Funeral Sermon for the Rev. J. J. Janeway

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BY THE REV. CHARLES HODGE, D.D. 289see the divine excellence of Jesus Christ, to recognizethe claims which the Son of God has to theallegiance of his heart, and to the devotion of hislife, and, like Saul on his way to Damascus, he hasfallen at his feet and said, Lord what wilt thou haveme to do! This is conversion. This is translationfrom the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom ofGod’s dear Son.Such being the nature of this change; such beingthe process by which a man becomes a Christian, asoldier of Christ, instead of a follower of Satan, it isevident that the inward principle of Divine life, thatwhich animates and sustains the Christian warriorunder all his trials, privations and conflicts, isloyalty to Jesus Christ. It is a deep sense of ourallegiance to him, of our obligation to love him withour whole heart and soul—with the love of admirationfor his divine majesty and excellence, and withthe love of gratitude for his wonderful love to us, andfor the infinite blessings which he secured for us,with the love of communion and reciprocity for hislove to us. It is the consuming and controllingfeeling that we can never do or suffer enough forsuch a Saviour, so glorious, so lovely, who has doneand suffered so much for us. This is plain not onlyfrom our own experience, but from the whole tenorand spirit of the New Testament, in which love toChrist and zeal for his glory is the animating principle,and from the experience of the whole church,whose prayers, and hymns, and religious life, areone perpetual, universal tribute of worship and devo-
290FUNERAL SERMONtion to Jesus Christ. Many men are greatly mistakenon this subject. They suppose that all that isnecessary to make a man a Christian is that heshould be religious; that he act from a sense of dutytowards God, be grateful for his mercies, and devotionalin his feelings. All this, however, a Jew or aDeist may do. Others adopt a still lower standard;they hold that to be benevolent is all that is required.If a man is kind and beneficent to the poor, the sick,the stranger and the prisoner, honest in his dealings,upright in conduct, they regard him as a trueChristian. It is obvious, however, that a Pagan orAtheist, may be both just and benevolent. To be aChristian is to love and worship Jesus Christ as Godmanifest in the flesh. It is to receive him as ourprophet, priest, and king. It is to be so filled witha sense of his glory, of his love, and of our obligationto him, as to be ready to live and to die for him.If any man come unto me, and hate not his fatherand mother, and wife, and children, and brethrenand sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot bemy disciple. It is under the influence of this loveof Christ, the Christian becomes pure, benevolent,and just. A Christian has, and must have, the religionwhich reverences God, and delights in hisworship, and the moral virtues which some wouldexalt into the place of Christianity; but he must,above and beyond this, be the servant of Christ.Unless Christ be the object of his worship and ofsupreme love, unless the will of Christ be the ruleof his conduct, and the glory of Christ the end for
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Funeral Sermon for the Rev. J. J. Janeway

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