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form and fashion of a man in His glorious incarna tion, so that His people are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones. God the Holy Ghost honors them by dwelling in them as His temples. We are, more over, assured that He who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in us; and we are encouraged to look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.

With the whole Church of all ages, we believe in the resurrection of the body. I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. Behold, saith the Apostle, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Such being the honor bestowed upon the bodies of the saints, and such the promises graciously delivered unto us concerning them, it is most meet and right that the bodies of the departed which rest in hope should also rest in honor and peace.

We are taught that the holy patriarch Abraham, the father of the faithful, when he was about to bury his dead out of his sight, bought a burying place, even the field of Machpelah. There he buried Sarah his

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wife there he himself was buried: there they buried Isaac his son, and Rebecca his wife: and there afterwards they buried Jacob and Leah. We read, also, that Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, who waited for the kingdom of God, laid the precious body of Jesus in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock, and guarded it against desecra tion by rolling a great stone to the door, and setting a seal upon it.

Imitating this example of holy men, and led by the devout and tender spirit of the Church in all ages, we do now separate this ground from all common and secular use, and consecrate it under the name of , as a place of bu rial and repose for the bodies of the dead, until the resurrection of the last day. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Let us pray

Amen.

ALMIGHTY GOD, who by the death of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ hast destroyed death; by His rest in the tomb hast sanctified the graves of the saints; and by His glorious resurrection hast brought life and immortality to light, so that all who die in Him abide in hope as to their bodies, and in joy as to their souls: receive, we beseech Thee, our unfeigned thanks for that victory over death and the grave which He has obtained for us and for all who sleep in Him; and keep us who are still in the body, in everlasting fel lowship with all that wait for Thee on earth, and with all that are around Thee in heaven, in union

with Him who is the Resurrection and the Life; who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

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, for ever. Amen.

After which the Minister shall close the service with this Benedic tion:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you ail. Amen.

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