An epitaph worth having
I was preaching this evening at a small Baptist church in East Sussex. I have been there before, and this time managed to get a record of the simple, striking epitaph of one of the earlier pastors of the church. The poetry will not win any prizes, but the man it describes has an eternal reward. It would be no bad thing if every pastor could have this truthfully written of him when he dies.
In Memory of
HENRY BOOKER
Many Years Pastor of the
Particular Baptist Church
In this Place. Who died
May 27th 1799 Aged 69 Years
Also SARAH his first Wife who Died
August 30th 1779 Aged 45 Years
Beneath this Stone doth lie the Man
Who for his Lord did boldly Stand
Proclaim’d Salvation through his Name
For wretched, dying, Sinful Man
And fully prov’d that All in Christ
Are fully and freely sav’d in him
From all their Sins through his Blood.
And justify’d alone in Christ.
Jesus the Lord their Righteousness.
This the Truth he did maintain
In his Life and Death: Amen.
Now he’s gone unto his Lord.
There to receive his great Reward,
There to behold his Saviour’s Face
And sing his great Redeeming Grace.
