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A

MANUAL

FOR USE AT

FUNERALS

CONSISTING OF

SCRIPTURE READINGS, POEMS, AND PROSE
SELECTIONS FROM VARIOUS SOURCES

BOSTON

PRINTED FOR THE COMPILERS
1886

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PREFACE.

66

THIS manual has been compiled in hope of assisting ministers and laymen in the task of preparing and conducting funeral services. Each occasion of bereavement is different from all others, and each funeral service requires special preparation. While, therefore, a general service,” containing selections appropriate to the majority of occasions, has been arranged, it is offered with the idea of being shortened and supplemented according to the judgment of the minister and the special circumstances that may arise. For this purpose we have brought together all passages of scripture which seemed appropriate, and have grouped them under various headings, so that anyone, with comparatively little trouble, can form the special service

he needs.

While the manual is compiled with reference to its use at funerals, it is hoped that the selections here made, of prose and poetry, may be of service, also, as devotional readings, in the sick room or elsewhere. The choice of poems was not an easy task. Many favorites will be missed, no doubt, and it cannot be hoped that the poems given will be of equal value to all. We have selected, as far as possible, those which have already proved their fitness for such uses.

With very few exceptions, the poems are given without change, since every clergyman will feel at liberty to make his own alterations, if they are deemed necessary. For lack of space, however, many of the poems have been shortened by the omission of stanzas irrelevant to funeral occasions. Such will be found marked with a star in the

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