Consolation in Life and Death, Derived from the Life of Christ Being the substance of a sermon on the death of Mrs. Turner, preached at the Surrey Tabernacle, on Sunday evening, the 15th of August, 1824

"Consolation in Life and Death, Derived from the Life of Christ" by J. Church is a profound sermon delivered in 1824, reflecting on the themes of mortality, faith, and the eternal union between believers and Christ. This work falls within the religious and theological discourse popular during the early 19th century, offering insights meant to comfort the bereaved and instill hope in the face of death. The sermon focuses specifically on the death of Mrs. Turner, serving as a case study for discussing broader Christian themes regarding life, death, and the promises of Christ for believers. In this deeply reflective sermon, J. Church emphasizes the hope and solace found in Christ's promise of eternal life, as encapsulated in the biblical text, "Because I live, ye shall live also." He explores the nature of death as a transition rather than an end, describing it as a journey from earthly existence to eternal glory. Church illustrates this by recounting the final moments of Mrs. Turner, highlighting her deep faith and longing for reunion with Christ. Throughout the sermon, he intertwines personal anecdotes with scriptural references, ultimately delivering a message of comfort that reassures the faithful that through Christ, death is not to be feared but embraced as a gateway to everlasting life. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

John Church was an Independent minister who was most famous for his involvement in the homosexual scandal of the Vere Street Coterie. He is claimed by some as the first openly ‘gay’ ordained Christian minister in England. Contemporary rumours about this are unproveable one way or the other, though circumstantial evidence may suggest that his "inordinate affections which led me into error" could be referring to homosexuality.