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Funeral Prayers
Oh Father of mercies, and God of all comfort,
Thou hast often invited us to thyself in kindness.
It manifests our depravity that we think of Thee so little
In our hour of ease and prosperity!
But we are now before Thee in affliction and distress.
Yet we rejoice to know that Thou art a very present and an
All-sufficient help in trouble.
Thou takest away, and who can hinder Thee, or say unto Thee
"What doest Thou?" Thou hast a right to do what Thou
wilt with Thine own.
Thou art a sovereign and the reasons of Thy conduct are often
far above, out of our sight. But Thy work is perfect, Thy
ways are judgment.
All Thy dispensations are wise, and righteous, and kind --
Even when they seem to be severe, as in this time of grief.
May we hear thy voice in Thy rod, as well as in Thy word;
And gathering from the corrections with which we are
Exercised the peaceable fruit of righteousness, be able to
Acknowledge, with all our suffering brethren before us.
Now in our grief, we are ever mindful of Thee, and we
Humbly request Thy blessing, not just for our brethren
Who have gone to Thy side, but for ourselves, that we
Need not suffer such loss to remain ever mindful of Thee!
It is not only the Scripture that reminds us of our living in
A dying world, but all observation and experience.
Man is continually going to his long home, and the mourners
Daily go about the streets. And we are all accomplishing
As hirelings our day, and in a little time our neighbors,
Friends, and relations will seek us – and we shall not be.
Thou hast made our days as a hand’s breadth,
And our age is as nothing before Thee; verily every man at
His best estate is altogether vanity.
For our days are not only few; but full of evil. Anxieties
perplex us; dangers alarm us; infirmities oppress us;
disappointments afflict us; losses impoverish us;
And we fear Thine anger and Thine wrath.
O shut not Thy merciful ear to our prayers, but spare us,
O most Holy Lord; O God, most mighty;
O holy and most merciful Savior; Thou most worthy judge
eternal
Suffer us not, at our last hour, for any bitter pains
of death, to fall from Thee. And we beseech Thee O Lord
To receive with mercy unto Thine arms the soul of our dear
departed brethren today, that we may rejoice in their life
And honor their passing to Thy eternal care. Amen!
We acknowledge O God, with shame and sorrow, that the
state of degradation and mortality in which we groan was not
our original condition. Thou madest man upright, but he
sought out many inventions. Our first Father sinned, and we
have borne his iniquity. By one man sin entered into the
world, And death by sin; and so death hath passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned.
And we bless Thee that this is not our final state. By the
discoveries of faith, we see new heavens, and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. We see the spirits of just
men made perfect. We see our vile bodies changed and
fashioned like the Savior’s own glorious body; and man,
the sinner, raised above the angels, who never sinned.
We bless Thee for this purpose of grace, formed before the
world began, and accomplished in the fullness of time
by the Son of Thy love, who hath abolished death, and
brought life and immortality to light by the gospel; and
who among the ravages of the grave, says, "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.”
May it be our immediate and supreme concern to win Christ,
and be found in Him; knowing that there is no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus; and that blessed are the
dead that die in the Lord.
So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts
unto wisdom – that wisdom which will lead us to prefer the
uoul to the body; and eternity to time; that wisdom which
will lead us to secure an interest in a better world, before
we are removed from this one.
Meditation on death and dying
O let not the trifles of time
induce us to neglect the one thing
needful. While each of us is
compelled to say, I know Thou
wilt bring me to death, and to
the house appointed for all
living, may we be enabled also
to say, I know in whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that
He is able to keep that which
I have committed to Him against
that day.
And let not the solemnities we have
this day witnessed be ever
forgotten; for often our most
serious impressions have worn
off, and our goodness has been
as the morning cloud, and as
early dew that soon passeth away.
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