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THE ORDER FOR

THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD.

INTRODUCTION.-This Service was drawn, with much alteration and simplification, and considerable additions, from two Services in the old Manual, the " Commendation of the Soul"-said partly at the house of the dead, partly in procession to the Church, partly in the Church itself-and the Burial of the Dead, said partly in the Church and partly at the grave. These Services were very full and elaborate in Ceremonial, including the recitation of numerous Psalms, the constant repetition of the Requiem ("Grant him, O Lord, eternal rest"), censing and sprinkling with holy water, and the Blessing of the Grave. Our Service was resolutely cut down to shortness and simplicity, and yet so as to preserve the closest coherency and the most pathetic beauty.

In the Service of 1549 the ancient custom (traceable up to primitive times) of prayer for the dead was preserved, in the same simplicity which marked it in the "Prayer for the whole Church "in the Communion Service-commending them to God, asking for them rest in Him now, and salvation with us at the Last Day. In 1552 such prayer was omitted in both places, no doubt on account of the many superstitions and practical abuses which had become associated, as it seemed indissolubly, with prayer for the departed. At the same time the Form of Communion to be used at Funerals, appended to the Service in 1549, was also omitted, probably for the same reason, in protest against the offering of Masses, as propitiatory, for the dead (see Art. xxx.).

The Service was drawn up at a time when it was presumed, first, that all Englishmen would be members of the Church of England, and next, that there would be such Church discipline as would place under censure and excommunication all who were guilty of open ard scandalous sin. It was framed accordingly; and all difficulties, which have since attached to its use, arise from the failure in these two presupposed conditions. As the law at present stands, the parish priest is bound to use it, if required, over all who die in his parish (not excluded by the opening Rubric) on penalty of immediate suspension; he may, however, at the desire or with the consent of the representatives of the dead, substitute a form of Service wholly Scriptural; he may also read, in the case of those excluded by the opening Rubric, a short Service (different from either of the two other Services) approved by the Ordinary; and at the demand of the representatives of the dead, the body may be committed to the grave in the churchyard or consecrated cemetery without Service, or with any other Service of a "Christian and orderly" character, conducted by other person than the clergyman. The OPENING RUBRIC was inserted in 1662, probably, however, stereotyping previous practice, and certainly accordant with the whole idea of the Service-the unbaptized having not yet been admitted into the Christian covenant according to the law of the Church, the excommunicate having been cut off from it, and those dying in the act of deliberate self murder (unless in unsound mind) being held to be virtually excommunicate thereby.

(A) THE INTRODUCTORY PART

OF THE SERVICE.

This is generally said in the Church, unless for physical or other reasons it is thought better to go at once to the grave.

Of the OPENING SENTENCES the first two are taken from the old Services; the third was added in 1549. The first (a) is the fullest declaration of FAITH in the Gospel promise by Our Lord Himself. In virtue of our

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,

I AM the resurrection and the life,

saith the Lord he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. St. John xi 25, 26.

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.

Wand it is certain we can carry nothing out. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord. I Tim. vi. 7. Job i. 21.

E brought nothing into this world,

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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.

Domine, refugium. Psalm 90. 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 threescore years and ten; and though men be so strong, that they come to fourscore 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.

So teach us to number our days:

In

unity with Him, "He is the Resurrection," so that, though we be dead, we shall live again; and "He is the Life," the eternal life, which can never die. this saying the whole teaching of the New Testament on Resurrection and Life is summed up. (b) The second is a sentence of HOPE, from one of the older books of the Old Testament (into which we are apt to read a Christian meaning), expressing in the original simply the rudimentary belief of Job in a Redeemer (or Avenger) who shall plead his cause, and his hope that, though his body be destroyed by wasting sickness, yet that in his true undying personality he shall "see God." The third is a composite sentence (from 1 Tim. vi. 7 and Job i. 21) of RESIGNATION, blessing the God who gave all, and who takes away, as He sees best.

(c)

The PSALMS.-In 1549, Ps.cxvi., cxxix., cxlvi., with the Lesson, were directed to be said either before or after burial. From 1552 onwards, these were omitted. In 1662 the present Psalms, xxxix. and xc., were inserted here. (a) Ps. xxxix. is by tradition a "Psalm of David"-a Psalm of sadness, first dumb, then breaking out into prayer to know his end, in the deep sense of the shortness of life, its sorrow under the chastening of God, and its vanity, but still in confidence in God as our hope. (b) Ps. xc., "the Prayer of Moses, the man of God," is more calm and thoughtful-meditating on God's Eternity and man's transitoriness, praying for instruction thereby in wisdom, and expressing confidence that, if we perish, all good work done by our hands remains.

The LESSON (which till 1662 seems to have been read at the grave) is the conclusion of the great chapter (1 Cor. xv.), which contains beyond all others the explicit teaching of the New Testament on the Resurrection, written to meet speculative doubts and fears in the intellectual community at Corinth. In the preceding sections of this chapter St. Paul had, first (a), in

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vs. 1-11, given a detailed and independent record of the fact of the Lord's Resurrection and the witnesses to that fact, ending with himself, as one born out of due time;" next (b), in vs. 12-19, declared emphatically that if there be no resurrection for man, as man, the Resurrection of the Son of Man is impossible, and therefore Christian faith is a delusion, and Christian preaching a lie. From these he passes on (c), in vs. 20-28, to explain this by a declaration of Our Lord as a second Adam, in whom "all are made alive," and of His Resurrection as His entrance on the Mediatorial Kingdom, in which for us He shall subdue all enemies, and death the last. Here (d) occurs (in vs. 29-34) a curious digression of appeal to their own practice, in the Baptism on behalf of the dead (when one desiring Baptism died before he could receive it), and in the daily jeopardy of life and sacrifice, which would be untenable against the Epicurean "Let us eat and drink," if really "tomorrow we die." From this (e) he returns (in vs. 35-49) to notice two speculative difficulties-by what power Resurrection can be effected, and what shall be the body of the future. These questions, he says, only a "fool" can ask; for the mystery of Resurrection is no greater than the acknowledged, yet inscrutable, mystery of birth; and the difference of the future body-the "spiritual body," incorruptible, glorious, and strong-from the natural body, corruptible, poor, and weak, is but another instance of the infinite variety of God's works, familiar to us, though in cause and method unknown. All we need know is that the new power of Resurrection, and the new body of the future, will come by our putting on the Image of "the Lord from heaven." Lastly (f), sweeping aside all speculation, he declares the "mystery -the secret of God (that is) told by Christ-of the great Resurrection, swallowing up corrup tion in incorruption, and death in immortality; and ends with a burst of thanksgiving to God, who gives us the victory through

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TOW is Christ risen from the dead,

Now

and become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also 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 to-morrow we die. 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

Be

ed, 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 shew 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, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. ¶ When they come to the Grave, while the Corpse is made ready to be laid into the earth, the Priest shall say, or the Priest and Clerks shall sing: AN that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full

what body do they come? Thou fool, MA

that which thou sowest is not quicken

Our Lord Jesus Christ, and a calm exhortation to sober, stedfast work, since we know that it cannot die and be in vain.

(B) THE SERVICE AT THE
GRAVE.

Of the Opening ANTHEM, the first clause (Job xiv. 1, 2) is from the old "Vigils of the dead;" the rest is a free translation of a Lenten Anthem (sung at Compline), dating from the 9th century.

It is throughout the expression of natural human sorrow and sense of awe at the sight of the open grave, crying out for God's salvation and mercy as our only stay in the hour of death.

It

It has a profound and instructive gradation of thought. opens (a) with Job's declaration of the transitoriness and sorrow of life; (b) hence confessing that "in the midst of life we are in death," and that God, our only succour, is justly displeased at our sins (for "the sting of death is sin"); but (c) crying out earnestly to God the Holy, the Almighty, the All-merciful, to keep us from the bitterness of "eternal death," the death of the spirit, which is alienation from God; and (d) lastly, with the same earnest supplication, praying that He who reads the heart and knows its weakness, will not suffer the crowning struggle of the last hour to loosen the grasp of faith on Him.

This cry of human weakness is (so to speak) stilled by the solemn COMMENDATION. This, in the Service of 1549, was a commendation of the soul to God, and the body to the ground. In 1552 the form was changed, acknowledging the soul as already in the hands of God, and committing only the body to the earth, as now simply "earth (committed) to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The rattle of the earth on the coffin marks the last symbolic confession of mere mortality. To this, by a glorious transition, succeeds the triumphant declaration of "the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life "" at the Second Coming of Him, who

shall change our "body of humiliation" into the likeness of His Body of Glory." From this point onward the tone of the Service is of comfort and hope.

The SECOND ANTHEM (an Antiphon from the "Vigils of the dead") is the voice from Heaven heard by St. John (Rev. xiv. 13) immediately following the vision of the Lamb and His Saints in glory, and accordingly declaring that "henceforth" the old terror of death is gone, because the faithful"die in the Lord," and that, while the labour of life passes into rest, their works do not die, but follow them, to receive the blessing" Well done" at the Great Day.

The concluding Service of Prayer now opens, as usual, with the Kyrie Eleeson and the Lord's Prayer.

The FIRST COLLECT (altered in 1552 from one composed in 1549), expressing our faith that the souls of the faithful still live with God, in rest, joy, and felicity, first thanks God for the deliverance of the soul of "our brother" from this world of sin and sorrow, and then prays that God, having accomplished this present dispensation, will hasten the kingdom of glory, and that we and all who are departed in faith" may have our consummation therein. It is a prayer of victory over natural sorrow, hard to win, and only to be won where faith in Christ is strong, and where there is good hope that the dead had died in the Lord.

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The SECOND COLLECT (taken from the Communion Office, following the Burial Service in 1549), calling on God emphatically as the "Father of the Lord Jesus Christ," quotes Our Lord's own declaration at the grave of Lazarus (John xi. 25, 26), "I am the Resurrection and the Life," and St. Paul's exhortation (1 Thess. iv. 13, 14) not to "sorrow without hope;" and prays that, rising now to the new life of righteousness, we may have the twofold blessing, of which this life is the earnest-rest in God in death (as we hope that our brother rests), and at the Great Day the

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