"I am the resurrection and the life." A book of funeral sermons

Preface

The history of this volume of funeral sermons is, - the same time, its apology. It is briefly this: for lumber of years individual pastors of the English nod of Missouri have been urged to publish such .: •^mons as homiletical aids to such pastors as, for iut of time or proper equipment, have felt embarssed when called upon, often on very short notice, conduct a burial in the English language. These requests were brought to the attention of the English Synod, and as it appeared reasonable and fair that English pastors should supply this want of churchliterature, and the Synod had thus, in a manner, been called upon to supply the same, it was resolved at the convention held in the city of Baltimore in 1897 to proceed with the publication of the present volume. Synod's Publication Board, after collecting some material and outlining the general plan of the book, instructed the undersigned to arrange details and comvi Preface.

plete this volume, which has, in all its parts, been duly passed upon by the Revision Committee of Synod.

The volume, which is herewith presented to the Church for such use as it will find it convenient to make of it, is the joint product of a number of authors, all of whom have approached their part in its elaboration with a greater or less degree of diffidence, and none of whom claims any merit or recognition for its execution. Owing to the joint authorship of this book absolute uniformity of thought and expression and of the exposition and application of Scripture texts will probably be found wanting in it. Besides, a number of the sermons admitted into this book, were written for special occasions arising in the parochial work of pastors, and thus bear the stamp peculiar to such sermons. It was thought advisable to admit them just for this reason, rather than in spite of it. For the same reason two sermons each on the same text were admitted in three instances. However, this lack of uniformity, if it is a defect at all, will be compensated for by the diversity of gifts which has been available for this work. In the compilation of the burial service appended at the end Lochner's Liturgische Monatshefte has been followed.

May Christ, who is the Resurrection and the Life, accept of this humble work and bless its use to the

Preface. vii

instruction, correction, and comforting of his children in some of their saddest hours in this perishable life. "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel : therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me." Ezech.

3-17.

''Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your

God. Sp.eak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry

unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her

iniquity is pardoned : for she hath received of the

Lord's hand double for all her sins. Isa. 40:1, 2.

By order of the

American Lutheran Publication Boards

CONOVER, N. C,

On the eve of Reformation Day 1898.

TABLE OF CONTENTS,

L FOR INFANTS AND VERY YOUNG CHILDREN*

{I — 3 yearsO

PAGE.

How to submit to God's will and be comforted by it.

This word of God is true.

Why God so often takes away our little ones from this earth.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

IL FOR CHILDREN* (3—13 years*)

The believing confession of an afflicted Christian : "Nevertheless I am continually with thee."

Our comforting assurance that the death of this child is precious in the sight of the Lord.

The keeping of Christ's saying as the victory over death.

Why Christian parents should not weep over the death of their children.

X Contents.

IIL FOR CONFIRMED YOUTHS. (J3— 17 years.)

a) For Boys:

PAGE.

The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord.

I am the resurrection and the life.

Confirmed indeed.

b) For Girls:

The righteous taken away from the evil to come.

Weep not ; she is not dead, but sleepeth.

IV. FOR YOUNG MEN. (17—25 years.)

Two reasons for cheerfulness in suffering.

The renewing or transforming of the body.

Why it is not strange that Christians should suffer.

V. FOR YOLTSTG WOMEN. (J7— 25 years.)

The bridegroom came.

The Lord's handmaiden.

Contents. xi

PAGE.

Why weepest thou ?

VL FOR YOUNG MARRIED MEN*

What God hath done for my soul.

A little while.

VIL FOR YOUNG MARRIED WOMEN;

Wither thou goest, I will go.

(Address).

The Christian's happiness in life and death.

VIIL FOR MIDDLE AGED MEN-

The lines fallen in pleasant places.

The good and faithful servant,

The glories of heaven.

IX. FOR MIDDLE AGED WOMEN.

Patient submission to the will of God.

The glorious hope of the resurrection of the body.

xii . Contents.

PAGE.

To live is Christ, and to die is gain.

The continuing city, the goal of our pilgrimage.

Blessed are the dead whichdie in the Lord.

X* FOR ELDERLY MEN AND WOMEN.

(Address).

I will lay me down in peace.

Cast me not off in time of old age.

With His stripes are we healed.

The kindly offices of the three cardinal Christian virtues at the burial of Christians.

The inheritance of the saints in light.

The life of a Christian a fight for a crown.

The dying Christian's song of triumph.

It is appointed unto men once to die.

Faithfulness unto deatli.

Contents. xiii

XI. FOR EXTRAORDINARY OCCASIONS*

PAGE.

Under what circumstances is the desire to die a pious desire.

Be still, and know that I am God.

(Address).

(Address).

(Address).

Come and let us return unto the Lord.

XIL BURIAL service: 325

*

INDEX OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS

(Numbers in ( ) refer to number of sermon.)

PAGE.

Index. XV

PAGE.

V

FOR INFANTS AND VERY YOUNG CHILDREN (i— 3 Years).

I. How To Submit To God's Will And Be Comforted By It

But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. 2 Sam. 12:23.

''It is appointed unto men once to die.'' This holds good aHke with the tottering- sire and the infant in the cradle. And it is quite natural for grief and mourning to follow in the wake of death; tears and sorrow^ too, being like death a consequence of sin. For loving parents to experience grief, when their child, a special gift of God's grace, is taken from them, is very much in the order of things and not displeasing to God. Such sorrow we do not find censured in Holy Writ. Hagar, when believing her son about to die in the desert, ''sat down over against him a good way ofif : for she said. Let me not see the death of the child. And she lifted up her voice and wept." How very downcast the pious Shunamite widow was, when the son, whom the Lord had given her at the instance of the prophet's prayer, was taken from her by the hand of death! And witness the pangs of Jairus, the father, wdien his daughter was about to die. Again, did not the ruler whose son lay sick at Capernaum, show a parent's grief. Finally, note David's grief at the prospects of his infant child's death. We do not find this pain censured, nor this grief forbidden.

So on this occasion we shall not chide the parents for feeling the heaviness of the Lord's hand, for to have the objects of our greatest love taken from us, will and must cause us pain.

Still there is a Hmit to grief; there is a balm in Gilead. We would recall to you the peculiar, yet God-fearing conduct of David at the death of his child, in that he rose up on learning its death, went into the house of God to worship, and did eat bread. Hence, let us learn from David how to submit to God's ruling, and how to be comforted by it.

I.

David saw in the death of his child the infallible yet gracious will of God. He said, ^'now he is dead . . e can I bring him back?'' David had prayed for the life of the child as long as breath was in him, but when death had set in, the will of God was evident. We as Christians w^ish to live in accord with it, hence must not murmur against it, -or show insubmission by excessive grief. ''Thy will be done,'' we pray, and when we find His will done, let us bow to it. This David did. By his petitions and actions he acknowledged God to be the one that gives us life, and that children are a heritage of God. He then, it follows, has full authority to call the children, whom He gave us for a time, to Himself again. Say you, there is little comfort in this stern fact of God

Submission to God's Will. 3

being the ruler and we the ruled? But I pray you, remember we are speaking not of an irrevocable, inexorable blind fate, but of an infallible judgment of God. What He does is right. So when God acts, even in His omnipotence, such acts being infallibly right, must be for our good.

Beloved '*it is well!''

God's w^ays are always right;

And perfect love is o'er them all,

Though far above our sight.

H.

It is hard, you say, to see God's love in the death of your child? True, death in itself is not a mark of God's love, but of His wrath over sin, and every instance of death we meet with reminds us of the power death has over us because of our sins, and should cause us to humble ourselves in God's sight. God's greatest act of grace and love centers in showing us through the law our sinfulness, so that, by means of the Gospel, we may find the way to Christ and salvation. Visitations like the present one are valuable aids to this end. So the departure of your child, in forcibly bringing these facts to your remembrance, evinces the gracious w^ill of God.

In David's words, "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me," there is the comfort of the child being removed from all temporal trouble and cares. David would give a kingdom, yet he knew full well, that a royal crown was often converted into a crow^n of pain, of thorns. A kingdom would not have been in store for your child had it lived, but perhaps much

4 For Infants and very young OhildrPH.

pain and many tears. Even David was not spared them; and this occasion reminds us anew that we are in a vale of tears and in a world of suffering-. This child tasted but very little of it, barely becoming conscious of its own existence. So you will admit that its removal from this world's ills is an act of God\s love.

'T shall go to him/' David sa3^s. Herein lies the main comfort. Where was David's child? In heaven, having through circumcision already been incorporated into God's Church and made heir to the blessed promises of God's children. Likewise this child, lately departed, having experienced ''the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost'' — Holy Baptism — is now an angel in the realms of light. Your child has attained the end of its creation and existence. Would you recall it? Luther at the death of his daughter Lena said: 'If I could recall my daughter and get the Turkish empire into the bargain, I would not do it! Oh, she is well off! 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord'"!

You likewise may say to your child:

Because thy smile was fair, Thy lip and eye so bright; Because thy loving cradle care Was such a sweet delight.

Shall love, with weak embrace Thy upward wing detain?

No ! gentle angel, seek thy place Amid the cherub train.

This Word of God is True. 5

A happy reunion, dear parents, is held out to you. '1 shall go to him/' David said. He knew where he was going. See to it that you follow where your child has gone before. You will henceforth, when thinking of your eternal home, associate with it also the beloved form of your departed child, beckoning you onward and upward, and when re-united with it never to part you will join your child in blessing God for this present hour of pain and parting. Amen.

II. This Word Of God Is True

I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. Jerem. 31:3.

When death comes among us, we are reminded of the vanity of all earthly things and of all merely human consolation. Let even the best friends then come and show their sympathy, what real help does it afford? The precious life is gone; the loved one is dead. How complete the sadness, if there we must "mourn, as those who have no hope.'' But Christians must not thus mourn. They are not dependent on human consolation. No; the word of the living God aflfords the Christian abundant consolation for every, even the saddest bereavement. He who said : ''Comfort, comfort ye my people,'^ has also provided that Christians must and shall not be without comfort. His word contains a balm for every sore — a balm, which heals not only temporarily, but heals so, that the healing of God is applied to our wounded hearts.

It is my precious calling to ofifer this healing balm to you, whose hearts are bleeding over the death of your beloved child. The ties are tender that bind together parents and children, brothers and sisters, and when they are torn, the hearts will bleed, and "for blood the tears will flow;'' but our hearts are then also peculiarly attentive to the Word of Him who has the keys of life and death. Open your hearts to its consolation, as I have chosen it for this occasion, and you can find it written Jer. 31:3: — 'T have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.''

THIS WORD OF GOD IS TRUE, i). As spoken to this child in life and death; 2). As spoken to the bereaved mourners and to us all.

I.

'T have loved thee with an everlasting love.'' This word of God is true as spoken to this child, now lying cold in death. God who is love has loved it too with His everlasting love. He loved it from eternity, when He, in Christ, numbered it among His elect. He loved it so, that He gave His only begotten Son, that it should not perish but have everlasting life. But you say, He permitted it to sufifer so much, and then to die. Of course. He did, and all in love. Does not His word say: "'Whom the Lord loveth. He also chasteneth ;'' and: ''We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God?'' This is true of all sinners, w^io are saved by grace, and of our

This Word of God is True. 7

saved children too, because they also are sinners and saved by grace. They, too, must through the sorrows of earth learn to know the joys of heaven, through death enter into life, that when they get there, they may enjoy the blessedness of heaven.

'Therefore,'' He says, '\vith loving kindness have I drawn thee.'' How did He do this with regard to this child? He first drew you, its dear parents, to Christ, and when He gave you this child, you brought it to Him in Holy Baptism. There He drew it to Himself, and ''sanctified and cleansed it with the washing of water by the word,'' and made it His own dear child. But He still left it with you, and in your care, for your joy and delight, and to be coworkers together with God in bringing it up for His kingdom. Remember, however, that you were only coworkers together with God; God was doing the drawing; and so He soon began to draw it closer and closer to Himself. How often you thought, now He will take it away; and in your prayers you commended it to His love. Thus God drew it nearer and nearer to Himself, until in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, He translated it to the full enjoyment of His glorious presence forever; and here He wrote on its pallid countenance: "Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." It is for you, dear parents, and brothers and sisters and other sympathizing mourners of this departed child, to read on its pallid countenance, and when you recall it to memory to hear: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee/'

II.

For this word of God is true also, as spoken to you and to us all. When God takes little children ''from this vale of tears to Himself in Heaven/' the dealing of His providence has most certainly no sinister or evil intention. Not toward the child; that we have seen; but also not toward any one of the bereaved mourners, or any one of us all. His everlasting love which embraces you, weeping parents and brothers and sisters, and us all, His love in which He gave the world His only begotten Son, is here not suspended. No; He now speaks to you not only in word but also in deed: ''I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.'' The drawing of His love with which He hath drawn this child unto Himself also reaches your hearts and our hearts. He would draw them nearer and nearer to Himself. Our hearts are naturally cold and slow to respond to the drawings of God's love. He therefore sometimes takes a deeper hold on them, lays His loving hand on a tender spot, that we feel it, and yield our hearts to the drawing of His loving-kindness. Why, yes, we are to learn the curse of sin and death, that we may taste the preciousness of grace and life. We are to learn the vanity of all earthly joys, that our hearts may be freed from them to seek those which are in Christ Jesus. And how can we learn all this better than by the death of some loved one? For when the brightest joy of earth fades and passes away, are not our hearts mightily drawn thither, where joy never dies, to follow those happy ones

Why God Takes Our Little Ones. 9

whom God's lovingkindness has drawn unto Himself? So would He draw us. By the dwelling of our loved ones there, heaven is to become more and more our home, and God's drawing is to become a homesickness in our souls. "His loving-kindness. Oh ! how great!" Amen.

HI.

WHY GOD SO OFTEN TAKES AWAY OUR LITTLE ONES FROM THIS EARTH.

"I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Jerem. 31:3.

The tie of the family is the strongest tie that binds persons together here on earth. The love that binds together husband and wife, and parents and children is greater than any other love. The death therefore of any member of a family, be it of parent or child, naturally causes great grief and sorrow to all the other members. If the family-relation is the right kind, no husband likes to lose his wife and no wife her husband; no parents like to lose a child, although they may have several others left; and no child likes to lose one of its parents. For they love one another, and love never likes to part with any object of its affection.

Also you, dear parents, loved your little daughter, whom God has now taken from you, and therefore you did not like to part with her. Your heart was knit in tender affection to the little darling, and her loss has filled your heart with grief. And you, brothers and sister, also loved her dearly, that infant sister of yours and you were very unwilling to let her go. So since her departure there is an aching void in your breast, and many a tear has since then dropped from your eyes.

But, however great may be your grief and sorrow^ at the death of your little daughter and sister, however tender may have been your love to her, there is One who loves her still more than you could have loved her, and it is this great love for her which has prompted Him to remove her from your midst. Of this we have a testimony in the words of our text: ''I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.'' Guided by these words let me now show to you

WHY GOD SO OFTEN TAKES AWAY OUR LITTLE ONES FROM THIS EARTH.

The reason for this is

i) Not His anger, but

2) His loving-kindness towards them.

I.

It is a sad truth, my dear friends, that when God takes away grown persons out of this life, when He tears father or mother out of the family-circle, when He suddenly extends to a young man or woman the icy hand of death, that this is not always a sign of His love. Death is to them very often a messenger of God's eternal wrath.

When such grown persons have had no other care than for the treasures and pleasures of this life, for-

Why God Takes Our Little Ones. 11

getting the cares for the treasures that moth doth not corrupt nor rust eat away, then their untimely death is a work of divine anger and wrath. To them apply the words of our Savior: "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?" — Or when such persons have striven only after honor with men and for an easy life, neglecting the care for the life to come and for the honor with God, which can be acquired only by repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, then their untimely death is a sign, that God's longsufifering has come to an end, their death is for them the most terrible punishment of God's holiness and justice, for He thus casts them forever away from His face into everlasting misery and contempt. If young men and women have thought only of enjoying their youthful years, if they have sacrificed the fragrant blossoms of their youthful lives to the goddess of pleasure and lust, intending to ofTer the withered leaves of their old age to God and their Savior, then their untimely death is like a flash of lightning from the hand of their angry judge, who thus tears them away out of their enjoyment and pleasures into everlasting misery and torments.

But such is never the case, when our little ones are taken away from this world. The cause of this is not God's anger. It is true, also our little children are not guiltless and holy, for they are born sinners. But Christ has died also for them, has wiped away the sin which they bring with them into the world. And He furthermore, in Holy Baptism, clothed them with the robe of His righteousness, so that in the eyes of God they become perfectly holy and righteous. Thus these little ones become Christ's own brothers and sisters, the children of His Father, and heirs of eternal salvation. And this heavenly Father now loves them much more than human parents can love their children, He loves them with an everlasting love, as our text tells us. Ah yes, before the foundations of the earth were laid, he loved them already and ordained them for heaven. Moreover, He shows His love for them in various ways. He sends His holy angels to- watch and protect them. He is angry with those who offend them. Yea, He says in His Word that ''it were better for such person if a millstone were hanged about their neck and they 'were drowned in the depths of the sea.'' And on the other hand He says of those, who treat them kindly : ''Whosoever receiveth such a child in my name, receiveth me.'^ How, then, could it be His wrath, that prompts Him to take them aw^ay from this earth? Nay, that is impossible! On the contrary, our text states the reason for this when it says : "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee,'' i. e. taken thee away from earth.

n.

If a person were locked up in a dark and damp dungeon, and somebody would come and unbolt the iron door and conduct him into a beautiful, light room to unite him with his dear relatives and friends: would he be inclined to construe this as an act of

Why God Takes Our Little Ones. 13

anger on the part of his liberator? Or if somebody were to raise you from bitter poverty into a state of wealth, from deep contempt to high honors, from grief and trouble to joy and happiness, from illness and w^eakness to health and strength : say, would you not consider such deeds as deeds of great love towards you?

Now, what else is this life than a damp and dark dungeon, where our soul is pining in the fetters of sin? What else is this evil life than bitter poverty, where we m.ust appear as naked beggars before God every day? What else is this life than misery and trouble, never-ceasing sickness and constant dying? And what, on the other hand, is heaven but a beautiful hall in which are assembled all the elect of God in everlasting union and never ending happiness? What else is it but a place, where God's children are supplied with an infinite abundance of treasures far better than this earth can afiford, w^here there is unceasing joy, never interrupted health and vigor and everlasting life?

Oh, is it not truly loving-kindness, therefore, when God takes our little ones away from this earth of misery and trouble and transfers them to a world of happiness and bliss? He foresees all the troubles and trials that await them down here, therefore he takes them away before they can be touched by them. He sees the serpent of sin stealthily approach them, and He takes them up in His arms and carries them to a place of safety in their Father's house. He sees the overwhelming flood of perdition, as it comes rushing along threatening to drown them, and He takes them and carries them up to the high hills of heaven, where they cannot be reached by that dangerous destructive flood.

Oh, ought we not rather to rejoice, therefore, than weep over the death of our little children, when we know that they have been received by Christ in Baptism and that He has now taken them to Himself altogether. When we know that they are now safe from all the dangers and troubles that beset us in this wdckcd world, that they have entered the eternal bliss of heaven, without first tasting the bitterness of this evil life. Meseems they call down to us from heaven: Weep not, dear parents, weep not, dear brothers and sisters, for we are safely laid away in our heavenly Father's bosom, and are only waiting for you to follow us.

May God help us whom He has yet left in th(i strife and turmoil of this world, to fight the battle bravely to the end, so that, when death comes to release us, w^e may join the saints that have gone before us. Amen.

IV. Thy Will Be Done On Earth, As It Is

IN HEAVEN^

Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Matt. 6:10.

Again we must exclaim with Moses, the man of God: "Lord, thou turnest man to destruction and sayest: 'Return, ye children of men' . . , Thou car-

Thy Will be Done. 15

riest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are Hke grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up: in the evening it is cut down and withereth.^^ Such is the state of the w^hole human race, it is cut down like the grass of the meadow. The old, the young, the wise, the simple, all must sooner or later quit this life. Loved ones may stand around our couch to hold us back, but they cannot — go we must; Oh momentous hour v/hen we quit life, for as the tree falleth, so shall it lie to all eternity. Oh, painful hour of departure, the dissolution of body and soul. Oh, all-important hour of death; for upon it depends either everlasting happiness and bliss, or eternal punishment and w^oe. Why must we die? Moses says: ''We are consumed by thine anger and by thy wrath are we troubled.^' O Lord! It is sin that caused death to come into the w-orld, for ''the w^ages of sin is death." — Here also death has claimed its victim, the coffin yonder contains the mortal remains of one, who lived but a few years in this world and has now taken his flight to the realms beyond. And w^e, in the presence of this sad scene, can but repeat the words of the Lord's prayer: 'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!'' Note

i) The Lord's will has been done to this child, and 2) The Lord's wall shall be done to us.

The words of our text are taken from the Lord's Prayer, from that sweet prayer w^hich we should, according to our Savior's express command, pray always. Since He taught us to pray on this wise, therefore we should not let one day pass by without saying: ''Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." It is the Lord's will that has been done; the will of that Lord, wdio has power over life and death; of that Lord, in whom we live and move and have our being; of that Lord, who spake on the first day: ''Let there be light," and lo! there was light; of that Lord, who speaks and it is done, of that Lord, who spake to this child: "Come to me/' and behold! it came; and thus the Lord's w411 has been done! — It was God's will that this child should die at this age, for we read : ''Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without yoiu* Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.'^ The sparrow is a bird whose life is little regarded by men. But what says the Bible? "Not one of them shall fall on the ground without the will of my Father.'' Yea, what man regards a hair of his head, whether he has one more or less? Yet God has them all numbered, and without His will not one single hair can fall from our head. If His care and providence goes so far, that He looks to the sparrow, that He counts the hairs of our head, could the death of this child, have taken place without His knowledge, will and consent? Indeed not, for man is so much superior to the sparrow and hairs of our head that God cannot overlook him.