The 1552 Book of Common Prayer: Confirmation & Catechism: Burial · The 1552 Book of Common Prayer: Preface & Of Ceremonies

The Book of Common Prayer

	The Book of Common Prayer - 1552

THE ORDRE FOR THE
BURIALL OF THE DEAD.
The Priest meting
the corps at the Church style, shal saye. Or els the priestes and clerkes
shal singe, and so go eyther unto the churche or towardes the grave.
I AM the resurreccion
and the lyfe (sayeth the Lorde): he that beleveth in me, yea thoughe
he were dead, yet shall he lyve. And whosoever lyveth and beleveth in
me, shall not dye for ever. John xi.
I KNOWE that my
redemer lyveth, and that I shall ryse out of the earth in the last day,
and shalbe covered agayne with my skinn, and shall see God in my fleshe:
yea, and I my selfe shall beholde hym, not with other but wyth these
same eyes. Job xix.
WE brought nothing
into this world, neither may we cary any thing out of this worlde. 1
Tim. vi. The Lord geveth, and the Lorde taketh awaye. Even as
it hath pleased the Lord, so cometh thinges to passe: blessed be the
name of the Lorde. Job i.
When they come
at the grave, whiles the corps is made ready to be layde into the earth,
the Priest shall saye, or the priest and clerkes shall singe.
MAN that is borne
of a womanne, hath but a shorte time to lyve, and is full of misery:
he cometh up and is cut downe lyke a floure; he flieth as it were a
shadowe, and never continueth in one staye. Job ix.
In the mideste of lyfe we bee in death: of whom may
we seke for succour, but of thee, O Lord, which for our sinnes justlye
arte displeased? yet, O Lord God most holy, O Lord most mightie, O holy
and moste mercyfull savioure, delyver us not into the bitter paines
of eternal death. Thou knowest, Lord, the secretes of oure heartes:
shutte not up thy merciful eyes to oure prayers: But spare us, lord
most holi, O god most mightie, O holy and mercifull saviour, thou moste
worthy judge eternall, suffre us not at oure last houre for any paynes
of death to fall from thee.
Then whyle the earth shalbe cast
upon the body, by some standing by, the priest shal say,
FORASMUCHE as
it hathe pleased almightie God of his great mercy to take unto himselfe
the soule of our dere brother here departed: we therefore commit his
body to the ground, earth to earth, asshes to asshes, dust to dust,
in sure and certayne hope of resurreccion to eternal lyfe, through our
Lord Jesus Christ, who shal chaunge our vyle bodye, that it maye bee
lyke to his glorious bodye, according to the mightie working wherby
he is hable to subdue all thinges to himselfe.
¶
Then shalbe sayd or song,
I
HEARDE a voyce from heaven, sayinge unto me: Wryte from henceforth,
blessed are the dead which dye in the Lorde. Even so sayth the spyrite,
that they rest from theyr laboures.
Then shal folowe this lesson, taken
out of the xv. Chapter to the Corinthians, the fyrst Epistle.
CHRISTE is rysen
from the dead, and become the fyrst fruites of them that slepte. For
by a manne came death, and by a manne came the resurreccion of the dead.
For as by Adam all dye, even so by Christ shall all be made alyve, but
every man in hys owne ordre. The fyrst is Christ, then they that are
Christes, at his comming. Then cometh the ende, when he hath delyvered
up the kyngdome to God the father, when he hath put downe all rule and
all aucthoritie and power. For be must reygne tyll he have put all hys
enemies under his feete. The laste enemie that shall be destroyed is
death. For he hath putte all thinges under his feete. But when he sayth
all thinges are put under him, it is manyfest that he is excepted, which
dyd put all thinges under him. When all thinges are subdued unto him,
then shal the sonne also himself be subject unto him that put al thinges
under him, that God may be al in al. Els what doe they which are Baptised
over the dead, yf the dead ryse not at all? Why are they then Baptysed
over them? yea and why stande we alwaye then in jeopardie? By our rejoysing,
whiche I have in Christ Jesu oure Lorde, I dye daylye. That I have foughte
with beastes at Ephesus after the maner of men, what avantageth it me,
if the dead ryse not agayne? Lette us eate, and drinke, for to-morowe
we shall dye. Be not ye deceyved: evil wordes corrupt good maners. Awake
truely oute of slepe, and synne not. For some have not the knowledge
of God. I speake this to youre shame. But some man wyl saye: How aryse
the dead? with what body shal they come? Thou foole, that whiche thou
soweste is not quickened, excepte it dye. And what sowest thou? Thou
sowest not that body that shalbe; but bare corne as of wheat, or of
some other: but God geveth it a bodye at his pleasure, to every sede
his owne bodi. Al fleshe is not one maner of fleshe: but there is one
maner of fleshe of men, and other maner of fleshe of beastes, and other
of fisshes, another of birdes. There are also celestial bodies, and
there are bodies terrestriall. But the glorye of the celestiall is one,
and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one maner glory
of the sunne, and another glory of the mone, and another glory of the
starres. For one starre differeth from another in glory. So is the resurreccion
of the dead. It is sowen in corrupcion, it ryseth agayne in incorrupcion.
It is sowen in dishonoure, it ryseth agayne in honour. It is sowen in
weaknesse, it ryseth agayne in power. It is sowen a naturall bodye,
it ryseth agayne a spyrituall bodye. There is a naturall bodye, and
there is a spirituall bodye: as it is also written: the fyrst man Adam
was made a lyving soule, and the laste Adam was made a quickening spyryte.
Howbeit, that is not fyrst which is spyrytuall: but that whiche is naturall,
and then that whiche is spyrytuall. The fyrst man is of the earth, earthy:
the second man is the Lord from heaven, heavenly. As is the earthy,
suche are they that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they
that are heavenly. And as we have borne the Image of the earthy, so
shall we beare the Image of the heavenly. Thys say I, brethren, that
fleshe and bloud cannot inherite the kyngdome of God: neyther doeth
corrupcion inherite uncorrupcion. Beholde, I shewe you a mistery. We
shall not all slepe: but we shall all be chaunged and that in a momente,
in the twinkeling of an eie by the last trumpe. For the trumpe shall
blowe, and the dead shall ryse incorruptible, and we shall be chaunged.
For thys corruptyble must put on incorrupcion: and this mortall must
put on immortalitie. When this corruptible hath put on in corrupcion,
and this mortal hath put on immortalitie: then shalbe brought to passe
the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory: Death,
where is thy styng? Hell, where is thy victorye? The styng of death
is sinne: and the strength of sinne is the law. But thanks be unto God
whiche hath geven us victory, through oure Lorde, Jesus Chryst. Therefore,
my deare brethren, be ye stedfaste and unmovable, alwayes riche in the
worke of the Lorde, forasmuche as ye knowe that your labour is not in
vayne in the Lorde.
The lesson ended, the priest shall saye.
Lorde, have mercy
upon us.
Christe, have mercy upon us.
Lorde, have mercy upon us.
Our father which art in heaven, &c.
And leade us not into temptacion.
Aunswere. But delyver us from evill.
Amen.
The Priest.
ALMIGHTIE
God, with whom doe lyve the spirites of them that departe hence in the
lord, and in whom the soules of them that be elected, after they be
delivered from the burden of the fleshe, be in joye and felicitie: We
geve thee hearty thankes, for that it hath pleased thee to deliver thys
N. our brother out of the myseryes of this sinneful world: beseching
thee, that it maye please thee of thy gracious goodnesse, shortely to
accomplyssh the noumbre of thyne electe, and to haste thy kingdome,
that we with this our brother, and al other departed in the true faith
of thy holy name, maye have our perfect consummacion and blisse, both
in body and soule, in thy eternal and everlastyng glory. Amen.
The Collect.
O
MERCIFUL God, the father of our Lorde Jesus Christe, who is the resurreccion
and the lyfe, in whom whosoever beleveth, shall lyve though he dye;
and whosoever liveth and beleveth in hym, shall not dye eternally: who
also taught us (by his holy Apostle Paule) not to be sorye, as men without
hope, for them that slepe in hym: We mekely beseche thee (O father)
to raise us from the death of sinne unto the life of righteousnes, that
when we shal depart thys lyfe, we may reste in him, as our hope is thys
our brother doeth; and that at the general resurreccion in the laste
daye, we may be founde acceptable in thy syghte, and receive that blessing
which thy welbeloved sonne shall then pronounce to al that love and
feare thee, saying: Come, ye blessed children of my father, receive
the kyngdome prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Graunt
this we beseche thee, O merciful father, through Jesus Christ our mediatour
and redeyemer. Amen.

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