throughout the world we give thee thanks for all thy faithful servants who, having witnessed a good confession, have left the light of their example to shine before thy people on earth. Blessed be the memory of all thy saints in our hearts. Teach us, who now dwell upon earth, to practise their doctrine, to imitate their lives, and to follow their example as they have followed Christ and thee. Hear, accept, and answer these our prayers, which we would offer to thee in the faith and spirit of thy Son. Amen. A hymn may here be sung. May the peace of God, which passeth understanding, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit, be in your hearts always. Amen. Service at the Grave. MAN that is born of woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. In the midst of life, we are in death. Of whom may we seek for succor, but of thee, O Lord, in whom our souls do rest and hope? We must work the work of Him that sent us while it is day; the night cometh, in which no man can work. There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest. From henceforth, blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord; even so saith the Spirit; for they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. A hymn may be sung here, or at the close of the service. Forasmuch as it hath pleased Almighty God to take unto himself the soul of his child, we therefore commit the body to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the living hope that, as he has borne the image of the earthy, so also he shall bear the image of the heavenly. Let us pray: Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful are in joy and felicity we thank thee for having given to us the dear friend whom thou hast now taken away, and for the blessed assurance of reunion in a better world. Oh, grant that we, with all who are departed in faith, may have our perfect consummation and bliss in thine eternal glory. Amen. The Lord's Prayer may here be said. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Amen. be with us all evermore. Poems. TO BE READ AS PART OF THE BURIAL SERVICE. NOTE.-Words or phrases may be changed or omitted to adapt the poem to the occasion. From "In Memoriam.” O YET We trust that somehow good To pangs of nature, sins of will, That nothing walks with aimless feet; That not a worm is cloven in vain ; That not a moth with vain desire Behold, we know not any thing; I can but trust that good shall fall So runs my dream: but what am I? And with no language but a cry. I falter where I firmly trod. And, falling with my weight of cares Upon the world's great altar-stairs That slope through darkness up to God, I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope, And faintly trust the larger hope. This truth came borne with bier and pall, 'Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all. To J. S. GOD gives us love. Something to love This is the curse of time. Alas! In grief I am not all unlearned; Once through mine own doors Death did pass ; Tennyson. |