaks out within him. Let him expect to find a thou
sand enemies, leagued together to break down, if pos
sible, this resolve.

16

. It is the Divine appointment that whoever will aim at
a higher excellence of moral character than the maxims
of the world inculcate, shall be obliged to strive after it
with toil, in the face of adversaries, often in sorrow
and discouragement ; he will discover the Canaanites
still in the land, and they will prove thorns in his
side. And by the same appointment this struggle is to con
tinue during the present stage of existence. The Chris
tian warrior's armor is never to be laid aside here. The
Christian here may never suffer himself to drift with the
current of the age in which he lives. That current
does not tend heavenward nor Godward. Here the
Christian can never, without extreme peril to his soul,
allow himself to float on the tide of his instincts and
feelings ; that tide in the heart of sinful man never sets
towards the holiness which God requires.
I do not believe that the most experienced ¦ Christian
ever reaches that point, in this life, at which goodness
such as God requires becomes spontaneous.
I do not believe that, in this life, it is ever safe to
allow the soul free play, if I may use such a term.
The moral excellence which is set before us in the
Bible is to be sought after ; measures of it are to be
attained ; its degree is to be increased ; and it is to
be held only by unceasing, often painful effort.
But what a change in this respect will heaven bring
to the faithful Christian ! " I shall be satisfied, when I
awake, with Thy likeness."
Well may he be satisfied !
He has long desired to be like his Redeemer, — to
have Christ's moral image stamped upon his heart.

17
For this he has struggled and fought. But how imper
fect was his success on earth ! how far short did he
come of reaching his ideal ! Foes without and foes
within were numerous, active, strong. The world said
to him : " Wherein art thou better than others ? " The
Devil said to him : " It is useless ; you can never gain
this victory ; give up the attempt, and take the comfort
you may." Then he came to his death-bed.
Perhaps he felt that he was as far from reaching
" the mark for the prize of his high calling " as ever.
Then he fell asleep. He awakes, and finds himself in
heaven. A celestial radiance breaks upon his vision. The
"jasper walls" are around him; under him is the
" crystal pavement ; " holy angels, multitudes of re
deemed souls, encircle him ; God and Christ are there,
and give light and glory to the place.
Is he not abashed, poor sinner as he is, in such an
assembly ?
Ah, no ! for, — wonder of wonders, mystery of re
deeming love ! — he who left this world still defiled with
sin, still harassed by the evil law reigning in his mem
bers, awakes in heaven to find the work of sanctification
begun here, completed.
Now he can mingle joyfully with the throng who
surround the throne of God, for now his heart is in per
fect sympathy with all holy creatures.
Now he can meet his Saviour, and rejoice in his pres
ence with thankful, untroubled spirit; for now he is
conscious that that Saviour's image is perfectly reflected
in his own heart.
No longer need he struggle for right thoughts ; they
3

18
come up now within his breast, Hke water from a living
spring. No longer need he dread and watch against evil
thoughts. They can no move enter his sanctified heart
than they could enter the Saviour's heart, for he has
awaked with Christ's likeness.
Obligation and duty are words whose significance is
now departed ; privilege takes their place. A joyful
service has succeeded to the faithful, weary labor.
Such is the essential change which passes over the
Christian when he goes from this world to a better.
Doubtless all his susceptibilities to pure enjoyment
will be vastly enlarged, and many new pleasures will be
poured upon him. His mental powers, released from
their prison of defiled clay, cleared of the drag which a
troubled soul had fastened to them, refreshed by the
pure and wholesome breath of heaven, their activity
immeasurably increased, will expatiate with delight in
the fields of celestial knowledge, ever making new
attainments, and ever growing more vigorous through
that exercise which is in itself no longer a weariness,
but a pleasure.
That glorified body to be received at the resurrection,
will, in some way, mysterious to us now, minister very
largely to the capacity of the glorified spirit for useful
service and for keen enjoyment.
But the spring of richest joy ever welling up in the
redeemed breast will be the blissful thought, that wher
ever he may wander in the green fields of the heavenly
Canaan, or on whatever mission he may be sent, to the
farthest bounds perhaps of the universe, — never, never,

19

through the ages of eternity will he depart from God, or
fail to obey His commands, or cease to love Him su
premely ; never will he be assailed by an unholy thought
or corrupt desire ; never will a cloud come between his soul
and the face of his God ; never will he cease to rejoice,
as he looks upon the face of Jesus Christ. For he has
awaked with his Redeemer's likeness; and in that like*
ness will he abide throughout eternity.
" O glorious hour !
I shall be near, and like my God !
I shall behold His blissful face,
And stand complete in righteousness ;
And flesh and sin no more control
The sacred pleasures of my soul."