What is a eulogy?

The typical eulogy at many a person's funeral says, in effect, "He was a great guy," when he may have hated his mother‑in‑law, nursed a 20‑year grudge against his neighbor, cheated on his income tax, padded his expense account, chased (and possibly caught) several other women besides his wife and blasphemed God daily in speech and actions.

We often read the epitaphs on the tombstones of the forgotten dead in the quiet churchyard, or those of the famous and noble in the grand cathedral, but they are frequently exaggerated and unreal. Men hasten to forget the evil of their fellows, and to invest them with virtues after death which they never possessed in life.

A man on leaving the graveside of a beloved saint of God, remarked to me, “That was a fine woman over whose grave you spoke to us!”

We are here this morning to pay our tribute of affection and respect to the memory of a man of God, Frank Binford Hole. In what manner can we best do this? Though the sadness of farewell is never absent from the side of a grave, this is not a case in which the poignancy of personal grief predominates; but rather is this an occasion for thanksgiving and triumph that, by the grace of God, so long a life has been preserved to the very end in faithfulness and devotion, in patience and in hope. We give thanks also that his pain and suffering are over, and in the presence of the Saviour he is now comforted. I am constrained to believe that we shall best honour his memory by reminding each other of the deep foundations, the massive pillars of the Faith in which he lived and laboured and died.

We are here this morning to pay our tribute of affection and respect to the memory of a man of God, Frank Binford Hole. In what manner can we best do this? Though the sadness of farewell is never absent from the side of a grave, this is not a case in which the poignancy of personal grief predominates; but rather is this an occasion for thanksgiving and triumph that, by the grace of God, so long a life has been preserved to the very end in faithfulness and devotion, in patience and in hope. We give thanks also that his pain and suffering are over, and in the presence of the Saviour he is now comforted. I am constrained to believe that we shall best honour his memory by reminding each other of the deep foundations, the massive pillars of the Faith in which he lived and laboured and died.

Be not over-anxious to hold memorial services over us when our lips are silent in the grave. Say a few kind words to us while we are with you, and encourage our hearts by such obedience to the truth that in our prayers we may give account of you "with joy and not with grief" (Heb. 13:17). To laud the dead while refusing their teaching is one of the worst forms of religious hypocrisy, and the world is full of it.

We have, then, four characteristics of a proper memorial of departed leaders — (1) The word of God ministered by them; (2) The outcome or issue of their life, Christ for them and for us ever the same; (3) The faith which occupied them with this blessed Person; and (4) The warning against error. If we ever have these features before us, there will be only profit in remembering those who have gone on before us.

Perhaps there is less temptation to do anything else in the case of the beloved brother whose memory we are seeking to recall. His claim for a permanent place in the hearts of the saints rests — as it really does with any, but more ostensibly than with most — in his identification with the word of God. Unknown to many in the flesh, who have profited by his ministry, with little of what may be called popularity, or the magnetism supposed to be so essential in a leader, he is lost sight of in the precious truth which it was his joy to unfold. Those who knew him personally loved him for the worth and Christian nobility of his character, the fruit of God's grace; for that wondrous mind received from Him, and for the simplicity and dignity of a true Christian man. But it is not of these things that we speak, while we would ever seek to walk in the steps of piety and faith wherever seen. We turn rather to that Word to which he held fast, and, in conscious feebleness and dependence, used so constantly. What views of the Word did he give us! What thoughts of Christ! What truths under the guidance of the Holy Spirit! These abide.

Suitable hymns were sung as the funeral proceeded through the streets of the city. The body was deposited on the right of the pulpit; whence, after some further verses had been sung, Pomeranus addressed the vast multitude. Melancthon then pronounced a funeral oration. But it has been remarked, as creditable to both orators, that their feelings were more conspicuous than their powers of oratory, and that their pious attempts to console the sorrows of others were little more than a hearty demonstration of their own."*

The body was removed to Wittenberg on the 22nd of February; and the vast multitudes which assembled on the following day to witness the procession, were addressed by Pomeranus. Melanchthon afterwards delivered a funeral oration. But it has been remarked, as creditable to both orators, "that their feelings were more conspicuous than their powers of oratory, and that their pious attempts to console the sorrows of others were little more than a hearty demonstration of their own."

I want you to think of this word. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." The word "saints" in this verse is a beautiful word. It means more than simply those who are set apart for God, though it includes all such; it means those who are characterized by piety, grace and goodness. Such, indeed, was your loved one, as I know right well. You loved her because she was lovable, but what made her what she was as wife, mother, sister and friend? Was it not first of all and most of all the grace of the Lord within her? You appreciated this, yet you could not fully appreciate all that she was in these beautiful Christian traits, but the Lord could and He did, and when His work in her was completed, what could He do but receive her into His own presence? and her death was precious in His sight. She was like a flower that He had carefully watched and cultivated in His garden, she was fragrant to you, but, O, how fragrant to Him! And now He has taken her as He had a right to do.