| | BURIAL OF THE DEAD | | 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 without | hope, for them that 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, as our hope is this our brother doth; 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 that 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 EPISTLE. 1 Thess. iv. 13. | | I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them | which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have | no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even | so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For | this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are | alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent | them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from | heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with | the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then | we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with | them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall | we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with | these words. | | THE GOSPEL. St John vi. 37. | | All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that | cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from | heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent | me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of | all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should | raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him | that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth | on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at | the last day. | | _Or_ St John xi. 21. | | Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my | brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever | thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto | her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I | know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last | day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: | he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he | live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never | die.