II. Funeral Sermons. — These are generally delivered from the pulpit. The funeral sermon differs from the simple funeral address, inasmuch as instead of being, as the former originallj' was, a mere exhortation, or, as it afterwards became, a personal panegyric, it is a regular sennon, preached from a text, which, however adapted to the circumstances, reminds the officiating minister, as does also the place from whence it is delivered, that he addresses a congregation, not a mere circle of family or friendship, and that his whole discoui se sliould conse- quently be more objective than personal. The funeral sermon proper, as contrasted with orations and pane- gj-rics, may be considered as having originated with Protestantism, in the place of the Roman Catholic ceremonial, which was necessarily rejected with the doctrine of purgatorj'' (see Klieforth, liturgische Ab- handlvngen (vol. i, p. 275 sq). The earliest Protestant discipline made the p'-incipal part of the funeral cere- mony the Word of God, citlier as a simple lesson, or as a regular sermon (see JIallische Kirchenordnvng, A.D. 1526; Richter, i, 47). "At the following church-ser- vice after the burial of the party he shall be remem- bered and his death announced ; liis friends shall be comforted by the AVord of God, and others riMiiindcd to hold themselves in readiness, with strong faith and hope, to obej' God's call at any time and in any way." The reformatio ecdesiarum I/cissia; 1526 (ib. p. (il). says : '■^ Laudandum autem, si infunere habeaivr out sincera pr(rdicntio verhi Dei, nut saltem jurtn ipsum breris nd- monitio."' In those days liturgy and homilctics were
FURLONG
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FURNACE
not so distinct from each other as they have become since. In some places texts were prescribed for funeral sermons, and even sermons were given as models for similar productions. Luther himself gives two such in his Ilauspostille. The sermon was gradually made more like the panegyric. Hunnius saj's, in the pref- ace of his twenty-seven funeral sermons : " Men are no longer simply buried with the customary Christian ceremonies, but liy recjuest of the survivors there are sermons preached on the Word of God, and testimony rendered of the life and especially of the end of the dead, in what faith and hope they ended their life." Added to these, comparison with similar persons, refer- ence to other members of the family, etc., furnished much material for discourses as acceptable to the hear- er as to the preacher. From the middle of the IGth century to the beginning of the 18th, funeral sermons were either mere eulogies, or utterly objective and speculative discourses. A. H. Francke gave in 1700 a funeral sermon of 40 pages fol., with a long appendix. In the Roman Church some of the most brilliant ser- mons of the 16th and 17th centuries were funeral dis- courses ; e. g. the oraisonsf timbres of Bossuet and oth- er French orators. In modern Protestant churches (England and America) funeral sermons are generall}' preached onlj' on the death of some person distinguish- ed for piety or position. Still, in some parts of the United States they are in more frequent use ; some- times they are even preached with regard to the de- cease of children. See Herzog, Real-Encyklop. s. v. Grabreden. See Burial; Homiletics.
Furlong (ardCdOQ or aracim', a stadiuni), a Greek measure of distance, equal to GOG feet 9 inches (Luke xxiv, 13 ; John vi, 19; xi, 18 ; [1 Cor. ix, 24, "race," i. e. a course or lists for running] ; Rev. xiv. 20; xx, IG). See Smith's Diet, of Class. Antiq. s. v. Stadium. See Measure ; Stade.
Furman, Richard, a leading Baptist minister in the Southern States, was born at iEsopus, N. Y., in 1755. AV'hile he was a child, his father removed to South Carolina. His education was carefully attend- ed to by his father, wlio instructed him in English stud- ies and in matliematics, and particularly in the Scrip- tures. He began at the early age of eighteen to preach in destitute places, and soon gained a wide influence. Many churches were formed by his agency. During the Revolutionary War he was an ardent supporter of the cause of Independence, and his eloquence and pa- triotism attracted the attention of Patrick Henry and other leading statesmen. In 1787 he became pastor of a church in Charleston. He sat in the Convention for ratifying the Constitution of the LInited States. He received the degree of D.D. from Brown Univer- sity in 1800. He was elected in 1814 the first president of the Baptist General Convention for missionarv pur- poses, lie died in 1825. He was a solemn and impres- sive preacher, an able presiding officer in deliberative assemldies, and in every relation an object of reverence and affection. He published, 1. Reicards of Grace, a
Sermon on the Death of Rev. Oliver Hart (1796) : 2.
An Oration at the Charleston Hospital (1796) : 3. Ser- mon Commemorative of General Washington (1800) :• 4.
A Sermon on the Dm'/h of the Rev. Edmund Botsford.— Sprague, Annals, vi, 161. (L. E. S.)
Furnace is the rendering in the Engl.Vers. of the following words. See Burning.
1. "pnX, attun' (a Chald. term, of uncertain, prob. foreign derivation ; Sept. Kff/ai'of), a large furnace, with a wide opening at the top to cast in the materials (Dan. iii, 22, 23), and a door at the ground by which the metal might I)e extracted (ver. 26). It was prob- ably l)uiltlike the Roman kiln for l)aking potterv-warc (Smith, Diet, of Class. Antio. s. v. Fornax). The Per- sians were in the habit of using the furnace as a means of inflicting capital punishment (Dan. iii ; conip. Jer.