After the usual Prayers are done, then the Corpse being carried to the Grave, the Minister shall read this Lesson.

ECCLESIASTES xii.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.

While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain :

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease, because they are few, and those that look out of the windows, be darkened;

And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the: sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low;

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond-tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets :

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

People. Blessed be God.

The Minister, while they are preparing to inter the Corpse, shall say

this Psalm.

The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.

I said in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave: I am deprived of the residue of my years.

I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.

I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope..

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell: neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: when I awake, with thy likeness I shall be satisfied.

Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is the fulness of joy, and at thy right hand there is pleasure for

evermore.

Glory be to the Father, &c.
As it was in the beginning, &c.

When the Corpse is in the Grave, the Minister shall say,

Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God, to take to himself the soul of our dear brother here departed; we lay his body in the ground; for out of it was it taken; dust it is, and unto dust it does return; but we lay it down in a sure and certain hope of the resurrection from the grave. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then those, which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we be ever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

...

Let us pray.

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Our Father which art in heaven, &c.

I.

O Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of the just men made perfect, we give thee humble thanks that thou hast delivered the soul of thy servant [*N. N.] from the calamities of this life, putting a period to his sin and to his pains; O be pleased shortly to fill up the numbers of thine elect, and hasten thy kingdom; and to us thy servants grant that we may die to sin and live to righteousness, living a holy and a gracious life, peaceable and blessed; that when we have

* Bishop Taylor seems to be of opinion, that to name the deceased adds solemnity to the service.

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served thee in our generations, we may die the death of the righteous, leaving a good name and a fair example behind, and our good works may follow us; that being holy in our lives we may be blessed in our death, and with this thy servant, and all other departed in thy love and fear, may lie in the bosom of our Lord, till, by the trump of God, we shall be awakened in the resurrection of the just, to reign with thee in thy kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

II.

O most blessed Saviour Jesus, who art the resurrection and the life, and in whose sight the death of thy saints is precious, look upon us thy servants whose life is vanity, and our days pass away like a tale that is told, and as the remembrance of a passenger that stayeth but a night; the days of our pilgrimage are few and evil, and we disquiet ourselves in vain: O look upon us with a gracious eye; give us thy holy Spirit of wisdom and peace to guide us in the ways of God, that our affections and our conversation being in heaven, and being weaned from this world, we may die daily, and every day be doing good; that laying up a treasure of good works, we may rejoice in the day of our death, and may be freed from the terrors of the day of judgment, and the gates of hell may not prevail against us. O preserve us from that eternal wrath, which shall destroy all thine enemies; and let our portion be with the charitable and the merciful, on the right hand of the Father, where thou sittest and reignest in the glory of God, to eternal ages, world without end. Amen.

If it be opportune, then here may be added one of the 'Prayers for a blessed Death,' at the end of Evening Prayer throughout the year; ending with the usual Benediction :

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, &c.

T

A

FORM OF DEVOTION;

TO BE USED AND SAID IN

THE DAYS OF SORROW AND AFFLICTION

OF

A FAMILY, OR OF PRIVATE PERSONS.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Our Father which art in heaven, &c.

Versicle. O God, make speed to save us.

Answer. O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory be to the Father, &c.

As it was in the beginning, &c.

The Psalm.

HIDE not thy face far from me, O Lord, put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not: and in the night season I am not silent.

But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.

Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted in thee, and thou didst deliver them.

But I am a worm, and no man: smitten of thee, Lord, afflicted, tormented, forsaken.

Thou hast filled me with bitterness, and hast made me drunk with wormwood: thou hast removed my soul far off from peace, and I have forgotten prosperity.

But, O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee: be not thou far from me; O Lord, O my strength, haste thee to help me.

I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid: I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord; O do thou forgive the iniquity of my sin.

Thou art my hiding-place, thou shalt preserve me from trouble: thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.

Lord, make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.

Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, and mine age is nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.

And now, O Lord, what wait I for? Surely my hope is in thee.

Deliver me from all my transgressions, remove thy stroke away from me: I am even consumed by the blow of thy hand.

When thou with rebukes dost chasten man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity.

Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry, 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.

4

Let all those that seek thee, rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation, say continually, The Lord be magnified. : But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord careth for me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no starrying, O my God.

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Amen, Amen, Amen.

Then read the second chapter of Ecclesiasticus; or the sixth chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel; or the twelfth chapter to the Romans; or the fifth chapter of the second Epistle to the Thessalonians; or the first of Timothy, the sixth chapter; or Hebrews, the twelfth; or James, the fifth. These at several times.

After the chapter is read, sit still awhile, and consider of such comforts or instructions, as are in the chapter fitted to your needs.

If this Office be said by a Minister in the company of the afflicted Person; then he may add such useful and comfortable Discourses as are occasioned by the chapter, and then say the following Collects.

After meditation or discourse, humbly kneel down, and pray.