A Discourse, DELIVERED IN THE ORPHAN ASYLUM, NEW-YORK, On the Death of MRS. SARAH HOFFMAN, FIRST DIRECTRESS OF THE INSTITUTION; WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE, JULY 30, 1821, A SKETCH OF HER BENEVOLENT EXERTIONS IN FAVOUR OF THE ASYLUM; TOGETHER WITH THE LAST SCENES OF HER PIOUS LIFE. BY JOHN STANFORD, A. M. Prodigious change! Our bane turn'd to a blessing! DEATH disarm'd, R. BLAIR.. NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE ORPHAN ASYLUM, AND SOLD BY T. & J. SWORDS, no. 90 PEARL-STREET-BLISS & WHITE, HAM SQUARE, AND AT THE ORPHAN ASYLUM, GREENWICH. DISCOURSE. GENESIS, xlviii, 21. Behold, I die: but God shall be with you. DEATH, at any time, and in any form, is inconceivably solemn. In the death of an aged saint of God, there is usually a mixture of light and shade, of joy and pain; which cannot but produce peculiar sensations in the breast of every attendant on the scene. To be parted by death from a relative or friend, whom affection had long united to the heart, produces a dark shade of affliction; while the light of Christian character, and a full persuasion of his future happiness, dart the rays of light and consolation into the bereaved breast; so, that we sorrow not as those who have no hope. A scene like this, is presented to us in the death of Jacob. This venerable man of God, had many afflictive changes in his life, and in his family. By the good hand of his God upon him, he was, through remarkable Providences, led down to Egypt, and spent his last days in the land of Goshen. The time of his death drawing near, his beloved Joseph, with his two sons, and the rest of Jacob's children, surrounded his bed; and, as a father, and a patriarch, he pronounced upon them his final benediction; every part of which was verified in the after history of their respective tribes. To his son Joseph, whom he tenderly loved, he said, Behold, take notice, my pilgrimage is over on earth, my time is come in which I part with you; I die, but God shall be with you. What composure this, while under the pains of dissolving nature, in the immediate prospect of death and the grave! Beneath the smiles of his God, and a sense of that mercy which had led him all his life long, Jacob beheld the prospect of a future state of happiness beyond the vale of death; and thus, with the utmost cheerfulness, he submitted to the mortal change, bowing with reverence to the will of his God. Not less was his confidence, that though he died, the kind Providence of the Lord would preserve his posterity, and return them to their own land. I die, but God shall be with you! What a fine picture is this of a happy death! Can the votaries of infidelity produce an instance of exit in death like this? Is this dying like a brute; unconscious of futurity? Or is this the language of the frantic spirit of the man, who, shivering on the step of death, exclaims “A little longer, yet a little longer, "O! might I stay to wash away my stains, Rather, is not this dying like the man, who rationally and devoutly fears and loves his God, meets his last conflict, and commits his soul to the Redeemer's hand? This stamps a dignity upon human nature, and exemplifies the important admonition-Prepare to meet thy God! |