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Most Holy and Most Merciful God, we give thanks unto Thee for Thine unnumbered mercies. Help us to realize that we are the children of eternal love, and that always underneath us are the everlasting arms. We bless thee for all the holy memories of the past, and all the sacred hopes of the future. We thank thee for the ties that bind us to the unseen world, and for the dear and holy dead who encompass us like a cloud of witnesses, and make heaven homelike to our hearts. Strengthen and comfort us in this hour, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

¶ Then let all unite in

THE LORD'S PRAYER.

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 forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forAmen.

ever.

¶ Then, if desired, an appropriate hymn may be sung.

Then may the minister read some of the following passages from the
Holy Scriptures:

WORDS OF COMFORT.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all Comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. (2 Cor. I : 3, 4.)

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are unseen are eternal. (2 Cor. IV: 17, 18.)

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or, distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. VIII : 18, 35-39.)

Let not your heart be troubled (said Jesus): ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you: I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. (John XIV:1-4.) I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John XIV:18, 27.) Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word. (2 Thess. II: 16, 17.)

MORTALITY.

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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 a handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.

Surely every man walketh in a vain show; surely they are disquieted in vain; he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.

And now, Lord, what wait I for: my hope is in thee.

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, that I may recover strength; before I go hence, and be no more. (Psalm XXXIX: 4-13.)

Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of

men.

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

We spend our years as a tale that is told.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all

our days.

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us: yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. (Psalm XC.)

THE RESURRECTION.

I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. And so shall we be ever with the Lord. (1 Thess. IV: 13, 17.)

For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. (2 Cor. V : 1.)

Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them

that slept.

For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

There are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial:

But the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars;

For one star differeth from another star in glory.

So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is

raised in incorruption:

It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory.

It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:

It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.

There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

As is the earthy, such are they also which are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God:

For this corruption must put on incorruption and this mortal must put

on immortality.

So when this corruption shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal

shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory!

O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. (I Cor. XV.)

THE LIFE IMMORTAL.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Here are they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him night and day:

And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light them, nor any heat.

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters:

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. (Rev. XXI : 1–4, 22-27; VII: 14–17.)

FOR THE BURIAL OF A CHILD.

And Jesus called a little child unto him and set him in the midst, and said, verily I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever shall humble himself as a little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones;

For I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; And his disciples rebuked those that brought them.

But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

Verily I say unto you, whoso shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. (Matt. XVIII : 2-5, 10; Mark X : 13–16.)

Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.

For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;

To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. (Ps. CIII: 13-18.)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:

For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Ps. XXIII.)

¶ Then shall the minister offer prayer, in his own words, or using, if he prefers, one of the following:

Most merciful God, Friend of the helpless, strength of the weak, and comforter of those who are in distress, look in gracious love and compassion, we beseech Thee, upon those whose joy is turned into mourning. May they realize that Thou art with them to help them bear the burden of their sorrow. Help them to know that their Heavenly Father is beside them, with tenderhearted sympathy, to comfort them with His presence. Shine through the darkness of grief with the Light of Life. Bring to their minds

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