Birth
A motif is established early on that makes a symbolic connection to life and death from other elements of existence besides literal birth to death. For instance, birth itself is given symbolic status as a kind of death:
"our very birth and entrance into this life is exitus morte, an issue from death, fro in our mother's womb we are dead, so as that we do not know we live"
The Building
The sermon begins with extensive metaphor that compares architecture to faith. This leads to an exemplification how architecture is constructed as faith. The final completed building here is expressed in Psalm 68:
"He that is our God is the God of salvation."
Bells
Bells in this sermon take on a quite familiar symbolic status thanks to usage far beyond this sermon itself. Doubtlessly, readers will have become acquainted with the symbolism of bells ringing being a harbinger of the completion of one's mortality:
"I thank him that prays for me when the bell tolls"
Death
The motif of death continues past the womb. In fact, life itself is a symbolic cycle of life and death for Donne. The major stages of the life cycle all end with a symbolic death and rebirth which inevitably leads to yet another symbolic death before the literal one finally shows up:
"Our birth dies in infancy, and our infancy dies in youth, and youth and the rest die in age, and age also dies and determines all."
Jesus
Jesus is the ultimate symbol of life having meaning despite inevitably ending in death. Jesus is a God who actually chose to die as a man. Therefore, suggesting that life has no meaning simply because it ends in death is the same as suggesting that that the life Christ had no meaning.
