THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD. Here is to be noted, that the Office ensuing is not to be used for any that die unbaptized, or excommunicate, or have laid violent hands upon themselves. The Priest and Clerks meeting the corpse at the entrance of the Church-yard, and going before it, either into the Church, or towards the Grave, shall say, or sing. Am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; I Know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. Job. xix. 25, 26, 27. WE 7E brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 1 Tim. vi. 7. Job i. 21. I After they are come into the Church, shall be read one or both of these Psalms following. Psalm xxxix. Said, I will take heed to my ways, that I offend not in my tongue; I will keep my mouth, as it were, with a bridle, while the ungodly is in my sight. I held my tongue, and spake nothing; I kept silence, yea, even from good words, but it was pain and grief to me. My heart was hot within me, and while I was thus musing the fire kindled, and, at the last, I spake with my tongue; Lord, let me know mine end, and the number of my days, that I may be certified how long I have to live. Behold, thou hast made my days, as it were, a span long, and mine age is even as nothing in respect of thee; and, verily, every man living is altogether vanity. For man walketh in a vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain : he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what is my hope? truly my hope is even in thee. Deliver me from all mine offences, and make me not a rebuke unto the foolish. I became dumb, and opened not my mouth; for it was thy doing. Take thy plague away from me; I am even consumed by means of thy heavy hand. When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for sin, thou makest his beauty to consume away, like, as it were, a moth fretting a garment: every man, therefore, is but vanity. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and with thine ears consider my calling; hold not thy peace at my tears; For I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me a little, that I may recover my strength, before I go hence, and be no more seen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Psalm xc. LORD, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to another. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, thou art God from everlasting, and world without end. Thou turnest man to destruction; again thou sayest, Come again, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday, seeing that is past as a watch in the night. As soon as thou scatterest them, they are even as a sleep, and fade away suddenly, like the grass. In the morning it is green, and groweth up; but, in the evening, it is cut down, dried up, and withered. For we consume away in thy displeasure, and are afraid at thy wrathful indignation. Thou hast set our misdeeds before thee, and our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. For, when thou art angry, all our days are gone; we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is told. The days of our age are three-score years and ten; and though men be so strong, that they come to four-score years, yet is their strength then but labour and sorrow; so soon passeth it away, and we are gone. But who regardeth the power of thy wrath? for even thereafter as a man feareth, so is thy displeasure. O teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Turn thee again, O Lord, at the last, and be gracious unto thy ser vants. O satisfy us with thy mercy, and that soon; so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life. Comfort us again, now, after the time that thou hast plagued us, and for the years wherein we have suffered adversity. Show thy servants thy work, and their children thy glory. And the glorious Majesty of the Lord our God be upon us; prosper thou the work of our hands upon us; O prosper thou our handy-work. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world with out end. Amen. Then shall follow the Lesson taken out of the fifteenth Chapter of the former Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians. 1 Cor. xv. 20. OW is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of NOW slept. since by man came death, man can the resurrection of the dead. For, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order; Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's, at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority, and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. (The last enemy that shall be destroyed is Death.) For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith, all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? and why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If, after the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Be not deceived; evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come ? Thou fool! that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, (it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain ;) but God giveth it a body, as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh; but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead: it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven as is the earthy, such are they that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they, also, that are heavenly and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the trumpet shall sound,) and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed; for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality; 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! O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, |