1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer: Burial · 1786 Proposed Book of Common Prayer: Preface

The Book of Common Prayer

	1786 Proposed U. S. Book of Common Prayer

THE ORDER FOR
THE
BURIAL OF THE DEAD.
¶ Here is to be noted, that the Office
ensuing is not to be used for any who die excommunicate, or who have laid
violent hands upon themselves.
¶ The Minister meeting the Corps at
the entrance of the Churchyard, 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 although after my skin, worms shall destroy this body;
yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine
eyes behold, and not another. Job xix. 25,26,27.
WE 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.
¶ After they are come into the Church
shall be read as followeth, from the 39th and the 90th Psalms.
LORD,
make me to know mine 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 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.
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 rath : for even
thereafter as a man feareth, so is thy displeasure.
So teach us to number our days : that we may apply our hearts
unto wisdom.
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.
¶ Then shall
follow the Lesson, taken out of the fifteenth Chapter of the former Epistle
of St. Paul to the Corinthians, from the fifteenth Verse to the end.
¶ When they come to the Grave while
the Corps is made ready to be laid into the Earth, the Minister shall
say, or the Minister and Clerks shall sing.
MAn, that
is born of a woman, hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery.
He cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow,
and never continueth in one stay.
In the midst of life we are in death : of whom may
we seek for succour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins art justly
displeased?
Yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mighty, O holy
and most merciful Saviour, deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal
death.
Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, shut
not thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy, O God
most mighty, O holy and merciful Saviour, thou most worthy Judge eternal,
suffer us not, at our last hour, for any pains of death, to fall from
thee.
¶ Then, while the Earth shall be cast
upon the Body by some standing by, the Minister shall say,
FOrasmuch
as it hath pleased Almighty God in his wise Providence to take unto himself
the soul of our deceased brother lying now before us, we therefore
commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes,
dust to dust; looking for the general Resurrection in the last Day, and
the life of the World to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ; at whose
second coming in glorious Majesty to judge the World, the Earth and the
Sea shall give up their Dead; and the corruptible bodies of those who
sleep in him shall be changed, and made like unto his own glorious Body;
according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things
unto himself.
¶ Then shall be said or sung,
I Heard
a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Write, From henceforth blessed are
the dead who die in the Lord: even so saith the Spirit; for they rest
from their labours. Rev. 14. 13.
¶ Then the Minister shall say,
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
OUr Father,
who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name; Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be
done in earth, As it is in heaven; Give us this day our daily bread; And
for give us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
The Collect.
O Merciful
God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and
the life; in whom whosoever believeth, shall live, though he die; and
whosoever liveth, and believeth in him, shall not die eternally; who also
hath taught us, by his holy Apostle Saint Paul, not to be sorry, as men
with out hope, for those who sleep in him: We meekly beseech thee, O Father,
to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness: that,
when we shall depart this life, we may rest in him; and that, at the general
resurrection in the last day, we may be found acceptable in thy sight,
and receive that blessing, which thy well-beloved Son shall then pronounce
to all who love and fear thee, saying, Come, ye blessed children of my
Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the
world: Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, through Jesus Christ,
our Mediator and Redeemer. Amen.
THe grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the
Holy Ghost, be with us all evermore. Amen.

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