“Farewell, thou dear old man! We leave thee in possession of death till the resurrection day: but we will bear witness against thee, oh king of terrors, at the mouth of this dungeon; thou shalt not always have possession of this dead body; it shall be demanded of thee by the great Conqueror, and at that moment thou shalt resign thy prisoner.
O ye ministers of Christ, ye people of God, ye surrounding spectators, prepare, prepare to meet this old servant of Christ, at that day, at that hour, when this whole place shall be all nothing, but life and death shall be swallowed up in victory.”
–John Collett Ryland, cited by Peter Naylor in “John Collett Ryland,” The British Particular Baptists, 1638-1910, Volume 1, Ed. Michael A. G. Haykin (Springfield, MO: Particular Baptist Press, 1998), 1: 191. Ryland preached this sermon at the funeral and interment of Andrew Gifford on July 2, 1784.
