St Peter’s Church, Edensor

In the grounds of St Peter’s Church in the attractive little Derybshire village of Edensor lie buried the dukes and duchesses of Devonshire. The main family seat, Chatsworth, is just around the corner. Unusually for an aristocratic church, there is only one notable tomb within, for the majority lay without, in the hard ground. And quite properly, too; churches are for the living, not the dead. Let ashes go to ashes, and dust to dust, and let those still alive come inside and hear God’s word read and preached.

That one tomb within the church is rather remarkable. Ostentatious and grand though it is, it has an image of the dead man on the one side, in his shroud, and also his skeleton, denuded of flesh, on the other. No matter how blue our blood, how lengthy our titles, how qualified our brains and how silvery our tongues, the day is coming when the spirit shall depart from the body, and the flesh from the bones.

King Solomon observed in Ecclesiastes 12:7:

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

This does not mean that all shall ascend to paradise, but all shall enter the vast chasms of eternity to receive judgement or commendation. Death is the great leveller; in hades dwell together princes and paupers, perverts and pious. If death surely comes for us, regardless of wealth, health, education and looks, why do we not prepare for it? Why do we delay or neglect getting ourselves right with God through Jesus Christ?

“All the kings of the nations,

All of them, sleep in glory,

Everyone in his own house;

But you are cast out of your grave

Like an abominable branch,

Like the garment of those who are slain,

Thrust through with a sword,

Who go down to the stones of the pit,

Like a corpse trodden underfoot.

You will not be joined with them in burial,

Because you have destroyed your land

And slain your people.”

Isaiah 14:18-20

St Peter’s is a nice example of high Victoriana, with a few ancient surviving features of previous buildings thrown in for good measure, like a piscina and a font. Whatever the fashions and the age in which we live, the vast mouth of eternity still opens for each one of us.

So get ready.