Christ is All, and in All." Being the substance of a Funeral Discourse, delivered at the Baptist Chapel, Hadleigh, on Lord's-day, January 21st, 1883, BY BENJAMIN JOHN NORTHFIELD, Occasioned by the death of Mr. Freeman Hitchcock (for about thirty years a beloved deacon at the above place of worship), who entered his eternal rest January 16th, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. THERE are not many churches, probably, that have meeting with them three deacons' widows, as we have to-day. About four years ago this church sustained a loss in the death of Brother Cuthbert, who was much respected, but whom I had not the privilege of knowing. Exactly eight. weeks ago to-day I stood before you to preach a funeral sermon for Brother Sewell, whom I well knew, and to whom I was greatly united, for we all loved him; and little did I think, upon that affecting occasion, that in so short a space of time so many would be convened together to mourn the loss of another dear friend, whom we much esteemed, and greatly loved.. But our Brother Hitchcock has quickly been called to join our Brother Sewell in glory. Thus have three valuable men of God and excellent deacons been called from the church here to their eternal rest, leaving us awhile to still battle with the cares of life. Our hearts to-day are full of sorrow, but I trust that the Lord will grant us all needful grace as hitherto He hath done, so that our feelings may not be too much overcome, by reason of the bereavement which has thus called us together. I feel somewhat helped in the assurance that your prayers have ascended to God on my behalf. My mind has been exercised as to what should be our text, and I was inclined to have: "By the grace of God, I am what I am," as it was a favourite with our departed brother. But learning that amidst precious hymns, &c., that he repeated on Lord's-day last he uttered these words, "Yes," Christ is all, and in all,'" that portion of Scripture I have decided upon, for it has comforted me in many respects since when thinking of our loss, and may the Holy Spirit enable us rightly to unfold its meaning. You will find the words in the third chapter of Colossians and the eleventh verse :- -“ Christ is all, and in all.” Now, by the help of the Lord, I would desire to take a fourfold view of our subject, and notice it-First, As Divine information; secondly, In the light of Christian experience; thirdly, In relation to our dear departed brother; and lastly, As a consoling declaration. I. We observe our text as DIVINE INFORMATION. All Scripture is given for our instruction and edification; and, indeed, this may be truly stated in connection with those blessed portions of Holy Writ which directly No. 603.-March, 1883. speak of Christ. Now, our text, with its context, informs us that the partition wall of national distinction is broken down. All believers are one in Christ Jesus. He is their all, and in all. Jew and Gentile, circumcision and uncircumcision, bond and free, high and low, rich and poor, who are brought by sovereign grace to know the Lord, confess that Christ is everything to them. All human knowledge and worldly attainments to such are nothing worth, compared with a precious Christ. Spiritual teaching always rises superior to human learning. The blood of Jesus is the only way to God and everlasting bliss. All who reach eternal glory must go to heaven through Him, and be brought to experience, in some measure, the language of that verse which our brother loved "Compared with Christ, in all beside The one thing needful, dearest Lord, Christ is the all, and in all, of the Covenant of Grace. He is the sum and substance of it. He is "given for a Covenant of the people." He is the Surety of this wondrous compact, and hath secured and sealed its blessings with His own most precious blood, and hence His blood is called the Blood of the Covenant. Oh, what a blessed Covenant, and how precious the blood Aby which it is sealed! Our brother knew the sweetness of this Covenant, and gloried in its stability; for a living and enduring Christ is its all, and in all its blessings. Again, Christ is the all, and in all, of the ceremonial dispensation. No one can be ignorant of this fact who receives the testimony of Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews. He therein declares the law (or ceremonial dispensation) to be a shadow of good things to come. Where a shadow is, there must also be a substance. Christ is the substance of the ceremonies. He was prefigured by the Jewish ritual. The various offerings, bloodshedding, &c., all pointed to Him as the great Sacrifice for sin. Christ also far excels all the types. He is our Altar, Sacrifice, and Priest, and the truc spiritual Tabernacle. Without Him that dispensation would have been meaningless. Every right-minded, spiritually-taught Israelite looked by faith to Jesus as the all, and in all, of that dispensation. Note, also, our text, for Divine information as to the prophecies. The incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection of our Saviour were foretold long ere they transpired; and, so firm was the faith of the prophets, that, under Divine inspiration, one of them speaks of Christ's incarnation as though it had already occurred, exclaiming, "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. the Prince of Peace." In another place His glorious work, as completed, is prophesied with Divine certainty: " He shall swallow up death in victory." He is the wondrous all, and in all, of the prophecies. Observe, too, that He is the all, and in all, of the promises. All the promises are yea and amen in Him. What promise, concerning our eternal welfare, can be considered apart from Him? Have we the promise of forgiveness? It is "through His blood." Have we the promise of accept ance? It is "in the Beloved." Have we the promise of eternal life and glory? It is "according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." God having fulfilled His promise in the gift of His Son, He will, with Him also, freely give us all things—that is, all things for our good and His own glory. II. We look at our subject in the light of CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE, and would at once state that Christ is the all, and in all, of the salvation of the believer, who, indeed, can often say— "In Him my treasure 's all contained ; "There is none other There is no salvation out of, or apart from, Christ. name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." Now, the Holy Spirit brings the sinner to see this when He strips him of all hope in anything short of Christ. It is a great mercy to feel our need of God's salvation, and to be brought to say "Thou, O Christ, art all I want; All in all in Thee I find." When a person is brought to this position, his own former fancied righteousness (if ever he felt he had any) is no ground of hope to him, for it appears as filthy rags, and his only and last resort is to Christ the Saviour of the soul. When one is thus prepared to receive God's salvation, and feels that without it he must perish, it is a proof that Christ died to save such a one. For such will surely be led to Jesus, and hear the language of His own lips: "Him that cometh to Me, I will IN NO WISE cast out." There is salvation only in Christ, and out of Him nothing but condemnation and misery. Christ is the all, and in all, of the believer's hope. It is a solemn thing to be without God and without hope in the world; but such is the dreadful state of many, and such would be the dreadful state of all, if Christ were not the hope of the soul. When we are taught by God's Spirit that we have no hope in ourselves, then are we made by that same blessed Agent to flee to Christ as the sinner's only hope. Christ is in the believer as his hope: "Christ in you the hope of glory." Our departed friend knew the blessedness of possessing Christ as his hope. Now, in regard to the Christian's expectation, Christ, we may declare, is the all, and in all, thereof. Jesus is the sum and substance of all he expects : "I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness." Christ is in the expectation itself; for, if we truly expect to be with Him, He already reigns in us, and by-and-by we shall reign with Him. Temporal expectations may, and have, met with many disappointments, but no spiritually taught soul ever expected or longed in vain to be with Christ. What an unspeakable favour to be made fit to reign with the King of kings! Fellow-mortal, is Jesus in thee as thy salvation, hope, and expectation? For Christ, while He is the believer's all, and in all, is also in every enlightened one who looketh for that blessed hope, and the Saviour's glorious appearing. Christ is in all the believer's profitable sorrow. All sorrow is not spiritually beneficial. There is sorrow unto death. Ah! my friends, how many of us will lie down in the sorrow of hell, which will be everlasting? If we die in our sins, with no knowledge of Christ, such will be our dreadful portion. But, blessed be God, there is a sorrow unto life, and that is sorrow after a godly sort, which is to mourn over sin, and to cry for pardoning mercy and salvation through Jesus' blood. Yes, weak believer, Christ is in that tear of penitence, which is shed when no eye but His beholds you. Christ is in the heart that grieves over sin and fain would be free from it. Is thine heart full of sorrow, because you cannot believe for yourself as well as you can for others? And this being the case, you are ready to cut yourself off from all hope; but Christ has not, nor ever will, cut you off; for He is the all, and in all, of your desires. How many sorrows, since we have known the Lord, have we experienced as being blessings in disguise! Ofttimes the way of the Lord to His people is through storms, and in their hours of sorrow. But sorrow and sighing soon shall flee away, and heaven, our home and rest, be gained. Our brother's sorrows are all over; now he experiences unsullied bliss and happiness eternal. Christ is the all, and in all, of spiritual prosperity. He is our prosperity, and as we, by the Spirit's power, receive Him, so do we prosper spiritually. He was prosperous in our redemption, and, if we confide in His atoning merits, we shall be eternally prosperous. Spiritual prosperity follows spiritual adversity. All who are brought into real soul-trouble shall most assuredly rejoice in Jesus, according to His time and purpose, who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. III. We notice our text, IN RELATION TO OUR DEAR DEPARTED BROTHER. How rejoiced my soul is to know that these words were uttered by him upon his dying bed, although, if he had not said anything in those solemn moments, we could not have had a single doubt about his eternal safety and blessedness, for his walk and conduct gave abundant testimony of the grace of God reigning in his soul. But his dying language affords a blessed testimony that he himself experienced his interest in Christ. What a favour to have an interest in Jesus, and, by grace Divine, to know and feel it as our brother did. O blessed relationship! Note, also, that his supreme satisfaction was in Christ. Jesus was above everything else to him. He lived Christlike. Domestic happiness, social peace, and friendly association were the delight of his soul. Our brother had a large heart, and Christ reigned supremely there, which was evidenced by a peaceful life, as many present can testify. Christ was his supreme satisfaction to the last, and is most assuredly his eternal satisfaction now. He had a firm standing in Christ. This being his dying language, gives us joy to know that, though he was now leaving all his earthly friends and possessions behind, he was not parting with his Christ; nay, rather as these things were left behind, he went forward to the glory of being for ever with the Lord. The world was not all and in all to him; if such had been the case, how different would have been his experience in death. How precious, my friends, when called to die to have a firm standing and safe hiding-place in Jesus, and to rejoice in the swelling of Jordan, that "Christ is our all, and in all ”! I would avow that, considering these words in connection with our dear departed friend, he was not merely a nominal Christian. Some people are satisfied with a name among God's people; while they are, at the same time, dead to the power of Divine things. This would not satisfy the one of whom we speak. He wanted to feel that "the Gospel came not in word only, but in power." We well remember that, only a week or two ago, at our annual members' tea-meeting, he was relating pathetically a portion of his experience in connection with hearing a certain minister declare, concerning his people, that he believed that while one-half were genuine Christians, he doubted concerning the other half. Upon hearing this assertion, he thought—" Well, if it should be the same in the church to which I belong, and I should not be among the genuine professors, how sad my case must be!" Thus, with him there was heart-searching; for he wanted, not only to profess Christianity, but also to feel its powerful working in his own soul, and to practically declare himself a child of light. He desired, not only to profess Christ as his all, but to feel Christ in him as his all. Our brother was not a fair-weather Christian. He loved peace and prosperity as well as anybody, and sought and prayed for the same; but he could stand a few storms, and endure adversity. He was not the man to recant, or give way, because of opposition and difficulty. How very many years he has stood by this church through rough and smooth, adversity and prosperity! Did all the trials it has undergone during his connection with it, cause him to leave it, or in any way neglect to seek its welfare? No! He loved Zion's God too well to leave His people because they were few, weak, and despised. After adversity in the past, he and also our dear friend Sewell lived to see their prayers answered in the prosperity of this cause. The Lord did not take them to Himself until He had caused them to rejoice in the spiritual revival of His people here; and now, in the midst of that prosperity, they are taken from us. God grant us men to fill their places, who will stem the tide and endure the storm-to whom Christ is all, and in all. Another assertion would not be improper, and that is—our friend was not a boastful person. His boasting, I would rather say, began and ended in the language of our text. There are some people who love to talk about religion, but yet give poor signs of possessing Christ. Brother Hitchcock was not a great talker, but he did well. What he did say was always full of meaning. In other words, he said much in a little. I remember asking him once about writing some account of the Lord's dealings with him, but he said he had never given it a thought. The sum and substance of what he could say concerning himself was that, "By the grace of God, I am what I am.' He gloried only in the Cross of Christ. Here was all his boasting; for he knew and felt that in and of himself he was vile and undone. We had better be good walkers, though we do not, or cannot, say much about the Divine things that we love, than be ready talkers, and possess no real, vital, and saving knowledge of Jesus. The Lord looketh |