The Funeral Sermon Of Thomas Voysey

Earthen Vessel 1892:

[Notes of Funeral Sermon Preached by E. Marsh at Wellingborough Tabernacle, on Lord’s-day morning, March 27th, 1892, on the occasion of the death of T. B. Voysey, Pastor-elect of Mount Ephraim, Margate.]

The Lord Hath Done It

“He removeth away the speech of the trusty.”—Job 12:20

The removal of a servant of God is a loss extending beyond the family circle and the immediate sphere of labour in which he was found in the service of the King. It has a voice reaching throughout the whole Church of God, and, rightly considered, will humble each believer before Him whose gift the faithful minister and true pastor is.

Our dear brother Voysey has gone. The Lord Himself has called him home. Though personally known to but few of you here, he was your pastor’s most true and devoted friend, with whom he had walked in unbroken unity for over twenty years. Moreover, he formed, in the providence of God, one of the connecting links which brought about our union today as pastor and people, as you heard in our recent recognition services. In his late illness and unexpected removal the heart is called to sustain a heavy loss, and up to a late hour last night no “word from the Lord” came to heal the wound and calm the mind with that faith reliance on Him alone who doeth all things well. Some of the clear departed’s sayings are familiar to you today, as I have loved to quote them in illustration of the truth set forth. Touching his removal my mind has been a perfect blank. Up to the last I felt it impossible he could be taken, so plain were the leadings of God in the betrothal to His people at Margate, and when at last the telegram stated the fact that the Lord had taken him, the natural infidelity of my mind was let loose as it never had been before, and with broken heart I have had to prove “the rebellious dwell in a dry land.”

Since his removal you will remember I tried to speak to you from the words, ”I saw it was from the hand of God,” and again, “As one whom his mother comforteth, &c.;” but, while we gloried in the truth of the truths declared, the one thing needful for personal quiet and submission was lacking, until pleading with the Lord for a message for you this morning, and a word from Him to calm my distressed mind in its bereavement, the text came with a power and preciousness that, while I cried, would to God I had received this last week! I could but bless His holy name it had come at all, so wickedly rebellious have I been in the trial. Oh! the depths of His mercy. Let us consider, as the Lord shall help us, the words He has given: “He removeth away the speech of the trusty”—margin, “the lip of the faithful.” What more can we have to calm the trouble of the mind, and bring us near to Him, if He is pleased so to use it? The text leads us to notice—I. THE CHARACTER OF HIS SERVANT—THE TRUSTY. II. HIS FAITHFUL MINISTRY. III. HIS REMOVAL. IV. THE VOICE OF THE LIVING FROM THE LORD OF THE DEPARTED.

I.—The Character—the trusty. A common dictionary will give you the meaning of the word as “deserving confidence, honest, strong, firm.” No word could more truly describe the character of our dear brother—as a man. Grace does take the vilest of characters whom no living being could trust, and makes them ornaments of society, and worthy the confidence of all men. In the case of our dear brother, if he had never been called by grace he would never have been anything else but an honest man, worthy the confidence of all with whom he came in contact. Moreover, nature had blessed him with an amiability of disposition that made him an agreeable companion, and ever welcome guest in the circle in which he moved. When such a natural disposition became under the government of indwelling grace he was a brother beloved indeed. It is true of him as a Christian. He was a new creature in Christ Jesus. Christ was formed in him the hope of glory. As a Christian he regarded his time, talents—yea, all he possessed, as not his, but blessings with which he was trusted to use in the service of his Lord. He knew the path of tribulation above many; but when the Lord blessed any fresh enterprise, he delighted to devote the first fruits as an offering unto the Lord; yet so quietly was it done that it remained unknown until the Lord called him home. Liberal to a fault, his left hand was not allowed to know the act of the right. But, as a Christian hero, firm and strong was he in the grace which is in Christ Jesus. He knew whom He had believed, and, honest to himself and his God, he would glory in the grace which sought, and found, and kept him a follower of Christ. Something must be radically wrong when it can truthfully be said, “The worldling is worthy of trust where the Christian is not.” Can it really be true there is such a thing as a dishonest Christian? Is it possible to possess the grace of God in truth and yet not be trusty? The world may well ignore the Church when her children are not to be trusted. He was true in his allegiance to Christ, and through the waters of baptism entered the visible Church of Christ, and here the text is true of him as a Church member. He deserved the confidence he won from his fellow members in Church-life, and a wise counsellor to many a young one, and even older too, did he prove, as living witnesses in the Church at Brentford will testify today.

As a fellow-helper of the saints he was trusty: from a place in the class to teacher, superintendent, Church secretary, and deacon, he ascended step by step, and around his grave stood the associates with him in the service of the Lord,—each ready to declare him a faithful, trusty servant of the Lord. But it was as a Gospel minister where his character had to be fully developed, and then, alas! like some of our most beautiful flowers, so soon to fade.

II.—His Ministry. His as he was put in trust with it—not his as designed and formulated of himself. No! for he could truly say, “I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached of me as not after man, for I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Strictly methodical, without being mechanical, his ministry was utterly devoid of that pulpitarianism of the cut and dried order, lacking the unction so longed for by living souls. He fed others with the food wherewith he was fed, and often did the eye moisten as he told out the glories of the cross. His lip was “the lip of the faithful.” His speech was seasoned with salt. SPEECH. Speech is God’s gift, and under God’s control. Often do His ministers go beyond themselves, and, under the influence of the Spirit, leave the pulpit astonished at the flow of utterance given for the time being. Equally true is it they go below themselves, and stand almost speechless. A born orator and God-sent minister once remarked that on a certain occasion be was “shut up, even for words.” Oh! how true is the statement preceeding our text, “He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.” The fair speech of today too often substituted for the glorious Gospel of the blessed God was foul breath to our dear brother. With Moses he could say, “My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall destil as the dew…because I publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God.” His speech was sound and not to be condemned. With him the ministry of the Gospel was no mere profession. The following is from his own pen in 1879, when he heard I was beginning to speak in the name of the Lord:—

“It is the most important work an erring mortal can be called to, but He who formed man’s mouth can put right words into it, and He who tries the reins and knows the thoughts of men can guide them in the right way. It is a solemn position to stand as between the living Lord and dying sinners, to warn them of the wrath to come, and to point to the way of escape, and may God grant that you may ever be kept from trifling, as many, alas! do, with men’s souls. Be not afraid of man, my brother, speak the words of truth boldly, soberly as to and for the Lord. I feel certain if He is pleased to keep your eye fixed on Himself, it will be well with you. It is when we look off from Him we fail and fall.”

Such was his feeling with regard to the work before called to it himself, and how fully did he afterwards act on the advice he gave to me, many know full well. “Ascribe ye greatness unto our God.” This was his theme. Many have told me that after hearing him they felt as if they were listening again to the beloved John Hazelton, of blessed memory. Into just such a mould was the mind of our dear brother cast. His ministry was of the “old theology” stamp. And to hear him was to listen to a theologian whose soul was saturated with the glory of the truths he unfolded. In every sermon preached and speech delivered, it was his delight to unfold the greatness of our God in His plan of salvation, covenant arrangements, complete work, and glorious issue. Paul’s epistles to the Churches were by him opened up in their glorious connection with foregoing prophecy, and the council chamber of eternity was the glory of his heart, as he delighted to show the decrees, purposes, and plans of a three-one God for the redemption of His people. He would claim for his Lord in the highest degree what he conceived was the duty of every rational being, to count the cost before he built. Oh! beloved, our God is no purposeless being. “His ancient thoughts, and firm decrees” are the sure basis of a sinner’s hope.

Between the plan and execution is a vital connection, and our dear brother not only showed from the word the plan of salvation, but how gloriously would he unfold the engagements in the new and better covenant of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Father engaged to accept Christ as our surety. Jesus Christ engaged to magnify the law, and make it honourable, with the full knowledge that nothing less than his own life was to be given. He engaged to put away all the sins of His chosen people by the sacrifice of Himself, and, through the path of sorrow none but He could tread, steadfastly set His face to carry out His engagement to the very letter; staying not until the death-sweat on His holy brow mingled with the stains of the thorn-crown, and He could cry, reviewing all His engagements, “It is finished.” The Holy Ghost was always equally honoured with the Father, and the Son, and with our dear brother the regeneration of the sinner was absolutely necessary to the glory of God, and in itself was not a mere change of mind, but the new creation work of God the Holy Ghost. How naturally, then, in its own beautiful order, would the servant of Christ declare the completeness of His work. He tried at nothing, but did the good pleasure of His own will. Saved, and not did something that, if somebody or anybody makes use of what He did, they may possibly be saved by it. No! no! The Christ of the Gospel today sits at the right hand of God, satisfied with His own work, expecting the glorious issue. As it is written, “He shall see of the travail of His soul.” “He must increase.” “Unto Him shall the gathering of the people.” No peradventure, or perhaps, if, but, or possibility: “They shall be Mine.” Hence, as our loved brother ever delighted to show, between the first tear of penitential grief from the eye of a sinner, and the council chamber of Jehovah, there stood a glorious connection all to be fully revealed at last in glory, when the Mediator shall hand over His trust, and say, “Here am I, and the children whom Thou hast given Me.” Not one left out. Glorious issue! the eternal glory of the Trinity in unity with a glorified Bride—the Church. Is not this the speech, the doctrine, the ministry of the trusty? Blessed be God that, while the voice and speech is silent today in the halls of death, we remember it as the speech of the trusty, and being dead he still speaketh, for the ministry lives on, as dear J. S. Anderson used to say, “God buries His workmrn, but carries on His work.”

III. The Unexpected Removal. “He (the Lord) removeth away the speech of the trusty—away from the sins and sorrows that surrounded him—the noise and din of a godless world—the poignant grief with which he viewed the state of many in Zion. Away! yes! from his own sinful and righteous self to be for ever with his Lord. His removal. God did it. The Lord may be seen to remove the speech of the trusty in more ways than one. Ezek. 3:26 is a solemn witness against the rejection of the testimony of the faithful. Mark how God removes away the speech of the trusty, saying to His servant, “I will cause thy tongue to cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover, for they are a rebellious house.” Are not God’s people themselves today accountable for many an empty pulpit where once the lip of the faithful told forth the word of life? Shall it not at the day of judgment be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Capernaum? He is pleased to remove away as He lays upon a bed of affliction His faithful, and Zion has been taught the value of the means of grace by the loss. Today our dear brother’s voice is silent, for His Lord has removed him home. Let, us close then by listening to—

IV.—The Voice to the Living from the Lord of the Departed. My text is Job’s utterance, but God’s declaration. The Lord Himself—the great I AM hath done it. Does not His act (1) demand reflection? The calling home to court of an ambassador; for such was our dear brother, the sent of God, who could always produce his heavenly credentials, and such only are His servants. Is not the calling home of an ambassador admitted among nations to be a token of hostility? We glory in the eternal security of the Church of God. We have no doubt as to her eternal welfare; but we equally know the Lord visits His individual Churches, and His one Church on earth with privations, persecutions, punishments, and trials, when they neglect the precious means of grace with which they are favoured, depart from their allegiance to Zion’s King, wink at sin in their burdens, or permit the strife of tongues to darken their sun of prosperity. “If My children sin, I will chasten,” is His own declaration; and if we connect the present state of Zion with the calling home of the ambassador, the removing away of the speech of the trusty, does it not demand reflection? Could you, dear brethren and sisters, read the opening address this year in the Earthen Vessel & Gospel Herald without turning after your reading to the throne of grace, and blessing God on the one hand for “the lip of the faithful,” and on the other to plead with Him to revive the cause we love? Will our God sanction the platform caricatures of the Gospel instead of the ”publication of the name of the Lord?” What would some of the faithful ambassadors He has called home say, if they could occupy again the pulpit they have left, and witness the God-dishonouring performances that have taken the place of the publication of God’s truth? Our dear brother no longer has to mourn over Zion, as, God knows, His faithful servant did, for the ambassador is called home.

2. The act of our God calls for closer communion in prayer and service. Our dear brother, writing me on the death of brother Beazley in 1886, said: “How many of the valiant are falling around us! We younger ones must, necessarily be pushed more to the front. Sometimes the thought of the responsibility weighs me down, causing great depression of spirit, yet it should not, for Jehovah lives, the battle rests not with the host, but with the great Captain. He who gave them courage and made them what they were and kept them to the end, can keep us. Therefore, let us rather sing, ‘Begone unbelief,’ &c. Let us around our loved one’s grave renew our allegiance to Christ, and closer than ever cleave unto one another.”

3. He removeth. Shall not this silence rebellion? “It is the Lord.” “Be still and know that I am God.” Was he not His more than ours? Did not He have the first claim on that loving heart and faithful lip? He has but taken what was His. Blessed be His grace that ever lent us such a servant, husband, father, brother, friend, at all. We would have had him longer had it been our Lord’s will, yet “Thy will, my God, be done.”

4. This assurance from our God is to soothe the bereaved. A true help-meet did our Lord give His dear servant in the person of the now broken-hearted widow. From youth a member of the Church at Lichfield, she grew an ornament to her profession and a pastor’s true friend. Today, is there no balm for that bleeding heart, as she bends over her four fatherless babes (the eldest only eight years old)? Yes! yes! our dear sister has been helped to recognize the hand that removed away her trusty, faithful husband, and this is her solace, “My Lord had need of him.” “The Lord hath done it.” The bereaved widow leans on the arm that cannot fail, and will she not see His open hand in many a love-token His dear children shall convey to that shaded home in Thanet-road, Margate? That Jesus, whose last act on earth in His sufferings was to provide for the broken-hearted Mary as He handed her to John, will not let those dear ones want, but bless every heart ministering to their need for His dear sake. The bereaved Church at Margate, anticipating the happy wedding next June with him to whom they stood betrothed, shall find the healing balm is here alone: “The Lord hath done it.”

Lastly. The act and voice that demands reflection calls for closer communion, silences rebellion, and soothes the bereaved, equally (5) speaks encouragement to Zion. Oh, beloved, through  the gloom of the present gleams the day-dawn of glory. Our home has another brother in waiting, and we are nearing every hour. We are encouraged to press forward as we hear the dying testimony of departed saints, and yet a little while and “He that shall come will come and will not tarry;” “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the Father;” and “So shall we ever be with the Lord.” Oh, may we each be found followers of them who through faith and patience now inherit the promise! then shall His own dear hand remove us away, saying, ”Ye have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many.” Amen.