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 !"

In compliance with the ancient and universal custom of the Church, THE PSALMS PRESCRIBED in this office are highly suitable to the occasion. The former, the 39th, is the expression of David's grief at Absalom's death; and as it breathes submission to the stroke of affliction, because it is God's doing, is of use to check unseemly complaints, and turn them into devout prayers and meditations: the latter, the 90th, was composed by Moses on the fatal sentence going forth, that for their infidelity the vast multitude should die in the wilderness. The prophet not accusing the divine providence, but showing us how at a funeral, we should reflect upon our own lot, and apply the instances of mortality before us to the improving of our spiritual condition, by turning our thoughts to heavenly wisdom.

Next, the sublime LESSON FROM ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE to the Corinthians is read. Beginning with the assurance of Christ being risen from the dead, the apostle draws a parallel between the injury inflicted on the earth by the first Adam, and the glory provided for man by the second Adam. He takes a rapid survey of the general resurrection. He points to Christ as the first fruits, and declares the cheering truth, that before the final sentence of judgment, they that are Christ's shall be raised at his coming. Then cometh the end, when the kingdom of the Mediator (its great purpose having been answered) shall be delivered up into the hands of the Father, and God shall be all in all. The apostle next answers some objections against the resurrection of the body. What should induce Christians to press forward to martyrdom, and new converts to be baptized in the

place of the dead, if there were no security of a blessed life after this? If even in this world we see bodies variously constituted, on the earth, in the deep, in the air above, where is the difficulty to the Creator of raising the dead? Is it harder to restore than to create? Sown now like a seed in the earth, it must thence decay, till the new principle takes effect; and then, what was once corruption will be found incorruption, weakness will be found power, mortal shall put on immortality. He reveals that stupendous truth, that, at the great day, they who are alive shall not pass through death, but shall be suddenly changed. The trumpet shall be sounded by an Archangel, and the dead shall be raised, and death shall be swallowed up in victory. Well then may the Redeemed of the Lord take up the apostle's exclamation, "O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory?" and return thanks to the Lord Jesus, who hath taken away the sting from death, by making it a passage to glory; and destroyed the condemning sentence of the law, by His dying for our sin, and rising again for our justification.

When the body is brought from the Lord's house to the grave, and is about to be put into it, the Church is unwilling to lose a time so likely to make deep impression upon us,* and therefore presents us with a

* "When you can look collectedly on the quiet face of the departed, or see him intrusted, a most precious deposit, to the earth, then you may find-you will find-unsearchable riches of comfort in the doctrine of the resurrection of the body. There is a sort of satisfying fullness in the teaching of the Church, as she leads you to the throne of grace with those spirit-stirring prayers of the Burial Service. You go home comforted in spite of yourself; then when with tearful eyes you gaze and gaze upon the lines of Holy Scripture that tell us of the body's honour, they seem to fall upon us with a force we never felt before; and of them, as from an endless fountain, bright hopes keep springing up, till our whole soul is overflowed with quiet thought. We have not seen the last of that beloved body: we have not lost for ever that

noble strain of devotion, being a meditation on the shortness, misery, and uncertainty of life, an acknowledgement of our dependence upon God, whom, though we have offended by our sins, yet we fly to Him for succour, and pray Him that no terror of temporal death may make us fall off from God, by a dangerous despair. Thus, it may be observed, our Church wholly rejects prayers for the dead, and strives to make the occasion as profitable as possible to the living.

We here say, that God has taken to himself the soul of our brother, by which we do not affirm that he is undoubtedly gone to heaven; for the wise man says of men in general, and consequently of the wicked, whose portion is not in heaven, that at their death, "the spirit returns to God who gave it," Eccl. xii. 7; and if the spirits of all men go to God, then God certainly takes them to himself.

We likewise affirm that we commit his body to the ground, that is, we do not cast it away as a lost carcase, but carefully lay it in safe custody in the ground, as having in it a seed of immortality, and in

66

sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life;" not that we believe that every one we bury shall rise again to joy and felicity, or profess this

66

sure and certain hope" of the person who is now interred. It is not his resurrection, but the resurrecearthly tabernacle that used to seem so beautiful to us, because we loved the heart that beat within it. No; it shall all come back again, even as it went. Changed it shall be, transfigured with a new and sunlike glory, still it shall be the same; and we shall know it to be the same, even as St. Peter did so strangely know Moses and Elias, when they talked with the Master in the Mount. Our vile bodies shall indeed be changed, and, oh blesssed mystery! be fashioned like unto His glorious body; but still, amid it all, our friends shall say to us, and we to them, as He did before us, 'Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself."-The Burial Service, its Doctrine and Consolations.— F. W. FABER.

66

tion that is here expressed; nor do we go on to mention the change of his body in the singular number, but of our vile body," which comprehends the bodies of Christians in general. That this is the sense and meaning of the words, may be shown from the other parallel form which the Church has appointed to be used at THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD AT Sea; and this being a principal article of our faith, it is highly reasonable that we should publicly acknowledge and declare our steadfastness in it, when we lay the body of any Christian in the grave.

THE PORTION OF SCRIPTURE WHICH SUCCEEDS is a consolatory sentence from Rev. xiv. 13, assuring us that the dead which die in the Lord are not to be lamented, but to be the subjects of our joy. "They rest from their labours," their work is done; their warfare is accomplished; and now they enjoy crowns of victory, as a reward for their pains; not indeed a merited reward, but a munificent gift. This also shows our reason for not praying for the dead to obtain that which they already enjoy.

THE LORD'S PRAYER is suitable at this solemnity, for in it we acknowledge that though we have lost a friend on earth, we have a greater-“ Our Father which is in heaven." At this dispensation we do not murmur, but "hallow his name," and pray that "his kingdom may come," in which the true disciples of Jesus, reunited in purer and perpetual bonds, shall "follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth," and that whether God ordains life or death, "his will," and not ours, "be done." The rest of the prayer depicts our condition in this world: we require "daily bread" to sustain us," mercy to "forgive us," and grace to deliver us from evil, "both temporal and eternal."

THE TWO NEXT PRAYERS have a different design from each other. The former appears to respect the whole

company, the latter the relatives and friends of the deceased. In the first of these we give thanks to God for delivering our friend from further calamity, and pray for the speedy advent of Christ's kingdom. It has been objected, that it is unnatural in this prayer to give thanks for the death of a friend, and so it would indeed be not to be affected by it; but whilst as men we feel the loss, we must bear it as Christians*; and when we consider that our departed friend is now freed from sin, and consider what he has gained, it would be an act of unkindness to him, and of ingratitude to God, not to be thankful.

The latter prayer is called "the Collect," being a collection of the choicest sentences of Scripture, to remove that undue grief which hurts us, and helps not the deceased; and to turn our thoughts to useful exercises of repentance, in order to our meeting again with more joy than now we part with sorrow.

Much objection has been made to the passage in this prayer, wherein we make declaration of hope that all we bury are saved. It should, however, be considered that there are different degrees of hope, the lowest of which is but one remove from despair. We are often said to hope that which we only wish or desire, but have not particular grounds to believe, only we are not sure of the contrary, or that the thing is impossible. For instance, suppose that in a storm we should speak of a friend at sea,-one man, considering the greatness of the tempest and the circumstances we imagine our friend to be in, says, I fear he is lost,-another replies, I hope not. What now is meant by this hope? No assurance can be had on either side; one hopes and another fears, and both consistently. The Feeble Nature drops, perhaps a tear,

While Reason and Religion, better taught,
Congratulate the dead, and crown his tomb

With wreath triumphant.-YOUNG's Night Thoughts.