IN MEMORY OF Lieut.
BENJAMIN GILBERT
who died June ye 24th,
AD 1760, in the 69th
Year of his
Age.
His Flesh Rests in Hope of a Happy
Resurrection at the last Day,
When this Mortal shall Put on Immortality
& Death be swallowed up in Victory.
This epitaph is comprised of a very rich set of scriptural references. The image of the flesh resting happy and in hope can be found in Psalm 16:9, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope,” and also in Acts 2:26, “Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope.”
The third and fourth lines are from I Corinthians 15:54, “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” The “saying that is written” Paul refers to is found in Isaiah 25:8, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces.”
So Benjamin Gilbert’s epitaph combines multiple references to both the New and Old Testaments in its four compact lines.Note, by the way, that the next verse from I Corinthians 15 is the familiar triumphal cry:“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?”
